Answering the call to create an environment in which collaborations among ocean scientists and pedagogical experts flourish, the California Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (CA-COSEE) links the resources of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), University of California, San Diego; the Marine Activities, Resources & Education (MARE) Program at the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), University of California, Berkeley; the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center at Monterey Peninsula College (MPC); and California Sea Grant (CA SG). With the shared goal of enhancing the general public's understanding and appreciation of ocean science, these organizations have launched a strategically crafted campaign to integrate ocean education, outreach and research. Poised to capitalize on the collective strength of a world-class research institution, a national leader in pre-college marine science education, an NSF-funded center dedicated to improving marine technical education, and the nation's largest Sea Grant program, California COSEE is 1) deepening the involvement of ocean scientists in K-14 education and outreach efforts; 2) providing greater access of under-served students to ocean science and to science and technical careers; and 3) increasing the degree to which ocean science is included in the K-14 science curriculum.


Objective To investigate the change of fasting plasma glucose(FPG)≥7.0 mmol/L(≥1.26 g/L) to FPG≥7.8 mmol/L(≥1.40 g/L) in the new diagnosis standard of diabetes mellitus(DM) accords with clinical application in our district. Methods For 438 cases who were examined blood glucose in our endocrinology clinic,to make the diagnosis after they took oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT) of 75 g dextrose and analyze with two different diagnosis standards. Results 159 patients with DM(83 males and 76 females) were examined.Analyze the specificity and sensitivity of FPG≥7.8 mmol/L and FPG≥7.0 mmol/L with receirer operating characteristic(ROC) curve.The sensitivity and specificity of FPG≥7.8 mmol/L and FPG≥7.0 mmol/L were 56%,99% and 68%,97% respectively. Conclusions FPG≥7.0 mmol/L is suitable for clinical application in our district.


Massive and severe epistaxis is an uncommon event in pregnancy. It could be life threatening and could affect the normal pregnancy course. The best management is still on debate; it could be medical, conservative or surgical. Pregnancy termination often is problem solving. Hormonal changes during pregnancy affects nasal physiology. Vaginal delivery, labour induction or cesarean section are all suitable, after hemodynamic stabilization of pregnant woman. We report a case and review the available literature.


It was good to see the article by Lyn Faulds Wood (Perspectives January 6) on the progress being made in educating the public about bowel cancer.


An extension of performance evaluation for Renew,the Reference nets Workshop,is made by taking advantage of the timed property of Renew and the event response mechanism of Reference nets places. Concepts of the observable property and the monitor point of timed tokens are presented. Semantics and functionalities related to management of performance evaluation are supplied,including politic firing choosing,XML based tasks management,statistical variables,performance reports,simulator GUIs. The design pattern of system performance modeling in Renew is discussed. A case study of performance evaluation on a multi-threading server is made in the extended Renew system.


The effects of using different seismic bearings were investigated to reduce the seismic response of buildings by assuming the vulnerability of 20-story regular RC building in this paper. The method of this study was that the studied building was studied in three different models in terms of its connection to the foundation. In the first model, the structures were placed on the rigid bearing and in the second and third models; lead-rubber bearings and friction pendulum bearings were placed at the counter between the structure and foundation, respectively. Then, the dynamic analysis was used to assess the behaviour and seismic response of the mentioned models. The results of the study showed that the structures in the first model functioned like cantilever column that would become uniaxial and biaxial bending under the effects of earthquake around the vertical axis of structure. Due to the tensile (tension) weakness in concrete, seismic loads caused major cracks in the tension part of the structures according to the place of the neutral axis that could lead to the collapse of structure. In addition, the use of mentioned seismic bearings under the earthquake caused the structure like a semi-rigid box slid on this equipment that reduced the structure's stiffness and increased the period of the structure in comparison with the first model. Using the studied seismic bearings caused the displacement of the roof of the first and twentieth stories of the structure become approximately equal and prevented the creation of the bending moment in the first model. The results of non-linear time history analysis showed that using the studied seismic bearings caused the response of the structure reduced significantly when the structure was placed on rigid bearings. It could be very valuable regarding the limitation of the capacity of the structure's members.


In this paper we propose an empirical method for the comparison of architectures designed to produce similar behaviour from an intelligent system. The approach is based on the exploration of design space using similar designs that all satisfy the same requirements in niche space. An example of a possible application of this method is given using a robotic system that has been implemented using a software toolkit that has been designed to support architectural experimentation.


This thesis examines an industry-related problem in the field of solid granular propellant combustion. Through a literature review, it has been found that the safety aspects of propellants installations have not been well defined and studied. Such lack of standard could potentially lead to industrial accidents of varying magnitudes. The present project studies the flame propagation, heat output and pressure generated by the combustion of a range of propellants configurations. An experimental approach is first used to obtain a reliable set of data. Models are then obtained through the comparison of the empirical data with theoretical considerations, scaling and numerical simulations. Using the generated models, it shall eventually be possible to apply the findings in conceiving a set of guidelines for the safe design of propellant installations.

Flame propagation is central to the study of propellant combustion. Through the examination of video recordings from an array of propellant fire tests, it is possible to observe three main flame propagation modes: radiation heat transfer (ideal case), contact with burning projections and engulfment by a fireball. The maximum event dimensions depend on the dominant mode. A decision tree scheme is used to breakdown the possible events in the various propagation modes and assign conditions for their occurrence. Application of the methodology on a small scale flame propagation test shows that it is possible to scale the results to larger scale cases and obtain propagation rate estimates.

In both the radiant heat flux and pressure generation cases, theoretical forms are derived based on previous work and theoretical principles. Statistical analyses of the experimental results show good agreement with general theoretical forms. It is shown that one must, however, be attentive to possible collinearities and variable factors when interpreting statistical results. By taking into account the theoretical expectations, it is possible to estimate these additional factors and obtain models that are more generally applicable. It is also shown that the general models rely heavily on the combustion rate of the propellant configuration. This shows that the flame propagation analysis is an important part of estimating the various fire safety parameters of granular propellants.


To mitigate the world's energy problems and global warming, researchers are focusing on renewable energy, regenerate energy, efficient energy usage and finding alternative energy. In an automobile, Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) also produces heat which is released as waste heat which have a potential to generate energy. Power distribution of an automotive is showing that only about 20% of the power from engine combustion is convert to wheel or driving power and more than 60% of the power will be wasted. One way to convert heat to useful work is by using Rankine cycle. Research study to described the effects of thermal properties of an organic working fluid on the turbine power had also been reported.  This research is to investigate the actual potential energy and power from the waste heat released by the an actual passenger car's ICE through radiator. Feasibility study is conducted, to investigate the capability of the system and to help developing a system that can be used in an actual automobile. With the collected data, an efficient waste heat recovery system for the passenger car's engine will be develop in the future. From the experiment result, the power output up to 800 W from heat released in the radiator as the temperature difference about 35 (C (heat in and out difference). From this study, it is found out there is a significant problem when the radiator cooling fan operates. The power from the waste heat intended to reduce and also becoming unstable. A power storage system and the radiator cooling fan control will be vital to obtain high usable energy from ICE heat.


The network measurement is of great importance to the QoS of space communication network.A new space path capacity measurement method and a novel visualization technique of measurement results called "dynamic radar graphic" are proposed in this paper.The accuracy and efficiency of the methods are proved in the simulated space network platform.


Aims: Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignancies in men. Biochemical recurrence (BCR) and progression following curative treatment pose a significant public health challenge. Thus, it is essential to explore effective biomarkers for disease progression monitoring and risk stratification. The promoter region of the paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 2 (PITX2) gene has been found to be frequently methylated in prostate cancer. However, the prognostic role of PITX2 methylation in prostate cancer and which patients most likely to be recommended for PITX2 methylation tests to assess BCR risk remain controversial. Therefore, a systematic review was performed to explore the relationship of PITX2 methylation with the BCR risk of prostate cancer. Methods: The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched for eligible studies. Seven studies with a total of 2185 patients were included. Pooled hazard ratios (HRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: The overall HR was 2.71 (95% CI, 2.21–3.31), suggesting that PITX2 methylation has an adverse impact on BCR of prostate cancer. The pooled estimate of 5-year BCR-free survival for patients with a high methylation status was significantly lower than that for patients with a low methylation status (71% vs 90%; odds ratio [OR] = 3.50; 95% CI, 2.67–4.60, P = .000). A subgroup analysis was conducted according to detection method; the combined HRs were 2.68 (95% CI, 2.02–3.55) for quantitative methylation-specific PCR (qMSP) and 3.29 (95% CI, 2.31–4.68) for microarray EpiChip. In subgroups defined by region, Gleason score, pathological stage, surgical margin status and ethnicity, high methylation status was also associated with BCR of prostate cancer. Conclusions: As an effective biomarker, PITX2 methylation is feasible for individualized BCR risk assessment of prostate cancer following radical prostatectomy.


By the example of a case of lissencephalia the problems of prenatal diagnosis of the very rare, genuine fetal microcephalia are demonstrated: differentiation to pseudomicrocephalia, vague to missing midline echo, lacking possibility of radiological objectification.


Work principle and characteristics of transaction log MS SQL Server 2000 are introduced,and a method of log read and log analysis of MS SQL Server 2000 is described with DBCC commands provided by MS SQL Server 2000 as log reading interface in detail,and finally a log analyzer of MS SQL Server 2000 is implementation based on this method.This log analyzer can get database update manipulation(Insert、Delete and Update) that can arose database state transition and their corresponding data for many relational ap-plications.


Objectives To understand the health status of certain government staffs and analyzed risk factors to promote themselves healthcare consciousness. Methods collected and carried on prevalence study to clinical materials of healthy physical examination in 2007.Results There were 410 cases who were discovered one or more than one kinds of diseases or index unusual in 428 persons. The total detection rate was 95.79%. Only didn't 18 cases be discovered obviously unusual, which accounted for 4.21%. The detection rate of fatty liver was the highest in male(51.98%).The detection rate of myoma of uterus was the highest in female(30.68%). The status of older group was inferior to that of smaller one (P0.05 or P0.01) and male was inferior to female (P0.05). Conclusion the health status of government staffs was worrying, which should be paid much attention to.In order to keep health, health education, medicine consultation and follow-up visit with the further diagnoses,treatments and established healthy life styles and behavior customs are necessary.


Neuro(cid:142)bromatosis type 1 is a common autosomal dominant genetic disorder associated with numerous physical anomalies and an increased incidence of neuropsychological impairment. Tumors of the CNS occur in approximately 15% of children with neuro(cid:142)bromatosis, presenting additional risk for cognitive impairment. This study examines the impact of an additional diagnosis of brain tumor on the cognitive pro(cid:142)le of children with neuro(cid:142)bro-matosis. A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to 149 children with neuro(cid:142)bro-matosis. Thirty-six of these children had a codiagnosis of brain tumor. A subset of 36 children with neuro(cid:142)bro-matosis alone was matched with the group of children diagnosed with neuro(cid:142)bromatosis and brain tumor. Although mean scores of the neuro(cid:142)bromatosis plus brain tumor group were, in general, lower than those of the neu-ro(cid:142)bromatosis alone group, these differences were not statistically signi(cid:142)cant. Children in the neuro(cid:142)bromatosis plus brain tumor group who received cranial irradiation ( n = 9) demonstrated weaker academic abilities than did children with brain tumor who had not received that treatment. These results suggest that neuro(cid:142)bromatosis points (WRAT-3, arithmetic). Discrepancies were statistically signi(cid:142)cant for the general academic achievement


Venous thromboembolism is one of the most frequently encountered condition for which patients need intensive care admission often. Most of the time patients presents with shock and hemodynamic instability if it is massive pulmonary embolism. Incidence of Vte is comparable to western population in India, studies conducted by Ayyapan et all say it around 20/10,000 admission. Studies showed higher mortality of around 50% in high risk (massive) and mortality of around 14% in intermediate risk (sub-massive) PE which necessitating more aggressive approach in high-risk groups. Rapid administration of systemic thrombolytic agents is indicated in massive pulmonary embolism patients who presents with hemodynamic instability but systemic thrombolytic therapy is associated with risk of major bleeding around 20% and haemorrhagic stroke of 2% to 5% . During systemic thrombolysis shunting of thrombolytic agents away from clot into the systemic circulation which makes it failed lysis sometimes along with major bleeding.


It is shown theoretically that antiferromagnetic fluctuations enhance the superconducting transition temperature drastically for the anisotropic pairing state, e.g . the d-wave-like pairing, because of the pseudo-gap formation due to the fluctuations.Within the renormalized random phase approximation (RRPA), an imperfect nesting model for a two-dimensional square lattice is investigated. Implication of the results is discussed in connection with the high- T c oxide superconductors.


An original approach of a transmitarray which consists of the tiled unit cells placed in a plastic holder is considered. Each unit cell represents a passive receiver-transmitter structure with integrated phase-shifter, which can take either of two coding states corresponding 180° phase difference between the states. The transmitarray design supports two orthogonal linear polarizations. An example of a 10x10 element 1-bit beam steering transmitarray operated in Cband is presented. The results of radiation pattern measurements with single and multifeed excitation are shown. The proposed structure represents a cost-efficient solution for scalable transmitarrays.


The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the effect of liquidity and profitability on stock prices in food and beverage companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The population in this study were 27 food and beverage industrial manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The sample used is 10 companies using the purposive sampling technique. Data were collected by means of observation, literature study, and documentation of liquidity (current ratio and earning per share) and profitability (return on investment and return on equity) and stock prices in food and beverage industry companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and analyzed by using multiple regression. The results showed that liquidity had no effect on stock prices, while profitability had a positive and significant effect on stock prices.


This study aimed to evaluate the velvetbean (Stizolobium aterrimum Piper e Tracy), jack bean (Canavalia ensiformis L.) and crotalaria (Crotalaria spectabilis Roth.) potential to phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated soils. Samples of Red Yellowish Latossol were incubated with different doses of sodium arsenate 0; 50; 100 and 200 mg dm, and 15 days later the species were seeded. Sixty five days after seeding, plants were evaluated to height, diameter and root and shoot biomass. Arsenic content in young, intermediated, and old leaves, steam and roots, and As-translocation index (IT) were determined. By regression analysis the values of critical soil available arsenic (TC) that reduced 50% of biomass production were determinate. The species showed different As-tolerance behavior, with emphasis to velvet bean that did not show As-toxic morphologic symptoms, as injuries in leaves, and showed high values of TC. Crotalaria plants presented more absorption and shoot translocation of arsenic, showing more potential to phytoremediation programs. The high As-contents in the roots of jack bean and velvet bean and shoot of crotalaria suggests the occurrence of different accumulation and translocation mechanisms to shoots tissues among the evaluated species. Key-words: phytoremediation, arsenate, Canavalia ensiformis, Stilozobium aterrinum, Crotalaria spectabilis Engenheira Agrônoma, D.Sc.Pesquisadora – EMBRAPACentro de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Trópico Semiárido (CPATSA), Caixa Postal 23, Cep. 56302-970Petrolina-PE, Zona Rural, email@example.com 2 Professores do Departamento de Solos, bolsista CNPq, Universidade Federal de Viçosa – UFV, CEP 36570-000, Viçosa-MG firstname.lastname@example.com, 3 Professor do Departamento de Solos, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, CEP 36570-000Viçosa-MG , email@example.com, Revista Brasileira de Geografia Física, vol.08, n.03 (2015) 938-949.


Purpose: This is the descriptive research for providing the basic data necessary for the first aid education after understanding the first aid experience, first aid education, first aid knowledge, and educational needs of ski resorts workers. Methods: 323 workers of domestic 9 ski resorts were surveyed for data, which was collected using the systematic questionnaire from Oct. to , 2011. The collected data has been processed using the program of SPSS Win. Version 14.0 and analyzed that according to the purpose of research in terms of real number, percentage, standard deviation, t-test and ANOVA. Results: 1. 58.8%(190) of ski resort workers experienced an emergency on duty and 33.6%(108) carried out the first aid for emergency patients on duty. 2. 65.6%(210) of workers experienced first aid education. 3. The percentage of correct answers of first aid knowledge was average 46.8% and average points out of total 20 points. 4. The first aid educational necessity indicated as follows: ski resort workers need first aid education (97.5%, 306); workers want to have the education if they have chance (94.6%, 296 persons); in addition, they need the repeated education of first aid (95.6%, 301). Conclusion: It is understood that as special first aid service can be delayed in ski resorts due to their geographical characteristics, the workers of ski resorts need the continuous and systematic first aid education enabling them to play the first responder in the first aid system when emergency situation occurs.


The demand for sustainable alternative construction materials to cement in modern technology cannot be underemphasized. This paper presents a non-fired green brick with an agriculture residue namely, rice husk. Although, high plasticity brown clay deposits are widely distributed in Malaysia and rice husk is a well known agriculture residue, research works on non-fired green brick with rice husk are relatively scarce. This research aims to investigate the strength development in non-fired bricks containing various amounts of rice husk. To achieve such aim, compression and flexural tests were conducted to evaluate compressive and flexural strengths of non-fired bricks. A series of brick specimens were cast with varying rice husk percentages. The test specimens were naturally sun dried. The effects of rice husk percentage (9-15%) and drying age (1, 7, 14, 21, and 28 days) on Atterberg limits; compressive strength; water absorption and flexural strength were investigated. The results indicate that, 12% rice husk is the optimum content to reach maximum 28-day compressive and flexural strengths of 10.4 MPa and 3.5 MPa respectively. The results further showed that rice husk higher than 12% leads lower strength than control bricks for all the ages. In summary, it has been observed that rice husk enables a rapid strength development, enhancing the compressive and flexural strengths of the bricks. The results developed in this research work can contribute a cost-effective design of non-fired green brick as a sustainable building material.


Objective To investigate retroviral mediated transfer and expression of MDR1 gene in leukemic cells. Methods Human myeloid leukemia cells, K562 and NB4, were transduced by MDR retrovirus and the resistant cells were selected. The transduction and expression of MDR1 gene were analyzed by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), flow cytometry (FCM) and semisolid colonies culture.Results The resistant cell lines, K562/MDR and NB4/MDR, displayed a typical MDR phenotype, in which the integration and expression of MDR1 gene were confirmed by both PCR and FCM analysis. In addition, the expression were noted by both truncated and full length transcripts. The transduction efficiency in K562 cells was analyzed both on suspension cultures and single cell colonies. The transduction was significantly more efficient with cocultivation (67.9%~72.5%) than with supernatants (33.1%~46 8%), while the addition of growth factors may improve the efficiency. Conclusion Retrovirus could allow the functional transfer and expression of MDR1 gene in leukemia cells, and MDR1 might act as a selectable gene for coexpression with the genes of interest in gene therapy.


In a tropical upland environment, with a predominantly summer rainfall, Glycine wightii CV. Tinaroo (glycine) produced 17 to 40 lb DM an acre per day over periods of five to seven weeks during winter, under dryland conditions. An associated grass, Panicum maximum var trichoglume (Petrie green panic) gave practically no increase in shoot dry matter during winter, although it was less susceptible to frost damage. Partial or complete defoliation of glycine by frost occurs in this environment in about 60 per cent of winters, predominantly in the period mid-June to mid-August. Good recovery occurs in the winter months in frostfree periods. At such times, regrowth is limited primarily by low rainfall, and the availability of stored subsoil moisture is important. A pot study showed that root growth continued during the pre-seeding flowering period and that its relative growth rate was apparently not reduced relative to that of the shoot. Nodule development and nitrogen fixation also continued during this period. Leaf fall and a concurrent cessation of growth were associated with the prolific seeding that occurs in July. Pod development can be delayed by defoliation during flowering.


It is known that wheat flour is traditionally used for the preparation of concentrated food semi-finished products, but its protein composition is not balanced by such amino acids as lysine and threonine. To increase the nutritional and biological value of these products, it is necessary to use secondary raw materials obtained in the production of soy flour. The data obtained as a result of the research allow us to establish the possibility and benefits of using binary flour compositions based on soy germ and shell flour in the composition of concentrated food semi-finished flour products. This helps to increase the nutritional and biological value of food products while expanding the range. Recipes and technological schemes for the production of such products are proposed. Developed concentrated food semi-finished products of flour-based food can be used in the preparation of a specialized diet and for therapeutic and preventive purposes to fill the deficit of certain nutrients.


Context. B-type supergiants represent an important phase in the evolution of massive stars. Reliable estimates of their stellar and wind parameters, however, are scarce, especially at mid and late spectral subtypes. Aims. We apply the NLTE atmosphere code FASTWIND to perform a spectroscopic study of a small sample of Galactic B-supergiants from B0 to B9. By means of the resulting data and incorporating additional datasets from alternative studies, we investigate the properties of OB-supergiants and compare our findings with theoretical predictions. Methods. Stellar and wind parameters of our sample stars are determined by line profile fitting, based on synthetic profiles, a Fourier technique to investigate the individual contributions of stellar rotation and "macro-turbulence" and an adequate approach to determine the Si abundances in parallel with micro-turbulent velocities. Results. Due to the combined effects of line- and wind-blanketing, the temperature scale of Galactic B-supergiants needs to be revised downward, by 10 to 20%, the latter value being appropriate for stronger winds. Compared to theoretical predictions, the wind properties of OB-supergiants indicate a number of discrepancies. In fair accordance with recent results, our sample indicates a gradual decrease in v∞ over the bi-stability region, where the limits of this region are located at lower Teff than those predicted. Introducing �


Objective To observe the effect of external massotherapy of anisodamine on sclerema neonatorum.Methods 119 patients with sclerema neonatorum were randomly divided into two groups,a treatment group with 65 patients and a control group with 54 patients.Both groups were treated with conservative therapy,including maintaining warm temperature,controlling infection,fluid infusion,supplying enough heat,redressing functional disorder of organs,and so on,the treatment group with external massotherapy of anisodamine as an add-on therapy.Results The time of sclerosis' softening and the time of sclerosis' disappearance of the treatment group were shorter than those of the control group,t:3.667;5.668,P0.01,there were significant differences between the two groups.The effect of the treatment group was prior to that of the control group,χ2=4.35,P0.05,the treatment group showed remarkable differences compared with the control group.The death rate in both groups were 3.1%and 14.8%.There was no obvious side-effect in the treatment group.Conclusion The results suggest that external massotherapy of anisodamine on sclerema neonatorum can not only make sclerosis soft earlier,but also shorten the medical course,improve the effect of treatment and decrease death rate.The application of the therapy is simple,economical,safe and practical,worth popularizing in clinic.


Video action recognition refers to the process of recognizing human actions in a video. The field of action recognition encompasses a wide variety of high-impact societal applications, including video surveillance, gaming, human-computer interaction, web-video search and retrieval, multimedia understanding, medical diagnosis and many other fields. In this research study, we comprehensively review deep learning-based video action recognition methods with special emphasis on methods based on convolutional neural networks. We also address future research directions and limitations of deep learning-based video action recognition methods. This review paper serves as a guide for future research in this domain.


For the study of first conveyor chain dynamics behavior when it is started and seek the theory basis for the chain breakage on first conveyor, set up the mathematical model of the first conveyor and its scraper chain by using finite-element method. And then did the dynamics characteristic analysis between scraper chains with material, set up the differential equation. Took advantage of the mathematical model and the differential equation, and combined with the type of EBZ160 road header's technical parameters, did dynamic simulation. It draw a conclusion that during the start-up process the chain speed fluctuates a large range between, the maximum stress value on scraper chain is 1.15×104N appeared after 1s, chain tension adjustment time is about 10s, the biggest adjustment time is 12s.


Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) are hybrid composites consisting of alternating thin layers of metal sheets and fiber adhesive layers. This paper describes an experimental investigation of the impact energy absorption capability of glass fiber/aluminum laminates in relation to stacking sequence. Six groups of specimens were studied. Each unsymmetrical group consisted of two specimens with exactly similar layers but in different positions. Changing the arrangement of layers does not change the cost or weight but improve the properties considerably. Test results show that using 45° glass layer at the front (where the striker impacts) is better than 90° glass layer and using 90° glass layer at the front is better than zero degree layer. The best arrangement is 45° glass layer at the front and zero degree glass layer at the back.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


As an anaesthetic registrar, I was always advised to pass all the necessary exams before having any children, and very sensible advice it sounded too. So imagine my dilemma when I found myself pregnant with a due date bang in between the final written and viva exams for my FRCA.

The Bristol anaesthetic community was evenly split as to what I should do. One camp told me that I was mad even to consider taking the exams, while the other told me just to give it a go. I'm not sure what made me do it, but I decided to hope for the best and sit the exams.

I have to say it was much harder than I anticipated. Pregnancy to …


In this article, I examine the Gaucho Traditionalist Movement, which, with an active participation of two million people, claims to be the largest popular culture movement of the Western World. Based on the cult of the Gaucho in a specific cattle ranching area of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil's southernmost state), the Gaucho Traditionalist Movement was created by nonacademic intellectuals, generally from the urban middle class. The movement eventually spread to more than two thousand "Centers for Gaucho Traditions" in all areas of the state, other parts of Brazil, and abroad. I analyze how and why Traditionalism made this three-stage distancing from its original point of reference, becoming a translocal and even transnational phenomenon. I discuss the role of intellectuals' nostalgia for rural life in creating this form of popular culture. I show that traditionalist intellectuals have operated as intermediaries between knowledge produced in academia and popular culture movements, actively creating a popular culture that is frequently but mistakenly seen as being the product of the masses. [tradition, popular culture, national and regional identity, transnational movements, intellectuals, Brazil, Ga6cho] Many observers have stressed the roles intellectuals have played in the creation of modern nationalist traditions (Anderson 1991; Gellner 1983; Handler 1988; Herzfeld 1986; Hobsbawm and Ranger 1992; Weber 1977). In some contexts, nationalist ideologies are explicitly related to social science discourse that has been frequently used to navigate the pulls between regional and national identities. In Brazil, the strong motivation for downplaying internal cultural differences creates tensions in the construction of a national identity, and the creation of regional identities takes on special importance. Regionalist intellectuals must tread a thin line between portraying the region as distinctive from the nation and underscoring its position as an integral part of the larger whole. This article is about one such regionalist project, the Ga6cho Traditionalist Movement. I will discuss the intellectuals' creative role in constructing Gaucho identity and the ways in which Traditionalism has become translocal. Outside Brazil, the word Gaucho' tends to be associated with Argentina, where the horseman is an important national icon, whether depicted as a symbol of backwardness gradually ceding his place to more modern immigrants or as a romanticized figure holding out against the materialism of those immigrants (Delaney 1996; Slatta 1985). But while the Argentinian word Gaucho designates a national icon, its Brazilian cognate, Gaucho, refers to a regional type, closely associated with one particular state, Rio Grande do Sul. Gaucho, a word that initially meant a vagabond and cattle thief, later on designated a ranch peon and warrior, and today refers, in a more gentrified


The provision of comparative feedback is a promising approach in digital learning environments to support learners' self-regulated learning. Yet, empirical evidence suggests that such feedback can sometimes backfire or may only help learners with relatively high self-regulated learning skills, potentially exacerbating educational inequality. In this paper, we try to overcome such drawbacks by re-evaluating a feedback system based on the social norms theory that has previously led to intriguing results: A social comparison component embedded into the learning platform of a blended learning course (elective module, 58 participants) considerably encouraged online learning during the semester. Moreover, there was no heterogeneity in the behavioral response, suggesting that all subgroups responded similarly to the feedback. To further shed light on the generalizability of these results, this paper presents a follow-up study. Specifically, we conducted a second experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic with a different university course (compulsory module, 118 participants) and a non-overlapping sample and find similar results. The feedback shifted students' online learning from the end towards the middle of the semester. Overall, the findings suggest that our feedback system has a large impact on students' online learning and that this desirable impact is present in all subgroup analyses.


Epitaxial AlN films were grown on 6H–SiC(0001) substrates using an ammonia supersonic seeded beam. The films grown on substrates etched in hydrogen at high temperatures were shown by ion beam channeling to exhibit a higher degree of order relative to those grown on the as-received substrates. Cross-sectional electron microscopy revealed sharper SiC–AlN interfaces with extended flat terraces. In particular, very few stacking mismatch boundaries were observed to originate from the 1.5 nm steps which correspond to the 6H stacking sequence of the substrate.


ABSTRACT The structure of the title compound [Sm 2 (crot) 6 (H 2 O) 4 ] 2 ·3(H 2 O) (I), (crot= crotonate = butenoate = O 2 CCHCHCH 3 )] consists of two independent, centrosymmetric dimeric units, of similar composition but diverse coordination, viz., one of them doubly bridged (2×[ h2:h1:m2]) and the remaining one quadruply bridged (2×[h1:h1:m2], 2×[h2:h1:m2]). The asymmetric unit is completed by three solvato water molecules, one of them depleted (occupation: 0.735 (14) ). The difference in bridging strengths is readily evidenced in the two quite dissimilar Sm···Sm distances observed: 4.1402 (8)A,(doubly bridged), 3.9439 (8)A (quadruply bridged). SmO 9 polyhedra suyvey similar coordination distances which span the range 2.388 (3)-2.611 (3)A for one of the Sm cations and 2.357 (3)-2.588 (3)A for the other. All water hydrogens are involved in H-bonding, leading to the formation of a strongly linked 2D structure parallel to (010). These planar arrays are in turn transversally linked by one single bridging water molecule. There are in addition C═ C···C═C p interactions providing both to intra as well as intra planar cohesion. The compound is isomorphous to its Gd isologue


An emerging multidimensional approach to organizational design outlines the need for the alignment of relevant structural and process characteristics of organizations. However, neither the interaction of these characteristics nor their role and importance for organizational competitiveness is properly examined in the literature. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the structural and process characteristics of organizational design to determine how and to what extent these characteristics contribute to achieving a competitive advantage. The field survey was conducted on a cross-sectional sample of 134 Croatian companies. The research findings outlined the need for a new organizational design approach that emphasizes both the vertical and horizontal dimensions of design solutions. This paper contributes to previous research by showing that organizational design represents a source of competitive advantage only if structural and process characteristics are commonly designed. In addition, we confirmed that although structural characteristics are usually more often addressed, it is process characteristics that make a difference.


During the nouvelle vague of gastroenterology in the late 1950s Sidney Truelove of Oxford was among the energetic physicians who saw the need for measurement, if diagnosis of alimentary disorders was to advance, and for adequately controlled observations if treatment was to improve from the largely empirical form it then took. Since then he has steadily continued his search for gastrointestinal truth. He has also taught. His slow, precise, modulated delivery, spiced with occasional lugubrious humour, but devoid of drama and gimmicks (an Adrian Boult of the medical podium), have brought him invitations to lecture from all over the world, while there has been a steady flow of postgraduates through his department at the Radcliffe Infirmary; many who came to learn, stayed to accomplish notable research in partnership with him. He has always had a constant flow of visitors lecturing to his group, both informally and formally. In 1973 he held a bigger meeting particularly to benefit people who were not specialist gastroenterologists. He invited a number of distinguished lecturers, and consequently succeeded in attracting a large audience. Each year since then there has been a similar conference, and these occasions in early January are now a firmly established part of British teaching of gastroenterology. The large lecture theatre of the Radcliffe Infirmary has become an annual meeting place for many British, European, and American clinicians who find it a wholly satisfactory way to catch up with latest trends, and hear different perspectives on existing problems. (The regulars can be recognised by the ease with which they stride unhesitatingly from St Anne's College to the lecture theatre; new boys inevitably lose their way in the maze of odd-shaped buildings that litter the Radcliffe site.)


This report discusses the subject of downhill skidding – during downhill skidding there are totally different burdens on the machines and their dependence and connection are based on totally different principles. Therefore, this article does not deal with the problems of a machine overcoming difficult skidding conditions, but rather studies the wheel slip in the process of downhill skidding. By using a Woody 110 skidder, we skidded a load of 6m, comprising of four 8-meter lengths. These were skidded downhill – the longitudinal slope was the highest in the upper section, but slowly reduced in incline towards the truck road and reached its lowest value at the final, and lowest, point of measure. This kind of skidding causes the so called negative slip. This is the greatest on the steep sections of the skid trail; it decreases towards its lower section; whereas the values become positive on the gentle section. The necessary pulling force on the winch also increases by decreasing the longitudinal slope.


In this article the effectiveness of binary variables use in the construction of regression models for technical object state estimation is analyzed. Quality models estimated by using the coefficient of determination. As the sample observations are considered for the year and in a shorter period of time.


The utility model discloses a hydraulic excavator balance weight comprising two sides of a balance weight, an end surface of a balance weight, and an installation hole. The utility model is characterized in that ear plates on two sides of the balance weight can be removed to keep the wall thickness even; and the accurate positions of the installation hole and end surface of balance weight can be guaranteed, thereby the end surface of the balance weight can be easily processed. The utility model has advantages of simple structure, low production costs, high product qualified rate, and easy assembly.


The Berry phase is an important concept in solids, correlated to the band topology, axion electrodynamics and potential applications of topological materials. Here, we investigate the magnetotransport and Berry phase of rare earth element Gd doped Bi2Se3 (Gd_Bi2Se3) topological insulator at low temperatures and high magnetic fields. Gd_Bi2Se3 single crystals show Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations with nontrivial Berry phase while Bi2Se3 single crystals show zero Berry phase in SdH oscillations. The temperature dependent magnetization curves can be well fitted with the Curie-Weiss law in 3-300 K region, indicating no magnetic ordering in Gd_Bi2Se3 crystals. Moreover, Gd doping has limited influence on the quantum oscillation parameters (e.g., frequency of oscillations, the area of the Fermi surface, effective electron mass, Fermi wave vectors etc.), but has an impact on the Hall mobility, carrier density, and band topology. Our results demonstrate that Gd doping can tune the Berry phase of topological insulators effectively, which may pave a way for the future realization of many predicted exotic transport phenomena of topological origin.


Companies are ready to outsource their business process to the cloud to enjoy its benefits. However they must be sure that their business know-how is preserved. Although some solutions already exist and consist in splitting the model into a collaboration of BP fragments for a deployment in a muti-cloud context, none of them takes into account the possibility of collusion between the clouds executing the different fragments. To address this issue, we propose in this paper a solution consisting in adding fake BP fragments at specific locations in the process, so as to complicate its structure and hide the direct interaction between clouds executing sensitive fragments. Therefore, the discovery of the process by malicious cloud providers is delayed. The approach is validated against an introduced metric. It demonstrates that our approach is better in the worst case than previous approaches in best cases.


Coarray Fortran (CAF) is a partitioned global address space (PGAS) language that is a part of standard Fortran 2008. We have implemented it as a source-to-source translator as a part of the Omni XcalebleMP compiler. Since the output is written in Fortran standard, the translator must utilize Fortran conventions such as the assumed-shape array and generic function in order to reduce both development costs and runtime overhead. The runtime library uses either GASNet, MPI-3, or Fujitsu's low-level Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) interface (FJ-RDMA) for one-sided communication. The Omni CAF translator and the runtime library support three types of memory managers that allocate coarray variables and register them to the communication library. The runtime library for the PUT/GET communication detects how contiguous and periodic the source and destination data are and performs communication aggregation. We measured fundamental performance levels by using EPCC Fortran Coarray microbenchmark and found our implementation of PUT/GET communication provides bandwidth as high as MPI_Send/Recv on two supercomputers. Although the small data latency was larger than the one of MPI_Send/Recv, we found that it could be reduced by using non-blocking communication for multiple coarray variables. As a result, when using 1024 processes, we achieved 27% and 42% higher performance than the original MPI code in the Himeno Benchmark classes L and XL, respectively.


Three major avenues of research on employment contracts which incorporate asymmetric information have been pursued. First, researchers have considered contracts in which the supply of employee effort is costly to monitor [3; 8; 9; 12]. Second, the allocation of labor has been examined when innate person-specific characteristics are unobservable [4; 5; 14; 15]. Third, employment contracts have been designed when economic agents are uncertain about the state of nature concerning the worker's marginal product and the employee's reservation wage [6; 7]. This research agenda has provided an elaborate array of models which yield employment contracts that reduce the distortionary effects of asymmetric information. However, these models have two major short-comings. First, under uncertainty concerning personspecific information, employers have an incentive to screen employees. The existing literature has analyzed two distinct screening mechanisms. Guasch and Weiss [4; 5] consider screening through wages, while White [15] has considered screening through specific human capital. However, each mechanism has been analyzed in isolation. The present paper combines these screening mechanisms and examines the impact of each upon the optimal employment contract. Second, although the existing literature on employment contracts offers a general framework for analysis, it is not directly amenable to empirical verification. The present paper rectifies these short-comings by developing a model which incorporates both screening mechanisms under asymmetric information, and thereby provides a model conducive to empirical verification. In our analysis three major simplifying assumptions are made. First, because we assume employees have no choice regarding the effort they supply, we abstract from the agency problem discussed in the literature cited above. Second, we assume employees differ in their innate person-specific characteristics. The latter is assumed to be observed by


In this article, we describe the development, organization, costs, and evaluation of an innovative continuing medical education program based on the concept of the community practitioner visiting the medical center as combined learner and teacher—the visiting clinician. The concept involved individualized planning of a series of visits to the hospital where the clinician participated in self-selected clinical experiences and also spent time as a teacher of students and residents. Over several years, evaluation showed that these visiting clinicians reported acquisition of new skills and knowledge but, most importantly, a confirmation of the quality of their own work in community practice. This program offers a mechanism for an effective and long-term educational bridge between the teaching hospital and community practitioners.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) was developed as an effective and minimally invasive alternative to traditional surgical techniques. Since its introduction in the late 1990s, HoLEP has shown equal or better outcomes than TURP or OP, with a lower risk of intraoperative bleeding and blood transfusion. These results have been confirmed in patients receiving anticoagulant/antithrombotic therapy. However, due to the prolonged learning curve of the technique, HoLEP has barely entered the urological community, thus limiting the data available on the daily use of this technique. One of the unmet needs regarding the use of HoLEP for BPH is the identification of factors influencing intraoperative blood loss. The objective of this work is to assess blood loss during holmium laser enucleation of the prostate (HoLEP) and investigate the factors influencing it. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treated with HoLEP at three centres. Haemoglobin and haematocrit were measured before surgery and hospital discharge. All blood transfusions performed during and after HoLEP were recorded. Blood loss outcomes were analysed in relation to antithrombotic (antiplatelet/anticoagulant) therapies and drug treatments for BPH. RESULTS: The analysis included 963 patients with a mean age of 72 years. Mean (range) prostate size was 102 (40-316) g; 28% of patients were receiving antiaggregants and 11% anticoagulants. Mean (range) prostate-specific antigen was 6.0 (0.3-43.5) ng/dL. Mean (range) operation time was 77 (28-178) min. Bladder calculi were found in 54 (5.6%) patients; all of them were successfully treated with cystolitholapaxy. Forty-eight (5%) patients required blood transfusion during or immediately after the HoLEP procedure. Overall, mean (SD) haemoglobin decreased from 14.6 (1.5) g/dL to 12.3 (2.1) g/dL (p<0.001), and mean (SD) haematocrit decreased from 44.3% (4.7) to 37.7% (6.5) (p<0.001). Neither haemoglobin nor haematocrit decreases were significantly different between patients receiving and not receiving antithrombotic therapy or BPH therapy. CONCLUSIONS: HoLEP is a safe procedure with no remarkable concerns regarding blood loss, including patients at high risk, such as those receiving antithrombotic therapy. Operating time may influence haemoglobin decrease and, therefore, it should be considered in patients with higher risk of bleeding. Source of Funding: none


In deaerated 0.4 M H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ solutions containing both Sb(III) and Sb(V), Sb(III) was oxidized to Sb(V) and Sb(V) was reduced to Sb(III) by ..gamma.. rays. The initial yield of reduction G/sub i/(Sb(V) ..-->.. Sb(III)) increased linearly with the ratio (Sb(V))/sub 0//(Sb(III))/sub 0/, that of oxidation G/sub i/(Sb(III) ..-->.. Sb(V)) increased with increasing G/sub i/(Sb(V) ..-->.. Sb(III)), and the overall yield of oxidation G/sub i/(Sb(V)) = G/sub i/(Sb(III) ..-->.. Sb(V)) - G/sub i/(Sb(V) ..-->.. Sb(III)) was constant and equivalent to the primary yield of hydrogen g/sub H/sub 2// = 1/2(g/sub OH/ - g/sub H/) + g/sub H/sub 2/O/sub 2//. A possible mechanism of ..gamma..-ray-induced reactions in deaerated solutions was proposed in which Sb(III) was reduced by H and oxidized by OH, Sb(II) was oxidized by H/sub 2/O/sub 2/, and Sb(IV), and the disproportionation of Sb(IV) to Sb(III) and Sb(V) followed. In the presence of Sb(V), reduction of Sb(V) by H gives the same stoichiometry. The results on Te(IV) and Te(VI) in 0.02 M H/sub 2/SO/sub 4/ solutions support a similar sequence to that of the antimony system, in which the unstable valence states Te(III) and Te(V) play an important part.


OBJECTIVE To establish a reversed phase ion-pair HPLC method for the determination of the activity of nucleoside diphosphate kinase(NDPK) in human red blood cells(RBC).METHODS RBC with reaction substrates(dADP and dGTP) and other reaction mixtures were incubated at 37 ℃ for 5 min,then inactivated by heating at 100 ℃ for 10 min,and centrifuged with supernatant sample for analysis.dATP concentrations were quantified for the determination of the activity of NDPK in human RBC.Separation was achieved by SymmetryShield TM RP18(150 mm×3.9 mm,5 μm) with UV detection at 260 nm and column temperature of 25 ℃.Using gradient elution,the mobile phase A consisted of mixture of 20 mmol·L-1 KH2PO4-K2HPO4 buffer solution and ion-pairing reagent 5 mmol·L-1 TBAHS,and mobile phase B was acetonitrile.RESULTS NDPK could catalyze ADP + dGTPdATP + dGDP reaction specifically.The calibration curve was linear over the range of 4.33-43.34 μmol·L-1(r2=1.000) and the limit of quantitation was 4.33 μmol·L-1.The intra-and inter-assay coefficients of variation were less than 5.53% and 6.69%,respectively.The mean analytical recoveries of dATP were 98.4%-104.2% and the mean absolute recoveries were all more than 83%.A stability study showed that dATP samples in RBC were stable at room temperature or at 4 ℃ for at least 24 hours,as well as for at least 30 days at-80 ℃ after three freeze-thaw cycles.CONCLUSION This method is simple,rapid,sensitive,specific,and can be applied to study the relationship between activity of NDPK and efficacy and toxicity of thiopurines.


revolutionary changes in the political and social orders are not going to take place under the aegis of Islam" (p. 136). This chapter is followed by the curiously titled "Revolutionary Struggle Over Economy: Some Experienced Bench Marks" by Allan Williams. Finally, "Economic Factors in Iran's Revolution: Poverty, Inequality, and Inflation" by Ahmad Jabbari concludes the book. This is one of the more extensive of the seven chapters. Based on the author's dissertation, this piece examines the nature of income distribution. The author attributes the 1978 revolution to, inter alia, the excessive maldistribution of income in preceding years. Using Central Bank data on household expenditure, Jabbari shows a deterioration in income distribution in both urban and rural areas. In 1959, about 2.45% of urban expenditures were made by families in the lowest 10% of the household expenditure bracket, while those in the top 10% spent 31.27%. In 1971, the rich had become richer with 40.28% of the expenditure, and the poor had become further impoverished, with a meager 0.88% of household expenditures attributed to the lowest decile. Jabbari thus documents what many have claimed to be the case. It should be remembered that, to the meager extent that growth theories deal with distribution (many simply ignore it) they predict a deterioration in the initial years. Witness Korea, Brazil, and many more. How bad is bad, and how much worse was Iran relative to other countries? The author could have admitted that maldistribution of income is a common (if morally unacceptable) problem in developing countries, while giving us comparative data to see whether Iran was better or worse than the lot. To what extent do these three books, then, (a) explain the causes of the Iranian revolution, and (b) provide international business analysts with predictive or explanatory power? Can these studies sharpen the tools so that blind spots in other countries and situations can be more readily detected? A short answer is affirmative. Taken together, these books go a long way toward an explanation of what happened and why. Each individual work provides some affirmation for the conceptual outline presented early in this essay. Akhavi's work is a demonstration of the inherent value conflict to be found in a traditional but modernizing society. Kazemi's work provides further evidence concerning the destabilizing effects of inequality and the resultant alienation and marginalism. The collection of essays by Jabbari and Olson contain analyses of either the religious, the distributional, or other aspects of the major causes of the Iranian revolution as outlined earlier in this essay. As to the implication for international business, again the works under review make a contribution. Many executives and corporate analysts are too thinly spread to have an opportunity for the sorely needed in-depth understanding of each of the many countries they must monitor. The books under review could help them immensely. The academic side of international business can also benefit from the detailed studies and the rich data provided by these studies. Regrettably, many in academia as well as in the field have remained oblivious. They are the ones with blind spots—about the Shahs, past and future.


This study analyzed the extent to which class rank competition influences individual class selection by juniors at a high school in the Texas Hill Country and determined if its effects vary among students of different rankings. Students of both high and low rankings were interviewed to determine their perceptions towards, and behavior in response to academic competition. Subject responses generally correlated to one of three themes: class rank as an academic motivator, the influence of ranking on mental health, and student suggested improvements. The results suggested that GPA played a significant role in many student's decisions concerning their courses, specifically in encouraging them to take AP, Dual Credit, and Honors classes- regardless of whether they were high or low ranking.


The shift reagent properties of eleven Ln(TTHA)3- complexes were studied on the basis of measuring the chemical shifts of 23Na, 2H, 17O, 35Cl induced by these complexes. The results indicate that the axially symmetric Ln(TTHA)3- complexes are better aqueous shift reagents, especially the shifts of 23Na are consistent with theoretical dipolar shifts, indicating that the Ln(TTHA)3- complexes are the best one for positively charged substrates.


As the advanced market of urban housing reform,the property companies became one of the main parts of urban community management. Take for example of one new commercial housing area in ShiJiaZhuang,we analyzed the practice of community management against to backdrop of multi-body of urban community. As an economic organization,the property companies highlighted their economic rationality,but lack participation drive and enthusiasm; because of the administrative trend of neighborhood committee,they were difficult to fulfill the main duties of autonomy and the community voluntary association representing local interests significantly lack of development. In the community government practice,the unknown duties and role between multi-bodies made the urban community governance get into trouble.


The lack of efficient delivery systems is still limiting the full therapeutic potential of siRNA. For the purpose of nucleic acid transfer, among other synthetic carrier systems, polycations have been applied. Favorable characteristics of suitable polymers include nucleic acid binding, compaction, protection, and biocompatibility. However the lack of nucleic acid transfer activity in transfection-based screening often abandons promising candidates. Here we present that functionalization may turn polycations with poor delivery activity into efficient carriers:  for example, polylysine, on its own lacking nucleic acid transfer activity, displayed high efficiency in siRNA delivery after modification with polyethylene glycol and a pH-responsive endosomolytic peptide. Hence these findings have implication for the selection process of polymeric carriers for siRNA.


Discussion: With variety of surgical options being available for repositioning hard-tissues of the facial complex, a major consideration for both clinician and patient is the resulting changes in facial appearance. Computerized systems play an important role in orthognathic surgery due to their utility in treatment planning, and by increasing patient understanding and acceptance of the recommended treatment.


structure," which have been neglected by the "microscopy of style analysis" (p. 13). Waddington is true to his purpose to study primarily matters other than style, and that perhaps is as well. The reader must be inured to such Chapmanesque phrases as "interpretative vectors," "conjoined in the taxonomy of Pythagorean symbolism," "anatomical microcosmism." Technical terms such as "mode," "typology," and "symbol" are not clearly defined. Even Chapman's protean "form" escapes consistent use. Like its subject, this is a difficult book to read. Waddington does not ignore style altogether, but he has not worked out the relationship of style to meaning. Several passages treat style and verse form, but such analysis is not sustained and consistent. Chapter One reviews the argument that Chapman's obscurity and poetic attitude derive from Neoplatonic theory. Waddington distinguishes Chapman from Donne according to


History of discovery Throughout the course of history, people have been ill with diseases affecting their mobility. This could take the form of increasing paralysis over time. For many, this was associated with other symptoms, such as numbness, dizziness, and blurred vision. In the eighteenth century, physicians began to classify such cases into broad groups. The term paraplegia was used for people who had progressive paralysis. A major advance was made in 1868 by the physician Jean-Martin Charcot and his colleague Edmé Vulpian. They studied the tremors of younger patients and differentiated a condition from that described by James Parkinson in 1817. At autopsy such patients were found to have grey patches (plaques) scattered throughout the spinal cord and brain. Charcot gave a series of lectures on the features of this disease, which he termed sclérose en plaque disseminée and which we now know as multiple sclerosis (MS). Since then, a large amount of research has been carried out on this disease, and much progress has been made in understanding its pathogenesis. However, the primary cause of the disease still remains elusive (1).


Once again, Brad Vierra has assembled a volume of great value to Southwestern archaeologists. It is comprehensive in geographic scope, and even strays beyond the Southwest in chapters on the Mojave...


Main objective of this paper is to study further properties of fuzzy pseudo near compactness via ps-ro closed fuzzy sets, fuzzy nets and fuzzy filterbases. It is shown by an example that ps-ro fuzzy continuous and fuzzy continuous functions do not imply each other. Several characterizations of ps-ro fuzzy continuous function are obtained in terms of a newly introduced concept of ps-ro interior operator, ps-ro q-nbd and its graph.


Mahatma Gandhi had once said: "India's way is not Europe's. India is not Calcutta and Bombay. India lives in several hundreds of villages"


This thesis looks into various aspects of mutual relationship between a cat and a human.
Besides other things it is also focused on therapeutic and commercial side of this relationship.
It further concentrates on perception of an animal as food versus as a pet. It will look into the
social role of a cat in relation to a human in a cat cafe and on a cat show.


Despite the attention attracted by "connectomics", one can lose sight of the very real questions concerning "What are connections?" In the neuroimaging community, "structural" connectivity is ground truth and underlying constraint on "functional" or "effective" connectivity. It is referenced to underlying anatomy; but, as increasingly remarked, there is a large gap between the wealth of human brain mapping and the relatively scant data on actual anatomical connectivity. Moreover, connections have typically been discussed as "pairwise", point x projecting to point y (or: to points y and z), or more recently, in graph theoretical terms, as "nodes" or regions and the interconnecting "edges". This is a convenient shorthand, but tends not to capture the richness and nuance of basic anatomical properties as identified in the classic tradition of tracer studies. The present short review accordingly revisits connectional weights, heterogeneity, reciprocity, topography, and hierarchical organization, drawing on concrete examples. The emphasis is on presynaptic long-distance connections, motivated by the intention to probe current assumptions and promote discussions about further progress and synthesis.


1-Hydroxy-2-(4-methyl-1H-imidazoleyl)-ethylidene-1, 1-bisphosphonic (M4IDP) was prepared by three steps of N-alkylation、ester hydrolation and phosphoric acid acylation from the raw material 4-methyl-1H-imidazole. The structures of intermediate and target compounds were identified by Elemental Analysis、IR、MS and 1H NMR. Then M4IDP was directly labeled by Na99Tc(superscript m)O4 to afford 99Tc(superscript m)-M4IDP. The results showed that the best labeling conditions were 30 minutes reaction time, pH 6, 100 μg SnCl2•2H2O, and 5 mg M4IDP. In this condition, the labeling yield was more than 95% and 99Tc(superscript m)-M4IDP showed good biological stability in vitro.


Results: IIntroduction: Superficial X-ray therapy is a common treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer with a high incidence worldwide. Interrupting the course of radiation therapy can negatively affect patient survival and treatment results. Low treatment adherence may be associated with a lack of a patient-centered approach and ineffective communications. The original study shows that patients undergoing X-ray therapy for cancer may have different needs. Based on the study results an algorithm for a patient-oriented approach has been developed for the X-ray cabinets.
Purpose: To develop a patient-oriented algorithm of the X-ray therapy room to address the issues of increasing patient satisfaction and forming their adherence to treatment. The objectives of the study included studying and detailing the needs of the patients who passed the X-ray therapy and to develop the patient-oriented algorithm for the X-ray therapy room.
Material and methods: The study of the patient's values was carried out from 2019 to 2020 by interviewing using open-ended questions to find out the deep motives and beliefs of patients. The study was based on Milton Rokich's (2005) model of value orientations, which was adapted to the objectives of the study.
Results: The study included 116 patients undergoing treatment with the X-ray therapy at the City Clinical Oncology Dispensary. As a result of the study, the following patient needs were identified: clinical outcome of the procedure 111 (96 %), safety of treatment and adverse reactions 106 (91 %), cosmetic outcome 53 (46 %), convenience of the treatment schedule 42 (36 %), painlessness of the procedure 39 (34 %), the ability to lead a normal lifestyle 27 (23 %), comfortable conditions for the procedure 16 (14 %), financial costs associated with treatment 10 (9 %), preservation of organ function 4 (3 %). On the basis of the data obtained, a patient-oriented algorithm for the X-ray therapy was developed, including a communication plan with the patient. The study results clearly demonstrate that even with the same disease and condition, patients may have different priorities hat need to be considered to improve patient experience and adherence to treatment.
Conclusion: Radiation treatment decision-making based on the patients values is important for the development of the patient-centered management in oncology since this directly affects patients' adherence to treatment. Exploring the values and needs of patients is an opportunity to influence and improve the metrics of the patient experience. Due to the mass incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer, the introduction of patient-centered approaches is an important part of patient satisfaction and increase of patients adherence to the treatment.


This study aims to explore the relationship between the anxious symptoms and the impairment of 5hydroxytryptamine system in PD mice induced by different dosages of MPTP. The mice from the three model groups, the low-dose, dose and high-dose group, took longer time in the dark box than those in the control group (P<0.05). However, no statistically significant differences were found among the model groups. The number of open arm entry (OE) and the open arm time (OT) were significant lower in the model group than those in the control group in the elevated plus-maze test (P<0.05). The percentage of OE in modle group was significantly lower compared with the control group (P<0.05). The concentrations of striatum DA, HVA, 5-HT, and 5-HIAA were significantly reduced in the three model groups compared to the control group (P<0.05). The 5-HT concentrations of high-dose group was significantly lower than those of the control group in the prefrontal cortex (P<0.05). Anxiety symptoms were appeared in the three model groups of early PD mice, but no difference existed among these groups. The 5-hydroxytryptamine system was damaged after MPTP injection, which could lead to anxiety. However, the impairment of 5-hydroxytryptamine system induced by MPTP was dose-independent.


Objective: To observe the osteogenic effect of GBR technology with the artificial coral bone particles and Heal-All biofilm in immediate implant of anterior teeth.Methods: 25 cases of anterior teeth with the crown or root fracture associated with bone resorption were immediately implanted after minimally invasive extracted and routine preparation.After extracting the roots,alveolar bone ridges had a small amount of bone defects,or the labia bone wall was pierced.The artificial coral bone particles(Tianbo bone particles) were implanted in the space between implants and alveolar bone walls,or the bone defects,next to cover Heal-All dental biofilm.The implants were all submerged healing,and conventional restoration after the secondary operation.After 6 months or 1 year,the shape of bone grafting area and gum status were observed.Results: During the secondary operation,alveolar bone ridges were significantly osteogenic surrounding the implant neck.After restoration,alveolar bones had the fuller shape,and the texture and color of gum were favorable.Conclusion: Coral bone particles and Heal-All biofilm used in immediate implantation to repair small bone defects,osteogenic effect was reliable.


In this dissertation was studied the zeolite synthesized from coal fly ash as a potential adsorbent for the removal of reactive Black 5 dye (RP5). Equilibrium and kinetic experiments were conducted to obtain the best conditions for the adsorption of this dye, and observed the influence of the following parameters: effect of contact time, initial dye concentration, adsorbent dose, pH of the aqueous solution, addition of NaCl and Na2SO4 and temperature. The equilibrium time was reached after 420 min. The adsorption data were fitted better by a pseudo-second-order. For the dye / adsorbent system was applied to the model of Langmuir adsorption isotherm, with maximum adsorption capacity of 0.685 mg g. The experimental data showed a high percentage of removal from 47.7 to 88.1% of RP5 on the zeolite. The high percentage indicates that the zeolitic material has a potential to be used as adsorbent in the removal of azo dye reactive textile industries. The thermodynamic parameters were evaluated and showed that the adsorption process of RP5 on the zeolite is spontaneous and exothermic. The experiments were performed by adding salts to better simulate actual conditions in the effluent. The results showed that the adsorption equilibrium of reactive black 5 on the zeolite in the presence of salts were achieved in a shorter time and that the higher the concentration of salts in solution, the higher the adsorption capacity. The result obtained in the evaluation of toxicity by microcrustacean Daphnia similis treatment with zeolit adsorption was extremely favorable, reducing the toxic load of waste water and color.


There is an old Chinese saying that "Three women together make for a performance." What more women might achieve is not measured in proverbs but this fine collection of women's writing from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong demonstrates that the assembled talents of 28 women can create a whole world. This fictitious yet real world is full of figures of every hue representing the changing face of Chinese society over the past several decades. Lin Haiyin, writing in Taiwan in reminiscent vein, describes Xiuzhen, a young women, abandoned by her lover and then deprived of her rights as a mother, who eventually goes mad, and Niur, a lovely little girl with "dimples appeared under her eyes right beside her nose" every time she smiles, who is constantly beaten by her foster parents and is forced to sing for money at the Tianqiao Market (Memoirs of Old Peking: Huian Court). Eileen Chang also looks back to life on the mainland. Mr Luo and Miss Fan, influenced by the new thinking of the May Fourth Movement, long to be citizens in the new China, but in the end cannot rise above other so-called "ordinary" people whom they have always looked down upon. The pathetic and comic outcome is that Miss Fan finishes up as one of three wives variously married to Luo but now living in one household. The irony of the situation is expressed by the "Friend" in the story: "Anyhow, there are four of you-just right for a nice game of mahjong" (Stale Mates). These reflective pieces by Lin and Chang set in an earlier period leave feelings of sympathy and pity, while the younger writers, more concerned with contemporary events, tend to create ambivalent characters and situations in order to make the reader think rather than simply enjoy. This "modern" flavour with its uncertain mood and range of styles characterizes the collection. In Wang Anyi's Love in a Small Town, "she" and "he" could have become a happy couple, but they are now the victims of a distorted sexual relationship. Li Anyi's heroine, in Curvaceous Doll, has a good family of her own, yet "she" is obsessed with the idea of a doll, "a curvaceous doll," which she has always fancied since she was a little girl. Ah Mu, in Peng Cao's Wings, sacked by his boss, goes back to the office to complete an unfinished picture of a bird. In Liu Suola's The King of Singers, "B" and "I" come together through their interests of music and a mysterious "king of the singers" but they later for the same reason go their separate ways.


The lowering of power consumption in CMOS VLSI digital systems is one of the most important problems that appear now for developers of CAD systems. One of the effective approaches to lowering the dynamic power consumption is creation of an algorithmic description of the VHDL project, which provides for the deactivation of some functional blocks which are not necessary in particular moments. Contemporary synthesizers fulfill the high level synthesis of logic circuits by substitution of description of each VHDL construction with functionally structural description of a proper logic subcircuit. The results of digital logic circuit synthesis (the number of logic elements and power consumption) depend significantly on initial VHDL code. During initial VHDL code development it is possible to use different approaches to improve some parameters of synthesized logic circuit. At the algorithmic level of the digital design, it is necessary to provide for disconnection of the units, which cause the higher power consumption. In this paper such methods of algorithmic VHDL description of logic circuit are studied. The efficiency of the proposed methods is compared with the traditional method of VHDL-description which does not take the aspect of power consumption into account and is oriented only to the correct functionality of the developed logic circuit. To estimate the power consumption of logic circuits the approach is used which allows applying high-speed logical VHDL-simulation of structural descriptions (netlists) of logic circuits instead of slow SPICE simulation. The main conclusion of the provided study is the following: the clock gating and the storage of operand values for complex operations as well as zero value setting for simple ones are effective methods for the VHDL description of operational units with low power consumption implemented in the CMOS basis.


Understanding the effects of missense mutations on protein stability is a widely acknowledged significant biological problem. Genomic missense mutations may alter one or more amino acids leading to increased or decreased stability of the encoded proteins. In this study, we propose a novel approach - Protein Stability Prediction with a Gaussian Network Model (PSP-GNM) to study the effect of single amino acid substitutions on protein stability. Specifically, PSP-GNM employs a coarse-grained Gaussian Network Model (GNM) that has interactions between amino acids weighted by the Miyazawa-Jernigan (MJ) statistical potential. We use PSP-GNM to simulate partial unfolding of the wildtype and mutant structures and then, use the difference in energies of the unfolded wildtype and mutant protein structures to estimate the experimentally obtained unfolding free energy change (ΔΔG). We verify the extent of correspondence between the ΔΔG calculated by PSP-GNM and the ΔΔG obtained experimentally using three datasets: 350 forward mutations from 66 proteins, 2298 forward mutations from 126 proteins and 611 forward and reverse mutations from 66 proteins and observe Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) as high as 0.58 and root mean-squared error (RMSE) as low as 1.24 kcal/mol. The performance is comparable to the existing state of the art methods. Importantly, we do observe an increase in the correlation to 0.73 and decrease in RMSE to 1.07 when considering only those measurements made close to 25°C and neutral pH, suggesting a strong dependence on temperature and pH. PSP-GNM is written in Python and is available as a free downloadable package at https://github.com/sambitmishra0628/PSP-GNM. Author Summary Understanding how genomic missense mutations impact the thermodynamic stability of encoded proteins is important to understand disease etiology. Specifically, mutant proteins are often functionally inactive and underlie numerous genetic and neurodegenerative diseases. A classic example is sickle cell anemia – a single amino acid change significantly affects hemoglobin's binding affinity for oxygen. To be able to identify mutations that would likely impact the protein function and stability is therefore essential and is the focus of our study. We present an approach that relies on utilizing the intrinsic dynamics of protein structures to predict the effect of single amino acid mutations (point mutations) on protein stability. In our approach, we model proteins as coarse-grained beads (amino acids) and springs (interactions), simulate protein unfolding and identify putative residue-residue contacts that are broken during the unfolding process. We demonstrate that the knowledge of broken contacts and their order is essential in describing the thermodynamic differences between wildtype and mutant proteins. We also highlight the importance of residue-residue interactions at the mutation site in the context of protein stability prediction. Our findings present novel avenues to interpret how genomic mutations may manifest in the encoded proteins.


Perovskites are increasingly proved to be a promising candidate for making absorber materials for high-efficiency and low-cost next-generation solar cells. There are several models proposed for perovskite solar cells similar to the conventional solar cells; their operation also has specific characteristics and requires the development of a more general physical model to study, thus optimizing the cells and improving the performance of the panels. This paper develops such a physics-based intuitive model to consider the performance of two high-efficiency types of perovskite solar cells, taking into account heterogeneous properties, with filtered transport layers, recombination, charge selection, and voltage-dependent collector. This model would allow experimentally to estimate critical parameters of perovskite solar cells, understand the performance bottleneck, and predict the performance of perovskite solar cells and suggest further study for perovskite solar cell technology development.


A drive and dosing device is described for an injection device for administering a fluid product, in particular a medication, wherein the drive and dosing device can be adjusted to a product dose to be administered. The drive and dosing device has, among other things, a coupling which, upon activation of an activation element, enables rotation of a rotation element relative to a housing, wherein by disengaging the activation element, the rotation of the rotation element relative to the housing is blocked.


This paper investigates the use of peer-to-peer networking, also known as ad hoc networking, to increase cell capacity and reduce energy consumption for Internet access in cellular wireless data networks. The paper shows that a direct application of the peerto-peer network model to Internet access in cellular networks significantly degrades network throughput, and results in unfair bandwidth allocation across network flows. The reduction in network throughput results from the overheads and inefficiencies of the peer-to-peer protocols. Whereas cellular network protocols are centralized and operate over a single hop, peer-to-peer protocols, such as IEEE 802.11 DCF and DSR, are distributed and operate over multiple hops. Compared to the centralized protocols, peer-to-peer protocols produce less optimal transmission schedules and increase contention for the wireless medium. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, because peer-topeer relies on short-range transmissions, it achieves lower power consumption and higher throughput per unit power than the centralized cellular protocols. The authors then describe assisted scheduling and dual-mode operation, two techniques that leverage the energy savings of peer-to-peer networking, and match the network throughput of the cellular model. In assisted scheduling, the base station periodically draws up a schedule for multi-hop transmissions within the network that maximizes throughput subject to fair perflow service. The base station devises the schedule based on information provided by mobile hosts about their location and nodes in their neighborhood. In dual-mode operation, the base station simultaneously supports flows that operate either in the peer-topeer mode or the cellular mode. Dual-mode operation allows individual flows in the network to dynamically choose the mode of operation that can provide better service, while the base station provides the two flow modes time-division access to the channel. Initially all flows operate in the peer-to-peer mode. A flow in the peer-to-peer mode switches to the cellular mode if it does not achieve the required network throughput. Once switched to the cellular mode, a flow switches back to the peer-to-peer mode whenever the network state is such that it can achieve the desired throughput. Finally, the paper evaluates the use of multi-homed host that extend the peer-to-peer network model to relay traffic between different networks. Both peer relays that forward traffic between wireless and wired networks, as well as relays that bridge different wireless network technologies, such as 802.11 and 3G, are explored. The multi-homed peer relays relieve the channel bottleneck around the base station (i.e., the base station is no longer the only destination for Internet access), and in doing so translate the spatial reuse benefits of the peer to peer network into better throughput performance.


Abstract The article reports a case study of oral recollections of the descendants of special settlers, i.e. peasants dekulaked and deported to the Arkhangelsk region in the early 1930s. The region was previously a part of the Northern Krai. A historiographical review related to the research topic has been carried out. The concepts of dekulakization in the USSR and destinies of dekulaked are discussed in the local context. The stories of the descendants of the special settlers analysed in the article result from semi-structured interviews. These stories form a hypertext. We select stable motifs of oral stories recorded from the descendants of the special settlers. Conclusions are drawn about the characteristics of the cultural memory of the descendants of the special settlers. The article deals with the features of family identity and the role of awareness of the fate of their relatives in this identity. The children and grandchildren of the special settlers have different attitudes towards dekulakization of the families of their ancestors. This is driven by the diversity of behaviours, choices and particular circumstances of their life. The interpretation is grounded in the idea of variability of the process of special resettlements and its dependence on the regional context, and on the method of family history.


The success of third-generation mobile communication systems, e.g., UMTS, will depend on the quality of service (QoS) that the mobile users will perceive, and whether the QoS levels will be provided in a cost efficient manner. In this perspective, the importance of tools for "proper" planning of a mobile system becomes straightforward. In the context of this paper, we present such planning tools related to the design of future mobile communication systems. In addition, we present a platform that enables the assessment of the derived solutions by means of simulation.


The thickness of the indium tin oxide (ITO) layer is a critical parameter affecting the performance of solar cells. Traditional measurement methods require sample collection, leading to manufacturing interruptions and potential quality issues. In this paper, we propose a real-time, non-contact approach using deep learning and optical interference phenomena to estimate the thickness of ITO layers in solar cells. We develop a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that processes microscopic images of solar cells and predicts the ITO layer thickness. In addition, mean absolute error (MAE) and mean squared error (MSE) loss functions are combined to train the model. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in accurately estimating the ITO layer thickness. The integration of computer vision and deep learning techniques provides a valuable tool for non-destructive testing and quality control in the manufacturing of solar cells. The loss of the model after training is reduced to 0.83, and the slope of the test value in the scatter plot with the true value of the ellipsometer is approximately equal to 1, indicating the high reliability of the model.


This experiment demonstrated that people can utilize relative situational frequency of occurrence to differentiate similarly categorizable target items in paired-associate learning. Subjects learned nine-pair lists in which the stimuli were three instances of each of three concepts and the responses were unrelated adjectives. Frequency of presentation on any given trial varied either within categories or between categories. Variation within categories facilitated learning.


IMPORTANCE
Stricture and fistula formation are two of the most common long-term complications of free flap reconstruction of hypopharyngeal defects.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the effects of salivary bypass tubes (SBTs) on fistula and stricture formation after free flap reconstruction of hypopharyngeal defects.

DESIGN
Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING
Academic tertiary care medical center.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 103 consecutive patients who underwent hypopharyngeal free flap reconstruction.

INTERVENTION
Use of salivary bypass tube.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Fistula and stricture formation.

RESULTS
The overall fistula and stricture rates were 14.6% and 27.2%, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed fistula rates of 7.4% in patients who received SBTs and 22.4% in those who did not (P = .048). However, no statistically significant difference between the two groups was shown with multivariate analysis. The unadjusted stricture rate was 30.6% without vs 24.1% with SBT placement (P = .51).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Univariate analysis showed that SBT placement significantly reduced the risk of fistula in this population. Larger multicenter studies are needed to further explore the benefits of SBT use in preventing fistula and stricture formation.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
3.


For high pressure steam drum,the feedwater pump shaft accidently ruptured,the analysis was made from lubrication,overload,maintenance quality management,combined with the crystalline phase,scanning electron microscope analysis.Finally,it was believed that the long running produced fatigue defects cracks was the cause,which suddenly ruptured the shaft end.


An extensive series of measurements of speech intelligibility of voice modems designed for a satellite relay link to air and sea‐going craft has been underway since 1973. Measurement parameters for these tests are the system functions associated with ATS‐6 satellite L‐band and C‐band transmission. These include comparative evaluations of intelligibility versus C/N0, angle of elevation, antenna systems, range, and sea‐state. For these tests, a number of modifications and adaptations of standard intelligibility testing procedures were developed. These include using a large number of scramblings of the PB‐50 word lists (ANSI S3.2‐1960) recorded by four professional talkers, two male and two female, in an anechoic room. Because of time considerations in conducting the flight tests, the lists were recorded at a reading rate of 2.5 sec with no carrier phrase Experiments showed that highly trained listeners [P. Milner, "Advantages of Experienced Listeners in Intelligibility Testing," IEEE Trans. Audio Electroaco...


The paper deals with modelling the relationship between the quality of surface waters and land use in small mountain catchments. Much easier and often more practical is to create simplified models that consider only selected hydrologic and infrastructural factors. The land use factor W which is a weighed average of quantified types of land use has been estimated to calculate the concentration of some pollutants in surface waters. A strong correlation has been found between the character of land use in the catchment and nutrients in surface waters. The concentration of natural components in surface waters (e.g. Ca, Mg and SO 4 ) has not, however, correlated with the type of land use. Simple models are very practical to calculate approximate concentrations based only on the land use structure.


ion of painting. This brings us to the second element of our argument, which is to regard the rendering of philosophy through the process of painting, such that the process of painting is the practice of philosophy immanent to its encounter and experience through time. This situates our line of investigation closer to the terms of the ontologisation of the process of the painting, intrinsic to its immanent identity, and away from the subjectivisation of the object of painting. This will be a key position that frames the context for the investigation of the identity of painting and philosophy as also indicative of the philosophical movements of thinking immanence. Regarded in this way, our questioning the identity of painting, aligns the philosophical interaction of painting and thinking to the current research and studies relating to Bergson's philosophy of time and the history of art and visual culture. Here, the difference of our consideration is that it is given to the operation of the process of Bergsonian thinking upon itself, such that the thought of painting as a mode of philosophizing, anticipates the continuous questioning of the identity of painting as a system of thinking embedded in our living experiences of time. Our advancement is a response to what we formulate as a tripartite problem. The first objective is the present 11 P. Crowther, The language of twentieth-century art: a conceptual history (Yale University Press New Haven, CT, 1997).


The results of numerical modeling of the helical electronic beam formation system for technological gyrotron with operating frequency of 28 GHz are presented. The new code «ANGEL-2DS» designed to calculate the parameters of helical electronic beams in gyro-devices is described. Mathematical methods used in the code are briefly stated. We carried out the gyrotron trajectory analysis for the case of its usage for microwave processing of materials. The possibility of the formation of homogeneous helical electronic beams with a high degree of rotational energy is shown. The comparison of the calculated data obtained by various software with the experimental data is fulfilled. Accordance of calculation results to estimates of the electron beam parameters which are obtained by efficiency measurement is shown


A two-stage CMOS transconductance amplifier based on the inverter topology, suitable for very low supply voltages and exhibiting rail-to-rail output capability is presented. The solution consists of the cascade of a noninverting and an inverting stage, both characterized by having only two complementary transistors between the supply rails. The amplifier provides class-AB operation with quiescent current control obtained through an auxiliary loop that utilizes the MOSFETs body terminals. Simulation results, referring to a commercial 28 nm bulk technology, show that the quiescent current of the amplifier can be controlled quite effectively, even adopting a supply voltage as low as 0.5 V. The designed solution consumes around 500 nA of quiescent current in typical conditions and provides a DC gain of around 51 dB, with a unity gain frequency of 1 MHz and phase margin of 70 degrees, for a parallel load of 1 pF and 1.5 MΩ. Settling time at 1% is 6.6 μs, and white noise is 125 nV/Hz.


The yields of heavy hyperons and antihyperons have been studied in deep inelastic scattering at the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data were collected in 2003-2004 using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam scattered off a large polarised 6LiD target. Signals from Σ±(1385) and Σ̄±(1385) decays were reconstructed. The ratios of Σ±/Λ, Σ̄±/Λ̄ and Λ/Λ̄ were determined. These ratios were used to tune parameters of the LEPTO generator. A comparison with the yields of the heavy hyperons in the low Q2 region was done.


The present thesis project is the outcome of an extended experimental investigation on tribology within the framework of a joint research project between Politecnico di Torino (IT) and Anton Paar TriTec SA (CH). It deals with the revision of the most commonly used standard for the pin-on-disk tribometers: ASTM G99. The aim is to develop one new procedure for coatings and one reference procedure for the diagnostics on pin-on-disk tribometers. As this paper covers two separate issues within the subject of tribology, it has two distinct sections. In Part I, the experimental results from several tests carried out with a particular elastohydrodynamic lubricated condition free of oil bath are presented and discussed. This kind of contact is successfully exploited to reproduce a repeatable no-wear tribological condition with a very stable friction coefficient. A reference procedure for diagnostics is then formulated. In Part II, the tribological characterization of a commonly used hard coating (a PVD TiN) is presented and results from tests with various configurations, material pairs and parameters are discussed. This proves that it is possible to obtain stable and sufficiently repeatable friction curves through which a characteristic value of the coefficient of friction is extrapolated.


Polyurethanes are a broad class of material that finds application in coatings, foams, and solid elastomers. The urethane chemistry allows a diversity of monomers to be used, and prediction of mechanical properties, which are determined by complex interplay between monomer chemistry and chain architecture, is an unresolved challenge. Urethanes are based on aromatic or cyclic isocyanates and linear or branched polyols, and polymerization results in linear chains for bifunctional monomers or branched chains for multifunctional monomers. Strong intermolecular interactions between aromatic groups result in the formation of hard-segment domains that generate physical crosslinks between disorganized rubbery domains and anchor the material microstructure, contributing to resistance to deformation. Here, a general hierarchical machine learning (HML) model for predicting the stress-at-break, strain-at-break, and Tan δ for thermoplastic and thermoset polyurethanes is presented. The algorithm was trained on a library of 18 polymers with different diisocyanates, bifunctional or trifunctional polyols, and NCO:OH index. HML reduces data requirements through robust embedding of domain knowledge and surrogate data in a middle layer that bridges input variables (composition) and output responses (mechanical properties). In this work, the middle layer included information on overall polymer composition, predictions of chain architecture derived from Monte Carlo simulations of polymerization, information on interchain interactions from empirically derived molecular potentials and shifts in infrared (IR) spectroscopy absorbances. The HML predictions are shown to be more accurate than those from a Random Forest model directly relating composition and properties, suggesting that embedding domain knowledge provides significant advantages in predicting the properties of complex material systems based on small datasets.