This paper examines the impact of financial covenants on the use of accounting conservatism in debt contracting. Using a relatively new database on global loan contracts, we find that the association between conservatism and debtholder-stockholder conflicts increases with the intensity of financial covenants and that this association is significant only in countries with a relatively high intensity of financial covenants. In addition, we show that the effect of financial covenants is not sensitive to controlling for other institutional factors (such as legal origin, importance of the debt markets, or ownership concentration) that are used in prior studies to proxy for the contracting demand of accounting. Our additional analysis also finds that the cost of debt is negatively associated with the debt contracting component of conservatism worldwide. Overall, these results are consistent with the use of financial covenants being an important mechanism for conservatism to mitigate debtholder-stockholder conflicts. Our study contributes to the literature by being the first to measure the use of financial covenants worldwide and directly document its impact on the contracting demand of accounting.


During the process of production of composite heat-resistant materials the ground metallurgical slag can be used as the main component of a binder. The article describes the basic physical, mechanical and thermal properties of the slags under investigation.


The research was funded by the SARCHI Chair of mammal behavioural ecology and
physiology from the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research
Foundation, South Africa (to N.C Bennett). We also acknowledge a bursary from the NRF (to P.R de Bruin).


The effects of electrocoagulation on COD removal of Nam Phong swine slaughterhouse wastewater (Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) were investigated in this paper. For this purpose, response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to investigate the effects of three operating conditions on COD removal by electrocoagulation (EC) with iron electrodes. A central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the EC process and to evaluate the individual and interaction effects of current density, electrolysis time, and initial pH. The results, based on statistical analysis, showed that the quadratic models for COD removal efficiency were significant at very low probability value (<0.0001) and high coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.9754). Optimal conditions for COD removal were established at 130 A/m2 current density, 9.5 min electrolysis time, and initial pH 8.5, in which a removal of 97.3% was achieved. Operating costs and sludge production at the optimum operating conditions were also calculated for the treatment process.


This report presents the findings of a study looking at the housing needs and
experiences of Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrants living and working in
Harlow and Broxbourne. The research was commissioned by Harlow District and
Broxbourne Borough Councils in January 2010 through the Migration Impacts Fund.
This funding was created by money collected from migrant communities (for example
through visas) and allocated to all regions of England for projects which focus on
understanding and managing the impacts of migration at a local level.
The study was conducted by Salford Housing & Urban Studies Unit (SHUSU) at the
University of Salford. The study was greatly aided by research support from a
number of community interviewers. The project was managed by a steering group
composed of officers representing Harlow District and Broxbourne Borough Council.


No person proposed to the early Royal Society has a less certain biography than Giles Rawlins. A 'Mr. Rawlins' was proposed as a candidate for election on 26 December 1660 in a group of seven. The other members of this group were Robert Boyle, Henry Oldenburg, John Denham, Elias Ashmole, John Evelyn and Nathaniel Henshaw. But whereas these six other men are greater or lesser luminaries of the Society, Rawlins is a blank. R. E. W. Maddison in 1960 could only 'suggest' his likely identity; and Michael Hunter in The Royal Society and its Fellows (1982 and 1994) went no further than Maddison.1 Following my discovery in the National Library of Ireland of Rawlins's only autograph letter, it is possible for the first time to confirm his identity. Further, this discovery allows the reconstruction of the rest of Rawlins's life: his upbringing as the son of a minor diplomat; his work in the Interregnum as a cross-Channel royalist messenger; his consequent rise and reward in the Duke of York's household; and his death in one of the most notorious duels of the Restoration.


Microorganisms have been used to improve soil structure in sandy soils; extracellular polysaccharide (EPS)-producing bacteria are believed to be useful for improving soil water-holding capacity. Some industries have already produced polysaccharides like xanthan and chitosan from microbes, but for economic reasons, growing microorganisms in situ to directly produce EPS is being considered. In this paper, we examined Lactobacillus sakei, a facultative anaerobic bacterium, as a potential producer of EPS in situ. Lactobacillus sakei strain CY1 is a member of a genus of microaerophilic bacteria known as food fermentation starters, which can produce bacteriocin and secrete polysaccharides. To determine the success of L. sakei CY1 as a biological agent for the improvement of soil quality, we examined the effect of L. sakei CY1 on soil aggregation in indoor experiments. The extent of aggregation was determined after 28 days of cultivation using a variety of carbon sources, such as glucose, fructose, galactose, xylose, and sucrose, on soil media. We compared these results with those obtained using organic fertilizer and commercial soil stabilizers like xanthan and chitosan. When the optimum nutrient sources were used in soil media (sucrose as a carbon source and ammonium chloride as a nitrogen source), the EPS-producing bacteria were just as successful at binding soil particles as the commercial soil stabilizers xanthan and chitosan. Lactoacillus sakei CY1 had caused 75 - 85% of soil particles to adhere to each other and build up macro-aggregates (> 250 μm). These results indicate that in sandy soils, L. sakei CY1 can potentially be used as a binder to improve soil structure.


The purpose of the present review was to explore the mechanisms of addition of 9-cis, 11-trans and 10-trans, 12-cis conjugated linoleic acid (ALC) isomers to dairy cow diets and their relationship to milk yield. Both isomers are formed by isomerization of linoleic acid by the rumen bacteria Butyrivibrio fibrisolvens. They can also be produced by desaturation of vaccenic acid (11-trans 18:1) in the small intestine and liver of dairy cows. In humans, consumption of these isomers is associated to hypocholesterolemic, antiatherogenic functions, stimulating the immune system, providing protection against certain types of cancer, as an antioxidant and stimulating drops in body weight too. In contrast, dairy cows fed with both isomers show an increase in milk yield associated to reduced milkfat content. Isomer 9-cis, 11-trans is responsible for increases in milk yield; whereas 10-trans, 12-cis is related to a drop in milk fat. Energy partition has a big impact on reducing postpartum negative energy balance. This is associated to an increase in cow reproductive activity and condition. Milk fat depression owing to either conjugated linoleic acid isomers or milk fat depressing diets can be explained through presence of fat synthesis inhibitors. In conclusion, addition of both isomers to dairy cow diets during lactation do not affect DMI, body weight and condition and protein yield. Quite the reverse, addition of both isomers to dairy cow diets during lactation increases milk yield and diminishes milk fat content.


This research expands upon organizational ecology theory to examine variations in founding of organizations in the formalized sector of the environmental justice movement across U.S. counties for two time periods (1990—1999 and 2000—2008). Cross-movement effects are examined to determine if founding is more or less likely to occur in counties where related civil rights and environmental organizations are located. Consistent with the notion of agglomeration effects, we hypothesize that during the 1990s the relationship among civil rights density, environmental density, and environmental justice founding is positive and suggests cooperative efforts. That is, environmental justice organizations should form in counties where civil rights organizations and environmental organizations exist. Because the focus of environmental justice organizations may have expanded over time and created a more competitive atmosphere, cross-movement relationships that were positive across counties during the 1990s are hypothesized to turn negative across counties during the 2000s. Multivariate analysis suggests mixed support for these hypotheses. Specifically, civil rights density is positively associated with environmental justice founding during the 1990s and negatively associated with environmental justice founding during the 2000s—suggesting potential cooperative and then competitive effects across counties over time. However, the correlations between environmental density and environmental justice founding, while positive and statistically significant during the 1990s, are not statistically significant during the 2000s. Thus, in the case of organizations in the formalized sector of the environmental and environmental justice movements it appears that there is a trend toward competitive effects even as those effects have yet to materialize.


In Handwritten Character Recognition, zoning is rigtly considered as one of the most effective feature extraction techniques. In the past, many zoning methods have been proposed, based on static and dynamic zoning design strategies. Notwithstanding, little attention has been paid so far to the role of function-zone membership functions, that define the way in which a feature influences different zones of the pattern. In this paper the effectiveness of membership functions for zoning-based classification is investigated. For the purpose, a useful representation of zoning methods based on Voronoi Diagram is adopted and several membership functions are considered, according to abstract -- , ranked- and measurement-levels strategies. Furthermore, a new class of membership functions with adaptive capabilities is introduced and a real-coded genetic algorithm is proposed to determine both the optimal zoning and the adaptive membership functions most profitable for a given classification problem. The experimental tests, carried out in the field of handwritten digit recognition, show the superiority of adaptive membership functions compared to traditional functions, whatever zoning method is used.


In this paper, the characters and the existing problems of the relationship between the enterprise and the trade association are analyzed based on the Principal-Agent theory, and how to construct the mechanism of supervision and motivation in the relationship is discussed on the standpoint of enterprises.


The conductivity of cathode and the activity of catalyst coated on cathode are critical to the electricity-generating capacity of AFBMFC.Carbon cloth cathode was loaded with a small amount of silver to investigate its influence for the conductivity of cathode.Then,four kinds of Pt/Co catalysts were prepared and coated to the cathode.The performance of AFBMFC was examined after the cathode was reformed.The results indicated that the performance of AFBMFC was improved remarkably when the carbon base layer was loaded with silver.With the addition of 0.7 mg Ag·cm-2,the maximum output voltage and volumetric power density of AFBMFC increased to 154% and 330% of the original values respectively.PtCo catalysts annealed at 600℃ showed higher catalytic activity than that annealed at 950℃.The power generation of AFBMFC was much higher than those investigated by other researchers,although the dosage of Pt was reduced to half.


Nowadays,lots of physics experimenters use Chauvenet's Criterion as a tool to reject bad data points.But it has the disadvantages of uneven probability distribution,which will cause an error in rejection.This article aim to take the experiment——Measuring Eletriomotive Force and Internal Resistance in Direct Circuit as an example,and apply Origin as a linear fitting tool and editor program to achieve rejection in two ways.Discussion based on the difference between results,is comparing Chauvenet's Criterion to Grubbs's Criterion in two aspects——the number of measurements and significant level.Conclusion,the criteria should be selected based on these two.


Rhizobia are rod-shaped bacteria that form nitrogen-fixing root nodules on leguminous plants, but they don't carry MreB, a key determinant of rod-like cell shape. Here, we introduced an actin-like mreB homologue from pseudomonad into Mesorhizobium huakuii 7653R (a microsymbiont of Astragalus sinicus L.) and examined the molecular, cellular and symbiotic phenotypes of the resultant mutant. Exogenous mreB caused an enlarged cell size and slower growth in laboratory medium. However, the mutant formed small ineffective nodules on A. sinicus (Nod+ Fix-), and rhizobial cells in the infection zone were unable to differentiate into bacteroids. RNA-seq analysis also revealed minor effects of mreB on global gene expression in free-living cells but larger effects for cells grown in planta. Differentially expressed nodule-specific genes include cell cycle regulators such as the tubulin-like ftsZ1 and ftsZ2. Unlike the ubiquitous FtsZ1, FtsZ2 was commonly found in Rhizobium, Sinorhizobium and Mesorhizobium, but not in closely related non-symbiotic species. Bacterial Two-Hybrid analysis revealed that MreB interacts with FtsZ1 and FtsZ2, which are targeted by the host-derived NCR peptides. Significantly, MreB mutation D283A disrupted the protein-protein interactions and restored the aforementioned phenotypic defects caused by MreB in M. huakuii. Together, our data indicate that MreB is detrimental for modern rhizobia and its interaction with FtsZ1/FtsZ2 cause the symbiotic process to cease at the late stage of bacteroid differentiation. These findings led to a hypothesis that loss of mreB in the common ancestor of Rhizobiales and subsequent acquisition of ftsZ2 are critical evolutionary steps leading to legume-rhizobial symbiosis.


the BaPhuthi as a culturally hybrid, ethnogenetic polity that attracted and discharged a disparate following as needed, while maintaining a degree of solidarity and chiefly hierarchy. The thesis details the BaPhuthi's peripatetic settlement strategy: BaPhuthi leaders established multiple dispersed political seats throughout their territories south of the Senqu River, which they would frequently activate and deactivate, enabling them to settle their heterogeneous following within their territories. It then explores archaeological corollaries of BaPhuthi lifeways: historical analysis suggests that the BaPhuthi's archaeological footprint would be ephemeral (despite their polity's regional significance), and archaeological approaches to Iron Age Farming Communities (based in the historical identities described above) currently do not fully accommodate polities such as the BaPhuthi. The thesis discusses a methodology designed to address the archaeology of the BaPhuthi polity and its results. Considering how the BaPhuthi fashioned a diverse, heterodox chiefdom that manipulated the ambiguities of colonial rule encourages revisiting prevailing conceptions of how cultural identities and economies are rooted in contingent historical circumstances; drawing on comparative cases from North and South America suggests revising longstanding views of the Maloti-Drakensberg as a marginal colonial theatre and repositioning heterodox actors as capable of influencing the terms of colonial encounters.


in English The introduction of packet-switched telephony in the form of VoIP raises concerns about current regulatory practice. Access regulation has been designed for traditional telephony on PSTN networks. In this paper, we analyze the effect of access regulation and retail price regulation of PSTN networks on the adoption of a new technology in the form of VoIP. In particular, we show that with endogenous consumer choice between PSTN and VoIP telephony, higher prices for terminating access to the PSTN network make VoIP less likely to succeed and lead to lower profits of operators that offer VoIP telephony exclusively. JEL-Classification: L96, L51, L13.


Having a shared bit line sense amplifier of a semiconductor memory device. The semiconductor memory device comprising: a bit line sense amplifier for the data applied to the bit line pair is amplified; upper bit line disconnection means, responsive to the off signal on the bit line to the bit line the sense amplifier from the bit lines of the upper portion of the cell array is selectively disconnected; lower bit line disconnection unit for disconnecting a response signal at the bit line of the bit line sense amplifier from the bit line a lower cell array for selective disconnection; upper bit line equalizing means, responsive to the off signal at the bit line of the upper cell array bit line equalization; and the bit line equalizing means, in response to which the bit line of the bit line disconnection signal on the lower portion of the cell array equalization.


Decisions are usually made based on the amount of information available at a given time, and thus, the time when a decision is made is critical to its quality, especially in uncertain environments. Following the concepts of Atanassov's temporal intuitionistic fuzzy sets (ATIFSs), this paper proposes time-validating Atanassov's intuitionistic fuzzy sets (TvAIFSs) to make an earlier decision based on the desired information level. Several useful theorems that extend the concepts of ATIFSs are derived to supplement some definitions of TvAIFSs. Three measures are developed to improve decision making within a time horizon. A numerical example is used to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed theorems and measures of TvAIFSs in which the subjective and objective decision time-moments are determined based on a decision-maker's attitude and the optimal profit, respectively.


The problem of interpolation in a Riemannian manifold (M, g) discussed in [9] (using variational techniques on a suitable functional fra-mework) is here reviewed, stating the main existence results for minimizers and multiplicity and regularity results for critical points of the involved functional f .


An IR spectroscopic study is reported of the surface acidity of V-SBA-15 and V-MCF materials with comparable vanadium content (ca. 2.5% by weight), prepared by either direct synthesis or impregnation. Acidity of the V–OH species formed is measured spectroscopically by CO adsorption. Different acidic strength is found depending on the synthesis method and irrespective of the porous morphology: stronger sites occur in impregnated samples, due to the formation of poly-vanadates and/or micro-crystalline vanadia; weaker sites are formed by direct synthesis, during which V atoms enter the silica matrix. Adsorption of ammonia at room temperature reveals the presence of Bronsted acidic sites on hydrated samples and of corresponding Lewis acidic sites on dehydrated samples. By comparing IR data from CO and NH3 adsorption experiments, a scale of Bronsted acidity is drawn for the different surface hydroxyls species, which correlates with the activity in the Oxidative De-Hydrogenation of propane, as a lower acidic strength of


The enzyme activities in the plasma of C. gariepinus juveniles and adults subjected to handling stress in the laboratory was carried out. Blood samples were collected from the fish and analyzed with standard methods. Results obtained indicate that Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Alanine transaminase (ALT), and Aspartate transaminase (AST) were significantly elevated (P<0.05) in all the handling procedures under consideration. These alterations were more pronounced in the fish exposed to starvation and sorting. An indication that fish exposed to these handling activities were more stressed than fish in procedures.


Non-autotrophic ("dark") 14CO2 metabolism and associated acid accumulation were studied in the Cactaceae. Carbon dioxide assimilation and oxygen uptake were generally lower than in crassulacean succulents. The primary products were organic acids (malic acid) and amino acids. Little or no 14C activity was detected in lipoidal or neutral components. After a 2-hr dark CO2 fixation period, the first-order rate constant for steady-state decarboxylation in the dark was 1.7 x 10-3 min-1 and in the light was 0.2 x 10-3 min-1. The greater rate in the dark was reflected in the decay of the primary product, malic acid. The slower rate in the light was accounted for by photosynthetic reassimilation of 14CO2. In part, the observed diurnal fluctuation of organic acids may be explained in terms of steady-state decarboxylation. In the dark carboxylation evidently exceeds decarboxylation, and organic acids accumulate. In the light much of the available CO2 would be assimilated by photosynthetic carboxylation reactions so that non-autotrophic carboxylation may be less than steady-state decarboxylation. Thus, a diurnal fluctuation of organic acids would result.


Key navigation issues and capabilities relating to the Voyager 2 Uranus/Neptune mission are presented. Predicted navigation performance at each encounter body (Uranus, Neptune, and Triton) is examined relative to mission navigation requirements and science return capabilities. Orbit determination accuracies are presented for several radio data types and for combinations of radio data with two optical data types. Maneuver strategies designed to accommodate the orbit determination results and satisfy mission navigation requirements are examined. Possible alternate aimpoints and contingency strategies are developed for situations of unexpected loss of propellant or optical navigation capability.


Aluminum alloy is a lightweight material with high strength-to-weight ratio, low thermal expansion, excellent castability and is applied for heavy wear applications. Recent trends in machining research aimed for improving process and product performance by understand the effect of different cooling/lubrication techniques on machining execution. The milling of A390 Al-Si alloy under dry and cryogenic conditions was investigated and liquid nitrogen (LN2) was used as the cryogenic media. The experimental trial were performance with cutting speeds at 250-350 m/min, feed rates at 0.02-0.04 mm/tooth, radial depth of cut at 12.5-25 mm, and the axial depth of cut was kept constant at 0.3 mm using a coated carbide cutting insert. The results outcomes indicate, an application of cryogenic machining had improved the surface roughness, and there was higher tool life as compared to dry cutting condition. The utilization of cryogenic cooling technique had increased the tool life more than 50% and improved the surface roughness more than 40% as compared with dry condition. It is suggested to the machining industry to consider the application of LN2 as the cryogenic media to have better machinability in machining A390 Al-Si alloy.


The need to modify three-phase low-power asynchronous motors for operation at near-rated load is established. Modernized motors, designed so as to optimize the magnetic conditions, have fewer stator turns than mass-produced motors. A method of selecting the optimal magnetic conditions is proposed.


Nonparametric estimators of multivariate functions typically converge more slowly as dimension increases. We show that one can evade this curse of dimensionality by assuming a simplified vine copula model for the dependence between variables and compare several methods in simulations. We further extend the applicability of this finding in two ways: We introduce an approach to estimate regression functions based on the copula density and discuss a generic technique to make nonparametric function estimators applicable to discrete data.


We discuss several popular statistical learning methods used in high-energy physics and astrophysics analysis. After a short motivation for statistical learning we present the most popular algorithms and discuss several examples from current research in particle- and astrophysics. The statistical learning methods are compared with each other and with standard methods for the respective application.


We demonstrate a photonic platform that monolithically combines traditional crystalline Si waveguides and ultra-low-loss Si3N4 waveguides (1.6dB/m) in a foundry-ready process. The material co-integration demonstrates high-density low loss delays and high-speed switch capabilities traditionally out of reach of Si3N4-only platforms, enabling high-performance analog photonics.


The isolated midgut of lepidopteran larvae actively transports K from haemolymph to lumen, providing a model for K transport in insect secretory and excretory tissues (reviewed by Harvey, 1980). The dependence of this transport on extracellular K has been studied by several investigators. Recently, Zerahn (1982) estimated a value of 10 mM for Km in Hyalophora cecropia from his data and also from previous observations (Harvey & Zerahn, 1972), and obtained a value of 40 mM from data forManduca sexta (Moffett, 1979). In the studies upon//, cecropia, the only cation present in the bathing solution was K; in the study upon M. sexta, 5 mM-Ca and 5 mM-Mg were also present as well as sufficient NaCl to maintain constant osmolarity. Although there may be slight innate differences in the transport kinetics of the two species, we show here that the reported differences can be accounted for by the presence or absence of divalent cations. The morphologically distinct posterior midguts (Cioffi, 1979; Cioffi & Harvey, 1981) of 5th instar larvae of M. sexta reared on artificial diet (Yamamoto, 1969) were mounted and equilibrated as in previous studies (Moffett, 1979). The dependence of the short-circuit current (IK) on K concentration was measured by a rapid method in which IK was determined at quasiequilibrium within 3 min after a change to a new K concentration. In one set of experiments, the bathing solution contained 166 nunsucrose, 5 mM-Tris buffer (pH = 80) and KC1 as needed ('divalent-free medium'). In a second set of experiments, bathing solutions also contained 5 mM-CaCk and 5mM-MgCl2 ('standard medium'). Values of lK were determined for K concentrations from 4 mM to 90 mM in the standard medium and from 10 mM to 90 mM in the divalent-free medium. No more than five different K concentrations were presented in any single experiment, and each experiment included a measurement of IK at 32mM-K; the latter value is generally used as the standard in work with this tissue, and was used for normalization of results. The mean IK in 32mM-K was 950 ± 65 (s.E.) fiAcm~ for 13 experiments in standard medium and 1141 ± 101 (S.E.) [MA cm" for 15 experiments in divalent-free medium. Although the choice of 32mM-K for normalization was arbitrary, these values are not different at the 0-1 level of probability. Bathing solution resistance was fully compensated for in the measurements of IK. In the standard medium, IK rose over the whole range of measurement (Fig. 1).


The validity of the Noncognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) in predicting graduation after 5 and 6 years by race was assessed. The NCQ was found to be predictive of graduation for both Black and White stu...


The feasibility of preparing high entropy alloys in the Al-Sc-Ti-V-Cr system has been evaluated taking into account the different criteria reported in the literature. Based on such criteria, three Al-Sc-Ti-V-Cr alloys were chosen with contents of each element varying from 10 to 35 at. %, and prepared by arc melting. All alloys exhibit a two-phase dendritic microstructure, with the major dendritic phase being a bcc solid solution enriched in Ti, V, or Cr. Scandium is strongly rejected from the dendrites towards the interdendritic regions to form Al2Sc in the three alloys. The bcc solid solution dendrites become harder with high Ti content and lower with high Cr content. The toughness of the alloys depends on the hardness of the dendrites, with alloys with harder dendrites becoming more brittle. The results indicate that neither empirical criteria used nor THERMOCALC calculus tool can predict properly the formation of a single solid solution nor the nature of the existing phases respectively.


The paper work is designed based on the baseline experimental survey; and the detailed extensive and intensive analysis on countermeasures and barriers of rural household biogas in China. The potential focuses on the feasible approaches to the sustainable development of rural household biogas in China as per the former countermeasures and barriers have also been implemented in this work. During the implementation of the approaches, it has been found that the basic solution to the sustainable development of rural household biogas is to enhance the awareness about the biogas of the biogas users. Moreover, to get the auxiliary countermeasure in form of "having resolved"-- an impeccable post-installation service market mechanism can be constructed is also discussed in this research work highlighting the recent constraints in field level. The paper also dictates the comprehensive benefits of biogas and how they can play an important role in the local development of green agriculture and organic agriculture. Besides, particular representation will be notified about how the environmental pollution that can cause by the arbitrarily stacked bio-slurry can also be avoided by having its' appropriate measures .


Background: India is a signatory of the sustainable development goals and is committed to reduce the maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per lakh live births. Review of maternal deaths and near miss cases is a very important step towards achieving this aim.Methods: A prospective observational study was carried out in a tertiary care centre in rural Uttarakhand for a period of one and half year using WHO criteria for maternal near-miss, in an attempt to assess the quality of obstetric care in the region and to identify the possible delays leading to this.Results: Haemorrhage was the most common cause leading to severe maternal outcome, followed by early pregnancy complications and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. The mortality index was 15% and maternal near miss to mortality ratio was 7:1. We could identify some type of delay in at least 70% of near miss and mortality cases. Although delay in seeking healthcare was the most common, lack of community participation was identified as an important fourth delay.Conclusions: For substantive reduction of maternal mortality in this region of Uttarakhand, the main action needed is strengthening of primary health care, educating the patients regarding warning signs of pregnancy and strengthening the social status of women in society, increasing community support in women health care.


The trigger of hepatic proliferation initiation and its regulation in cell cycle during liver regeneration has been the subject of intense investigation. It is still an enigma which factors and their involved signal pathways cause G0 hepatocyte to initiate. In this article, JNK, TNF-α,IL-6 ,NO et al factors and their probably regulation pathways are reviewed to show some advanced study.


A user-orientated telephone instrument including high-fidelity speech encoding, encryption capability and many function presently provided by centralized call processing is described. Utilizing an ADPCM encoding process including forward error correction, a high quality relatively noise immune signal is provided. To the user, the instrument appears as a unique electronic telephone which offers many special services to facilitate communications with other people and with computers. Advanced features such as optional hands-off voice on/off-hook control, personal identification by voice print and remote chart presentation are provided.


With about 50% of power generation in the United States derived from coal and projections indicating that coal will continue to be the primary fuel for power generation in the next two decades, the Department of Energy (DOE) Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program (CCTDP) has been conducted since 1985 to develop innovative, environmentally friendly processes for the world energy market place. The 2 MW Fuel Cell Demonstration was part of the Kentucky Pioneer Energy (KPE) Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project selected by DOE under Round Five of the Clean Coal Technology Demonstration Program. The participant in the CCTDP V Project was Kentucky Pioneer Energy for the IGCC plant. FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE), under subcontract to KPE, was responsible for the design, construction and operation of the 2 MW fuel cell power plant. Duke Fluor Daniel provided engineering design and procurement support for the balance-of-plant skids. Colt Engineering Corporation provided engineering design, fabrication and procurement of the syngas processing skids. Jacobs Applied Technology provided the fabrication of the fuel cell module vessels. Wabash River Energy Ltd (WREL) provided the test site. The 2 MW fuel cell power plant utilizes FuelCell Energy's Direct Fuel Cell (DFC) technology, which is based onmore » the internally reforming carbonate fuel cell. This plant is capable of operating on coal-derived syngas as well as natural gas. Prior testing (1992) of a subscale 20 kW carbonate fuel cell stack at the Louisiana Gasification Technology Inc. (LGTI) site using the Dow/Destec gasification plant indicated that operation on coal derived gas provided normal performance and stable operation. Duke Fluor Daniel and FuelCell Energy developed a commercial plant design for the 2 MW fuel cell. The plant was designed to be modular, factory assembled and truck shippable to the site. Five balance-of-plant skids incorporating fuel processing, anode gas oxidation, heat recovery, water treatment/instrument air, and power conditioning/controls were built and shipped to the site. The two fuel cell modules, each rated at 1 MW on natural gas, were fabricated by FuelCell Energy in its Torrington, CT manufacturing facility. The fuel cell modules were conditioned and tested at FuelCell Energy in Danbury and shipped to the site. Installation of the power plant and connection to all required utilities and syngas was completed. Pre-operation checkout of the entire power plant was conducted and the plant was ready to operate in July 2004. However, fuel gas (natural gas or syngas) was not available at the WREL site due to technical difficulties with the gasifier and other issues. The fuel cell power plant was therefore not operated, and subsequently removed by October of 2005. The WREL fuel cell site was restored to the satisfaction of WREL. FuelCell Energy continues to market carbonate fuel cells for natural gas and digester gas applications. A fuel cell/turbine hybrid is being developed and tested that provides higher efficiency with potential to reach the DOE goal of 60% HHV on coal gas. A system study was conducted for a 40 MW direct fuel cell/turbine hybrid (DFC/T) with potential for future coal gas applications. In addition, FCE is developing Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) power plants with Versa Power Systems (VPS) as part of the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) program and has an on-going program for co-production of hydrogen. Future development in these technologies can lead to future coal gas fuel cell applications.« less


As a result of the increasing demand for total hip arthroplasties (THA) and total knee arthroplasties (TKA), waiting lists are growing. To cope with this problem, many hospitals have introduced short-stay programs; a consequence is increased responsibility of the patient regarding his own rehabilitation. Although it is clear that the success of a total hip or knee arthroplasty not only depends on an effective surgical procedure but also on adequate rehabilitation afterwards, hospitals do not provide additional support after discharge. The scope of the thesis is to influence and evaluate outcome after short-stay total hip and knee arthroplasty. The thesis is based on 5 papers. Three papers are addressing the first objective of the thesis, which is to develop a support program after short-stay total hip and knee arthroplasty and to determine its effectiveness. The development of a theory-driven support program, called the Groningen Orthopedic Exit Strategy (GOES), is described. Aim of the GOES is to improve the rehabilitation of total hip and knee arthroplasty patients after shortened hospital stay. Research is performed into the validation of the GOES. An experimental study was set up. Unfortunately, no differences were seen between the two groups in terms of changes between preoperative and postoperative values on questionnaires (self-efficacy, social support, pain-coping, WOMAC, SF-36, Physical Activity Questionnaire). The third study evaluates the contributions of preoperative and short-term postoperative self-efficacy in predicting long-term outcome after total hip and knee arthroplasty. Short-term postoperative self-efficacy seems a better predictor of long-term outcome after total hip or knee arthroplasty than preoperative self-efficacy. Interventions should therefore focus on enhancing short-term postoperative rather than preoperative self-efficacy. The second objective of the thesis is to assess recovery after total hip or knee arthroplasty not only with self-report measures but also objectively with a relatively novel, ambulatory measuring device, and to compare the performance-based outcome with self-report outcome. Aim of the first study was to describe the spatio-temporal measures of gait recovery after THA, whereby the different aspects of gait function are measured with an ambulatory measuring device in an extensive test protocol, including walking at different speeds while performing an additional cognitive task and while performing an endurance test. It is concluded that assessment of recovery of gait function requires more than only assessment of "normal" walking. Particularly, an analysis of walking at different speeds and walking while performing an additional cognitive task demonstrate different aspects of gait recovery after THA. In the second study the relationship between self-report and performance-based measures of physical functioning after THA was determined at multiple moments. It is concluded that pain and the diminishing pain after surgery appear as explanatory factors in the discrepancy between self-report and performance-based outcome measures.


This paper considers the use of a spherical array of sources producing a large fast-transient electromagnetic wave near the center of the sphere. The results here complement the results for an electromagnetic implosion due to reflector and lens types of implosion IRAs.


Internet of Things (IoT) can be seen as a cooperation of the various heterogeneous devices with limited performances, that participate in the same system. By they nature, these devices can be very distributed. The core of every IoT system is its discovery and control service. The Chord protocol is one of the first, simplest and most popular distributed protocol and can be use as a backbone of the discovery and control services of an IoT system. In this paper we prove the correctness of the Chord protocol using the logic of time and knowledge. We consider Chord actions that maintain ring topology with the additional assumption the nodes are not allowed to fail or leave.


The interface toughness of adhesively bonded structural members is one of the critical parameters for adhesive joint design. It is often assumed that the joint toughness is a material constant so that its value can be obtained from fracture tests of simple geometries such as DCB for Mode-I, ENF for Mode-II, using linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). However, the LEFM assumption of point-wise crack-tip fracture process is overly simplistic and may cause significant error in interpreting fracture test data. In this paper, the accuracy and applicability of various traditional beam-bending-theory based methods for fracture toughness evaluation, such as simple beam theory (SBT), corrected beam theory (CBT) and experimental compliance method (ECM), were assessed using the cohesive zone modelling (CZM) approach. It was demonstrated that the fracture process zone (FPZ) size has profound influence on toughness calculation and unfortunately, all the classic beam-bending theories based methods fail to include this important element and are erroneous especially when the ratio of crack length to FPZ size is relatively small (<5.0). It has also been demonstrated that after the FPZ size is incorporated into simple beam formulations, they provide much improved evaluation for fracture toughness. Formulation of first order estimate of FPZ size is also given in this paper.


The Cauchy problem for the equations of the high order in partial derivatives from derivative Caputo on time is considered L[ u ]=∑k+| β |=makβ(∂0tα)k ∂xβu=f(t,x),  t>0,  x∈ℝn,  0<α<1, (∂0tα)j u|t=0 = 0 for j = 0,m−1,¯ where akβ - real numbers, f(t, x), u(t, x) the known and required functions. For this problem assessment is established from which the uniqueness of the decision follows. Similar power assessment for adjoint problem is proved.


Recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) administration results in a dramatic improvement of anemia due to chronic renal failure (ACRF). We reported that excessive apoptosis in erythroid progenitors was observed in ACRF patients before rh-EPO administration, and that we have established the model mouse of ACRF by administration of adenine-rich diets (ADRD) in ASH meetings 2001 and 2006. In this study, we evaluated the frequency of apoptosis in bone marrow erythroid cells of the model mouse before and after erythropoietin (EPO) administration, to confirm the hypothesis that excessive apoptosis in erythroid progenitors induced anemia via insufficient production of EPO. ADRD was administrated to C57B6 male mice for 8 weeks. Every day subcutaneous administration of EPO started at 6 weeks and continued for 2 weeks. Serum BUN and Crt levels began to elevate from 2 weeks after ADRD administration (Table1). Hb levels began to decrease from 5 weeks after ADRD administration and increased after EPO administration in a dose dependent manner (Table1, Figure1). The frequencies of apoptosis in erythroid progenitors and mature erythroblasts were evaluated by three color flow cytometric analysis using anti-CD34-antibody, anti-EPO-receptor (EPO-R)-antibody and AnnexinV. Erythroid progenitors were identified as CD34(+) and EPO-R(+) cells, and mature erythroblasts identified as CD34(−) and EPO-R(+) cells. Much higher frequency of apoptosis was observed in erythroid progenitors at 6 weeks after ADRD administration (76.4±5.3%, n=4), while, the frequency of apoptosis decreased dramatically after EPO administration in a dose dependent manner (0U/kg/day: 70.1±6.9% at 7 weeks, 73.8±8.7% at 8 weeks, 10U/kg/day: 48.1±5.4%* at 7 weeks, 46.9±4.2%* at 8 weeks, 100U/kg/day: 36.9±2.5%* at 7 weeks, 21.2±6.8%* at 8 weeks, 1000U/kg/day: 18.4±2.9%* at 7 weeks, 15.1±3.5%* at 8 weeks, each n=4, *p


A kinetic model of the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate in frozen suspensions of silica gel based on the experimental results of a study of the reaction kinetics, the phase state of the frozen suspensions, and the absorption of p-nitrophenyl acetate on the surface of silica gel has been proposed. Theories concerning the existence in frozen multicomponent heterogeneous systems of reaction zones differing in composition and with respect to the concentrations of the components of the mixture have been introduced. It has been shown that highly dispersed insoluble additions influence the rates of chemical reactions in frozen systems, altering not only their phase state, but also the properties of the reaction medium, particularly the ionic composition.


A Rotary Cell Culture System (RCCS) has been developed to simulate the combined effects of microgravity and radiation on living cells. The RCCS will be used to study these effects on mice, cardio muscle and skeletal cells to understand effects of long duration missions in space. A RCCS has a rotating cylindrical chamber containing a solution of cells suspended in a viscous fluid. To simulate microgravity the chamber is rotated, and the cells fall through the fluid reaching terminal velocity. However, as the cells fall the chamber rotates resulting in a continuous state of "free fall". During this free fall, the cells experience very little net force, as viscous drag and centripetal forces are adjusted to counter balance gravitational forces, therefore simulating microgravity experienced in space. The new system incorporates 3-6 rotating chambers which can be inserted into the Space Survivability Test (SST) Chamber allowing simultaneous exposure to a penetrating beta radiation from a Sr90 source. Alexandra Nelson, Lori Caldwell, Eyrn Hanson, JR Dennison, and Elizabeth Vargis, "Electron "Simulating Microgravity and Space Radiation with a Rotary Cell Culture System (RCCS)," American Physical Society Four Corners Meeting, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, October 12-13, 2018.


The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has affected the regional security of the Middle East. Since 1979, Saudi-Iranian relations have been tensed due to the rivalry to gain relative power in the Middle East. Saudi-Iranian tensions are at their worst level in decades; not only there is a halt in diplomatic relations, the two countries are also involved in several proxy wars in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, besides the entanglements in the Sunni-Shia sectarian conflict. With these dynamics at play, the study aims to investigate how the Saudi-Iranian rivalry for power has impacted the regional security of the Middle East. Therefore, the study objectives: (i) to examine how Saudi-Iranian rivalry has created crisis in the Middle East, it argues that Saudi-Iranian rivalry has threatened national security in the Middle East. (ii) to investigate the role of external powers, such as the US, in the regional power balance of the Middle East. The study adopted a qualitative research method to arrive at the following findings: (i) the Iran-Saudi rivalry was found as a persistent feature in the politics of the Middle East, and (ii) this rival has destabilized the security and peace of the Middle East. This study provides in-depth insights into Middle East security and the survival strategies of these states.


This paper proposes a control method of electrolytic capacitor-less inverter system. An inductor is set in the input current loop, and the input current controller and dc bus voltage controller are set in the control strategy. The system controls the voltage of the inductance by controlling the dc bus voltage, so as to control the inductor current and realize the closed loop control of the input current. The input current waveform and phase are controlled to be the same as the input voltage, so the input power factor is increased and the current harmonics are reduced. The control strategy is verified on the 1. 5p home variable frequency air conditioner. The result shows that the control strategy can run steadily in the $2\mathrm{K}\mathrm{W}$ power range, the power factor is higher than 98%, and the current harmonics meet the standard of IEC 61000-3-2 Class A.


In present paper, certain aspect of shock wave in non-ideal gas, when magnetic field is orthogonal to the trajectories of the gas particles and electrical conductivity is taken to be infinite, is investigated. Considering one-dimensional unsteady non-planer motion, basic equations, its general solution and formation of shock-wave, conservation laws and jumps conditions, variation of area of non-uniform cross section and analytical solution of strong non planer shock is obtained.


International aviation produced an estimated 490.4 million tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide emissions in 2013, about 1.5% of global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion that year, and as the role of aviation in the global economy expands, those emissions are expected to rise, to 682–755 Mt by 2020 and 1223–1376 Mt by 2035. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has set a global aspirational goal that the industry's growth from 2020 onward be "carbon neutral" in terms of net CO2 emissions. This paper focuses on two means to achieving this goal: the use of alternative fuels and a global Market-Based Measure (MBM) that would allow airlines to offset some of their emissions. We examine the potential supply of carbon offsets and of jet fuel alternatives from different biofuel pathways, and consider both climate benefits, and potential sustainable development impacts. We find that in 2020–2035, carbon offsets from project types for which there is high confidence in environmental integrity, and which also advance sustainable development goals, could yield emission reductions of around 3.0 Gt CO2e, or 70–90% of ICAO's projected demand for emission reductions of 3.3– 4.5 Gt CO2e. Including project types with medium confidence in environmental integrity would expand the potential supply to 4.6 Gt CO2e. Further expanding eligibility to project types with neutral development impacts would increase supply to 5.1 Gt CO2e. Jurisdiction-scale REDD+ programmes could add another 2.4 Gt CO2e of offsets. The potential supply of alternative jet fuels is subject to greater uncertainties, but we estimate that 0.1–0.3 Gt CO2e of emissions could be avoided by using biofuels produced with little or no land-use change impacts and backed by strong sustainability certification schemes. Our analysis shows that ICAO can apply high environmental and sustainable-development standards to both carbon offsets and alternative fuels without compromising its 2020 "carbon neutral" goal. SUPPLY AND SUSTAINABILITY OF CARBON OFFSETS AND ALTERNATIVE FUELS FOR AVIATION SEI-WP-2016-03


Abstract : Privatization of government facilities and services is seen variously as the solution to government's burgeoning budget shortfalls and as an expensive and dangerous intrusion of the private sector into the public domain. In either case, the concept of privatization demands the attention of government managers and they should become thoroughly versed in its opportunities and pitfalls. In this report we address a major subset of privatization public-private ventures (PPVs) - from the perspectives of the Federal, state, and local governments. We explore the issues, give examples, present alternative strategies, and look at developments that are likely to affect the future of PPVs. Finally, we present a primer for senior government managers for initiating a PPV program. Our goal in this report is to give the government manager a thorough grounding in PPV concepts. The future of government facilities and services may or may not belong to PPVs, but the future of more and more government managers may depend on their knowledge of PPVs.


porally (the early development of radio). His musical portrait of Nashville is especially fascinating; while many are aware that the city had no more hold on what would become country music than other southern cities, it did have a varied musical landscape of Black and white performers of its own. He describes the region in which the Opry was born as "a rural area rich in folk culture and steeped in tradition surrounding a relatively small Southern city—with a rather pretentious self-image, a high homicide rate, and a population severely segregated along both class and racial lines—trying very hard to become modern and sophisticated" (p. 31). He discusses the first recording session in Nashville by Victor Records that took place in the early fall of 1928, which was all but ignored by the Nashville press at the time and which RCA deemed so unsuccessful that it would take over 15 years before another major recording company tried to make another record in Nashville. Charles Wolfe's strength as a writer has always been his portraits of musicians' lives that he has created for articles, books, and liner notes, and he does not disappoint in "A GoodNatured Riot." All of the most famous stars of the early Opry receive chapters: fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson; banjoist and entertainer Uncle Dave Macon; harmonicist DeFord Bailey; singing duo the Delmore Brothers; and two men who would make an even greater impact on the Opry in the 1940s and beyond, Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe. All of these are interesting and well done, but what makes the book special are the portraits of the lesserknown artists. The early Opry featured string bands (or, as Hay called them, "hoedown bands") such as the Fruit Jar Drinkers, whom Hay took to Pennsylvania in a successful attempt to receive popular feedback when executives at National Life were considering killing the program; and the Crook Brothers, who hired a banjo player named Crook who was unrelated to the brothers but became invaluable to the group's identity when one of the brothers left the band to join the Nashville police force. Wolfe also describes the lives and careers of the original comedians on the Opry. While many know the names of Minnie Pearl and Rod Brasfield, few are acquainted with the blackfaced comedians Lasses and Honey; the Minnie Pearl precursors Sane and Sarie; or Robert Lunn, who developed a musical form he called the "talking blues" that was later picked up by, among others, Woody Guthrie ("Talking Dust Bowl Blues") and Bob Dylan ("Talking World War III Blues"). The book includes a complete roster of the Opry from 1925–40 that lists every date of performance by an artist from the first appearance of Roy Acuff on the Opry on 5 March 1926 to the 22 May 1938 appearance of "ukulele artist" Chester Zahn. "A Good-Natured Riot" is essential reading for anyone interested in this period of the history of country music and would be a pretty good read for those with only a casual interest. Part social history, part biographical dictionary, and part encyclopedia, Charles Wolfe has given us a masterful document of the early years of the Grand Ole Opry. If only it were possible to capture the original broadcasts floating endlessly in our atmosphere, they would provide the perfect soundtrack.


Beginning in 2012, the DILIC project was led by Xiaolan Fu, Professor of Technology and International Development at Oxford University. Combining broader cross-country analysis and a narrower focus on Ghana until recently a low-income country (LIC) it explored the determinants and transmission channels for effective innovation creation, diffusion and adoption in LICs under institutional, financial, and human resources constraints.


Abstract : In support of the recent trials of 2 1/2 ton trucks at C.F.B. Petawawa, the vehicle mobility section of DND/DREO has carried out a characterization of soils in terms of certain physical and mechanical properties. The current report is preliminary and consists of: profiles of soil humidity obtained by fast neutron probe; and determinations of soil shear strength and bearing capacity using the bevameter, the McGill vane-cone penetrometer and the WES cone. Soil test results from each vehicle trial site are discussed with a view to possible future correlation with vehicle mobility parameters, terrain trafficability and vehicle manoeuverability. (Author)


Image Compression is to minimize the size in bytes of a graphics file without degrading the quality of the image to an unacceptable level. The compound image compression normally base d on three classification methods that is object ba sed, layer based and block based. This paper presents a block-based segmentati on. for visually lossless compression of scanned do cuments that contain not only photographic images but also text and graphic image s. In low bit rate applications they suffer with un desirable compression artifacts, especially for document images. Existing methods ca n reduce these artifacts by using post processing m ethods without changing the encoding process. Some of these post processing met hods requires classification of the encoded blocks into different categories.


Seventy-four soil samples were collected in Liudaogou watershed located in a water-wind erosion area in Shaanxi.An evaluation system for soil fertility was established by determining the related indexes of the samples.An integrated soil fertility index(IFI) was calculated based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation(Fuzzy) used in combination with analytic hierarchy process(AHP),to evaluate soil fertility of the watershed.Of the 4 types of land use investigated,farmland had the highest IFI(0.68),followed in sequence by grassland(0.53),woodland(0.40) and shrubland(0.35).Based on its spatial distribution pattern,IFI of Liudaogou watershed was found to diminish steadily from the main trench line outward to the adjacent locations.Overall,the quality of soil fertility in Liudaogou watershed is at a medium-low level,which can be classified into five grade levels.The third grade covers the largest area,accounting for 46.9% of the total.The first and second grades only account for 23.8% of the total,while the third,fourth and fifth grades account for 76.2% of the total.


In 42 patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate, histopathologic specimens of the original prostatic biopsy and lymphatic metastasis were classified using the grading system of tumor differentiation described by Gleason et al.6 The observed similarity between prostatic biopsy morphology and the morphology in the corresponding lymphatic metastasis supports the concept that the histologic growth pattern of the primary tumor is reduplicated in the metastatic lesions. The observation that a more anaplastic pattern did not appear in the metastatic deposits implies that factors other than cellular loss of differentiation are responsible for the cells' ability to metastasize.


On February 16, 2016, Justice Antonin Scalia, arguably the court's most conservative justice died unexpectedly from a heart attack. The vacancy on the court set off a firestorm of political controversy within hours of Justice Scalia's death. The United States Constitution empowers the President of the United States to appoint justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. As part of the system of separation of powers and checks and balances instilled into the Constitution by the framers, the United States Senate must confirm the President's nominee to the high court. Faced with the prospect that the President's appointment to replace Justice Scalia would likely cause a major shift in the court's ideology that embraces an expansive and progressive interpretation of the Constitution, the conservative politicians in the Senate vowed to refuse to take up the President's nominee regardless of his or her qualifications. The basis for the purported rejection being that the President should not make such an important appointment with less than a year left in his term of office. Accordingly, the Senators' refusal to vote on the President's nominee to the court created a constitutional crisis due to the fact that one entire branch of government, the Legislature, refuses to fulfill its duty expressly set forth in the text of the Constitution―the highest law in the land. Part Ⅰ of this article examines the ideological struggle between the two factions vying for control of the court and the resulting application of laws for decades to come. Part Ⅱ of the article describes the process of filing the vacancy on the court and contemplates a legal challenge within the context of justiciability doctrines, advanced by either the President or the nominee that is meant to force the Senate to vote on the appointment. Part Ⅲ of the article examines the most likely resolution to the crisis, a political solution, and explains the viable outcomes.


We examined whether the timing of the C‐peptide response during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in relatives of patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is predictive of disease onset. We examined baseline 2‐h OGTTs from 670 relatives participating in the Diabetes Prevention Trial‐Type 1 (age: 13.8 ± 9.6 years; body mass index z‐score: 0.3 ± 1.1; 56% male) using univariate regression models. T1D risk increased with lower early C‐peptide responses (30–0 min) (χ2 = 28.8, P < 0.001), and higher late C‐peptide responses (120–60 min) (χ2 = 23.3, P < 0.001). When both responses were included in a proportional hazards model, they remained independently and oppositely associated with T1D, with a stronger overall association for the combined model than either response alone (χ2 = 41.1; P < 0.001). Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the combined early and late C‐peptide response was more accurately predictive of T1D than area under the curve C‐peptide (P = 0.005). Our findings demonstrate that lower early and higher late C‐peptide responses serve as indicators of increased T1D risk.


Irreducible bilinear tensorial concomitants of an arbitrary complex antisymmetric valence-2 tensor are derived in four-dimensional spacetime. In addition these bilinear concomitants are symmetric (or antisymmetric), self-dual (or anti-self-dual), and hermitian forms in the antisymmetric tensor. An important example of an antisymmetric valence-2 tensor, or bivector, is the electromagnetic field strength tensor which ordinarily is taken to be real-valued. In generalizing to complex-valued bivectors, the authors find the hermitian form versions of the well-known electromagnetic scalar invariants and stress-energy-momentum tensor, but also discover several novel tensors of total valence 2 and 4. These tensors have algebraic similarities to the Riemann, Weyl, and Ricci tensors.


This is the first report on the study of cable coupling. The work to date has involved developing models of the cable coupling phenomenon. Results are provided showing the estimate cable coupling compared with measurements. From a comparison of the braid transfer impedance models it is concluded that the Kley model seems reasonably accurate. From the measurement results provided by previous Thales reports it is apparent that stray reactances play an important role in defining the resonant points in the cable coupling. Comparable simulation results can be obtained through the application of reasonable stray reactive values. At resonance the cable coupling will only be limited by losses in the circuit. An estimate of losses is therefore required to obtain an estimate of maximum coupling. The proposed future work will therefore include the estimation of stray reactances and losses.


Guangming New District,Shenzhen,is the first city to implement the low impact development(LID) stormwater management in China.The stormwater management goal,technologies,implementation method and corresponding policy guarantee measures suitable for the new district were explored.The exploration and practice of LID stormwater management in the new district were studied,and the stormwater management goal,control parameters,technologies and policy guarantee measures were analyzed.The exploration and practice of LID stormwater management in Guangming New District can provide reference and guidance for other cities in China.


We focus on studying approximate solutions of damped
oscillatory solutions of generalized KdV-Burgers equation and their error estimates.
The theory of planar dynamical systems is employed to make qualitative analysis to
the dynamical systems which traveling wave solutions of this equation correspond
to. We investigate the relations between the behaviors of bounded traveling wave
solutions and dissipation coefficient, and give two critical values 𝜆1 and 𝜆2 which
can characterize the scale of dissipation effect, for right and left-traveling wave solution, respectively. We obtain that for the right-traveling wave solution if dissipation
coefficient 𝛼≥𝜆1, it appears as a monotone kink profile solitary wave solution;
that if 0<𝛼<𝜆1, it appears as a damped oscillatory solution. This is similar
for the left-traveling wave solution. According to the evolution relations of orbits
in the global phase portraits which the damped oscillatory solutions correspond to,
we obtain their approximate damped oscillatory solutions by undetermined coefficients method. By the idea of homogenization principle, we give the error estimates
for these approximate solutions by establishing the integral equations reflecting the
relations between exact and approximate solutions. The errors are infinitesimal decreasing in the exponential form.


Karyn Vincent Sherar, RN, MN, and Linda Tatko Cooper, RN, MS, CEN, CCRN, Springfield, Massachusetts With a new emergency department designed to serve both pediatric and adult patients, the emergency service of Baystate Medical Center urgently needed to prepare staff to deal with pediatric emergencies such as cardiopulmonary arrests. A comprehensive review of the literature was not very helpful, so the clinical specialists from pediatrics and the emergency department collaborated to develop a systematic plan for dealing with pediatric cardiopulmonary arrests. Most pediatric arrests are respiratory in origin and can be corrected by ventilation and oxygen administration. The anxiety of most of our staff relating to prolonged pediatric arrests involved medication administration. P-6 In an effort to give emergency nurses concrete tools and guidelines to follow, we designed a pediatric drug calculations chart (Chart I). This chart incorporates all emergency medication frequently used in our institution in the care of the seriously ill child. Weights at the top of the chart were chosen to allow medication calculations on the basis of weight estimates. To facilitate consistency in ordering pediatric medications, the chief of emergency


The paper is focused on the Min-Max Vehicle Routing Problem. And solve this type of problems utilizing improved tabu search algorithm from the overall situation. According to the features of the problem, the essay centered the longest route to construct neighborhood structure. For the operation, 1-exchange and 2-opt* were applied, it can also fasten the speed of convergence, and boost the search efficiency. Finally, the good performance of this algorithm can be proved by experiment calculation and concrete examples.


Volume conduction models of the human head have often been utilized in relating scalp potential measurements to the locus of the underlying neural sources. However, the determination of the source loci depends on the accurate location of electrodes in a geometry suited to the form of the modeling equations. This paper describes a method for fabricating a Plexiglas helmet that reproducibly locates a large number of electrodes. The electrodes are laid out according to a "latitude and longitude" spherical angular system which is defined by the geometry of the individual subject's head. This coordinate system is appropriate for localization techniques which model the head as a spherically symmetric volume conductor. Helmets for eight subjects were measured to show that the deviations from sphericity over the back of the head are small, on the order of ±3 percent. The merits of this approach are discussed in comparison to an ellipsoidal model suggested by Schneider (1972).


A screening of crystallization conditions for the diastereomeric salts formed by L/D-tartaric acid and a common chiral resolving agent, L-ephedrine, in water is reported. Eight different salts with 1:1 and 2:1 stoichiometries were synthesized, identified, and characterized, including three previously reported LL-salts. All new LD-salts were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric and elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, solid-state NMR, and powder XRD. 1:1 LD-tartrate is anhydrous and 2:1 LD-tartrate crystallizes as a monohydrate; its dehydration and phase transformations on heating were monitored in situ by variable-temperature XRD and hot-stage microscopy.


Background—Impairment of ventilatory efficiency in congestive heart failure (CHF) correlates well with symptomatology and contributes importantly to dyspnea. Methods and Results —We investigated 142 CHF patients (mean NYHA class, 2.6; mean maximum oxygen consumption [V̇O2max], 15.3 mL O2 z kg 21 z min; mean left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF], 27%). Patients were compared with 101 healthy control subjects. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing was performed, and ventilatory efficiency was defined as the slope of the linear relationship of V ̇ CO2 and ventilation (VE). Results are presented in percent of ageand sex-adjusted mean values. Forty-four events (37 deaths and 7 instances of heart transplantation, cardiomyoplasty, or left ventricular assist device implantation) occurred. Among V ̇ O2max, NYHA class, LVEF, total lung capacity, and age, the most powerful predictor of event-free survival was the VE versus V ̇ CO2 slope; patients with a slope #130% of ageand sex-adjusted normal values had a significantly better 1-year event-free survival (88.3%) than patients with a slope .130% (54.7%;P,0.001). Conclusions—The VE versus V ̇ CO2 slope is an excellent prognostic parameter. It is easier to obtain than parameters of maximal exercise capacity and is of higher prognostic importance than V ̇ O2max. (Circulation. 2000;101:2803-2809.)


A new liquid-phase bonding method was developed to establish a strong bonding between Al bearing Mg alloys and steels by intentionally forming a thin and uniform reaction layer at the bonding interface. By adopting Ag as an interlayer between the Mg alloys and steel, Mg-Ag eutectic melt is produced at 773 K and nano-scale Fe-Al reaction layer is uniformly formed at the melt-steel interface during the isothermal solidification of the melt which is driven by the diffusion of Ag into the Mg alloy. At the completion of the solidification, exceptionally strong bonding, exceeding the yield strength of the base Mg alloys, is achieved.


Summary Data are presented to demonstrate the advantages of Marcumar in short-term and long-term treatment, over less active anticoagulants, and the effectiveness of Konakion as regulator of such therapy.


The nature poetry in B. H. Brockes's nine-volume Irdisches Vergnügen in Gott is traditionally regarded as either the poetic complement to English physicotheology, ideological experi mentation with the literature of the Hermetica, or the literary expression of early Enlightenment philosophical ideals. This article revisits the influence of Johann Arndt's Vier Bücher Von wahrem Christenthumb (1610) and Spenerian Pietism on Brockes's oeuvre focusing on the Pietist notions of interiority, experiential religion, and the importance of spiritual rebirth. Through lyrical perspective, emotive diction, and textual framing around the term Seele Brockes's nature poems reflect aspects of a Pietist conversion testimonial more in accord with the stated purpose of the work as Christian Erbauungsliteratur. (GH)


The paper presents an oriented skill system of continuing education for teachers of higher education intended to support the modernization of teaching in undergraduate and graduate levels. Considering several previous experiences, factors that often adversely affected or impeded the success of the development and innovation are identified. The various elements of the system are designed to neutralize or reduce these factors, relying on a diagnostic process properly contextualized, identifying meaningful goals and process planning which in agreement with institutional policy allow generating the appropriate conditions for innovation and change. The results show that the system can properly identify development needs, considering the cultural factors of the institution.


Ternary rhythmic systems differ from binary systems in stressing every third syllable in a word, rather than every second. Consider the following examples from Cayuvava (Key 1961), where stress is on every third syllable counting from the end of the word: (1) a. à.ri.hi.hí.be.e 'I have already put the top on' b. ma.rà.ha.ha.é.i.ki 'their blankets' c. i.ki.tà.pa.re.ré.pe.ha 'the water is clean' Ternary rhythm is well-established for only a small group of languages, including Chugach Alutiiq, Cayuvava and Estonian, and possibly Winnebago. Nevertheless the stress patterns of these languages are sufficiently complex to warrant an ongoing debate about the implications for metrical theory (see Prince 1980, Levin 1985, 1988, Halle & Vergnaud 1987, Halle 1990, Hammond 1990, Dresher & Lahiri 1991, Rice 1992, Hewitt 1992, Kager 1993, 1994, Halle & Idsardi 1995, Hayes 1995, Ishii 1996, Elenbaas 1999, among others). The reason for a fresh look at ternarity is the rise of Optimality Theory (henceforth OT; Prince & Smolensky 1993, McCarthy & Prince 1993a), a theory abandoning most devices on which rule-based accounts of ternarity were based. It abandons serial derivations and together with it directional foot assignment, a core device in parametric theories of word stress, as well as special parsing modes for ternary rhythm (Weak Local Parsing; Hayes 1995). Derivational mechanisms and parameters are replaced by universal and violable constraints, stating well-formedness on output forms, and ranked in language-particular hierarchies. The issue then arises whether OT is able to predict the ternary patterns in a descriptively adequate fashion. The first goal of this paper is to argue that adequate and insightful analyses are indeed possible in OT for two ternary stress languages: Cayuvava and Chugach Alutiiq. We argue that these analyses require no ternarity-inducing mechanisms, such as ternary feet or special parsing modes. Instead ternarity emerges by LICENSING, involving interactions of the anti-lapse constraint *LAPSE (banning long sequences of unstressed syllables; Selkirk 1984) with standard foot- alignment constraints (ALL-FT-X, ALIGN-Y; McCarthy & Prince 1993b). Our analysis incorporates Ishii's (1996) insight that ternarity is a kind of underparsing, which is licensed by an anti-lapse constraint, and induced by standard foot alignment.


Background — Sodium channels isolated from mammalian brain are composed of &agr;-, &bgr;1-, and &bgr;2-subunits. The composition of sodium channels in cardiac muscle, however, has not been defined, and disagreement exists over which &bgr;-subunits are expressed in the myocytes. Some investigators have demonstrated &bgr;1 expression in heart. Others have not detected any auxiliary subunits. On the basis of Northern blot analysis of total RNA, &bgr;2 expression has been thought to be exclusive to neurons and absent from cardiac muscle. Methods and Results — The goal of this study was to define the subunit composition of cardiac sodium channels in myocytes. We show that cardiac sodium channels are composed of &agr;-, &bgr;1-, and &bgr;2-subunits. Nav1.5 and Nav1.1 are expressed in myocytes and are associated with &bgr;1- and &bgr;2-subunits. Immunocytochemical localization of Nav1.1, &bgr;1, and &bgr;2 in adult heart sections showed that these subunits are expressed at the Z lines, as shown previously for Nav1.5. Coexpression of Nav1.5 with &bgr;2 in transfected cells resulted in no detectable changes in sodium current. Conclusions — Cardiac sodium channels are composed of &agr;- (Nav1.1 or Nav1.5), &bgr;1-, and &bgr;2-subunits. Although &bgr;1-subunits modulate cardiac sodium channel current, &bgr;2-subunit function in heart may be limited to cell adhesion.


The outbreak of the coronavirus disease first occurred in December of 2019 in Wuhan Hubei province, China. The new acute infectious disease later spread across the world and became a global pandemic. This study seeks to assess the numerous studies published on this topic, particularly artificial intelligence, as one of the top techniques used to combat it. Therefore, a bibliometric analysis of the scientific publications on artificial intelligence and COVID-19 may point to future research directions. This paper conducted a bibliometric analysis of Covid-19 and Artificial intelligence research using the Scopus database, then analyzed using VOSviewer to derive quantitative publication metrics and display coexisting key term networks obtained between 2019 and 2021. The bibliometric analysis showed that in the co-occurrence of all keywords in COVID-19 and artificial intelligence publications, the words "pandemic" and "covid-19" are the most occurring keywords. As well as an analysis of the co-authorship showed that " the United States" and "India" have the most publications. A tree-map of the distribution of research in Covid-19 and artificial intelligence between different fields revealed that the field where most research is done in medicine (21%), Computer Science (18%), and Engineering (11%). In conclusion, the number of global publications on COVID-19 is expected to rise steeply according to existing growth patterns.


The word "rum" occurs so frequently in the Cornish novels that it calls attention to itself. Its dictionary meanings include "intoxicating drink," "odd" and "strange," with the latter two being said to derive from "Rom" (or "Rum"), a short form of "Romany," and denoting a Gypsy or something relating to Gypsies (Webster's). All these meanings appear to contribute to Davies' notion of the Grail which is mentioned a dozen times in What's Bred in the Bone (1985), only three times in The Lyre of Orpheus (1988) and not at all in The Rebel Angels (1981). Its allusive overall presence among the novels' Arthurian connections, however, is strong enough for the Grail to become one of the bigger "tricky bits" (Sifton 24) of the sort Davies likes to put into his fiction. Its gleam of myth and religion serves him constructively rather than reductively to explore the complexities and uncertainties of the process of individuation. Even when Davies refers explicitly to the Grail, as in the adolescent Francis Cornish's knowledge of its common association with the Eucharistie chalice, the direction changes quickly to Francis' infatuation with the Grail in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites, in the poetry of Tennyson and in his own imagination (Bred 191,195); in other words, Francis' Grail promises to be quite different from its sources. In The Lyre of Orpheus meanwhile, the traditional notion of the Grail as a vessel is readily available in the form of "the Platter of Plenty,... a large silver epergne that stood in the middle of the round table" (5) in Maria and Arthur Cornish's apartment. This platter points to the Grail-related motifs of magnanimity and marriage which complement


The widespread availability and adoption of high-speed broadband Internet access by consumers is increasingly viewed in all developed nations not only as a key driver of information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities, but also of the overall prosperity and well being of the economy of a developed nation. Developed nations are seeking to promote rapid deployment of broadband, coupled with rapid adoption by consumers. Some countries, notably the United States, have sought to rely on competition among multiple broadband media to achieve broadband deployment. Since cable deployments tend to be limited in most European countries, the European approach has been heavily dependent on procompetitive regulation in order to achieve intramodal competition. In this paper, the author discussed the broadband adoption in Europe. It details the upsurge in broadband technology as well as the regulatory and policy issues.


This chapter emphasizes on the system of representations that, constructed by Venetian chronicles and histories, was then solidified by historiography. It then brings both consistency and life back to the relationships that the Venetian community entertained within its own milieu. The lagoons are widely present in the earliest Venetian chronicles. In the Venetian system of representations, the lagoons were the foundation of independence as well as, in a second set of remarks, the future power of the city. In the words of chronicles, by maps, and through successive representations, an image of Venice was imposed. According to this representation, the city a harmonious structure of stone, wood, and brick reigns over the various elements of the lagoon. During the decades of active Venetian urban policy in the last third of the 13th century, however, a general guardianship of the coasts was put in place. Keywords: lagoons; Venetian chronicles; Venice


Vein thrombosis may occur both in deep and superficial vein of all extremities. Ninety percent of vein thrombosis may progress into pulmonary embolism which is lethal. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is frequently found in critically ill patients in ICU, especially patients who are treated for a long time. This study aims to analyse the comparison between length of stay and DVT incidents in critically ill patients. A cross-sectional study was employed. We include all patients who were 18 years or older and  were treated in ICU of Dr Soetomo public hospital for at least 7 days. The patients were examined with Sonosite USG to look for any thrombosis in iliac, femoral, popliteal, and tibial veins and Well's criteria were also taken. This study showed that length of stay is not the only risk factor for DVT in patients treated in ICU. In our data, we found out that the length of treatment did not significantly cause DVT. Other risk factors such as age and comorbidities in patients who are risk factors may support the incidence of DVT events. The diagnosis of DVT is enforced using an ultrasound performed by an expert in the use of ultrasound to locate thrombus in a vein. Length of treatment is not a significant risk factor for DVT. Several other factors still need to be investigated in order for DVT events to be detected early and prevented.


Charles Olson's "The Kingfishers" has long since won a place among the key texts of modern poetry, and at this point the curious reader can consult at least eight interpretations of the poem (Christensen, Combs, Davenport, Kyle, Merrill, Paul, Rosenthal, von Hallberg). But as I shall show, the critics who have written about "The Kingfishers" disagree radically not only in the way they read many individual passages but also in their interpretations of the poem as a whole. In the first section of this essay, I want to explore the possibility that these disputes over the meaning of the poem have issued from a contradiction between the discourse of contemporary literary criticism and the kind of poem that Olson has here written. By "discourse" I wish to denote both a way of talking/writing and a way of thinking, both a method of exposition and a method of analysis. The discourse of modern criticism assumes, I propose, that a coherent, unified perspective on the world must be implicit in any good poem, and that the task of criticism is to articulate this perspective, draw it out, "translate" it into discursive terms. But those critics who have tried to find


ABSTRACT Legumes are well recognized for their nutritional and health benefits as well as for their impact in the sustainability of agricultural systems, due to their ability to form a symbiosis with N2-fixing microorganisms. Nevertheless, legume N2 fixation has a high energy cost, and phosphorus (P) deficiency strongly hampers legume production, especially in low-P soils typical of most of the tropical regions. P-deficiency limits N2 fixation, since it has been described to have a strong impact on the growth and survival of both rhizobia and host plant. Legumes have evolved strategies at both morphological and physiological levels to adapt to P-deficiency. The maintenance of symbiotic N2 fixation seems to be a key aspect to assure legume productivity in low-P environments. During the last decades, physiological components and molecular players underlying P-deficiency adaptation responses have been elucidated. Hence, in order to design strategies to develop elite cultivars able to produce high-quality seeds and efficiently fix N2 under P-deficiency, it is important to understand how legumes cope with this nutritional constraint. In this review, we discuss future directions and research priorities that may lead to a better understanding of the physiological and molecular adaptations that allow the legumes to thrive under conditions of P-deficiency.


A charged particle activation technique has been developed to analyze for trace impurities in the ppm range or less in water. Water samples are evaporated onto a tantalum foil and activated in a 15 MeV proton beam in the present work. The gamma ray spectrum from the activated sample is analyzed to quantitatively determine simultaneously trace amounts of boron, bromine, sodium, cadmium, chromium, selenium, and nitrogen. Total irradiation and counting time is less than two minutes. Beam currents are ? 1 ?a.


The present invention is essentially, a) a peptide or protein comprising a derivative or complex, the inner matrix containing the active substance are placed in a matrix comprising a polymer having a mucoadhesive effect - layer, and b ) aids optionally pharmaceutically customary, in particular, may have been the composition as a softener, and a outer coating coated substantially comprising anionic polymer or copolymer, size range 50~2500μm It relates to an oral multilayered grain form dosage forms containing pellets having a.


For more than twenty years, the number of registered vehicles has been increasing in the Russian Federation, and the traffic flow of urban transport systems mostly consists of passenger cars, which is about 90% of the total number of vehicles in the flow. During this period, the brands of passenger cars that are characteristic of various districts of the Russian Federation have also undergone major changes. Every year passenger vehicles are modified, their technical and dynamic characteristics are improved, which in turn have an impact on the process of moving cars in the flow and the saturation flow as a whole. In this article, the dynamic indicators of passenger cars that influence the functioning of urban traffic flows are considered and determined.


SUMMARY

Of 15 species of grass, including cereals, alate exules and emigrants of Rhopalosiphum padi preferred to colonise Lolium perenne. Emigrants colonised cereals twice as readily as alate exules. Apterous exules also preferred L. perenne to cereals. Although small when reared on L. perenne, R. padi was more fecund per unit weight than on any of the other grasses tested. On the later growth stages of Dactylis glomerata and L. perenne, R. padi developed faster and were more fecund than on Phleum pratense at the same growth stages. At low temperatures R. padi were more fecund on P. pratense than on L. perenne and D. glomerata and vice versa at high temperatures. The secondary host preferences and reproductive activity of R. padi are discussed in relation to possible suitable hosts for viviparous overwintering and the pest status of this aphid in Britain.


The dissolution characteristics of two sustained-release preparations widely used in Japan, one taken twice-a-day (Theodur® tablet) and one taken once-a-day (Uniphy® tablet), were examined.Both preparations showed a near zero order release and the rates were almost equal in pH 1.2, but a deifference was observed in the two preparations regarding pH 6.8. When influences due to halving of the tablets and changes in the rotative number of the basket were examined in pH 6.8, the Uniphyl® tablet was found to be less influenced than the Theodur® tablet.The maintenance time of the effective concentration of these two preparations was predicted based on the absorption profiles in six volunteers and the elimination of several diseases on reference. Although the Uniphyl® tablet showed a remarkable susutained-release effect, the time to peak (Tmax) tended to appear early and the maximum concentration (Cmax, ) was significantly lower than that of the Theodur® tablet. However, there was no difference in the area under the salivary concentration curve up to infinity time.If circadian rhythms are not taken into consideration, the administration of either a Theodur® or Uniphyl® tablet once-a-day should fully prevent a morning dip even in cases of enhanced elimination such as in hyperthyroid patients. On the other hand, for cirrhosis patients, these results suggest that even tablets normally taken twice-a-day can be taken once-a-day for Round The Clock (RTC) therapy.


Handgrip strength (HGS) is an indicator of muscle condition and general health wellbeing. Usually, instruments measuring handgrip strength only identify its maximum value. This preliminary study is focused on identifying force vs. time parameters which could contribute to better describe individual strength. They were obtained during a Handgrip strength test of 15 s in a sample group of 94 university students. The tests were conducted with a smart multifunction novel prototype dynamometer, named BodyGrip. Mean values of quantities related to the ability to develop and to maintain strength in percentage of maximum handgrip strength, were extracted from the force vs time profile. Contrary to maximum HGS, such quantities were found to be independent of the participant's anthropometric characteristics. Individual comparisons based on those quantities are therefore not affected by the anthropometric characteristics. It was possible to identify individuals, differing on the development of HGS. Results suggest that the functionality of the BodyGrip tool enables a more thorough characterization of the time profile of the Handgrip strength that might influence the knowledge of the muscle functions, such as power development and endurance.


The design and development of a digital median filter is presented as part of a soft ip-core for an autonomous mobile robot. The median filter filters the output of the measurement module of a line sensor ip-core for the robot. The bubble-sort network architecture is adopted for the median filter design. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified by Matlab programming. The hardware algorithm is implemented in hardware on a Xilinx Spartan-3 FPGA device as part of the robot's line-sensor ip-core.


The thermal infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum has considerable potential for mineral and lithological mapping of the most abundant rock-forming silicates that do not display diagnostic features at visible and shortwave infrared wavelengths. Lithological mapping using visible and shortwave infrared hyperspectral data is well developed and established processing chains are available, however there is a paucity of such methodologies for hyperspectral thermal infrared data. Here we present a new fully automated processing chain for deriving lithological maps from hyperspectral thermal infrared data and test its applicability using the first ever airborne hyperspectral thermal data collected in the Antarctic. A combined airborne hyperspectral survey, targeted geological field mapping campaign and detailed mineralogical and geochemical datasets are applied to small test site in West Antarctica where the geological relationships are representative of continental margin arcs. The challenging environmental conditions and cold temperatures in the Antarctic meant that the data have a significantly lower signal to noise ratio than is usually attained from airborne hyperspectral sensors. We applied preprocessing techniques to improve the signal to noise ratio and convert the radiance images to ground leaving emissivity. Following preprocessing we developed and applied a fully automated processing chain to the hyperspectral imagery, which consists of the following six steps: (1) superpixel segmentation, (2) determine the number of endmembers, (3) extract endmembers from superpixels, (4) apply fully constrained linear unmixing, (5) generate a predictive classification map, and (6) automatically label the predictive classes to generate a lithological map. The results show that the image processing chain was successful, despite the low signal to noise ratio of the imagery; reconstruction of the hyperspectral image from the endmembers and their fractional abundances yielded a root mean square error of 0.58%. The results are encouraging with the thermal imagery allowing clear distinction between granitoid types. However, the distinction of fine grained, intermediate composition dykes is not possible due to the close geochemical similarity with the country rock.


A simple and highly reliable screening method for unknown toxic substances in biological samples is required to select effective treatments for intoxicated patients in emergency medical care. For toxicological screening, and analytical method for pesticides in human serum by reversed-phase liquid chromatography with photo-diode-array detection was investigated. Twenty six commonly used pesticides could be identified from their UV spectra and retention times. The detection limit was less than 10 ng per injection, which was enough to identify pesticides in serum after solid-phase extraction using an ODS cartridge (Bond Elute C18). We analyzed the sera of three patients with this method and showed that the method was accurate and sensitive enough to identify unknown pesticides. The time needed for analysis was only 2-2.5h. We propose that this method will be very useful for detecting pesticides responsible for poisoning in emergency medical units.


Theoretical studies carried on trans -alkene mycolic acid (MA) that characterize (2 R ,3 R ,17 R ,39 S ,40 S , E )-3-hydroxy-39-methoxy-17,40-dimethyl-2- tetra cosyl- octapentacont-18-enoic acid (1). The stereochemistry of MA was showed that the chiral centres in C(19), C(20), C(44), C(49) and C(51) were in ( S ), ( S ), ( R ), ( R ) and ( R ) configurations respectively and the double bond in C(42)-C(43) was described as E -isomer. The results of conformational energy for selected (85) conformers in the acid structure were showed that the torsion angles 15(?>>"> ) were in the range (±180) and this indicate the folding of MA a way same to that present in biomolecules. Theoretical studies of torsional strain (E) of each conformer were showed that the MA has eclipsed and staggered conformation. Internal coordinate mechanics (ICM) of MA was showed that the angle type in most of atoms was dihedral. The bond lengths, bond angles, torsion angles and dihedral angles were also studied, in order to study their effect in the molecule properties and their consequence in the molecular mechanics (MM2) and optimal minimization. Thus, the MM2 properties were envisioned, the results were showed that the torsion energy and the total energy were equal to 13.3334 and 255.0187 kcal/mol respectively. High Van der Waals (VDW) interactions of this MA were observed, due to the dipole/ dipole was not computed. Further, the results of MM2 minimization for MA were showed that the torsion energy and the total energy were equal to 8.8418 and 62.9851 kcal/mol respectively. Thus, the dipole/ dipole (0.2185) of acid was detected after minimization. The results after minimization were showed a significant increase in the actual close contact of atoms. Also, the results were displayed that the carboxylic O(47) atom was close contact with H(179) atom that bonded with alkane C(49) atom in mycolic motif. Further, the molecular mechanics force field (MMFF94) energy and gradient for MA were also calculated. The results were showed that the total energy and RMS gradients were equal to 228.561 kcal/mol and 17.735 respectively. The final energy of MMFF94 minimization and minimization/ sampling were equal to 11.2963 kcal/mol and 11.1221 kcal/mol respectively, which indicated that the minimization was attended successfully. Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis , Mycolic acid, Internal coordinates


An embodiment of the invention discloses a system for measuring movement, position and physiological data. The system comprises a measuring device, a terminal device and a service managing device. The measuring device is a shoe provided with a body-fat measuring device. The shoe comprises a measurement connecting terminal, a biologic impedance measurement device, a data converter and a signal transmitter. The measurement connecting terminal is used for connecting currents between two feet, the biologic impedance measurement device is used for measuring weak currents flowing through a human body and calculating a resistance value between the two feet, the data converter is used for converting the resistance value into a fat percentage and converting digital signals into electrical signals, and the signal transmitter is used for transmitting the electrical signals to the terminal device. According to the method, through the shoe which is capable of measuring body-fat quantity of human bodies and has integrated multiple functions, monitoring on movement, position and physiology of the human bodies can be compressively realized well, and costs of products in the prior art are reduced.


There is growing recognition that the lack of cloud federation in a landscape of multiple independent cloud providers is limiting the service reach, resources and scalability that can be offered in a rapidly expanding cloud marketplace. Much like the interconnected network economy that has evolved in the wireless world, the cloud is primed for the advancement of standards that will establish an open framework for cloud-to-cloud federation, benefiting both cloud providers and end users. This panel will discuss cloud standards in general, and address cloud federation standards underway in the IEEE and collaboration with the NIST Public Working Group on Cloud Federation.