Abstract We are moving away from a world in which national economies were relatively self-contained entities, isolated from each other by barriers to cross-border trade and investment; by distance, time zones, and language; and by national differences in government regulation, culture, and business systems. And we are moving toward a world in which barriers to cross-border trade and investment are declining; perceived distance is shrinking due to advances in transportation and telecommunications technology; material culture is starting to look similar the world over; and national economies are merging into an interdependent, integrated global economic system. The purpose of this paper is to answer questions: why some countries develop much faster than other economies in the world? Why do some countries invest more than others in physical and human capital? And why are some countries so much more productive than others? Analyze the case of Kosovo using Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage and Hecksher- Ohlin model of factor endowments.


Based on the ramp piles of Xin-guang freeway in Pan-yu passing the soil layer near the existing subway project,a 3D-FEM model is built to analyze the effects of pile construction process for the existing metro structural deformation.Analysis result shows that the deformation,axial force and bending moment of existing tunnel structure are small for pile foundation construction sequence.


Mobile learning enables learners to integrate learning activities into daily routines. Information systems research emphasizes that technology-mediated learning (TML) has to be adapted to cultural differences. Integrating a mobile learning application into a new context can cause conflicts as values embedded in the mobile learning application can conflict with values of the context in which it is introduced. With this paper, we propose a theory-driven design approach to avoid culture conflicts in mobile learning. Based on the implementation of a mobile learning application in Chinese vocational schools, we derive requirements from IT-culture conflict theory as well as practice, which are addressed with design elements and implemented in the application. Our results show that cultural adaptation leads to improved cognitive learning outcomes. As a practical contribution, we provide guidance on how to overcome culture conflicts;
as a theoretical contribution, we contribute to the exploration of culture in the usage of TML.


The idea of surface direct interpolation is introduced, and integration CNC interpolation pattern for processing the tool-path of irregular cylinder turning-and-milling is presented successfully according to the interpolation characteristic of NC turning and milling for irregular cylinder. Solved the real-time interpolation of NC turning and milling for irregular cylinder, researched the algorithm of interpolation, briefness and practicality.


In order to achieve a straight ballistic trajectory of missile and reduce the update frequency of the missile normal acceleration for the interception of maneuvering target, a backstepping-based parallel approaching guidance method is designed with nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) technique and event-triggered (ET) mechanism in this paper. In order to suppress the adverse effect of target maneuver, the NDO is designed to estimate the target maneuvering acceleration. Then, the NDO-based backstepping method is used to obtain the normal acceleration of missile and realize the parallel approaching guidance. In order to reduce the update frequency of missile normal acceleration, the ET mechanism is employed in the parallel approaching guidance method. If the missile trajectory is relatively straight, the normal acceleration of missile remains unchanged. On the contrary, if the missile trajectory is not straight, the normal acceleration of missile is updated to make the missile trajectory straight. In this way, the ET-based parallel approaching guidance can be obtained. Furthermore, a determined method for the initial missile flight-path angle is proposed to keep the normal acceleration of missile at zero in the initial stage of interception. Besides, Lyapunov stability analysis method is used to prove that all signals in the closed-loop guidance system are uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed guidance method.


Over the last years, numerous studies have dissected the mutational landscape of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) resulting in the identification of numerous oncogenes and tumor suppressors implicated in T-cell transformation. However, most genetic abnormalities found in cancer are located in intergenic regions, whose role in cancer development, if any, remains poorly understood. Here we hypothesized that recurrent cancer-associated intergenic mutations, amplifications and deletions may implicate strong transcriptional regulatory sequences responsible for the activation of key oncogenic factors in the pathogenesis of T-ALL. To address this question, we first used ChIPseq analysis to map the genomic landscape of enhancer sequences controlled by NOTCH1, a critical T-ALL oncogene activated by mutations in over 60% of human T-ALLs. In addition, we performed high resolution aCGH analysis of somatic chromosomal amplifications and deletions in a comprehensive series of 160 T-ALL samples. These analyses revealed recurrent focal duplications at chromosome 8q24 in 8/160 (5%) T-ALL cases in an area devoid of protein-coding genes containing a prominent 1 kb NOTCH1-binding peak. Strikingly, this putative oncogenic element is located +1,427 kb 3' from the MYC locus and chromatin configuration 3C analysis demonstrated its direct association with the MYC proximal promoter. Multispecies DNA sequence alignment revealed remarkable conservation of this region in mammals, birds and reptiles and local ChIP analysis revealed bona fide active enhancer features including P300 occupancy and high levels of H3K4me1 with low levels of H3K4me3. In addition, detailed analysis of epigenetic marks across 64 hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cell lines and tissues revealed that his regulatory element is located within a major superenhancer specifically active in T-cells. Based on these results, we proposed that this regulatory sequence, hereby named N-Me for NOTCH-bound MYCenhancer, could function as an important regulatory element driving the activation of MYC downstream of NOTCH1 in T-ALL. Consistently, luciferase reporter assays showed strong, orientation-independent and NOTCH-dependent activation of reporter constructs containing N-Me in association with a -2.5 kb MYC proximal promoter in JURKAT T-ALL cells. Next and to formally test the functional relevance of this enhancer in T-cell development and transformation we generated and characterized N-Me knockout and conditional knockout mice. N-Me null animals were viable and showed a marked and selective reduction in thymus size and cellularity as their only developmental alteration. Detailed immunophenotypic analysis of N-Me knockout thymocytes demonstrated accumulation of double negative 3 (DN3) T cells and marked reductions in double positive and CD4+ and CD8+ single positive cells. Mechanistically, this phenotype was associated with a marked reduction in Myc expression in DN3, DN4 and ISP cells. Moreover, transplantation of N-Me knockout bone marrow hematopoietic progenitors demonstrated that this phenotype is cell autonomous, and can be rescued upon retroviral expression of MYC. Next, we analyzed the role of N-Me in the induction of NOTCH-driven leukemias by transplanting mice with N-Me wild-type and knockout hematopoietic progenitors infected with retroviruses expressing a mutant constitutively active form of NOTCH1 (ΔE-NOTCH1). In this context, mice transplanted with ΔE-NOTCH1-infected N-Me wild type cells developed T-ALL with 100% penetrance 6 weeks after transplant. In contrast, mice transplanted with ΔE-NOTCH1-N-Me knockout cells showed complete resistance to NOTCH1-induced transformation remaining 100% leukemia-free at 15 weeks post-transplant. In addition, secondary deletion of N-Me in established NOTCH1 induced leukemias from tamoxifen-inducible N-Me conditional knockout mice (Rosa26TMCre N-Meflox/flox) induced profound antileukemic effects with extended survival and almost complete suppression of leukemia initiating cell activity. Altogether, these results identify N-Me as the first long range oncogenic enhancer directly implicated in the pathogenesis of human leukemia. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Fiber-optic sensing markets are rapidly expanding. Over the last few years, extensive activity has concentrated on development and commercialization of seismic and acoustic sensing arrays for defense (intrusion detection, perimeter protection, submarine identification, hydrophones), landand underwater-based industrial applications (oil and gas exploration, pipeline surveillance, geophysical monitoring), and civil-infrastructure monitoring (roads, bridges, water-supply systems, and power lines). Fiber-optic arrays typically consist of long (up to 10km) strings of individual sensors that can detect land vibrations or underwater acoustic signals. In typical applications, the number of sensing nodes per string can range from a few sensors for in-well down-hole acoustic devices (or several hundred for down-hole seismic sensors) to thousands of elements for ocean-bottom seismic cables and subsea streamers.1 Since each fiber sensor needs to be individually interrogated and spectrally distinguished, a large number of narrow-linewidth laser sources are needed to excite and interact with the sensor array. New laser sources are required to improve performance and enable realization of lower-cost sensing systems. Externalcavity-laser (ECL) technology is emerging as a high-performance alternative to semiconductor distributed-feedback (DFB) and fiber-laser-based solutions. In addition to improved stability to temperature variations or external vibration, these light sources have desirable characteristics including narrow linewidths and low phase noise. They currently cover the C band (1528–1568nm) but can easily be extended into the L band (1569–1610nm). They operate over a wide temperature range and comply with the stringent long-term optical-power and wavelength-stability demands of optical-sensing applications. Figure 1. Planar-lightwave-circuit (PLC) fabrication and externalcavity-laser (ECL) integration: (a) Silicon wafer with etched PLCs, (b) diced PLCs, (c) integrated ECL, and (d) ECL packaged in 14-pin butterfly package.


This paper researches the non-linear system movement perturbated by weak signal under non-gaussiannon-stationary noise environment.The simulation result shows that the non-gaussian non-stationary noise has little effect on the non-linear system movement when it is on chaotic state;While much effect on for non-gaussian non-stationary noise.This paper mainly researches the chaotic special movement character under the perturbation of noise and weak period signal.


Water as a ligand of the zinc in carbonic anhydrase has a pKa of 7 or less and the zinc-bound hydroxide is enhanced as a nucleophile for attack on CO2. The product of catalysis is HCO3− and a proton, and the catalytic pathway as determined for vertebrate isozymes I, II, and III occurs in two separate and distinct stages. The first stage includes the hydration of CO2 and ends with the release of HCO3− from its binding site as a ligand of the zinc; its position is replaced by a water molecule. This process is described by the ratio kcat/Km; for hydration catalyzed by isozyme II, the most efficient of the carbonic anhydrases, kcat/Km is close to diffusion controlled at 108 M−1∙s−1. The second stage is the regeneration of the zinc-bound hydroxide by protolysis of water and release of a proton to the surrounding medium. For carbonic anhydrase II, this proton transfer is rate determining for the maximal turnover number kcat of 106 s−1. Its pathway includes intramolecular proton transfer from the zinc-bound wate...


SUMMARY To support high data rate wireless communications, in this paper, based on the linearly constrained constant modulus (LCCM) criterion, the reverse link performance of the multi-carrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) receiver, with frequency combiner, and having smart antenna arrays beamformer in base station, has been investigated over the Rayleigh fading channel. By using the Kronecker product an equivalent direct formulation, which integrates the information of spatial-domain as well as temporal-domain, with constraint matrix could be obtained. In consequence, the modified normalized LCCM-gradient algorithm is devised to adaptively implement the direct constrained optimal weights solution of the fully space-time MC-CDMA detector. We show that the proposed method outperforms the constrained minimum output energy (CMOE) algorithm and is more robust against to the signal mismatch, due to imperfect channel and direction-of-arrival estimation used in the array beamformer.


In this paper, we propose a method of analyzing electron tunneling components in the inversion mode of p+ poly-gate p-channel metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors from the direct tunneling (DT) region to the Fowler–Nordheim (FN) region. In order to avoid the uncertainty of determining tunneling current–voltage (I–V) fitting parameters, the quantum yield measurement at different gate oxide thicknesses can have potential applications in identifying the tunneling components as follows: (i) in the DT region, electron tunneling still originates from the valence band edge; and (ii) particularly in the FN region, interface-state-assisted FN tunneling dominates electron current and lies between the Fermi level and the valence band edge, instead of the Fermi level as a reference energy level proposed by Pompl et al. [European Solid-State Device Research Conf., 2000, p. 292]. This results in a revised voltage-dependent barrier height for the calculation of FN tunneling.


In this manuscript, we address the problem of change detection for Sentinel-2 data. The proposed method is based on deep features representation. First, multilevel convolutional neural network (CNN) features are extracted from input images acquired at different times. Then, euclidean distance is applied to generate dissimilarity map that indicate change probabilities of each pixel. Finally, bounding boxes corresponding the change areas can be obtained with clustering and an optimizing connected component labeling algorithm. Experiments on a manually annotated dataset demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.


Abstract: The spread of English as an international language has contributed to the current status of English teaching as a second or foreign language. This means that English teaching not only stimulates students to improve linguistic competence but also to enhance their intercultural competence. Teachers or designers must incorporate the cultural aspects as part of their teaching practices or teaching materials. This research aimed at (1) developing an intercultural-based textbook for teaching writing, (2) evaluating the feasibility of the intercultural-based textbook for teaching writing, and (3) evaluating the effect of the intercultural-based textbook on students' writing skills. Twenty-one secondary school students participated as the subject of the research. Meanwhile, the ADDIE model (Analysis-Design-Develop-Implement Evaluate) was employed as its material development design. There were two experts who validated the textbook and an English teacher as the user. The result showed that an intercultural-based textbook was feasible to use for teaching writing. It was supported by the assessment results from the experts that were in the valid category. The use of the textbook also had an effect on students' writing skills even in the low category. This could be seen from the post-test result that showed improvement compared to the pre-test result.Keywords: Intercultural competence, ADDIE Model, Writing Skill, Writing instruction, research, and development


This study investigates sociolinguistic variation in the traditional dialect of Sūf, a Hōrāni town in northern Jordan. Two variables are examined: (k): depalatalization of /k/; and (l): develarization of /l/, according to internal linguistic constrains and two external social factors: namely age and sex. Conditioned palatlalization of /k/ and the presence of a dark allophone of /l/ are two of the most salient phonological features of the dialects of Hōrān in general. The present study provides a quantitative analysis within the framework of Variationist Theory, using the multiple logistic regression program Rbrul.

Palatalization of /k/ is treated at two levels and thus involves two variables: 1. Phonological variable (k); the pool of data for this variable includes tokens of /k/ in the stem of the word. 2. Morphophonemic variable (–ik); the pool of data includes tokens of /k/ in the feminine suffix -ik. Analysis of the data shows that the rate of palatalization in the stem is relatively low (11%), and the palatalized variant [ʧ] may be disappearing, constrained by preceding and following linguistic environments, age and gender. By contrast, the palatalized variant in the suffix shows a relatively high rate of maintenance (70%), and variation in its use in the suffix is constrained by the social variables only. With respect to (l), the study found that dark /l/ is used only in (12%), and Rbrul analysis returned preceding and following linguistic environments, and gender as constraining factors.

Overall, the results show that women are more conservative with respect to the usage of both of these traditional features, thus indicating that women preserve the local way of speech more consistently. The thesis adopts a method of interpretation of the results that focuses on local issues, including the social structure of the community, space, the local mode of production and gender roles.


This article presents information on paraneoplastic syndromes (PNS) — various pathologies and conditions that accompany and sometimes precede the onset of malignant visceral neoplasms. Although some of the PNS and neoplastic processes are not always equal, detection of PNS is an important marker associated with formation or progression of cancer. PNS definitions are still being under lively discussion in research community. Risk of PNS onset doesn't depend on patient's nationality, age and gender. A brief clinical description of PNS, which are mostly widespread in general therapeutic practice, is given: general, rheumatological, renal, hematological, endocrine, neurological, gastrointestinal and dermatological. Bu to date, more than 60 PNS have been described, and their list continues to grow. There is no single generally accepted PNS classification. It is proposed to classify PNS depending on the leading pathogenetic mechanism, degree of connection with malignant visceral neoplasm, dominant clinical manifestation. Concept of «dermatological PNS» is outlined according to Helen Kurt's postulates. Manifestations of «typical» dermatological PNS in gastroenterological pathology are described. Skin changes in hereditary PNS are described (Cowden, Peitz–Jägers, Gardner syndromes), as well as dermatological manifestations of hormone-secreting tumors (ACTH-ectopic, carcinoid, glucagonoma syndromes) are characterized. Attention is paid to the pathogenesis and diagnosis of hereditary PNS, hormone-secreting tumors, their diversity and manifestation features.


We present adaptive resource management middleware techniques for periodic tasks in dynamic real-time distributed systems. The techniques continuously monitor the application at run-time for adherence to the desired real-time requirements, detect timing failures or trends for impending failures (due to workload fluctuations), and dynamically allocate resources by replicating subtasks of application tasks for load sharing. The objective of the techniques is to minimize (end-to-end) missed deadline ratios of the tasks. We present "predictive" resource allocation algorithms that determine the number of subtask replicas that are required for adapting the application to a given workload situation using statistical regression theory. The algorithms use regression equations that forecast subtask timeliness as a function of external load parameters such as number of sensor reports and internal resource load parameters such as CPU utilization. To evaluate the performance of the predictive algorithms, we consider algorithms that determine the number of subtask replicas using empirically determined heuristic functions. We implemented the resource management algorithms as part of a middleware infrastructure and measured the performance of the algorithms using a real-time benchmark. The experimental results indicate that the predictive algorithms outperform the heuristic strategies under the workload conditions that were studied.


What are the ontological implications of quantum theories, that is, what do they tell us about the fundamental objects that make up our world? How should quantum theories make us reevaluate our classical conceptions of the basic constitution of material objects and ourselves? Is there fundamental quantum nonlocality? This book articulates several rival approaches to answering these questions, ultimately defending the wave function realist approach. Wave function realism is a way of interpreting quantum theories so that the central object they describe is the quantum wave function, interpreted as a field in an extremely high-dimensional space. According to this approach, the nonseparability and nonlocality we seem to find in quantum mechanics are ultimately manifestations of a more intuitive, separable, and local picture in higher dimensions.


Several recent nonlinear theories of one‐dimensional plasmas have suggested that a stable or unstable electrostatic wave can evolve into a Bernstein‐Greene‐Kruskal mode. Generally, the distribution function of the total energy of a particle is computed. The self‐consistency of these computed distributions is examined here by solving Poisson's equation. It turns out that the system is self‐consistent only if frequency shifts are incorporated in the theory.


1. Roost-dead Grey Starlings, Sturnus cineraceus, were collected through the winter roosting period at three large roosts, Koshigaya in Saitama, Shinhama in Chiba and Kozukue in Kanagawa Prefectures.2. The roosts were used from November to middle March. The dead birds were found from January at Koshigaya and from Feburary at Shinhama and Kozukue.3. Research areas for collection of roost-dead birds were marked, which were 33m2. (total of 3 sections), 116m2. (total of 3 sections) and 466m2. (total of 4 sections) at Koshigaya, Shinhama and Kozukue respectively. But, actual research area for dead-bird collection was much larger at Koshigaya, and these research areas covered 50%, 30% and 90% of entire roosting areas at Koshigaya, Shinhama and Kozukue respectively. In all, the numbers of dead birds collected were 40 at Koshigaya, 10 at Shinhama and 24 at Kozukue, and except only 5 examples, the cause of death was a same kind of disease. Two Dusky Thrushes and one Brown-eared Bulbul, probably of this cause, were found dead.4. The total number of roosting birds were determined by counts of returning birds to the roost which was: 50, 000 birds at Koshigaya, 8, 000 birds at Shinhama and 6, 000 birds (probably underestimated owing to a windy day count) at Kozukue.5. The pathological diagnostic symptoms characteristic to the roost-dead birds were: 1) Cranial hemorrhage of various degrees occurring in the brain and skull (between the bony plate) which often accompanied severe orbital hemorrhage and protrusion of eye-balls caused by 'flooding' of the brain into the orbit. 2) Congestion of various degrees in the lung, which is usually heavier on the right side. 3) Often pathologic enlargement of the heart filled with venous blood. 4) Often hemorrhage of jugular vein or along the spinal cord (after Prof. Miyamoto) and the capillaries of various body parts. The gizzard was always, except a single case, empty. The pectoral muscles were normal or slightly, or rarely considerably, weakened, and the fat varied in amount by individual from much to none.6. Young Sparganum mansoni (Cestoda) were found in 8 birds out of 69 examples examined, parasitizing subcutaneously on the surface of pectoral muscles or inner side of the thigh muscles; probably the first record in wild birds. It was also found in the intestine in 26% examples examined, and other parasite, Acanthocephala (and one Cestoda sp.) was found in 21% examples. Pathological examination made by Prof. Tabe, as well as Dr. Kametani and Miss Kihara, parasitologists, did not prove the presence of cercaria and eggs of Gigantobilhazia sturniae Tabe (1948) known in this starling from other prefectures. Results of anatomical, histological and some bacteriologic and pesticide examinations done by Prof. Miyamoto are also included, but direct factor causing the fatal cranial and lung diseases has not been clarified.7. Ecologically, it was found that 1) Average 71%, even 80% at Koshigaya, of the roost-dead birds were males, 3) Seasonally, January and February were the peak of the disease. Considerations were given from some ecological point of view.8. The roost-mortality was estimated from two calculations. The roosting density was estimated conservatively as 15 birds in 1m2. (indirect photographic data, though night flash-photos were not available were considered), and based on the collected dead birds within the measured research areas, the mortality was estimated as 1.01% at Koshigaya, 0.46% at Shinhama and 0.24% at Kozukue. The high % of Koshigaya was apparently due to too small measured area. On the other hand, the mortality was calculated also the other way based on the % of estimated total of dead birds, calculated from the collected dead birds and the % of area covered to entire roost area.


Disclosed are a communication method, a network device, a user equipment, and a communication system. The communication method comprises: a network device determines to allocate a first auxiliary cell set for a user equipment (UE); the network device transmits first configuration indication information to the UE, where the first configuration indication information is used for indicating at least one among the following configurations: uplink control information related to cells in the first auxiliary cell set is transmitted via a physical uplink control channel of a first cell, where the first cell belongs to a second auxiliary cell set; and, data transmission on at least one cell in the first auxiliary cell set is processed by a layer-two functional entity located in the second auxiliary cell set. The disclosed communication method allows the complexity of the UE to be reduced.


The publication late in 1969 of L. Edward Brathwaite's Islands and Derek Walcott's The Gulf and Other POc/IIS, gave body to what was beginning to look like a meagre year for imaginative literature. The new authors were not particularly impressive: a first novel about the farce of electioneering in an island democracy by Lionel Hutchinson from Barbados; a tract from Rudolph Kizerman ('a new kind of sermon on the colour question, race hatred and the relationship between black and white' according to the blurb); and old hat from old hands a sub-Le Carre, pseudo-Fleming piece out of John Hearne and Morris Cargill uniting as 'John Morris'. George Lamming's prolonged frustration by the British publishers dragged on, and with Michael Anthony still soaking in a sense of Brazil, his new home, there wasn't much from the established authors for the 'ground-watchers' and other gushing enthusiasts this year. Garth St Omer and Andrew Salkey were the exceptions. Salkey's finest novel since A Quality of Violence appeared, revealing a tough and comic aspect of this author's talent not apparent before: The .Aduentta»: of Calu/lus Kelty is a carefully constructed odyssey about London life in the 'sixties and the strange encounters of a wandering Negro there. In Nor Atry Counl,:y, Garth St Omer continued his seemingly dispassionate (at times sadistic) feeling-out of the remote nerve ends of existence as it is being acted out in a fictive West Indian island modelled upon his native St Lucia. The almost simultaneous publication of Islands and The GHIj and Other Poems (the titles are revealing) sharpened even further one's sense of the differences between the two substantially published Caribbean poets. In Islands, Brathwaite attempts at last to translate the angry, and at times hopeless, social realism of Righls of Passage. Armed with his understanding of the hopes and disappointments of the New-World Negro persona in Masks, and initiated by the same work's ritual re-enactments of constitutive elements in African civilizations, the reader can now see in Islands the co-existence of African spirit and West Indian bodily presence. A splendid illustration of this is the poem 'Ogun', in the section called 'Ancestors', where the poet's own memory


This special issue on life writing and persona marks the 15th issue of Persona Studies and the culmination and end point of my eight years working as one of four Managing Editors of the journal. It is both fitting and very exciting then, to be able to wrap up this journey with an exploration of two fields that have long fascinated me: Life Writing Studies and Persona Studies. Indeed, life writing seems both an obvious and natural home for studying persona. The study of life writing has always involved the analysis of identities put into play and, it has become increasingly clear to me over the years, scholars of persona are equally fascinated by the kinds of persona work that life writing can do. Over the past fourteen issues, every single issue has had at least one contribution (often several) that used or drew upon life-writing texts.


Prof. Irma Glicman Adelman, an Irish Economist working in California University at Berkely, in her research work on 'Development Over Two Centuries', which is published in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 1995, has identified and concluded that India, along with China, would be one of the largest economies in this 21st Century. She has stated that the period 1700-1820 is the period of Netherlands (Holland), the period 1820-1890 is the period of England, the period 1890-2000 is the period of America and this 21st Century is the century of China and India. World Bank has also identified that India would be a one the leading players of this century after China and USA. India is the third largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity with $7.277 trillion. India ($ 2. 936 trillion in nominal) will challenge the Global Economic Order in the next 15 years. India already overtook Italian economy ($ 2.078 trillion) this year (2019), and will overtake England economy ($ 3.002 trillion at present) in the year 2020, Japanese economy ($5.154 trillion, 2019) by 2025 and USA economy ($21. 239 trillion in 2019) in 2050. China with $14.140 trillion already overtook Japan economy and will overtake USA economy in 2024. India has the following advantages compared with other economies. India is 3th largest GDP in the world in terms of Purchasing Power Parity Criteria ($11.326 trillion in 2019). India is third fastest growing economy in the world after China and Vietnam. In this paper an attempt is made to bring out the major achievements and failures of economic reforms in India during the liberalisation period. It is mainly base on secondary information I read through government publications and reports and generally descriptive in nature. This paper has been divided into two sections (1) dealt with achievements of LPG policies and (2) dealt with the reasons for delay in achieving the proposed targets within the stipulated period.


This thesis examines the educational adaptation of children of black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. The influence of common shared values on the educational attainment of a segment of the new second generation—Black children of immigrants—is explored. The data are drawn from the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey. The findings illustrate that the educational experience of black children of immigrants is heterogeneous. Depending on both socioeconomic and ethnic attachment factors, different educational outcomes for black children of immigrants were observed.


Growing acquaintance with old master—his character—evils of unrestrained passion—apparent tenderness—old master a man of trouble—custom of muttering to himself—necessity of being aware of his words—the supposed obtuseness of slave-children—brutal outrage—drunken overseer—slaveholders' impatience—wisdom of appealing to superiors—the slaveholder's wrath bad as that of the overseer—a base...


In school education the concept of energy should be a unifying element between all natural science disciplines. Still, many characteristics of living systems appear to be in contradiction to the laws of physics. Physics often refer to energy conservation in a closed system, whereas biology is often dominated by open ecological or physiological systems with a "dynamic equilibrium". This makes the underlying, crosscutting scientific concept of energy hard to understand. Our study investigated if the idea of an open energy system (with an in- and output of energy), located within an "idealized" closed system (in which the total amount of energy is conserved), offers the potential for a cross-disciplinary understanding. We developed a learning environment and applied interviews to identify students' ability to think in open and closed systems. Four teaching experiments with focus groups of three students each (9th grade, secondary school, males = 10) were carried out. Within the learning environment a scaled model illustrated the idea of an open system that is in direct exchange with the environment (representing an "idealized" closed system). We identified specific learning obstacles that are connected with energy conservation within the closed system, where students faced severe difficulties to detect the conversion of energy within the environment. A molecular perspective could "rebuild" the visibility and tangibility of energetic processes. We propose the particle model to bridge the apparent macroscopic – molecular gap.


This paper addresses the problem of blind separation of cyclostationary sources. By using the cyclostationarity property of the source signals, a new criterion based on second order cyclic statistics (SOCS) is established, from which a network structure (NS) approach for blind source separation is proposed. Because the use of SOCS, the new approach requires few data samples and no restrictions on the distributions of the source signals. Simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of this new approach.


For energy-saving and emission-reducing,enhancing the efficiency of energy utilization,the technological innovation for induced draft fan with the maximum power in 1 036 MW ultra supercritical unit of Huaneng Haimen Power Plant was implemented.Changing general motor-driven induced draft fan to turbine-driven mode for the first time,merger setting the induced draft fan and the FGD booster fan,not setting FGD booster fan alone,the power plant using electricity rate was obviously reduced.And 6 kV power of the auxiliary power system was reduced.The induced draft fan can realize variable speed adjustment,and the loss of throttling was reduced,the energy-saving effect was remarkable.The operation of the induced draft fan driven by turbine was stable,the function of furnace pressure adjustment was good,and which can satisfy the index request of induced draft fan performance under full load condition.


In this work, selenium treatment at 250-350°C on the polycrystalline CuIn1-xGaxSe2 (CIGS) thin films sputtered from a quaternary target has been investigated in order to passivate anionic defects which induce the current-blocking behavior and lowering open circuit voltage. The CIGS thin films were selenized in a closed-space graphite container. The result of selenization was characterized by Raman spectroscopy, EQE and the current-voltage-temperature measurement. After selenization at 350°C, the current-blocking behavior is inhibited and Voc increases from 310mV to 640mV. Until now, the efficiency near 9% can be obtained by an optimized selenization process.


With the purpose of the Joseon Dynasty's understanding the West in 1880s, this research compares and analyzes Mangukch?ngp'yo which was published by Bakmunguk in 1886 and Yeojaechalyo in terms of the former's background, original text and influence. Joseon Dynasty's signing Chosun-the U.S. Firendship and Commerce Treaty in 1882 is followed by other successive treaties with the West such as the U.K. and Germany in 1880s, which led to joining into the Modern Treaty System. Therefore, it became necessary for Joseon Dynasty to break Haebangnon, which means National Security, and understand the West more concretely. In order to meet the needs of the times, Joseon Dynasty tried to absorb the Western newest information while making Bakmunguk translage and publish The Statesman's Year-Book in 1886, which was originally published in the U.K.. Mangukch?ngp'yo included general information about politics, economy, society and culture of 49 countries including Joseon Dynasty and Qing(China), which helped Joseon's society accept the West. As the latest Western Perception book in 1880s, Mangukch?ngp'yo influenced the publication of Yeojaechalyo, the private geography book written by Oh Hoeng-mook. In 1896, furthermore, it resulted in the publication of geography textbook which was issued by Hakbu. This research has significance for indicating the fact that Joseon Dynasty made effort into publication in order to understand the West in 1880s. Besides, it is meaningful that this research confirms the fact that the original text of Mangukch?ngp'yo is The Statesman's Year-Book, which the earlier studies have failed. Moreover, it has a value of discovering that the influence of Mangukch?ngp'yo was exerted on not only the publication of Yeojaechalyo but also geography textbook of Hakbu in the period of the Gabo Reform of 1894.


CaO thin films were grown on (001) MgO single crystal substrates by a chemical solution deposition method to study the influence of a relatively high lattice mismatch (14%) on the epitaxial growth. In order to minimize an influence of a different crystal structure and chemistry between film and substrate, film and substrate were chosen to have the same structure (NaCl) and a similar chemistry. The films were heat treated until they broke up into single crystal islands on the MgO substrate. X-ray pole figure analysis and TEM observations of the CaO-films showed that most of the grains had a single out-of-plane orientation (111)CaO || (001)MgO, corresponding to two non-redundant, symmetry related in-plane variants [ 1 10](111)CaO || [ 1 10](001)MgO and [ 1 10](111)CaO || [ 1 10](001)MgO. A near coincidence site lattice (NCSL) model could be constructed for the interface, suggesting good lattice and charge matching for the observed orientation relations. The mechanisms and energetics leading to the experimentally observed orientation relations are discussed.


: Equipment fault prediction and health management have entered the era of intelligence. It is the premise to realize fault self-recovery regulation by analysing and extracting fault characteristic information from equipment condition monitoring data to realize automatic fault identification and classification.The centrifugal compressor is taken as the research object. Based on K-means clustering analysis and data-driven method , the K-means clustering fault pattern recognition algorithm model is constructed. The fault characteristic parameters with high sensitivity of fault identification are selected as model input parameters , and the clustering centers of different faults are obtained by monitoring data training , and the data-driven centrifugal compressor fault identification method based on the cluster center distance criterion is explored. The model is validated by the normal and surge , rubbing and misalignment case data of a centrifugal compressor of CNPC. The results show that the data-driven clustering fault identification method can realize the automatic identification of multi-fault mode of centrifugal compressor; compared with the support vector machine fault identification method , the K-means clustering analysis fault identification method is more accurate; the data-driven method calculates the clustering center of real-time monitoring data , and uses the intuitive distance criterion to realize automatic identification of fault modes , which can realize fault diagnosis and intelligent decision-making , and provide technical support for self-healing regulation.


The paper describes some recent results of the use of intelligent solutions in mechatronic systems such as neuro-fuzzy signal flow reconstruction for data processing, acquired signal processing for fault diagnosis and classification of bearings and automatic generation of mathematical models, simulation and control for hydraulic and pneumatic drive systems. By means of intelligent approaches we tried to get new functional and quality capabilities of the mechatronic systems.


The invention discloses a power source secondary protection method. The power source secondary protection method includes the steps that a power source is reset; the starting assignment of the total fault number is zero, and the starting assignment of the time is zero; the power source is started, first-time starting judgment is carried out, and whether the power source is successfully started within a first threshold value time or not is judged; if the power source is successfully started, fault scanning is carried out; if faults occur, the shut-off operation is executed, the total fault number pluses one, and fault scanning is continuously carried if the faults do not occur; if the power source is not successfully started, the shut-off operation is executed, and the total fault number pluses one; whether the total fault number at current is larger than a present total fault number threshold value or not is judged; if the total fault number at current is larger than the present total fault number threshold value, the locking state is started; if the total fault number at current is smaller than or equal to the present total fault number threshold value, a second threshold value time is delayed, and no processing is carried out; then starting judgment is carried out, and whether the power source is successfully started within a first threshold value time or not is judged; if the power source is not successfully started within the first threshold value time, the locking state is started; if the power source is successfully started within the first threshold value time, whether the faults occur within a control period or not is judged; if the faults do not occur, fault scanning is continuously carried out; if the faults occur, the locking state is started.


A new approach for predicting the physical and chemical properties of materials based on the technological regimes of their formation is proposed. The developed method is applied to predict the response of the sensitive layer of a chlorine sensor based on thepolyacrylonitrile film containing silver. The artificial neural network is constructed in the form of multilayer perceptron for predicting the gas sensitivity coefficient based on the technological parameters used for the material formation (mass fraction of the additives, wt.%, the temperature and time of the 1st and 2nd IR annealing steps). The adequacy of the developed modelis proved: the root-mean-square error is st = 0.07, the correlation coefficient is R = 0.927, and the mean-square error of the forecast is sv = 0.11. The sensitivity of the model for the mean square error of all the data is estimated to be s = 0.09.


THE LABOUR PARTY WAS DECISIVELY DEFEATED AT THE 1979 general election. The Conservatives not only won 70 more seats than Labour but its lead of 6.9% was considerably bigger than that of Harold Macmdlan in 1959, while the swing away from Labour to Tory was the largest since 1945. What is even more depressing is that the Labour share of the poll was its lowest since 1931.


The problems of design and application of integrated structurally reconfigurable extreme-correlation algorithms in navigating systems capable of adaptation to changing conditions are considered. Two approaches to estimation of efficiency and accuracy characteristics of integrated structurally reconfigurable extreme-correlation navigation systems are described.


In the contribution we present the evaluation of texture segmentation efficiency for Gabor filter bank and we bring an application to face feature detection. Gabor filters are well known as a facility for texture because of their orientation and spatial frequency character. We use several statistics to extract more information from Gabor-filtered images. We applied variance, energy and percentiles as a statistics useful for human hair detection and classification. We found this face feature useful for gender identification, but also as a supplementary feature for face detection.


Measuring qualitative attributes is a complex process which includes imprecise decisions for designing, rating, and quantifying the qualitative attributes of the measurement objects. This paper proposes a Fuzzy Qualitative Evaluation System FQES using expert judgment to evaluate perceived qualitative attributes. FQES highlights the fusion of the capabilities of humans and computers in the qualitative evaluation process as humans are proficient in fuzzy reasoning and classification, while computers are superior in calculating human fuzzy inputs with embedded fuzzy algorithms derived in this paper. The innovative methods for the fusion of the capabilities includes a Fuzzy Compound Linguistic Variable FCLV for two dimensional rating categories, a Double Step Rating Approach for determination using FCLV, a Parabola-based Fuzzy Normal Distribution FND for assigning fuzzy numbers for the FCLV and a 5-layer Fuzzy Analytical Network 5FAN which is the multi-granularity aggregation system taking multiple fuzzy number inputs to infer the result using an parametric function. FQES could be the ideal framework to increase the assessment accuracy for qualitative evaluation applications such as customer satisfaction surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, vendor surveys and risk assessment surveys. In the application, this paper demonstrates how FQES can be used to identify the optimum number for the selection of suppliers.


Introduction: FUN CAIs and hibonite grains show roughly correlated excesses and deficits in the neutron-rich iron-group isotopes, such as Ca and Ti (e.g., [1] and references therein). Such findings seem to correspond to correlation of these isotopes in the precursor dust of these inclusions in the early Solar System. This conclusion aligns with nucleosynthesis theory since the neutron-rich iron-group isotopes are abundantly co-produced in low-entropy expansions of neutron-rich matter [2], which presumably occur in rare Type Ia (thermonuclear) supernovae. The abundances of these isotopes in such expansions, however, depends on how neutron-rich the material gets, which in turn depends on the complex nuclear dynamics during the supernova. We are developing and releasing computational tools to model these astrophysical events. We here describe the yields of the neutron-rich isotopes from our models. We also explore the outflow thermodynamics and some consequences for dust condensation. Nuclear Network: To compute the nucleosynthesis in thermonuclear supernovae, one needs a nuclear reaction network and the relevant nuclear rates. For our reaction network, we use libnucnet [3]. For reaction rates, we use the JINA reaclib database [4]. To compute weak interaction rates on nucleons and nuclei, we supplement the detailed weak rate compilations of [5,6] with a simple rate parameterization from [7]. The detailed weak rates in general are preferable to the simple parameterization but do not cover the full range of nuclei needed. Our routines for these parameterized weak interaction rates are available in our open-source module NucNet Tools [8]. Thermodynamics: To compute simple models of dense Ia supernova, we have written several thermodynamics libraries. First we released libstatmech [9], which allows us to compute the thermodynamics of fully relativistic, fully degenerate ideal matter. We have built a number of routines to compute energy and entropy generation from nuclear reactions and related thermodynamic quantities. We also constructed routines to compute simple radiation transport and neutrino energy loss. These are included in NucNet Tools [8]. Simple Ia Model: We have constructed a computer code to compute a simple model of a Type Ia supernova. The exploding white dwarf is treated as a uniform sphere. All gradients of quantities are replaced by the ratio of that quantity divided by the radius of the sphere. While the macroscopic aspects of the model are extremely simplified, the microscopic effects, i.e. the thermodynamic and the reaction network, are treated in full detail. This allows us to gain a good idea of the details of the nuclear dynamics in a realistic but simple thermonuclear supernova model.


IoT is seen almost everywhere and the choices are numerous. At the same time if we want to think of an ecosystem the goal should be such that independent IoT models can be taken under one umbrella. Various models can communicate with each other, that should be the goal of an IoT model. Any new IoT model should be able to attach itself with an existing model so that the ultimate purpose of advancement of IoT, which is to connect everything, can be made possible. Communication protocols play an important role in the area of IoT. These communication protocols may vary with respect to the application area and domain. This survey discusses a variety of IoT Models and their approach for the implementation. The paper discusses the differences between the models and proposes the scope of scalability and interoperability in the various Iot models. Analysis of those models with the target of finding the factors stopping IoT models to communicate with each other is presented then there is a discussion presented for scope of scalability and interoperability in the existing models.


Superparamagnetic nanoparticles and a functional, degradable polymer matrix based on poly(ethylene glycol) are combined to enable fully degradable magnetic microdevices for minimally invasive biomedical applications. A bioinspired helical microrobot platform mimicking Escherichia coli bacteria is fabricated and actuated using weak rotating magnetic fields. Locomotion based on corkscrew propulsion, targeted drug delivery, and low-degradation-product cytotoxicity are demonstrated.


The Perceived Health Competence Scale (PHCS), developed by Smith et al (1995) to measure expectancy beliefs regards of health-related habits, is a domain-specific scale of self efficacy. Our objective in this study was to examine the development, reliability, and suitability of design of the Japanese version of the PHCS, specifically by: (1) showing that PHCS correlates with measures of health related lifestyle habits and health status, (2) investigating how personal attributes or the socio-economic status of subjects affects PHCS, and (3) showing that the Perceived Health Competence Scale results may be explained by barriers to information access and general self-efficacy. The subjects of this study were 400 male and female residents living in Tokyo?gA?hward, aged between 20 and 60. The study was performed through a self-administered questionnaire to be completed at subjects' homes. The response rate was 50%, with responses received from 94 males, 105 females and one of unknown gender. The Japanese version of the PHCS has a Cronbach a coefficient of 0.83 and is considered reliable. In research subjects, a relationship was observed between high PHCS and good health habits such as eating breakfast, efforts to eat 30 different kinds of food every day, controlling sodium intake, abstaining from drinking and smoking, weight control, exercise, and awareness of one's own health indicators. No relation was found between PHCS results and environmental factors and health related habits such as the tendency to snack between meals or attend regular health checkups. In contrast, PHCS was influenced by age and educational background, as well as generalized self efficacy and barriers to health related information access. Accordingly, the research was largely successful in showing the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of PHCS.


Characteristics of fatigue crack growth in DP (with dual-phase, ferritic-martensitic microstructure) steel sheets have been investigated. SPHC (hot-rolled mild steel) sheets also have been examined for the purpose of comparison. For the both materials, the variation in fatigue crack growth rate (da/dN) with stress intensity factor range (ΔK) was measured by using CCT specimens, as well as the threshold values of ΔK by using CT specimens.From the results of these measurements, m in the formula of Paris, da/dN=C(ΔK)m, was determined as 3.5 for DP steel as well as for SPHC steel. The threshold values (ΔKth) at R=0.1 were shown as 6.5MPa·m1/2 and 5.7MPa·m1/2 for DP and SPHC steels, respectively.It is concluded that the characteristics of fatigue crack growth in DP steel sheet with a microstructure where a continuous ferrite matrix encapsulates islands of martensite are little different from those in conventional mild steel sheets.


Case I.-Mrs. P., aged 28. First noticed lump in small of back whilst pregnant with second child in August, 1928. No particular trouble with either parturition. Pain was not felt till October, 1930, when it began in the lumbar region. In February, 1931, pains and cramp were felt in the calves and especially the right ankle. She found it impossible to stand for long on account of the pain in the back. The trunk seemed shortened and the waist relatively high. There was a prominence of the upper part of the sacrum and a hollow space above this. Here there was some tenderness. There was some restriction of movement in all directions. The reflexes were normal and there was no demonstrable change in sensation. Antero-posterior skiagram showed a tilting upwards of the fifth lumbar spinous process (fig. 1). Lateral skiagram showed the fifth lumbar vertebra displaced forward about 5 in. on the sacrum (fig. 2). On June 8 an Albee type of fusion operation was performed. A stout graft was taken from the tibia and inserted into the split spines of the third, fourth, and fifth lumbar vertebrn and first and second sacral spines. The patient was kept on a plaster bed for three months and afterwards walked in a support for one month. All pain has now gone and she has resumed normal activities.


In order to develop photoactive cobalt-doped TiO2 for the degradation of organic pollutants using visible light irradiation, the effects of cobalt precursor on TiO2 microstructure were investigated. Three cobalt-precursors, i.e. CoCl2, Co(NO3)2 and CoSO4 with two doping levels (nominally 1% and 10%), and two annealing temperatures (400 and 800 C) were adopted to prepare the doped titania through the sol-gel method. The powder samples were characterized with XRD, SEM, BET surface area analysis and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by the degradation of aniline under visible light irradiation. The results showed that the distribution of titania phases, particle size, morphology, surface area and the optical absorption of the catalysts were greatly dependent on the cobalt precursors. Samples prepared from Co(NO3)2, especially for those doped at 1% and calcined at 400 C, showed the highest photocatalytic activity towards the degradation of aniline, and the possible reasons are discussed briefly.


According to the practice experiences,we drew the conclusion that selecting, digging, replanting and care after transplanting is the key technique for older tree transplanting.


Users of device-to-device (D2D) communication need efficient content discovery mechanisms to steer their requests toward the node in their neighborhood that is most likely to satisfy them. The problem is further compounded by the lack of a central coordination entity as well as by the inherent mobility of devices, which leads to volatile topologies. In this paper, we first discuss group-based communication among non-rooted Android devices using Wi-Fi direct, a protocol recently standardized by the Wi-Fi alliance. We propose intra- and inter-group communication methodologies, which we validate through a simple testbed where content-centric routing is used. Next, we address the autonomous formation of groups with the goal of achieving efficient device resource utilization as well as full connectivity. Finally, we evaluate the performance of our group formation procedure both in simulation and in a real testbed involving Android devices in different topologies.


The rapidly increasing demand for energy in China leads to the construction of new power plants all over the country. Coal, as the main fuel resource of those power plants, results in increasing problems with the disposal of solid residues from combustion and off gas cleaning. This investigation describes chances for the utilization of fly ash from coal-fired power plants in China. After briefly comparing the situation in China and Germany, the status of aluminum recycling from fly ash and the advantages for using fly ash in concrete products are introduced. Chemical and physical analyses of Chinese fly ash samples, e.g., X-ray diffraction (XRD), ICP (Inductive Coupled Plasma) and particle size analysis, water requirement, etc. are presented. Reasonable amounts of aluminum were detected in the samples under investigation, but for recovery only sophisticated procedures are available up to now. Therefore, simpler techniques are suggested for the first steps in the utilization of Chinese fly ash.


Alien invasive plants had a far-reaching impact on local vegetation and biodiversity, and the hazard of invasion was widely concerned. Field trial was conducted to discuss the establishment of yellow sweet clover and its interaction with local plant vegetation on a synthetical ecosystem patched with cultivated farmlands and wasted lands in northern China. The results showed the establishment for yellow sweet clover was quite different under the two land types. The density of seedlings in the wasted lands only reached up to 16.9% of that in the farmlands which �ourished with annual large broad-leaf plants, like velvet weed (Abutilon theophrasti), jimson weed (Datura stramonium), and ower-of-an-hour (Hibiscus trionum) at a higher frequency contrast with thin-leaf species in the wasted lands, e.g. Salsola collina, Humulus scandens. The two types of lands had a community similarity (C J = 0.5135), but both signi�cantly decreased with the increasing density of yellow sweet clover. On details, biomass, plants per square meters, and diversity, they were all less or lower in wasted lands compared to farmlands. After its establishment, soil characteristics and soil texture were also modi�ed due to yellow sweet clover itself or environmental factors, e.g. a higher level of available nitrogen and soil organic matter. The results suggested that it is not easy for yellow sweet clover to establish on wasted lands under the suppression of native plants and adverse environmental factors; but it may �ourish in the farmlands with competitive advantages at initial stage, though presented a stagnation after generations.


Modification of the Zeeman splitting of conduction-electron spins by an s–d exchange interaction has been studied in the de Haas – van Alphen effect at fields up to 50 kG and temperatures of order 1 K in very dilute copper-based alloys of Cr, Mn, Fe, and Co. In Cu(Cr) there is a linear relationship between an effective exchange energy and solute concentration, and the results indicate an antiferromagnetic interaction between conduction electrons and polarized impurity spins with very little Kondo screening. The effects of increasing field or decreasing temperature are consistent with a simple polarization of the impurity spins. The variation of the exchange energy from orbit to orbit is explained by the variation over the copper Fermi surface of the d-like part of the wave function. The occurrence of clean spin-splitting zeros in the Cu(Cr) system is believed to be a fortuitous result of a symmetrical positioning of the Friedel virtual bound states relative to the Fermi energy. In Cu(Mn) the exchange ener...


With over 14,000 schools implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), it is important to consider factors that contribute to effective implementation—which may affect student outcomes. Social validity is one factor that may influence implementation. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which social validity ratings varied among teachers of different school levels and whether specific teacher characteristics (e.g., gender) predicted higher social validity within each school level. Results indicated that teacher social validity ratings of SWPBIS were significantly lower at the high school level than at the elementary and middle school levels. Specific teacher characteristics did not act as significant predictors of social validity ratings. Limitations, future directions, and implications for practice are discussed.


We review the recent studies on the lattice vibrational properties of novel semiconductor InN thin films. Most of the experimental results are concerned with the Raman scattering as well as the infrared spectroscopic studies. The emphasis is on the structure of Brillouin zone center (Γ point) phonons in InN (including both the wurtzite and zinc blende structures), coupling between the electron excitation (plasmon) and the longitudinal optical phonon, disorder_activated modes, the temperature_ and pressure_dependences of the lattice vibration modes, and the lattice vibration in nitride alloys, superlattices (SLs), quantum wells (QWs), and quantum dots (QDs) etc. This article also presents some prospects on Raman scattering studies in related materials and structures.


" "....* ,., " Introduction and acknowledgments 5 Occurrence 6 Physical and optical properties 8 Chemical analysis 9 X-ray data 11 Literature cited 18 Figure 1* Index map of parts of Colorado and Utah, showing the localities of simplotite 7 2» Electron diffraction spot pattern of simplotite representing the a*-c* reciprocal net plane superimposed on an aluminum ring pattern 15 3. Schematic drawing showing relation between reciprocal lattice, optical orientation, and habit of simplotite ;..» 1?


There has been considerable interest in the role of eosinophils in the pathogenesis of asthma and allergic diseases. While examining the conditions necessary for the release of leukotriene C4 (LTC4) from human eosinophils activated by immunoglobulin G‐Sepharose (IgG‐Seph), we observed that red blood cells (RBCs) potentiated eosinophil LTC4 release. The time course of IgG‐Seph‐stimulated LTC4 release was prolonged in the presence of RBCs. After 45 min of incubation, eosinophils without RBCs released 0.95 ± 0.11 ng/106 cells, and those with RBCs released 3.69 ± 0.67 ng/106 cells. Control experiments indicated that the effect was not due to platelet contamination of the RBCs and could not be reproduced with RBC supernatants or RBC membrane ghosts. An interesting characteristic of this interaction was that the eosinophils and RBCs had to be in close contact for the enhancement to occur. We also observed that at low calcium concentrations (0.6 mM), the eosinophils had to be primed with fMLP for the RBC effect to occur, but priming was not required at higher calcium concentrations. Several possible mechanisms that would explain the RBC effect on eosinophil LTC4 release were examined: (1) RBCs block the metabolism of LTC4; (2) RBCs protect the eosinophils from oxidative damage; (3) RBCs provide a substrate (or enzyme) that allows increased eosinophil LTC4 production. These mechanisms failed to explain our observation that erythrocytes enhance eosinophil LTC4 release, however, suggesting that alternative mechanisms are responsible for this effect J. Leukoc. Biol. 56: 65–73; 1994.


A 1000×1000 Si FEA went through reliability test. Under fixed gate-voltage, the emission current stays stable at ~3mA over 3 days, but suddenly dropped 92% within one second, while the gate leakage current drops simultaneously. Post-testing physical characterization reveals majority of the emitters within the array keeps their structure integrity. The sudden emission current drop is due to a small amount of shorted/damaged emitters on the edge of the array.


Micrometre sized Fe-and Mn-rich dendritic and stromatolitic structures are often described as Frutexites in the palaeontological record. These structures have often been interpreted to derive from microbial activity; however, their formation is unclear. Recent subsurface Feoxide precipitating biofilms from the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) resemble the laminar and dendritic patterns of ancient Frutexites structures (Heim et al., 2017). The analytical investigation using microscopy, next generation sequencing, microbial cultivations and biomarker studies (GC-MS) enabled a detailed characterization of the microbial community inhabiting these Frutexites structures. The total organic extract of this Frutexiteslike biofilm contained 10% fatty acids, 21% sterols and 69% hopanoids, showing a community composition of prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The detected sterols cholest-5-en-3βol, 24-methylcholesta-5,22-dien-3-β-ol, 24-methylcholesta-5,7-dien-3-β-ol, 24 methylcholest5-en-3β-ol, 24-ethylcholest-5-en-3β-ol and 24-ethylcholestan-3β-ol commonly occur in algae and fungi. Indeed, cultivation and sequencing revealed the presence of Sordarymycetes, Leotiomycetes, Eurotiomycetes and Dorthideomycetes phyla. Representatives of these fungal phyla typically occur in soils and sediments and were also reported living in aquifers from Olkiluoto, Finland (Sohlberg et al., 2015). The oxygen-limited conditions in the Frutexiteslike biofilm, as determined by micro sensor measurements, did not seem to affect the fungal growth, but however explain the missing of the most typical fungal ergosterol (ergosta5,7,22-trien-3β-ol). Under optimal growth conditions in the lab our fungal isolates from the Frutexites-like biofilm showed a clear ergosterol peak, demonstrating their capability of ergosterol synthesis. Fungi in other oxygen depleted environments were able to use either intermediates of the ergosterol synthesis pathway (Hughes et al., 2007) or take up sterols from their food source and use these for their membranes (Joffrion et al., 2010). The latter is likely the case for the Frutexites-like biofilm. Our detections show that fungi are actively involved in biofilm formation and biomineralization processes in oxygen depleted environments in the subsurface. Furthermore, fungi are easily overlooked in oxygen depleted environments, as they don't exhibit their conventionally expected biomarker pattern.


A DESIGN METHOD IS PROPOSED WHICH ASSUMES THAT THE GIRDER CAN SUPPORT LOADS AS LONG AS THE ULTIMATE BEARING CAPACITY OF THE SOIL IS NOT EXCEEDED, EVEN IF THIS MEANS PLASTIC ARTICULATIONS IN THE GIRDER. THE PROPOSED METHOD COULD LEAD TO A SAVING OF 30% REINFORCEMENT.


This paper describes exploration of uses of a computational storytelling environment on the Car- diology Unit of the ChildrenHospital in Boston, during the summer of 1997. Young cardiac patients ranging from age 7 to 16 used the SAGE environment to tell personal stories and cre- ate interactive characters, as a way of coping with cardiac illness, hospitalizations, and invasive medical procedures. This pilot study is part of a larger collaborative effort between Children ´ Hospital and MERL - A Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory, to develop a web-based appli- cation, the Experience Journal, to assist patients and their families in dealing with serious medical illness. The focus of the paper is on young patientsof SAGE, on SAGEaffordances in the context of the hospital, and on design recommendations for the development of future computa- tional play kits for expressing and exchanging feelings and ideas. Preliminary analysis of young patientsindicates that children used different modes of interaction-direct, mediated, and differed-, depending upon what personae the narrator chooses to take on. These modes seem to vary with the mindset and health condition of the child.


The authors presented data on the National Research University of Electronic Technology second-year students' physical preparedness level received over the 2012 to 2014 period. They employed visual data mining and statistical analysis methods to explore the concordance between curriculum standards for students' physical training and specifications on the physical training in Russian army. The research has allowed establishing the equivalence of standards for students and for military personnel in strength training and their nonequivalence in endurance level estimation. The recommendations for standards correcting are given.


Political modernizations experience of the western societies is considered by the author. She reveals their essence, the general regularities, specifics, political practices opportunities and borrowing limit. The continuity of political systems modernization process in the modern period of historical development is paid attention to.


Importance of understanding characteristics and sequences of language development is significant, especially considering that developmental language disturbances represent one of the most frequent disabilities of the type. Apart from true dysphasias and those forms seriously affecting expressive speech, language disturbances can often remain unnoticed, possibly causing considerable long term consequences for the child and his surrounding. The article presents developmental data for some of important functions of language ability, including confrontation naming, syntax comprehension and controlled word generation. Corresponding to findings on the same measures of other-language-speaking children and of similar research data gained by other methods in Serbian-speaking population, the results show that significant improvement of efficacy continues at least through younger school years. Despite the overall sample in this phase of the study was relatively small and only younger school age was systematically involved, the data can be used as valid (orientation) norms in diagnostic work.


By practice in the staff training of public health system, it discuss the way ofmaking continuing medical education program in medical university: cooperating with governmentsin charge of sanitation for training programs; various of training methods and contentsinsure of training purpose; strict managements help making strong learning atmosphere.


BACKGROUND
A blunted heart rate reserve (HRR) during dipyridamole stress echocardiography (DSE) is a prognostically unfavorable sign of cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Short-term adjustments of heart rate (HR) are thought to rise from changes in neural input to the heart. DSE is applied in potential heart donors to rule out underlying coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction.

AIM
to assess HRR during DSE in brain death.

METHODS
We enrolled 2 Groups: Group 1 (n=49, 22 men, 54.6±8.8 years) with patients in brain death enrolled in the nationwide marginal donor heart recruiting program; Group 2 (n=49, 18 men, 66.4±12.0 years) referred to DSE for suspected or known coronary artery disease. All underwent DSE (0.84 mg/kg in 6') by quality-controlled readers certified via web-based training (1487/CE Lazio-1). We assessed left ventricular contractile reserve (LVCR) as stress/rest ratio of force (systolic blood pressure /end-systolic volume). HRR was calculated as the peak/rest HR ratio from 12-lead EKG.

RESULTS
The 2 groups were similar for prevalence of inducible ischemia (4/49 vs 9/49, p=ns). Group 1 showed higher resting HR (Group 1= 88.1±15.5 vs Group 2= 66.5±11.5 bpm, p<0.01) and similar peak HR (Group 1=94.7±15.3 vs Group 2=89.5±19.3 bpm, p=0.144), with blunted HRR (Group 1= 1.08±0.10 vs Group 2= 1.36±0.31 bpm, p<0.01). HRR was unrelated to LVCR.

CONCLUSIONS
HRR is almost abolished and unrelated to LVCR in brain-dead patients during DSE. The modulation of neural input to the heart is essential to determine HRR, and plays no significant role in determining the inotropic response during DSE.


In this paper I propose that the aesthetic be viewed as an 'essentially-contested concept' (Gallie,1964). and subject to 'creative conflict'. Following Gallie's view, I suggest that this conflict is evidence of the enduring nature of the aesthetic concept, and the continuing need for philosophical dialogue within the field of music education. I suggest that the aesthetic may be redefined as an interpretive 'dialogue' focused on our beliefs and values concerning music. This 'dialogue' is not necessarily verbally articulated, and may be evidenced in a range of music processes, including that of composing.


An optical filter selectively transmits one portion of the optical spectrum, while rejecting other portions. Commonly used in microscopy, spectroscopy, chemical analysis, and machine vision, Edmund Optics' optical filters are available in a variety of filter types and precision levels. This application note provides a description of the different technologies used to create EO filters, definitions of some key specifications, and a description of the various types of filters available from Edmund Optics.


Marketing educators must examine the culture in their departments if they are to provide a high quality education in a changing environment. This article addresses the objectives of marketing education and evaluates the current culture of many marketing departments as it applies to those educational objectives.


Paul Garner and colleagues discuss the implications of the pilot study by Katherine Floyd and colleagues of the DOTS-Plus project for tuberculosis control in the Philippines.


The introduction of laparoscopic technology and surgical robots in hepatobiliary surgery in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively, has dramatically revolutionized the field. Even though laparoscopic and robotic major hepatectomy was slower to adopt compared to minimally-invasive minor hepatectomy, the number of major hepatectomies performed with both approaches worldwide has significantly increased and is still rising. Despite the few comparative studies between laparoscopic and robotic major hepatectomy, most studies are focused on describing the procedures or reporting the outcomes of each method, either separately, or mixed with minor hepatectomies. Based on the available data, the direct comparison between the two techniques has shown that when robotic major hepatectomy is performed by experienced hepatobiliary surgeons in high-volume centers, it can lead to similar operating times, estimated blood loss, hospital length of stay, complication and mortality rates compared to its laparoscopic counterpart. The likelihood of achieving a margin-negative resection in cancer patients, as well as long-term disease-free and overall-survival are comparable between the groups. However, broader adoption of the robotic approach might be a hurdle in low-volume centers due to the high fixed capital and annual maintenance cost of the surgical robot.


Second-generation (2G) ethanol production has been increasingly evaluated, and the use of sugarcane bagasse as feedstock has enabled the integration of this process with first-generation (1G) ethanol production from sugarcane. The pretreatment of bagasse generates pentose liquor as a by-product, which can be anaerobically processed to recover energy and value-added chemicals. The potential to produce biohydrogen and organic acids from pentose liquor was assessed using a mesophilic (25 °C) upflow anaerobic packed-bed bioreactor in this study. An average organic loading rate of 11.1 g COD·L−1·d−1 was applied in the reactor, resulting in a low biohydrogen production rate of 120 mL·L−1 d−1. Meanwhile, high lactate (38.6 g·d−1), acetate (31.4 g·d−1), propionate (50.1 g·d−1), and butyrate (50.3 g·d−1) production rates were concomitantly obtained. Preliminary analyses indicated that the full-scale application of this anaerobic acidogenic technology for hydrogen production in a medium-sized 2G ethanol distillery would have the potential to completely fuel 56 hydrogen-powered vehicles per day. An increase of 24.3% was estimated over the economic potential by means of chemical production, whereas an 8.1% increase was calculated if organic acids were converted into methane for cogeneration (806.73 MWh). In addition, 62.7 and 74.7% of excess organic matter from the 2G ethanol waste stream could be removed with the extraction of organic acid as chemical commodities or their utilization as a substrate for biomethane generation, respectively.


An amorphous Ru-B/SiO2 catalyst with Ru loading of 3.14 % was prepared by impregnation of SiO2 support with RuCl3 solution followed by chemical reduction with KBH4 solution. The as-prepared amorphous RuB/SiO2 catalyst possessed excellent thermostability owing to the stabilizing effect of SiO2 support. During glucose hydrogenation in liquid phase, the amorphous Ru-B/SiO2 catalyst exhibited dramatically high activity, nearly 200 times higher than Raney Ni catalyst, a traditional catalyst for the title reaction, and almost perfect selectivity for sorbitol, showing a good potential in industrial application. Based on the comparison between the activity of the amorphous Ru-B/SiO2 catalyst and that of either the corresponding crystalline Ru-B/SiO2 or the Ru/SiO2, the promoting effect of the amorphous structure and the surface electronic characteristics of the catalyst on its activity was discussed briefly according to the characterization results of ICP, XRD, DSC, SEM, XPS and hydrogen chemisorption.


This paper is concerned with experimental tests on the ultimate shear strength of steel plate girders composed by corroded web plates with di ff erent corrosion patterns. The experimental investigation, performed through three points bending tests on the girder models with the full scale original forms of corroded web plates, have been carried out in order to asses the influence of di ff erent corrosion patterns on the strength. The influence on the shear buckling of the corrosion patterns is also discussed together with the failure patterns observed during tests.


Abstract : The report is a brief study to determine the effect of mold size on laboratory cone index measurements. Three fine-grained soils (two silts and one heavy clay) were tested in different size molds. An average curve of minimum mold diameter VS cone index was established. (Author)


An explanation of the fundamental facts of the IT debate, including scientific, technical and economic factors. Jonscher argues for a radical rethink about the direction IT is taking; for instance, is it right that some of the brightest talents in IT are shunning chemistry to write spreadsheets?


: Indonesia as one of the largest producing and exporting countries of crude palm oil (CPO). However, Indonesia still has not utilized the potential of the waste that generated by using CPO as cooking oil, namely used cooking oil. The high content


This study analyses factors that influence fertilizer use among cocoa farmers in the Sefwi Wiawso District in the Western Region, Ghana. Primary data were obtained from 200 cocoa farmers in the district. Descriptive statistics and ordinary least square regression analysis were used to analyse data collected. The results revealed that majority of the cocoa farmers were males and are getting old. Also farm size and price of fertilizer were significant factors affecting fertilizer use among cocoa farmers in the Sefwi Wiawso District in the Western Region. Moreover 74.5 percent farmers do not use fertilizer whereas 25.5 percent use fertilizer on their cocoa farms. The study recommends that Ghana government should further subsidise the price of fertilizer to make fertilizer more affordable to small holder cocoa farmers and also adopt strategies that hedge against price risk. In addition, illiterate farmers should be encouraged to undergo adult literacy programmes. Rural development policies should think about the importance of improving small-scale farmers? access to credit market. Furthermore, the extension unit of the Ghana Cocoa board and Ministry of Agriculture should be strengthened to educate cocoa farmers more on fertilizer usage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ije.v3i1.9939 International Journal of Environment Vol.3(1) 2014: 22-31


The role of teachers in the multicultural classrooms impose many challenges, from promoting integration of students with an immigrant background, to preparing every student for a harmonious and creative coexistence in a modern multicultural society. In order for the teacher to cope with these challenges, he/she needs appropriate preparation during his/her initial education and the necessary in-service training. This brings up the question "what should be the content of teachers' initial education or training programs so that teachers acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes to be effective in their work, in a heterogeneous, multicultural environment?" This quantitative study is based on 708 records of a needs assesment survey, conducted among primary and secondary education teachers. Key-words: multicultural teacher education, crosscultural competency, intercultural competence Μαρία Λιακοπούλου Δρ. Παιδαγωγικής Αξιού 3, 573 00 Χαλάστρα Τηλ.: 6972737717 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Βασιλική Παπαδοπούλου Καθηγήτρια Π.Τ.Δ.Ε. Πανεπιστημίου Δυτικής Μακεδονίας 3ο χλμ. Εθνικής Οδού Φλώρινας – Νίκης Τ.Θ. 21, 531 00 Φλώρινα Τηλ.: 2385055029, 6946927773 E-mail: email@example.com


Objective To outline the efficacy and safety of the secondary prevention and therapy with low-dose,short-course and individualized immunosuppressors and anticoagulants for cerebral infarction(CI) patients with positive-anticardiolipin antibody(ACL).Methods This study,including criterion group(namely group accepting therapeusis with aspirin,n=27),control 1(namely group accepting therapeusis with aspirin plus prednisone,n=31),and control 2(namely group accepting therapeusis with aspirin plus prednisone and heparin,n=34),was carried out by means of analyzing recurrent events such as transient ischemic attack(TIA),recurrent CI(RCI),recurrent cerebral ischemic apoplexy(RCIA),and cerebral hemorrhage(CH) during the follow-up observation after treatment for cerebral infarction cases with positive-ACL.Results During 3-year follow-up after treatment of all participants,the incidence of RCIA consisting of TIA and RCI in criterion group was 37.04%(10/27),which was significantly higher than that in control 1 with 6.45%(2/31) and control 2 with 2.94%(1/34),P0.01,while no patients of all three groups suffered with CH.Conclusion These results suggest that it is effective and safe for the secondary prevention and therapy with low-dose,short-course and individualized immunosuppressors and anticoagulants for patients with CI associated with positive-ACL.


There is increasing interest in using energy storage, solar photovoltaics, demand response, and other non-wires alternatives (NWA) to defer or avoid conventional distribution system investments. Detailed evaluation of NWAs, however, can require extensive engineering time – due to potentially complex analytics that must be performed and other considerations. Defining criteria and methods to screen out non-viable alternatives can streamline NWA evaluation processes. However, due to the emerging nature of NWA, and their multiple potential applications, screening or evaluation practices are not well-established and an area of ongoing development. This paper discusses NWA screening criteria and methods and provides guidance on their effective use within the distribution planning process. Various NWA screening criteria and methods developed in the United States and internationally as summarised and reviewed. Additionally, gaps and research needs related to criteria, methods, and software tools for evaluating and screening NWAs are introduced.


Gradient-porous Titanium alloys can be applied to manufacturing implants for bone replacement, due to their good biological and mechanical compatibility. In this work, the feasibility of fabricating gradient-porous Titanium by centrifugal deposition and vacuum sintering was investigated. The apparent porosity of the gradient-porous Ti examined by Archimedes method is 56%. And the open pores occupy 89%. The pore structure was observed by an optical microscope. And its porosities at different radius were calculated by image software based on optical microscopic images. In addition, a nanoindentation was employed to characterize the mechanical properties at different radius. The results showed that the porosity of the sample increased with increasing of radius. Besides, both the elastic modulus and hardness changed alone radius with a same trend.


Design of built-up column using high strength steel pipe strut was presented. In-plane buckling analysis of various strut system was calculated according to the strut total length(30m, 60m, 90m). Local buckling mode of diagonal member, main strut and global buckling mode of strut system were considered for estimation of the compression strength of the strut system.


Environmental pollution generally occurs because of the behavior of workers who are not environmentally friendly. The purpose of this research is to analyze the relationship of environmental awareness to the behavior of workers of palm cooking oil company; examine the relationship of implementation of ISO 14001 environmental management system to the behavior of workers; analyzing the relationship of implementation of ISO 14001 environmental management system and environmental awareness simultaneously to the act of workers. The results were processed by univariate, bivariate, and multivariate methods. The results of the analysis show a weak and unidirectional relationship between environmental awareness and employee behavior with correlation value (R=0.23). Different results on the ISO 14001 environmental management system with worker behavior. The results show no relationship between the ISO 14001 environmental management system and workers' behavior with correlation values (R=0.39). While the correlation between environmental awareness and ISO 14001 environmental management system to worker behavior showed a strong correlation with correlation value (R=0.56). The conclusion that can be drawn from the results of the analysis is the awareness of the environment plays an essential role in the behavior of workers in the eenvironment. Corporate programs such as the ISO 14001 environmental management system can not run effectively without the support of environmental awareness.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of exercise training on blood lactate and physical fitness by performing circuit training for a total of 6 weeks for sports climbing athletes. Circuit training consisted of 80 minutes per day 4 times a week and comparative analysis of pre and post. Data were measured twice at week 0 and week 6, and the results were compared by t-test for the pre and post-test in the exercise group. The statistical setting was applied as α=.05. In the exercise group, changes in physical fitness, muscle strength, muscle endurance, cardiopulmonary endurance, power, agility and flexibility showed statistically significant differences in all factors. The changes in blood lactate were statistically significant in the exercise group, as compared with the pre-test, but decreased in the post-test. As a result, the circuit training results showed that sports climbing athletes improved physical fitness and decreased blood lactate. These results suggest that the exercise is different from self-training in holder training or artificial rock. In addition, I think that it will be a chance to develop one step further to the players in the top ranker if exercise period and exercise prescription approach are carried out.


Prosthetic ankle-foot systems cannot adapt automatically to changes in shoe heel height. These systems can be altered using changes in alignment to properly orient the roll-over shape of the ankle-foot-shoe system. However, these changes require manual adjustments and, with most systems, require tools to make the adjustments. The use of heel-height-adjustable prosthetic ankle-foot systems may be advised for persons who would prefer to use shoes of different heel heights and who understand the necessary alignment changes needed for switching between these shoes. Further work is needed to examine the consequence of using shoes of different heel heights without changing the alignment of the prosthesis to accommodate these heel heights. The inability of prosthetic ankle-foot systems to adapt is perhaps since these systems have set points that cannot be altered without changes in alignment. Future designs of ankle-foot prostheses could make attempts at systems that can adapt automatically to changes in shoe heel height. This feature could allow persons using prostheses the ability to walk using a variety of shoes (and to walk without shoes) comfortably and without needing manual adjustments of their prostheses. The use of similarly oriented roll-over shapes would presumably yield similar loading moments to the residual limb socket, which may be perceived as a similar comfort level by the prosthesis user. The ability to automatically adjust for different heel heights may also lead to automatic adaptability for walking on different ramped surfaces.

Key words: Prosthesis, Component development, heel height, Ankle foot adapter, Adjustable.


Drawing on the works of three authors, namely, Jean Epstein, Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam and P.A. Kropotkin, the article attempts to lay the grounds for what might be called a semiotics of forces. Jean Epstein, a filmmaker and theorist of the new art form, is the author of an original concept of photogénie where cinema is presented as an instrument revealing the transformations of matter itself. Erupting Etna stands for the transformations in question. Villiers de l'Isle-Adam is a symbolist writer, who also mentions Etna, associating its explosive power with the chemical formulas of explosives. These formulas, integrated into his "least literary" novella, become special signs of social transformation: The writer, challenging the entire class of bourgeoisie that he deeply detests, makes use of the fear incited by the anarchists amongst it. Finally, P.A. Kropotkin, one of the leading theorists of anarchism but also an outstanding scientist and geographer, insists on the priority of transformative action over theory and every other speculation. In fact, he proposes his own version of the performative – of words changing the existing state of things – already at the end of the 19th century. In one way or another, all these writers are united by their understanding of the inherent connection between natural and social disasters (Kropotkin's position is explicit). Described by Epstein and only once mentioned by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, Etna becomes an element of a correlation, i.e., of a connection that is unapparent and necessary at the same time. What is implied is the relation between volcano and cinema as well as that between volcano and explosives. In both cases this relation becomes the designation of matter itself or, to be more exact, of matter in a state of flux and transformation. But this is also true of transformative action in the proper sense of the word (resulting in revolution, according to Kropotkin), whose verbal expressions always carry within themselves the energy of multidirectional forces. Etna is not merely a volcano and not just an element of a correlation; from the perspective of physics, it is synonymous with heat (scorching lava), which stands for changes in the properties of a substance, i.e., its transformation in purely physical terms. It is clear that transformation in cinema, literature as well as in social life cannot be represented directly; it is revealed only through a set of relations, namely, a semiotics of forces.


This paper concerns an open container, formed by bending lengthwise a long strip of weightless nonstretchable impermeable fabric and holding its long edges parallel and horizontal. Given that the container is filled to the rim with fluid, closed form analytical solution is obtained for the capacity of the container and the shape of its envelope.


We calculate the nuclear composition of matter in accretion disks surrounding stellar mass black holes as are thought to accompany gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We follow a mass element in the accretion disk starting at the point of nuclear dissociation and calculate the evolution of the electron fraction due to electron, positron, electron neutrino, and electron antineutrino captures. We find that the neutronization of the disk material by electron capture can be reversed by neutrino interactions in the inner regions of disks with accretion rates of 1 M☉ s-1 and higher. For these cases the inner disk regions are optically thick to neutrinos, and so to estimate the emitted neutrino fluxes, we find the surface of last scattering for the neutrinos (the equivalent of the proto-neutron star neutrinosphere) for each optically thick disk model. We also estimate the influence of neutrino interactions on the neutron-to-proton ratio in outflows from GRB accretion disks and find that it can be significant even when the disk is optically thin to neutrinos.


In this paper we prove a new chain rule formula for the distributional derivative of the composite function $v(x)=B(x,u(x))$, where $u:\mathopen]a,b\mathclose[\to\mathbb{R}^d$ has bounded variation, $B(x,\cdot)$ is continuously differentiable, and $B(\cdot,u)$ has bounded variation. We propose an application of this formula in order to deal in an intrinsic way with the discontinuous flux appearing in conservation laws in one space variable.


Abstract Antiprotonic helium, a neutral exotic three-body system consisting of a heliumnucleus, an electron and an antiproton, is being studied at the Antiproton Decel-erator of CERN by the ASAUCSA collaboration. Using laser spectroscopy of theenergy levels of the antiproton in this system and comparison to theory, a valueof the antiproton-to-electron mass ratio with an error of 3 ppb could be obtained.This result agrees with the most precise measurement of the value of the protonand allows us to extract a limit of the equality of the proton and antiproton chargeand mass of 2 ppb. Using microwave spectroscopy, the hyperfine structure of an-tiprotonic helium has been measured to 30 ppm. Experimental improvements areexpected to soon provide a new value for the magnetic moment of the antiproton. 1 Introduction Initially discovered at KEK in 1991 [1], antiprotonic helium has been studied exten-sively at LEAR [2] and the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) of CERN. It is an exotic 3-bodysystem p – e – He


Mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences (472 bases) for endangered Japanese golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos japonica) were investigated to evaluate-intrapopulational genetic variations. Among 23 golden eagles, including origin-known eagles caught in the wild and origin-unknown eagles, 10 variable sites were found in the 472 base-sequences. From the nucleotide substitutions, five haplotypes of D-loop sequences were identified, indicating the occurrence of at least three maternal lineages in golden eagles around Japan. Distribution patterns of D-loop haplotypes suggested a wide genetic communication between local populations around Japan prior to a recent habitat fragmentation and a decrease in the population size. In addition, cytogenetic analysis showed that a karyotype specific to the Japanese golden eagle is consistently 2n=62 including eight microchromosomes. Based on mitochondrial DNA and karyotype data, it is likely that golden eagle populations from Japan and the Korean Peninsula together form a common conservation unit. These results provide an important framework for conservation actions for Japanese golden eagle populations in zoos, and in situ reintroduction and translocation programs. Zoo Biol 17:111–121, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


Evolutionary anthropology has focused on the origins of war, or rather ethnocentricity, because it epitomizes the problem of group selection, and because war may itself have been the main agent of group selection. The neo-Darwinian synthesis in biology has explained how ethnocentricity might evolve by group selection, and the distinction between evoked culture and adopted culture, suggested by the emerging synthesis in evolutionary psychology, has explained how it might be transmitted. Ethnocentric mechanisms could have evolved by genetic selection in ancestral hominids, or through the interaction of genetic and cultural selection in modern humans, or both. The existence of similar behaviors in chimpanzees and the parallel development of early human societies around the globe are arguments for such inherited mechanisms. There may have been some adaptive breakthroughs in purely cultural evolution, but this process does not seem likely to produce long-term Darwinian adaptations because of the prolificity of cultural traits. Warfare may once have been a major agent of group selection, but the rates of extinction among human groups are so slow as to render this improbable since the rise of state-level societies, whose warfare tends to become a cyclical balance-of-power situation. Perhaps the most serious implication of current evolutionary thought is that the individualistic model of culture common in the social sciences and humanities is outmoded, and should be replaced by a new model that recognizes the organismic nature of human societies.