Design and verification of integrated systems involve a variety of CAD tools, which increase design heterogeneity. This paper presents an efficient methodology based on tool integration that regulates the design and verification flow. The methodology aims at solving key issues in building and verifying a functional prototype of a system and in improving design continuity. Using UML, SystemC and Matlab/Simulink, we were able to create a unified design and verification framework. A digital equalizer is used as an example to validate the methodology.


Given a lack of knowledge about the dimensions of apparel quality significant to consumers, manufacturers may mistakenly focus attention on product attributes which are not salient to consumers. Therefore, a better understanding of the quality dimensions perceived by consumers and of the intrinsic cues they use in making judgements of products' salient qualities is needed. In this study, 122 adult shoppers evaluated the quality of men's dress shirts. Three dimensions of perceived quality emerged which were defined as Sturdiness/ Durability (garment seams, stitching, fabric construction), Style/Aesthetics (garment design, styling and over-all appearance), and Lasting/Care (garment life and care required). Multiple regression showed that two of these factors, Style/Aesthetics and Sturdiness/Durability, predicted consumers' perceptions of apparel quality. Thus styling, design, and over-all appearance are combined with sturdiness and durability as integral components of consumers' perceptions of quality.


This study examines the other comprehensive income statements' contribution of relevance to the financial reporting in the financial sector. By using the basis of the clean surplus relation, the st ...


Teachers'individuality in teaching is considered as a human nature in a unique"self"and shows in class.Because of the teaching culture of"loyal orientation"、the authoritative system management culture、strict evaluation culture of examination、the assimilation culture of teacher training in the development of school culture,which cause the marginalization of the teacher'subject、containing the teacher autonomy and creativity、preventing teachers'initiative,so that it digestions and misleads teachers'individuality in teaching.To reproduce the teacher"real"image,construct the teaching culture of"creation orientation",build democratic management culture,generate flexible culture of evaluation with ultimate purpose of promoting teacher's professional development,perfect teacher training culture of focusing on teachers'experience and reflection such rational thinking of cultural construction,which will provide strong support and more freedom to generate space in order to demonstrate teachers'individuality in teaching.


We developed the experimental response function (ERF) which can be used for the numerical curve fitting analysis in photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). We selected the core-levels of Ag 3d_(5/2) and Au 4f_(7/2) to obtain the ERF because the parameters characterizing the intrinsic line-shape have been known well. Relying on the numerical fourier transformation we deconvoluted the ERF from the measured core-level spectra. For the numerical fourier transformation we applied the fast transform (FFT) algorithm. We considered optimal (Wiener) filtering with the FFT due to noise and used Hann window function to remedy the information leakage in frequency domain due to discrete and finite sampling of measurement. The comparison of the curve fitting results using the ERF obtained in this work and the mathematical response function with a gaussian in the conventional approach shows clearly the improvement of the curve fitting analysis.


Scheduled for May 31st at NRD venue in Torun, Poland, thbe first edition of Post Mortem festival features post black metal act AU-DESSUS from Lithuania, ...


Objective To understand the pollution of particulate matters and the distribution of heavy metals in particulate matters. Methods Samples were collected with auto-sampling instrument for 32 consecutive days in heating period of Dec. 2003-Jan,2004, in a central area of Tianjin. The heavy metals were detected with atomic absorption spectrum, atomic fluorescence spectrum and plasma emission spectrum, 9 heavy metals were measured quantitatively. Results The rates of over standards for daily mean of TSP, IP, PM2.5 in heating period were 54.55%, 57.58%, 84.85% respectively. Content of some heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, Ni in the particulate matters were higher. Conclusion Air pollution with particulates in heating period is serious. PM2.5 carries more heavy metals than TSP and IP, so it is much more harmful to human health.


A handwritten Tibetan database, MRG-OHTC, is presented to facilitate the research of online handwritten Tibetan character recognition. The database contains 910 Tibetan character classes written by 130 persons from Tibetan ethnic minority. These characters are selected from basic set and extension set A of Tibetan coded character set. The current version of this database is collected using electronic pen on digital tablet. We investigate some characteristic of writing style from different writers. We evaluate MRG-OHTC database using existing algorithms as a baseline. Experimental results reveal a big challenge to higher recognition performance. To our knowledge, MRG-OHTC is the first publicly available database for handwritten Tibetan research. It provides a basic database to compare empirically different algorithms for handwritten Tibetan character recognition.


∗METIS is copyrighted by the regents of the University of Minnesota . This work was supported by IST/BMDO through Army Research O ffice contract DA/DAAH04-93-G-0080, and by Army High Performanc e Computing Research Center under the auspices of the Depart ment of the Army, Army Research Laboratory cooperative agreement number DAA H04-95-2-0003/contract number DAAH04-95-C-0008, the con tent of which does not necessarily reflect the position or the policy of the gove rnment, and no official endorsement should be inferred. Acce ss to computing facilities were provided by Minnesota Supercomputer Institute, Cray R esearch Inc, and by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. R elated papers are available via WWW at URL:http://www.cs.umn.edu/ ̃karypis


Part 1: Planning work practices. A brainstorming session is simulated discussing the interpretation of the ISO 17025 standard by various people


The turnout at a chilly Eltham Lights Up was in its thousands as residents saw characters from the Roald Dahl books take to the streets of Eltham along with many other festive entertainers.


Based on the mathematical model of Electric vehicle motor,the experiment platform is established by using a new modeling method of BLDCM control system,the voltage equation,the motion equation and the electromagnetic torque equation.PID control is used in the speed loop and hysteresis current track type of PWM is used in the current loop.Simulation and experimental results show that the control system has good dynamic and static performance,which shows the feasibility of the proposed method and provides an important basis for the design and control of motor control system.


We have characterized ZYX exfoliated graphite (ZYX) by measuring the surface area and electrical resistivity perpendicular (ρ⊥) to the basal plane as a function of density. The purpose of the characterization is to seek possibilities to use this material as an adsorption substrate for studies of two dimensional (2D) 3He at ultralow temperatures (ULT) below 1 mK. A potential advantage of ZYX is its much larger single crystalline size (100–200 nm) than that of Grafoil (≈10 nm) which is an exfoliated graphite commonly used at ULT. Present results show that ZYX has sufficiently large surface area to be used in heat capacity or nuclear magnetic resonance experiments on 2D 3He samples and good thermal conductance to cool them well below 1 mK. We have demonstrated this by measuring nuclear magnetic susceptibility of monolayer solid 3He adsorbed on ZYX with a density of 1.1 g/cm3 down to 100 μK. Measured temperature dependencies of ρ⊥ and ρ∥ (resistivity parallel to the basal plane) below 70 K are discussed withi...


Mobility mining has lots of applications in urban planning and transportation systems. In particular, extracting mobility patterns enables service providers to have a global insight about the mobility behaviors which consequently leads to providing better services to the citizens. In the recent years several data mining techniques have been presented to tackle this problem. These methods usually are either spatial extension of temporal methods or temporal extension of spatial methods. However, still a framework that can keep the natural structure of mobility data has not been considered. Non-negative tensor factorizations (NNTF) have shown great applications in topic modelling and pattern recognition. However, unfortunately their usefulness in mobility mining is less explored. In this paper we propose a new mobility pattern mining framework based on a recent non-negative tensor model called BetaNTF. We also present a new approach based on interpretability concept for determination of number of components in the tensor rank selection process. We later demonstrate some meaningful mobility patterns extracted with the proposed method from bike sharing network mobility data in Boston, USA.


The frequency of the 3.39‐μm He‐Ne laser whose output beam does not contain any artificial frequency modulation was newly stabilized in reference to the saturated absorption line of CH4 gas contained in an external cell. Instead of modulating frequency by vibrating the resonator length, the frequency modulation was given by an external vibrating mirror on which the laser beam was reflected. A 3.39‐μm low‐noise optical amplifier was also used for observing saturated absorption in the external cell. A signal proportional to a frequency deviation from the reference absorption line was fed back to the resonator to control its length such that the frequency deviation was minimized. The short‐term stability so achieved under a proportional feedback control was ±1.25×10−12/min, the frequency drift was 2.3×10−10/h, and the long‐term stability under an integral feedback control was ±3.5×10−11 over 5 h.


The study investigated the influence of resource availability on the choice of teaching methodologies by pre-school teachers in Baringo District. Instructional resources are useful to facilitate learning as young children are fascinated by the objects in child-centered approaches as recommended by K.I.E and other institutions. However, there is a tendency by teachers to make frequent use of other teaching strategies which may not necessarily be particularly effective but may be occasioned by other factors. Specific objectives were to determine pre-school teachers' characteristics, influence of teachers' professional training on methods, influence of class factors on choice of teaching methods and influence of play activities on choice of teaching methods. The study was based on Piaget's theory of learning which asserts that children mental constructs are developed through their experiences in the environment and that experiences are necessary for intellectual development. The data analysis revealed that availability and adequacy of space and number of ECDE children had a great influence on the teaching methods teachers adopted. Inadequate finance, poor storage facilities and lack of commitment were sighted as reason for failure of the use of child centered methods of teaching. In addition most rural pre-school centers were managed by primary school teachers who showed less concern. Recommendations were made with respect to primary school teachers for the supervision of learning activities in the preschool. The government should urgently initiate systems to employ trained ECDE teachers who will be deployed to public centers to ensure quality and relevant education is provided to the young generation. Further in-service training courses to be reintroduces to refine and update teacher's skills.


The invention discloses a 3D image processing method used for improving the denoising capacity during image rendering. The method comprises the steps of clustering collected 3D point clouds to obtain N categories, wherein N is a positive integer, each category corresponds to a plane, and the 3D point clouds are obtained according to a 3D object; making the value of i an integer from 1 to N and determining the normal vector of the ith plane according to the normal vector of each point in the ith plane to obtain the normal vectors of N planes totally; making the value of i an integer from 1 to N and projecting the points in the ith plane into a plane according to the normal vector of the ith plane, wherein the plane is a detection plane corresponding to the ith plane; obtaining N detection planes; rendering the N detection planes to obtain the 3D image corresponding to the 3D object. The invention further discloses a corresponding electronic device.


Since the 1990s, several Latin American countries have adopted antitrust policies as part of their economic reform agenda.3 Often, the policies have been based on an implicit assumption that they would have the beneficial effect of promoting pro-market goals in the region. Since its inception, however, advocates of antitrust policy in Latin America have insisted on implementing the policies with little to no regard


This paper examines welfare-maximizing monetary policy in an estimated micro-founded general equilibrium model of the U.S. economy where the policymaker faces uncertainty about model parameters. Uncertainty about parameters describing preferences and technology implies uncertainty about the model's dynamics, utility-based welfare criterion, and the "natural" rates of output and interest that would prevail absent nominal rigidities. We estimate the degree of uncertainty regarding natural rates due to parameter uncertainty. We find that optimal Taylor rules under parameter uncertainty respond less to the output gap and more to price inflation than would be optimal absent parameter uncertainty. We also show that policy rules that focus solely on stabilizing wages and prices yield welfare outcomes very close to the first-best.


Abstract This is the first of a series of papers on the design of the tooth profile relief of both low and high contact ratio spur gears and its effects on transmission error (TE) and tooth loads. A systematic approach to profile relief design is introduced. The process of profile relief analysis is based on a number of simplifying assumptions to ease the understanding of the relief design. Useful relief cases determined during the simplified analysis are further investigated, with realistic parameter values such as variable stiffness, manufacturing tolerances and so on, in other papers of the series. Experimental validation of the cases proven to be good are also given in forthcoming papers. In the present paper, the systematic approach is applied to low contact ratio (LCR) spur gears first with some design regions and to high contact ratio (HCR) spur gears with some new and promising design regions and rules. Several smooth transmission error curves at different loads are shown to be possible for the relief designed, hence allowing a range of loads with uniform motion transfer. The advantages of HCRG over LCRG in terms of smooth TE curves and tooth load values are noted.


Red palm olein, which is rich in β carotene, has the potential as an animal fat replacer for the formulation of healthy processed meat products. However, it is mainly composed of saturated fatty acid, which should be reduced by combining it with unsaturated fatty acid-rich vegetable oil. Canola oil was mixed with red palm olein in order to get the benefits from both. The formulation of an emulsion gel made up of red palm olein and canola oil at 30/70 (w/w) was optimized using a response surface methodology. Soy protein isolate (SPI), mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (emulsifier E471, EMS), and inulin (INL) were selected as stabilizer and emulsifier in aqueous phase. Based on formula optimization and validation of gel emulsion ability in the comminuted meat model system, it was concluded that the addition levels of SPI, EMS, and INL required to form gel emulsions with optimal ability to produce comminuted meat products were 5.33%, 0.53% and 3.98% (w/w), respectively.


Wireless interface (11) for a planar sensor system, which planar sensor system comprises an electrically conductive planar sensor, which comprises a number of adjacent electrically conductive areas (1), an operating unit/control unit (19), and also a connection for connecting the sensor to an operating device/control device, characterized in that the wireless interface (11) is an independent display device, which comprises a display (12), a control unit (14), a power source, and also a short-range radio (16), and which display can be controlled position- dependently in the area of a sensor (41, 42) such that - the position of the display device is determined by means of the planar sensor, - the information on the display in predefined positions is changed by forming by means of short-range radio (16) a wireless connection with the antenna (28) arranged in connection with the planar sensor under the display device, and by giving by means of the antenna (28) an excitation for displaying the information (INFOl - INFO3) predefined for the position in question on the display of the display device.


We consider the hyperbolic type fuzzy fractional differential equation and derive the second-order fuzzy fractional differential equation using scaling transformation. We present a theoretical and ...


. We prove a conjecture of Boros, Moll and Shallit on the location of the zeroes of certain polynomials arising in the evaluation of the rational definite integrals (cid:2) ∞ 0 [ dx/ ( x 4 + 2 ax 2 + 1) m +1 ].


Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are intracellular material accumulated by several bacteria. Commercial production of PHAs faces the issue of high production cost especially substrate cost and recovery/separation cost. An alternative to reduce the production cost is to use enzyme and or chemical to recover PHAs from bacterial cells. Recovery of PHAs from bacterial cells was done using enzyme, chemical, and a mixture of enzyme and chemical. Enzyme (s) and or chemical(s) were added into culture broth to disrupt cells after adjusting pH and temperature of the culture broth. Treatment by adding enzyme or chemical only into culture broth showed a low level of PHAs recovered from bacterial cells. Treatment by adding a mixture of enzymes and chemicals showed the best result among 22 examined combinations, i.e. a mixture of EDTA, lisozyme, papain enzyme, and SDS. This combination gave a PHA recovery of 65 % w/w.


Iris location,an important preprocessing procedure in iris recognition,is to detect inner and outer boundaries of iris in an iris image.The traditional iris location algorithm is based on simple Hough transform,but this method owns time consuming operation and low location accuracy.According to the grayscale features of eye images,a novel iris location algorithm,which combines mathematical morphology with Hough transform,is presented.The eye image is preprocessed by using morphological filter.The binary image is extracted and processed by morphology for pupil separation.By means of Sobel operator and least square method,the inner-boundary-points of iris are determined and the inner boundary is fitted.The outer boundary is also determined by Hough transform with morphology and the apriori knowledge about iris image.The test results show that the proposed algorithm has better performance in location accuracy and operation speed,and can be suitably used as practical preprocessing algorithm in iris recognition.


Amplitude modulated noise and phase noise measurements for airborne radars have traditionally been performed by converting high frequency spectrums to the video range and measuring the analog noise and spurious parameters on conventional spectrum analyzers. The disadvantage of using spectrum analyzers is that test execution time is relatively long due to the slow sweep times required for selection of narrow resolution bandwidths. Also, since sweep times are long with spectrum analyzers, transient noise and other short time interval phenomena are difficult to detect (since they are usually "averaged out" due to the slow sweep). This has prompted the development of digital signal processing techniques to speed up the execution time and increase the accuracy of measurements. This paper describes an automated and efficient system that measures AM and PM response digitally. A digitizer is used to convert the analog signal to digital, whereupon a computer is used to process the digital data for noise and spurious response. This system allows for flexibility, since the processing may be altered by merely changing the computer software.<<ETX>>


In 1975, Purtilo and colleagues reported the Duncan pedigree in which six of 18 males died of a lymphoproliferative disorder (Purtilo et al, 1975). The boys, aged between 2 and 19 years, exhibited a progressive-combined variable immunodeficiency disease characterized by benign or malignant proliferation of lymphocytes, histiocytosis and alterations in concentrations of serum immunoglobulins. In three of the six boys, infectious mononucleosis occurred during or preceding the terminal events with fever, pharyngitis, lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, atypical lymphocytosis and abnormal immunoglobulin production. The autopsy findings demonstrated depletion of lymphocytes in the thymus and in the thymic-dependent areas of lymph nodes, spleen and thymus but a diffuse inlfiltrate of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and histiocytes with erythrophagocytosis in the haematopoietic organs, viscera and central nervous system. In addition, two of the six males had lymphomas of the ileum and central nervous system. Following reports from other families in which two or more males exhibited similar clinical problems following Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection, the condition was termed X–linked lymphoproliferative syndrome (XLP) (Bar et al, 1974; Provisor et al, 1975). In their initial report (Purtilo et al, 1975), the authors suggested that EBV or other viral agents may have triggered the fatal proliferation of lymphocytes and postulated that immunological shut-off mechanisms for controlling the proliferation of lymphocytes, especially B cells, were inadequate . Nearly 30 years on, the gene for XLP [termed SH2D1A or SAP: for SLAM (signalling lymphocytic activation molecule)associated protein] has been identified offering improved diagnostic tests and a greater awareness of the clinical spectrum of the condition. Furthermore, as the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of the condition begins to unravel, the initial suggestions of Purtilo et al (1975) continue to hold true.


In this article, the Bromeliaceae from different regions within Boyaca and Casanare, review from herbarium and field work. There were registered 66 species in 10 genera. The most representative genera are Tillandsia with 25 species/38%, followed by Guzmania with 11/17%, Racinaea with 9/14% and the rest of genera with less than three species each one. We considered specie near threatened to Guzmania goudotiana. Finally, a key to species is included.


conference on employee relations and regulation held at the Wharton School in June 1981. The editors supplemented those with nine additional papers. Many of the contributions have a decidedly management-oriented focus. In fact, only two labor spokesmen, Elmer Chatak and Jacob Sheinkman, are represented here, and in both cases, they were countering allegations made by one or more management spokesmen. Chatak's piece is an answer to management criticism of government regulatory agencies, arguing that "without government intervention in the market, what must be done, will not be done" (p. 51). Sheinkman's contribution is a reply to James P. Northrup's (and indirectly to Roy A. Schotland's) assertion that a union's preference for investing pension funds in stock issued by organizations whose "social performance" is acceptable to organized labor could prove financially damaging to pensioners. In their view, the sole criterion in making investment decisions should be that of providing retirement security. Sheinkman agrees that protecting pensioners' interests is of paramount importance but argues that that protection can be provided while at the same time investing in stock issued by companies with laudable social programs. Labor unions might see themselves as watchdogs, protecting their members' rights, but some contributors to this volume cast them in the role of overly zealous regulators. The articles by George B. McCullough and Robert W. Copp, for example, both point to the pressures unions exert upon multinationals. According to another article, written by the two editors, it is only national self-interest on the part of individual unions that keeps those pressures from being effective. The single exception to that general rule is described by Philip A. Miscimarra in his "The Entertainment Industry: Inroads in Multinational Collective Bargaining." In reading this article, however, I was struck by the fact that, by and large, unions in the entertainment industry are successful only when they work together with the employers to gain something of mutual interest. Two other authors, Andrew M. Kramer in his article on neutrality agreements and Charles R. Perry in his, on operating plants during a strike, view unions as at least attempting to act as regulators. Legal interpretations, rather than government or union regulations, are the culprit in two other contributions to this volume. They have, according to Thomas R. Haggard, gutted the effectiveness of regulatory legislation intended to protect employers from labor violence. And Janice R. Bellace contends that legal interpretations have also made union decertification more difficult. In his work on teacher bargaining, Charles R. Perry finds restraining influences on union demands to be fiscal constraints of a crisis nature. On the other hand, Herbert Northrup and J. Daniel Morgan, in their article on the Memphis police and firefighters' strike of 1978, find that role to be one played by local businesses. It was not clear to me who plays the part of regulator in Geoffrey E. Latta's contribution on organizing scientists and engineers. In some sort of negative way, there appear to be three forces at work that keep scientists and engineers from joining unions: employers, unions, and the scientists and engineers themselves. Of all the articles in this book, James D. Hodgson's was the most interesting. A former Secretary of Labor who also served as U.S. Ambassador to Japan during the Nixon administration, Hodgson brings both insight and perspective to his topic, "The American Workplace New Winds A-Blowing." He places some blame on government regulation, which he says has gone "from nit-picking to nutcracking levels" (p. 19). But government regulation is only one member of "the Hodgson Gang of Four." The massive shift in size and composition of the labor force in the 1970s, international competition, and a decline in productivity also serve as members of that Gang. And at least some of the blame for the existence of the last two is attributable to management shortsightedness. Hodgson is cautiously optimistic about the economic outlook for the 1980s-but only if management pays much more attention to demographic patterns; recognizes that we now operate in a global economy; pays greater heed to both the needs and abilities of its work force; and finds "ways to work with sympathetic elements of government o create policies that will turn our whole economic picture around" (p. 24).


In this paper, we extract density of localized tail states from measurements of low temperature conductance in amorphous oxide transistors. At low temperatures, trap-limited conduction prevails, allowing extraction of the trapped carrier distribution with energy. Using a test device with a-InGaZnO channel layer, the extracted tail state energy and density at the conduction band minima are 20 meV and 2 × 1019 cm−3 eV−1, respectively, which are consistent with values reported in the literature. Also, the field-effect mobility as a function of temperature from 77 K to 300 K is retrieved for different gate voltages, yielding the activation energy and the percolation threshold.


A solvent-specific novel integrated biosensing network analyzer (IBNA) for the detection of materials with varying dielectric constant (i.e., permittivity) is reported in this article. The proposed IBNA works on the concept that any change in permittivity of the material under test (MUT) results in a change in capacitance of the RF bioliquid cavity's resonant frequency measured by the measurement unit. An interdigitated capacitor-based RF bioliquid cavity resonating at 2.3 GHz performs the sensing operation, while a dual-band six-port reflectometer (DBSPR) with an operating frequency of 1.1 and 2.3 GHz facilitates the measurement of the s-parameters and hence the extraction of permittivities. The DBSPR operating at 1.2 and 2.3 GHz required development of a dual-band coupler which exhibits $|{S}_{{11}}|$ of −30 and −25 dB and a bandwidth of 573 and 644 MHz at the chosen design frequencies. It also required design of a dual-band power dividers which possess $|{S}_{{11}}|$ of −21.5 and −34.5 dB with a bandwidth of 301 and 264 MHz at the design frequency. The eventual prototype of DBSPR achieves respective bandwidths of 254 and 215 MHz at 1.12 and 2.26 GHz. The resonant frequency of the designed sensing unit loaded with water is 2.483 GHz and this falls in the second band of the DBSPR. Finally, the detection of 1 M Glucose and Sucrose is performed in simulation and experiments and these yield excellent respective frequency shifts of 15 and 20 MHz at room temperature.


The present invention relates to the design and method of manufacture configured nanostructure grid. Which include four two-dimensional periodic lattice design (hexagonal, triangular, square-shaped and Kagome); and an overview of the process of manufacturing nanostructured grid.


Photometric and spectroscopic observations of the nova-like variable BH Lyn are presented. The continuum and line light curves exhibit deep eclipses which recur with a period of 3.74 hr. The spectra have single-peaked Balmer and He I emission lines which, due to the absorption of low-velocity emission, exhibit a double-peaked structure near the inferior conjunction of the emission-line source. The high-excitation lines of He II λ4686 A and C III/N III λλ4640-4650 A are very weak. Radial velocity measurements show large phase shifts in all the emission lines


A PCF-based MZI with regular and high-contrast fringe pattern is fabricated by splicing a section of PCF in between two SMFs with a commercial available fusion splicer. Its resonant wavelength is sensitive to external bending with a sensitivity of 3.046nm/m but independent on temperature. To that end, we also propose another kind of bending sensor with higher sensitivity of 5.129nm/m. This device is constructed by combining an LPG and an MZI with zero offset at the second splice. It is anticipated that the high sensitive structures will find applications in robot arms and artificial limbs.


Reinsurance is the most important method of insurance companies' actuarial risk management. Insurance companies' internal factors of the reinsurance demand in the Republic of Croatia are examined in this paper. Random effects panel model was estimated by using the data about internal characteristics of 19 insurers in the period between 2006 and 2011. The results of empirical analysis show that important factors of the insurance companies' decisions regarding the purchase of reinsurance are leverage, size, return on investment, ownership structure, as well as a share of non-life insurance in total insurance business. Underwriting result and asset volatility do not show statistically significant effect on reinsurance demand in the Croatian insurance market.


Significance We investigated the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling cascade, which is commonly implicated in neurodevelopmental autism spectrum disorders but is almost never studied in juveniles. We demonstrated that experience-dependent activation of mTOR has functional consequences for complex learned behavior using a songbird model that has strong developmental, social, behavioral, neural, and genomic parallels with human vocal communication. Our results highlight the value of investigations that integrate age and experience to understand molecular mechanisms and behavioral outcomes of neurodevelopmental disorders and typical neural development. Early life experiences can have long-lasting behavioral consequences because they are encoded when the brain is most malleable. The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling cascade modulates experience-dependent synaptic plasticity, among other processes. mTOR has been almost exclusively examined in adult rodent learning models, but may be especially important in organizing neural circuits required for developmental acquisition of meaningful complex behaviors. It is among the most commonly implicated factors in neurodevelopmental autism spectrum disorders (ASD), characterized, in part, by distinct social and communication phenotypes. Here, we investigated mTOR in juvenile zebra finch songbirds. Much as children learn language, young male zebra finches need to interact socially with an adult tutor to learn a meaningful song. The memory of the tutor's song structure guides the juvenile's own song, which it uses to communicate for the rest of its life. We hypothesized that mTOR is required for juveniles to learn song. To this end, we first discovered that hearing song activates mTOR signaling in a brain area required for tutor song memorization in males old enough to copy song but not in younger males or females, who cannot sing. We then showed that both inhibition and constitutive activation of mTOR during tutor experiences significantly diminished tutor song copying. Finally, we found that constitutive mTOR activation lowered a behavioral measure of the juvenile's social engagement during tutor experiences, mirroring the relationship in humans. These studies therefore advance understanding about the effects of experience in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders and typical neural development.


There are described analgesic substituted-1-aminoalkylamino-4-aryloxypiperidines of the formula where X is hydrogen, loweralkyl, CF3, acetyl or halogen; n is 1 or 2; R1 is H2 or oxygen; R2 is H, loweralkyl or benzyl; and R3 is oxygen or -OCH2CH2O-, which are useful as analgesic agents and intermediate compounds therefor.


Based on the design ideas of the blocking structures and the mathematical model of the landing gear, the three-dimensional simulation software of the airplane gear was developed by Visual C++ and 3DMAX. The authors researched the forces and moments of the landing gear when the plane is moving on the ground. The simulation system has six modules: the data-base module, the event management module, the landing gear states module, the landing gear parameters module, the landing gear solving module and the 3D module. This three-dimensional simulation software was used to simulate the real working situation of airplane landing gear and the landing and dropping tests of undercarriage, and the dynamical responding curves of the major landing gear and the front landing gear were drawn respectively.


Up until now 3D television has not taken off as had been anticipated and although many televisions are 3D enabled viewers generally tend to watch without using the 3D option. This must not be taken as a failure of 3D television itself; the fact is that viewers dislike having to wear the special glasses. The next generation of 3D television must be glasses-free (autostereoscopic) and the `Towards the Reality of 3D Imaging and Display' project aims to develop the first viable autostereoscopic television display. There are arguably three technologies that are the main contenders for fulfilling the role; computational multi-later, head tracked and super multiview. In this paper we will describe these and examine the technical challenges and the pros and cons of each approach.


The seeds of Punica granatum fruit from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia were analyzed for nutritional and anti-nutritional composition using standard analytical methods. The results obtained were studied. The results obtained show that there were significant differences (p<0.05) in percentage ash, moisture, crude lipid, crude protein, crude fiber, available carbohydrate and the energy value .Elemental analyses show that magnesium is the most abundant elements in the seeds of both countries Nigeria and Saudi Arabia (5650mg/100g) and (1140.1mg/100g) respectively, this may be due to its availability soil where it was grown, while copper and zinc are the least abundant. The result of anti-nutritional analyses indicate significance difference (p<0.05) in hydrocyanic acid, nitrate, soluble oxalate, phytate and tannin. The anti-nutrients to nutrients ratio indicate the availability of some minerals. The study show that differences and similarities in nutritive contents with respect to Protein, Fiber, Fat / Lipids, Calcium, Iron magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, etc in the two samples may be due to climatic condition, genetic factor, mode of cultivation, topography and other factors. Considering the nutritional and anti-nutritional profile of the two samples, it can be conclude that the seed is a very good source of some nutrients which if utilized properly would assist in providing some of these nutrients to the people in the society; this may assist in combating the problem of malnutrition in Nigeria and Africa in general.


Lithium is the first‐line drug for the treatment of bipolar disorders (BDs); however, not all patients responded. Glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3β and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) play a role in the therapeutic action of lithium. Since structural variations were reported in these genes, it is possible that these genomic variations may be involved in the therapeutic responses to lithium.


The introduction of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) into clinical practice in the 1980s and the later new modified erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) was a real breakthrough in the treatment of severe anaemia in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Use of ESAs is primarily based on an assumption that failing kidneys produce less erythropoietin which is needed for adequate erythropoiesis. However, with the development of our knowledge, the pathogenesis of anaemia in CKD becomes more and more complex (insufficient iron storage, inflammation, vitamin B12 and folic acid depletion, bone marrow fibrosis due to severe secondary hyperparathyroidism, use of myelosuppressive agents, blood loss or haemolysis, etc.). Moreover, large clinical trials failed to provide evidence that trying to achieve higher haemoglobin levels (as in subjects with normal kidney function) using ESAs is beneficial for these patients. In fact, there is a suggestion that it may be, in some cases, even harmful. Therefore current guidelines recommend haemoglobin target levels way below normal values [1]. It is reasonable to use ESA therapy in CKD patients generally to maintain Hb values ranging between 10 and 12 g/dL individualizing the value in this target range according to the possible comorbidities of the patients [2]. One of the problems we must face when treating CKD patients with ESAs is resistance to this class of medication. There are several reasons why the patient does not respond well to ESA therapy. Active blood loss, insufficient iron supply, inflammation, malnutrition and inadequate renal replacement therapy are all causes of insufficient ESA responsiveness. There is no universal definition of ESA hyporesponsiveness. According to Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines, ESA hyporesponsiveness may be 'initial' (if there is no increase in Hb concentration from baseline after the first month of ESA treatment on appropriate weight-based dosing) or 'subsequent' (if there is need for two increases in ESA doses up to 50% beyond the dose at which the patient had been stable in order to maintain a stable Hb level) [1]. Resistance to ESA therapy correlates with worse survival in CKD patients [3–5]. Some strategies have been proposed to improve ESA responsiveness. Some new methods of therapy like intestinal adsorption of uraemic toxins with AST-120 [6], pentoxifylline [7] and vitamin D [8] have been showing promising results. Panichi et al. [9] show, in a small cross-over, randomized, multicentre study, that high-volume on-line hemodiafiltration (HV-OL-HDF) improves responsiveness to ESAs when compared with standard low-flux haemodialysis (BHD). Improved responsiveness to ESAs was accompanied by lower hepcidin concentration in a population of patients without increased inflammation markers. Hepcidin is one of the main regulators of iron homeostasis [10]. It is eliminated by the kidneys and accumulates in patients with CKD. Hepcidin binds to ferroportin, the main cellular iron efflux channel, causing its internalization and degradation. Subsequently, iron is sequestrated in macrophages and prevented from being absorbed from the intestine. A strategy aimed to lower high hepcidin levels seems to be reasonable for anaemia treatment in CKD patients. High-volume OL-HDF certainly has the potential to lower hepcidin levels. Further studies are needed, however, to determine whether it is directly eliminated through the high-flux membranes. Hepcidin is a 25-aminoacid peptide most probably not removed by low-flux BHD but potentially removable by HV-OL-HDF. ESA resistance is correlated with worse survival. It is not clear whether this association is due to some unfavourable effects of ESAs itself or rather if ESA resistance is a marker of


SUMMARY We report a case of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma presenting as anterior pituitary failure and found to have involvement of two endocrine glands, the pituitary and the adrenals.


Ten years ago, in 1955 the "Metabolic Establishment" first began to hear what might be called the "Great Diabetes Paradox:" impaired glucose tolerance can occur side by side with normal concentrations of blood insulin or insulinlike activity. This sounded like endocrinologic heresy but it has been confirmed by almost every worker in the field, using different assay methods. Since the paradox is true, it is provocative, for it suggests that an important truth may be hidden beyond it. One line of approach to this problem has been to look for insulin antagonists which might prevent normal amounts of insulin from accomplishing their physiological tasks. Much work has been done in this area, some of it controversial, all of it exciting. It is not easy to prepare a critical evaluation without beginning to seem to be against progress. But true progress requires that controversy be resolved.


As a critical input, high-speed railway (HSR) passenger demand is a significant guide for railway planning and operation. Accordingly, the necessity of accurately forecasting short-term demand has become a pressing problem; it has increasingly attracted attention as a research interest. In this paper, a novel hybrid model, specifically, the SSA–WPDCNN–SVR model, is proposed for short-term HSR passenger demand forecasting that explicitly considers the relevance of neighbour time data. The model consists of three procedures: (i) the decomposition of the original time series into the principal component (PC) and several detailed components (DCs) by the singular spectrum analysis (SSA) method, which is adopted as the signal processing procedure; (ii) the forecasting of PC by means of the designed convolutional neural network with the wavelet packet decomposition (WPDCNN) through the transformation of the one-dimensional time series into weekly cross-correlation matrices (i.e., image-like two-dimensional data); (iii) the forecasting of DCs by the support vector regression (SVR) method. The case studies of three typical origin–destination pairs in an HSR line are considered to demonstrate the validity and correctness of the proposed model, which not only extracts the fluctuation characteristics of passenger flows, but also outperforms several other existing models with its higher short-term HSR demand forecasting accuracy.


The article reviews the book "The Origin of Financial Crises: Central Banks, Credit Bubbles and the Efficient Market Fallacy," by George Cooper.


We consider the development of implicit‐explicit time integration schemes for optimal control problems governed by the Goldstein–Taylor model. In the diffusive scaling, this model is a hyperbolic approximation to the heat equation. We investigate the relation of time integration schemes and the formal Chapman–Enskog‐type limiting procedure. For the class of stiffly accurate implicit–explicit Runge–Kutta methods, the discrete optimality system also provides a stable numerical method for optimal control problems governed by the heat equation. Numerical examples illustrate the expected behavior. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq 30: 1770–1784, 2014


In this work, novel water-compatible core–shell surface molecularly imprinted polymers with double recognition abilities for highly efficient separation of starch polysaccharide were prepared.


Abstract McMurry coupling of 4-phenylcyclohex-3-en-1-one and double addition of 1,4-dilithiobenzene and 4,4′-dilithiobiphenyl to cyclohexanones gives linear chains of three or four six-membered carbocyclic rings, including a potential intermediate in a proposed synthesis of [O6]paracyclophane.


The polymerization of 1,3-dioxolane was carried out using trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (triflic acid) as catalyst, in the presence of an oligomeric diol, α-hydro-ω-hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) (PEOG) or α-hydro-ω-hydroxypoly(oxytetramethylene) (poly-THF-diol). When PEOG was used, a linear increase of the number average molecular weight versus conversion was observed. A triblock copolymer was obtained as well as small cycles in their usual equilibrium concentration. When poly-THF-diol was used, fast transacetalization provoked the "polycondensation" of the diol through acetal linkages at the very onset of the reaction, leading to a very inhomogeneous mixture. After equilibrium was reached, through reactions involving all the various species present, a triblock copolymer was also obtained.

In conclusion, this method is well suited to prepare α,ω-diol block copolymers in which the initial oligomeric diol constitutes the center block, while the outside blocks are made of polyacetal.


1. A method of modifying a polyimide membrane comprising ultra- or nanofiltration in order to increase the stability of the membrane to organic solvents while maintaining its permeability, said method comprising crosslinking a polyimide using an amino compound. ! 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step in which a crosslinked membrane was subjected to solvent replacement procedure. ! 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the solvent exchange procedure comprises the immersion of the membrane in a bath of isopropanol, followed by immersion in a bath of isopropanol and glycerol. ! 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of drying the membrane. ! 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the membrane comprises a polyimide with the following general structure! ! 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the membrane comprises a polyimide with the following general structure! ! 7. A method according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein cross-linking procedure involves immersion of a polyimide membrane in a solution containing an amine compound selected from the group consisting of cyclohexylamine, p-xylylenediamine, 1,2-diaminoethane, 1,6-hexanediamine, aminopropilmetildietoksisilana 3-tris (2-aminoethyl) amine, triethylenetetramine, pentaethylenehexamine, polyethylenimine, diamines polyethers preferably based on polyethylene oxide backbone with a molecular weight of from 50 to 20,000, polyethylenimine, substituted trimetoksisililpropilom, Commercially molecular weight of from 200 to 200,000, polyethylenimine, having a molecular weight of from 1,000 to 200,000, aqueous ammonium hydroxide and isobutylamine. ! 8. The method of claim 7, wherein crosslinking comprises immersing the membrane in a 1-25% wt. / Vol. a solution of p-ksilendiamina in methanol. ! 9. A method according to claim 8,


Based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) surveys and conducting a panel data estimation to test our hypothesis, this paper examines whether corruption perceptions might sand or grease the wheels for entrepreneurship inside companies or intrapreneurship in a sample of 92 countries for the period 2012–2019. Our results find that the corruption perception sands the wheel for intrapreneurship. There is evidence of a quadratic relation, but this relation is only clear for the less developed countries, which sort of moderate the very negative effect of corruption for these countries. The results also confirm that corruption influences differently on intrapreneurship depending on the level of development of the country.


A merged-beam study of the gas phase He(S1) + NH3 Penning ionization reaction dynamics in the collision energy range 3.3 μeV < Ecoll< 10 meV is presented. In this energy range the reaction rate is governed by long-range attraction. Shape resonances are observed at collision energies of 1.8 meV and 7.3 meV and are assigned to `=15,16 and `=20,21 partial waves, respectively. The experimental results are well reproduced by theoretical calculations with the short-range reaction probability Psr = 0.035.


The article presents the results of the analysis of several temperature and precipitation parameters in the instrumental period in the capital of Montenegro—Podgorica, for the period 1951–2018. In order to use the latest results of several Regional Climate Models (RCMs) developed for the Western Balkans, the results of temperature and precipitation modelling for the period 2011–2100, ALADIN, HIRHAM i RACMO models for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, are also presented. For the observed 68‐year period (1951–2018), the trend calculations clearly show that the temperature is rising. This is indicated by all the analysed temperature parameters (TY, TW, TSp, TSu, TA, TYx, TYn, FD, ID, SU, TD, TR, T35+ and T40+). Although seasonal and annual precipitation totals do not show significant changes in the instrumental period, Podgorica's climate has become more arid and extreme, as the number of days with precipitation ≥1 mm (R1) has significantly decreased. Conversly, the number of days with precipitation has increased ≥40 and 50 mm (R40 and R50). The projected changes in the considered precipitation parameters are in most cases insignificant. The obtained results indicate that there is a high agreement between the temperatures projections of the three models used. Concerning precipitation, it appears that their modelling is more complex, because there are visible qualitative and quantitative differences in the projections of models of future changes in seasonal and annual sums (RY, RW, RSp, RSu and RA), that is, the number of precipitation days (R0.1, R1, R10, R20, R30, R40 and R50). The projections of the used models show that in the future we can expect a warmer climate with more extremes of temperature and precipitation in the grid area to which Podgorica belongs.


This is a short introduction to microsurgical techniques as they apply to ophthalmology. The author discusses various models of the operating-room microscope and other microsurgical instruments. There is a contribution by Prof Saiichi Mishima from Tokyo on his model (Topcon) of a surgical microscope. The text is clear and precise, and the illustrations are superb. This short introduction should be of benefit to every young resident in ophthalmology.


Article history Quality by design (QbD ) has become the answer to assist both industry and FDA to move towards a more scientific, risk based, holistic and proactive approach to pharmaceutical development. The concept promotes industry's understanding of the product and manufacturing process starting with product development, basically building quality in, not testing it. Under this concept of QbD during designing and development of a product, a company needs to define desire product performance profile (Target product Profile (TPP), Target Product Quality Profile (TPQP)) and identify critical quality attributed (CQA). On the basis of the information company then design the product formulation and process to meet the product attributes. This leads to understand the impact of raw materials (critical material attributes (CMA)), critical process parameters (CPP) on the CQAs and identification and control sources of variability. The use of QbD principles during product development provides opportunities to facilitate innovation and continual improvement throughout the product lifecycle, compared to traditional approaches hence it is systematic way to product and process development. This systematic approach to product development and manufacturing has received a great deal from traditional approach, which was extremely empirical. Implementation of QbD is enabling transformation of the chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) review of Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) into a modern, science and risk based pharmaceutical quality assessment.


An increasing number of low-power Internet of Things (IoT) devices will be widely deployed in the near future. Considering the short-range communication of low-power devices, multihop transmissions will become an important transmission mechanism in IoT networks. It is a crucial for low-power devices to transmit data over long distances via multihop in a low-delay and reliable way. The small-world characteristics of networks indicate that the network has an advantage of a small average shortest-path length (ASL) and a high average clustering coefficient (ACC). In this article, a new IoT routing mechanism considering small-world characteristics is proposed to reduce the delay and improve the reliability. The ASL and ACC are derived for the performance analysis of small-world characteristics in IoT networks based on Cayley graphs. Besides, the reliability and delay models are proposed for small-world IoT based on Cayley graphs (SWITCH). The simulation results demonstrate that SWITCH has lower delay and better reliability than that of conventional nearest neighboring routing (NNR). Moreover, the maximum delay of SWITCH is reduced by 50.6% compared with that by NNR.


We have developed an AI-powered socio-technical system for making online learning in higher education more accessible, affordable and achievable. In particular, we have developed four novel and intertwined AI technologies: (1) VERA, a virtual experimentation research assistant for supporting inquiry-based learning of scientific knowledge, (2) Jill Watson QA (ii) Jill Watson QA (iii) Jill QA and (iv). Agent Smith helps generate Jill Watson Q&A for a new syllabus within ~25 hours. Put together, these innovative technologies help make online learning simultaneously more accessible (by making materials available online), affordable (by saving teacher time), and achievable (by providing learning assistance and fostering student engagement).


Two types of observers (based on the linear and non-linear model of the machine) have been used in field-oriented induction motor control schemes. The reduced-order linear model of the observer is easy to implement in real time, but it does not give an accurate estimation of the rotor m.m.f. vector angle, /spl beta/, since the induction motor can operate in the region of saturation. The non-linear observer model which incorporates this effect of magnetic saturation of the induction motor cannot be practically implemented by using normal methods as it takes too long a time to estimate the angle /spl beta/. The implementation of the real-time intelligent controller in this project is based on artificial neural networks (ANN) which take into account the effect of saturation and estimate the angle /spl beta/ in a few microseconds which is within the real time deadline.


One property of underspecified representation formalisms is that of expressive completeness, i.e. the ability to provide representations for all possibly occuring sets of readings. In this paper a general and formal definition of completeness along the lines of [6] will be given. Several formalisms will then be compared concerning their expressive power and shown to be incomplete.


This paper presents a novel metamodel formulation for efficient function emulation based on Radial Basis Function (RBF) interpolation. Lattice sampling plans and the geometry of the Voronoi tessellation are exploited to localise the RBF interpolation with the aim of increasing efficiency for large scale modelling with minimum loss of global accuracy. The performance of the proposed technique is examined using standard test problems and compared to established global and compact RBF modelling techniques. The fitting and prediction times for the new method are shown to be linearly proportional to the number of sample points allowing large data sets to be handled without prohibitive growth in computational cost. Accuracy is shown to be comparable to that of the global RBF for problems of medium to low dimensionality.


Based on an anthropological study of the childbearing experiences in the United States, this chapter examines the importance and meaning of fetal ultrasound imaging, or sonograms, for the American middle class. Expectant parents in the United States consume fetal images as "baby pictures." Sonographers compose fetal images using portraiture conventions. This chapter explores this seeing itself as a cultural and social practice that is shaped by expectations and experiences surrounding kinship and personhood.


Background: There are four anatomic parts of the proximal humerus namely, head, greater tuberosity, lesser tuberosity, and surgical neck. 140 ͦ is the approx angle that is formed by the neck-shaft of the humeral. With prevalence rate of 5-6% among the elderly its incidence increase with the advancement in the age.  There are various factors affecting this advancement of the elderly patients towards the proximal humerus including increasing age, osteoporosis, age, sex and other similar factors.
Aim: To study the efficacy of Hemiarthroplasty for Humeral Four-part Fractures in Elderly Patients
Methods: It was an observational study. 30 patients were taken up for the study, who were diagnosed with humeral fracture. All the patients were included in the study after getting written consent from them. Radiography was done for all the patients from an AP view, a lateral shoulder view in the scapular plane, and of the axilla according to the Neer's classification.
Results: The above table shows that the number of patients was 10 and that of the female patients was 20. The mean age for the patients was 75.45±10.69 years. The VAS score before treatment was found to be ranged from 50-90 and the VAS score after treatment was found to be ranged from 75-95. The above table shows that the VAS pain was 20 in 3 months follow up time that increased to 25 in 1 year follow up time. The VAS disability score within 3 months follow up was 53 that reduced to 47 in 1 year follow-up period. The CMS activity score was in 3 months follow-up was 10.5 and that in 1 year follow up was 15. The CMS mobility after 3 months follow-up was 13 that increased to 22 in 1 year follow-up period.
Conclusion: In the light of above results and discussion it is evident that the Hemiarthroplasty is a more viable option for reducing pain and increasing mobility in elderly patients suffering from four-part humeral fracture as compared to any other operative technique.


Relationships of divisibility between local L-functions associated to representations of complex reductive groups.- Irreducible unitary representations of some groups of real rank two.- Vogan's algorithm for computing composition series.- Unipotent representations and unitarity.- Bochner-Riesz means of HP functions (0 1) on compact Lie groups.- Injection de modules spheriques pour les espaces symetriques reductifs dans certaines representations induites.- On the cyclicity of vectors associated with Duflo involutions.- Corrigenda and addenda to "on the cyclicity of vectors associated with Duflo involutions".- Atomic Hardy spaces on semisimple Lie groups.- Orbital integrals on symmetric spaces.- Recurrence relations for Plancherel functions.- A cohomological method for the determination of limit multiplicities.- Springer representations and coherent continuation representations of Weyl groups.- Distributions spheriques invariantes sur l'espace symetrique semi-simple et son c-dual.


Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is one of the most serious long-term complications following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The pathophysiology of chronic GVHD is poorly understood. Certain genes may affect the outcome by modulating tissue injury with the alloimmune reaction. We assessed the gene profiles of 21 transplant recipients with oligonucleotide microarray (CodeLink ® ) containing 20,142 probes. All patients received hematopoietic stem cells from HLA-matched sibling donors except one who's HLA was mismatched in one A locus. All patients were in complete remission and in complete chimerism state. Among the 21 patients, 11 had chronic GVHD and 10 not. RNAs were extracted from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the transplant recipients. Sample-wise hierarchical clustering of the whole gene expression profile showed tendency of GVHD patients aggregating in the dendrogram. In GVHD patients, 141 genes were revealed up-regulated by SAM method. Gene ontology annotation of these genes indicated that up-regulated genes were related with proteolysis, lipid biosynthesis, phosphate metabolism and tissue development. A total of 461 pathways were examined to find the pathways showing differential expression patterns between GVHD and non-GVHD patients. The results showed that 227 pathways were statistically significant. These pathways included many immune-related processes, including T cell receptor signaling pathway, T helper cell surface molecules pathway, and HIV induced T cell apoptosis. With the 17 selected classifier genes, prediction accuracy of PAM algorithm was 86%. We could identify differentially expressed genes and pathways in chronic GVHD patients using oligonucleotide microarrays. We also found that extracted classifier genes showed relatively high prediction accuracy. Gene expression profile data may provide new insights into biological mechanism underlying GVHD and reveal disease-associated biomarkers of potential therapeutic targets.


The invention discloses a puncture needle propelling mechanical arm which comprises a mechanical arm body, a propelling device and an ablation needle. The mechanical arm body comprises a base flange, a top flange and a six-shaft mechanical arm arranged between the base flange and the top flange; the propelling device comprises a rack, the rack is provided with a linear guide rail and a moving sliding table which can slide in the linear guide rail along the linear guide rail in a reciprocating mode; the ablation needle is installed at the bottom end of the moving sliding table through an ablation needle fixture. The invention further provides an ablation system comprising the puncture needle propelling mechanical arm. The ablation system has the advantages of being precise in lesion part positioning and thorough in ablation cutting and can prevent a doctor from being subjected to radial radiating harm.


This paper uses the system-wide approach to analyse the consumption patterns in 18 OECD countries. The results show that, on average, the OECD per capita consumption increased by 3% per annum and prices increased by about 7% per annum; OECD consumers spend about half of their income on food, housing and transport. It is also shown that, in most OECD countries, food, housing and medical care are necessities and clothing, durables, transport and recreation are luxuries, and that the demand for all goods considered are price inelastic. The controversial hypothesis of Stigler and Becker (1977) that tastes are the same across countries is also tested and it is found that the OECD consumption data do not support their claim.


A preliminary theory of generalized functions as an alternative to  distributions is developed using nonstandard analysis. Various of the elementary results in distribution theory areproven using these non-standard generalized functions. In particularj non-stand ard stochastic fields which are alternatives to generalized stochastic processes are introduced.


The article examines the influence of modern practices of information and communication on the behavioral strategies of youth on the example of the local situation on the Russian-Georgian border in September 2022, after the announcement of partial mobilization during a special military operation. Designated in various media as a "humanitarian catastrophe" and "collapse", the situation at the Upper Lars checkpoint has become an indi-cator of a number of social problems. The huge flow of young people who decided to leave the country, caused by partial mobilization, created a situation in which fugitives and patriots, volunteers and corrupt officials, non-resident and local, faced. The aim of the article is to identify the content of network media, which manifests the motivations of different groups of young people, their attitude to the current situation, material and social prob-lems, values and priorities. The composition of the "queue" on Upper Lars, the motives of volunteerism and "illegal entrepreneurship", attitudes toward relocants and corrupt practices were determined. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that social media play a role in shaping social solidarity and self-organization.


Diphenyldiazomethane reacts with perfluoro-2-nitrosopropane at low temperatures to yield the oxime ether (CF3)2CNOCFPh2, some chemistry of which has been explored.


The work of a well-baby nurse employed by Medicine Sans Frontieres Belgium (MSF) in Section 9 of the Whitehead Detention Center (WHDC) occupied mostly by Vietnamese people and located in the New Territories of Hong Kong started on June 1 1990. There were 3241 residents of whom 563 were children under 5 years olds. Save the Children Fund (SCF) and MSF ran the well-baby clinics. The Hong Kong government managed the family planning and immunization clinics. International agencies and voluntary groups were responsible for education recreation social work clothing and excursions. A random nutritional survey conducted in several camps in July 1989 showed that approximately 15% of the children between 6 months and 5 years old were in the borderline category of malnutrition (80-85% of normal weight for height;l less than 80% indicated undernourishment). Survey in 1990 and 1991 showed that children aged between 6 and 24 months were the most often malnourished. Very few babies over one year were breastfed and some were receiving an inadequate diet. A pilot study was conducted on the effects of a supplementary feeding program giving the 16 underweight children half a teaspoon of soy oil per day. Children whose weight was less than 75% of the norm were also given yakult and banana daily. The results after 26 days showed that 12 children had weight gains of between 50 grams and 800 grams. The program was continued until each childs weight was more than 85% of the norm to two months. Subsequent to these results the United Nations High Commission of Refugees SCF and MSF set up a management program for all children whose weight was less than 80% of the norm and children who weighed more than 80% but were not gaining weight. When children completed the program and/or had made satisfactory weight gains their intake of soy oil supplements was gradually halved and then stopped.


Acne vulgaris is the most common skin disease, it nearly affects 80 percent of persons at some time between the ages of 11 and 30 years [1, 2]. Acne vulgaris is a disorder of the pilosebaceous follicles that is the most common cutaneous disorder affecting adolescents and young adults. It has four main pathogenetic contributors: follicular hyperkeratinization, increased sebum production, Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) within the follicle, and inflammation. The earliest change in the pilosebaceous unit is thought to be follicular hyperkeratinization, which is associated with both increased proliferation and decreased desquamation of keratinocytes lining the follicular orifice. Acne vulgaris is characterized by comedones, papules, pustules, inflamed nodules, and canalizing and deep, inflamed, and sometimes purulent sacs [3, 4]. Zinc is a trace element found in the structure of many metalloenzymes that play a role in important functions such as; protein synthesis, DNA and RNA replication and cell division. Zinc is therefore required for growth and development [5]. It plays a role in the regulation of inflammation, normal keratogenesis and many enzymatic reactions. Zinc is also a structural component of many hormones such as growth hormone, insulin, sex hormones and influences the activity of these hormones [6, 7].


A frequency-dependent nonlinear model has been proposed and experimentally verified at 100 Gb/s using PAM4. This universal model simply requires adjusting two sets of polynomials based on the THD data and is modulation format agnostic.


Chronic pain is a multidimensional phenomenon characterized by deficits at the behavioral, social, and affective levels of functioning. Depression and anxiety disorders are overrepresented among pain patients, suggesting that pain affects processes of emotion regulation. Conceptualizing the experience of chronic pain within a motivational organizing perspective offers a useful framework for understanding the emotional experiences of individuals living with chronic pain and how they balance harm-avoidant goals with generative approach oriented goals. To that end this chapter also integrates theories of emotion regulation (ER) and cognitive control to shed additional light on the problem of living with chronic pain, and it introduces a theory, consistent with findings from affective neuroscience, suggesting that painful flare-ups may be driven by anticipatory pain reactions in addition to somatic signals.


Theseus Pharmaceuticals has emerged from stealth with $100 million in series B financing from Foresite Capital and others. Theseus is based in Boston and founded by the former Ariad Pharmaceuticals...


With the increasing popularity of cloud computing, hosting services on a remote virtual machine becomes a trend due to its ease of use and cost saving. When migrating services to a cloud, users need to submit a resource plan to ensure service's performance. However, it is difficult to estimate the resources required by a virtual machine for running arbitrary services. To address the problem, we propose an estimation model for a resource plan. The model takes the performance characteristics of a physical machine as input and estimates virtual machine configurations. Using the estimated configurations, a user can obtain a virtual machine having similar performance characteristics to that of the physical machine. In this paper, we derive a model to estimate the CPU capability for creating a virtual machine on Xen. Our experiments show that our model can provide a resource plan for a virtual machine, which has the minimum performance difference compared with a designated physical machine.


Abstract Objectives. Studies show that the seasonality of suicide (spring/early summer peak, winter low) is mainly the consequence of the seasonal incidence of depression-related suicides. The aim of the present study was to analyse the relationship between increasing antidepressant utilization and national suicide rate of Hungary between 1998 and 2006, with particular regard to seasonal patterns and gender differences. Methods. Time trend analysis (ARIMA) had been applied to investigate the correlation between the trend of antidepressant prescription and both of suicide rates and seasonality index. Results. During the 9 years of the study period there was a significant (P<0.001) correlation between the steadily increasing antidepressant prescription (113%) and continuous decline in total national suicide rate (23%) as well as both in females and males (21 and 23%, respectively), but this relationship was 8-fold stronger in males. Increasing antidepressant utilization was associated with significantly decreased seasonality of suicides only among males. Conclusions. The results suggest that decreasing seasonality of suicides could be a good marker of lowering rate of depression-related suicides in the population particularly among males.


Poizat's construction of theories of fields with a multiplicative subgroup of green points is extended in several directions: First, we also construct similar theories where the green points form a divisible $\operatorname{End}(E)$-submodule of an elliptic curve $E$. Second, the subgroup (submodule) of green points is allowed to have torsion, whereas in Poizat's work this more general case was only dealt with assuming the unproven Conjecture on Intersections with Tori (CIT). Third, motivated by Zilber's work on connections with non-commutative geometry, we construct a version of the theories of green points in the multiplicative group case for which the distinguished subgroup is not divisible but a $\mathbb{Z}$-group, which we call theories of emerald points. In a subsequent joint paper with Boris Zilber we find natural models for the constructed theories.


This paper is a qualitative case study on the interaction between the United States of America and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). The study examines the difficulties states face when bargaining, and draws conclusions based on theories of how the structural setting affects strategic choices when states seek security on the international arena. The paper examines signaling, commitment, and bargaining difficulties that arise from insecurity and credibility issues. The paper looks at statements made by representatives of the two countries as its primary material for conclusions. The paper further explains the difficulties in reaching international agreements, why nations like North Korea capitalizes on nuclear weapons as a guarantor for legitimacy and security, and why the US and North Korea have failed to reach a settlement. In relating this to the main question of why there has not been an effective agreement in the crisis, the paper concludes that there exists a preferable agreement that both parties might prefer to war, but that they are unable to agree on such a settlement because of the distrust inherent in the anarchic system. (Less)


A large-scale study has been performed to determine whether or not damage to plants has been caused by materials discharged by the smelter. An attempt was also made to determine if this material has contaminated the soils surrounding the smelter. The materials discharged are mainly of two classes: (1) gases and condensable vapors, mainly the oxides of sulfur; (2) solid flue dust, consisting of compounds of lead, arsenic, and other elements. Soil samples were analyzed specifically for the determination of levels of arsenic and lead in the soil. Results of the study indicate that the quantities of lead and arsenic added by the smelter, if any, have been small and of the same order as the quantities of these elements normally present in the soils. The maximum amounts of lead and arsenic found were far too small to have any injurious effect on plants grown in the soils.


The electric block mechanisms for operating points in combination with an external locking device or apparatus for monitoring the application of switch tongues is an essential part of modern signal boxes. This article describes a model mechanism compatible with present rail traffic requirements from management of yard tracks to management of high speed lines (TGV).


It is well known that historic centres house communities of a great physical and social coherence who carry a historic memory, an identity and a traditional knowledge. Within the rehabilitation process of these centres, urban management has achieved a leading role due to the fact that its efficiency greatly determines the materialization of their plans and projects. With this aim, it is required to have a management model that takes profit of the endogenous resources and promotes participation and self-management by the community, local governments and stakeholders. The achievements gotten by the Cuban historic centres have produced a positive change, introducing new dynamics within the heritage management and the local involvement. One determinant factor has been the high capacity of the local technical teams and the collaboration of universities on training and research.


Yoga is recognized as a form of psychosomatic medicine that integrates a person's physical, mental and spiritual components to improve aspects of health, particularly stress-related ailments. It has been shown to contribute to chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Convenient and purposive sampling was used to collect the data because the data was gathered during the COVID-19 second wave i.e. from February 2021 to May 2021. All the participants included in the study (89) were enrolled for YOG TRAINER PROGRAM under Gujarat Yog Board and practiced yoga daily from 5am to 7am regularly for 2 months. Oral consent was taken from the participant prior to that of data collection. Paired t test was used to calculate the significant difference between the before and after BMI's and WHR's of the participants.
RESULTS: Out of 89 participants around 70% participants were found with the visceral fat above normal range. 68 participants had BMI above normal range. 47 had waist hip ratio over normal range (> 0.85). 100% participants had abnormal (above normal) Body fat. 67 participants showed body age difference of 10+ years. Though the samples suffered from higher obesity 66%, 54% and 73% didn't showed any effects of depression, anxiety and stress respectively.
CONCLUSION: Regular practice of Yoga decreased participants visceral fat & body fat around 1-2 units/month. And weight around 2-4 kgs/month. Approximately 15% people normalized their body BMI and 20% normalized their WHR (waist hip ratio). 2 participants were able to overcome to regulate the thyroxine production and stop the regular thyroid medication.


Image analyzing interferometry is used to study the details of the shapes and coalescence of condensing drops of 2-propanol on a quartz surface. The measured thickness profiles give fundamental insights into the transport processes within the drop and its evolution from asymmetric to symmetric shape. The results show the presence of a thin flat film adjacent to the condensing drops and the adsorbed film thickness is found to be constant and independent of the point of measurement. We found that in addition to the apparent contact angle, the determination of the profiles of the local interfacial tangent, curvature and curvature gradient enhances the description of the growth and coalescence of the drops. We observed that the drops coalesce and there is a liquid flow from the smaller drop towards the bigger drop due to the difference in their shape dependent pressure fields. This was also shown by the calculations of the center of mass of the two coalescing drops and that of the coalesced drop. The curvature and its gradient describe the process more completely than the contact angle, unless we pick the contact angle at the inflection point. The asymmetric coalesced drop self-adjusts and evolves into a symmetric shape due to the capillary flow within the drop. The calculated pressure field in the coalesced, asymmetric drop is consistent with the required capillary assisted flow from the receding to the stationary front of the asymmetric drop, till it becomes symmetric. The calculations of the average shear stress, the decrease in the interfacial excess energy, interfacial pressure field, and the positions of the center of mass give a physical understanding of the spreading and coalescence of the drops. Observations and Results Naturally occurring interference fringes result due to the reflection of the monochromatic light (λ=543.5nm) at the liquid-vapor and liquid-solid interfaces (Zheng et al., 2002). Recorded images of the interference fringes for the condensing drops were analyzed to get the profiles of the thickness, slope (a measure of the apparent contact angle), and the curvature at each pixel location (0.177μm) along the drop using an image analyzing technique based on the reflectivity measurement (Gokhale et al., 2004a). Experimentally obtained optical micrographs of the condensing drops during the coalescence process are shown in Fig. 1. Figures 1(a) and 1(b) show that the two drops grow in size due to condensation and approach each other, still keeping their symmetric shape intact. Figure 1(c) depicts the merging of the two drops resulting in an elongated asymmetric drop. The drop shape evolves and eventually becomes symmetric [Fig. 1(d)]. The spreading velocities of the larger and the smaller drops before coalescence are 0.14ìm/s and 0.12ìm/s respectively. Assuming that the drops have a spherical cap shape before coalescence, Eq. (1) shows that the surface heat flux (q ′ ′ surface) is proportional to the rate of change of the radius of the drop.


Interactive materials capable of changing appearance upon exposure to external stimuli, such as photonic inks, are generally difficult to achieve on a large scale as they often require self‐assembly processes that are difficult to control macroscopically. Here this problem is overcome by preparing arrays of cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) microfilms from discrete nanoliter sessile droplets. The obtained microfilms show extremely uniform and intense color, enabling exceptional consistency in optical appearance across the entire array. The color can be controlled through the initial ink formulation, enabling the printing of polychromatic dot‐matrix images. Moreover, the high surface‐to‐volume ratio of the microfilms and the intrinsic hydrophilicity of the natural building block allow for a dramatic real‐time colorimetric response to changes in relative humidity. The printed CNC microfilm arrays overcome the existing issues of scalability, optical uniformity, and material efficiency, which have held back the adoption of CNC‐based photonic materials in cosmetics, interactive‐pigments, or anticounterfeit applications.


Fabrication of substituted polyaniline nanocomposites with CuO results in hybrid materials with enhanced synergistic properties. Hence poly(2-chloroaniline)-composite-CuO, poly(2-chloroaniline)-composite-CuO/SDS, poly(2-methoxyaniline)-composite-CuO/SDS and poly(2-methylaniline)-composite-CuO/SDS nanocomposites were prepared chemically by in situ oxidative polymerization method. Characterization by a number of techniques such as FTIR, NMR and UV-visible spectroscopic methods, XRD and TEM are presented. The substituted polymers exhibited an appreciable interaction with the CuO (5 wt.%) nano fillers. Integral Procedural Decomposition Temperature (IPDT) and Oxidative Index(OI) calculations were done to establish the stability to heat. Thermal stability of the materials follows the trend p2ClAni-CuO-SDS > p2ClAni-CuO> p2MeAni-CuO-SDS> p2OMeAni-CuO-SDS. The electrical conductivities of poly(2-chloroaniline)-composite-CuO and poly(2-chloroaniline)-composite-CuO/SDS measured are 1.46 × 10-7 and 1.59 × 10-7 S cm-1, respectively and the presence of anionic surfactant does not change the electrical conductivity behaviour. The poly(2-methoxyaniline)/CuO-SDS and
poly(2-methylaniline)/CuO-SDS exhibit an electrical conductivity of 1.68 × 10-6 and 1.24 × 10-6 S cm-1 respectively. The dielectric constant decreased with increase in frequency in the low frequency region due to electrical relaxation process. At low frequency there was a strong frequency dispersion of permittivity and above 2.5 Hz a frequency independent behavior was noted


As the first editor of the Arts and Humanities section of the journal, Jane Macnaughton outlined the range and types of papers that would be suitable for publication in this section. She encouraged contributions to the journal that describe and evaluate arts and humanities programmes, demonstrate the value of engagement in the creative arts for medical students and papers that explore the relationship between arts and health and medical humanities. I can do no better than to reiterate her advice and to add a word of encouragement for contributions that consider the arts and humanities in the lives of medical graduates as well as undergraduate students.


down in advanced theoretical background. As its title suggests, this book alternates between well-organized explanation and blocks of SAS code. I highly encourage the audience to accompany their reading with practicing the paired SAS code on a computer. In this process, the readers build data intuition and learn the statistical concepts in a hands-on fashion through trials and errors. The general workflow chart in the overview page is quite helpful in showing each step for modeling time-to-nextpurchase data, from data preparation and transformation, stratified sampling, model building and validation, to finally making predictions. This real-world dataset is the central example in this book to illustrate the statistical concepts and coding. The author details every step to create a survival model in SAS Enterprise Miner. He begins Chapter 1 with how to prepare the customer-level data in survival counting format. Using this central data example, Chapter 2 efficiently introduces a set of statistical concepts that a beginner needs to know. Careful attention is given to hazard and survival functions, which are essential to understanding the key modelbuilding components and interpreting statistical output from SAS. Before continuing the model building in Chapters 4 through 6, Chapter 3 turns to stratified sampling, a data partitioning technique used for model validation. This sampling challenge requires the users to have advanced programming skills if they use Base SAS. However, SAS Enterprise Miner has the advantage of relaxing this requirement, making the sampling process more accessible to a wider audience and easier to explain. With this motivation, the readers can pick up Survival node in SAS Enterprise Miner, covered in Chapter 4, which presents a complete process flow from creating a working directory to running a model. All the steps performed in Chapter 4 are broken down in Chapter 5, which covers the incorporation of cubic splines to improve the flexibility of hazard functions. Chapter 6 discusses creating a model using a fully expanded dataset format. It reassures the readers that the models produce identical results to those using customer-level data if the data preparation and manipulation are correct. The author dedicates Chapter 7 to surveying all the statistical measures necessary to assess the performance and validation of survival models. This chapter concludes with a comprehensive validation approach for a well-working and constructed survival model. Finally, Chapter 8 explores how to score new and old customers and calibrate scoring results. The number of figures and illustrations are more than other SAS manuals, which might be appealing to readers in favor of very hands-on instructions. To sum up, this applicationoriented book covers most commonly used survival analysis techniques. With well-organized explanation and extensive software illustration, it provides a hands-on approach to learning SAS and getting a flavor for a handful of topics within survival analysis. It would serve as a valuable source for students of economics, business and marketing programs, and analysts who want to create statistical models while working in areas such as credit risk. Xin Wang Vertex Pharmaceuticals Boston, MA Quantitative Methods for HIV/AIDS Research. Cliburn Chan, Michael G. Hudgens, and Shein-Chung Chow. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, 2017, xviii+289 pp., $125.00(H), ISBN: 978-1-49-873423-3.


Some of the reasons for the lack of stability of the D - centers in bulk GaAs are considered using the idea of screening. Screening due to other impurity electrons tends to reduce the binding energy of D - centers much faster than that of neutral donor centers. Estimates of optical-matrix elements and the order of temperatures needed for the dissociation of the D - ion show why it is difficult to observe D - centers in bulk GaAs


Peripherals fail. Yet, modern embedded systems largely leave the burden of tolerating peripheral failures to the programmer. This paper presents Phoenix, a semi-automated peripheral recovery system for resource-constrained embedded systems. Phoenix introduces lightweight checkpointing mechanisms that transparently track both the internal program state and the external peripheral state. These mechanisms enable rollback to the precise point at which any failed peripheral access occurred using as little as 6 KB of memory, minimizing both recovery latency and memory utilization.


For the last 5 years, four American journals have been the venue for a vigorous debate concerning the appropriate research method for social work. The issues underlying the debate extend well beyond methodology and reflect a broader paradigmatic debate between empiricism and normativism. This debate is extremely important to the future direction of the profession. While the debate remains unresolved in these journals, some movement toward constructive syntheses is possible. Three syntheses are briefly discussed. They are the critical, new paradigm, and creative paradigms.


The radiological characteristics of water will generally refer to the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics of water. The water quality should be strictly maintained to ensure the survival and growth of aquatic lives. Henceforth, in order to maintain the water quality, autonomous system should be implemented for monitoring Aquaculture by implemented IOT Technology is proposed in this paper. The proposed system will contain different sensors like Temperature Sensor, Water Level Sensor and the Sensor PH Sensor. Temperature, PH and Water level will play a major role in ensuring the water quality. The changes in these parameters may adversely affect the quality of the water and also the aquatic lives. GSM is used to communicate to the respective mobile phone of the user. Temperature Sensor is mainly used to detect the temperature changes and if the temperature rises above the normal value, the DC Motor will move to ON condition. The PH Sensor is used to monitor the PH value of the Soil continuously. The level of the water is monitored by using the Water level sensor and if level of the water exceeds the normal value, then the motor will be switched ON. The sensed data will be then transferred to the respective mobile phone through GSM. The GSM will send message to the Mobile when the sensors detect any abnormal value. LCD is used to display all the sensor values.