Characterization for nonpremixed biodiesel/air jet flames instability is investigated by the 0-1 test for chaos and recurrence plots. Test conditions involve biodiesel from Jatropha curcas. L-fueled flames have inlet oil pressure of 0.2–0.6 MPa, fuel flow rates (Q1) of 15–30 kg/h, and combustion air flow rate (Q2) of 150–750 m3/h. This method is based on image analysis and nonlinear dynamics. Structures of flame are analyzed using an image analysis technique to extract position series which are representative of the relative change in temperature of combustion chamber. Compared with the method of maximum Lyapunov exponent, the 0-1
test succeeds in detecting the presence of regular and chaotic components in flame position series. Periodic
and quasiperiodic characteristics are obtained by the Poincare sections. A common characteristic of regular
nonpremixed flame tip position series is detected by recurrence plots. Experimental results show that these
flame oscillations follow a route to chaos via periodic and quasiperiodic states.


Ellen Kamman has a MA in Biomedical Health Sciences. She is an independent consultant and has been involved in data analysis for organisations such as the ISS. Every day, on average, more than 49 people are murdered in South Africa. A better understanding of the demographics of locations with high murder and other crime rates could assist the development of initiatives to reduce them. It could also provide the basis for research into how social structures and relationships affect violence reduction. This article explores the hypothesis that the risk of murder is associated with certain demographic characteristics in particular locations. It proposes a method for analysing the demographic characteristics of police precincts in relation to the murder rate, and provides a summary of initial results. The article concludes with a discussion on the usefulness and limitations of this approach. Lizette Lancaster and Ellen Kamman*


By analyzing synthesis peculiarities of mobile troops, the paper characteristically and quantitatively analyses the survivability of mobile troops in warfare by Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).The research may help military forces improve their military training in peacetime and incsease the strength of military forces in war.


Configuration and algorithm of BP neural network and characteristics of MATLAB programming language are introduced in this article. Establishing BP neural network becomes easy with relevant functions of design, training and simulation of neural network provided by neural network tool kit of MATLAB. Users can call relevant programs according to their own requirements without being bothered about writing huge amount of algorithm programs. This paper discusses the methods and procedure of designing BP neural network with MATLAB neural network tool kit in detail. Optimization of combustion characteristic of Mg/PTFE fuel-rich pyrotechnical propellant was taken as an example to verify the feasibility of the approach.


Introduction At the early stage, sun was the source of energy for generating power. Due to the inadequacy of the power generated through this source, there was a need to find other ways to improve the power supply when the generating station could not meet the demand of the people. As the technology advances, the hydroelectric generation was developed, gas firing generating station, and wired tubing methods of generating power supply were developed. In spite of all these developments, there was still failure in electrical power generation as a result of obsolete equipment at the generating stations. There was still need to find alternative for solving the problem. As a result of this, some options like alternators, inverters and others were developed. Power inverter is an electronic device that has the ability to convert the direct current (DC) from the battery or solar cells (panels) into an alternating current (AC) which is the conventional form that powers many electrical appliances. It maintains a continuous supply of electric power to the connected loads or equipment's when the utility power is not available [1-6]. Inverters are generally used in a host of applications that include variable speed drive, uninterruptible power supplies, flexible AC transmission systems, (FACTA), high voltage DC transmission systems (HVDC), active filters among the others. An inverter is a device which maintains a continuous supply of electric power to connected equipment or load by supplying power from a separate source, like battery, when utility power is not available. It is inserted between the source of power (typically commercially utility power) and the load is protecting. For alternative energy systems, inverters are the essential step between a battery's DC power and the AC power needed by standard household electrical systems. In a grid connected home, an inverter/charger connected to a battery bank can provide an uninterruptible source of backup power in the event of power failures, or can be used to sell extra alternative


765 Background: To assess the economic impact of the availability of ziv-aflibercept for patients with mCRC following disease progression after oxaliplatin, a user-adaptable budget impact model was...


This paper presents a switched beamforming antenna array with reconfigurable quad-polarization and switched feed network. The proposed beamforming architecture is configured by a crossed inverted-V antenna array and a dual Butler matrix-based feed network to drive polarization diversity as well as beam steering. The crossed inverted-V array adopts a planar director to enhance antenna gain while the outputs of the dual Butler matrix network are connected to each pair of the gain-enhanced inverted-V antenna elements. Further, the dual Butler matrix is integrated with a polarization mode selection switch matrix. Based on the switching operations with the dual Butler matrix, both the beamforming and switchable polarizations among vertical, horizontal, right-hand circular and left-hand circular polarizations can be achieved. To verify the switched beam and quad-polarization performance, the proposed architecture with 1×4 array configuration was implemented at 5.8 GHz. The measured 1×4 antenna gain excluding the dual Butler matrix showed the average gain of 12.8 dBi(c) for all polarizations. Further, the switched main beams driven by the dual Butler network and the polarization mode selection matrix showed four different angles in 1×4 array.


known to Dermatologists, specialists in other fields may be less familiar with it. However, most physicians are familiar with erythema nodosum, which typically presents with tender nodules over the shins, resolving over weeks or months with a characteristic bruised appearance. Both conditions are thought to be reactive and both respond to corticosteroids. We have seen three cases where Sweet's syndrome and erythema nodosum have occurred together suggesting that there is a degree of overlap between these two disorders. Although this association has been recognised before [1,2] we are reporting these cases because we feel that many clinicians, who are not Dermatologists, may be unfamiliar with the clinical features of Sweet's syndrome.


Hybrid steel and concrete seismic‐resistant systems made by steel frames with reinforced concrete infill walls (SRCWs) have potential advantages over structural solutions made only by steel or reinforced concrete (RC). In fact, the high initial stiffness of concrete is useful to minimize the damage of non‐structural elements under frequent (low to moderate) earthquakes while the ductility and dissipative capacity of the steel allow good performances under rare (high‐intensity) events. Eurocode 8 considers SRCW systems to behave essentially as RC walls. However, numerical analyses on SRCWs, designed according to the Eurocodes, pointed out an unsatisfactory seismic behaviour with discrepancies between the behaviour assumed in the design and the simulated response under seismic actions. Indeed, the idea of stiffening a steel frame with a RC infill leads complex mechanisms that are difficult to control as being affected by many variables. In this study, some of the recent developments made for innovative SRCW are transferred to hybrid steel and concrete walls with partially‐prefabricated infills. Numerical models are analysed to understand the global behaviour of the considered SRCWs and to provide a preliminary validation of the proposed structural solution.


Vincetoxicum is one of the largest genera in Apocynaceae with recent expansion that includes former Tylophora, Biondia, and other small genera. In this study, we describe Vincetoxicum pingtaoanum sp. nov., a new woody species of Apocynaceae from the Three Gorges District in Central China based on our recent field and old herbarium collections. It is unique due to its growth habit and leaf characteristics which is similar to the former Biondia species. However, it has the well-developed corona common to the former Tylophora species. Diagnostic characteristics, a full description, photographs, ecology, and a distribution map and conservation status of the new species are provided in this study. Detailed comparisons with similar species and a key to all known species of Vincetoxicum from the Three Gorges District are also provided.


In the research the particular provisions of tactics of investigative experiment in criminal procedures are considered, the positions of Latvian and other scientists, associated with the tactical characteristics of carrying out of investigative action, the collection of evidences in criminal procedures and with evaluation of quality investigation of crimes in Latvia. The  theoretical characteristics of investigative experiment and provided practical examples, associated with the carrying out of this investigative action, as well as the analysis of its protocols have allowed identifying the specific proposals of tactical, methodological and organizational nature on the topic of research.


This paper utilizes Markor method to analyze the employment construction of three industries. By contrasted with the comparative developed countries, our economic growth is predicted.


This paper presents an online technique to detect and isolate the interturn fault in the inductors of the LCL filter integrated with the active front-end rectifier used for electric propulsion of marine vessels. The proposed online technique is based on the fundamental component of the core-leakage flux measured at the yoke center of the inductor. A comparative study of the grid currents and the core-leakage fluxes under interturn faults is carried out using the proposed analytical models which reveal high sensitivity of the core-leakage flux at the yoke center when compared to the grid currents. The theoretical analysis is validated experimentally on a laboratory-based 11.3-kW marine propulsion system test rig for 1-turn, 2-turn, and 4-turn faults under various loading and supply voltage unbalance conditions. An online fault notification and isolation framework has also been proposed and validated experimentally with two different techniques to increase the reliability for 1-turn fault detection. The methodology requires just a single, low-bandwidth, and inexpensive magnetic flux sensor in addition to the existing current sensors to detect as low as 1-turn fault out of 63 turns.


A model of dynamics of the vapor bubbles that emerge on solid surfaces of porous structures and the steam generating wall (bottom layer) is presented in this work. The model was filmed and photographed by a high-speed camera SKS-1М. The discharge of high heat flows (up to 2·106 W/m2) was maintained by the joint action of capillary and mass forces with the help of intensifiers. An analytical model was developed based on the theory of thermoelasticity. The limit state of the porous coating with poor thermal conductivity and the metal bottom layer was determined. Heat flows were calculated from the spontaneous birth of the vapour nucleus (10–8) to the material destruction (102–103 s), thus the interval from the process of relaxation to the maximum process (destruction) was described. The size of the pullout particles determined in the model at the moment of porous coating destruction showed good congruence with the experimental data obtained at the optic stand. The destruction of coating under the compression forces occurs much earlier than the tension forces. It is probable that the destruction will happen under the impact of the compression and shear forces. The intervals of the heat flow when such destruction takes place are different for quartz and granite coating. Each thickness of the pullout particles under the impact of compression forces has its limit values of the heat flows, which are located within the mentioned intervals. As the specific heat flow in the heated layer increases and, therefore, the heating time decreases, the impact of the compression stresses increases as well. Despite the high resistance to compression, destruction from the compressive heat tension occurs in more favorable conditions immediately, and in diminutive volumes. Experimental testing units, test conditions, the outcome of the heat exchange crisis, the limit state of the surface and the calculation of critical heat flows are presented. The capillary porous system that works under the joint action of capillary and mass forces is studied. The system has advantages compared to pool boiling, thin-film evaporators and heat pipes.


Application of LCD controller IC SED1335 in power quality analyzer is discussed in this paper.The elementary principle and interface with MCU of SED1335 are briefly introduced,and material application of SED1335 in LCD display is presented. In addition,some C51 program and methods are gived out.


Portfolio Description This activity supports basic research on the fundamental chemistry of the elements beyond actinium (those elements with an atomic number greater than 89); typically uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, and curium. The goal of this activity is to understand the underlying chemical and physical principles that determine the behavior of the actinides and transactinides elements. The unique molecular bonding of the heavy elements is explored using theory and experiment to elucidate electronic and molecular structure as well as reaction thermodynamics. Emphasis is placed on resolving the f-electron challenge; the chemical and physical properties of these elements to determine solution, interfacial, and solid-state bonding and reactivity; fundamental transactinide chemical properties; and the fundamental science underpinning the extraction and separation of the actinides. While the majority of the research supported by this activity is experimental, theoretical proposals are considered such as more adequately describing quantum-mechanically spin-orbit interactions and relativistic effects, which integrate closely with existing experimental research. Synthetic research is pursued within this this activity on molecules that contain heavy elements and on ligand development to separate and sequester heavy elements. Spectroscopic research on the chemical bonding and reactivity of all manner of energy-relevant molecules is also pursued within this activity. Capital equipment funding is provided for items such as instruments used to characterize actinide materials and equipment to handle the actinides safely in laboratories and at user facilities.


The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS) precisely measures the elemental and isotopic composition of the light cosmic-ray component (Z<3) using a largeacceptance magnetic-rigidity spectrometer. The two most recent BESS flights (2004, 2007) were conducted with the BESS-Polar version of the instrument and launched from Antarctica. The extended multi-day observation time and the improved instrumentation of BESS-Polar have enabled us to observe galactic cosmic ray (GCR) flux changes and we plan to correlate these flux changes with short-term, transient phenomena from the sun. In this paper we will demonstrate BESS-Polar's capability to observe GCR flux changes during its first flight, conducted Dec 13–22, 2004, in a transient phase prior to solar minimum. Early in that flight a gradual GCR flux decrease occurred, followed by a subsequent gradual GCR flux recovery. Around Dec 16–17, 2004, the GCR flux recovery was softened by the arrival of a high-speed stream in the solar wind. We will present the proton flux as a function of time for several energy bins up to several tens of GeV, including evidence of diurnal variations. Details of the BESS-Polar I proton and helium analysis are reported elsewhere in these proceedings [1].


In this paper, an analytical expression for the solution of the prey-predator problem by Modified homotopy-perturbation method (MHPM) is presented. The MHPM is treated as an algorithm for approximating the solution of the problem in a sequence of time intervals, \ie the classical HPM is converted into a hybrid numeric-analytic method called the multistage HPM (MHPM). Numerical comparisons with the classical HPM, and the classical fourth-order Rungge-Kutta (RK4) methods are presented. Numerical comparisons between the multistage homotopy-perturbation method (MHPM) and the classical fourth-order Runge-Kutta (RK4) numerical solutions reveal that the new technique is a promising tool for the nonlinear systems of ODEs.


Objective: To observe the effect of Yinian Jiangya Yin (Decoction for lowering blood pressure to prolong life) on patients with early hypertension and its mechani sm on the function of vascular endotheliocytes. Methods: The 79 patients with early primary hypertension bel onging to the TCM syndrome of stagnation of phlegm and blood stasis in meridians and hyperactivity of the liver-yang were randomly divided into a treatment group of 40 patients treated with Yinian Jiangya Yin and a control group of 39 patients treated with T anma Gouteng Yin (Decoction of Gastrodia and Uncaria). The changes in score of TCM syndrome and in blood pressure before and after treatment were observed i n the two groups. The contents of nitrogen monoxide (NO) and endothelin (ET) in serum after treatment were d etermined. Results: There was a statistical difference (P<0.05) in score of TCM syndrome, effect of lowering blood pre ssure, and the contents of ET and NO in serum after treatment between the two groups. Conclusion: The effect of Yinian Jiangya Yin on improving TCM syndrome of patients with primary hypertension in early stage and on lowering blood pressure may b e related to its regulating the imbalanced condition between ET and NO for restoring the function of endothelium-dependent vasodilation.


A small fraction of motor vehicles on the roadway emit a disproportionate fraction of pollutant emissions, especially for carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. Generally, these "high emitters" or "super emitters" exhibit higher emissions rates under all operating conditions than do "normal emitters." Since the instantaneous emissions response between normal- and high-emitting vehicles can differ by one or more orders of magnitude, so do their average emissions over a "typical" trip. Identifying the proportion of normal- and high-emitting vehicles in an urban area and quantifying their emissions is vital for accurate emission inventory accounting. A methodology by which high and normal emitters can be classified is presented. Unlike previous emitter classification approaches, the approach is data driven and relies entirely on hot-stabilized emissions results. A statistical classification scheme, better known as hierarchical tree based regression, is used to separate vehicles into homogenous emitter categories. The approach is shown to have a number of advantages. First, it is flexible with respect to both the number of classes and types of variables used to identify classes. Second, it considers the influence of a large number of vehicle and technology attributes on emitter status. Third, it ensures that the highest emitters can be isolated from the normal emitters, so that separate emission rate models can be developed for these vehicles. Finally, the approach does not combine the effects of starts and hot-stabilized operations within the definition of high emitter, leading to a classification scheme whereby vehicles with poor start emissions characteristics will not be incorrectly classified as vehicles with poor hot-stabilized emission characteristics.


Submitted for the DFD08 Meeting of The American Physical Society LES of a Stratified Boundary Layer under an Oscillating Current BISHAKHDATTA GAYEN, SUTANU SARKAR, UC San Diego, JOHN TAYLOR, MIT — A numerical study based on large-eddy simulation (LES) is performed in the case of an oscillating tidal flow with a uniform ambient stratification. Here, the Reynolds number Reδ = U0δs/ν = 1790 (U0 = maximum amplitude of the outer flow, δs = √ 2ν/ω is the Stokes layer thickness, ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid and ω the angular frequency of the oscillatory current), and N2 ∞/ω = 500 where N∞ is the buoyancy frequency of the overlying stratified layer. Turbulence appears at a tidal phase of approximately π/4 and is sustained throughout the deceleration phase (π/2 < ωtd < π, 3π/2 < ωtd < 2π). Production of turbulence is confined to the the wall region and, for stratified flow, in the mixed layer between the wall and the thermocline. For both the stratified and unstratified cases, there is a log layer over a significant extent of the tidal cycle. Our unstratified flow results are verified against the numerical simulations of Salon et al (2007) and experimental data of Jensen et al. (1987). In the presence of stratification, the boundary layer height decreases substantially and the wall shear stress increases slightly with respect to the unstratified case. Stratification effects on boundary layer turbulence and on the thermal field including the formation and collapse of the thermocline will be discussed. Sutanu Sarkar UC San Diego Date submitted: 31 Jul 2008 Electronic form version 1.4


Abstract : The tensile stress-strain behavior of a variety of graphite/epoxy laminates was examined. Longitudinal and transverse specimens from eleven different layups were monotonically loaded in tension to failure. Ultimate strength, ultimate strain, and stress-strain curves were obtained from four replicate tests in each case. Polynominal equations were fitted by the method of least squares to the stress-strain data to determine average curves. Values of Young's modulus and Poisson 5 ratio, derived from polynomial coefficients, were compared with laminate analysis results. While the polynomials appeared to accurately fit the stress-strain data in most cases, the use of polynomial coefficients to calculate elastic moduli appeared to be of questionable value in cases involving sharp changes in the slope of the stress-strain data or extensive scatter. (MM)


With the explosion of industry 4.0 technologies, digital image compression technology has gradually played an important role in the fast communication and live processing of images over the internet. As a result, the demand for storing and transferring images is increasing day by day. Image compression is an application that compresses data on digital images, the main goal is to decrease the redundancy of image data so that it can be stored or transmitted in an efficient form. This paper proposes a hardware efficient architecture of the Microshift - an image compression algorithm. In this design, the image is first micro-shifted, then the sub-quantized values are further compressed. In decompression, we use the MRF model to recover the bit-depth by exploiting the spatial correlation of natural images. Experimental results on a field-programmable gate-array (FPGA) platform illustrate that the proposed architecture enables operation around 172 MHz and the peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) of 31.51 dB with 1.5 bits per pixel(BPP) and structural similarity index measurement(SSIM) achieve 0.9. This design is synthesized on the Altera Cyclone V- 5CSEMA5F31C8.


Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which market orientation impacts the business performance of an organization.Design/methodology/approach – While much empirical work has centered on market orientation, the generalizability of its impact on the performance of food and beverages organizations in the Nigerian context has been under‐researched. The commentary adopts a triangulation approach by examining the theoretical and researched issues on market orientation and their influence on the business performance of food and beverages organizations in Nigeria.Findings – The commentary validates earlier instruments but does not find any strong association between market orientation and business performance in the Nigerian context using food and beverages organizations. The reasons underlying the weak relationship between the market orientation and business performance of food and beverages organizations include government policies, new product development, diversification, innovation and...


Introduction Acute kidney injury (AKI) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) performed in cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) may complicate the postoperative course and has a negative impact on outcome. In some cases, postoperative AKI develops in spite of normal baseline creatinine concentration and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Aim To examine whether there is any association between the preoperative blood morphology and incidence of post-operative AKI. Material and methods The study involved 62 consecutive patients with the mean age of 64.0 ±7.4 years who underwent CABG in CPB. Before surgery, blood morphology and biochemistry were analyzed. Patients with eGFR below 60 ml/min/1.73 m2 were excluded. After the operation, parameters of renal function were checked systematically. Acute kidney injury was defined according to the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) classification. Results Twenty-one (33.9%) patients presented AKI (group AKI), although in the majority of them (n = 16) it was temporary and medical management was enough to cure AKI. Only in 1 (1.6%) case was renal replacement therapy necessary. In group AKI, patients' preoperative hemoglobin concentration (8.46 ±0.72 mM/l), red blood cell count (4.51 ±0.39 × 1012/l) and hematocrit (0.40 ±0.04) were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in group C (9.07 ±0.57 mM/l; 4.78 ±0.36 × 1012/l; 0.43 ±0.03, respectively). Interestingly, the baseline parameters of renal function were comparable between groups. Conclusions Hemoglobin concentration and red blood cell counts close to the lower limit of the normal range may enable identification of patients at risk of AKI early after CABG in CPB among individuals with normal preoperative biochemical parameters of renal function.


In this article, we focus on the scaling theory of Abraham et al. without and with a magnetic field on the metallic side of the Metal-Insulator Transition (MIT) for the three-dimensional system 70Ge: Ga, at very low temperatures. In particular, we have determined the zero temperature conductivity critical exponent when the MIT transition occurs with the variation of the impurity concentration (υ= 0.503) and with the application of a magnetic field (υ= 1.06). We have also estimated the critical magnetic field BC that separates the metallic behavior (B < BC) from the variable-range hopping regime (B > BC). The data are for a 70Ge: Ga sample prepared and reported by Itoh et al., Physical Review Letters 77 (1996), 4058 and Watanabe et al., Physical Review B 60 (1999), 15817.


Although two-dimensional thin-film nanostructures such as graphene are extremely promising for future optical or electronic devices, the required manufacturing technologies are still lacking. Herein the authors introduce a robotically controlled electro-osmotic spray deposition method of colloids with a high electric potential to create optoelectronic devices directly onto the surface of graphene. Since the process does not require a clean room or lithography method, pure graphene optoelectronic devices can be manufactured at a low cost. Moreover, preliminary experiments revealed that the manufactured graphene optoelectronic devices have excellent photoelectric properties in the infrared wavelengths.


The biological diversity of the European brackish water seas, either enclosed (Baltic and Black) or isolated from the world ocean (Caspian and Aral), is by far lower than that of the fully marine water bodies. The ecosystem may consist of only a few components, so that only one or two species represent a functional group. Any new species added quite often means major changes in the structure and functioning of the whole system. The European brackish water seas presently contain a lot of "foreign" biological diversity. We define this as xenodiversity (Gr. xenos - strange) to indicate structural and functional diversity caused by nonindigenous species (NIS). Until now, 112 species have been included in a Baltic and Black Sea NIS Database. Of these, 91 species are known from the Baltic, 35 from the Black Sea, and of them 16 NIS of non-European origin are common for both seas. The Atlantic coast of North America has exported more species to Europe than any other donor area due to the successive opening of routes of commerce in the post-Columbian era. At present, there are 33 known NIS of American origin in European brackish-water seas; only 14 of them have been intentionally introduced. Once established, the most successful NIS have spread rapidly, among them some neo-Europeans of American origin. The soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria, is thought to have been transported by the Vikings in the 13th century; the barnacle, Balanus improvisus, appeared in the mid-1800s; the polychaete, Marenzelleria viridis, and the comb jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi, in the 1980s. NIS also contribute to the functional diversity. The most aggressive invaders in enclosed European seas have been capable of altering fundamental ecosystem-level processes. This paper presents an overview on invasive status of the largest European brackish water bodies with special emphasis on the North American component of their xenodiversity.


Competitive climate in the business environment and telecommunications
industries, has spurred the telecommunications operators vying with each other to
provide best service to customers, especially enterprise-class customers (enterprise),
the incoming group of High-End Market (HEM). They need a lot of choices of
telecommunications services to provide solutions to an increasingly complex business
needs. Intense competition, especially in segments HEM make Telkom to face
competition.
This thesis aims to identify strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats (SWOT) for Telkom to face the competition on customers HEM which then
results in the point to the four perspectives of balanced scorecard and the order of
priority of execution of a management strategy to connect the BSC as "What" and the
philosophy of Sun Tzu as "How" in the QFD.
Source of research data consisted of analysis of secondary data from
journals, books, internet, lecture materials and data related to the company for the
proposed research topic and analysis of primary data with focus group and
questionnaire by the senior leader (EGM and GM).
The results showed that the strategy should be done to strengthen Telkom in
tapped opportunities and face threats to the analysis of external factors and shows
that companies need to be considered in the implementation of appropriate BSC
target can be achieved as closely as possible.


In the study ofdfsdfsddfdsf history of human civilization it is found that there was a continuous trend of torturing the weak by more powerful individuals or groups, exploitation of the poor by the rich and landed people, neglect of the illiterate by the educated people, socially over- powering women by men and as such injustices. Such social injustices are a constant source of discontent giving rise to conflicts. Instead of solving those conflicts they were always suppressed. In the progress of civilization and development of humanistic attitude, people are now gradually getting more and more concerned with Human Rights that demand social justice to all sections of the society. Extreme poverty and illiteracy among a major section of the population is the greatest tragedy for India. Also, in the global context a reasonable economic order through equitable distribution of wealth among different nations and more particularly among the people of the same country is very much needed to avoid conflicts and clashes. Keeping aside these basic facts, only a slogan for "peace" can't change the society. In this context, Gandhian socio-political thought based on non- violence can go a long way towards solving these problems.


The academic world has recently focused on the issue of "relatives covering for each other." This has initiated a discussion about how to understand and evaluate Confucian ethics. Critics upbraid Kong Zi, Meng Zi, and other Confucians for mistakenly emphasizing the role of blood relations, claiming that Confucian ethics contain deep paradoxes. In their view, on the one hand, Confucian ethics take the special relationship where fathers are merciful and sons are filial and makes it a universal norm of honesty and uprightness; on the other hand, it scrupulously casts aside universal standards and norms for the sake of blood relations. Those responding to the critics call blood relations the source of all positive values, explaining that eliminating special relationships would mean eliminating Confucian ethical principles, and that covering up for relatives is precisely the basis for ethics. Indeed, this discussion touches on issues such as how blood relations should be viewed, how Kong Zi, Meng Zi, and other Confucians treat blood


In this paper we report on design and development of three types of the soft oxide glasses devoted to microstructured optical fibers manufacturing. The lead-bismuth glasses are synthesized in three-component oxide system of PbO-Bi2O3- Ga2O3 and in a complex five-component oxide system of SiO2-Ga2O3-Bi2O3-PbO-CdO. The tellurite glasses are synthesized in oxide system of TeO2-WO3-PbO-Na2O-Nb2O5 with various concentration of WO3 (5-38%mol) and PbO (0-18%mol). Measurements of glass transmittance are performed over the range 200nm-10μm. Linear thermal expansion coefficients and characteristic temperatures of glasses are determined based on dilatometer and Leitz heat microscope measurements. A use of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) method and crystallization tests (isothermal treatment) allows estimating the thermal stability of the glasses and susceptibility to crystallization. As a reference, similar measurements are performed for commercially available lead-silicate glasses SF57 and SF6, which are considered for development of nonlinear microstructured fibres. The glasses with an optimum resistance for devitrification during multiple thermal processing are selected among all developed glasses for further fibre development. We present a method for development of preform and subpreform elements as tubes, capillaries and rods used in the stack-and-draw technique of the fiber manufacture. We report also successful development of subpreform components of microstructured fibers based on selected tellurite and lead-bismuth glasses.


Based on the concept of complementary antenna or Huygen's source antenna, the magneto-electric dipole was invented to serve the development of wireless communication technologies. This type of wideband antenna has advantages of low cross polarization, high efficiency, symmetric radiation patterns, stable gain and beam width over the operating band. Recent advancement on UWB and millimeter wave applications is summarized in this presentation.


OBJECTIVE To choose the best formulation of sinomenine gel.METHODS Orthogonal design was used to observe viscosity and the change of contents in hi gh temperature for different formulation. The change of sinomenine concentration was determined by HPLC. RESULTS Viscosity was proper and the concentration change was least when adding 0.4 % NaHSO 3 and pH value was 6.0 . CONCLUSIONS The formulation is reasonable, the preparation is stable.


The reasons of 73 complaint cases occurred in our department during 2005-2009 were analyzed in this article.Results showed that complaints of patients against the service attitude of medical staff,insufficient data in reports,delayed examination and bedside visit,irrational charge and ineffective treatment accounted for 63.3%,22.0%,9.6%,2.7%,2.7%,and 2.7%,respectively.Medical quality can be improved and complaints of patients against medical staff can be decreased by carrying our effective reform and taking preventive measures.


The grand opening of Cotton Council I nternational's (CCI)nale event "Naturally Color Your Life: Cotton & Patchwork" by COTTONUSA took place in Beijing's 798 Art Bridge Gallery on May 25th, 2012.


The performance of spectral clustering heavily relies on the quality of affinity matrix. A variety of affinity-matrix-construction (AMC) methods have been proposed but they have hyperparameters to determine beforehand, which requires strong experience and lead to difficulty in real applications especially when the inter-cluster similarity is high or/and the dataset is large. In addition, we often need to choose different AMC methods for different datasets, which still depends on experience. To solve these two challenging problems, in this paper, we present a simple yet effective method for automated spectral clustering. The main idea is to find the most reliable affinity matrix among a set of candidates given by different AMC methods with different hyperparameters, where the reliability is quantified by the relative-eigen-gap of graph Laplacian introduced in this paper. We also implement the method using Bayesian optimization.We extend the method to large-scale datasets such as MNIST, on which the time cost is less than 90s and the clustering accuracy is state-of-the-art. Extensive experiments of natural image clustering show that our method is more versatile, accurate, and efficient than baseline methods.


─ An efficient finite-element timedomain (FETD) method based on the hierarchical (-) matrix algorithm is presented. The FETD method is on the basis of the second-order vector wave equation, obtained by eliminating one of the field variables from Maxwell's equations. The time-dependent formulation employs the Newmark-beta method which is known as an unconditional stable time-integration method. matrix algorithm is introduced for the direct solution of a large sparse linear system at each time step, which is a serious handicap in conventional FETD method. -matrix algorithm provides a data-sparse way to approximate the LU triangular factors of the FETD system matrix. Using the -matrix arithmetic, the computational complexity and memory requirement of -LU decomposition can be significantly reduced to almost logarithmic-linear. Once the -LU factors are obtained, the FETD method can be computed very efficiently at each time step by the -matrix formatted forward and backward substitution (FBS). Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed FETD method for the simulation of three-dimension (3D) electromagnetic problems. Index Terms ─ Direct solution, finite-element time-domain (FETD) method, -matrix algorithm, reduced complexity.


Splenic and nodal marginal zone lymphomas (MZL) are subtypes of marginal zone‐derived neoplasms. Due to their rarity, little is known concerning their relation, pattern of dissemination, and treatment outcome.


Background  Organ transplant recipients (OTRs) have an increased risk of skin cancer. Treatment with azathioprine, commonly used in post‐transplant immunosuppressive regimens, results in incorporation of 6‐thioguanine (6‐TG) into DNA. Mismatch repair (MMR)‐defective cells are resistant to killing by 6‐TG. Azathioprine exposure confers a survival advantage on MMR‐defective cells, which are hypermutable and may therefore contribute to azathioprine‐related nonmelanoma skin cancer, a phenomenon we have previously demonstrated in transplant‐associated sebaceous carcinomas. The MSH2 protein is an important component of DNA MMR. The ‐6 exon 13 T>C MSH2 polymorphism is associated with impaired MMR, drug resistance and certain cancers.


Fur farming involves the captive-breeding, rearing, and killing of between 85 – 100 million animals annually for their pelts. The purpose of this report is to summarise key areas of significance and concern regarding fur farming, and discuss these matters and their one-health considerations. We conducted primary literature searches using Google Scholar and PubMed that focused on issues of animal welfare, zoonoses and public health, and environmental impacts of fur farming, and examined 280 reports. We identified that at least 15 species are farmed for fur across at least 19 countries. We found 16 categories of animal welfare concern (e.g., deprivation, stress, abnormal behaviours, insanitary conditions, forced obesity, and high morbidity and mortality), 18 reported endemic pathogens and diseases with confirmed or potential zoonotic and cross-species implications (e.g., bacterial n = 6, viral n = 5, and parasitic n = 7), and four main categories of environmental concern (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions, invasive alien species, toxic chemicals, and eutrophication) associated with fur farming. Despite numerous efforts to systematically monitor and control animal welfare at fur farms, practices continue to fail to meet normal scientific principles and models used in other animal welfare situations. In our view, limited available data does not currently indicate that fur farms are major sources of zoonotic epidemics and pandemics. The environmental problems caused by fur farming are significant, and relate mainly to invasive species, toxic chemical release and eutrophication of water bodies. We offer some recommendations for monitoring and controlling particular fur farming practices, in line with many governments and other investigators we conclude that inherent problems are essentially unresolvable and advocate complete prohibitions on the sector.


Let T2 be the graph obtained from the Petersen graph by first deleting a vertex and then contracting an edge incident to a vertex of degree two. We give a simple characterization of the graphs that contain no subdivision of T2. This characterization is used to show that if every planar r-graph is r-edge colorable, then every r-graph with no subdivision of T2 is r-edge colorable.


The total DNA of "Haitandou" was extracted and introduced into the soybean "Kangxian No 2" through pollen-tube pathway in suitable time.A new strain resisting soybean cyst nematode "AnD205-8" was screened.


Coronaviruses are typically single stranded RNA viruses. A novel coronavirus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), first reported in December, 2019 has now resulted in a pandemic with a high mortality referred to as COVID19 disease. This highly infectious disorder of COVID19 emanated from Wuhan, China and according to the Johns Hopkins University Resource Center at the time of submission (6/22/20) has affected 8.99 million persons globally with a mortality of 468,907. The US appears to endure the major brunt of this onslaught with over 2.3 million cases and a mortality of 119,997. Whilst the majority of patients contracting this virus have mild disease, around 20% appear to have severe disease affecting the lung which can progress from pneumonia to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that could eventually require ventilator support and finally multi organ failure ensuing [1]. Studies suggest that SARS-CoV-2 enters human cells by attaching to a cell surface receptor called angiotensin converting enzyme II (ACE2) and utilizing proteases including transmembrane protease 2 (TMPRSS2). However, ARDS with cytokine storm starts to appear in the later phase of infection even when there might be a decreasing in viremia Thus, there must be additional pathobiological pathways responsible for the cytokine storm.


Submission No. : IL-9100 TGF-β-induced angiogenesis is a key driver of DKD pathogenesis Kyung Lee Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States Glomerular endothelial dysfunction and neoangiogenesis have long been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease (DKD). However, specific molecular pathways contributing to these processes in the early stages of DKD are not well understood. To assess the molecular changes associated with glomerular endothelial cell (GEC) injury in early DKD, we recently performed transcriptomic profiling of isolated GECs from streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice with endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) deficiency. Analysis of differentially expressed genes indeed indicated that angiogenesis and endothelial proliferation pathways were significantly upregulated in GECs of diabetic mice and that leucine-rich alpha-2 glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) was among the top upregulated genes. LRG1 is a secreted glycoprotein belonging to the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) protein family, whose expression is increased in plasma and urine of patients with a variety of cancer malignancies. Notably, a recent finding by Wang et al. demonstrated that LRG1 mediates the pro-angiogenic effects through enhancement of endothelial TGF-β1/ALK1 signaling in the murine models of ocular disease. However, its role in the kidney, particularly in the setting of DKD, was not known. TGF-β regulates many aspects of endothelial functions including cell proliferation in early diabetic kidneys resulting in glomerular hypertrophy, but also the induction of apoptosis in microvascular endothelial cells. These contrasting actions of TGF-β on endothelial cells are regulated by differential activation of two Type 1 receptors: the ubiquitously expressed ALK5 and predominantly EC-restricted ALK1 receptors. ALK5 activation induces the Smad2/3 activation to block EC proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis. In contrast, ALK1 activation induces the Smad1/5/8 activation to promote EC proliferation, migration, and tube formation, resulting in neo-angiogenesis. This led us to speculate that the function of LRG1 would promote diabetes-induced glomerular angiogenesis via ALK1induced signal transduction in GECs. Analysis of its expression in the kidney by in situ mRNA hybridization analysis in mouse and human kidneys confirmed its predominant expression in the GECs and further indicated its expression in the tubulointerstitium. Consistent with the bulk RNA-seq of isolated mouse GECs and our recent singlecell RNA-seq of isolated mouse glomeruli, its expression was markedly increased in the diabetic kidneys, particularly in the glomeruli. To determine the role of LRG1 in DKD, we next examined the effects of LRG1 loss using the global Lrg1-null (Lrg1) mice. Lrg1 mice were grossly normal, as reported previously. Because Lrg1 mice were in the relatively DKD-resistant C57BL/6J background, unilateral nephrectomy (UNx) was performed prior to diabetes induction in mice to aggravate the ensuing diabetic kidney injury. Diabetes (DM) was induced by low-dose streptozotocin injections in Lrg1 mice and in Lrg1 littermate controls (+STZ) three weeks post-UNx. Citrate buffer-injected uni-nephrectomized mice served as nondiabetic controls (-STZ), and all mice were euthanized at 12 weeks post diabetes (DM)-induction. The extent of hyperglycemia, body weight loss, and blood pressure were similar between diabetic Lrg1 and Lrg1 mice compared to non-diabetic mice. Histological analysis showed that the development of glomerular hypertrophy and mesangial expansion was significantly blunted in diabetic Lrg1 mice compared to diabetic Lrg1 mice. The extent of albuminuria was markedly attenuated in diabetic Lrg1 mice. Podocyte foot process effacement and loss were also reduced in diabetic Lrg1 mice in comparison to diabetic Lrg1 mice. These results indicated that diabetic glomerulopathy is markedly attenuated by the loss of LRG1. As LRG1 was previously shown to be pro-angiogenic in the retinal vasculature, we next examined whether LRG1 ablation would alter the DM-induced angiogenesis in vivo. Directed in vivo angiogenesis assay (DIVAA) as well as CD31 immunofluorescence indicated increased angiogenesis in the diabetic mice, which was attenuated with the loss of LRG1. To quantitate the change in the number of GECs in the context of LRG1 ablation in early diabetic kidneys, Lrg1 and Lrg1 mice were crossed with Flk1-H2B-EYFP transgenic mice, which expresses a nuclear enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) driven by Flk1 promoter. Diabetes was similarly induced with low-dose STZ injections 3 weeks after UNx. Indeed, the number of EYFP+ cells in the diabetic Lrg1;EYFP mouse glomeruli was found to be increased at 8 weeks post-DM, but this increase was mitigated in the diabetic Lrg1;EYFP mouse glomeruli. We further confirmed that the observed attenuation of diabetic glomerulopathy in the Lrg1 mice was associated with dampened Smad1/5/8 activation in the GECs, strongly indicating that LRG1 is a critical mediator of TGF-β/ALK1-mediated angiogenesis in the diabetic kidneys. As LRG1 is a secreted glycoprotein elevated in human and mouse diabetic kidneys, we next examined whether plasma LRG1 levels in DKD patients are associated with renal outcome. We measured LRG1 on plasma samples from a sub-cohort of 871 participants with type 2 diabetes in the BioMe Biobank Cohort at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Plasma LRG1 was not significantly correlated with eGFR (r= -0.02, p= NS) or albuminuria (r=0.06, p = NS) at baseline at the time of enrollment into the BioMe Biobank Program. Of the 871 patients analyzed, 121 (13.8%) experienced the composite endpoint, as defined by 40% sustained eGFR decline or ESRD during a median follow-up of 4.5 [IQR 3.3-6.1] years. Notably, participants with renal endpoint had higher levels of LRG1 (80.74 vs. 53.79 ng/ml). The event rates for the composite renal endpoints of 40% sustained decline in eGFR or ESRD were 7.5% for the lowest tertile, 12.7% for the middle tertile, and 21.3% for the top tertile of LRG1, which yielded an adjusted HR of 1.6 (95% CI 0.9-2.7) and 2.7 (95% CI 1.6-4.4) for the middle and top tertiles, respectively vs. the bottom tertile. For each doubling in LRG1, the adjusted HR was 1.3 (95% CI 1.1-1.4). Taken together, our results reveal the role of LRG1 as a pathogenic mediator of DKD progression via increased TGF-β-induced glomerular angiogenesis and as a potential risk factor in DKD progression.


This study aims to analyze primary school students' academic achievement and motivation in terms of parental attitudes, teacher motivation, teacher self-efficacy and leadership perception. Research model of the study is designed as descriptive research model and the data are collected from 60 primary school teachers teaching 4th grade students in 2017-2018 academic year and from 1476 4th grade primary school students. The findings of the study show that fathers' having a high level of education, teachers' having a high level of motivation, a democratic attitude in family are some factors positively affecting student achievement. The findings also indicate that democratic parental attitude and a high level of teacher motivation increase student motivation. It is also concluded that neglectful parental attitude negatively affects student achievement and motivation. Accepted or distributed leadership approach in the school influences teacher motivation. The findings show that teachers with high self-efficacy also have high level of motivation. It is also concluded that teachers at the first years of their career have lower level of motivation. The study is believed to be a guiding example for other studies analyzing similar topics.


The utility model relates to a nylon knitted fabric capable of being cut optionally. The nylon knitted fabric capable of being cut optionally consists of mixed thread materials formed by interweaving cellosilk and nylon filaments through low-temperature hot melting bonding, wherein the mixed thread materials are woven into the fabric by adopting a weft knitting plain-stitch structure, and mutually-soluble bonding points are located at the connecting positions of the mixed thread materials. The thread materials of the nylon knitted fabric is firm in mutually-soluble bonding, the fabric can be cut optionally, threads at edge openings are not loose and scattered, and the whole fabric is flat and attractive.


This paper presents an advanced virtual inertia control strategy for wind farms to provide transient power support in the presence of frequency events, where a fuzzy active disturbance rejection controller is developed to enable the operation of an energy storage system (ESS) so as to provide support for frequency regulation of the power grid. To effectively estimate the system frequency under uncertain noises, fuzzy rules are presented to adaptively tune the parameters of the extended state observer and to realize the power-sharing, to improve the anti-interference ability of the wind power system. Finally, simulation analysis in MATLAB/Simulink is provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. Simulation results show that the developed virtual inertia control strategy based on fuzzy active disturbance rejection control has a good inertia support capability. In addition, the proposed method is able to improve the anti-noise capability of the wind power system.


Congenital Palatal Paralysis: ? Nuclear Agenesis.-RICHARD W. B. ELLIS, M.D. Mrs. S., aged 28. Two healthy children. No familial history of neurological or other disease. She is said to have had difficulty in feeding as an infant. Speech was not acquired until after 4 years of age, and the voice has always had a nasal character. Speech is still often hardly intelligible. Patient cannot blow out her lips, or even blow out a candle. No regurgitation through nose recently. Apart from having had meningitis at age of 14, she has been otherwise well. On examination.-A healthy woman of normal mentality, with nasal speech. Complete palatal paralysis. No other neurological lesion. Comment.-The disability due to the palatal paralysis appears to date from birth. The history and limited nature of the lesions suggest nuclear agenesis.


In this study,regenerated mulberry bark fiber with abundant natural flavonoids and excellent mechanical properties was prepared using mulberry bark as raw material and N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide(NMMO) as degumming agent for improvement of traditional degumming process.The results of orthogonal experiment indicated that regenerated mulberry bark fiber with good performance could be obtained under the following treatments: incubation of mulberry bark in 0.5 mol/L NaOH at 95 ℃ for 2.5 h,degumming under pH≤5,and setting 1 ∶17 as the mass ratio of degummed mulberry bark to organic solvent NMMO·H2O,followed by direct dissolution and precipitation of mulberry bark fiber in water coagulating bath at 95 ℃ by referring to the manufacturing process of Lyocell fiber.The strength,breaking elongation,and retention rate of total flavonoids of regenerated mulberry bark fiber was 2.83 cN/dtex,5.04%,and 69.04%,respectively.This regenerated mulberry bark fiber is a promising raw material for development of novel healthcare textiles.


Chapter 1. Losing Space. When There is No 'There' There. When Only Half is There. Not There But There. Chapter 2. Components of Spatial Reference Frames. Origin. Orientation. Sense of Direction. Unit Size. Summary. Chapter 3. Spatial-based Attention and Reference Frames. Selecting Locations. Reference Frames and Spatial Selection in Healthy and Neurological Populations. Spatial Resolution and Reference Frames. Spatial Extent, Spatial Resolution and Attention. What is the Space for Spatial Attention? Chapter 4. Object-based Attention and Space. Dissociating Object- and Space-based Attention. Controlled Spatial Attention and Object-based Effects. Object-based Neglect. What is an Object for Object-based Attention? Chapter 5. Space and Awareness. RM: Brief History and Spatial Function of a Balints Patient. Explicit Spatial Maps. A Case of Loss of Body Frame of Reference. Implicit Access to Space. 'What' and 'Where' Processing Streams Reconsidered. Many 'Where' Systems. Summary. Chapter 6. Space and Feature Binding. The Effect of Occipital-parietal Lesions on Binding. Additional Evidence for Parietal Involvement in Feature Binding. Implicit and Explicit Spaces and Binding. Summary. Chapter 7. Space, Brains and Consciousness. Lessons from the Study of Spatial Deficits. Parietal Function and Consciousness. Spatial Maps and Conscious Perceptions. Some Final Comments.


IN MAY 1948, one of us (N. K. J.) wrote to Mr. D. J. Finney making certain comments on his paper [13] on the adjustment of biological assay results for variation in concomitant observations. Mr. Finney, after replying to this letter, discussed the points raised with the other of us (E. C. W.), and a tripartite correspondence ensued in the course of which almost every link in the long chain of reasoning and inference from the performance of a biological assay to the statement of its results was critically examined. It seemed to us, whose own thinking on the subject had been much clarified, that the main conclusions at which we had arrived might usefully be brought together and placed on record for the benefit of those who might not have had occasion to give so much thought to the theoretical background of biological assays. This background is surprisingly complex and varied. Behind the experimental design of an assay, and still more behind the final statement about the result and its fiducial limits, there lies a whole host of assumptions and implications. Some are chemical or biochemical, about the nature of the Test Preparation (T.P.) whose potency is to be assayed and that of the Standard Preparation (S.P.) with which it is to be compared. Some are biological or pharmacological, about the response evoked in the experimental animals by the stimulus of the doses administered to them. Some are mathematical and in particular statistical, about the computational processes by means of which the numerical results are evaluated. Some, even, are philosophical-if not metaphysical!-about the relations between the theoretical abstractions of


A conformed subgrid finite-difference frequency domain (CS FD-FD) algorithm is presented. The method combines the advantages of both a locally conformed grid for modeling curved perfectly conducting bodies and a direct orthogonalization subgrid technique for regions of high field intensity. This reduces significantly CPU time and storage requirements. The usefulness of the method is demonstrated for a metallic post structure in a rectangular waveguide and a dielectric resonator filter including coaxial coupling elements. The method is verified by reference values.


tors around the same outline, which includes identifying the stressor, tjrpical dysfunctional methods of coping and typical functional ccqping strategies, resources and prescrip tions which help in coping, effective methods for helping famiUea deal with the stress, and how dysfunc tional stress reactions can be pre vented The writing is nontechnical, yet for the most part gives compre hensive covetnge of the Uterature for each of these areas. The minister will find them exceedingly helpful both in mimstering to and counseling with individual families under stress and in developing church programs to minister to stressed famihes within the church and in the community.


The goal of the study is to identify and assess the present conditions and resources for the development of event tourism on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast. The richness of the event calendar, the developed facilities, as well as the necessity for their renovation and adaptation to the needs of tourists are principal emphases of the study.


Transthoracic Resection of Carcinoma of the Cardia with Involvement of the Lower End of the CEsophagus, and CEsophago-gastrostomy.-O. S. TUBBS, F.R.C.S. J. P., male, aged 56. Admitted for operation 29.4.43. Complaznt.-Epigastric pain and weakness. Previous history.-Abdominal gunshot wound 1917. History of present complaint.-In May 1942: Excessive fatigue. August 1942: Severe pain in epigastrium immediately after swallowing food; this lasted for a quarter of an hour and was followed by a dull ache which lasted to the next meal. Appetite good but afraid to eat. No difficulty in swallowing. No vomiting. November 1942: Black stools for three days-felt very weak and was admitted to hospital. Hoemoglobin 34% (Haldane). No abnormal clinical signs apart from secondary anaemia associated with achlorhydria. Barium X-ray examination of stomach revealed no abnormality. Rest, alkalis and iron resulted in almost complete relief of pain and a rise in haemoglobin to 54%. Discharged after seven weeks. March 1943: Pain more severe than ever before. Vomited a small amount of blood. Readmitted to hospital. X-ray examination again showed no gastric abnormality but gastroscopy (Dr. Charles Fletcher) revlealed the borders of a sloughing ulcer near the oesophageal opening. 29.4.43: Transferred for operation. 30.4.43: Transfusion of 2 pints of fresh blood. 3.5.43: Hzemoglobin 72%. 4.5.43: Exploratory laparotomy (Mr. J. P. Hosford). Carcinoma of cardia confirmed. The growth was mobile but involved the abdominal part of the oesophagus, and therefore irremovable by total gastrectomy. Jejunostomy performed. Convalescence complicated by suppurative bronchitis. 27.5.43: Transthoracic resection of growth and aesophago-gastrostomy. Exposure obtained through the left 9th rib bed followed by incision of diaphragm; lower end of cesophagus mobilized and stomach freed by division of greater and lesser omenta; growth resected with proximal half of stomach and 2 in. of cesophagus; stomach closed and aesophagus anastomosed to anterior wall of stomach; diaphragm sutured to partially thoracic stomach; chest closed with intercostal drainage. 1.6.43: Pleural drain removed. 5.6.43: Fluid first given by mouth. 9.6.43: Jejunostomy tube removed. 11.6.43: Allowed up. 24.6.43: Barium X-ray examination of oesophagus and stomach; no stricture at site of anastomosis; barium passed rapidly into stomach. 29.6.43: Discharged. Since discharge, general condition has improved; no pain; no difficulty in swallowing; regurgitates small quantity of watery fluid after meals.


Growth in the mobile communication technology leads to defining the standard to introduce integrable systems. In this paper, necessary requirements determined by 3GPP for mobile communication relay technology has been investigated. In this work, the transmission and receive characteristics, relay types respect to using areas have been expressed based upon E-UTRA Relay radio transmission and reception: TS.36.116 Release 13. Furthermore, simulations are run to measure the bit error rate performance for signals received in both relay and mobile station.


Coherency-based dynamic equivalent is a technique commonly employed for power system reduction. The key step of the technique which will mostly affect the accuracy of resultant equivalents is coherency identification. Traditionally, coherency is identified by using swing curve or similar approaches and the accuracy of the resulting equivalent is also verified by transient plots. It is well known that the swing curve is often associated with transient stability study. Not much attention has been drawn to analyze how the dynamic equivalent is applied to small perturbation stability studies. A new coherency identification technique is, therefore, introduced to suit this purpose. This new approach is different from the conventional one in that it employs the mode shape of electrical power to identify coherency of a power system. The approach is tested on a typical interconnected system and the results show that the proposed technique provides good approximation. Moreover, the effect of system reduction to dynamic stability study is also discussed.


Desulfotomaculum kuznetsovii (D. kuznetsovii), a thermophilic sulfate‐reducing bacterium (SRB), was identified in a cooling tower of a petroleum refinery by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and its functional gene encoding dissimilatory sulfite reductase (dsrAB). The thermophilic sulfate‐reducing bacterial species have been reported for the first time in the cooling towers of an Indian petroleum refinery. The protein coded by dsrAB gene was cloned, expressed, and identified using recombinant DNA technology. Weight loss method, electrochemical and surface analysis showed the corrosion behavior of the isolate. In the presence of D. kuznetsovii, the corrosion rate was higher when compared to control at 55 °C. It suppresses the anodic reaction and enhances the cathodic reaction by the production of organic complex and iron sulfide, respectively. Numerous pitting were noticed on mild steel which is due to the presence of D. kuznetsovii and its role in the corrosion process has been discussed.


The invention relates to isolated antibody that bind to lymphotoxin-[alpha], methods for making such antibodies, compositions and articles incorporating such antibodies, and their uses in treating, for example, an autoimmune disorder. The invention further relates to a method of inhibiting lymphotoxin-a-activated cell proliferation, a hybridoma deposited at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) under the Deposit No. PTA-7538.


Feeding and distribution responses of grass-feeding grasshoppers to nitrogen fertilization of a native C4 grass, Calamovilfa longifolia (Hook.), were examined in the field. When fertilized with ammonium nitrate, nitrogen concentration in the foliage increased. In paired choice tests, the grass-feeding Ageneotettix deorum (Scudder) typically consumed more leaf material fertilized at intermediate levels although preferences for leaves with altered levels of nitrogen were sometimes inconsistent. In field plots, total biomass of grasshoppers which fed on grasses increased with nitrogen application; grasshoppers with mixed diets exhibited no apparent distributional response to fertilizer treatments.


Due to the increasing demand of mobile Machine- Type Communications (MTC), the interaction between MTC and human services is a recent problem for cellular communication systems like Long Term Evolution (LTE). In order to reduce the negative impact of MTC on human communication, a Learning- based Channel-Aware Transmission (L-CAT) scheme will be introduced in this paper. The algorithm bases on a learning process of cellular connectivity hot spots and is designed for non- time-critical vehicular data applications like extended Floating Car Data (xFCD) transmissions for traffic forecast systems. The results based on real-world measurements show that L-CAT leads to a much faster data transmission that correlates with a more resource efficient MTC. I. INTRODUCTION AND RELATED WORK Many mobile devices follow the routes of driving vehicles. This routes are not randomly, but follow special patterns. For example the same routes are taken by a vehicle many times: the way to work or to good friends. This fact can be used in order to predict mobility of a cellular communication device that is mounted on a car. The mobility prediction is a feasible input for traffic management systems. It can be predicted how many vehicles will pass a certain highway and if this would cause a traffic jam, some of them could be rerouted. But the mobility estimation can also be useful for communication issues. In (1) a method to improve handover quality of cellular communi- cation systems by means of a mobility forecast algorithm is shown. However, the same routes correspond also to a similar communication connectivity. This fact will be used in this paper to improve non-real-time vehicular data applications. We present Learning-based Channel-Aware Transmission (L- CAT), a decentralized communication approach that uses a learning process of cellular connectivity in vehicular environ- ments. L-CAT detects good communication locations, stores them, provides them to others users and uses them for the next drive at the same route to improve the communication efficiency. The transmission scheme can be used to provide vehicular sensor data (so called extended Floating Car Data (xFCD) (2)) very efficiently to a traffic management server. This Machine- Type Communication (MTC), which can be carried e.g. by a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, should interfere as


The crystal‐state conformations of the hexapeptide amide Pht‐(Aib)6‐NH‐C(CH3)2‐O‐OtBu (7), the hexapeptide Ac‐L‐aIle‐(Aib)5‐OtBu (6), the pentapeptide Z‐(Aib)3‐L‐Glu(OtBu)‐Aib‐O‐(CH2)2‐(1)Nap (5), the tetrapeptides Z‐(Aib)2‐L‐His(Nτ‐Trt)‐Aib‐OMe (4 I) and Z‐(Aib)2‐L‐Nva‐Aib‐OtBu (4 II), the tripeptide Pyr‐(Aib)3‐OtBu (3 I), the dipeptide amides Pyr‐(Aib)2‐(4)NH‐TEMPO (3 II) and Piv‐(Aib)2‐NH‐C(CH3)2‐O‐OtBu (3 III), and the dipeptides Pht‐Aib‐βAc6c‐OtBu (2 I), Pht‐Aib‐NH‐C(CH3)2‐O‐OtBu (2 II) and Boc‐gGly‐mAib‐OH (2 III) have been determined by X‐ray diffraction analyses. All peptides investigated are characterized by one or more turn/helix forming Aib residues. Except the three short dipeptides, all are folded into CO···HN intramolecularly H‐bonded 310‐helices, or into various types of β‐turns. In the structure of 6, two independent molecules of opposite screw sense were observed in the asymmetric unit, generating diastereomeric 310‐helices. Copyright © 2007 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A coprecipitation–calcination method was used to synthesise powders of 25 mol% Y2O3 in ZrO2 (25YSZ) or 12.5 mol% Y2O3 - 12.5 mol% Yb2O3 in ZrO2 (12.5Yb12.5YSZ) solid solutions. The pellets were cold isostatically pressed and then sintered for 2 h at 1500C. The corrosion resistance of 25YSZ, 12.5Yb12.5YSZ solid solutions, and CaZrO3-based samples against molten metals, i.e., copper, nickel or iron, were also examined. Based upon this investigation, it is evident that stability of both zirconia with 25 mol% Y2O3 in solid solution and the calcium zirconate containing 48 % CaO material is limited in molten iron. Electrical conductivity measurements were performed by dc four probe and ac impedance spectroscopy methods in the temperature range of 200-1000C. The highest value of ionic conductivity was found for the sintered samples of 12.5 mol% Y2O3 - 12.5 mol% Yb2O3 in ZrO2. These results indicate that partial substitution of Yb2O3 for Y2O3 in the 25YSZ solid solution leads to an increase of electrical conductivity compared to the solid solution of 25 mol%Y2O3 in ZrO2. It was also found that ionic oxide transference numbers (tion) of 25YSZ and 12.5Yb12.5YSZ solid solutions were close to 1, what indicated on pure oxide ionic conduction in the materials prepared. Test results are also reported for 25YSZ and 12.5Yb12.5YSZ applied as electrolytes in electrochemical oxygen gas sensors as well as in solid oxide cells, involving NiLa2O4 or NiAl2O4. In this way, the Gibbs free energy of formation of NiLa2O4 or NiAl2O4 in the temperature range 800-1000oC was determined. These materials seem to be promising solid oxide electrolytes for electrochemical oxygen probes, and solid oxide galvanic cells designed to study thermodynamic properties of materials important for SOFC technology and other areas of energy industry.


The HFW ultrasonic detection production line is mainly used to detect steel pipes after heat treatment to ensure the regular production of qualified steel pipes.The detector unit is through two groups of rotary roller beds to ensure the transport of steel pipe at constant speed.In order to detect all sizes of pipes,the roller beds shall rotate to the corresponding angle with an angular deviation less than 0.5.The original-designed roller beds connected by universal shaft can't meet the requirements for angular deviation of the roller beds.As a result of the new design,the parallel connection of groups of roller beds realized by rods driving eliminates the accumulated deviations of groups of roller beds to control the angular deviation of roller beds within the required standards.


FIELD: medicine. SUBSTANCE: group of inventions refers to medicine and medical equipment, namely to physiotherapy. Transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TES) is provided via two electrodes located laterally to the pelvic area, and the second pair of electrodes located one on each lateral side of the spinal column in sacral region. TES is carried out during of 1-3 periods of treating at day. Therapeutic course from 2 weeks to 2 years. Note here that TES is carried out by interference currents. Method is implemented by means of a system which includes the following: four electrodes made with possibility to be placed one on each lateral side of the spinal column in sacral region, and the second pair of electrodes, made with possibility of arrangement laterally to the pelvic area. EFFECT: invention provides higher clinical effectiveness that is ensured by using interference current, arrangement of electrodes and mode of TES. 44 cl, 3 tbl, 10 dwg


Teachers and students in South Florida recently began experiments to test a wide spectrum of seeds to see which would flourish in different conditions such as during a mission to Mars.


The recognition of Aboriginal land rights in Australia over the last few decades marks a political and legal shift from classical to "expressivist" or "neo-romantic" liberalism. Classical liberalism's emphasis on order, economic progress, and security of expectations could not easily accommodate Aboriginal demands for separate, collectively owned enclaves within which their cultures could flourish. These demands have rested on the religious connection of Aborigines to their land, and the concept of property associated with it, as recorded in stories from the "Dreamtime." Recent High Court decisions have fashioned a doctrine of native title, distinct from common law property rights, that defines land ownership partly in light of cultural self-expression, and not merely as a function of labor and exchange.


In inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), CD4+ T cell-responses to unknown microbial antigens drive intestinal inflammation. Both hypo- or hyperactive anti-microbial innate immunity may underlie these pathogenic T-cell responses. Previously, IgG and T-cell responses to Lachnospiraceae flagellins were detected in spontaneously colitic mice with an innate immune defect and adult CD patients with complicated disease. However, whether these IgG responses occur in therapy-naïve pediatric patients and whether they relate to hypo- or hyperresponsiveness is unknown. We hypothesize that, at diagnosis, a subgroup of pediatric CD patients has elevated anti-Lachnospiraceae flagellin IgG and concomitant inflammatory flagellin-specific T-cell responses associating with insufficient anti-microbial innate immunity.

 Plasma IgG reactivity to 20 flagellins from Lachnospiraceae that colonize mouse and human gut was measured in therapy-naïve pediatric IBD patients (CD n=49; UC n=16), non-IBD (n=12) and age-matched healthy controls (HC n=17). CD patients were divided in two groups: 'flagellin-hi' (elevated IgG to 11-20 flagellins) and 'flagellin-lo' (elevated IgG to 0-10 flagellins), whose immunological and clinical profiles were compared.

 The proportion of flagellin-hi patients was higher in CD (41%) compared to UC (6%), non-IBD (8%) and HC (6%). In CD patients, clinical disease activity score, CRP and ESR did not relate to flagellin reactivity. Compared to flagellin-lo patients, flagellin-hi patients had increased frequencies of inflammatory gut-homing (CD38+CD62Lneg) circulating CD4+ T cells. Crucially, flagellin-hi patients had high frequencies of circulating flagellin-specific CD4+ T cells. Although high anti-flagellin IgG reactivity associated with increased flagellin-specific- and gut-homing- T-cell frequencies in the circulation, it associated with very limited immune cell infiltration, epithelial damage and phosphorylated NFκB in colonic biopsies on histology. Moreover, the plasma concentration of EN-RAGE, a neutrophil-derived protein, was decreased in flagellin-hi compared -lo patients.

 In sum, a subgroup of pediatric therapy-naïve CD patients has high IgG responses to Lachnospiraceae-derived flagellins. While these flagellin-hi patients have higher frequencies of circulating gut-homing and flagellin-specific CD4+ T cells, they have lower colonic histological disease activity and NFκB activation, possibly suggesting insufficient innate immune cell activation and/or infiltration. Together, our data raise the question whether the enhanced anti-Lachnospiraceae adaptive immune response in a subgroup of CD patients may be driven by insufficient local innate immunity.


This paper investigated how graduating Natural Science pre-service teachers were able to integrate the principles of Transformative Pedagogy in their lesson-plan designs. The study draws on the theoretical tenets of Transformative Pedagogy, a form of pedagogy that combines social constructivism and critical theory, in order to teach for equity and equality. The study was qualitative in nature; it and made use of a documentary analytical method to respond to the primary research question: how do graduating Natural Science pre-service teachers integrate the principles of Transformative Pedagogy in their lesson-plan designs? To respond to this primary research question, descriptive text that derived from the purposely selected sample of lesson-plan designs of the pre-service teachers was analysed. An analysis of the three-lesson plan designs revealed that the principles of Transformative Pedagogy, namely the "prompting of learners' critical consciousness about social issues", "the existence of open-dialogue amongst learners" and "learners' engagement in educational collaborative practices" were thoughtfully considered and integrated within the lesson-plan designs. Based on the findings, this study holds a series of implications for future research in the scholarship of pre-service teacher development, especially in the field of science education. Given the ideals of Transformative Pedagogy, future research could focus on the capability of pre-service teachers to infuse the principles of Transformative Pedagogy in other science-related school subjects, such as Physical science and Chemistry teaching. Future research could also perhaps explore how pre-service teachers experience the integration of Transformative Pedagogy in their lessons.


1. The first and the second internodes of spring wheat, Konosu No. 25, cultured on a medium containing gibberellin (5×10-4M) was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction technique.2. The X-ray diffraction diagrams obtained from the control plants showed the presence of the cellulose micelles oriented in two directions crisscrossing each other at an angle of about 45° to the longitudinal axis of the stem.3. In the diagrams of the cell walls in the plants treated with gibberellin, the cellulose micelles oriented at random showing more in an amorphous state than the cellulose micelles in untreated cell walls.


This case report describes a modified connective tissue graft wall technique with enamel matrix derivative proposed to treat vertical bony defects. The surgical procedure consisted of a coronally advanced flap with a porcine-derived acellular dermal matrix placed below, acting as a buccal soft tissue wall of the bony defect. The patient showed a bony defect between #12 and #13 with horizontal bone loss and a deep infrabony component at the mesial area of the canine. At one year after surgery, the position of the interdental papilla and the clinical attachment level gain were improved along with radiographic bone defect fill.


The demand information is incomplete to power producers in oligopoly power bidding markets.In the paper,bidding learning model is presented based on the discrepancy between subjective power price deduced by power producer and objective market clear price,whose fixed point and stability is explored analytically.Based on the aforementioned analysis,the stable region,bifurcation of the fixed point,Cournot equilibrium,and the average profits of power producers are studied respectively through numerical simulation to the power markets consisting of two producers.The results indicate that(i) unique fixed point of the learning model coincides with objective demand function,(ii) the power producer can find the objective demand function and attain the Cournot-Nash equilibrium in stable regions and(iii) in chaos state,producers gain more or less profit than its Cournot profit and there is a possibility that a new Nash equilibrium deviated from the Cournot point will be appear.


Glossary of medical education terms, Institute of International Medical Education. http://www.iime.org/glossary.htm Accessed in Mar. 2013. Matsui et al. Sulfated Polysaccharides from Red Microalgae Have Antiinflammatory Properties. In Vitro and InVivo. Applied Biochem Biotechnol 104: 13-22, 2003.* Stortz et al. Specific fragmentation of carrageenans. Carbohydrate Res 166:317-323, 1987.* Jol et al. A Novel High-Performance Anion-Exchange Chromato graphic Method for the Analysis of Carrageenans and Agars Con taining 3,6-Anhydrogalactose. Analytical Biochemistry 268, :213 222, 1999.* International Search Report dated Jan. 21, 2014, corresponding to PCT FR2013/05O251.


Children with mentally ill parents are at a significant greater risk for the development of mental disorders. In Germany, 19-27% of psychiatric patients admitted to inpatient treatment are parents with minor children. Early identification and support of affected families may strengthen the mental health of both parents and their offspring. The present study aimed to investigate barriers and facilitating factors for supporting minor children of inpatient psychiatric patients in Germany.
Based on the German Hospital Register mental health practitioners of all psychiatric clinics in Germany were asked to answer a 37-item questionnaire. Overall, N = 425 psychiatric clinics were addressed. Up to now, n = 207 clinics (response rate 48.7%) participated in the survey. Descriptive and thematic analyses of the data have been conducted.
First findings indicate an overall positive attitude of mental health practitioners towards supporting the children of their patients. Most important barriers were:
1) Psychiatric workforce: Scarce resources, patient-focused treatment, and lack of contact with the children
2) Mentally ill parents: Fear of loss of custody, feelings of guilt and shame, and the high psychological strain
3) Structural obstacles: Lack of policy to coordinate interagency collaboration, lack of declaration of competences between service agencies, lack of supporting services

Data collection and analyzes will be completed by the end of March 2016.
Cooperation between the social and health sector is necessary in order to offer appropriate support to families with mentally ill parents. One step in this direction is the provision of family sensitive services in psychiatric clinics.


The flow rates of gases and vapors through highly activated charcoal rods have been measured. The results obtained indicate that a new phenomenon has been discovered. While the flow rates of gases that are not highly adsorbed can be satisfactorily correlated by the Adzumi equation and other equations of similar mathematical form, it has been found that the strongly adsorbed vapors of diethyl ether and ethyl chloride pass through the charcoal rods at rates considerably m excess of those required by known equations. To explain the results it appears necessary to resort to mechanisms quite outside of those usually considered in the application of kinetic theory to problems associated with passage of gas through porous diaphragms. The simplest and most direct of such mechanisms involves mobility of the adsorbed material. It is particularly striking that the flow rate of diethyl ether through activated charcoal rods has been found to be greater than that of helium in pressure regions where relative rates of fl...


Sample costs and returns to produce mixed vegetables under flood irrigation in the Davis and Weber County area of Utah are presented in this publication. This publication is intended to be a guide used to make production decisions, determine potential returns and prepare business and marketing plans. The practices described are not the recommendations of Utah State University, but rather the production practices and materials considered typical of a well-managed farm in the region, as determined by producer survey results from 2012. Costs, materials, and practices are not applicable to all situations as management and cultural practices vary among growers within the region. The "Your Farm" column in all tables is provided for your use.


A function that outputs a feature vector from the perceptual contents of the input video is called a perceptual video hashing function and the output feature vector that characterizes the perceptual contents of the input video is called the perceptual video hash. This hash must be robust to the manipulations that preserves the perceptual contents of the video and fragile to the modifications that vary the perceptual contents of the video. The wide scale applications of perceptual hash in the world of multimedia, such as video authentication, video copyright protection, and video retrieval, emphasize the importance of this area of research. This work generates a perceptual hash from the video using the 3D-radial projection of the pixels and assesses the differentiating capabilities and the perceptual robustness of the hash generated. This method is the 3D extension of the 2D radial projection based image hashing. In this work, the variance of the luminance values of the projected pixels is calculated for each randomly generated sub-tensor. The variance of all the sub-tensors are averaged along the second dimension and projected onto the discrete cosine transform (DCT) basis. The performance measure of the proposed work is assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Simulation results indicate that the performance of the proposed method is satisfactory for both the content-preserving and the content changing attacks.


The collaborative model represents a different approach to the preparation and placement of student teachers at Wilmington College, Delaware, beginning with the spring term of 1997. The collaboration establishes five-member student teaching cohorts and teams of trained supervisors. It encourages the development of a collegial, community-of-support environment within and among the supervisory teams and student teacher cohorts. It involves both student teachers and supervising teachers in preparation programs and seminars. It changes the role of the cooperating teacher to that of a supervising teacher and promotes increased prestige, program ownership, authority, and accountability for that position. The project changes the role of the college supervisor to that of a college-school advisor/consultant whose primary role is to promote public school reform and renewal. The project changes the financial relationship between the college and participating schools, triples traditional funding levels, and provides direct financial support for instructional programs at partner school sites. Two appendixes contain a paper with an interim evaluation report by Wilmington College on the project and a paDer from a 1998 planning session (Contains 27 references.) (Author/SM) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** A Collaborative Model for the Supervision of Student Teaching John Gray Wilmington College New Castle, DE February, 1999 A FlPSE Project Wilmington College Division of Education


In this paper we present a characterization, in Sobolev space terms, of domains of fractional powers of operators arising in self—adjoint second order mixed boundary value problems in non–smooth domains. A number of application pertaining solvability and regularity of both elliptic and parabolic problems are also given.


HE Census of Medieval nd Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canadal lists 27 MSS which contain the Canzoniere and the Triumphs of Petrarch, or one or the other of these works. Fifteen contain both works; 4 contain the Canzoniere alone; and 8 contain the Triumphs alone. A MS containing large portions of both works has recently come into the possession of Professor Thomas G. Bergin, of Cornell University: this MS is not listed in the Census. I have myself examined 26 of these 28 MSS. Of the other 2, the one listed below as 1 has been examined for me by Professor R. V. Merrill, of the University of California at Los Angeles. For the other, listed below as 4, I have used a microfilm copy provided for me by Mr. Edward Alexander Parsons, of New Orleans, the owner of the MS. In the present study I am reporting such information about the 28 MSS as I think may be of scholarly interest. Data given in the Census as to size, material, binding, and provenience are not repeated here. I desire to express my great gratitude to Professor Merrill, to Mr. Parsons, and to the other owners and the librarians who have most courteously enabled me to examine their MSS.


Regional languages affect the way a person speaks English, for example in the aspect of pronunciation, especially for English teachers. This refers to the speaker seeing the difference between sound and speech. Buginese and Makassarese are tribes with strong accents. Therefore, this study aims to identify what things appear when speaking English from the influence of the Buginese language in an English course in Makassar City. This research adopts a qualitative case study. Data analysis was collected based on four phases, namely sample data collection, data presentation, data verification and data processing. This shows that teachers are usually influenced by regional languages when speaking English and in daily conversation. Qualitative research is to understand the meaning of the individual and the group environment.The results of the study show that the errors that often occur are the omission of elements in language such as grammar, conjunctions, etc. English teachers must know that their first language can affect their pronunciation when speaking English, and they must get used to getting used to good English pronunciation.


To monitor the landslide borehole inclination is an effective method in studying landslide deformation dynamic characters. A simple, reasonable and effective method of data handling is a dependable security to obtain the landslide deformation information timely. In this paper, based on the brief introduction of testing principle of borehole clinometer, the authors propose the setting of tilt tubes and the method of borehole incline measurements. The evaluation and handling method of borehole incline measuring information and the computation formulas of depth amendment are put forward. They have directive function to the deep displacement monitoring of geotechnical engineering and the majorization regulating scheme of engineering landslide.


The central question faced by policy makers contemplating decriminalization of cannabis is whether such a move will lead to an increase in use, and if so, by whom and by how much. We address this question by investigating the impact of decriminalization on the decision to start using cannabis. Our analysis is based on individual level information from a general population in Australia. Australia provides an interesting case study for examining this issue because it has decriminalized the use of cannabis in half of its states and territories. In modeling cannabis uptake, we use a discrete-time hazard model and account for unobserved diferences between states that decriminalize and those that do not. We end that decriminalizing cannabis shifts the age distribution of uptake towards younger age groups while leaving the proportion of those who will start using cannabis unchanged. This suggests that decriminalization effects when individuals start using cannabis, rather than whether or not they start.


A portable fluorescence assay for direct endopeptidase activity detection has been developed with the use of a cyclophane-based conductive conjugated fluorescent polymer and peptide substrates. The substrates, carrying internal quenching amino acid, were designed to be cleaved in a sequence-specific manner by a protease of interest. Intact substrates were incapable of quenching the fluorescence of the polymer due to steric constraints. Upon specific cleavage, the quencher became exposed and could interact with the ring structure of the fluorescent polymer, disrupting the conjugation and quenching the fluorescence along the polymer chain. The approach was developed using a model Glu-C endopeptidase from Staphylococcus aureus strain V8, detected in the picomolar to micromolar concentration range. The developed assay was tested for the detection of endopeptidase activity of botulinum toxin. The feasibility study showed that botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT)-A could be detected down to picomolar concentration, with limit of detection of 5 pg, or 33 amol in 5 µL of sample, and a total assay time under 2 h. The assay exhibited high specificity and no cross-reactivity with BoNT-B was detected. Following this proof-of-concept work, the assay can be further optimized and expanded to differentiate between various botulinum toxin serotypes in their active proteolytic form, or modified for detection of proteases with other specificities. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry


Abstract Formation of chalky grains which is the main cause of the degradation of rice grain quality occurs frequently when the temperature during the 20 days after heading exceeds 27ºC. In this study, we examined the grain quality, chalky grain formation, growth and yield of plants grown by the deep and permanent irrigation (DPI) method, which is a combination of the V-furrow direct seeding method and the deep-flooding irrigation method. Field experiments were conducted in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The DPI method in which the water level was maintained at about 20 cm above the soil surface, improved grain quality by decreasing the chalky grain ratio by about 5% and increasing the perfect grain ratio by about 10% as compared with the V-furrow direct seeding method in which the water level was maintained at about 10 cm above the soil surface. The DPI method decreased the number of tillers and panicles but increased the number of spikelets per panicle so that the two methods gave similar yields. DPI is a promising labor-saving method expected to reduce the formation of chalky grain due to a high temperature during ripening.


Background and Objectives
The current study investigates pitch coding using frequency following response (FFR) among vocalists, violinists, and non-musicians for Indian Carnatic transition music stimuli and assesses whether their listening biographies strengthen their F0 neural encoding for these stimuli.

Subjects and Methods
Three participant groups in the age range of 18-45 years were included in the study. The first group of participants consisted of 20 trained Carnatic vocalists, the second group consisted of 13 trained violinists, and the third group consisted of 22 non-musicians. The stimuli consisted of three Indian Carnatic raga notes (/S-R2-G3/), which was sung by a trained vocalist and played by a trained violinist. For the purposes of this study, the two transitions between the notes T1=/S-R2/ and T2=/R2-G3/ were analyzed, and FFRs were recorded binaurally at 80 dB SPL using neuroscan equipment.

Results
Overall average responses of the participants were generated. To assess the participants' pitch tracking to the Carnatic music stimuli, stimulus to response correlation (CC), pitch strength (PS), and pitch error (PE) were measured. Results revealed that both the vocalists and violinists had better CC and PS values with lower PE values, as compared to non-musicians, for both vocal and violin T1 and T2 transition stimuli. Between the musician groups, the vocalists were found to perform superiorly to the violinists for both vocal and violin T1 and T2 transition stimuli.

Conclusions
Listening biographies strengthened F0 neural coding, with respect to the vocalists for vocal stimulus at the brainstem level. The violinists, on the other hand, did not show such preference.


In the Huai River Basin, pollutant masses are frequently concentrated into dams and sluices, which are subsequently discharged anddestroying the downstream ecology and environment. This phenomenon has been termed the specified paroxysmal water pollution incident (SPWPI), which has attracted worldwide attention as a large-scale water pollution problem. Studies of the formation mechanism of SPWPIs have become an urgent topic for fundamental research in water pollution prevention and control. In this paper, five serious SPWPIs (in 1989, 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2004) are selected to investigate the variation of meteorology, hydrology, water quality, pollution source (ammonium and chemical oxygen demand) and operation of dams and sluices during the period of events occurring in the middle and lower regions of Shaying River. The results show that the specific water pollution incident always occurred during the first flood period before the flood season (June-September). The elevated emissions of pollutants, increased dam construction and irrational regulations cause the accumulation of pollutants upstream of the dam, and directly induce the incidents. Moreover, the first heavy precipitation before the flood season is an important factor, which will directly trigger the flood discharge from dams and sluices with high concentrations of pollutants from upstream to downstream. The pollution will be further aggravated if no rain falls in the main stream of Huai River and southern mountainous region at the same time. This research is expected to identify the causes of the deterioration of water environments and provide scientific and technological support to prevent the paroxysmal water pollution incidents. It is also intended to guide the implementation of water pollution controls and ecological restoration in the Huai River Basin.