Since the American invasion,the situation of Iraq can be summed up as the following four processes: a). "Viet Namization",i.e.,the U.S. lands herself in a long war in a Third World country; b). "Lebanonization",i.e.,the tendency towards collapse of a united and sovereign state; c). "Bosnianization",i.e.,a large-scale racial purge; d). "Afghanistanization',i.e.,the formation of an anti-American base for radical Muslims in the world. The development of four processes has showed the continuity of American policy towards the Third World and the existence of the problem of nation state building in the Third World.


Despite its hasty claim, it is NOT a "standard". Rather, it is a work-in-progress proposal for an object-oriented database language and language bindings to it for C++ and Smalltalk. ODMG (Object-Oriented Database Management Group) is not a formal "standards" body. It is a committee formed by five vendors of first-generation object-oriented database systems (OODB). (For several years, some of these vendors have offered products that are not much more than persistent storage managers for object-oriented programming languages, but the misleading label "Object-Oriented Database System" has been stuck on such products in the market.) And now the misleading label "standard" seems to be attached to the ODMG-93 work-in-progress proposals.


A method to assess the reduction of impact sound level by floor coverings on massive floors by a single number, based on standardised measurements, is laid down since many years in ISO 717-2. A similar procedure for floor coverings on light weight floors however has not been defined until now. Only during the last years ISO 140-11 has been drafted describing the method of measuring the reduction of the impact sound level by floor coverings on typical light weight standard floors with 3 kinds of excitation. With that the question about a single number definition based on the results of these measurements arose.


In Japan, the coastal region is discussed to be a more suitable for the geological disposal in the council held by ANRE. However, the engineering technology has not been fully studied to apply the repository to this region. Regarding the engineering technology, the rock grouting has been recently studied as one of the most significant technologies. Although the cement has not been reported to be affected by saline water, the latest grouting material called colloidal silica grout (CSG or silica sol in Sweden), which has become a mandatory material to seal narrow rock fractures in great depth, is known to be sensitive to salinity. It is a durable liquid grout with a gelling property by mixing a salt accelerator. Its mechanism affected by sea water is unclear and its grouting methodology in such condition is not yet established either. Therefore, a research project on grouting under sea water was established, as a part of the public offered project by ANRE, in order to enhance existing rock grouting technology for disposal tunnels under sea water. During this project, we studied on the latest grouting technologies for geological disposal in Nordic countries and Japan by article survey and a workshop held in Finland in January 2017. As a result, it was found that the approaches for countermeasures in grouting under sea water were different between Japan, Sweden and Finland, which are based respectively on mixing method, design method, and controlling method. It seems that the best solution against this problem is in the near future to establish a hybrid and optimal grouting methodology under sea water by combining each country's developed technology. As for the Japanese project, it was discovered significant to develop a generic mixing method under sea water.


Abstract: We present the first present-day stress orientation measurements across a delta and deep-water, delta toe fold–thrust belt. Stress and neotectonic data for NW Borneo reveal three discrete neotectonic provinces: an inverted, inner shelf province (where present-day maximum horizontal stress, σH, is oriented margin-normal); an extensional, delta top province (σH is margin-parallel), and a compressional, delta toe province (σH is margin-normal). We interpret the delta top and delta toe data to reflect that compression in the fold–thrust belt is coupled to delta top extension and that the inverted, inner shelf province reflects the location of this system on an active margin.


We compactify M(atrix) theory on Riemann surfaces Σ with genus g > 1. Following [1], we construct a projective unitary representation of π1(Σ) realized on L (H), with H the upper half–plane. As a first step we introduce a suitably gauged sl2(R) algebra. Then a uniquely determined gauge connection provides the central extension which is a 2–cocycle of the 2nd Hochschild cohomology group. Our construction is the double–scaling limit N →∞, k→ −∞ of the representation considered in the Narasimhan–Seshadri theorem, which represents the higher–genus analog of 't Hooft's clock and shift matrices of QCD. The concept of a noncommutative Riemann surface Σθ is introduced as a certain C–algebra. Finally we investigate the Morita equivalence.


Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is an inflammatory lung disease caused by chronic exposure to cigarette smoke. Oxidative stress is one of the most important mechanisms involved in the physiopathology of COPD. Nuclear Factor Erythroid 2-related (Nrf2) is critical in protection against oxidative stress by inducing expression of antioxidant genes and a decrease in its expression has been observed in COPD patients. Objective: The aim of this study was to characterise the effects of Bardoxolone, Omavexolone and Obacunone as antioxidant drugs in COPD. Methods: Peripheral blood neutrophils from COPD and healthy volunteers and Primary Human Bronchial Epithelial cells were incubated with the cited drugs and stimulated with cigarette smoke extract (CSE). Expression of antioxidant genes, cytokine release, GSH levels and apoptosis were measured by RT-PCR, ELISA, luminescent assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results: Expression assays using neutrophils, as well as lung tissue, showed a negative correlation between the expression of antioxidant genes and the severity of the disease. After stimulation with CSE and drug treatment, cells displayed an increase in expression of antioxidant genes, as well as, an inhibition in the release of inflammatory cytokines. In addition, GSH assays showed that Bardoxolone, Omavexolone and Obacunone were able to activate Nrf2 with EC50 values of 6.4nM, 15.3nM and 38.7μM, respectively. Moreover, these drugs were effective in apoptosis inhibition. Conclusions: Bardoxolone, Omavexolone and Obacunone show a huge antioxidant response against CSE-induced COPD by Nrf2 activation. Thus, these drugs may represent a promising therapeutic option in COPD.


Aqueous rechargeable batteries (ARBs) are gaining increasing attention as alternatives to conventional nonaqueous lithium ion batteries. However, finding electrode materials with competitive electrochemical properties in various aspects is challenging. Moreover, the operation mechanism of some of high performance electrode materials is not fully understood. Here, an α‐phase layered double hydroxide (α‐LDH) working in alkaline electrolytes as an ARB cathode is reported. On charge, OH− carrier ions intercalate into the interlayer space and react with protons detached from the host structure to yield crystal water. This crystal water is then arranged in a superlattice during charging to accommodate carrier ions and stabilize the structure. The solid solution mixing of cobalt and nickel also stabilizes the structure during the wide range of redox swing of Ni from 2+ to 4+. In pairing with Fe3O4/Fe(OH)2 mixture, the α‐LDH exhibits 198.0 mA h g−1 at 3 A g−1, 68.3% capacity retention after 10 000 cycles, and 172.5 mA h g−1 at 1 min charge, demonstrating the promise of hydrated compounds for ARB electrodes. The present study elucidates that the arrangement of crystal water within the host framework plays a critical role in determining the electrochemical performance of the corresponding hydrated active compound in aqueous media.


Abstract One-lung anesthesia in infant is always a challenge to the pediatric anesthesiologist. Thoracoscopic diaphragmatic eventration repair requires high quality of lung isolation for proper surgical access. We are reporting a new technique of lung isolation by Fogarty embolectomy catheter alongside the endotracheal tube in four infants.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of corporate volunteering on employee bonding and to understand the barriers and motivation to participation in these events. In contrast to other studies the participants volunteer in their spare time without expecting any financial reward. Design/methodology/approach – Employees (n 3951) of a logistic company participated in the study based on an online questionnaire with 6 items and open questions. The employee sample was divided into 3 groups depending on the frequency of participation in volunteering events. Findings – Significant differences were found on bonding between the three groups. In addition, the relevance of control variables like gender, age and job level were obtained. Furthermore a moderation effect of motivation was found. The results were interpreted within the broader context that ties motivation theory, organizational identification and social exchange theory.


Providing proper technical solutions to cover all requirements of the Voice over LTE (VoLTE) service is still a great challenge for operators. Network monitoring is one of the important methods to support service verification, deployment and operations. The VoLTE service utilizes both the LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). These architectures are built on different principles, using protocols with different mindset. Furthermore, they utilize subscriber- and call-related parameters both in redundant and fragmented manners. On one hand, the same data is stored in functional elements of both architectures, which led to partial data redundancy. On the other hand, Call Data Records (CDRs) cannot be assembled by simply capturing signaling on a few given links. Information is fragmented, hence on-the-fly cross-correlation of key parameters is required. To effectively utilize the network and service monitoring system, operators need new methods to correlate the information of various interfaces and protocols. There are many obstacles to overcome here, including information fragmentation in various links, ciphered control messages, and global identifiers hidden by temporary ones.


This technical report describes a new preliminary approach to simulate fog in images using accurate physical and photometric models to study the influence of small particles on computer vision algorithms.


Three wild isolates and three mutants of Phoma tracheiphila (Petri) Kanc. et Ghilk. were tested for virulence on young Lemon trees. Their respective culture filtrates were tested for toxicity to Tomato cuttings and Sour orange and Lemon leaves. No relationship between phytotoxicity of metabolites produced in vitro and virulence resulted.


The preparation and applications of ZrO2 nano powders are introduced in this paper,the prospect of its applications is also predicted. At present,the main methods of preparing ZrO2 nano powders are chemical methods. Various methods such as coprecipitation,metal alkoxides sol-gel, reverse micelles,hydrothermal,solvent evaporation, azeotropic distillation method and chemical vapour method etc,are described and evaluated respectively. Meanwhile,the researches of ZrO2 nano powders?application are discussed. The sintering temperature of ceramics decreases,while the toughness and strength of ceramics are enhanced when ZrO2 nano powders are dispersed in the ceramics baseline. ZrO2 nano powders show excellent catalytic activity and selectivity when they are used as catalyst in catalytic hydrogenation and soil nitrogen fixation fields.


An evaluation inventory was developed to help sport psychology consultants assess and improve the field services they provide. Consultant characteristics included in the inventory were based on extensive interviews with Olympic athletes and coaches. The inventory was administered to 104 Canadian Olympic athletes who assessed 26 sport psychology consultants. Data from this survey were used to determine the validity and reliability of the Sport Psychology Consultant Evaluation Form (CEF). Practical suggestions are provided for enhancing the quality of sport psychology consultation services through the use of the CEF.


Lipid and fatty acid metabolism in human is usually measured by using whole bloods or sera of subjects and by detecting lipids and fatty acids in serum or erythrocytes with biochemical and chromatographic apparatus in clinical laboratory. On the other hand, many trials have been made for a long time to develop non-invasive diagnostic methods for monitoring lipid and fatty acid metabolism in human instantly at anywhere and anytime, especially to contribute for personal health care. For this purpose vibrational spectroscopy such as FTIR used for lipid and fatty acid measurements seems promising because of its analytical advancement and mobility. The technique of NMR spectroscopy for non-destructive measurement of human serum lipoproteins has been established and contributed to various epidemiological researches. These spectroscopic techniques are suitable for non-invasive or non-destructive and instantaneous measurements, and expected for fur ther development of clinical measurements of lipid and fatty acid metabolism in human.


As an effective image preprocessing method, color correction is widely used in the field of image stitching. However, due to the changeable visual environment, parallax often occurs in mosaic images. So far, there are few algorithms dealing with color correction under parallax situation. And most color correction methods produce poor results in images with parallax. This paper introduces a color correction algorithm which can also be applied in the case of parallax in image mosaic. We use VFC algorithm, color hue information and iterative calculation to obtain better color correction results. Compared with existing algorithms, it has the wider range of applications. The experiments show that our method has faster time efficiency and better results.


Portal hypertension is usually due to increased resistance from cirrhosis. However, pressures can also be elevated due to increased flow.

 To describe a peculiar case of non-cirrhotic portal hypertension.

 A case report and literature review was performed.

 A 47-year-old previously well man presented with a 6 month history of rapidly progressive weight loss, ascites and variceal bleed. Workup ruled out common causes of primary liver disease. Initial imaging demonstrated a heterogenous liver, splenomegaly, ascites, patent hepatic/portal veins and multiple poorly defined low-density hepatic lesions with the largest measuring 2.1 cm. Transient elastography was 7.3 kPa (F1-mild fibrosis). At transjugular liver biopsy, hepatic venogram ruled out Budd-Chiari and hepatic vein pressure gradient was normal at 3–4 mmHg. Histology unfortunately showed hemangioma. A percutaneous liver biopsy suggested nodular regenerative hyperplasia, minimal fibrosis and mild cholestasis. Given worsening ascites, hyponatremia and 7 months of rapidly progressive decline, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPSS) was inserted. Intra-procedure, portal vein pressure was noted to be 51 mmHg, with a portosystemic gradient of 42 mmHg. Although numerous abdominal CT and MRI did not show AV shunting, ultrasound post-TIPSS showed hepatic pseudoaneurysms & arterioportal fistulae (APF). Direct angiogram showed numerous hepatic pseudoaneurysms and intrahepatic fistulae making embolization impossible. CT showed no evidence of pseudoaneurysms or fistulae outside of the liver. Workup for autoimmune rheumatological diseases and congenital telangiectatic syndromes were negative. Given the high pressures being directed through the new TIPSS, right heart failure is an ongoing concern.
 APF are rarely encountered causes of presinusoidal portal hypertension, with communications most commonly arising from the hepatic (65%) & splenic arteries (11%) & the portal vein. Causes include traumatic (28%), iatrogenic (16%), vascular/telangiectatic malformations (15%), tumors (15%), aneurysms (14%) & congenital disease. Endovascular embolization can be used to treat single lesions. In complex cases with mulitple APF, surgery and/or liver transplantation may be required.

 We report a rare case of non-cirrhotic portal hypertension due to increased flow rather than increased resistance secondary to APF.

 None


In the thraustochytrid Ulkenia amoeboidea (Bahnweg & Sparrow) Gaertner the contents of the mature vegetative thallus escape from the cell wall in the form of a limax cell. The limax cell is covered by a layer of scales and possesses a nucleus, a paranuclear body, Golgi bodies, mitochondria, bands of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, vacuoles, multivesicular bodies, and cisternae with filamentous contents. The posterior end is filled with smooth endoplasmic reticulum and fusiform vesicles. The anterior end is organelle free and filled with cytoplasm with free ribosomes. Subspherical dense bodies, bounded by a single membrane, are present. The limax cell rounds up prior to mitosis and the Golgi bodies increase in number. During mitosis, the nuclear membrane breaks down totally. Chromosomes are not well defined. Spindle microtubules arise from the centriole and enter the nucleus. After nuclear division, the nuclear envelope is reformed. Cytokinesis is by cleavage into two cells, accompanied by formation of micro...


Backround: Nursing holds a critical place in the health care system. The work performance of nurses has an impact on patient safety and the quality of clinical care. To improve work performance, nurses should be assisted by their senior managers and leaders who use coaching behavior as a strategy tool in the management to guide employees to realize their full potential and maximize it. Aim: This study aims to investigate whether coaching behavior has a mediating role in the effects of intrinsic motivation on work addiction among nurses. Design: This research study utilized a cross sectionl survey design. Methods: A total of 269 nurses who were working at Ankara Education and Research Hospital were included in the study. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 20 for Windows. Funding:The mean work addiction total score was 3,26±0,72; the mean coaching behavior scale score was 2,89±1,02 and the mean intrinsic motivation scale score was 3,86±0,78 for the participants. Work addiction showed a positive linear correlation with coaching behavior and intrinsic motivation (r=0,243, r=0,148, respectively, p<0,05). Besides, there was a positive linear correlation between coaching behavior and intrinsic motivation (r=0,140 p<0,05). Conclusion: We performed Sobel Test to investigate the mediating effect among the variables and found that coaching behavior had a fully mediating role in the effects of intrinsic motivation on work addiction.


This paper presents some ideas about building Foshan into a cultural and historical city and its old urban part's preservation, such as the preservation of historic and cultural blocks, the lay-out of its reconstruction, the restoration of South China landscape in old urban areas, the establishment of the city's cultural image and the preservation of its whole environment.


The theoretical aspects and mathematical framework of the time-invariant (TIV) nonlinear (weakly) system transfer function estimation and identification are considered to determine their feasibility. A mathematical framework is laid out in terms of the Volterra series. The approach attempts to circumvent conventional problems in identifying the nonlinear set of parameters that renders the Volterra series attractive to nonlinear systems but awkward to apply. Since an unknown TIV system is presumed for an observed output of some known input, measures applied for system linearity provide a means for identifying the existence of a nonlinear system. The methodology outlined provides an estimate of nonlinear system parameters that is useful in unknown communication channels which can be categorized by their particular nonlinear characteristic outputs. Such an approach facilitates identification of linear versus nonlinear channels, including differentiation between those identified as being nonlinear.<<ETX>>


The characteristics and influence factors of vacuum fusion technology were reviewed.The research status of mading self-fluxing alloy coating,composite coating and gradient material were introduced.


Andrews and Curtis conjectured in 1965 that every balanced presentation of the trivial group can be transformed into a standard presentation by a finite sequence of elementary transformations. Recent computational work by Miasnikov and Myasnikov on this problem has been based on genetic algorithms. We show that a computational attack based on a breadth-first search of the tree of equivalent presentations is also viable, and seems to outperform that based on genetic algorithms. It allows us to extract shorter proofs (in some cases, provably shortest) and to consider the length thirteen case for two generators. We prove that, up to equivalence, there is a unique minimum potential counterexample.


A comparative experimental study of terahertz generation by optical rectification of femtosecond laser pulses with a wavelength of 1560 nm in a 100 μm thick slab of GaAs sandwiched between the walls of a tapered metallic waveguide and in a bulk GaAs crystal has been performed. In both cases, the velocity mismatch between the optical and terahertz beams propagating in GaAs was overcome by using the Cherenkov phase-matching method. The dependence of the terahertz time-domain signal amplitude, spectral bandwidth, and dynamic range on the focusing conditions were measured and compared. For both samples, the most efficient generation was observed for the 50 mm focal length lens. A significant improvement in the directionality of the terahertz emission from the thin GaAs slab due to the tapered waveguide was predicted by FDTD simulations and this was also confirmed experimentally.


A Two-Pronged Strategy for Hospitals: Generate More Income, Cut Employee Health Costs Hospitals might not be happy with some of the costcutting approaches that have been taken by insurers and managed care companies. These cuts have resulted in shorter stays, less use of expensive equipment, and other controls that can adversely affect hospitals' financial health. But the hospitals still do not want to bite the hand that feeds them. Two thirds of the 240 health care facilities that responded to a Coopers & Lybrand survey said that they are participating in more managed care programs as a way to gendrate income. At the same time, many hospitals are taking a scalpel to their own health plans. According to the survey, 95% of the health care facilities implemented at least one program to contain costs last year. The most common steps taken were increasing employee contributions for health insurance (40%) and increasing employee deductibles (28%). Nearly 10% said that they reduced the level of benefits as a costcutting measure. education campaign, "Every Patient Deserves a Nurse," has been underway for a year and is designed to prompt consumers to specifically ask for a registered nurse when they are in the hospital. The public is unaware that some facilities are turning over certain tasks to people who are not licensed to perform them. One of the main reasons people are treated in hospitals is that they require 24-hour care by highly skilled professionals, yet hospitals are taking licensed RN staff away from the bedside. The stakes here are very high, and consumers have the right to know who is taking care of them when they are sick and vulnerable. The effort to stop these practices will have to be driven by public opinion, especially in the current environment of health care deregulation. Health care is big business, and if customers protest and go elsewhere, executives will listen. ANA is asking all health care providers, including nurses and physicians, and consumers to be active on this issue at some level. This could include simple activities, such as handing out copies of the consumer brochure "Every Patient Deserves a Nurse" to neighbors, friends, churchgoers, and people you meet everywhere, even on vacation. So far, more than a quarter of a million copies of the brochure have been distributed to consumers. ANA's goal is to distribute 1 million copies within the next 2 years.


In PWM inverters, a time delay between consecutive semiconductor switching is introduced to prevent a short circuit in the DC link. This action causes the dead-time effect, which is detrimental to the performance of inverters. This paper deals with a new technique that speedup the feedback loop in Shunt Active Power Filter, in order to compensate the dead-time effect. A simple method based on an average value theory can be used to compensate this effect. For Shunt Active Power Filters (SAPF), the compensation can be done in two different ways, one for the feedforward configuration and the other for the feedback one. This paper presents both techniques and discusses the details, advantage of the feedback implementation with a new fast feedback loop that guaranties the dead-time compensation and the overall stability. Experimental results are presented showing the effectiveness of the proposed technique.


There will be two speakers for each session, tackling the subjects from different viewpoints. In addition, the Seminar will be divided into four commissions to discuss the broad general field of Afro-European co-operation: rural development in Africa; co-operation in the impact of technological change; Afro-European political relationships and development; communications and Afro-European co-operation.


Peter Sullivan is Professor of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education at Monash University. He is the author of the shape paper for the new national mathematics curriculum, editor of the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, for four years was a member of the Australian Research Council College of Experts, and is president of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers. Abstract As part of a larger project1, students' views on their preferences for particular types of mathematical tasks were sought, as well as how they describe their ideal mathematics lesson, and their responses to specifically prepared tasks from sequences of lessons. The students had particular views about both tasks and lessons and were able to articulate their views. Teachers would do well to seek to find out the types of tasks and lessons that particular students prefer, and to be more explicit about what they are intending to do in every one of their lessons.


We point out that the brick-wall model cannot be applied to the nonstatic black hole. In the case of a static hole, we propose a new model where the black hole entropy is attributed to the dynamical degrees of the field covering the two-dimensional membrane just outside the horizon. A cutoff different from the model of 't Hooft is necessarily introduced. It can be treated as an increase in horizon because of the space–time fluctuations. We also apply our model to the nonequilibrium and nonstatic cases, such as Schwarzschild–de Sitter and Vaidya space–times. In the nonstatic case, the entropy relies on a time-dependent cutoff.


For simulation of winding tension control system using computer , the parameters about system design and the system performance with these parameters can be quickly obtained. It makes site committing easy and fast. For system design and adjustment, the paper analyses how to simulate an indirect tension control system or a direct tension control system using simulation tool of MATLAB language as an example.


The new method for the palladacycle-catalyzed arylation reaction is applicable to a wide range of substrates as aryl iodides, bromides and chlorides tolerating diverse substitution pattern including several ortho-substituents.


Objective To develop a convenient and rapid method for detecting ketamine,methamphetamine and morphine simultaneously.Methods Anti-ketamine,anti-methamphetamine and anti-morphine monoclonal antibodies were conjugated with colloidal gold particles separately and dispensed on the glass fiber membrane.The complete antigen ketamine-BSA,methamphetamine-BSA and morphine-BSA,and the goat anti-mouse IgG polyclonal antibody were coated on the nitrocellulose membrane as the test lines(T line) and the control line(C line).Different intensities of the purple lines on the strip could be seen as a result of the competition for binding to the conjugated antibodies between the complete antigens and free ketamine,methamphetamine and morphine which maybe present in the samples.Results Data from specificity test to 66 kinds of drug showing the test can detect ketamine,methamphetamine and morphine without any cross reactions to other kind of drugs,The cut-off value was 1 000ng/ml,1 000ng/ml and 300ng/ml for ketamine,methamphetamine and morphine separately,and got the same results with GC/MS methods.The stability experiment showed the 3 in 1 cassette can maintain its effect for a long period at the room temperature.Conclusion The detection kit developed by this study is convenient and rapid for detecting ketamine,methamphetamine and morphine in the samples simultaneously.


The members of large High Energy Physics (HEP) collaborations come from all over the world. In the case of the ATLAS Collaboration, many of its members come from Latin American, Middle Eastern and Sub-Saharan countries, and so they understand that in many places it can be a challenge to teach experimental HEP. But all members of the collaboration also recognise the massive potential that the always-increasing university student population has, not only concerning fundamental physics but also regarding computing-sciences skills. For that reason, several outreach teams, which include ATLAS, IPPOG, CEVALE2VE members and many other researchers, have been developing and examining free Open Source technologies to release data and to provide effective web-based and offline environments to run, produce, save and share HEP physics analyses. After several years, and with the help of other outreach programmes like the Virtual Visits, ATLAS established an active community that is not just releasing knowledge, data and resources, but genuinely training new physicists who are pursuing advanced studies in experimental HEP right now.


The article analyses results of the improving by the way of forming axiological bases of learning that is value altitude to physical culture and sports. The specificity of basic paradigms of the realization of value approach in the context of basic paradigms of modern pedagogy is defined. Today the youth has opportunities to be engaged in physical training on interests less. Students frequently not only study, but also work at leisure. Productivity of a subject of physical training in structure of vocational training remains rather low and tends to the further decrease.


The article presents a study of the design of the working body of a screw conveyor, made in the form of a shaft with inclined flat blades. The productivity of the conveyor with a working body, made in the form of a shaft with inclined flat blades, increases proportionally with an increase in the speed of rotation of the working bodies, and decreases with an increase in the angle of inclination of the fixed body to the horizon. The productivity of the screw conveyor with a working body, made in the form of a shaft with inclined flat blades, increases proportionally with an increase in the speed of rotation of the working bodies, and decreases with an increase in the angle of inclination of the fixed body to the horizon. Within the range of rotational speed from 100 rpm to 600 rpm, productivity increases by 2.0 – 2.4 times, and, when angle of inclination of the fixed body to the horizon changes from 0º to 30º, it decreases by 45 – 55%. It has been established that the productivity of such a conveyor is 1.03 ... 1.05 times greater than the productivity of a conveyor with a screw working body.


Then there's chiropractic, which research and experience show is the safest, most effective option for most cases of back pain. Unfortunately, too many people end up in a medical doctor's office instead of a chiropractor's office, which accounts for the rampant use of medications and surgery for back pain, particularly here in the U.S. Here's why back surgery – and medical management of back pain in general – is too frequent, too costly and too ineffective, and why chiropractic care should be your first option when dealing with back pain.


Access to dementia care varies across Europe, an impression for which more evidence is needed. In Portugal, data is scarce on the accessibility and utilization of formal care by persons with dementia. The health and social care systems are complex, and regulations have often changed in recent times. Despite improvements, timely access to services does not seem to be standard practice yet. The Actifcare project aims to collect all information available on the topic and to provide new evidence on qualitative and qualitative grounds. Focus groups' preliminary results point to issues concerning the availability and accessibility of formal care, along with strong (but changing) family networks. In the cohort study, difficulties with the ongoing recruitment process illustrate how persons with mild dementia are not easily identified in primary care; referral to specialized care often occurs when functional dependence befalls. Among Actifcare countries this scenario differs.


Tai Chi Chuan has been considered suitable for older adults because of the evidence of the benefits of its practice on a physical, emotional, social and cognitive level. However, the lack of research analyzing the influence of Tai Chi Chuan on the cognitive functioning of older adults in daily living activities has been indicated. The aim of this study is to compare and relate the cognitive, affective and functional capacity of elderly women who are practicing and not practicing Tai Chi Chuan. A total of 59 older adults divided into the practicing group (n=29) and the non-practicing group (n=30) participated, both evaluated with the COGNISTAT tests, Inventory of Activities of the Daily Life of the Elderly, Anxiety Inventory of Beck and the Beck Depression Inventory. A significant difference was found in the execution of Memory, with a better performance by the practicing group. Significant differences were observed in the Difficulty index as part of the evaluation of the activities of the daily life, with the practicing group having the lowest level of difficulty to perform them. No relationship was observed between the scores obtained from the assessment of cognitive functioning with the variables of the affective state in the practicing group. There was a positive correlation between the Satisfaction level of the activities of the daily life and Analogies and Judgment scores. The obtained findings support the existing evidence that the practice of Tai Chi Chuan is related to better functionality and cognitive performance of older adults.


The effects of varying polymerization conditions on the extent of oxygen inhibition of free-radical photopolymerization were investigated using both experimental and modeling efforts. Specifically, sample thickness, initiation rate, and oxygen concentration were varied, and the resulting photopolymerization kinetics were studied using real-time FTIR and a comprehensive photopolymerization model. As the sample thickness was increased, the overall average double-bond conversion increased due to the greater conversion in the lower depths of the films. Because of the dramatic inhibition at the top of the film, this led to heterogeneity in the film's conversion as shown with the comprehensive model. Increasing the initiation rate decreased the inhibition time and increased the overall average double-bond conversion due to an increase in the overall radical production, allowing better competition of the propagation reaction with the inhibition reaction. The oxygen concentration was varied, and as the oxygen con...


Introduction Productivity of buffalo is still low and there is a plenty of room for increasing productivity of buffalo through improvement of reproductive performance. The productivity of buffalo is considerably affected by inherent problems such as low reproductive efficiency, which is mainly due to late maturity, poor expression of estrus, anestrus, inactive ovaries, long postpartum interval, seasonality in cyclicity and silent estrus. Anestrus due to ovarian dysfunction or silent ovulation and repeat breeding are two major reproductive disorders in buffalo [1]. Regulation of reproductive function involves the hypothalamus–pituitary–gonad axis and its interactions. The follicular stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone Abstract The aim of this study was to detect the genetic polymorphism of luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) gene and its association with fertility in Egyptian buffalo using PCR-RFLP and sequencing analysis. A total number of 301 comprised of 100 fertile and 201 nonfertile buffalo were used. Gynecological examinations (aided by ultrasonography) were carried out twice for two successive weeks. The genomic DNA was extracted from females and the PCR product was assessed. The percentages of inactive ovary and endometritis (grad, I) were the most common reproductive problems. The mean uterine horn diameter was largest during follicular phase followed by luteal phase and inactive ovary (2.67 ± 0.11, 2.28 ± 0.09 and 2.18 ± 0.11 cm, respectively). The PCR product of the primer specific for LHR gene gave the specific band at size 303 bp.The amplified fragments remained undigested by HhaI restriction enzymes and all tested buffalo were genotyped as TT. DNA sequence of 259 bp out of the amplified 303 bp was determined. The sequence alignment of 259 bp of Egyptian buffalo LHR with published sequence (accession number: XM_006078413.1 and JQ885687.1, Bubalus bubalis) showed that the 259 bp segment possess identities at 100%. In conclusion, monomorphic pattern for LHR gene is considered a unique feature that may be related to the characteristic species in buffalo. Therefore, the polymorphisms and interaction with the fertility trait should be the subject for further research with a bigger number of animals.


Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become a framework for exploring what teachers need to know or to develop for effective teaching. Physics teachers' PCK includes five components. In this study, the self-made "Questionnaire of Physics Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge" was used. The quantitative responses were compiled and analyzed by SPSS. The results indicated that the physics teachers' level of PCK is on the intermediate and many factors help physics teachers to develop their PCK. © 2014 Elixir All rights reserved ARTICLE INF O Article h istory: Received: 22 June 2014; Received in revised form: 25 July 2014; Accepted: 14 August 2014;


Aim: To examine dimensions of cannabis risk perception among users and non‐users. Setting: University campus. Participants: Two hundred and thirty‐seven university students aged between 17 and 24 years. Measurement: Measures included the frequency of past and present cannabis use, and perceptions of the level of overall risk of various categories of use. Cannabis users were asked to rate the risk of harming themselves at their current level of use. Fifteen dimensions of cannabis risk perception were also assessed. Findings: Perceptions of risk varied across problem domains. Approximately 60% of respondents considered physical addiction to be a great risk for those using at least 2–3 times per week compared with 25% for legal problems. Adverse acute effects (particularly anxiety) were not considered to be a great risk by most of the sample. Conclusions: Risk perception varies considerably across problem domains, and users of cannabis do not necessarily perceive low personal risk. This is particularly relevant for the design of intervention programmes. It is recommended that referral information be readily available at universities for the proportion of students who feel personally vulnerable to risks associated with cannabis.


We investigate high-rate quantization for various detection and reconstruction loss criteria. A new distortion measure is introduced which accounts for global loss in best attainable binary hypothesis testing performance. The distortion criterion is related to the area under the receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curve. Specifically, motivated by Sanov's theorem, we define a performance curve as the trajectory of the pair of optimal asymptotic Type I and Type II error rates of the most powerful Neyman-Pearson test of the hypotheses. The distortion measure is then defined as the difference between the area-under-the-curve (AUC) of the optimal pre-encoded hypothesis test and the AUC of the optimal post-encoded hypothesis test. As compared to many previously introduced distortion measures for decision making, this distortion measure has the advantage of being independent of any detection thresholds or priors on the hypotheses, which are generally difficult to specify in the code design process. A high-resolution Zador-Gersho type of analysis is applied to characterize the point density and the inertial profile associated with the optimal high-rate vector quantizer. The analysis applies to a restricted class of high-rate quantizers that have bounded cells with vanishing volumes. The optimal point density is used to specify a Lloyd-type algorithm which allocates its finest resolution to regions where the gradient of the pre-encoded likelihood ratio has greatest magnitude.


When current mode electrochemical sensor reacts with target gas, it also reacts with other oxy-gases, which results in inaccurate measured value. Aiming at these problems, according to the working principle of potentiostat, a potentiostat circuit is studied using high precision voltage reference, direct current negative feedback circuit and reference electrode circuit, which can provide constant potential for working electrode and improve selectivity of sensor .At the same time, the relation between potential difference and fixed potential are studied by experiment. And the performance index of controlled potential is obtained. This circuit has the merits such as stable fixed potential (relative error ≤0.2%), high precision controlled potential (relative error≤0.3%) and convenient realization.


Key Points Question Does an association exist between a program-level incentive metric for contraceptive use among women enrolled in Medicaid and the increased use of effective contraceptive methods? Findings This cohort study using a comparative interrupted time series analysis of 532 337 Medicaid person-years and 1 131 738 privately insured person-years found that a program level incentive was associated with an increase in the use of effective contraception among women enrolled in the Oregon Medicaid program relative to changes in contraceptive use by commercially insured women. Meaning The findings of this study support program-based incentives for the provision of effective contraception use among women enrolled in Medicaid.


This is a philosophical study of the normative question as to how regulation of informed consent should be constructed with reference to biobanking. In this first interim study I shall try to answer three questions. Firstly, what does a person consent to when permitting a tissue specimen to be taken for use in research? In order to assess procedures of information and consent, we have to be clear in our minds concerning what happens when somebody takes part in research of this kind. Secondly, we have to know what informed consent is and what its function is to be. In the following pages I propose a model of informed consent and formulate three principles which can be used in working out guidelines. Thirdly, I shall be addressing the more specific question of what possibility donors should have of withdrawing their specimens and having them destroyed, my purpose being to test the possibility of giving a preliminary answer compatible with these principles.


We evaluated a rapid and sensitive method to determine human cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA levels in blood cells using a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. This method is based on real‐time detection of PCR using a dual fluorescence‐labeled probe and a sequence detector. Ten copies of CMV DNA were detected, when 1 μg of DNA from blood samples was used with this method, and a good correlation was obtained between increased concentrations of copy numbers calculated and measured copy numbers of CMV DNA (r = 0.999). Forty normal subjects exhibited no copies of CMV DNA. On the other hand, a 6‐month‐old girl tested positive for increased levels 4 weeks after liver transplant. This method is simple, accurate, and sensitive for the quantitative detection of CMV DNA in vivo, indicating possible applications for the diagnosis and monitoring of CMV infection. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 15:122–126, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The article provides a brief overview of the history of leasing, analyzes the trends and patterns that emerged in the leasing services market during the crises of the 21st century, and possible trends for the future of the industry.


During a recent visit to Australia, Lockheed Martin's JSF programme manager Tom Burbage expressed confidence that order numbers for the aircraft will weather the current period of financial turmoil. In addition to US jets, the first 10 aircraft for the UK and the Netherlands are almost complete and construction on Australia's first two as well as four for Italy will start before the end of the year. Lockheed Martin is in the process of finalising LRIP 6: that is the 6th year of Low Rate Initial Production of JSFs, which in itself says something about the maturity of the effort.


This chapter provides an overview of important topics in human resource management (HRM) that are affected by digitalization and automation. It is outlined how work in HRM is changing in areas such as mental health at work, work design, leadership and personnel development. The last section shifts focus and introduces a new way of working in HRM, known as HR analytics or people analytics. The fact that the various topics are not independent of each other and indeed intersect with each other is illuminated in the individual sections.


Mediated microbial electrosynthesis (MES) represents a promising strategy for the capture and conversion of CO 2 into carbon-based products. We describe the development and application of a comprehensive multiphysics model to analyze a formate-mediated MES reactor. The model shows that this system can achieve a biomass productivity of ~1.7 g L -1 hr -1 but is limited by a competitive trade-off between O 2 gas/liquid mass transfer and CO 2 transport to the cathode. Synthetic metabolic strategies are evaluated for formatotrophic growth, which can enable an energy efficiency of ~21%, a 30% improvement over the Calvin cycle. However, carbon utilization efficiency is only ~10% in the best cases due to a futile CO 2 cycle, so gas recycle will be necessary for greater efficiency. Finally, separating electrochemical and microbial processes into separate reactors enables a higher biomass productivity of ~2.4 g L -1 hr -1 . The mediated MES model and analysis presented here can guide process design for conversion of CO 2 into renewable chemical feedstocks.


The utility model relates to a portable 134.2 KHz RFID multi-interface reader-writer, comprising a power supply circuit; an antenna emitting a radiofrequency signal with a specific frequency and enabling targets with electric tags to generate induction current when entering into the working area of an emission antenna and a reading and writing circuit realizing data modulation, data demodulation and signal receiving and transmitting; a control circuit identifying tag identity and performing processing and control thereon according to logical operation of the demodulated and decoded data, and emitting instructions to control a reader-writer to complete different reading and writing operation; an interface circuit outputting tag data; a storage circuit storing tag data; a display circuit for displaying the reading and writing result on a liquid crystal screen; and an indication circuit for displaying the operation state of the reader-writer. The portable 134.2 KHz RFID multi-interface reader-writer is fast in reading and writing speed, can perform operation on EEPROM of a tag, is long in reading and writing distance, can realize non-contact type reading and writing operation, storage, output and display of a passive low frequency glass tube implanted tag, is strong in interference resistance, and has good secrecy and safety performance.


An overview of instrumentation for the Large Binocular Telescope is presented. Optical instrumentation includes the Large Binocular Camera (LBC), a pair of wide-field (27'x 27') UB/VRI optimized mosaic CCD imagers at the prime focus, and the Multi-Object Double Spectrograph (MODS), a pair of dual-beam blue-red optimized long-slit spectrographs mounted at the straight-through F/15 Gregorian focus incorporating multiple slit masks for multi-object spectroscopy over a 6\arcmin\ field and spectral resolutions of up to 8000. Infrared instrumentation includes the LBT Near-IR Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research (LUCIFER), a modular near-infrared (0.9-2.5 μm) imager and spectrograph pair mounted at a bent interior focal station and designed for seeing-limited (FOV: 4'x 4') imaging, long-slit spectroscopy, and multi-object spectroscopy utilizing cooled slit masks and diffraction limited (FOV: 0'.5 x 0'.5) imaging and long-slit spectroscopy. Strategic instruments under development for the remaining two combined focal stations include an interferometric cryogenic beam combiner with near-infrared and thermal-infrared instruments for Fizeau imaging and nulling interferometry (LBTI) and an optical bench beam combiner with visible and near-infrared imagers utilizing multi-conjugate adaptive optics for high angular resolution and sensitivity (LINC/NIRVANA). In addition, a fiber-fed bench spectrograph (PEPSI) capable of ultra high resolution spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry (R = 40,000-300,000) will be available as a principal investigator instrument. The availability of all these instruments mounted simultaneously on the LBT permits unique science, flexible scheduling, and improved operational support.


Background: Under modern health care human breast milk is considered the healthiest form of milk for babies. It also promotes the 1 health of both mother and infant and helps to prevent disease. WHO states that the vast majority of mothers can and should breastfeed just as the vast majority of infants can and should be breastfed. Purpose: The current study has aimed to determine the breastfeeding success among postnatal mothers. Methods: A descriptive survey approach was conducted on 50 postnatal mothers who were in the postnatal wards of a selected hospital. Observational checklist with 26 items were utilized to collect data. Results: Through descriptive analysis it was found that majority (44%) of mothers were in the age group of 20 – 25 years. Majority (68%) were Hindus. In type of delivery 84% had full termn ormal delivery. With regards to parity 44% were multis. In relation to sex of the baby 68% were females. The condition of th emother and the baby after delivery was good and normal in 100%. An observational checklist on breastfeeding success shows that the success rate on breastfeeding was high. There were 4 items such as getting ready to feed latching on feed itself and after feed and each item had 4 to 8 specific items on observational checklists on breastfeeding which indicates that in most of the mothers breastfeeding was a success. By inferential statistics it was found that type of delivery is associated with breast feeding (P < 0.05). Since all other p values are more than 0.05 there was no association between those selected demographic variables with breastfeeding at 5% level of significance. Conclusion: Breastfeeding is an age-old practice amongmost the post-natal mothers to feed their young ones. In India most of the mothers practice giving breastmilk to babies for about 1 to 2 years. Assistance by the health workers is not much sought as most of the bystanders assist themothers in breastfeeding. In the present study also we have come across mothers successfully breastfeeding their babies and they are contented.


Elastic cartilage constitutes a major component of the external ear, which functions to guide sound to the middle and inner ears. Defects in auricle development cause congenital microtia, which affects hearing and appearance in patients. Mutations in several genes have been implicated in microtia development, yet, the pathogenesis of this disorder remains incompletely understood. Here, we show that Prrx1 genetically marks auricular chondrocytes in adult mice. Interestingly, BMP-Smad1/5/9 signaling in chondrocytes is increasingly activated from the proximal to distal segments of the ear, which is associated with a decrease in chondrocyte regenerative activity. Ablation of Bmpr1a in auricular chondrocytes led to chondrocyte atrophy and microtia development at the distal part. Transcriptome analysis revealed that Bmpr1a deficiency caused a switch from the chondrogenic program to the osteogenic program, accompanied by enhanced protein kinase A activation, likely through increased expression of Adcy5/8. Inhibition of PKA blocked chondrocyte-to-osteoblast transformation and microtia development. Moreover, analysis of single-cell RNA-seq of human microtia samples uncovered enriched gene expression in the PKA pathway and chondrocyte-to-osteoblast transformation process. These findings suggest that auricle cartilage is actively maintained by BMP signaling, which maintains chondrocyte identity by suppressing osteogenic differentiation.


On basis of deep study of mechanism of heavy oil cold recovery through sand producing and relevant field data, requirements to screw pump, downhole tools, viscosity reduction in wellbore, and surface flow sheet are analyzed, and corresponding developing strategy is determined. The result shows that as producing of vast amount of sand and forming of foamy oil, single well production usually reaches 3~50 t/d, which is tens or hundreds times of that of conventional blowdown. The recovery factor normally is 8%~15%. To understand the effect of operational technique on heavy oil cold recovery through sand producing and to make corresponding strategy are significant for spreading this method in China.


A well easily grip body grip, upon the addition of a rotational torque to the grip body, the rotational torque is to provide a grip and a method of manufacturing a tool that can be efficiently transferred to the core. A is formed in a long, the core 2 of rigid fixed to the shank 11 of the tool 1, is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a grip body 3 of elastic fixed to the outer periphery of the core 2, a grip body 3 includes a grip outer layer 31 forming the outer peripheral portion is disposed inside of the grip outer layer 31, and an elastic layer 34 which allows the grip deformation of the grip outer layer 31, core 2, a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in the grip of the tool with the protrusion 22, 23 which are arranged along the protruding and longitudinally, the projections 22 and 23, in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, extends so that the tip portion 22a, 23a is exposed is the fact characterized. .The


In this study, by means of instance succession exploration we observed impact of foreign direct investment, exports and exchange rate on economy intensification of Pakistan. Information were collected from IMF  ,World Bank range figures since 1990 to 2010. We used four variables for this purpose like GDP; it is dependent variable and independent variables similar to Foreign Direct Investment, export and Exchange Rate. By using technique ofOLS and Unit Root Test, thepositive relationship sends abroad and foreign direct investment on GDP. The study conduct aims to analyze benefit of FDI in Pakistan. The objective of FDI is to earn maximum profit and show in form of administrative skills, superior knowledge, improved an employment opportunities, add to in government returns and cause decrease unemployment of country. Remittance inflows in 2004-05 reach US$ 1524 million as maximum if compared last three year in country. This finds FDI in Pakistan more appropriate areas are energy sector, IT and telecommunication, value additional material .Management of Pakistan responsive to significance FDI and results show that is important effect of export and FDI on an economy growth of Pakistan. Keywords: GDP, FDI, Exports, Exchange rate.


The article draws attention to the issue of sexual tolerance as reflected in the language. The approach is based on the assumption that every phenomenon must be verbally expressed and registered by any language. If the vocabulary does not include the words reflecting this or other phenomenon, then one should state that the phenomenon was not topical or present in the life of the society. Special attention is paid to the understanding of the term 'tolerance' in different societies, for example, in Western and Russian civilizations as well as to the approaches to the implicit meanings of the term. The focus is on diachronic plane and the sexual tolerance is investigated as the result of the impact of different substrates.


The present research focuses on the timing of wing–wing interaction that benefits the aerodynamic force of a dragonfly in hovering flight at Reynolds number 1350. A 3-D numerical simulation method, called the system coupling, was utilised by implementing a two-way coupling between the transient structural and flow analysis. We further explore the aerodynamic forces produced at different phase angles on the forewing and hindwing during the hovering flight condition of a dragonfly. A pair of dragonfly wings is simulated to obtain the force generated during flapping at a 60° inclination stroke plane angle with respect to the horizontal. The hovering flight is simulated by varying the phase angle and the inter-distance between the two wings. We observe a significant enhancement in the lift (16%) of the hindwing when it flaps in-phase with the forewing and closer to the forewing, maintaining an inter-wing distance of 1.2 cm (where cm is the mean chord length). However, for the same condition, the lift of the hindwing reduces by 9% when the wings are out of phase/counterstroke flapping. These benefits and drawbacks are dependent on the timing of the interactions between the forewing and hindwing. The time of interaction of wake capture, wing–wing interaction, dipole structure and development of root vortex are examined by 2-D vorticity of the flow field and isosurface of the 3-D model dragonfly. From the isosurface, we found that the root vortex elicited at the root of the hindwing in counter-flapping creates an obstacle for the shedding of wake vortices, which results in reduction of vertical lift during the upstroke of flapping. Hence, at the supination stage, a dragonfly uses a high rotation angle for the hovering flight mode. It is observed that the system coupling method was found to be more efficient and exhibited better performance. The present numerical methodology shows a very close match to the previously reported results.


The use of selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) of platinum and alumina was investigated for top-clamping and passivation of contacts of suspended pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). This wet-chemical-free process offers an interesting alternative to lithography-based methods as it avoids degradation of the transfer characteristics by resist residues or amorphous carbon deposition on the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in field-effect transistor (FET) configuration. It was observed that the annealing and clamping effect can be used not only to obtain lower contact resistances and higher signal to noise ratio (SNR), but also to induce, what appears to be, band gap opening in metallic nanotubes. On average, a current increase of more than one order of magnitude and SNRs as high as 200 could be observed for metallized and passivated small-gap semiconducting CNTs.


Disclosed is a method for charging for an application, comprising: a CTF device receiving a charging rule for the application issued by a PCRF device; the CTF device executing the charging rule of the application, and detecting a stream of the application transmitted over one or more bearers according to an identifier of the application; the CTF device sending a charging session establishment request to a charging system according to a charging rule parameter of the application; the CTF device collecting charging information about a detected stream of the application; and the CTF device sending the collected charging information about the stream of the application through a charging session of the application. Since in the embodiments of the present invention, the CTF device will detect the steam of the application transmitted over one or more bearers according to the identifier of the application carried in the charging rule, and collect the charging information about the detected stream of the application, and the charging session of the application is established after the stream of the application is detected, the solution provided in the embodiments of the present invention can realize the charging for an OTT application.


Introduction: Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma represents a heterogeneous group of lymphoid malignancies characterized by poor prognosis with 5-year overall survival (OS) about 25% with conventional chemotherapy. Autologous stem cell transplant (Auto-SCT), as consolidation, is often considered in first complete remission (CR), providing between 30 to 40% long term disease-free survival. However, patients receiving Auto-SCT in second CR or with refractory disease have poor outcomes with progression-free survival ranging from 15-20% to 0%, respectively. In such cases, allogeneic stem cell transplant (Allo-SCT) may provide long term disease control. We intended to study outcomes of Allo-SCT in peripheral T-cell lymphoma patients.
 Methods: We have retrospectively evaluated long-term outcomes of adult peripheral T-cell lymphoma patients at Karmanos Cancer Institute. The objectives were to determine GVHD rate, overall survival (OS), relapse rate, progression-free survival (PFS) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) following Allo-SCT.
 Results: Between January 2005 and December 2017, 39 patients underwent Allo-SCT. The different diagnoses included peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not-otherwise-specified (n=16), angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (n=8), anaplastic T-cell lymphoma (n=8), hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma (n=2), cutaneous T-cell (n=3) and NK cell lymphoma (n=2). The median age at transplant was 50 years (range, 21-67). The median number of prior therapies was 2 (range, 1-5) and 12 patients (31%) had failed prior Auto-SCT. Sixteen patients (41%) were in CR and 2 (5%) were in partial remission at the time of Allo-SCT, whereas 12 (31%) patients had relapsed disease and 9 (23%) had refractory disease. Twenty-one patients (54%) received matched related and 18 patients (46%) had unrelated Allo-SCT. Myeloablative conditioning regimen was used in 22 patients (56%), whereas reduced intensity regimen was used in 17 (44%) patients.
 Grade III-IV acute GVHD occurred in 25.6% (95% CI, 13.2-40.1%) and chronic GVHD occurred in 41% (95% CI, 25.1-56.3%). After a median follow-up of 3.08 years (95% CI, 2.49-7.28) among surviving patients, the estimated probabilities of 3-year OS and PFS were 35.9% (95% CI, 22.4-57.6%) and 32.5% (95% CI, 19.9-53%), respectively. The 3-year relapse rate was 23.9% (95% CI, 11.5-38.7%), whereas NRM was 35.9% (95% CI, 21.1-50.9%). No difference in OS and PFS was noticed in patients receiving Allo-SCT in first CR compared with patients receiving Allo-SCT beyond first CR (p=0.81; p=0.94). Similarly, no difference in OS and PFS was noted in patients with Allo-SCT followed by failed prior Auto-SCT compared with patients with upfront Allo-SCT (p=0.31; p=0.47). Seventeen of 39 patients were alive and 22 were deceased (n=7 disease relapse; n=15 NRM). Out of 39 patients, 13 (33%) alive patients are free of relapse and GVHD as of data analysis.
 Conclusion: Our study suggests that Allo-SCT is a viable treatment option for peripheral T-cell lymphoma and appears to provide cure in these highly selected patients. The survival advantage was noted in patients beyond first remission; therefore, it should be considered in all transplant eligible patients. In addition, certain proportion of patients who failed prior Auto-SCT benefited from Allo-SCT, which points towards potential role of graft-versus-lymphoma effect.

 Deol: Novartis: Consultancy; Kite Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy.


In order to guarantee the safety of student experiment,a method of constructing the FTP server for a university experiment teaching is proposed.First,the network structure of the FTP server is introduced.Secondly,the process of the construction of the FTP server is designed,the FTP server can effectively ensure the security of student data.The practice shows that this method easily operates and owns high reliability.


The aims of the study was to describe innovations in local goverment and the factor that determines success of innovation in local governance. Qualitative approach is used to answer the questions proposed in this study. The result of this study shows that the complexity of the problems in goverment requires innovation in handling by the local goverment. Factors that determine the success of innovation in local goverment were readiness of policies and regulations, innovative leadership, culture of innovation, readiness to coordinate and facilitate, the role of stakeholder and readiness of infrastructure.


We build a model to predict from first principles the properties of major mergers. We predict these from the coalescence of peaks and saddle points in the vicinity of a given larger peak, as one increases the smoothing scale in the initial linear density field as a proxy for cosmic time. To refine our results, we also ensure, using a suite of $\sim 400$ power-law Gaussian random fields smoothed at $\sim 30$ different scales, that the relevant peaks and saddles are topologically connected: they should belong to a persistent pair before coalescence. Our model allows us to (a) compute the probability distribution function of the satellite-merger separation in Lagrangian space: they peak at three times the smoothing scale; (b) predict the distribution of the number of mergers as a function of peak rarity: halos typically undergo two major mergers ($>$1:10) per decade of mass growth; (c) recover that the typical spin brought by mergers: it is of the order of a few tens of per cent.


In Mexico the evolution of the political system has been the turn out of many years of changes in search of consolidation to democracy. The present paper analyzes the evolution of, the electoral changes, initiating with the definition, regulation and participation of the political parties, later to make an evaluation of electoral reform 2007, and to provide reflections of pending subjects.


Physics Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37966, USAThe code package CALOR, used for prediction ofcalorimeter performance, has for decades been a looselycoupled system of the three stand-alone particle transportcodes HETC; for high-energy meson and hadronparticles, MORSE; for neutrons below 20 MeV, andEGS4; for electron, positron, muon and photon transport.These codes are being forged to a unified code, with thebackbone of a single secondary particle bank. Internalscoring routines are being integrated. Furthermore,interfaces are being implemented for plugging in otherevent generator modules and for plugging in CALOR as aparticle transport engine into other code systems. Thispaper will report on the progress of the effort.


Abstract Let R be an algebra over a field K, and let G be a finite group of units in R. Suppose that either char K = 0 and G is nonabelian, or K is a nonabsolute field of characteristic π > 0 and G/𝕆π(G) is nonabelian. Then we show that there are two cyclic subgroups X and Y of G of prime power order, and two special units u X ∈ KX ⊆ R and u Y ∈ KY ⊆ R, such that ⟨u X , u Y ⟩ contains a nonabelian free group. Indeed, we obtain a rather precise description of these units, generalizing an earlier result where R = K[G] was the group algebra of G over K.


Lithium, sodium and potassium hydrogen bis-L-pyroglutamate [Li(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH)], [Na(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH)] and [K(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH)], respectively, have been prepared by reaction of aqueous solutions of the metal hydroxides with L-pyroglutamic acid in the molar ratio 1:2, or in methanol. Crystalline samples of the salts could be obtained by slow evaporation of solutions of the salts in methanol. In the solid state, Li(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH) adopts a chain structure with the lithium atoms arranged in double strands. Adjacent metal centers are bridged by the carboxylate groups of the L-pGlu− ligands. The L-pGluH ligands are attached to the metal centers through the amide oxygen atoms. Na(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH) forms a three-dimensional coordination polymer with two half-occupied sodium positions, one L-pGlu− and one L-pGluH ligand in the asymmetric unit. The carboxyl and carboxylate groups of the L-pGluH and the L-pGlu− ligands are bridging the sodium centers, giving rise to eight-membered rings, which consist of two sodium atoms, a carboxyl and a carboxylate group. The hydrogen atoms of the carboxyl group of the L-pGluH ligands are involved in strong hydrogen bonds between a carboxyl and an adjacent carboxylate oxygen atom. K(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH) adopts a layer structure with strands of potassium atoms. The metal centers are connected through bridging carboxyl and carboxylate groups of the L-pGluH and L-pGlu− ligands, respectively. The structure features eight-membered ring units comparable to those observed for Na(L-pGlu)(L-pGluH), again with the hydrogen atom of the carboxyl group engaged in a strong transannular hydrogen bond. The amide oxygen atoms of the L-pGlu− and the L-pGluH ligands are coordinated to the metal centers of adjacent coordination chains. The results of 1H- and 13CNMR investigations of aqueous solutions of the compounds indicate extensive electrolytic dissociation in dilute solutions.


The present study deals with the use and evolution of the concept �institutional quality� through presidential opening speeches of the Legislative Assembly. From the exhibition of the own concept of �institutional quality� is a detailed study of the different discourses in all their periods.


The spatially heterogeneous character of aquatic life and rapid changes in pelagic communities make it difficult to assess the status of the marine environment using traditional monitoring methods. In order to distinguish between human induced and natural changes in the ecosystem the environmental parameters and the factors affecting them need to be monitored at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. The capacity of any single monitoring method or strategy should not be overestimated. Instead, different methods complement each other. In the Baltic Sea high frequency recordings of phytoplankton biomass and related environmental parameters (temperature, salinity, nutrients, chlorophyll a) in the near surface layer (4-5m) have been conducted with unattended water sampling onboard several commercial ferries over the last 14 years. The collected data have been used for delivery of almost on-line information for environmental authorities and public, for developing HELCOM indicator fact-sheets and indexes/maps characterising inter-annual and short-term changes of productivity and phytoplankton biomass in different sea areas, and for forecasts of algae blooms. The combination of high frequency automated sampling onboard merchant ships with satellite imagery, traditional sampling and meteorological information has increased the understanding of ecological processes in the Baltic Sea.


Paper contains emotion recognition system based on facial expression using Geometric approach. A human emotion recognition system consists of three steps: face detection, facial feature extraction and facial expression classification. In this paper, we used an anthropometric model to detect facial feature points. The detected feature points are group into two class static points and dynamic points. The distance between static points and dynamic points is used as a feature vector. Distance changes as we track these points in image sequence from neutral state to corresponding emotion. These distance vectors are used for input to classifier. SVM (Support Vector Machine) and RBFNN (Radial Basis Function Neural Network) used as classifier. Experimental results shows that the proposed approach is an effective method to recognize human emotions through facial expression with an emotion average recognition rate 91 % for experiment purpose the Cohn Kanade databases is used.


Side-channel attacks (SCA) aim to extract a secret cryptographic key from a device, based on unintended leakage. Profiled attacks are the most powerful SCAs, as they assume the attacker has a perfect copy of the target device under his control. In recent years, machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques have become popular as profiling tools in SCA. Still, there are many settings for which their performance is far from expected. In such occasions, it is very important to understand the difficulty of the problem and the behavior of the learning algorithm. To that end, one needs to investigate not only the performance of machine learning but also to provide insights into its explainability. In this work, we look at various ways to explain the behavior of ML and DL techniques. We study the bias–variance decomposition, where the predictive error in various scenarios is split in bias, variance and noise. While the results shed some light on the underlying difficulty of the problem, existing decompositions are not tuned for SCA. We propose the Guessing Entropy (GE) bias–variance decomposition, incorporating the domain-specific GE metric in a tool to analyze attack characteristics. Additionally, we show the relation between the mean squared error and guessing entropy. Our experiments show this decomposition is a useful tool in trade-offs such as model complexity. To dive deeper into the inner representations of neural networks (NNs), we use Singular Vector Canonical Correlation Analysis (SVCCA) to compare models used in SCA. We find that different datasets, or even leakage models, are represented very differently by neural networks. We apply SVCCA to a recent portability study, which shows one should be careful to overtrain their networks with too much data. Finally, do we even need complicated neural networks to conduct an efficient attack? We demonstrate that a small network can perform much better by mimicking the outputs of a large network, compared to learning from the original dataset.


Measuring people's sociodemographic characteristics over time and in different contexts or studies is one of the keys of quantifying social inequalities and social change within any society. While different respondent-based studies usually focus on different topics, almost all of them collect data on some key features defining respondent's backgrounds and living situations.
Summarizing the measurement of sociodemographic characteristics however, the German survey landscape could be characterized as "same but different": studies measure the same concepts yet differ in their specific approach, despite the fact that the "Demographische Standards" (Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik et al., 2016) provide recommended questionnaire items since the early 1990s. This has several problematic implications: Firstly, it becomes quite difficult to combine knowledge about groups of respondents with the same sociodemographic characteristics across studies on a macro level, and thus to systematically accumulate knowledge on social inequalities and social change. Secondly, combining different data sets, e.g. in order to be able to analyze small groups or rare phenomena, can become a laborious effort which might still produce questionable results, since key caveats can be overlooked in survey documentation.


Ground and excited state structures of several poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) oligomers that contain a biphenyl bridge were fully optimized by density functional theory (DFT) and the configuration interaction singles (CIS) method, respectively. The most rational geometric structures for the ground state, the excited state and frontier molecular orbitals were obtained. The absorption and emission properties of the oligomers were then calculated using the semi-empirical Zerner's intermediate neglect of differential overlap (ZINDO) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT). We analyzed the effect of an increase in the biphenyl chain length on frontier molecular orbitals and the energy gap. Results indicate that absorption and emission properties hardly change as the length of the biphenyl chain increases. A cross configuration between neighboring PPV oligomer chains and the degree of intrachain twist becomes increasingly obvious. Molecular symmetry is reduced and the π-π stacking effect is weakened among these types of conjugated molecules in a solid. This is perhaps the most important factor for an increase in the fluorescence quantum efficiency of light-emitting diodes.


A photodynamic bioassay which can be conducted on one mgm amounts of organic atmospheric particulates is described, using Paramecium caudatum. The results of a pilot study on pollutants from several American cities indicate that the assay may provide a rapid, simple and economical biological index of a potential carcinogenic hazard attributable to polycyclic compounds. The utility of the assay for this purpose is under further evaluation. 15 references, 5 figures, 1 table.


Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis is fairly uncommon, but an important clinical entity with significant patient morbidity. Early diagnosis is important to allow for conservative management and to avoid aggressive surgical resection. We present a case of an invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the glans penis, which was treated with topical antifungals and corticosteroids for 2 years prior to diagnosis, necessitating partial glansectomy.


An accurate description of the structure and dynamics of interfacial water is essential for phospholipid membranes, since it determines their function and their interaction with other molecules. Here we consider water confined in stacked membranes with hydration from poor to complete, as observed in a number of biological systems. Experiments show that the dynamics of water slows down dramatically when the hydration level is reduced. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations identify three (inner, hydration and outer) regions, within a distance of approximately 1 nm from the membrane, where water molecules exhibit different degrees of slowing down in the dynamics. The slow-down is a consequence of the robustness of the hydrogen bonds between water and lipids and the long lifetime of the hydrogen bonds between water molecules near the membrane. The interaction with the interface, therefore, induces a structural change in the water that can be emphasized by calculating its intermediate range order. Surprisingly, at distances as far as ~ 2.5 nm from the interface, although the bulk-like dynamics is recovered, the intermediate range order of water is still slightly higher than that in the bulk at the same thermodynamic conditions. Therefore, the water-membrane interface has a structural effect at ambient conditions that propagates further than the often-invoked 1 nm length scale. Membrane fluctuations smear out this effect macroscopically, but an analysis performed by considering local distances and instantaneous configurations is able to reveal it, possibly contributing to our understanding of the role of water at biomembrane interfaces.


The purpose of this study was to characterize the structural changes of the shoot apex of Dianthus chinensis during the production of a pair of leaf primordia and to determine if the plastochron index (P.I.) previously developed for this plant could be used to predict the morphological stages of the apex during a plastochron. Height and volume determinations were made on greenhouse-grown D. chinensis shoot tips prepared for light microscopic examination. These measurements were plotted against the plastochronic fraction of each shoot to evaluate the relationship between apical stage and the P.I. In general, lower fractional plastochron values correspond to smaller apical height and volume values while higher fractional plastochron values correspond to larger apical height and volume values. For the greenhouse plants, there is a 3-fold increase in height and a 5-fold increase in volume during a plastochron. Height and volume determinations were made on growth-chamber-grown D. chinensis shoot tips prepared for scanning electron microscopic examination. Largely plants in Plastochron 6 were sampled; plants in Plastochrons 3, 4, and 9 were also sampled for comparative purposes. The curves of apical height and volume versus Plastochron 6 show a sigmoidal pattern of growth. The corresponding curves of the Plastochron-4 and -9 plants show a similar pattern of increase. The Plastochron-6 curves also show that the integer value of the P.I. corresponds to the minimal apical height and volume when a pair of leaf primordia are just discernible, while the integer plus high fractional value of the P.I. corresponds to the maximal apical height and volume just prior to the emergence of the next pair of primordia. During Plastochron 6 there is a 2-fold increase in height and a 3-fold increase in volume. Apical height and volume increase was examined by regression analysis to determine whether growth is better described as linear or exponential. The results indicate that the sigmoidal pattern of increase might be better described by some more complex function. It is concluded that during certain stages of a shoot's vegetative growth the P.I. will accurately predict apical meristem structure in D. chinensis two-thirds of the time.


Despite the discovery of the Higgs boson, which contributed to the success of the Standard Model, there are at least 60 different analyses carried out in parallel with the CMS detector looking for new physics. In this talk the current status of the Higgs analysis and the search for physics beyond the Standard Model in the two photons final state are presented.


Press, 2009, 254 pp. break of violence as a pitched battle. The metaphor of class warfare was adopted by all sides labor activists using it to cast their struggles in grand moral terms and to highlight the savagery of the forces aligned against them, employers using it to condemn labor unions and strikes as a deadly menace to public safety, government officials to justify suppression of labor struggles, and reformers to call for external agencies to control business and labor in behalf of the "public" interest. The war frame made violence and social disorder the story, even for media outlets that professed to support labor rights, and so naturally tended to frame the solution as a cessation of hostilities (typically at the expense of the workers involved, since their ability to disrupt the normal order of production was their most powerful weapon). Ultimately, Rondinone concludes, the industrial war frame was displaced during the Reform Era by a public interest frame in which the working class was rendered largely invisible. This was the result not of deliberate propaganda, but rather of narrative frames that attained hegemonic power over decades of By Troy Rondinone


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the occurrence and risk of dispersion in the environment of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms from sanitary sewage sludge produced in two conventional wastewater treatment systems adopted in the West of the State of Parana, Brazil.

Design/methodology/approach

The sludge samples were collected for three months from two wastewater treatment plants, totaling six sample points, and sent to the laboratory where the physical-chemical and biological determinations were performed.

Findings

This work made possible to find that the sludge produced in the sewage treatment plants presents potential risks related to the spread of microorganisms due to the occurrence of resistant isolates of Escherichia coli and Salmonella sp. It was also possible to detect that the largest concentrations of metal ions in the sludge favored the occurrence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. The occurrence of pathogens, heavy metals and other emerging pollutants in sewage indicates that the sludge requires proper treatment, to provide safe agricultural reuse or disposal.

Practical implications

The techniques applied for monitoring sludge were effective to check the risk of resistant microorganisms input into the environment. Studies concerning sewage treatment plants' final effluents can bring additional data about the incorporation of such microorganisms into aquatic environments.

Originality/value

The results made possible to observe the need to provide post-treatment for the sludge, especially of the sludge obtained from the anaerobic fluidized bed reactor, since the removal of pathogens, as well as the nutrients, is not satisfactory.


Article reviews the literature on contemporary issues of climate change. In the present article indicates that the variability of weather and meteorological factors makes a significant negative contribution to the level of air pollution that leads to the development of adverse effects in health status.


The dynamic response of aircraft autopilot systems to atmospheric disturbances was investigated by analyzing linearized models of aircraft dynamics and altitude-hold autopilots. Three transport category aircraft (Boeing 737-100, McDonald-Douglas DC 9-30, and Lockheed L-1011) were studied at three flight levels (FL290, FL330, and FL370). The models were analyzed to determine the extent to which pressure surface fluctuations, vertical gusts, and horizontal gusts cause dynamic altitude errors by coupling with the aircraft autopilot dynamics. The results of this analysis were examined in light of meteorological data on disturbance magnitudes and wavelengths collected from observations of mountain wave activity. This examination revealed that atmospheric conditions do exist that can cause aircraft to exhibit dynamic altitude errors in excess of 1000 ft. Pressure surface fluctuations were observed to be the dominant source of altitude errors in flights through extreme mountain wave activity. Based on the linear analysis, the maximum tolerable pressure surface fluctuation amplitude was determined as a function of wavelength for an allowable altitude error margin. The results of this analysis provide guidance for the determination of vertical separation standards in the presence of atmospheric disturbances.


BACKGROUND:  The measurement of immunoglobulin (Ig) G blood group A/B antibody(anti‐A/B) levels is important for ABO‐unmatched organ recipients because the effective removal of the antibodies improves their prognosis. Currently existing methods to detect IgG anti‐A/B suffer limitations owing to high costs, low throughput, and poor adaptability to automation.


BACKGROUND
Physical activity in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) plays a controversial role. In some epidemiological studies, both recreational or professional sport exercise has been associated to an increased risk for ALS but the mechanisms underlying the effects of exercise have not been fully elucidated in either patients or animal models.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS
To better reproduce the influence of this environmental factor in the pathogenesis of ALS, we exposed SOD1G93A low-copy male mice to multiple exercise sessions at asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic disease stages in an automated home-cage running-wheel system for about 3 months.

RESULTS
Repeated voluntary running negatively influenced disease progression by anticipating disease onset, impairing neuromuscular transmission, worsening neuromuscular decline, and exacerbating muscle atrophy. Muscle fibers and neuromuscular junctions (NMJ) as well as key molecular players of the nerve-muscle circuit were similarly affected.

CONCLUSION
It thus appears that excessive physical activity can be detrimental in predisposed individuals and these findings could model the increased risk of developing ALS in predisposed and specific professional athletes.


Airplanes do not pervade our lives to the same extent as do other modern developments, as for example automobiles. Yet the impact planes have had on our modern culture, despite their short history, is enormous. For most of us the use of commercial airlines to routinely attend business meetings has become a fact of life, and the number of our neighbors and acquaintances who have flown for business or pleasure has increased dramatically in the last decade.


We previously presented data on the anticancer activity of a small library of synthetic flavonoid derivatives against glioblastoma and breast cancer lines in addition to several other human cancer cell lines. This data suggested that the chalcone structural backbone afforded more potent anticancer activity compared to its flavanone counterpart. Using this data, we selected three lead compounds: RK6, RK7, and RK15, to screen for activity against non‐cancerous cells to test for selectivity. Here we present updated IC50 values of these three analogs against MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma cells in addition to the previously reported data on the A‐172 glioblastoma cell line. To determine the selectivity of these lead compounds, RK6, RK7, and RK15 were screened against two non‐cancerous human cell lines: normal human astrocytes (NHA) and normal human mammary epithelial cells (NHME).


There is a set of n bidders and a set [m] of m items. The valuation vi(·) : 2[m] → R≥0 of the i-th bidder is drawn from some known probability distribution Di. That is, player i receives value vi(S) for receiving the set S of items. We make the standard assumption that valuation vi of each bidder i is normalized, i.e., vi(∅) = 0, and monotone, i.e., vi(S) ≤ vi(T ) for every S ⊆ T ⊆ [m]. Your optimization problem is to find an allocation, that is a partition of [m] into S1, . . . , Sn so as to maximize the social welfare, ∑ i vi(Si). Similar to the last lecture, we don't know the valuations vi(·) (the distributions Di are known) and have to design a "truthful" mechanism/algorithm that incentivizes the bidders to report truthfully. We'll assume the bidders are quasi-linear, i.e., they want to maximize their utility which is the difference of their value minus payment. A mechanism is called truthful if the dominant strategy of each bidder is to reveal their true valuation in response to given queries (same as Definition 1 from last lecture).


Fertility of backcross progenies of trispecific hybirds \[(\%G arboreum×G bickii)×G hirsutum\]、\[G hirsutum×(G arborewn×G bickii\%)\]and \[(\%G arboreum×G bickii) ×G barbadense\%\] was studied. The main results are as folows:(1)Fertile material of trispecific hybirds, after meiosis in pollen mother cell, formed quantities of quartets, with over 85 percent of total spore population;(2)90 percent pollen grains had viability through dyeing test; their germinating percentage was about 35 percent after two hours' cultivating on man-made culture medium.(3)The sterile plants, after meosis of pollen mother cell, formed a large number of multispores, so these pollen grains had weak viability and appeared highly sterile.


e15594Background: Clinical outcomes of biliary tract cancer (BTC) remain suboptimal, even when surgical resection is performed. A better understanding of predictive factors can lead to improved man...


The introduction of the water-in-salt (WIS) concept, using highly concentrated electrolyte solutions to prevent water splitting and widen the electrochemical stability window, has greatly influenced modern aqueous batteries. The successful implementation of these electrolyte solutions in many electrochemical systems shifts the focus from diluted to WIS electrolyte solutions. Considering the high costs and the tendency of these nearly saturated solutions to crystallize, this trend can be carefully re-evaluated. Herein we show that the stability of organic electrodes comprising the active material perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA), is strongly influenced by the solvation character of the anions rather than the concentration of the electrolyte solution. Even though the charging process of PTCDA involves solely insertion of cations (i.e., principal counter-ions), surprisingly, the dominant factor influencing its electrochemical performance, including long-term electrode stability, is the type of the co-ions (i.e., electrolytic anions). Using systematic electrochemical analysis combined with theoretical simulations, we show that the selection of kosmotropic anions results in fast fading of the PTCDA anodes, while a selection of chaotropic anions leads to excellent stability, even at electrolytes concentrations as low as 0.2M. These findings provide a new conceptual approach for designing advanced electrolyte solutions for aqueous batteries.


Data must be given context to become information. Information must be given meaning to become knowledge. Knowledge, in turn, can only become wisdom if applied correctly. Data from postgraduate dissertations, including an analysis of the types of citations used, can give rise to information that can subsequently contribute to knowledge and wisdom. This type of analysis is warranted, as it has been reported that poor references are a common fault in dissertations. The purpose of this article is to analyse 157 Master dissertations from 19 different disciplines that were completed over a 10-year period at one university in order to identify the types and the trends of the citations used in order to highlight any major concerns with regard to credibility. An ex-post facto study is used where citation analysis is used to obtain quantitative data. Results reveal that 17063 citations were used in total, where the disciplines of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology had the highest number of internetbased sources, as compared to journal articles and books. Engineering postgraduate students also used a fewer number of citations (average of 60 per dissertation) as compared to students in Humanities (103 citations per dissertation), Environmental Sciences (138 citations per dissertation) and Management (121 citations per dissertation). The use of Wikipedia was limited to 79 citations, of which almost 50% was found in Electrical Engineering. An important implication of this research is that it may help postgraduate students to select more credible sources for their citations, formatting them more correctly so as to easily identify their types. This in turn may have a bearing on improving the quality of their dissertations that may ease the examination process.Keywords: Internet, Journals, Conferences, Disciplines, Bibliometrics


Conceptual design studies of fusion reactor configurations reveal many interesting and sometimes extremely difficult heat transfer problems. Some components of fusion thermonuclear reactors, such as divertors, plasma limiters, or first-wall armor, are believed to be subjected to operating conditions characterized by extremely high thermal loads. In a Deuterium-Tritium fusion reactor, nearly 20% of the thermal power has to be transferred from the hot plasma through the wall components of the burn chamber. Design requirements of commercial fusion power plant in-vessel components are potentially even more stringent than those of experimental devices. For experimental devices with pulsed operation, heat loads on the plasma facing components in case of off-normal events such as a disruption may be the main issue. Fusion nuclear reactor studies are currently devoted mostly to the Deuterium-Tritium (DT) fuel cycle, since it is the easiest way to reach ignition or a high energy gain. The recent stress on safety by the world's community has however stimulated the research on other fuel cycles than the DT one, based on 'advanced' reactions, such as Deuterium-Deuterium (DD) and Deuterium-Helium-3 (DHe3). The plasma confinement requirements for a DHe3 reactor are much more challenging than those for a DT reactor. Thus, the demands on the divertor and the first wall are more severe, particularly during a disruption. In fact, in DHe3 fusion reactors, a severe problem should be heat load on the first wall as well as Plasma Facing Components, rather than activation. Heat load analyses are therefore recommendable. Heat load analyses have been performed for CANDOR, a proposed DHe3 experiment, starting from similar evaluations carried out for the ARIES III DHe3 reactor. The disruption case has been considered too


The prevalence of HIV among young Black men who have sex with men (MSM) is three to four times higher than white MSM. Young black MSM are run-aways and homeless, forcing them to survive on the streets by becoming sex workers, engaging in unprotected anal intercourse because either they or their partner is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Studies cite crack cocaine use, sex while high on crack cocaine, marijuana and alcohol, or sharing needles for injection drugs as strongly associated with HIV infection among young black MSM