Exosomal long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) has been found to be associated with the development of cancers. However, the expression characteristics and the biological roles of exosomal lncRNAs in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. Here, by RNA sequencing, we found 9440 mRNAs and 8572 lncRNAs were differentially expressed (DE‐) in plasma exosomes between HCC patients and healthy controls. Exosomal DE‐lncRNAs displayed higher expression levels and tissue specificity, lower expression variability and splicing efficiency than DE‐mRNAs. Six candidate DE‐lncRNAs (fold change 6 or more, P ≤ .01) were high in HCC cells and cell exosomes. The knockdown of these candidate DE‐lncRNAs significantly affected the migration, proliferation, and apoptosis in HCC cells. In particular, a novel DE‐lncRNA, RP11‐85G21.1 (lnc85), promoted HCC cellular proliferation and migration by targeted binding and regulating of miR‐324‐5p. More importantly, the level of serum lnc85 was highly expressed in both Alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP)‐positive and AFP‐negative HCC patients and allowed distinguishing AFP‐negative HCC from healthy control and liver cirrhosis (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.869; sensitivity, 80.0%; specificity, 76.5%) with high accuracy. Our finding offers a new insight into the association between the dysregulation of exosomal lncRNA and HCC, suggesting that lnc85 could be a potential biomarker of HCC.


Inês Domingos , Fani Deligianni 1 and Guang-Zhong Yang 1 The Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Imperial College London, UK Abstract Motor imagery (MI) classification performance is important in developing robust brain computer interface environments for neuro-rehabilitation of patients and robotic prosthesis control. To bring this technology to everyday use relatively new EEG acquisition systems have been developed. These systems are highly portable, wireless and they are based on dry, active electrodes, which does not require the use of conductive gel. As a result they are more prone to interference via noise sources that are commonly around and their signal-to-noise ratio may be low. Here, we device a number of motor imagery tasks along with actual movements of the limbs and compare the classification performance of a dry 16-channel and a wet, 32channel, wireless EEG system. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of home use of dry electrode systems with a small number of sensors.


This paper aims to compare the performance of the different transmit signal design techniques that have been proposed recently for DL MC-CDMA systems and presents a joint space-frequency multi-user pre-filtering and spreading scheme. We consider the use of antenna arrays at the base station (BS) and a single antenna at the mobile terminal (MT) and derive the proposed multi-user space-frequency pre-filtering technique that formats the transmitted signals to eliminate the effects of multiple access interference (MAI) and channel distortions at the mobile terminals, whilst maintaining low MT complexity. Thus, two types of detectors are considered at the MT: simple despreading and single user equalizers. The performance of the different schemes is evaluated, considering either perfect or non-perfect CSI and channel coding based on UMTS specifications, in order to select the best strategy for DL TDD MC-CDMA systems.


The direct eagerness to teach is arresting. One would have expected that, if moralising was emphasised by the missionaries and perpetuated during the apartheid years by dramatists who were hegemonised into a position of "partial consent" (see Loomba 1998:31), dramatists could have by now rid themselves of mind frames of the past. But when one starts to examine Zulu plays one has to question whether the external factors mentioned above are the real reasons for the nature and extent of moralising in Zulu drama. The purpose then of this paper is to discuss the following topics and questions pertaining to moral plays in Zulu:


Several antebellum conservatives sought to dismantle the Lockean foundations of American political thinking in favor of a political vision that affirmed the divine origins of government. Evangelical conservatives such as Senator Theodore Frelinghuysen were among the first to advance the "America as a Christian nation" argument that became a favorite of conservatives in the latter part of the twentieth century. By the 1830s, New England evangelicals, such as Connecticut Congregationalist pastor Lyman Beecher, came reluctantly to accept church disestablishment at the state level as best for both Christianity and society. During the Civil War, conservatives North and South built upon the work of their antebellum forerunners and stressed the essential place and role of Christianity. Two examples of this movement in the North were the campaigns to amend the Federal Constitution with an explicit reference to Christ and the addition of "In God We Trust" to the nation's coinage.


On admission, physical examination revealed epigastric tenderness without signs of peritonism. Laboratory results revealed an elevated amylase of 765 U/L (normal range 27–100 U/L) and a lipase of 2111 U/L (normal range of <190 U/L). His liverfunction tests were normal, apart from an isolated hyperbilirubinaemia of 33 U/L. His white cell count was normal (8.0 × 109), as was his serum calcium (2.47 mmol/L), his creatinine (0.09 mmol/L; normal range 0.06–0.1 mmol/L) and his lipid profile. He had an abdominal computed tomograph performed, which revealed no dilatation of the biliary tree and no gallstones, but did reveal changes consistent with pancreatitis. A small collection was also noted above the neck and lateral head of the pancreas. The absence of gallstones was confirmed on ultrasound. On the basis of the above imaging his hyperbilirubinaemia was therefore thought to be secondary to Gilbert's syndrome.


Section 92A, the "resource amendment", was added to the Constitution Act; 1867
(formerly called the British North America Act, 1867) on April 17th, 1982 as part of the federal government's patriation package. It received far less publicity than the other elements of that package, particularly the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Yet it may have significant implications for the future development of natural resources in Canada, especially in the western provinces, and for the ongoing process of federal-provincial relations. In this article, the author analyzes the scope and potential effect of the various provisions of section 92A in relation to provincial powers of indirect taxation and control of resource development, and attempts to assess the impact of section 92A by applying its provisions to
the two recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada of significance in this
area, CIGOL and Central Canada Potash.


Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome that requires the interaction of many organ systems for its development, including the heart, renal, and neuroendocrine systems. The heart may be severely abnormal yet symptoms of heart failure may not develop. The present case illustrates, by its absence, the essential role of neuroendocrine sympathetic activation and venous tone in the development of the congestive heart failure syndrome.


E stimates from the year 2000 reveal that approximately 61,800,000 Americans had one or more forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD). These CVDs include hypertension, stroke, and coronary heart disease, including angina pectoris and myocardial infarction.1 Individually, 50,000,000 people had hypertension; 7,600,000 suffered from acute myocardial infarction; 6,600,000 people experienced angina pectoris; and 4,700,000 people had cerebral vascular accidents. CVD killed 945,836 people in 2000, comprising 39.4 percent of all deaths, and 150,000 of these deaths occurred in people under age 65. Coronary heart disease (CHD) caused the most deaths in people suffering from CVD, taking the lives of 515,204 people in 2000. Approximately 250,000 people die each year from sudden myocardial infarction, without ever being hospitalized.11 Internationally, 16.6 million people die from CVD throughout the world each year and, in 2001, CVD contributed to nearly one third of global deaths.2 Cardiovascular diseases represent one of the greatest health concerns in modern history. Not limited in prevalence to the United States, diseases of the cardiovascular system affect people across the world, mainly in modernized countries. The American Heart Association (AHA) identifies increasing age, male gender, and heredity as uncontrollable risk factors for heart disease, and tobacco smoking, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical inactivity, obesity/overweight, and diabetes as modifiable risk factors for heart disease. Other negative risk factors identified by the AHA as contributory to heart disease include stress levels and responses, sex hormones, birth control pills, and excessive alcohol intake.3 Despite the acknowledgment of this problem, and intense educational efforts in this country to make people aware of CVD, large numbers of people are continually diagnosed each year in this country and the rest of the world. New insights into CVD reveal foci for testing and prevention, other than standard lipid profiles. Testing for homocysteine, Creactive protein (CRP), and fibrinogen place new emphasis on cardiovascular risk parameters while research into naturally derived medicines provides viable preventative and treatment options for CVD.


A field experiment was conducted in autumn season of 2018–19 at farmers' field in Azzawi area of Babil province in Iraq. The experiment was conducted in split-split plot randomized complete block design. The treatment combinations consisting of two broad bean varieties viz., V1 (LUZ De Otono) and V2 (Aqaudulce), three dates of liquid fertilizer spray i. e. D1(15th November, 2018), D2(15th December, 2018) and D3(15th January, 2019) and three concentrations of liquid fertilizers i. e. F0(No spray, control), F1(10 mg/l) and F2 (20 mg/l) were allotted in experimental plots with complete randomization. The growth and yield parameters of faba bean were significantly affected by varieties, liquid fertilizer application time and concentration. The number of pods per plant significantly increased from 15.73 under F0 treatment of liquid fertilizer spray concentration to 27.22 pods per plant under F3 spray concentration. The weight of 100 seeds significantly increased from 52.43 g in V2 variety under F0 treatment of liquid fertilizer spray concentration to 85.17 g under F2 treatment in V1 variety. The seed yield per plant significantly increased from 47.63 g under F0 liquid fertilizer spray concentration to 59.49 g under F3 treatment. The protein content in seed of faba bean significantly increased from 22.91% under F0 liquid fertilizer spray concentration to 23.71% under F2 treatment. On the basis of these results, it is recommended that faba bean variety LUZ De Otono can be grown successfully in Azzawi area of Babil province in Iraq.


ABSTRACT Performance improvement of the printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) plays a vital role in improving the comprehensive performance of the supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycle. In this study, three design parameters are selected to improve the comprehensive performance of a PCHE, including channel type, channel number, and channel length. The thermal effectiveness and the total cost are selected as the optimization objectives. And the total cost is based on the capital cost and the operation cost. For the optimal design of a PCHE, a simplified model is applied to obtain the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. The Pareto-optimal solutions and the corresponding design variables have been obtained after the optimization procedure. Then, the optimal results on straight channel PCHE are compared with the zigzag channel PCHE. Finally, we discuss the results of PCHE with different types of channels, and the design point is reported. The results show that the straight channel PCHE performs a better comprehensive performance than zigzag channel PCHE when it works under a small heat transfer rate.


2.5 ppm and an LCr0 value for larvae of 0.00053 ppm. The ratios between the feeding activity of the guppies and the LC50 for the larvae were: OMS-1211, 261; OMS-1210, 182; fenthion, 83; fenitrothion, 46; ronnel, 45; Dursban, 38; dichlorvos, 13; diazinon, 2; lindane, 0.38; dieldrin, 0.085. From these investigations it is concluded that Abate is the most suitable larvicide for controlling the larvae of C. p. fatigans in bodies of water that also contain guppies. The insecticides OMS-1210 and OMS-1211, as well as fenthion and fenitrothion, were also found to be very effective in controlling mosquito larvae without adversely affecting the guppies in most bodies of water.


Picture a rainbow: under ideal conditions, you will not only see the primary and the (fainter) secondary rainbow, but you will also realize there is a zone between the two which is considerably darker than the surrounding sky, and you will see the series of very faint and narrow bands of colors, usually pink and green alternately, at the inner side of the primary bow. For centuries these narrow bands, called &dquo;supernumerary arcs,&dquo; have been a riddle to those who set out to explain the rainbow phenomenon scientifically. In the seventeenth century, both Descartes and Newton were able to explain the primary and secondary rainbows and the darkening in between as phenomena of the spectral decomposition of light rays refracted and reflected by a large number of water droplets. However, there was no way to account for the supernumerary arcs with Descartes' and Newton's theories of light. In fact,


Taking five key tributaries of the middle reaches of the Yellow River coarse sand area as research objects,which are Huangfuchuan,Gushanchuan,Kuye River Tuwei River and Jialu River,according to the TM image in the same time phase in 1998 and 2009 and 1︰100 000 topographic map,based on the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI) and the vegetation coverage in Remote Sensing Quantitative Model,two vegetation cover level diagram were extracted and changes in the vegetation coverage were quantitatively analyzed.The results show that: vegetation coverage in the five watersheds are overall elevated in 2009,except Huangfuchuan,four tributaries in the middle and lower reaches of vegetation coverage are significantly improved through nearly 10-year's comprehensive treatment.Level changes of vegetation cover,the main vegetation coverage are 0 to 10% and 10% to 30% in 1998,while they are 10% to 30% and 30% to 50% in 2009,which means vegetation cover has good trend change.


The invention provides a multi-head self-adjusting oil-gas co-combusting device which provides a heat source for a steam generating device on an offshore heavy oil platform. A fuel supply device achieves fuel atomization, fuel high-speed jet and high-pressure air supply through squirrel-cage type high-pressure spray nozzles and oil-gas conveying pipes. Multiple co-combusting heads and four diffusion co-combusting cavities of the co-combusting heads achieve oil-gas double-fuel co-combustion and efficient conversion of heat energy of the fuels. Inner spiral combustion sheets, outer spiral combustion sheets and a pressurizing chamber act together to generate spiral short flames which are evenly distributed, wherein the spiral direction of the inner spiral combustion sheets is opposite to that of the outer spiral combustion sheets. Meanwhile, the angles of the outer spiral fuel sheets can be adjusted automatically, and therefore it is guarnteed that the direction and the lengths of the flames can be automatically adjusted. An oil-gas co-combustion control system guarantees that oil and gas can be mixed at any ratio. A variable-frequency air supply system can automatically adjust the volume of high-pressure air according to the amount of supplied fuel. An axial-flow type dust removing device can achieve the self-cleaning function on soot. Blowing is conducted after self-flushing of a multiple-branch sprinkling device, so that dual removal of the soot is achieved. The whole multi-head self-adjusting oil-gas co-combusting device is compact in structure and easy to assemble, disassemble and maintain.


The orientation and idea of sport capital operation mechanism reflect the objective requirement and law of industry by sport capital market operating. In order to develop and promote sport capital mechanism,there should have definitely ideas, specific aim,sport capital operation strategy,and the corresponding dicisions.


When communications tools fungcition at their best, they can go beyond mere facilitation to transformations. Such was the case at rosen law firm.based in releigh, north caroline.Lee rosen, the firms owner and chief executive, wanted to replace an expensive, complicate and inflexible computer system that employees relied on for everything from contact list to appointmen calenders to document stroge.the solution he chose for his small law firm was a wiki, the same technology that enable nearly 100.000 people around thw world to contribute to Wikipedia.The wiki certainly helped cut costs and it also did much more. In addition to handling much of the firms document storage and formal communication, the wiki introduced an informal social element that is helping employees bond as a community.many employees have added personal page with information about themselves, helping employess get to know their collagues on more intimate level in implementasi the wiki,rosen faced a common challenge whit new communications tools,getting people to give up familiar ways of doing things and embrace change.knowing that the value of a company wiki depends on the level of employee contribution and that having some of the staff swicht while others cling to old ways would seriously discrupt communication he encouraged use the new wiki with a friendly competition. For each page an employee created during the three moth competition, he or she was given on possible combination to the company safe,which contained a 1000 cash prize. From time to time.rosen also forced use of the wiki by publishing important only on the wiki


This paper presents sharp bounds for expectations of non‐adjacent increments of kth record statistics, measured in various scale units, for a sequence of independent identically distributed random variables with continuous cumulative distribution function. The results for kth record spacings are considered as special cases. The paper also characterizes probability distributions for which the bounds are attained.


Teachers spend an important part of their instructional time to assess their students learning since classroom assessment forms a vital part of teachers' instruction. Researches show that effective use of assessment positively impacts students' learning and motivation (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Kinston & Nash, 2011). The effective use of assessment is known as formative assessment or assessment for learning in literature and aims to support learning rather than assessing acquisition of content to provide summative grades. However, it is still difficult for many science teachers to use assessment in a way to support instruction as conducted studies illustrated that science teachers have rarely engaged in practicing assessment for formative purposes to aid learning (Buck & Trauth-Nare, 2009). Even tough educators plan to prepare assessment capable science teachers, researches show that teachers face with difficulties to transform their theoretical knowledge into classroom practices (Lyon, 2011; Siegel & Wissher, 2011). It means what teachers told us is different than what they did in real classrooms. Thus the study proposes to investigate high school chemistry teachers' self-reported verses real practices of classroom assessment, which only limited studies have focused on, to illustrate the alignment between theory and practice. For this aim, the study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to provide more details about the phenomenon. In order to determine chemistry teachers' selfreported assessment practices, the 'Formative Assessment Survey' developed by Box (2008) was used. For participants' real practices of assessment, four of the 26 survey participants, two of whom were self-reported high frequency users of classroom assessment and two of whom were self-reported low frequency users, were selected. Semi-structured and reflective interviews, classroom observations and instruction documents including formal and informal assessments that the teachers used during atomic structure and electron configuration units were employed as data sources in order to show the teachers' real assessment practices. The results of teachers' self-reported practices showed that teachers: a) occasionally act on assessment results to address students' needs, b) sometimes use different ways of assessment to elicit and assess students' conceptual understanding, c) mostly provide written feedback on students' assessments, and d) rarely engage students' in learning and assessment process for self-regulation of learning. On the other hand, the teachers' real practices of assessment illustrated varying degrees of success for the alignment between their self-reported and real practices of classroom assessment. For instance, one of the high frequency user's practices showed that she faced with difficulties to practice what she reported while one of the other high frequency user's self-reported and real practices of assessment was more successfully aligned. Based on the results, some of the internal and external factors that limit the alignment of self-reported and real assessment practices were discussed.


Determining the absence or presence of peripancreatic lymph nodal metastasis (PLNM) is important to the pathologic staging, prognostication, and guidance of treatment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients. Computed tomography and MRI had a poor sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy in the assessment of PLNM.


We demonstrated 6.3-Tb/s (63 × 128 Gb/s) unrepeatered transmission over 402-km fiber link. This was achieved by employing a high-power Yb-free clad-pumped L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) as a booster amplifier in the transmitter station, a combination of ultralarge-area fiber, low loss and zero-water-peak loss fibers, and a remote optically pumped amplifier (ROPA), which was counter-propagating second-order Raman pumped from receiver station. This letter also describes the design and characteristics of Yb-free cladpumped L-band EDFA, and discusses the system performance optimization of ROPA and Raman impact on large capacity long reach unrepeatered transmission.


Motor Current Signal Analysis (MCSA) is widely used in the monitoring of electric motors, but few researchers applied it in the transmission system because of the fault information loss and aliasing of current signals. The purpose of the research is to analyze the influence of the gear backlash under different size effect on the current signal from the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). And it supplies a convenient route to detect the gear backlash more economy. In most cases, the current of PMSM is usually changed with the operating states, which may relate with rotor speed, load and gear backlash. So, it is important to extract the sensitive features under different states. Here, the stable speed and variable speed states are considered at first. At the steady stage, multiple features are extracted from current signals under variable backlash. And fisher discriminant analysis (FDA) is introduced to evaluate and select the most sensitivity features for backlash are selected. Then, features at variable speed states are extracted. Because the transient change of the current frequency and phase adjustable, it is very difficult to obtain the steady state response characteristic. In this paper, the inverse of the time difference between the positive peaks of the signal at this phase is utilized as the characteristic index describing phase. Furthermore, the polynomial principle is combined to enhance the characteristics of the extracted features. Therefore, the mapping relationship between the backlash and the current signal of the servo motor is established under different speed stages. The results show that by monitoring the motor current, it is feasible and effective to distinguish the different backlash of the meshing gear.


Developing from complexity to simplicity is the general developing direction of Chinese words. However, in recent years, traditional word forms can be seen everywhere and their uses are on the rise. From different aspects this article explores and discusses the reasons why current words become traditional and puts forward that the historical developing tendency of Chinese words is from complexity to simplicity and it accords with the historical trend to simplify the words, which is expected to draw our attention.


Background  The few chemoimmunotherapy trials that together with dacarbazine (DTIC) and interferon‐α 2a (IFNα), include retinoic acid (RA), did not include detailed immunological evaluation of functional and phenotypic natural killer (NK) cell characteristics, and have shown contradictory clinical results.


Biogas Plant is located in Busan, Korea and it has a facility to produce biogas through the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge and food waste. But the generated biogas is recovered and used as fuel to increase the temperature in the digester and the rest is burned and dumped at the waste gas incinerator. In this study, we analyzed the performance of a biogas-fueled solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system, which is coupled with a Micro gas turbine (MGT) for a target biogas plant. The objective of this study is to clarify the relationship between the scale of a plant and the optimal size. The calculation results of the greenhouse gas emission due to power usage using biogas is decreased.


The resistance to chloride-induced corrosion of a 9% chromium-ribbed reinforcing steel is compared to plain carbon steel-ribbed and round bar. The results from this investigation show the considerable variability in chloride threshold concentration and corrosion rate of the three steel types exposed to simulated pore solution. Incremental chloride additions were made over a period of 46 weeks after allowing 24 weeks for passivation of the exposed steel.


Find the resources you need for research in ENG 112. Use this page to find books, e-books, and Films on Demand for your assignment.


In this multicentre study that included 780 patients, antiseptic catheters were less likely to be contaminated on removal (13·3 versus 24·1 colonised catheters per 1000 catheter days, P < 0·01), but the rate of definitive catheter-related blood stream infection was similar: 0·42 versus 1·24 per 1000 catheter days, P = 0·6. Kuzu MA, Hazinedaroglu S, Dolalan S, Ozkan N, Yalcin S, Erkek AB et al. Prevention of surgical site infection after open prosthetic inguinal hernia repair: efficacy of parental versus oral prophylaxis with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid in a randomized clinical trial. World J Surg 2005; 29: 794–799.


The ultrasonic impact treatment on the surface of the welded joints of 16MnR steel for bogie was carried out by using HJ2—Ⅱ type ultrasonic impact machine.The fatigue tests were performed on the welded joints of 16MnR steel both in the welded and treated conditions to compare its fatigue properties by using EHF-EM200K2-070-1A type fatigue tester at lower load frequency(less than 10 Hz).The experimental results indicate that when the fatigue life is 2×106,the fatigue strength of the welded joint specimen before and after ultrasonic treatment is about 265 MPa and 325 MPa,respectively.The fatigue strength of the welded joints has been increased 22.6%,and the fatigue life has been increased 51~59 times after ultrasonic impact treatment.The stress concentration and welding residual stress at the toes of the welded joints can be significantly reduced by using ultrasonic impact treatment,which indicates that the ultrasonic impact treatment has remarkable effect on improving the fatigue properties of 16MnR steel welded joints.


(57) [summary] surgical cement comprises three components. The first component is beta tricalcium phosphate The second component comprises water. The third component comprises the said beta tricalcium phosphate beta-Ca Wherein upon mixing the three components, hardened mass containing brushite The beta-TCP particles have a different Ca / P atomic ratio and specific surface area and 1.50 of less than 10 m This component constitutes 1 to 99 volume percent of said hardened mass. Cement according to the present invention, dental and maxillofacial surgery (re-formation of the raised alveolar filling of the tooth cavity), orthopedic applications (bone fracture repair, increased bone) or chemicals supplied applications (antibiotics for topical, can be used for anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-cancer drugs).


We report the fabrication of optical components in multicore fibers based on femtosecond laser direct writing, including core selective writing of fibre Bragg gratings and optical attenuator for channel equalization.


Objective We measured and analysed the lesions before and after treatment with computer image analysis system, in order to get more objective and more scientific analysis of therapeutic effect. Methods Thirty patients with freckles on cheeks were selected enrolled among out patients. We used digital camera and image collection system successively to take pictures of freckles under designed conditions before treatment. After that, the patients were treated with Q-switched Nd:YAG laser(wavelength: 1064nm?532nm). In proper order, we took pictures of the same freckles 2,4,6,8 and 15 weeks.Then we analysed these images and pictures with computer, to get the therapeutis effect of laser treatment. Results We used image analysis system to evaluate images and pictures of the freckles,and we could conclude that the cure rate of laser treatment to freckles was 53.3%, the total effect of laser treatment was 90%. Conclusion Image analysis system measured the color of facial freckles before and after laser treatment.It could turn subjective analysis to objective digital index and made the evaluation of therapeutic effect much more objective.


With ethyl acrylate, acrylic acid as monomers, an intelligent carrier material (PAE) was synthesized, and its swelling properties at different pH values, its cycle characteristics as well as its release control performance for inhibitors in alkaline solution were studied. The results indicate that the synthesized material is sensitive to pH and has excellent cycle performance which is suitable for controlling drug delivery in the pH range from 10 to11. Keywords-acrylic acid; ethyl acrylate; pH sensitivity; drug delivery; rebar inhibitor


A method for computing a sparse incomplete factorization of the inverse of a symmetric positive definite matrix $A$ is developed, and the resulting factorized sparse approximate inverse is used as an explicit preconditioner for conjugate gradient calculations. It is proved that in exact arithmetic the preconditioner is well defined if $A$ is an H-matrix. The results of numerical experiments are presented.


The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of early childhood philosophy education activities based on Six Paramitas( ) on children's...


The research results indicated that the floral organ of Xin1 CMS was different remarkably from the Pol(Polima),Shan2A and Ogu CMS.The floral organ of normal structure was gained through interspecies hybridization between Xin1 CMS and RF01 in B.napus.The rate of viable pollen grains was 90.8%.It was identical with normal pollen grain by Scan of SEM.The fertility of F_1 that gained by the hybridization with 13 varieties as male parents was different among 4 CMS lines.The F_1,which gained by the hybridization between Xin1 CMS and 14 varieties as male parents,can maintain Pol CMS and Shan2A CMS.The F_1 that gained by the hybridization between Xin1 CMS and 6 varieties as male parents can restore Pol CMS and Shan2A CMS.Mitochondrial genome of Pol,Ogu and News lines Xin1(induced by radiation) were amplified with primer which was designed according to gene orf224.The results show Xin1 CMS has a amplified band which Pol has,and lack a band which Pol has.Xin1 is a new cytoplasmic male sterile line,which is different from Pol CMS.


The authors propose a robot teaching method which uses virtual reality. An operator wearing a VPL DataGlove performs a task in a virtual workspace which simulates a real workspace. The operator's movements are recognized that interpreted task-dependently using interpretation rules and a world model. A robot executes the task in the real workspace using sensors. The overall system architecture and experiments are presented.<<ETX>>


This article explores the alternator designs for small scale wind turbines and the aspects that affect the performance of these alternators. It explores the design and testing process used to quantify, visualize, and understand the relationship between the wind turbine stator design and the performance. Aditionally, the paper analyzes the data collection method using a test jig powered by a hydraulic motor set up by previous groups of students and the data intended to be collected using actual field tests on Whidbey Island located at Camp Casey. These tests were intended to identify favorable combinations of alternators and blades. However, due to a lack of wind, only a small amount of data was collected. In addition to this test, it also discusses another experimental test designed to analyze the importance of minimizing the spacing between the magnetic rotors and the stators in maximizing the performance of the alternator. I. WIND TURBINE DESIGNS HERE are two different styles of wind turbines that are commonly used: vertical-axis and horizontal-axis turbines. Vertical-axis turbines are oriented such that the wind direction does not matter and it is only dependent on the wind power coming in. Additionally, it is designed with the generator located on the ground at the bottom of the rotating shaft. Because of this, the tower does not need to support the weight of the generator itself so it can be a much larger generator, and therefore can be more efficient in harnessing the power. This also results in it being easier to maintain and repair the generator. Although it is convenient in these regards, the design comes with two large downfalls. Due to the vertical design, the blades are located closer to the ground, resulting in less wind power from the drag of the earth. As you can see in Figure 1, the wind power density increases exponentially in relation to the height Horizontal-axis turbines, on the other hand, are designed such that the generator is located at the top of the tower where the blades meet up with the tower. Because of this, the generator is designed to be smaller because the weight needs to be fully supported by the tower. Additionally, the horizontal axis wind turbine needs to be oriented into the direction of the wind to optimize the power output, which is often done either through the means of a tail vane. Larger turbines commonly use a more complex motor to control the orientation of the blades in relation to the wind. Additionally, with horizontal axis windturbines it is easy to decrease the power output simply by adjusting the pitch of the blades. This can be useful when the wind is stronger than expected to prevent the turbine form being damaged. The horizontal axis turbine is more commonly used and is also the style that was used to conduct the experiments later in this paper. Wind Turbine Design: Analysis and Experimentation of Electro-Magnetic Alternator Design (June 2018) Primary A. Mark Hans Ewald Steinke, First Reader Dr. John Lindberg, Second Reader Dr. Kevin Bolding T Fig. 1. Wind power density in relation to the vertical height from the ground, showing the importance of having turbines located at a high altitude to reduce drag generated by the surface of the earth. This graph was used from the following article http://euanmearns.com/high-altitude-wind-power-reviewed/ Wind Turbine Design: Analysis and Experimentation of Electro-Magnetic Alternator Design 3 II. ALTERNATOR DESIGN The alternator that we built for the project was based off a design in Homebrew Wind Power by Fink Bartman. The design consists of three main components; the alternator mount, two rotors, and the stator. The alternator mount is the mechanical component that holds the rest of the alternator together and can be mounted on top of the wind tower when the system is completely put together. Fig. 3. Diagram of the alternator mount including the key components. This image was taken from the Hugh Piggot How to build a wind turbine. The rotating parts of the alternator are referred to as the rotors. Each alternator consisted of two individual rotors which would be aligned across from the other. The individual rotor consisted of 12 magnet blocks aligned around the rotor alternating in the polarity towards the face of the stator from north to south and so on. It was important that each of these magnet blocks be equidistant from each other to maintain balance while the rotor spins and to maintain a consistent output voltage. To do this, we used a mold to ensure that we located the magnets in the correct location and had to exercise caution to prevent the magnets from adhering to one another while placing them into the mold. The magnets were then solidified into the mold using polyester based resin material. Four holes were drilled into each magnet plate for the magnets to be attached onto the alternator. The stationary part of the alternator, also known as the stator, was the aspect of the alternator that we had the most control over the design. The Stator consisted of 9 coils of magnet wire wound numerous times. As a general understanding from Homebrew Wind Power, a 12 Volt battery would be best charged by 14AWG wire wound 70 times, and a 24 Volt battery would be better charged by 17AWG wire wound 140 times. We intended to make two of each style of these stators to compare their performances in different scenarios. When laying out the coils, we had to make sure that each of the coils was laid down on the circle with the coils going in a counter clockwise direction. The ends of the coils were then sanded down and every third coil was connected as shown in Figure 5 and with points A, B, and C all being connected as well. This left three points on the stator for which to connect to the rectifier circuit. The rectifier circuit then converts the AC power to DC power. Fig. 2. The two different styles of wind turbines, both horizontal and vertical axis. Includes labels of the various components of each style. This image was taken from the Scottish article on renewable energy from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-diagram-shows-horizontal-andvertical-axis-wind-turbine-design-Scottish-government Fig. 4. Diagram of the layout for the magnet blocks on the steel plate. Image taken from Hugh Piggott's How to build a wind turbine Fig. 5. The wiring diagram for the 9-coil stator build and wired in the star pattern. Operational for three phase power. A,B, and C are all connected together and X, Y, and Z are the three outputs from the system. This diagram was taken from https://www.otherpower.com/stator.html Wind Turbine Design: Analysis and Experimentation of Electro-Magnetic Alternator Design 4 The alternators will generate power from the changing magnetic field passing over the coils as the magnets are propelled by the torque from the blades. This changing magnetic field will cause a change in the magnetic flux across the coils, which then generates a circular electric field through the individual coils, and this field will generate a difference in electrical potential energy proportional to the number of turns in each coil. The changing electrical field will result in an alternating electrical potential energy that can be measured at the three output wires, and when an electrical load is connected to these points, the electrical potential will cause electrons to move across the load resulting in current. The power generated by the alternator (Watts) is equal to the product of the electrical potential energy (Volts) and the current through the load (Amps). III. CAMP CASEY TESTING PROCESS For the purpose of testing the turbines, we used the horizontal axis turbines that were designed based off the book Homebrew Wind Power and were built to be placed on top of a 30 foot tower. We tested four different sets of blades and two different alternator designs. The four sets of blades that were tested included a heavier wooden blade set, a lighter wooden blade set, one set of blades that included a sinusoidal curvature pattern on the edge of the blades to help reduce the drag, and one set that was built using PVCs. Each of these blades were expected to operate differently under different wind conditions. The two different alternator designs that were to be used with these different blade sets were one style built with 14AWG (gauge) magnet-wire wound 70 times per coil (Stators 1A and 1B), and one style built with 17AWG magnet-wire wound 140 times per coil (Stators 2A and 2B). By using different combinations of the blades and alternators we hoped to be able to collect significant data to determine which blade/alternator combinations perform best at which wind speeds. To do this, we needed to continuously measure both the wind speed and power generated by the turbine while adjusting the load resistance. To measure the wind speed, we used an anemometer at the top of one of the two towers communicating with the computer. To simultaneously measure the power alongside the windspeed we measured the output voltage from the turbine and knowing the load resistance, calculated the power. This would allow data to be collected from two turbine designs simultaneously. Figure 7 below shows the order in which each stator/ blade set would be tested on the two different towers. By testing the alternators and blade combinations in this order, from the first four tests, we would be able to determine whether each of the similar stator sets had the same electrical characteristics, and then through the last two tests, we would be able to complete the tests to identify how each of the four blade performs with both alternator designs. If the tests went as expected, the data collected should from test one should match the data collected on that tower in test three and the same for tests two and four. When testing the various turbines by measuring the output current and voltage, the primary factor that we could control was the load resistance. To do this, we had a


Let $ \bbB_n =\frac{1}{n}(\bbR_n + \bbT^{1/2}_n \bbX_n)(\bbR_n + \bbT^{1/2}_n \bbX_n)^* $, where $ \bbX_n $ is a $ p \times n $ matrix with independent standardized random variables, $ \bbR_n $ is a $ p \times n $ non-random matrix and $ \bbT_{n} $ is a $ p \times p $ non-random, nonnegative definite Hermitian matrix. The matrix $\bbB_n$ is referred to as the information-plus-noise type matrix, where $\bbR_n$ contains the information and $\bbT^{1/2}_n \bbX_n$ is the noise matrix with the covariance matrix $\bbT_{n} $. It is known that, as $ n \to \infty $, if $ p/n $ converges to a positive number, the empirical spectral distribution of $ \bbB_n $ converges almost surely to a nonrandom limit, under some mild conditions. In this paper, we prove that, under certain conditions on the eigenvalues of $ \bbR_n $ and $ \bbT_n $, for any closed interval outside the support of the limit spectral distribution, with probability one there will be no eigenvalues falling in this interval for all $ n $ sufficiently large.


RECONSTRUCTING SURFACE WATER CARBONATE ION CONCENTRATION CHANGES IN THE EASTERN EQUATORIAL PACIFIC ACROSS GLACIAL TRANSITIONS Lenzie Gail Ward Old Dominion University, 2021 Director: Dr. Matthew W. Schmidt Today, the eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) plays a critical role in the global CO2 budget as a major source of CO2 to the atmosphere, but recent studies suggest the region may shift to a sink for atmospheric CO2 under different climate states. Here, I focus on two transitional periods, the last deglaciation (25 kyr to present) and last glaciation (the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a-4 transition, 96 to 60 kyr), to investigate how the carbon system in the EEP responds to major climate changes. I measured B/Ca ratios in the planktic foraminifera Globigerina bulloides from core MV1014-17JC (00o10.83'S, 85o52.00'W; 2846 m water depth) as a proxy for changes in surface water carbonate ion concentration ([CO3 ]) in the EEP across both climate transitions. Because calcification rate (controlled by [CO3 ]) drives the uptake of boron in foraminiferal tests, [CO3 ] can be calculated from B/Ca ratios. In addition to the B/Ca proxy, the relationship between δC values in the planktic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber and Trilobatus sacculifer to surface water [CO3 ] differ in response to changes in seawater [CO3 ]. Therefore, I also measured δC in these two species as another proxy for surface water Δ[CO3 ] change. Because surface water [CO3 ] is linked to surface water CO2 concentrations and thus atmospheric pCO2, I use reconstructed [CO3 ] to indicate if the EEP was more or less of a source of CO2 to the atmosphere in the past. Results indicate that across both the deglaciation and glaciation, the EEP remained as much or more of a source of CO2 than today. Enhanced upwelling across these glacial transitions coupled with an expansion of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) likely delivered CO2and nutrient-rich water to the surface. However, this increase in nutrient concentrations coupled with dust fertilization across cold Heinrich events failed to stimulate biological productivity to the point where the region switched to being a sink for atmospheric CO2. Sustained lower-than-modern surface water [CO3 ] across both climate transitions indicate that the EEP may remain a source of CO2 to the atmosphere across anthropogenic climate changes in the future.


Large language models have shown breakthrough potential in many NLP domains. Here we consider their use for stylometry, specifically authorship identification in Early Modern English drama. We find both promising and concerning results; LLMs are able to accurately predict the author of surprisingly short passages but are also prone to confidently misattribute texts to specific authors. A fine-tuned t5-large model outperforms all tested baselines, including logistic regression, SVM with a linear kernel, and cosine delta, at attributing small passages. However, we see indications that the presence of certain authors in the model's pre-training data affects predictive results in ways that are difficult to assess.


In the present opinion article (Tressoldi et al., 2017), the authors firstly present support for the claim that some first-person accounts (1PAs) cannot be reduced to third-person neural-and psychophysiological correlates accounts (3PAs). Secondly, they state that the 1 PAs contents are the only information to reckon when it is necessary to analyze qualia contents (e.g., emotions, beliefs, reality interpretations, quality of life and health) and their effects on behavior and the brain activity. Thirdly, according to the authors, even a complete description of the brain and psychophysiological correlates of these 1PAs does not add any further information about their contents and characteristics. Tressoldi et al. (2017) make several challenging and highly interesting claims; moreover, they give a state of the art overview of the 1PAs and 3PAs results and research limitations so far. Last but not least, their article stimulates further discussion on how to best invest research money in order to make progress in this research field, all in all, we recommend publication, but we have several major and minor points that the authors should further address.


The use of anions of 6,6'-bis(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)-2,2'-bipyridine (H2btzbp) as chelating ligands in preparing a coordination polymer is described. The synthesis, X-ray crystal structure and magnetic properties of a new Co(II) coordination polymer, [Co(btzbp)]n (1), are reported. The in situ [2 + 3] cycloaddition reaction of 6,6'-dicyano-2,2'-bipyridine with sodium azide in the presence of Co(ClO4)2 under hydrothermal conditions afforded compound 1. Structural characterization revealed that 1 features a distorted two-dimensional (2D) grid layer generated by both tetrazolate and 2,2'-bipyridyl bridges of the btzbp(2-) ligand. Variable temperature and field magnetic susceptibility measurements indicate that compound 1 exhibits spin canting with T(N) = 4.0 K and metamagnetism with H(c) = 300 G.


A perspective on Flip van der Watt and his history of the DR Church family at the time of his 70th birthday Prof PB van der Watt, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, was once attached to the Universities of Stellenbosch and Pretoria as church historian. He made an important and interesting, though relatively narrow contribution to the subject of church history in the South African context. In this article the focus is briefly on his life story but more extensively on his academic contributions in the field of church history. It is concluded that besides him popularising church history with lay people, his most important other contribution was in the field of denominational history and more specifically in the knowledge about the Dutch Reformed Church. Sadly he never succeeded to provide a broader and somewhat more kaleidoscopic or ecumenical perspective on the Dutch Reformed Church or to really focus on the Dutch Reformed Church family as a whole. In this respect, though there were already some exceptions to the rule, he was a typical representative of his times.


There is overcrowding of patients in the emergency services of our public hospitals. However, it is a problem that occurs in other countries and appears in the foreign medical literature as crowding. A brief review of the literature is presented discussing time of appearance, causes, consequences and possible solutions. In the absence of national research, sources used were the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloria General de la Republica) on the implementation of and compliance with technical standards in critical areas of 12 public hospitals in Lima and Callao 2012, and the report of the Office of the Ombudsman (Defensoria del Pueblo) on the nationwide inspection of 149 hospitals nationwide in 2012. The gaps between supply of beds and care excess demand in the emergency services inspected and conditions for both inpatients stay and health personnel working in the emergency services are described. Other situations that compromise access and timely attention of people are exposed. The recommendations presented by the two inspecting entities on the congestion of patients within the emergency services are summarized. Overcrowding is a serious public health problem. The main public health providers have to prioritize studies on this matter and propose solutions with plans of development and gradual improvement in the short and medium term.


Dear Sir I have read with great interest the recent article by Estlander et al. (1) on occupational allergic contact dermatitis from trivalent chromium in leather tanning. In a series of 1100 male workers, aged 16–60 years (mean 35 years), evaluated in Buenos Aires in 1985, 440 (61%) had occupational skin lesions: there were eczematous lesions on the hands in 82 patients (30%) and patch test reactivity in 187 (70%). Many workers had been on leave for more than 6 months, helping to explain why, in so many cases, clinical lesions were lacking. Studies were performed for legal reasons (layoff or compensation claims) in 398 cases (90%) and employer concern in 42 (10%). Patch-test readings (2–4 days (D) and D7 and D14) showed sensitization to potassium dichromate in 95/187 patients (51%), mercaptobenzothiazole in 23/187 (12%), and hexachlorophene in 29/187 (16%). Although dermatitis usually results from dichromate, certain chemicals in protective equipment, such as mercaptobenzothiazole, also induce sensitization. In this male-dominated, poorly-educated, and low-income population, inadequate or deficient preventive measures increase the risks from leather tanning. With the valuable collaboration of tannery physicians, preventive measures to improve working conditions were proposed. Thanks to these joint efforts, employer and union representatives came to understand that tanning-related dermatoses greatly reduce market competitiveness and should be prevented.


History Matching and Uncertainty Quantification Using Sampling Method. (August 2008) Xianlin Ma, B.S., China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China; M.S., University of Petroleum, Beijing, China; M.S., University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Akhil Datta-Gupta Dr. Yalchin Efendiev Uncertainty quantification involves sampling the reservoir parameters correctly from a posterior probability function that is conditioned to both static and dynamic data. Rigorous sampling methods like Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) are known to sample from the distribution but can be computationally prohibitive for high resolution reservoir models. Approximate sampling methods are more efficient but less rigorous for nonlinear inverse problems. There is a need for an efficient and rigorous approach to uncertainty quantification for the nonlinear inverse problems. First, we propose a two-stage MCMC approach using sensitivities for quantifying uncertainty in history matching geological models. In the first stage, we compute the acceptance probability for a proposed change in reservoir parameters based on a linearized approximation to flow simulation in a small neighborhood of the previously computed dynamic data. In the second stage, those proposals that passed a selected criterion of the first stage are assessed by running full flow simulations to assure the rigorousness. Second, we propose a two-stage MCMC approach using response surface models for quantifying uncertainty. The formulation allows us to history match three-phase flow simultaneously. The built response exists independently of expensive flow simulation, and provides efficient samples for the reservoir simulation and MCMC in the second stage.


Mechanism of ultrasonic vibration tapping and its experimental results were reported in this paper Mechanism of ultrasonic vibration tapping is similar to that of Piispanen's card model, the experimental result agree with the theoretical one For the difficult machining pure alminium (A 1050), cutting torque, cutting ratio, shear angle, deformed layer etc were investigated using the quickstop device for tapping The following results were obtained In vibration tapping, tapping torque was nearly equal to frictional torque when tap was screwed into female screw, the value was about 0.05 Nm Cutting ratio and shear angle in vibration tapping with kerosene were about three times of those of conventional tapping Deformed layer of female screw was not recoganized in vibration tapping


: The city of Mosul has a great scientific status, and it has spread schools and public libraries since ancient times, and settled by many scientists and attributed to them. If Basra and Kufa pride themselves on their language schools, Mosul is entitled to boasting its language school headed by Abu al-Fath Usman bin Jaini al-Musli (392 AH) Ibn Khaldun (d. 808 AH), speaking of the singer El-Labib to Ibn Hisham Al-Ansari (d. 761 e): ((We stopped him from the knowledge of the gm attested to the height of his ability in this industry, and the abundance of his goods, as if they follow the path of the people of Mosul who followed the footsteps of Ibn And followed the term of his education, and came from it with something strange)).


Despite widespread adoption of e-government technology, little is known about how public managers utilize this technology and what affects their technology use. Since new technology is often accompanied with organizational changes, resistance to new technology is expected to occur. If so, what encourages public managers to use e-government technology? In an original effort to bridge the literature on technology acceptance and the literature on public service commitment, this paper proposes an integrated model of public managers' e-government technology use. Using data from a national survey of public managers in U.S. local governments in 2010, this paper has found that, in addition to public managers' perceptions of technology, their attitudes toward public service affect their website use.


ABSTRACT The operation of stepped spillways is limited by a range of discharges due to the risk of occurrence of the cavitation phenomenon and erosion on its steps. Since there is a demand for spillways with the possibility of overflow of greater discharges, the designs seek to increase the air concentration of the flow, which can occur through the installation of piers in the spillway in order to protect the structure from the above mentioned damage. The aim of this work is to analyze flow characteristics and extreme minimum and maximum pressures with non-exceedance probability of 0.1% and 99.9% acting next to the step edges of the spillway with aeration induced by piers through an experimental analysis in a physical model. Based on the results obtained, flow behavior was defined and equations for predicting the extreme pressures that occur along the stepped spillway with aeration induced by piers were proposed.


If you are an Anglophonewho first started studying art song before the digital age, you may remember a number of classic collections of translated art song texts. My first such much-used volume was Philip L. Miller's The Ring of Words (first published in 1963), a collection of over 300 texts of mostly canonical art songs translated from German, French, Italian, Russian, and a few Scandinavian languages into English. Right around the time that I was using that book as an undergraduate pianist, however, Emily Ezust was building the original version of the LiederNet Archive. Ezust began the website as a personal project hosted on a web account at McGill University and launched it on 24 May 1995. As Ezust herself points out in the FAQs on the website, the LiederNet Archive is older than Wikipedia (Wikipedia's launch date was 15 January 2001). Since then, the site has grown (as of 17 September 2020) to include texts for choral works and to house a total of 160,284 texts in 125 different original languages, with 36,208 translations into numerous different languages posted so far. The vastness of this collection, which is constantly growing, is dependent on a global group of volunteers, who have contributed 28,625 of these translations to date. Although the site embraces choral works as well as songs, this review focuses primarily on its relevance for art song, while commenting more briefly on the website's coverage of choral music. In both realms, the database seems at first to be primarily a practical utility: a repository for the original forms of texts of arts songs and choral works, as well as a place to find translations for texts in which one has an interest. But it is in fact much more. With respect to song in particular, the resource has many features that support innovative ways of thinking about song texts in scholarship. It also serves as a kind of window into the world of art song today. The still strong pull of canonicity in scholarship and performance of the genre is palpable, even as the site offers nearly endless opportunities to go beyond the most well-known texts and songs. The website is lastly a lively platform for volunteerism and intellectual exchange. Opportunities for involvement range from contributing small suggestions concerning content to bigger translation or guest editing projects. The database is currently searchable by 'everything', the surname of poets or composers (with a gender filter), title or first line, year, and collection. Some browsing features that could be useful or desirable when looking for new repertoire or patterns in the repertoire do not currently exist. For example, users cannot retrieve a list of all women composers, a list of poems in less internationally well-known original languages for art song, or – something that could be especially enlightening – a list of all women poets on the site (given the fact that a number of prominent women composers of art song have traditionally set many more poems by canonical male poets than by women). Ezust reports that users have generally not found these larger browsing features desirable, but that she is willing to collect such lists from the database herself for particular users, or to create more specialized search


Red propolis, an exclusive variety of propolis found in the northeast of Brazil has shown to present antitumour activity, among several other biological properties. This article aimed to help to evaluate the underlying molecular mechanisms of the potential anticancer effects of red propolis on tumour, Hep‐2, and non‐tumour cells, Hek‐293.


SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN NYERI DISTRICT Buildirge are a physical imprint o f man' s occupation of an area and they represent a summary of man's activ ities and his way of l i f e in given circumstances. This study is aimed at presenting a detailed description, c lassification and expla nation of settlement patterns in Nyeri D istrict. This study was done on two geographical scales. On a small scale it tried to identify the settlement patterns whereas on a large scale it checked i f the settlements can be c lassified according to the general settlements c lassification . In both cases the study tried to identify the locational factors. The rank-size rule formula was applied to the urban centres in Nyeri D istrict in order to check whether they are lognorrnally distributed. Nearest neighbour analysis was applied * to each of the remaining categories of designated centres in the District, whereas for settlements below local centres the analysis was done in 7 sampled locations. Four settlement categories were identified in a descending order of complexity, namely urbar oartres, Ichagi (v illa g e s ), Matuura (hamlets) and Micii (iso lated homesteads). Further results o f this study showed that Nyeri is a primate urban Centre (town). This is due to the fact that Kenya is a developing country, urban phenomenon is recent and that Nyeri was preferentially created and helped to grow. The patterns of each category o f other designated centres is between random arid clustered. For settlements other than designated centres the patterns are as followss— i ) Naromoru and Mweiga locations between clustered and random but with a higher tendency


To the Editor:— The thesis of the paper of G. A. Mayer and W. F. Connell ( J. A. M. A. 161 :806 [June 30] 1956) that the clotting time is a more valuable guide to Dicumarol therapy than the Quick one-stage prothrombin time test is fraught with such danger that I deem it an obligation to submit this communication. The idea of substituting the clotting time for the prothrombin time is not new. Cheney in 1940 ( Am. J. M. Sc. 200 :327) proposed the plasma clotting time to estimate hypoprothrombinemia and a careful survey of the literature might disclose other attempts, but, significantly, anticoagulant therapy continues to be controlled by the one-stage method in nearly all the hospitals of the world, presumably with success. It might be well to recall that the clotting time was available long before the prothrombin time. Many of the older surgeons will remember how many


A Unified Account of Segment Duration and Coarticulatory Effects in Speech Production Alan H. Kawamoto (email@example.com) Department of Psychology, University of California at Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA Qiang Liu (firstname.lastname@example.com) Department of Psychology, University of California at Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA Abstract Previous Attempt to Reconcile Differences In this paper, we describe a unified account of anticipatory coarticulatory effects and local segment duration effects based on a segmental minimal unit of articulation. The anticipatory coarticulatory effects are modeled using a Jordan network and the segment duration effects are modeled using Sigma-Pi control units. The viability of this approach in resolving an ongoing debate between a segmental versus syllabic minimal unit of articulation in speech production is illustrated using a small lexicon. One way to reconcile the differences is to assume that the minimal unit of articulation is the segment and that different criteria to initiate articulation are used (Kawamoto et al., 1998; Kello, 2004). That is, an individual could choose to initiate articulation as soon as the initial segment is encoded (i.e., the segment criterion) or only after the full phonological code for the whole word becomes available (i.e., the whole word criterion). When the whole word criterion is used, anticipatory coarticulation would be produced to its full extent without any local segment duration effects. The same would be true, regardless of the criterion used, if the phonological code for the syllable becomes available all at once. By contrast, when articulation is initiated using the segment criterion without the complete phonological code, anticipatory coarticulation would only be produced when the relevant segment (e.g., the vowel) becomes available. Moreover, the articulation of the segment immediately preceding the locus of processing difficulty would be lengthened until the processing difficulty is resolved. On the other hand, if the minimal unit of articulation is the syllable, then the notion of an articulation criterion becomes moot for monosyllabic words because the entire phonological code would be available when articulation is initiated. Under this assumption, there would be no opportunity for local segment duration effects to be manifested, and anticipatory coarticulation would always be produced to its full extent. Note that these results are indistinguishable from a segmental minimal unit of articulation and a whole word criterion. Keywords: Coarticulation; Phonological Priming; Word Naming; Speech Production; Segment Duration; Jordan Network; Minimal Unit of Articulation Minimal Unit of Articulation Generally, the final stage of speech production is believed to involve two broad processes: (1) phonological encoding, in which an abstract representation (i.e., phonological code) of speech is generated, and (2) articulation, in which the phonological code is realized as overt speech. Despite wide acceptance of this framework, debate is still ongoing with respect to the nature of the minimal unit involved in articulation. Some researchers favor the phonological word (e.g., Levelt, Roelofs, & Meyer, 1999) or the syllable (e.g., Meyer, Roelofs, Levelt, 2003), while others favor the segment (e.g., Kawamoto, Kello, Jones, & Bame, 1998; Mackay, 1987). Arguments for the syllable have typically been based on the premise that anticipatory coarticulation, the influences of a subsequent segment on the production of the current segment, is a necessary and obligatory accompaniment of speech (Fujimura & Lovins, 1978). Thus, articulation cannot be initiated on the basis of anything smaller than the syllable because the phonetic environment of a segment must be known for anticipatory coarticulation (Levelt et al., 1999; Rastle, Coltheart, Harrington, & Palethorpe, 2000). By contrast, Kawamoto and his colleagues have assumed that the segment is the minimal unit of articulation (Kawamoto, 1999; Kawamoto, Kello, Jones, & Bame, 1998). Arguments for the segment have generally been based on local segment duration effects, particularly segment duration increases that are a result of local processing difficulties in generating the phonological code of a subsequent segment (see Kawamoto, 1999; Kawamoto et al., 1998). Articulatory Differences in Different Priming Conditions It turns out that coarticulation is not as simple as depicted above by the syllabic perspective. The same response can be produced with or without anticipatory coarticulation under different phonological prime conditions (Kawamoto, Liu, Kherlein, & Johnson, 2007; Whalen, 1990). In Whalen's study, participants produced four VCV utterances, all beginning with the same vowel, in two experimental conditions. In one, participants knew beforehand what the consonant was but not the second vowel, and in the other, they knew what the second vowel


i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF FIGURES vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS viii


We consider the Chinese Postman Problem, in which a mailman must deliver mail to houses in a neighborhood. The mailman must cover each side of the street that has houses, at least once. The focus of this paper is our attempt to discover the optimal path, or the least number of times each street is walked. The integration of algorithms from graph theory and operations research form the method used to explain solutions to the Chinese Postman Problem.


A variety of algebras is a Specht variety if all its subvarieties are finitely based. This article presents the first example of a maximal Specht variety of monoids. The existence of such an example is counterintuitive since it is long known that maximal Specht varieties of semigroups do not exist. This example permits a characterization of Specht varieties in the following four classes based on identities that they must satisfy and varieties that they cannot contain: (1) overcommutative varieties, (2) varieties containing a certain monoid of order seven, (3) varieties of aperiodic monoids with central idempotents, and (4) subvarieties of the variety generated by the Brandt monoid of order six. Other results, including the uniqueness or nonexistence of limit varieties within the aforementioned four classes, are also deduced. Specifically, overcommutative limit varieties of monoids do not exist. In contrast, the limit variety of semigroups, discovered by M.V.Volkov in the 1980s, is an overcommutative variety. 2010 Math. Subj. Class. 20M07.


An incrementally maintained mapping from a network to a relational database is presented. This mapping may be established either to support the efficient retrieval of data from a network database through a relational interface, or as the first step in a gradual conversion of data and applications from a network to a relational database system. After the mapping has been established, the only data mapped from the network to the relational database are the increments resulting from updates on the network database. The mapping is therefore an efficient alternative to mappings that repeatedly map the results of retrievals through the relational interface from the network database to the relational database. This is in particular the case when the two databases reside on different hosts. Applications on the network database may, under certain restrictions, gradually be moved to the relational database, while the mapping incrementally maintains the relational database for the applications that remain on the network database.


This Research Full Paper presents results from gamified in-class interventions with leader-boards. Generally, it is assumed that student expertise is directly related to deliberate and repeated practice. However, finding techniques that foster student engagement in problem-solving may not be the easiest of tasks. To that end, gamification, also known as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts, has proved to be effective in educational scenarios. Concerned with stimulating student engagement in Computer Science, this research aimed to observe the effect of the insertion of leaderboards in short-length in-class experiments performed in two different terms of undergraduate IP courses. $N =84$ students were randomly allocated into one of two types of group: experimental groups with leaderboards; and control groups without knowledge of nor access to leaderboards. Both experiments showed that students in the experimental groups tried and completed more programming problems, on average, than those from their respective control groups. P-values below $\alpha =5$% indicated a real impact from the leaderboard in students' performances. This research may benefit educators responsible for IP courses that have an online platform at their disposal, by introducing a design of leaderboard that incites student engagement, at least for short-length activities.


The application of the CAN control system requires intelligent instrument based on CAN to take the place of traditional instru-ment. In order to meet with requirements of fieldbus instruments, an pressure measuring and controlling system based on microprocessor with fieldbus technology is developed. It is exploited using MPX5000 series pressure sensor and 68HCS12 series microcontroller with CAN interface. For the hardware design, it introduced several modules including the microcontroller module, the sensor module, the LCD module, the communication module, the power module and the anti-jamming measures. The software is programmed via C and assembly language.


Current understanding of mechanisms of splat formation during thermal spraying are discussed. Schematic of influence of particle velocity on change of impact and forward pressure during particle-substrate interaction are given. The existence of three typical zones of particle-substrate contact is shown. These zones are: (1) central circle type mechanically activated by hammer and head pressure; (2) middle ring-shaped mechanically activated by head pressure and friction of spreading particle; (3) peripheral ring-shaped mechanically activated by friction of spreading particle. It is possible to estimate dimensions of these zones analytically. The stress distribution on particle-substrate contact during splat formation is discussed. It is shown that relative values of area for these zones depends from particle velocity. The presence of these typical zones during splat formation shown by conduction of special model experiments.


At least five crystalline phases can be found in the CaSO4−H2O system, which are gypsum CaSO4·2H2O, the subhydrates α- and β-CaSO4·0.5H2O, and the soluble and insoluble anhydrite CaSO4. The formation of these five phases in the CaSO4−H2O system and their transformations were investigated by in situ time-resolved synchrotron radiation powder X-ray diffraction (SR-PXD) in this study. Furthermore, revised structural models for β-CaSO4·0.5H2O and soluble anhydrite CaSO4 are presented. The hydration of α-CaSO4·0.5H2O was studied at 25 °C and showed that the reaction with H2O started immediately after mixing the two reactants and that the formation of CaSO4·2H2O was coupled to the depletion of α-CaSO4·0.5H2O. The thermal decomposition of CaSO4·2H2O was investigated in the temperature range of 25−500 °C and showed the formation of α-CaSO4·0.5H2O followed by the formation of soluble anhydrite AIII-CaSO4, which was gradually converted to insoluble anhydrite AII-CaSO4. The thermal decomposition of α-CaSO4·0.5D2O wa...


The receptor for antigen on the surface of T lymphocytes consists of a variable disulfide-bridged heterodimer (TCR-a/fi or -y/I) associated with invariant CD3 proteins (CD3-y, -6, -e, and -i). The genes coding for the CD3 proteins are expressed in the earliest recognizable thymocytes, preceding the rearrangement and expression of the TCR genes. The isolation, characterization, and in vitro expression of the murine CD3-E gene, as reported here, represent obligatory steps toward our understanding of the complex rules that govern T-cell-specific gene expression. The CD3-r gene was transcribed from a non-TATA promoter and consisted of eight exons, two of which were unusually small (18 and 15 base pairs). The transmembrane exon was found to be homologous to the transmembrane exons of the CD3-y and CD3-6 genes. In transient-transfection experiments, a genomic fragment comprising 4 kilobases ofupstream sequence and extending into the second exon sufficient to drive the expression of a reporter gene in murine T cells. Antigen receptors on the surface of human and murine T lymphocytes have been discovered through two lines of experimental research. (i) Monoclonal antibodies specific for functionally competent in vitro cultured T-cell clones were prepared. These clone-specific, or clonotypic, antibodies were then shown to affect the function of their respective T-cell clones and were used to characterize these antigen receptors biochemically. (ii) Genes were sought that specifically rearranged only in T cells. Subsequently, these genes were found to code for the structures recognized by the clonotypic antibodies (1-3). Several lines of evidence support the concept that T-cell receptor (TCR) heterodimers are associated with the CD3 proteins. (i) Coprecipitation of the CD3 proteins with antiTCR reagents and vice versa indicated a close proximity of these cell surface structures (4). (ii) Incubation ofT cells with monoclonal antibodies directed against either TCR or CD3 leads to "comodulation," or simultaneous disappearance from the cell surface, of both structures (5). (iii) Several mutants that do not express the TCR/CD3 complex on their surface were found to lack the TCR-a or TCR-,B mRNA. Upon gene transfer of cDNA encoding the appropriate TCR chain, cell surface expression of the TCR/CD3 complex could be restored (6). The murine TCR/CD3 complex consists of the TCR heterodimer and four CD3 proteins: two glycoproteins, CD3-y (21 kDa) and CD3-8 (28 kDa), and two nonglycosylated proteins, CD3-e (25 kDa) and CD3-; (17 kDa) (7, 8). Murine CD3-E undergoes posttranslational modification, since the molecular mass of the protein backbone predicted from the cDNA sequence is 18 kDa (9). This was confirmed by in vitro translation of the cDNA clone pDL1 (9, 10).-No conclusive experimental evidence has been provided for either a lipid anchor or oligosaccharide side chains. Using antibodies generated with an octapeptide representing the N terminus of murine CD3-E, we determined that the N-terminal 88 amino acids ofmurine CD3-e are located on the outside of the cell (11). A 65-amino acid cytoplasmic domain containing a high level of basic amino acids follows a 26-amino acid transmembrane region. As is the case with the other known CD3 proteins, murine CD3-E contains a negatively charged residue (aspartic acid) in its transmembrane region (9). This residue is probably involved in a salt bridge with one of the positively charged residues in the transmembrane segments of TCR-a, -/3, -y, or -8. To begin to understand the genetic events that commit hemopoietic cells to the T-cell lineage, we decided to study the exclusive expression of the CD3-E gene in T cells. Coordinate expression of the CD3-,y, -8, and -E genes is one of the earliest events in maturation of T cells within the thymus gland and precedes expression of TCR-a and -,B in mice and humans (12-14). The intracellularly expressed CD3-y, -8, and -E proteins form a subcomplex. Later in differentiation, TCR-a and -,3 bind to this subcomplex and subsequently the TCR/CD3 complex is transported to the cell surface (15). Thus, the CD3 genes set the stage for the eventual functional expression of TCRs on the surface of mature T lymphocytes. Earlier we (16, 17) described the human and murine CD3-8 and CD3-y genes. These genes are closely linked both in mice and in humans separated by -1.4 kilobases (kb) and organized in a head-to-head configuration (16-18). Exon/intron boundaries are located at homologous positions in the two genes with the exception that the CD3-y gene contains an additional 24-base-pair (bp) coding exon (exon 2) and a separate 3' untranslated exon. Based on this similarity of gene organization, on the physical linkage, and on the high sequence homology of the CD3-y and CD3-8 genes, it is highly likely that these two genes arose through a duplication event. In this study we characterize the exon/intron organization and the transcription start site of the murine CD3-E gene.J MATERIALS AND METHODS Characterization of the CD3-c Gene. Standard techniques were used for isolation, subcloning, and sequencing of the genomic DNA. The murine cDNA clone pDLI was used as a probe to screen a AEMBL4 phage library containing 15to 20-kb partial Sau3A1 fragments of BALB/c mouse fibroblast DNA. Ten positive bacteriophages were screened with two RNA probes: a 92-base probe complementary to the 5' sequence of pDL1 and a 670-base probe complementary to Abbreviation: TCR, T-cell receptor for antigen. tThe sequence reported in this paper is being deposited in the EMBL/GenBank data base (IntelliGenetics, Mountain View, CA, and Eur. Mol. Biol. Lab., Heidelberg) (accession no. J04110). 8623 The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85 (1988) the 3' sequence ofpDL1. These probes were generated from pDLI in the pGEM-4 vector by using SP6 and T7 RNA polymerases according to the manufacturer's instructions (Promega Biotec, Madison, WI). The gene was found to be contained within the inserts of two of these bacteriophages, 4H3 and 4H4. The plasmids pE1, pE2, and pE3 were constructed by ligating HindIII fragments obtained from the bacteriophage 4H3 into the pGEM-4 vector; pE4 was constructed by ligating a HindIII fragment obtained from bacteriophage 4H4 and pGEM-4. Exons 1, 2, and 5-8 were mapped by restriction enzyme analysis and probing with pDLI. The small exons 3 and 4 were found by using oligonucleotide probes (TTGGCACTTGCCAGGACG and ATGCCGAGAACATTGgt, respectively; see Fig. 2). Restriction fragments containing exon sequences were subcloned from the plasmid constructs in pGEM-4 for sequence analysis. Double-stranded sequencing was performed by the dideoxy chain-termination method in pGEM-4, essentially according to the manufacturer's instructions. Primer Extension Analysis. The insert from pDL1 was digested with Xmn I (restriction site at bp 94) and Sma I (polylinker site 5' of the insert) and dephosphorylated with calf intestinal phosphatase. The small 5' fragment was isolated and subsequently digested with Nla IV (site at bp 11). The 83-bp fragment was then end-labeled at its negative strand with phage T4 polynucleotide kinase (see Fig. 3a). Approximately 100,000 dpm of this probe was coprecipitated with 50 ,ug of total RNA from mouse L cells or from the mouse T-cell hybridoma DO11.10. The resulting pellet was dried and dissolved in 30 ,lI of hybridization buffer (80%o formamide/1 mM EDTA/40 mM Mops, pH 8.2/400 mM NaCl). After 3 min of heating at 85°C, hybridization was allowed to occur for 16 hr at 42°C. After reprecipitation, the samples were taken up in reverse transcriptase reaction mixture [0.1 M Tris, pH 8.3/140 mM KCl/10 mM MgCl2/4 mM dithiothreitol/0.5 mM each dNTP, containing 10 units of reverse transcriptase (Promega Biotec)] and incubated for 10 min at room temperature and then for 20 min at 42°C. The extended products were then analyzed by electrophoresis alongside a dideoxy sequencing "ladder" in a denaturing 8% polyacrylamide gel. Quantitative S1 Nuclease Analysis. Plasmid Constructs. The construction of pguE4 has been described in detail (11). In short, it contains DNA from four different sources (see Fig. 4a). (i) The plasmid backbone is a Sal I-Xho I piece taken from p~u (19) and contains pBR322 sequences [the ampicillinresistance gene (Amp) and the replication origin (ori)], a truncated form of the murine histone H4 gene serving as an internal control for transfection efficiency, and the polyoma virus early region (PyT), which allows plasmid replication in mouse cells. (ii) A 4.5-kb fragment (EcoRI/partial Bsm I) from pEl extends into exon 2 to a point 14 bp upstream ofthe ATG codon of the CD3-E gene. (iii) The human CD3-E cDNA clone pDJ4 (20) serves as reporter gene. (iv) Simian virus 40 sequence [small tumor antigen (t) intron and polyadenylylation signal] replaces the untranslated tail of DJ4, thus stabilizing the hybrid message. ptuE10 was derived from pjuE4 by depleting the mouse genomic CD3-e sequence. pProbe3 was generated by subcloning an Nsi I (site at bp -211 relative to the transcription start site)-Pst I fragment from p;uE4 in pGEM-4, and subsequently deleting the first intron by replacing aBan I (site in exon l)-Hga I (site in exon 2) fragment by a corresponding fragment taken from the cDNA clone pDL1 (see Fig. 4a). S nuclease protection. DO11.10 cells (107) were resuspended in 15 ml of transfection buffer (RPMI 1640/50 mM Tris, pH 7.4, containing DEAE-dextran (250 ,ug/ml) and plasmid (10 ,ug) and incubated at 37°C for 30 min. The cells were then washed twice and cultured for 48 hr, after which total RNA was prepared. The Nsi I-Pst I fragment from pProbe3 was dephosphorylated and end-labeled with T4 kinase (Fig. 4a). The probe (50,000 dpm) was hybridized with 20 ,ug ofRNA as