Karst ground-water basin divides are generally depicted as two-dimensional lines on maps, but they are better considered as three-dimensional surfaces within the subsurface. Dye traces are necessary to map out these surfaces and to locate conduits inaccessible to cave surveyors, and are indispensable for understanding the geometry of the complex networks of flow paths through the aquifer. A key reason why the Mammoth Cave System is the world's longest known cave is that its passages extend over several major ground-water basins. The divides between these basins define the drainage system geometry and precise location of them is critical for understanding and protecting the cave and its remarkable aquatic ecosystem. In 1999 we initiated a long-term program of dye tracing within the Mammoth Cave System to more precisely locate the divides and to understand their increasingly apparent complexities. In this paper we report on results of some of the more interesting dye injections of the program. Although the Mammoth Cave Karst Aquifer is perhaps the best understood conduit flow network in the world (with over 700 traces), we have found that much more work is needed to provide the level of understanding necessary for protection and conservation. The first reason is a matter of scale and resolution: with the current distribution of traces that define the ground-water basins, many regional basin divides are only approximately defined. In areas where this condition exists in combination with potential threats to ground-water quality (primarily urban and transportation areas) additional tracing is needed to know the flow paths of individual recharge points. A second reason for additional traces is to increase our understanding of the plumbing of active conduits through the karst aquifer. While this type of dye tracing is logistically demanding, requiring visits to in-cave dye recovery locations, it is adding a new level of detail to our understanding of the nature of the karst aquifer.


RCOS.java (Ron Chernich's Operating System) is a Java-based, simulated operating system designed to address student difficulties in understanding operating systems concepts. This paper describes the rationale, design, features and planned use of RCOS.java. The intent with RCOS.java is to emphasise active, student-based learning and the development of the higher level learning skills of analysis, synthesis, evaluation or problem solving.


PROFILE STATEWIDE RACES INTO RACES FOR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES by GREGORY J. WOLF (Under the Direction of Jamie L. Carson) ABSTRACT It is widely known that turnout is substantially lower during midterm elections than it is in presidential elections. However, little research has addressed how turnout varies state by state. It is hypothesized that competitive high profile races increase turnout. Additionally, increases in turnout should impact races down the ballot through coattail effects. These hypotheses are tested in onand off-year elections, expecting different results due to the presence of the presidential race at the top of the ticket in on-years. The results indicate competitive high profile races significantly increase turnout. Additionally, states with same-day voter registration have higher turnout rates than states that do not. Coattails are extended from the presidential race to House races in on-years and from Senate and gubernatorial races in off-years. Surprisingly, Senate races are the only types of races that see enhanced coattail effects when the race is competitive and they are negative in nature.


While previous literature tends to focus on role models as significant other people, particularly in one's early life, this study finds that individuals tend to construe their role models as a selection process of attributes from others throughout their career. I discovered that individuals primarily construe their role models along positive/negative, global/specific, close/distant, and hierarchically superior/peer-subordinate dimensions, and that across the career span, the tendency to observe role models did not change. Rather, theemphasis placed on different dimensions of role models changes. Early-stage respondents who are working on creating a viable self-concept were more likely to construe their role models as positive, close, and sources of a range of attributes. Middle- and late-stage respondents were more likely to see their role models as sources of specific, and often negative, attributes. The study suggests that these observed patterns are related to individuals' increasing confidence in their professional self-concept. In early stages, individuals pay attention to role models to create a viable self-concept; in middle stages, they seek to refine their self-concept, and in late stages, they seek to enhance and affirm their self-concept.


This report consists of ## pages and # appendices. It may only be reproduced literally and as a whole. For commercial purposes only with written authorization of Delft University of Technology. Requests for consult are only taken into consideration under the condition that the applicant denies all legal rights on liabilities concerning the contents of the advice. Specialization: Transport Engineering and Logistics


We study the IR properties of galaxies in the cluster MS 1054-03 at z = 0.83 by combining MIPS 24 μm data with spectra of more than 400 galaxies and a very deep K-band-selected catalog. Nineteen IR cluster members are selected spectroscopically, and an additional 15 are selected by their photometric redshifts. We derive the IR luminosity function of the cluster and find strong evolution compared to the similar-mass Coma Cluster. The best-fitting Schechter function gives L = 11.49 L☉ with a fixed faint-end slope, about 1 order of magnitude larger than that in Coma. The rate of evolution of the IR luminosity from Coma to MS 1054-03 is consistent with that found in field galaxies, and it suggests that some internal mechanism, e.g., the consumption of the gas fuel, is responsible for the general decline of the cosmic SFR in different environments. The mass-normalized integrated SFR within 0.5R200 in MS 1054-03 also shows evolution compared with other rich clusters at lower redshifts, but the trend is less conclusive if the mass selection effect is considered. A nonnegligible fraction (13% ± 3%) of cluster members are forming stars actively, and the overdensity of IR galaxies is about 20 compared to the field. It is unlikely that clusters only passively accrete star-forming galaxies from the surrounding fields and have their star formation quenched quickly afterward; instead, many cluster galaxies still have large amounts of gas, and their star formation may be enhanced by the interaction with the cluster.


Aortic smooth muscle cells from the rat were successfully grown in tissue culture and shown to have characteristic morphology. 125I-labeled homologous very low density lipoproteins and high density lipoproteins were taken up by these smooth muscle cells during incubation for 48 hours at the stationary phase. Despite multiple washings, a large proportion of the lipoprotein radioactivity associated with the cells was apparently surface bound and trypsin releasable. With both lipoprotein fractions, lipid and protein uptake by the cells measured after trypsinization was related to time and to the amount of lipoprotein protein added to the medium. Compared with protein, there was a disproportionately greater entry of lipid radioactivity into the cells. Light and electron microscope autoradiography localized the label intracellularly over the cell cytoplasm, cell boundaries, and, in some cells, over lysosomes. On the basis of either protein uptake or whole particle uptake, approximately four times as much high density lipoprotein as very low density lipoprotein was taken up by the smooth muscle cells. To assess metabolism and degradation of high density lipoproteins, aortic smooth muscle cells were incubated in fresh unlabeled medium for 48 hours after exposure to 125I-labeled high density lipoproteins. A large proportion of radioactivity released was trichloroacetic acid precipitable, suggesting some release of whole lipoprotein protein; however, these lipoproteins appeared to be modified when they were tested with anti-high density lipoprotein antiserum. Also, water-soluble radioactivity (presumably protein breakdown products) was released in amounts that averaged 3% of the protein label in the cells. These results indicate that although aortic smooth muscle cells growing in tissue culture can rapidly take up lipids and lipoproteins, catabolism of lipoprotein protein is slow. Correlative biochemical and ultrastructural analysis suggests the possibility of regurgitation of noncatabolized lipoprotein protein by reverse endocytosis.


Background CAPOX regimen is a standard option in stage III adjuvant colon cancer. Gastrointestinal toxicity is well described with fluoropyrimidine regimens and can be life-threatening. Identification of risk factors associated with severe gastrointestinal toxicity may help clinicians when choosing the adjuvant regimen. Materials and Methods We retrospectively analysed 61 patients treated with adjuvant CAPOX. Our primary objective was to estimate the incidence of severe chemotherapy-induced enterocolitis among patients treated with CAPOX. A secondary objective was to describe the main demographic and clinical characteristics of these patients. A univariate logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) with a 95% CI to identify a predictor for severe enterocolitis. Results Grade 3 diarrhoea was reported in 10 patients (16.3%). Admissions to hospital due to toxicity occurred in nine cases. Reasons for hospitalisation were severe enterocolitis in eight cases (13.1%) and rectal bleeding plus thrombocytopenia in one case. Age > 70 years (OR 9.6; 95% CI 1.81–50.6; p = 0.008), primary surgery involving right/transverse colon (OR 16.8; 95% CI 2.88–98.8; p = 0.002) and Angiotensin II Receptor Blocker (ARB) use (OR 8.14; 95% CI 1.64–40.3; p = 0.010) were associated with severe enterocolitis. Conclusion Our data showed that adjuvant CAPOX induced severe enterocolitis in 13.1% of patients. In addition, we found that advanced age, right colectomy and concurrent use of ARB were statistically associated with these events. Awareness of these factors could be easily incorporated into the treatment decision and patient orientation.


It is well known that several dimensions contribute to the classification of stop consonants as voiced or voiceless. Three Garner speeded classification experiments evaluated the nature of perceptual interactions between such dimensions. Specifically, the experiments examined the potential integrality between pairs of three critical dimensions—voice onset time (VOT), aspiration amplitude, and fundamental frequency (F0) at the onset of voicing. Only within‐category (/ka/) syllable stimuli were used to eliminate phonetic classification as a basis for subjects' responses. Evidence was found for the asymmetric separability of VOT and F0; while variability along F0 significantly influenced VOT classification speed, variability along VOT did not similarly influence F0 classification. A similar pattern of asymmetric separability for F0 and aspiration amplitude was demonstrated, where aspiration variability did not interfere with F0 classification. In contrast, VOT and aspiration amplitude were completely integral, with variability along either dimension influencing classification speed along the other dimension. Furthermore, performance accuracy reflected a time‐intensity trade‐off between perception of VOT and aspiration. The results indicate that F0 and VOT/aspiration amplitude may contribute to two distinct sets of perceptual analyzers. Implications for phoneme perception will be discussed. [Work supported by NIH.]


A 29-year-old man was admitted following deliberate ingestion of approximately 300 mL of 'Roundup Ace,' a herbicide containing glyphosate. On presentation, he was agitated and required intubation and admission to ICU. He developed severe and persistent lactic acidosis, hyperkalaemia, hypotension, torrential watery diarrhoea and abdominal distension in the first 24 hours. The patient was supported with a continuous noradrenaline infusion and continuous veno-venous haemodiafiltration. The clinical course was further complicated by cardiac arrhythmias and an episode of cardiac arrest. By day three, he had bone-marrow, liver and worsening respiratory failure. There was no hope of recovery; therefore, noradrenaline was discontinued, and the patient died 15 minutes later. Glyphosate-surfactant herbicide (GlySH) is a general-purpose herbicide with no anticholinesterase effect and no organophosphate-like CNS effects. GlySH intoxication has a case fatality rate of between 3.2% and 29.3%. There is no antidote and the mainstay of treatment for systemic toxicity is decontamination and aggressive supportive therapy. Early renal replacement therapy may improve prognosis but there is no evidence to support this. There is one published case of a patient who survived severe GlySH poisoning following administration of intravenous fat emulsion. Glyphosate-surfactant herbicide, commercially known as 'Roundup' is a widely available herbicide commonly used in both professional and domestic settings. This is a case of a young man who deliberately ingested GlySH at home and rapidly developed multi-organ failure, culminating in his death.


In Diesel engines the optimization of engine-out emissions, combustion noise and fuel consumption requires the experimental investigation of the effects of different injection strategies as well as of a large number of engine operating variables, such as scheduling of pilot and after pulses, rail pressure, EGR rate and swirl level. Due to the high number of testing conditions involved full factorial approaches are not viable, whereas Design of Experiment techniques have demonstrated to be a valid methodology. However, the results obtained with such techniques require a subsequent critical analysis, so as to investigate the cause and effect relationships between the set of engine operating variables and the combustion process characteristics that affect pollutant formation, noise of combustion and engine efficiency. To this purpose, the zero-dimensional multizone diagnostic combustion model developed at ICEAL was applied for the combustion and emission formation analysis in two different diesel engines, for various sets of injection strategies and engine operating parameters. The experimental data were acquired at the highly dynamic test rig of ICEAL, both in a EURO V low compression ratio diesel engine with a twin-stage turbocharger, equipped with piezoelectric injectors, and in a PCCI low compression ratio diesel engine equipped with solenoid injectors. The model results were discussed and reported in the well known ϕ-T diagrams, which give a synthetic representation of the local thermodynamic charge conditions during the mixture formation and premixed diffusion combustion processes. The rail pressure increase was found to be an effective means to improve fuel-charge premixing and to lower the average local equivalence ratio of the charge during premixed combustion, so leading to a decrease in soot formation. As regards the effects of cooled high-pressure EGR on combustion, it was shown that an increase of its rate does not significantly affect the average equivalence ratio during premixed combustion, which is associated to the soot formation rate. Finally, a proper calibration of the dwell-time between pilot and main injection, so as to have the main injection pulse center-of-gravity phased in correspondence to the start of pilot burning, resulted to produce a reduction of CO and soot emissions higher than 50% with respect to baseline case, without any deterioration of NOx emissions


The World development report 2010: development and climate change highlights the link between biotechnology, development, and environment. Aside from recognizing biotechnology's potential to improve crop productivity, increase crop adaptation to climatic stresses such as drought, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the report emphasizes the need to establish science-based regulatory systems 'so that risks and benefits can be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, comparing the potential risks with alternative technologies' (World Bank 2010). This paper explores how the Cartagena protocol to the convention on biological diversity, as well as other important drivers, have affected the regulation of Genetically engineered (GE) crops in developing countries. It examines the impact of biosafety regulation on research and development of GE crops and on product approvals. Finally, it identifies opportunities to advance biosafety regulation in those developing countries that wish to access the potential benefits of agricultural biotechnology. As is true for capacity development in other regulatory arenas, progress in biosafety regulation in developing countries is often impeded by limited political and financial commitments from national governments and by insufficient technical, human resource, and institutional capacity for implementation. It is also confounded by competing or redundant capacity building projects and the absence of products to regulate.


For West Indian colonials whose cultural traditions are colored by the idealizations of a colonizing British mother country, discovering one's place in familial and national structures involves making real and imagined journeys to that mother country. In Andrea Levy's Small Island, two Jamaicans, Hortense and Gilbert, grow up in early twentieth-century, colonial Jamaica and later immigrate to WWII-era England. Through their narratives of both places, Levy demonstrates how the dynamic of the colonial relationship—the values and hierarchies inherent in the relationship between the mother country and her colony—impact mother-child relationships, self-understanding, and identity. In this article, I assert that the existential uncertainty that the colonial relationship creates—the desire and unpredictability of human relationship and the ensuing ambivalence about psychological survival—consistently holds in tension two important concepts: help and humiliation. The structure, pressures, and oppressions of the colonial system in Jamaica and England lead Hortense and Gilbert to either experience or inflict scenes of humiliation that arise from making relational sacrifices.


Split manufacturing of integrated circuits eliminates vulnerabilities introduced by an untrusted foundry by manufacturing only a part of the target design at an untrusted high-end foundry and the remaining part at a trusted low-end foundry. Most researchers have focused on attack and defenses for hierarchical designs and/or use a relatively high-end trusted foundry, leading to high cost. We propose an attack and defense for split manufacturing for flattened designs. Our attack uses a network-flow model and outperforms previous attacks. We also develop two defense techniques using placement perturbation—one using physical design information and the other using logical information—while considering overhead. The effectiveness of our techniques is demonstrated on benchmark circuits.


On the Origin of Phyla. by James W. Valentine. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2004. 638 pp. $55, £38.50. ISBN 0-226-84548-6. The authors provide a thorough and critical review and synthesis of recent research on the origin of species, covering both plants and animals.


Preparing and disseminating knowledge in the field of industrial automation technology for the training of future engineers and researchers poses specific challenges for leveraging cloud-based solutions in an eLearning context. This relates mainly to the need of enabling access to real or simulated hardware and processes besides courseware and handbooks with exercises and examples. Also, going outside the closed environment of the laboratory, teaching practices and outcomes can be vastly enhanced by cloud environments which incorporate mutual knowledge from various stakeholders in the learning process, curated by the end-users. The methods and tools that enable such an approach are reviewed from an industrial automation perspective along with alternative paths to educational achievement in this field. Student engagement is also tracked and analyzed by using specific tools and platforms in order to best tailor the content and delivery method to their benefit. We discuss the key-points, achievements and program structure of the recent collaboration between the Laboratory of Industrial Information Systems within the Department of Automatic Control and Industrial Informatics, Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers, University Politehnica of Bucharest and the Phoenix Contact Corporation to enhance teaching materials and improve collaboration among partner institutions at the university and student level, on related to topics such as programmable logic controllers, human-machine interface, industrial communication networks and supervisory control and data acquisition programs (SCADA). An outlook for program development and means to increase the impact of such initiatives, by leveraging novel paradigms in eLearning and software for education, are also presented and evaluated.


This guide is a brief introduction to and overview of the Brooklyn Law School Library. Described here are the services, resources, facilities and staff of the Library.


Introduction Part I: Theoretical Overview 1. An Overview of Trends in Dietary Variation from Hunter-Gatherer to Modern Capitalist Societies - Eric B. Ross 2. Foodways: Historical Overview and Theoretical Prolegomenon - Marvin Harris Part II: Bioevolutionary Antecedents and Constraints 3. Primate Diets and Gut Morphology: Implications for Hominid Evolution - Katharine Milton 4. Omnivorous Primate Diets and Human Overconsumption of Meat - William J. Hamilton III 5. Fava Bean Consumption: A Case for the Co-Evolution of Genes and Culture - Solomon H. Katz Part III: Nutritional and Biopsychological Constraints 6. Problems and Pitfalls in the Assessment of Human Nutritional Status - P.L. Pellett 7. Psychobiological Perspectives on Food Preferences and Avoidances - Paul Rozin 8. The Preference for Animal Protein and Fat: A Cross-Cultural Survey - H. Leon Abrams, Jr. 9. Biocultural Consequences of Animals Versus Plants as Sources of Fats, Proteins, and Other Nutrients - Leslie Sue Lieberman Part IV: Pre-State Foodways: Past and Present 10. The Significance of Long-Term Changes in Human Diet and Food Economy - Mark N. Cohen 11. Life in the "Garden of Eden": Causes and Consequences of the Adoption of Marine Diets by Human Societies - David R. Yesner 12. The Analysis of Hunter-Gatherer Diets: Stalking an Optimal Foraging Model - Bruce Winterhalder 13. How Much Food Do Foragers Need? - Kristen Hawkes 14. Aboriginal Subsistence in a Tropical Rain Forest Environment: Food Procurement, Cannibalism, and Population Regulation in Northeastern Australia - David R. Harris 15. Ecological and Structural Influences on the Proportions of Wild Foods in the Diets of Two Machiguenga Communities - Allen Johnson and Michael Baksh 16. Limiting Factors in Amazonian Ecology - Kenneth R. Good Part V: The Political Economy and the Political Ecology of Contemporary Foodways 17. Loaves and Fishes in Bangladesh - Shirley Lindenbaum 18. Animal Protein Consumption and the Sacred Cow Complex in India - K.N. Nair 19. The Effects of Colonialism and Neocolonialism on the Gastronomic Patterns of the Third World - Richard W. Franke 20. Stability and Change in Highland Andean Dietary Patterns - Benjamin S. Orlove 21. Social Class and Diet in Contemporary Mexico - Gretel H. Pelto 22. From Costa Rican Pasture to North American Hamburger - Marc Edelman Part VI: Discussion and Conclusions 23. The Evolution of Human Subsistence - Anna Roosevelt 24. Biocultural Aspects of Food Choice - George Armelagos Afterword About the Contributors


In this paper, multi-objective optimization of railway wheel web profile using bidirectional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) algorithm is investigated. Using a finite element software, static analysis of the wheel based on a standard load case, and its modal analysis for finding the fundamental natural frequency is performed. The von Mises stress and critical frequency as the problem objectives are combined using different weight factors in order to find the sensitivity number in the method, which specifies which elements to be omitted and which to be added. The iterative process is continued until convergence to an a priori specified material volume. The resulted web profiles show that when the stress is important, material removal is from the middle part of the web, while for frequency as the important objective, the removal is from near the rim part of the web. The suggested profile, corresponding to equal weight factor for the objectives, has a better volume and stress state compared to a standard web profile, and has a more uniform stress distribution. However, higher natural frequency, compared to that of the standard profile, are obtained for larger frequency weight factors, although with a bigger volume. In the end, considering manufacturability of the wheel, the jagged profile resulted from BESO is replaced with a fitted smooth curve and performing the finite element analysis on it. It is seen that there is an improvement in the obtained objectives for the smoothened profile, with no significant change in volume.


ABSTRACT In recent years there has been a focus in language policy research on understanding how national policies are interpreted and negotiated by social actors on the ground. This paper looks at the interplay between government and grassroots initiatives to create Galician-speaking spaces in predominantly Spanish-speaking urban settings. While official language policies in Galicia since the 1980s have increased the potential for language use through bilingual educational policies, these policies have failed to convert the large pool of potential speakers amongst a younger generation of Galicians into active language users. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviews with Galician neofalantes (new speakers) this paper looks at instances where such policies seem to have worked and where the linguistic capacity created through the education system has been converted into active language use. The article examines how such speakers rationalise their practice of linguistic conversion not as success stories of language policy but as reactions to and dissatisfaction with what is perceived as 'top-down' governmentality through a reflexive process in which existing power structures are brought into question. The article looks specifically as the ideologies underpinning their decisions to become active speakers and the role they play as language planners in contemporary Galicia.


INTRODUCTION:
The management of implant-infection poses a major challenge in orthopaedic field. Colonization of bacterial and biofilm adhesion on implant may lead to infection at underlying bone and surrounding tissues. Prolonged used of antimicrobial treatment with high dosage can lead to systemic toxicity. Hence, to overcome this, alternative treatment strategy using orthopaedic metallic implant coated with silver composite as antibacterial agent have been introduced. It exhibits good bactericidal properties for biomedical application. Hence, the aim of this study is to investigate the potential of silver coated release of orthopaedic metal implant through direct current magnetron sputtering technique against biofilm-producing Staphylococcus aureus through in vitro experimental setting.

METHODS:
This method was employed to determine the release of silver as antibacterial agent. The coated plate was soaked with 200ml of Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) in shaking waterbath at 370C for silver extract preparation. A total of 5.0ml of solution in each assessment at 1 hour, 3 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 168 hours, 336 hours and 504 hours of time point were withdrawn for analyze. The bacterial inoculation was smeared on sterile nutrient agar media. A total of 20µl of 5.0ml of silver release solution in each assessment was loaded on the disc. A total of 20µl of Phosphate Buffer Saline (PBS) was loaded on the disk which served as control. The samples then were incubated with 370C for 24 hours for bacterial culture under aerobic condition. The sample then was continued incubated up to 168 hours with 370C under aerobic condition for assessment. The antibacterial effect was evaluated based on the diameter of inhibition zone using disk diffusion test.

RESULTS:
The colony was noted on the surface on nutrient agar after 24 hours of incubation. However, the inhibition zone was noted with diameter more than 20mm at 168 hours time point of silver extraction after 168 hours of incubation. The colonies number increase was noted at other silver extraction of time points.

DISCUSSIONS:
The use of orthopaedic implants has increase dramatically in all subspecialties in orthopaedic field. Recently, the coating of implants has engendered much interest in order to prevent adverse tissue reactions such as infection, inflammation, the foreign body response. Ewald A et al stated that silver coatings can inhibit the bacterial growth effectively. The early outcome of this study revealed positive indicator of the silver as antibacterial agent. The experiment work is still ongoing.

CONCLUSION:
This result suggested that orthopaedic metal implant coated with silver composite may provide antibacterial protection against medical device-related infection.


The cellular and humoral immune system is critically dependent upon CD40-CD154 (CD40 ligand) interactions between CD40 expressed on B cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells, and CD154 expressed primarily on CD4 T cells. Previous studies have shown that CD154 is transiently expressed on CD4 T cells after T cell receptor engagement in vitro. However, we found that stimulation of PBLs with maximal CD28 costimulation, using beads coupled to Abs against CD3 and CD28, led to a very prolonged expression of CD154 on CD4 cells ( > 4 days) that was dependent upon autocrine IL-2 production. Previously activated CD4 T cells could respond to IL-2, or the related cytokine IL-15, by de novo CD154 production and expression without requiring an additional signal from CD3 and CD28. These results provide evidence that CD28 costimulation of CD4 T cells, through autocrine IL-2 production, maintains high levels of CD154 expression. This has significant impact on our understanding of the acquired immune response and may provide insight concerning the mechanisms underlying several immunological diseases. The Journal of Immunology, 2000, 164: 3500–3505. cell-mediated primarily The initial


Vehicles equipped with in-wheel motors are being studied and developed as a type of electric vehicle. Since these motors are attached to the suspension, a large vertical suspension reaction force is generated during driving. Based on this mechanism, this paper describes the development of a method for independently controlling roll and pitch as well as yaw using driving force distribution control at each wheel. It also details the theoretical calculation of a method for decoupling the dynamic motions. Finally, it describes the application of these 3D dynamic motion control methods to a test vehicle and the confirmation of the performance improvement.


A legged microrobot can climb inverted and vertical surfaces by using voltage-controlled electroadhesion and a newly designed gait. The ability to climb greatly increases the reachable workspace of terrestrial robots, improving their utility for inspection and exploration tasks. This is particularly desirable for small (millimeter-scale) legged robots operating in confined environments. This paper presents a 1.48-gram and 4.5-centimeter-long tethered quadrupedal microrobot, the Harvard Ambulatory MicroRobot with Electroadhesion (HAMR-E). The design of HAMR-E enables precise leg motions and voltage-controlled electroadhesion for repeatable and reliable climbing of inverted and vertical surfaces. The innovations that enable this behavior are an integrated leg structure with electroadhesive pads and passive alignment ankles and a parametric tripedal crawling gait. At a relatively low adhesion voltage of 250 volts, HAMR-E achieves speeds up to 1.2 (4.6) millimeters per second and can ambulate for a maximum of 215 (162) steps during vertical (inverted) locomotion. Furthermore, HAMR-E still retains the ability for high-speed locomotion at 140 millimeters per second on horizontal surfaces. As a demonstration of its potential for industrial applications, such as in situ inspection of high-value assets, we show that HAMR-E is capable of achieving open-loop, inverted locomotion inside a curved portion of a commercial jet engine.


OBJECTIVE
The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) after general anesthesia with total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) was reported to be significantly lower than with volatile inhalational agents (13.3% vs 25%). However, no investigation of PONV risk factors associated with TIVA has ever been reported. This cross-sectional retrospective study aimed to investigate whether known risk factors influenced PONV in intubated general anesthetics utilizing TIVA for dental or oral and maxillofacial surgery.

METHODS
Subjects were 761 patients who underwent dental or oral and maxillofacial surgery under TIVA with propofol, fentanyl, and remifentanil. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed using PONV (within 24 hours) as the dependent variable and previously reported risk factors as independent variables.

RESULTS
Age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.020 per year decrease; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0002-1.0418; P = .047) and female sex (OR: 2.73; 95% CI: 1.60-4.84; P < .001) were positively associated with PONV. Sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO) (OR: 2.28; 95% CI: 1.21-4.33; P = .011) and bimaxillary osteotomy (OR: 5.69; 95% CI: 2.09-15.99; P < .001) were more likely to be associated with PONV than operations that were neither bimaxillary osteotomy nor SSRO. Late PONV (2-24 hours) had an ∼2.7 times higher incidence than early PONV (0-2 hours).

CONCLUSION
These findings suggest further PONV countermeasures, aside from TIVA with propofol and prophylactic antiemetics for orthognathic surgeries especially bimaxillary osteotomy, are needed.


This book contains the didactic texts written by the authors of the short courses selected for the 2010 edition of four major scientific symposiums promoted by the Brazilian Computer Society (SBC), namely the VII Brazilian Symposium on Collaborative Systems (SBSC), the XVI Brazilian Symposium on Multimedia and the Web (WebMedia), the IX Symposium of Human Factors in Computing Systems (IHC) and the XXV Brazilian Symposium on Databases (SBBD). The purpose of this book is, in addition to supporting the participation of those present during the realization of short courses, to increase the impact of these short courses. This material will guarantee a complement of information to the participants and to all interested in the respective themes, allowing development of their knowledge in the area.


We present a modification of conventional transmit antenna selection schemes for OFDM systems by combining bulk and per-tone selection. We analyse the diversity and coding gains of the proposed approach with respect to symbol error and outage probability for uncoded systems, and show that these gains are identical to that which can be obtained by employing per-tone selection using all available antennas. This analysis leads to the surprising result that one can achieve optimal performance at high SNR relative to a per-tone selection system with M antennas by first selecting only two out of M antennas and performing per-tone selection on the chosen antennas.


A 67-year-old man was referred with a squamous cell carcinoma of the left mandibular alveolar ridge verified elsewhere by an exploratory excision. After extensive staging and preoperative irradiation, a radical surgical attempt was performed. Histopathological examination and immunohistochemical analysis revealed the first case of a carcinosarcoma of the mandibular alveolar ridge. Clinical and histopathological features are presented, and treatment and prognosis are discussed.


In this paper, we develop anti-sway control in proposed techniques for an ATC system. The developed algorithm is to build the optimal path of container motion and to calculate an anti-collision path for collision avoidance in its movement to the final coordinate. Moreover, in order to show the effectiveness in this research, we compared NNP PID controller to be tuning parameters of controller using NN with 2 DOF PID controller. The experimental results for an ATC simulator show that the proposed control scheme guarantees performances, trolley position, sway angle, and settling time in NNP PID controller than other controller. As result, the application of NNP PID controller is analyzed to have robustness about disturbance which is wind of fixed pattern in the yard. Accordingly, the proposed algorithm proposed in this study can be readily used for industrial applications.


Public–private partnerships involve organisations from the public and private sectors working together to provide public services. This introductory issue of the International Journal of Public Policy comprises two papers that consider PPP at the theoretical level, and seven papers that explore partnership arrangements in four different countries: the UK, Australia, USA and France. In some countries the term PPP is used to describe partnerships that provide infrastructure and associated services. In other countries the term is used to refer to quite different arrangements for the delivery of a range of services. The purpose of this introduction is to consider how the socio-economic, political and administrative experiences of the featured countries have influenced the ways in which the nature and purpose of PPP are understood. Our analysis of those partnership models is framed by the new public management and network models. Extant definitions of PPP are examined and assessed for their applicability to the diversity of arrangements featured in this special issue.


Objective There has been controversy as to whether gadobutrol, one of the widely used macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents, can lead to gadolinium retention after serial injections. Our aim was to validate whether serial administrations of gadobutrol can cause signal increase in the dentate nucleus (DN) and globus pallidus (GP) on unenhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images due to gadolinium retention. Materials and Methods A total of 189 patients who had undergone at least 2 contrast-enhanced MR scans using only gadobutrol between August 2009 and August 2016 were retrospectively included. The DN–to–pons and GP-to-thalamus signal intensity (SI) ratio differences on unenhanced T1-weighted MR images were calculated by subtracting the SI ratios at the first MR images from those at the last MR images. One-sample t tests were used to evaluate whether the SI ratio differences differed from 0. Linear regression and Pearson correlations were performed to assess correlations between SI ratio differences and various confounding variables, including the number of MR scans, mean time interval between MR scans, age, sex, history of radiation therapy or chemotherapy, and renal and liver functions. Results Patients underwent a mean of 5.9 ± 6.3 contrast-enhanced MR scans with a mean interval of 42.8 ± 49.5 weeks between the scans. Sixty-three patients underwent 6 or more MR scans, whereas 126 patients underwent fewer than 6 MR scans. Neither the DN-to-pons SI nor the GP-to-thalamus SI ratio differences differed significantly from 0, with mean values of −0.012 ± 0.115 (P = 0.148) and 0.012 ± 0.111 (P = 0.126), respectively. Conclusions Serial administrations of gadobutrol did not result in signal increases in the DN or GP on unenhanced T1-weighted MR images due to gadolinium retention.


The axial distribution of large biomass particles in bubbling fluidized beds comprised of sand and biomass is investigated in this study. The global and local pressure drop profiles are analyzed in mixtures fluidized at superficial gas velocities ranging from 0.2 to 1 m/s. In addition, the radioactive particle tracking technique is used to track the trajectory of a tracer mimicking the behavior of biomass particles in systems consisting of 2, 8, and 16% of biomass mass ratio. The effects of superficial gas velocity and the mixture composition on the mixing/segregation of the bed components are explored by analyzing the circulatory motion of the active tracer. Contrary to low fluidization velocity (U = 0.36 m/s), biomass circulation and distribution are enhanced at U = 0.64 m/s with increasing the load of biomass particles. The axial profile of volume fraction of biomass along the bed is modeled on the basis of the experimental findings. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 869–880, 2014


Abstract This paper offers comments on a previously published paper, titled "Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods in economics: an overview," by Zavadskas and Turskis (2011). The paper's authors made great efforts to summarize MCDM methods but may have failed to consider several important new concepts and trends in the MCDM field for solving actual problems. First, the traditional model assumes the criteria are independently and hierarchically structured; however, in reality, problems are often characterized by interdependent criteria and dimensions and may even exhibit feedback-like effects. Second, relatively good solutions from the existing alternatives are replaced by aspiration levels to fit today's competitive markets. Third, the emphasis in the field has shifted from ranking and selection when determining the most preferable approaches to performance improvement of existing methods. Fourth, information fusion techniques, including the fuzzy integral method, have been developed to aggreg...


Characterization of liver-specific autoantigens has given a fresh impetus to research in the pathogenesis of autoimmune liver diseases, viral-triggered and drug-induced autoimmunity affecting the liver. Intriguing is the fact that most of the liver-specific autoantigens are enzymes of key importance for cell's homeostasis. Detection of autoantibodies against the respective antigens is carried out for diagnostic and research purposes using indirect immunofluorescence, immunoblotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, radioimmunoassay, immunoprecipitation or assays determining inhibition of enzyme activity. In patients with autoimmune hepatitis, a liver disorder of unknown etiology and pathogenesis, disease-specific autoantibodies are frequently directed against drug metabolizing enzymes of phase 1, namely cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6). The same and other members of these families of enzymes (CYPs) have also been described as targets of liver-specific autoimmunity in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients, patients with autoimmune hepatitis as part of the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type-1 (APS-1) and drug-induced autoimmunity. How these enzymes become 'self targets' is not yet established. An antigen release following hepatocyte injury could provide the stimulus for an immune response towards epitopes on these enzymes but the highly-specific, antigen-restricted initiation of the observed autoimmune response is against such an explanation. Accordingly, in this review we will focus on the pathogenic role -if any- of autoimmune responses against liver-related CYPs in autoimmune hepatitis, HCV infection, APS-1 and drug-induced autoimmunity. Learning more about the specificity of antibody responses against these enzymes may help us better understand the mechanisms underlying liver autoimmunity and may facilitate the development of therapeutic and preventive interventions.


Responses from the Yale University survey of 650 research and development executives were linked to U.S. trade statistics at the four-digit SIC level for the years 1965-85 to test several hypotheses concerning intra-industry trade. A new index of intra-industry trade was developed to capture both the level and balance dimensions of import and export flows. Intra-industry trade is found to be more extensive, the higher industry R&D/sales ratios were, the more important economies of learning-by-doing were, and greater the relevance of academic engineering research was, and the more niche-filling strategies were emphasized in new product development. When firms oriented their R&D efforts toward meeting the specialized demands of individual customers, intra-industry trade was lower. The highest levels of intra-industry trade were found in loosely oligopolistic industries.


Multidisciplinary study and practice of high-precision engineering, metrology, and manufacturing have made a direct contribution to industrial and economic development in the world, providing new value creation and enhancing productivity and product quality. This special issue focuses on the latest studies in the field of precision engineering. The special issue especially features advanced technologies in the manufacturing process, metrology, machine tools, machine elements, and nano/micro mechanisms. Besides these technologies, to enhance reliability and safety in the production processes, there is a need for usability and functionality based on IoT-related technology, which is represented by Industrie 4.0 or the Industrial Internet. Therefore, many researchers have now begun to focus on cyber-physical production systems (CPPS), which can detect anomalies and self-optimize the production process by comparing actual results extracted from sensors and simulation results. From this viewpoint, advanced research related to CPPS, such as simulation-based technique, sensor-based technology, and in-depth understanding and modeling of the manufacturing process, is covered in this special issue.
 In this special issue of IJAT, there are 14 research papers on precision-engineering-related topics as mentioned above. The papers, revised and extended according to the editors' request, were originally presented at the 17th International Conference on Precision Engineering (ICPE2018), held in Kamakura, Japan, in 2018. We express our sincere thanks to the authors and reviewers for their meticulous work in helping publish this special issue. We hope these articles will encourage further research on precision engineering.


Active packaging aims to extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables using active agents such as Oxygen, Carbon-di-oxide, ethylene scavengers and moisture absorber. Intelligent packaging provides information about the fruits quality inside the package to the customer and this packaging technology detects the internal changes of fruits and vegetables using sensors and indicators. Further to improve the post-harvest storage PCM such as Rubitherm can be used depending on the package box dimension to remove the field heat from the products and maintain its temperature with low variation during transport and display. Gel packs having less weight with PET and PS can also be an alternate method in the packaging. The application of these technologies may lead to a revolution in post-harvest storage, transportation, and further retail sale. This paper reviews the theoretical principles of food packaging and recent developments in packaging technologies using PCMs.
Keywords: Active packaging, Intelligent packaging, Phase change materials, Shelf life extension, Fruits


Aim: In the present study, we investigated whether Erythropoietin (Epo) has a protective effect against cytotoxicity and apoptotic cell death induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in PC12 cell line cultures. Material and Methods: Epo exerted significant protective effect against 6-OHDAinduced cell injury and apoptosis as confirmed by lactate dehydrogenase cytotoxicity assay, anti-single strand DNA immunostaining and annexin-V staining. Results: Epo significantly decreased 6-OHDA-induced DP5 pro-apoptotic protein mRNA expression and increased bcl-XL anti-apoptotic protein mRNA expression. Any effect of Epo on CREB transcription factor phosphorylation was not observed. Conclusion: These results suggest that Epo exerts neuroprotective effect against 6-OHDA-induced cell death at least partially via the differential regulation of the expression of genes involved in the apoptotic process.


Young children's understanding that emotions influence behaviour has been
neglected in past research. Two studies examined children's understanding that
emotion influences behaviour. In study 1, 35 (17 girls; 18 boys) 4-year-old and 27
(13 girls; 14 boys) 6-year-old children answered questions probing their
understanding of how emotions influence behaviour and completed a standardised
test of emotion understanding. Six-year-old children had a greater understanding
that emotions influence situations than did four-year-old children, which was related
to mentalistic aspects of emotion understanding. In study 2, 90 children aged 3, 4,
5, 6, and 7 answered questions about the likelihood of action based on emotion.
There was an age increase in understanding with children 4 years and older scoring
above chance. The findings suggest that children's understanding that emotions
influence their behaviour is a distinct component of emotion understanding that
emerges in early childhood.


Abstract Freshwater zooplankton, which is commonly used as a starting fish feed, has a low content of essential compounds such as carotenoids. The possibility of increasing the productivity of carotenogenic yeast, Rhodotorula glutinis, for further bioencapsulation of zooplankton Daphnia magna is shown. An association of a UV irradiated yeast strain with lactic acid bacteria was cultivated for this purpose. This permitted intensifying the carotenogenesis of yeast, and the content of â-carotene increased by 1.7 times, and that of torularodine by 2.3 times compared with the native monoculture. The use of the association of microorganisms as a feed substrate in the cultivation of Daphnia magna provided both an increase in the carotenoid content in the investigated crustaceans more than 8 times, and their biomass by 2.5 times compared with the standard feed of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.


Solid-state reactions and phase transformations in which the activation energy changes with the extent of conversion, e.g. multi-step or dispersive kinetic processes, cannot be reliably treated using current thermal methods, particularly when it comes to handling non-isothermal data sets. New models that consider distributed reactivity and/or the potential temperature-dependence of the pre-exponential term in the Arrhenius equation are urgently needed and, based on them, the extension of current theory to appropriately treat non-isothermal data. Numerical methods could prove useful in overcoming the variable-separability problem that can hinder the analytic solution of more complex kinetic relationships.


INTRODUCTION The COAstal STorm Rapid Response (COASTRR) system has been implemented to measure hydrodynamic, morphodynamic, and sedimentary processes occurring along coastlines during storm impact and subsequent recovery. Relatively few measurements are available to evaluate the physical processes shaping coastal systems during extreme storm events, nor to assess post-storm system recovery (e.g. Sherwood et al., 2014). Prior to landfall of Hurricane Harvey, instruments to collect high-resolution in-situ hydrodynamic measurements across two different barrier island transects on the upper Texas Gulf Coast were deployed before and recovered after the storm. Hurricane Harvey struck the central Texas Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm on August 25, 2017 causing severe infrastructure damage and erosion near its landfall location but generating mostly accretional features at the two field sites on Hog Island and Follets Island, respectively, which were located more than 160 miles northeast of Harvey's landfall location.


Engineering thermal emission using micro/nanostructures has received growing attention in recent years. A variety of novel coherent, directional, polarized and narrowband thermal light sources as well as wavelength selective emitters have been proposed and investigated. These emitters show a great potential in applications like thermophotovoltaics, solar energy concentration, radiative cooling, thermal detection, sensing, thermal camouflage, thermal rectification, etc. In this article, we give a review on the use of micro/nanostructures to control far-field thermal emission. Thermal emitters based on various micro/nanostructures including gratings, photonic crystals, metamaterials and metasurfaces are reviewed and some important applications are summarized. We expect this article can provide a general overview of this field.


We propose a promising scheme to realize the deceleration of a pulsed subsonic molecular beam by using a multistage optical Stark decelerator (i.e., a 1D quasi-cw traveling optical lattice), which is composed of two nearly counter-propagating, time-varying, red-detuned light fields with an intensity of ~10⁷Wcm⁻² and a fixed frequency difference between them. We also study the influence of the velocity reduced amount of the traveling lattice, the lattice power, the synchronous phase angle, the deceleration-stage number and the temporal profile of laser pulses on the molecular slowing results by using 3D Monte-Carlo method. Our study shows that the proposed decelerator cannot only be used to slow a pulsed subsonic beam from 240m/s to standstill, but also to obtain a cold molecular packet with a temperature of a few µK, and the corresponding fraction of cold molecules is 10⁻⁶-10⁻⁷, which strongly depends on the synchronous phase angle. And we also find that a pair of appropriate rising and falling times of laser pulses will lead to a better slowing effect than that produced by the top-hat temporal ones.


This paper concerns the recovery of zinc from fly ashes generated by incineration plant of automobile tire wastes. The recovery is obtained by two extraction steps with a pH-controlled ammonia chloride solution. The ashes contain about 51%wt of zinc, 1%wt of iron and aluminiumand small quantities (less than 0.1% wt) of cobalt, copper and lead. Various factors affect the performance and efficiency of leaching: temperature, concentration, pH and time were studied using a factorial experimental design.After two stepswith ammoniumchloride 3mol/L,L/S=6ml/g, pH5.4±0.1 and T=72±3°C the leaching liquor has been purified in a simple step by cementation with metallic zinc powder without activation. Traces of Pb, As, Sb, Se, Mo, Ni have been cleared by cementation with zinc. The fly ash and residue composition was determined by X-ray and its elemental composition by ICP-OES and IC. The obtained results show that recovery efficiency amounts to 98% wt for zinc; the concentration of zinc in the leach liquors reachesmore than 45 g/L whilemost of the iron is not leached. The purified solution containing zinc allows the direct recovery of high grade zinc by electro-deposition.


Higher order sectorization (HOS), which splits macrocells into a larger number of smaller sectors, are receiving significant interest as a cost-effective means of improving network capacity. Potentially, the capacity gain with HOS is proportionally linear to the number of sectors per cell due to spatial reuse, but factors such as non-ideal antenna radiation patterns together with inter-cell interference can significantly reduce this capacity gain. We develop a statistical model to theoretically characterize the performance of HOS deployments in wireless networks using orthogonal frequency division multiple access. Moreover, a fractional frequency reuse scheme is considered, which aids to mitigate inter-cell interference. The model provides a fast and effective tool for studying network performance in terms of user signal quality, site throughput, and outage probability, and it can be used to speed up network planning and optimization. In addition, we consider the impact of user classification methods in the analysis, and propose a new spectrum efficiency-based user classification method that improves resource utilization and allocation fairness. Performance results indicate that the proposed model is accurate, and shows a diminishing performance gain of HOS deployments with the number of sectors. The proposed user classification method improves network performances with respect to the state-of-the-art approaches.


Author(s): Matulich, Kristin L. | Advisor(s): Martiny, Jennifer BH | Abstract: A central goal of global change biology is to predict the impact of environmental change on ecosystem processes. Currently, most global change models treat the local microbial community as a single, homogenously functioning entity, thereby assuming that the specific microbial composition is functionally irrelevant. However, microorganisms perform key transformations in ecosystems, and recent research demonstrates that microbial communities vary greatly across space and in response to environmental change. Therefore, parameters describing microbial communities may be key for improving predictions of how future global changes will impact ecosystem processes. For this reason, my dissertation research examined the effect of environmental changes on resident communities and determined how potential shifts in microbial community composition will impact litter decomposition rates. To accomplish this, I gathered litter samples from a chaparral ecosystem undergoing global change manipulations (elevated nitrogen availability or reduced precipitation), and characterized the microbial community using 454 high-throughput sequencing (Chapter 1). While microbial communities are much more variable through time, this research showed that microbial composition will likely shift in response to environmental change. I also examined the role of microbial community composition for a key ecosystem process, litter decomposition, and how that role changes under environmental perturbations. By isolating microbial taxa from the same ecosystem discussed above, I constructed artificial microbial communities with varying composition. I then conducted a laboratory experiment in which I subjected the communities to different global change manipulations and monitored decomposition rates and community composition (Chapter 2). Microbial composition had a main effect on leaf litter decomposition and also interacted with the environmental treatment, suggesting that future shifts in microbial communities will influence the magnitude in which environmental change affects ecosystem processes. Lastly, I investigated the functional and response traits of individual microbial taxa to better predict how microbial communities might respond to global change perturbations, and found that many functional traits displayed a phylogenetic pattern, but a taxa's response to increased temperature did not (Chapter 3). Ultimately, this set of studies further justifies the need to incorporate microbial communities into models and begins to identify which parameters might be most relevant.


The effects of TV violence have been widely studied from an experimental perspective, which, to a certain extent, neglects the interaction between broadcaster and recipient. This study proposes a complementary approach, which takes into account viewers' interpretation and construction of TV messages. Social dimensions influencing emotional experiences to TV violence will be identified and analyzed, as well as the way these emotions are construed in discourse, how they are linked to attitudes, ethical dimensions and courses of action. Eight focus groups (segmented by age, gender and educational level) were the basis of a discourse analysis that reconstructed the way audiences experience TV violence. Results show the importance of a first immediate emotional mobilisation, with references to complex emotions, and a second emotional articulation of experiences regarding repetition of scenes (type, classification and assessment of broadcasts), legitimacy (or lack thereof) of violent acts, and identification (or lack thereof) with main characters. In conclusion, the double impact (immediate and deferred) of emotions generates complex narratives that lead to a single course of action characterised by responsibility and guilt, which can only be taken into account by assuming the active role of viewer.


Processes of media answerability are important for the professional conduct of media organizations and their analysis allows a better understanding of the negotiation among public actors over journalistic practices perceived as deviant. By intersecting public criticism over perceived deviant political interviews with Israeli ombudsmen's responses to these complaints, our aims are to (1) characterize processes of media answerability within the institution of the ombudsman and in the open public arena; (2) identify diversions between the public and the ombudsmen perspectives regarding perceived deviating practices (over-aggressive and over-deferent style of interviewing) and their causes (political bias and violations of interpersonal codes of behavior); (3) pinpoint the outcomes of media answerability processes. Our findings suggest that while a disrespectful attitude toward public figures bothers the public more than an overly deferential approach, the ombudsmen tend to reject both types of complaint. At the causal level, while citizens point to interviewers' ideological bias as the main explanation for all types of deviations, the ombudsmen tend to accept complaints regarding violations of interpersonal codes of behavior and reject claims of political bias. In conclusion, we point to the advantages and limitations of a media answerability process.


Energy costs are the second largest source of variable costs for cotton gins. Previous studies of gin energy use have only considered a single, instantaneous reading of energy use or examined monthly utility bills. More detailed information is needed to identify management strategies and system designs that can reduce energy use. Electricity use was measured and fuel use was estimated from air flow and temperature measurements at two gins during the 2011 ginning season. Electricity use averaged 31.4 and 25.8 kWh bale-1, with cultivar having a significant effect on processing rate and electricity use. The first stage dryer LPG use was 1.25 L bale-1 (0.33 gal bale-1 and 1.45 L bale-1 (0.38 gal bale-1). Only one gin operated the burner for the second stage drying system, requiring 0.32 L bale-1 (0.08 gal bale-1) LPG. Moisture restoration system LPG use was 0.89 L bale-1 (0.23 gal bale-1) and 0.38 L bale-1 (0.10 gal bale-1), although the lower value represented data collected mostly during the wetter portion of the ginning season. Round modules required less fuel per bale than conventional modules, as more fuel was used to dry the ends of conventional modules. Higher processing rates reduced electricity and fuel use per bale at both gins. For maximum energy efficiency, cotton ginners should operate at full capacity as much as possible and avoid idling equipment during significant downtime. Proper seed cotton storage, particularly with conventional modules, is also necessary to reduce fuel use.


Three experiments are designed to test if the level of irrelevant prizes in the menu has a positive (assimilation) or negative (contrast) effect on the perceived valuation of target objects. Familiar field prizes and binary lotteries over such prizes are placed within "more-expensive" and "less-expensive" menus. Subjects fill-in a sequence of binary choice problems to reveal their preference between given cash and a designated prize from the menu. Between-subject comparisons reveal that the prize-level in the menu positively affects perceived valuations in spite of procedural attempts to rule out menu-dependent preferences and prohibit experimenter bias. The effect also shows within-subject in auction experiments: the price that subjects are willing to pay for given monetary lotteries significantly increases with the average payoff in the irrelevant-menu. The bias finally manifests even when subjects are led to choose the target lottery, independently, from the underlying menu.


: The design of a successful organization is related to its environment, according to Mr. Arrildt. He traces the organizational changes made by a large, complex teaching institution, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, in response to environmental change, and analyzes the place of radiology in the new structure.


In 1575 the Jesuit general in Rome issued an ordinance governing the use of music in the order9s rapidly expanding network of colleges. Motets, masses, hymns, "and other pious compositions" were to be retained; indecent and "vain" music was to be burned. Sixteen years later the Jesuits9 provincial administrator in Bavaria drew up a set of supplemental instructions, to which was appended a catalog of prohibited music as well as a complementary list of approved compositions (D-Mbs Clm 9237). Verbal texts treating drunkenness and erotic love account for the majority of banned pieces, but in some cases—a setting of the first verse of Psalm 137 by Orlando di Lasso, for example—the sound and style of the music led to its prohibition. Although intended for all colleges within the Jesuits9 Upper German province, this catalog apparently derives solely from a review of the music collection of Munich9s college on the occasion of its move in 1591 to a magnificent new building financed by the duke of Bavaria. Like the architecture and curriculum of the college, the music catalog reflected Bavaria9s new understanding of its role as principal post-Tridentine defender of the true faith. And, like the formal confessions of faith, catechisms, and service books promulgated by Europe9s Churches during the late sixteenth century, Bavaria9s catalog of prohibited music gave expression to an ideology of difference and exclusion that lies at the very heart of post-Reformation Christianity.


Book synopsis: The French Revolution of 1789 altered the face of power and the institutions it inhabited in France, and the aftershocks of this seismic change rippled throughout the nineteenth century. With power changing hands between monarchy, empires and republics in quick succession, the nature of power, both personal and political, and institutions, both real and metaphorical, was constantly being redefined, argued over and fought for. This volume provides innovative analyses of nineteenth-century power relations in France across a series of interlinked spheres: artistic, literary, cultural, political, scientific and topographical. Its seventeen chapters trace the direct impact of politics and the shifting power of regimes on the creative arts, and explore power relations in a wide range of contexts including novels, sculpture, painting, education, religion, science, museums and exhibitions across a wide geographical area from Paris to the provinces, southern France and the colonies. The contributors, all experts in their fields, assess the evolving relationship between institutions and power in nineteenth-century France, exploring how the nation debates its past, negotiates its present and, as the foundation of the Third Republic ushers in a period of relative stability, sets about creating its common future.


Computer methods are discussed which have been developed by the Medical Image processing Group (formerly at SUNY/Buffalo, now at the University of Pennsylvania) for the reconstruction of the beating human heart from x-ray projections. Two data collection modes are emphasized: the dynamic spatial reconstructor and gated cardiac scanning with a rotate-only (third-generation) computed tomography scanner. How the reconstructed beating heart can be displayed by means of dynamic computer graphics is also illustrated.


Robots that succeed in factories may struggle to complete even the simplest daily task that humans take for granted, because the change of environment makes the task exceedingly difficult. Aiming to teach robots to perform daily interactive manipulation in a changing environment using human demonstrations, we collected our own data of interactive manipulation. The dataset focuses on the position, orientation, force, and torque of objects manipulated in daily tasks. The dataset includes 1,603 trials of 32 types of daily motions and 1,596 trials of pouring alone, as well as helper code. We present our dataset to facilitate the research on task-oriented interactive manipulation.


JIPITEC 1 (2010) 1 - GPL enforcement is successful in Europe. In several court decisions and out of court
settlements the license conditions of the GPL have been successfully enforced. In particular, embedded
systems are the main focus of such compliance activities. The article describes the practice of
enforcement activities and the legal prerequisites under the application of German law.


The purpose of the study is to understand employee Green HR Practices and their implementation in Educational institutions located in Guntur. The well-being of employees has become an important issue in competitive market within the educational institutions. Many institutions conduct various Green HR Practices programs for understanding its effect and influence on employee organization commitment strategically. But some employees skip these programs as they are not aware about the benefits of participating in these programs. Conveniences of 125 respondents are finalized for the study out of 150 samples was 25 responses are inconsistent and semi-filled are removed for inclusion in the study. Through this study we try to explore that factors by which employees are interested to participate in the Green HR Practices program interventions in the organization. To test the model we used descriptive and inferential statistics. The correlation between the constructs resulted that they exhibit a high correlation and the regression was performed to identify the dependence relation between the constructs. It is found that the all the constructed hypothesis are positively and significantly show a meaningful relation with organizational commitment by interventions of Green HR Practices.


Since the advent of television obtaining high perceived quality using a limited bandwidth has been an important issue. This thesis proposes methods inspired and based on the human visual system for exploitation of temporal and perceptual redundancy in image sequences to achieve lower coding rate and/ or higher visual quality. Particularly relevant in the present context are the indications that the visual cortex contains cells that are selective in orientation and frequency but invariant to the phase of the stimuli. For this reason and for computational efficiency, a spatial quadrature filter bank is generated initially using combinations of simple sequential 1D filter kernels.The temporal redtmdancy is reduced using motion compensated prediction. Motion compensation predicts the frame to be transmitted by moving the previous decoded frame according to its motion, so called backward coding. This means that no information about motion needs to be transmitted to the decoder. The irregular sampling of the prediction, due to motion estimates with sub-pixel accuracy, is dealt with using a new method, continuous normalized convolution. Image values on an interlaced sampling grid are estimated from the irregularly sampled predictions using integration of signals and certainties over a neighbourhood employing a local model of both the signal and the integration filter. The motion is estimated from products of quadrature filter bank responses, generating phasebased channels tuned for velocity. This new approach includes learning parameters for motion estimation and introduces multiple hierarchical motion estimation toachieve estimates with high spatial resolution.Using the quadrature filter bank a new quality estimator, based on a human visual system model, is generated. The quality estimator can be used to reduce the perceptual redundancy of non-visible errors and is intended to improve coding performance in such regions.


We study by molecular dynamics the structural properties of single layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) in comparison to graphene. We show that the Tersoff bond order potential developed for BN by Albe et al (1997 Radiat. Eff. Defects Solids 141 85–97) gives a thermally stable hexagonal single layer with a bending constant κ = 0.54 eV at T = 0. We find that the non-monotonic behaviour of the lattice parameter, the expansion of the interatomic distance and the growth of the bending rigidity with temperature are qualitatively similar to those of graphene. Conversely, the energetics of point defects is extremely different: instead of Stone–Wales defects, the two lowest energy defects in h-BN involve either a broken bond or an out-of-plane displacement of a N atom to form a tetrahedron with three B atoms in the plane. We provide the formation energies and an estimate of the energy barriers.


In every issue we present consumer perceptions of brands. This pictorial snap is based on the five tested and validated constituents of brand equity. The current issue contains the brand image of Motor cycles.


Abstract. ZrB2-SiC ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTCs) was hot-pressed at a temperature of 1900°C with the addition of carbon black as a reinforcing phase. Microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated. Analysis revealed that the amount of carbon black had a significant influence on the sinterability and mechanical properties of ZrB2-SiC ceramics. When a small amount ( < 10 vol.%) of carbon black was introduced, it may react with oxide impurities (i.e. ZrO2, B2O3 and SiO2) present on the surface of the starting powder, thus promote the densification and grain refining of ZrB2-SiC ceramics. As a result, the mechanical properties including flexural strength and fracture toughness were improved. However, with the further adoption of carbon black, mechanical properties were not improved much, which could be attributed to the redundant phase at grain boundaries. The results presented here point to a potential method for improving densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of ZrB2-based ceramic composites.


The most well-known and widely-used algorithm for computing the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) of an m x n rectangular matrix A nowadays is the Golub-Reinsch algorithm [1971]. In this paper, it is shown that by (1) first triangularizing the matrix A by Householder transformations before bidiagonalizing it, and (2) accumulating some left transformations on a n x n array instead of on an m x n array, the resulting algorithm is often more efficient than the Golub-Reinsch algorithm, especially for matrices with considerably more rows than columns (m << n), such as in least squares applications. The two algorithms are compared in terms of operation counts, and computational experiments that have been carried out verify the theoretical comparisons. The modified algorithm is more efficient even when m is only slightly greater than n, and in some cases can achieve as much as 50% savings when m << n. If accumulation of left transformations is desired, then $n^2$ extra storage locations are required (relatively small if m << n), but otherwise no extra storage is required. The modified algorithm uses only orthogonal transformations and is therefore numerically stable. In the Appendix, we give the Fortran code of a hybrid method which automatically selects the more efficient of the two algorithms to use depending upon the input values for m and n.


There is a gross paucity of science communication researches in Nigeria and no research data exists on engagement in science communication between science and communication scholars in Nigeria. This gap necessitated this study. To gather data, we analyzed twelve departmental handbooks of six universities offering science and communication courses to determine the extent to which science communication was provided for in their curricula. We also conducted interviews with science and communication leaders in the selected twelve departments in the six universities to gauge their involvement in science communication. Some of the key findings were that both science and communication disciplines did not give science communication a commendable emphasis. Also, many academic leaders interviewed did not actually get involved in various science communication activities examined. Based on these findings, we conclude that science communication pedagogy, practice, and scholarship in Nigeria are very low. Therefore, it is recommended that science and communication scholars include more science communication courses into their academic curricula, and get more deeply involved in public and citizen science, media science, and virtual/online science communication efforts. These steps, it is believed, would help advance science communication in Nigeria.


Low shrinkage is an important parameter in marketing of dried lime fruits. An experiment conducted in order to evaluate affective factors on shrinkage coefficient of a dried lime fruit. Factors are defined as position of rest (vertical and horizontal), mechanical processing (length needling, width needling, slotting and intact or no processing) , and temperature (shadow dried, sun dried, 40 o C, 105 o C and 200 o C). Measured characters on a fruit were initial volume, final volume , and shrinkage coefficient. The average initial moisture content of limes was 476 % kg (kg db) -1 . The position factor had no significant effect on shrinkage coefficient , but mechanical processing and temperature affected the final volume and consequently the shrinkage coefficient of samples. Also different influence of temperature in various mechanical processing was observed. The best treatment was drying in 40 o C and with width needling because low shrinkage was obtained moreover nutritive value of fruits can be conserved with low energy consuming. Keywords: Lime, s hrinkage, d rying, m echanical processing and temperature


Multimode feed network is an important part of shortwave multimode multifeed antenna system. The design of feed network is a pivotal technique in the process of projecting antenna system. The substructure analyzing method of interconnect-net is based on the substructure matrix database which is formed by converting the net parameters into data. And it characterizes the non-uniform net units through the database directly. Then cascades the known database of the net units by means of ordinary net cascade method, thus performing optimization in the net. In the paper, the Substructure Analyzing Method of Interconnect-net is applied to designing multi-mode multi-feed network, a typical example of multi-mode multi-feed network optimization is given to illustrate the efficiency of the method.


The aim of this work is to study the possible use of stone cutting sludge waste in concrete production, which would reduce both the environmental impact and the production cost .Slurry sludge was used a source of water in concrete production, which was obtained from Samara factory/Jordan, The physico-chemical and mineralogical characterization of the sludge was carried out to identify the major components and to compare it with the typical sand used to produce concrete. Samples analysis showed that 96% of slurry sludge volume is water, so it should be considered as an important source of water. Results indicated that the use of slurry sludge as water source in concrete production has insignificant effect on compression strength, while it has a sharp effect on the slump values. Using slurry sludge with a percentage of 25% of the total water content obtained successful concrete samples regarding slump and compression tests. To clarify slurry sludge, settling process can be used to remove the suspended solid. A settling period of 30 min. obtained 99% removal efficiency. The clarified water is suitable for using in concrete mixes, which reduce water consumption, conserve water recourses, increase the profit, reduce operation cost and save the environment. Additionally, the dry sludge could be used in the mix design instead of the fine materials with sizes < 160 μm. This application could conserve the natural materials and solve the environmental and economical problem caused by sludge accumulation.


Migration is an important global phenomenon fostering entrepreneurship. Migrants are individuals who are moving or have moved across an international border, or nationally across different regions or provinces, away from their habitual place of residence (UN Migration Agency, 2019). These individuals are considered migrants regardless of what their legal status is, whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary, what the causes for the movement are, or what the length of the stay is (UN Migration Agency, 2019). Migrants also move back to their countries of origin, constituting return migration, and often contribute to the development of local economies in multiple ways (e.g., Riddle & Brinkerhoff, 2011; Dahles, 2013; Bai et al. 2016). Migrants form ethnic communities and engage in businesses which are influenced by place and space (Light et al., 1994; Dana 2007; Galbraith et al., 2007; Urbano et al., 2011; Elo & Vemuri, 2016; Munkejord, 2017; Ramadani et al., 2019). When migrants cross national and international geographical borders, they connect markets within and/or beyond one country, leading to valuable economic development (Evansluong, 2016; Ram et al., 2017; Ojo, 2017; Elo et al., 2019a; Jones et al., 2019).

As migrants move around the world, they establish and maintain contacts with their family members in different countries. Family is recognized as a resource and an institution for entrepreneurship, which provides a basis for trust, collective actions, and a sense of community (Jack & Anderson, 2002; Aldrich & Cliff, 2003). Yet, because of migration, the meaning and roles of family span borders and contexts. Migrant entrepreneurs sustain and create family configurations and ties with other individuals in the place of origin and the place of residence (Evansluong & Ramirez-Pasillas, 2019), which we term 'family across borders'. The literature on migrant entrepreneurship acknowledges that cross-borders activities among migrants occur to varying degrees. Some migrants maintain strong connections with their country of origin at the same time they become part of their country of residence. By contrast, other migrants reduce interaction or terminate connections to their home country in search of a better life in the country of residence (Waldinger, 2013; Park & Waldinger, 2017). Migrants can create a family with a person from the same country of origin, from the country of residence, or from a different nationality. They can choose to remain single but still keep close interactions with extended families. Such family configurations and ties might exercise an influence on entrepreneurial activities and processes, but this potential is still left unexplored (Aldrich & Cliff, 2003).


Recent work on information survival in sensor and human P2P networks try to study the datum preservation or the virus spreading in a network under the dynamical system approach. Some interesting solutions propose to use non-linear dynamical systems and fixed point stability theorems, providing closed form formulas that depend on the largest eigenvalue of the dynamic system matrix. Given that in the Web there can be messages from one place to another, and that these messages can be, with some probability, new unclassified virus warning messages as well as worms or other kind of viruses, the sites can be infected very fast. The question to answer is how and when a network infection can become global and how it can be controlled or at least how to stabilize the spreading in such a way that it becomes confined below a fixed portion of the network. In this paper, we try to be a step ahead in this direction and apply classic results of the dynamical systems theory to model the behavior of a network where warning messages and viruses spread.


N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-mediated synaptic responses in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells are depressed during NMDAR-dependent long-term depression (LTD) due to mechanisms, in part, distinct from those underlying LTD of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR)-mediated synaptic responses. The mechanisms underlying dedepression of synaptic NMDARs, however, are not known. We find that dedepression of NMDAR-mediated synaptic responses in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus is input specific and does not require synaptic stimulation to be maintained. The induction of dedepression does not require activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors, L-type Ca(2+) channels, or release of Ca(2+) from intracellular stores. It does, however, rely on activation of NMDARs. In contrast to the dedepression of AMPAR-mediated synaptic responses, dedepression of NMDAR-mediated synaptic responses does not depend on activation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, protein kinase C, cAMP-dependent protein kinase, or Src kinases. However, dedepression of synaptic NMDARs is significantly impaired by inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling. Specifically, inhibitors of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 prevented normal dedepression of synaptic NMDARs by a mechanism that did not require protein synthesis. These results provide further evidence that synaptic NMDARs can be bidirectionally modified by activity but by mechanisms distinct from those responsible for the activity-dependent, bidirectional modulation of synaptic AMPARs.


This study presents heat transfer rate and temperature distributions for the prediction of each component in an air-cooled motorcycle engines. The 3-D finite element method was used to solve the temperature field and heat transfer rate for each component (intake valves, exhaust valves, piston, piston rings, cylinder head and cylinder) of motorcycle engine when the piston is in TDC and BDC. The results shows that the fractions of heat transfer rate for each component are as follows: intake valves 11%, exhaust valves 8%, cylinder head 21%, the piston 35% and the cylinder 25%. And the temperature measurement value is in good agreement with experimental data within 20%.


This thesis primarily aims to examine the causal relationships among the integration strategies of seaport terminals along the supply chain, and the antecedents and consequences of the integration strategies. In this thesis integration strategy is termed Port Supply Chain Integration (PSCI) and the antecedents and the consequences of PSCI were identified and termed as Port Supply Chain Orientation (PSCO) and Port Performance (PP). A research model representing these causal relationships was developed through a comprehensive literature review and a semi-structured interview with practitioners and academics. The research used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to validate the constructs and rigorously test the relationships among them. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis was conducted in order to assess the applicability of the research model to different environments. The multi-group analysis tested whether the research model can be applied to two sample ports (A and B) and two sample groups (terminal operating companies and port users). The data used in these empirical analyses were collected from terminal operating companies, shipping companies and freight forwarders in South Korea, and the number of responses was 127. With regard to the results and findings of the empirical research, firstly, the three constructs, PSCO, PSCI and PP were successfully validated with the components identified from the literature review and interviews indicating that the three constructs are multi-dimensional concepts. Secondly, the empirical research showed that PSCO has a strong contribution to PSCI, and PSCI has a strong and positive impact on PP. Additionally PSCO, in turn, was found to influence positively and indirectly on PP through implementing PSCI. Finally the multi-group analysis showed that the research model can be equally applied to the two sample ports. However, the invariance test across two sample groups failed since a baseline model for the invariance test was not established. In conclusion, this thesis suggests that the integration strategy of ports along supply chains (PSCI) should be firmly based on a strong orientation to supply chain integration (PSCO) within individual seaport terminals, and the successful implementation of this strategy necessarily involves significant improvement of performance of the terminals (PP). It is also emphasised that these suggestions are valid across terminals with different operational and managerial characteristics such as hub port vs. feeder port and container port vs. non-container port.


BACKGROUND
Mutations of the CYP24A1 gene, which encodes the 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-24-hydroxylase cytochrome P450, Cyp24A1, are predicted to result in elevated 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D concentrations, hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, nephrolithiasis, and bone disease. Treatment of hypercalcemia associated with CYP24A1 gene mutations has not been described.

METHODS
The genetic basis of a syndrome in a 44-yr-old Caucasian male characterized by intermittent hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, elevated serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, undetectable serum 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, metabolically active nephrolithiasis, and reduced bone mineral density of the lumbar spine was examined. Sequencing of the CYP24A1 gene and biochemical and genetic analysis of seven family members in three generations was carried out. Because of hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, and metabolically active nephrolithiasis, the patient was treated with a cytochrome 3A inhibitor, ketoconazole, 200 mg orally every 8 h, for 2 months.

RESULTS
The sequence of the CYP24A1 gene showed two canonical splice junction mutations in the proband. Analysis of family members showed a phenotype associated one or both mutations, suggesting autosomal dominant transmission with partial penetrance of the trait. After therapy with ketoconazole, statistically significant reductions in previously elevated urinary calcium into the normal range were noted. Previously elevated serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and calcium concentrations decreased, and previously decreased PTH concentrations increased into the normal range, but the differences were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS
In a syndrome characterized by intermittent hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, elevated 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, undetectable 24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D concentrations, splice junction mutations of the CYP24A1 gene, and autosomal dominant transmission of the trait, treatment with ketoconazole is useful in reducing urinary calcium.


The objective of present study is to examine the user's satisfaction level of library sources and services in Pushpalata Vidya Mandir CBSE School, Tirunelveli. 100 questionnaires were distributed among the students to collect relevant data out of which, 95 questionnaires were received back. The findings of the study shows that 51 (53.68%) of the respondents were male. Majority of the respondents (48.42%) were visit to the library everyday.(47.37%) of the respondents were use the library to borrow books.41.05% of the respondents were mostly prefer books as the needed information sources followed by periodicals (29.47%) and e-resources (12.63%). (38.95%) were felt that inadequate resources as the barriers in using library resources. (37.89%) were use library staff as the source consulted to locate information needed. Respondents are satisfied with the physical facilities of the library such as furniture and ranked as first. Level of satisfaction of library services stated that majority of the respondents are highly satisfied with the reprographic service. The study recommended that the librarian should concrete in creating awareness, reading habits and the utility of library sources and services through user education at regular intervals.


This paper aims to explore the level of manufacturing performance, environmental actions and customer activities in implementing green supply chain initiatives. Besides, the relationship between environmental actions and customer activities towards manufacturing performance also been investigated. For this purposes, the data was collected using questionnaire-based survey among Malaysian manufacturing firms. Using the descriptive and correlation test, the data was analyzed. From the results, it is showing that the manufacturing performance through the implementation of green supply chain management has a positive relationship to environmental action and customer activities.


Objective: The determination of airborne fungal spore concentrations can be useful in the diagnosis and follow-up of allergic diseases. The first aim was to investigate the effects of meteorologic factors on the changes of fungal spore concentrations atmosphere. The second aim was to test the usage of cell protein extracts which obtained from these atmospheric fungi in skin prick tests. Materials and Methods: The fungal spores were collected by means of a Burkard seven-day recording volumetric trap. Daily concentrations of Cladosporium and Alternaria spores have been recorded. The effects of the meteorological factors like temperature and relative humidity on the variation of spore concentrations have been investigated. Additionally, total cell protein extracts were prepared from fungi; these extracts were used in skin prick tests of 35 children with fungal allergy and 20 children as control group: the results were compared with standart fungal allergens. Results: During the study period, total 1.537.307 fungal spores were counted; 1.117.763 (73%) of them were defined as Cladosporium and 419.544 (%27) were Alternaria. The number of Cladosporium and Alternaria spores reached to maximum level at may with 314.477 of Cladosporium and 159.291 of Alternaria. The increase in number of fungal spores was detected especially in the presence of temperature between 15-25°C and in humidity of 60- 70%. The fungal extracts prepared in this study did not caused any reaction when applied in skin prick tests of the control group; in the fungal allergic children, the response of hyperemia and enduration was very similar to the those of the standart fungal allergens. Conclusion: The fungal spore concentrations in Adana were above the allergic threshold levels; and could be affected by various meteorologic factors. Additionally, when compared with the standart fungal allergens, the usage of protein extracts obtained from the atmospheric fungi in skin prick tests was found success full.


A protein of molecular weight ∼ 12,000 which binds long-chain fatty acids and certain other lipids has been identified in cytosol of intestinal mucosa, liver, myocardium, adipose tissue, and kidney. Binding is noncovalent and is greater for unsaturated than for saturated and medium-chain fatty acids. This protein appears to be identical with the smaller of two previously described cytoplasmic anion-binding proteins. Binding of long-chain fatty acids by this protein is greater than that of other anions tested, including sulfobromophthalein, and does not depend on negative charge alone. The presence of this binding protein may explain previously observed differences in intestinal absorption among fatty acids, and the protein may participate in the utilization of long-chain fatty acids by many mammalian tissues.


A general notion of robustness for robust adaptive beamforming (RAB) problem and a unified principle for minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) RAB techniques design are formulated. This principle is to use standard MVDR beamformer in tandem with an estimate of the desired signal steering vector found based on some imprecise prior information. Differences between various MVDR RAB techniques occur only because of the differences in the assumed prior information and the corresponding signal steering vector estimation techniques. A new MVDR RAB technique, which uses as little as possible and easy to obtain imprecise prior information, is developed. The objective for estimating the steering vector is the maximization of the beamformer output power, while the constraints are the normalization condition and the requirement that the estimate does not converge to any of the interference steering vectors and their linear combinations. The prior information used is only the imprecise knowledge of the antenna array geometry and angular sector in which the actual steering vector lies. Mathematically, the proposed MVDR RAB is expressed as the well known non-convex quadratically constrained quadratic programming problem with two constraints, which can be efficiently and exactly solved. Some new results for the corresponding optimization problem such as a new algebraic way of finding the rank-one solution from the general-rank solution of the relaxed problem and the condition under which the solution of the relaxed problem is guaranteed to be rank-one are derived. Our simulation results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over other previously developed RAB techniques.