Abstract Carlitz defined both a function ζ and a formal power series Π over Fq, analogous to the Riemann function ζ and to the real number π. Yu used Drinfeld modules to show the fraction ζ(s)/Πs is transcendental over Fq(x), when s is an integer not divisible by q − 1. In this paper we use the automata theory and Christol, Kamae, Mendes France and Rauzy theorem to prove the linear independence over Fq(x) of the fraction ζ(s)/Πs, for all integers s in [1, q − 2].


Introduction: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and AntiHBs antibodies can coexist in 10-25% cases. Major reason is buildup of mutations in the Major Hydrophilic Region (MHR) of the S gene especially within the "a" determinant region leading to change in antigenicity and escape from the host immune system. The aim of this study was to analyze influence of 'a' determinant of S gene on creation of these immune escape mutants in CHB by sequencing. Material and methods: 100 cases of CHB reporting for treatment or review were enrolled. HBsAg and anti-HBs was performed on samples using enzyme immunoassay along with determination of biochemical profile. Sequencing of MHR region was done on identified Immune escape variants to determine influence of 'a' determinant. Results: Eleven percent CHB patients showed coexistence of HBsAg and Anti-HBs. Seven out of eleven patients were positive for HBV-DNA and sequencing of MHR region of S gene showed common accumulation of mutations seen at position 127. Other common sites of mutation were at positions 128 and 118 in 'a' determinant we found point mutations at positions 118, 120, 124 and137 which have not been described. Conclusion: Accumulation of residue changes within the MHR, including the highly conformational and cysteine-rich loops of "a" determinant can be a possible mechanism for coexistence of HBsAg and anti-HBs antibodies in CHB. Such cases increase the problem of transmission of these variants and can cause widespread vaccination failure and are thus public health concern as these individuals may unknowingly transmit the infection.


In this paper we consider a zero-sum Markov stopping game on a general state space with impulse strategies and infinite time horizon discounted payoff where the state dynamics is a weak Feller--Mar...


Algebra-logical model, method and algorithm of fault embedded diagnosis in functional blocks of SoC are proposed. The reduced SoC Functional Intellectual Property Infrastructure that is characterized by minimal set of the embedded diagnosis processes in real time and enables to realize the services: testing of the nominal functions on basis of generable input patterns and analysis of output reactions; fault diagnosis with given resolution of fault location by means of utilization of the IEEE 1500 multiprobe; fault simulation to provide of realization of the first two procedures on basis of the fault detection table is presented.


We, the Editor and Publisher of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, have retracted the following article: A. Badawy, M. Khiary, A. Ragab, M. Hassan & L. Sherif (2010) Laparoscopy – or not – for management of unexplained infertility, Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 30:7, 712-715, DOI: 10.3109/01443615.2010.508850 Since publication, significant concerns have been raised about the integrity of the data and reported results in the article. The authors have not adequately addressed the concerns raised, and they have not provided their original data or sufficient documentation that might confirm that the study was conducted in compliance with the journal's policies on clinical research. As we cannot verify the validity of the published work or that it complied with our policies on clinical trials, we are therefore retracting the article. The authors listed in this publication have been informed, and they do not agree with the retraction. We have been informed in our decision-making by our policy on publishing ethics and integrity and the COPE guidelines on retractions. The retracted article will remain online to maintain the scholarly record, but it will be digitally watermarked on each page as 'Retracted'.


The baseline concentration of Ni in the surface soil of Guiyang,Guizhou has been established.Analyses of Ni contamination were done.By statistical analysis,we have established that the baseline of Ni in the surface soil of Guiyang is 17.0 mg/kg and that the soil with Ni content over 57.0 mg/kg may suffer contamination caused by human activities.Geoaccumulation Index analysis of 332 soil samples indicated that 19.2% of the soil has not suffered from Ni contamination,63.7% is in the category between non-pollution and mid-pollution,16.8% falls into the category of mid-pollution,and only 0.3% suffers from mid-pollution to severe pollution.The maximal of Ni contamination degree(CD) is 1.56.CD analysis indicated that the surface soil without Ni pollution accounts for 64% of the total.The total CD is below zero.It is,therefore,concluded that on the whole soil in Guiyang is Ni pollution free.


In order to evaluate the relative contribution of water and food to the accumulation of copper in herbivorous marine zooplankton, the accumulation and loss rates of Cu in coastal copepods (Acartia sp. and Temora sp.) were measured and applied to a kinetic bioaccumulation model. Experiments were performed to measure stable Cu uptake from the dissolved phase in field-collected copepods acclimated for 2 to 3 d to a low Cu diet. The copepods were exposed to a range of free-Cu ion concentrations ([Cu 2+ ] = 10 -14.8 M, 10 -12.8 M, 10 -9.8 M), but a significant Cu accumulation rate was only observed in copepods exposed to 10 -9.8 M Cu 2+ . Based on the Cu uptake rate measured at 10 -9.8 M Cu 2+ , a free ion-specific uptake rate constant of dissolved Cu of 1.1 x 10 4 1 g -1 d -1 was estimated. Efflux rate constants of Cu in copepods estimated from depuration experiments were 0.056 ± 0.016 and 0.076 ± 0.012 d -1 in laboratory-fed and unacclimated copepods, respectively. Application of these Cu uptake and efflux parameters, and those for Cu trophic transfer from previous studies, to a kinetic bioaccumulation model shows that food is the dominant source of Cu (> 75 % of total accumulation) at free-Cu ion concentrations ranging from 10 -14.8 to 10 -11.8 M. At free-Cu concentrations ≥ 10 -11.8 M, dissolved uptake becomes a significant portion (> 20%) of total Cu accumulation accounting for almost 60% of the total Cu in copepods at 10 -9.8 M Cu 2+ . These results suggest that herbivorous marine zooplankton accumulate Cu mainly by trophic transfer, but that dissolved uptake could be important in contaminated waters.


This paper deals with the modeling of eddy currents generated by arc motion during opening phases of circuit breakers. The paper is mainly divided in two parts. The first part one consists in determining eddy currents in electrodes. Two descriptions of the motion are under test: The Eulerian one which is easy to implement but limited to invariant geometry and the Lagrangian one more general. Both descriptions are compared in order to validate Lagrangian one. Once validated, this method is used to calculate eddy current in splitter plates. All simulations are carried out with a T- FEM formulation and no new mesh at each time step is required.


is dominated by a detailed examination of a Scottish Tourist Board promotional campaign launched in 1994. While this must have its part in the wider business of' Selling Scotland' one would have thought it better placed in a chapter on media advertising rather than in the heart of a final review. After all, few readers will remember having seen the commercial and the danger is that it will stick out like the proverbial sore thumb in what is otherwise a lucid summary of a great Scottish success.


Interactions between the land surface and the atmosphere are increasingly recognized as playing an important role in shaping our climate and the ways in which it will respond to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. The availability of soil moisture influences surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat over land and can thereby feed back on the atmosphere. The Global Land Atmospheric Coupling Experiment (GLACE) (Koster et al., 2004) found a surprisingly large spread of sensitivities in predicted rainfall


Embodiments of the present invention generally provides an apparatus and method for providing a uniform thermal profile in a plurality of substrate during the heat treatment. In one embodiment, a cassette that includes one or more heating substrate support is disposed movable in the heating chamber having a substantially uniform thermal profile, to heat the substrate more uniformly.


The study is titled replacement elephant grass with rice straw as an energy source supplemented Gliricidia leaves as a source of Rumen Degradable Protein (RDP) on body composition Bali cattle. The experiment was conducted in groups of cattle Wibuh Mandiri, banjo Tangkeban Batuyang Kangin village, Sukawati, Gianyar district, conducted over 12 weeks from 22 July 2011 until 14 October 2011. The design used was a randomized block design (RBD) consisting of 4 treatment diets with three weight groups as replicates. Variables measured were body composition, ie body water content, body fat, body protein and fat retention. Body composition was determined by means of urea space (Rule et al ., 1986). The results showed that the replacement of grass with rice straw as a source of energy up to 30% with 30% leaf suplentasi gamal, does not give a significant effect on body water content, protein content of the body and body fat content of Bali cattle. The higher content of rice straw and Gliricidia leaves ration causes increased fat retention


People with visual impairments rarely use augmented reality displays without prescription optics. This fact makes using AR devices limited. In this paper, we demonstrated a customized AR display design that considers the user's prescription and improves visual comfort in case of myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, presbyopia. AR display has a waveguide-based architecture with embedded reflective combiner for virtual image transferring. Both, waveguide substrate and reflective combiner are designed with standard type surfaces (sphere/aspheric). That makes this design convenient for mass production and adoption in society. The proposed design has field of view 42.75° degrees diagonally and thickness less than 6 mm.


105,832 freedmen registered to vote for 1867 Virginia election. 93,145 freedmen (88%) voted in the 1867 Virginia election. Historian Richard Lowe Of all [the] ridiculous and mischievous legislating, that of giving an ignorant, uninformed class of people the right to vote and the chance of being set over the whites of the land, takes the lead. Former Mistress Sarah P. Miller I'd rather pay a high tax upon land and work it myself than to work for other people for nothing. Representative Frank Moss During the first two agricultural seasons after Appomattox, the struggle over emancipation between former masters and former slaves was largely confined to the socioeconomic terrain. Former masters and new employers attempted to impose traditional forms of labor management and Negro control. The freedmen resisted these older forms in their search for autonomy and its safeguards through access to land, control over work time, judicious compensation, and the reconstruction of family life away from coerced agricultural production. Meanwhile, the federal government, represented by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau), attempted to implement a new system of republican free labor relations with property in men replaced by property in labor based upon legal contractual obligations between employers and employees. Both the 1865 and 1866 agricultural seasons had reaped a harvest of struggle over the dispensation of the fruits of free labor exacerbated by bumper crops of tobacco and cereal grains. The seeds of class struggle over emancipation between past masters and dispossessed freedmen were scattered far and wide. In the spring of 1867, these seeds, watered by the Freedmen's Bureau, were to prematurely burst forth into political bud. (1) Between the founding of Jamestown and victory at Yorktown, Virginia was an important English colony. The three generations following independence saw the flowering of a political culture inbued with a Jeffersonian republicanism of sturdy independent yeomen, slaveholding legislators and Presidents, all of whom played an influential role in regional and national politics. The Civil War was to change all this. During the conflict itself, the Old Dominion was tom between secessionist western counties which gained independent statehood as West Virginia in 1863, a unionist northern section around the government of Francis N. Pierpont in Alexandria, and the proto-national tendencies of the Confederate States of America headquartered in Rich mond. With the Confederacy's defeat at Appomattox, the state's independence was further undermined by the presence of an occupying federal power. Although Virginia never actually experienced radical reconstruction, its politics were far from independent for the remainder of the d ecade. Its executive leadership, whether antithetical to reconstruction like Governors Francis H. Pierpont (1865-68) and Gilbert C. Walker (1869), or sympathetic such as Governor Henry H. Wells (1868-69), remained accountable to federal authorities. President Johnson, for instance, recognized the Whig unionist government of Pierpont, while Virginia's military commander Major General John M. Schofield temporarily replaced Pierpont with the Michigan lawyer and unionist soldier Wells. (2) The postbellum state legislature was similarly influenced by the federal authorities. Although conservative control remained intact throughout the period, the General Assembly was repeatedly forced to deal with federal power especially the military. In January, 1866, the General Assembly's passage of a Vagrancy Act designed to control freedmen's mobility was almost immediately terminated by the state military commander for being too draconian. The legislature's new contract laws between employers and former slaves for topdown control of labor relations was subsequently revised and appropriated by the Freedmen's Bureau for implementing a more equitable free labor system. …


Explicit finite difference (FD) schemes can realize highly realistic physical models of musical instruments but are computationally complex. A design methodology is presented for the creation of field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based micro-architectures for FD schemes which can be applied to a range of applications with varying computational requirements, excitation and output patterns and boundary conditions. It has been applied to membrane and plate-based sound producing models, resulting in faster than real-time performance on a Xilinx XC2VP50 device which is 10 to 35 times faster than general purpose and digital signal processors. The models have developed in such a way to allow a wide range of interaction (by a musician) thereby leading to the possibility of creating a highly realistic digital musical instrument.


Turning to the topic of the relationship between ballet and sculpture and using the example of the images of the "Red Poppy" ballet in porcelain sculpture, the author emphasized their similarity and interpenetration, which partly influenced the penetration of high art into popular culture. The author focused on the need for individualization of living space. This lead to the establishment of porcelain sculpture in the space of everyday life in the 1950s – 1960s. Revealing the main themes for creating porcelain sculptures and compositions, the author noted the regularity of the choice of ballet themes, as well as attention to the multi-ethnic and unique nature of various peoples, including China. The author specified the reason for the popularization of ballet, which became a trademark of the USSR. Thus, the ballet "Red poppy" is both an image of Soviet ballet and a reflection of the national identity of China. On this basis, the sculptors — artists such as Elena Yanson-Manizer and Ol'ga Artamonova reflected in their works the idea of grace and beauty of ballet and the idea of  blooming China. Yanson-Manizer's works convey the image of Tao Hoa created by Galina Ulanova. Three images of a ballerina emphasize the aloof, cold beauty of a Chinese woman and represent the exact details of a Chinese costume, headdress, and such an important accessory as a fan. In addition, transmitting the genius of Ulanova, the artist reflected the physical beauty, grace, airiness, and dynamism of the dancer. Artamonova's works move away from ballet and describe Chinese culture in the positions of the body and hands, i.e. in the grace of a thin, fragile pose. Reflecting the specifics of Chinese culture, the accuracy of the painting of sculptures also characterizes the works by this artist.


Thrombophilia is an increased propensity to form thrombosis in the arterial or venous circulation [1, 2]. When patients have thromboembolic disease at a young age, have recurrent thromboembolism, or have a strong family history of thromboembolism, physicians often begin a laboratory workup for thrombophilia. The evaluation usually includes a search for inherited disorders of hemostasis by measurement of antithrombin III, protein C, and protein S levels, as well as qualitative and quantitative assays for fibrinogen [1-4]. Acquired abnormalities, such as lupus anticoagulant and antiphospholipid antibody, are also often included in the assessment [1, 2]. In most cases, however, no defect is identified. In 1993, investigators in Sweden and the Netherlands described a novel defect in the hemostatic pathway, referred to as resistance to activated protein C [5-7]. A single adenine-for-guanine point mutation in the gene coding for coagulation factor V leads to the replacement of arginine by glutamine at position 506. This site is one of the three cleavage sites on factor V for the natural anticoagulant activated protein C. This mutation, which is known as factor V Leiden, makes the activated form of factor V (Va) relatively resistant to degradation by activated protein C. This, in turn, leads to the laboratory abnormality of resistance to activated protein C (Figure 1). Factor V Leiden mutation is responsible for most cases of resistance to activated protein C [8-13]. Figure 1. The pathways that generate factor Xa and thrombin and the natural anticoagulant mechanisms that regulate activity of these enzymes. Clinical studies indicate that factor V Leiden mutation is associated with increased risks for primary [7, 9, 14, 15] and recurrent [16, 17] venous thromboembolism, for venous thrombosis during use of oral contraceptives [18-21] and pregnancy [21-23], and for thrombosis in the presence of other genetic and acquired abnormalities of anticoagulation [24-29]. On the basis of these observations, screening programs for factor V Leiden mutation have been proposed [21, 30, 31]. However, when deciding whether to evaluate a patient for factor V Leiden mutation, one must consider the prevalence of the mutation, the absolute and relative risks imparted by the mutation, the characteristics of available tests, and the benefit-to-risk ratios of any therapeutic intervention based on a positive test finding. Methods English-language articles published between 1993 and April 1997 that addressed resistance to activated protein C or the factor V Leiden mutation with regard to laboratory diagnosis, prevalence, risks for thromboembolic disease, screening, and management were identified by a search of the MEDLINE database. Search terms included factor V, mutation, protein C, resistance, thromboembolism, prevalence, diagnosis, screening, therapy, and prevention. We reviewed the articles obtained from this search and additional articles identified from a review of the bibliographies. Data from casecontrol and prospective cohort studies were chosen for inclusion. In clinical areas where analytic data were lacking, illustrative case reports or case series were also chosen for inclusion. Data Synthesis Diagnosis of Resistance to Activated Protein C and Factor V Leiden Mutation Although a definitive genetic diagnosis of factor V Leiden mutation status can be made by using techniques based on polymerase chain reaction [9-12], relatively simple plasma testing for resistance to activated protein C is available. The plasma-based test is performed by measuring the activated partial thromboplastin time in the presence and absence of activated protein C; results are expressed as a ratio of these values, normalized to pooled plasma [5, 32]. A reduced ratio correlates well with heterozygosity or homozygosity for factor V Leiden mutation (Figure 2). Figure 2. Relation between ratio of resistance to activated protein C and carrier state for factor V Leiden mutation. Many factors influence these values, and standard assays for resistance to activated protein C are less reliable when a patient is receiving anticoagulant therapy [32-35] or has lupus anticoagulant [35]. Protein S deficiency does not appreciably alter results [34]. Assay methods that use factor V-deficient plasma overcome these limitations and are now available as commercial kits that can be performed in most laboratories [33-37]. Genetic confirmation for the presence or absence of factor V Leiden mutation is generally recommended for persons with a positive result on plasma-based testing for resistance to activated protein C. Prevalence Unlike previously described inherited defects of hemostasis, factor V Leiden mutation is common. The carrier frequency of factor V Leiden mutation in healthy control populations ranges from 3% to 7% in Europe and the United States and may be as high as 15% in some selected groups [7, 15, 38, 39]. In the largest population study to date, the prevalence of factor V Leiden mutation was determined in a cohort of 4047 U.S. men and women [39]. In this cross-sectional study, the overall carrier frequency for the mutation was 3.71% (95% CI, 3.14% to 4.33%) and the allele frequency was 1.89% (CI, 1.61% to 2.21%). The observed distribution of genotypes was consistent with that predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Prevalence of factor V Leiden mutation was highest in white persons (5.27% [CI, 4.42% to 6.22%]) and was significantly less prevalent in other ethnic groups (2.21% in Hispanic Americans, 1.23% in African Americans, 0.45% in Asian Americans, and 1.25% in Native Americans) (P < 0.001) [39]. Other reports also show that the mutation is not distributed equally among ethnic groups [38, 40-42]: It is notably uncommon in Asian and African populations, a fact that may explain the decreased risk for venous thromboembolism in these groups [43, 44]. Factor V Leiden Mutation and Risk for Venous Thromboembolism The relation between factor V Leiden mutation and venous thromboembolism was first recognized in families severely affected by recurrent thrombosis [5, 6]. Of 14 families with thrombophilia, 9 (64%) had resistance to activated protein C; the disorder was inherited in a manner consistent with an autosomal dominant trait [5, 6]. Affected persons in these families have reduced thrombosis-free survival (Figure 3) [13]. In another selected series of unexplained juvenile or recurrent thrombosis, the prevalence of resistance to activated protein C was 52% to 64% [45]. Familial thrombosis and juvenile thrombosis are relatively rare, and it was initially uncertain whether factor V Leiden mutation was also an important risk factor for venous thrombosis in the general population. Figure 3. Thrombosis-free survival in persons with familial thrombophilia, A = adenine; G = guanine. The significance of resistance to activated protein C as a risk factor for venous thromboembolism in the general population was shown in the Leiden Thrombophilia Study, a population-based casecontrol study of 301 patients younger than 70 years of age who had a first episode of deep venous thrombosis not related to a malignant condition [7]. Resistance to activated protein C was detected in 21% of patients with deep venous thrombosis compared with 5% of age- and sex-matched controls; this yielded an almost sevenfold (matched odds ratio, 6.6 [CI, 3.6 to 12.0]) increase in risk for deep venous thrombosis in persons with resistance to activated protein C. Subsequent analysis showed that 80% of these persons with resistance to activated protein C were heterozygous or homozygous for factor V Leiden mutation [9]. Other studies support the high correlation between resistance to activated protein C and factor V Leiden mutation [10-13]. In referral populations of patients with venous thromboembolism, factor V Leiden mutation is the most common identifiable risk factor (prevalence, 11% to 37%) [6, 7, 12, 14, 15]. The association between factor V Leiden mutation and the risk for venous thromboembolism was confirmed in a large prospective study of apparently healthy men participating in the Physicians' Health Study [15]. Among 14 916 men who had no history of cardiovascular disease or cancer, 121 cases of venous thromboembolism accrued during a mean follow-up period of 8.6 years. The prevalence of the mutation was 11.6% among men with venous thromboembolism compared with 6.0% among those who remained healthy during follow-up (relative risk, 2.7 [CI, 1.3 to 5.6]; P = 0.008). In patients whose events were considered idiopathic, the risk imparted by the mutation was higher (relative risk, 3.5 [CI, 1.5 to 8.4]; P = 0.004). No association was seen between factor V Leiden mutation and thromboembolism associated with surgery, trauma, or cancer (secondary events) (relative risk, 1.7 [CI, 0.6 to 5.3]; P = 0.3). The effects of the mutation seemed greatest among men older than 60 years of age; in this subgroup, the adjusted relative risk was 4.0 (CI, 1.6 to 9.7; P = 0.003) for any type of venous thrombosis and 7.0 (CI, 2.6 to 19.1; P < 0.001) for primary venous thrombosis (Figure 4). Figure 4. Adjusted relative risks for future venous thromboembolism among apparently healthy men with factor V Leiden mutation. Patients homozygous for factor V Leiden mutation seem to be at even higher risk. In the Leiden Thrombophilia Study, the risk for venous thromboembolism among patients homozygous for factor V Leiden mutation was increased 80-fold (CI, 22-fold to 289-fold) [7, 14]. Furthermore, homozygous patients who were presented with initial thromboembolism at a younger age (median age, 31 years) than did those who were heterozygous (median age, 44 years) or unaffected (median age, 46 years) by the mutation [14]. In cross-sectional and retrospective studies, the age at first thromboembolic event has been reported to be slightly less in patients heterozygous for factor V Leiden mutation than in persons without the mutation [5,


We show that if a stable variety (in the sense of Koll\'ar and Shepherd-Barron) admits a fibration with stable fibers and base, then this fibration structure deforms (uniquely) for all small deformations. During our proof we obtain also a Bogomolov-Sommese type vanishing for vector bundles and reflexive differential $n-1$-forms.


TiN film is used in the ultra large scale integrated circuit (ULSI) process as a diffusion barrier. Conventional TiN films are deposited by reactive sputtering or by rapid thermal nitridation (RTN) of sputtered titanium layers. Our research group has developed a new ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) plasma CVD (chemical vapor deposition) system capable of depositing metal films. By using this system, TiN films were prepared using TiCl4 and N2 as material gases. It is proven that the films have many advantages: low resistivity, low stress, high barrier property, thick deposition on the bottom of the high aspect ratio's hole and low chlorine concentration in comparison with LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) TiN film.


The circadian rhythm is a physiological phenomenon that occurs in various organisms with a cycle of about 24 hours. Light is one of the important environmental factors affecting biological rhythm. To clarify whether a shift in light spectrum can influence the circadian expression in fish brain, a total of 175 European seabasses [body weight: 32.5 ± 0.71) g; body length: (13.78 ± 0.35) cm] were exposed to white light (WL), red light (RL), yellow light (YL), green light (GL) or blue light (BL). After 50 days of exposure, circadian expressions of four core clock genes (Clock, Bmal1, Per2, Cry1) and Aanat2 gene in brain were examined. The results showed that the temporal expression patterns of positive clock gens (Clock and Bmal1) showed increases during the scotophase and decreases during the photophase, with peaks near the middle of the darkness. Clock gene expression showed a stable circadian rhythm (R2 = 0.578-0.824, P=0.000- 0.027) in all light groups while Bmal1 showed circadian rhythm in WL, GL and RL, not in BL and YL. Daily expression patterns of the negative clock genes oscillated in the opposite phase from the positive clock genes, showing increasing mRNA levels during the light, decreases during the dark, and peaks near the shift from night to day, except Per2 in RL and Cry1 in BL. Compared with WL, the acrophases of Clock and Bmal1 were delayed under all light treatments (BL: + 3.7h, +6.73h; RL: +2.4h,+1.35h; YL: + 4.94h, 2.00h; GL: +0.05, +0.16h). Cry1 showed advanced acrophase under all light treatments (BL: -10.74 h, GL: -3.81 h, RL: -3.93 h, YL: -7.56 h) but Per2 showed delayed acrophase in all light treatments (GL: +0.86 h, RL: +10.35 h, YL: +9.62 h), except in BL (-0.43 h). The acrophase of Aanat2 was advanced by all monochromatic light, the Aanat2 level was significantly increased in RL compared with other light treatment. Therefore, the results indicate that RL may regulate the expression of Aanat2 gene by affecting the expression of clock gene in fish brain. Spectrum can affect the biological clock system of fish, and unreasonable spectrum may disturb the rhythm of gene expression of biological clock of fish. Under the irradiation of light spectrum, some clock genes still maintain obvious circadian oscillation, while the rhythm of some clock genes is not obvious and may be destroyed. Our findings suggest a primary role of light spectrum information to the fish brain circadian system.


If you are a researcher looking for an easy manual on how to do customer satisfaction research, this is not the book for you . If you are a manager looking for a pre-defined process, a simple approach to measuring service quality, so that you can tick a box in your quality procedure, this is not the book for you . This is a serious book for those who really do want to know how to improve service quality . We live in a society where we on the one hand praise and idolise those who dedicate their lives to perfection – concert pianists who practise for hours every day of their lives, chefs who are passionate and dedicated to delivering excellence with every course of every meal, mathematicians who dedicate years to solving one problem, astronomers who work for decades to devise the most complex equipment and experiments to further our knowledge of the universe – and yet in the commercial world anyone who wants to take a thorough, scientific approach to an issue is (generally) dismissed as 'too academic' and potentially time wasting and non-productive . Senior business managers just want simple answers, they say, and 'Don't bother me with the detail .' Not the best ones, of course . Actually we lionise those CEOs and business men and women who have dedicated themselves to building successful businesses on the base of innovation and attention to quality and detail – but somehow everyone else believes that business is just about ticking boxes and cutting costs . Ralf Lisch is scathing of those who are just looking for easy answers – for him service excellence deserves, indeed requires, research excellence . Nothing else will deliver the required information for management action that will change behaviour . He makes a good case in this book . Dr Lisch is an independent consultant and writer based in Singapore . His academic background is in sociology and social research, and he knows the service industry from many sides – as academic researcher, director of a leading consumer organisation and managing director of service companies . But his main strength, in my view, is that as a critical sociologist his focus is always on people – and, as he says, service is performed by people and judged by people – it is a people business . In this age where so many 'people based' processes are being automated, it is good to be reminded of that . There are still very many service tasks that are entirely reliant on individual people doing their job well . He has published numerous books and articles on management and empirical research topics . Interestingly, his most recent publication was an analysis of International Journal of Market Research Vol. 57 Issue 4


Experiments are performed in order to study the effect of hydrate formation on heat transfer in pipes. The hydrate formation in the horizontal flow of the gaseous refrigerant R134a and water is examined in a transparent test section at low pressure. The experiments conducted have shown that the formation of hydrates starts on the pipe wall. For certain flow conditions the whole perimeter of the pipe wall is covered by hydrates and a solid hydrate layer is achieved. The thickness of the hydrate layer can be related to the measured pressure losses. The thickness of the hydrate layer can be calculated, if a first order logarithmic function of the radial coordinate is assumed for the temperature field within the hydrate layer. Due to the decreasing flow cross section the heat transfer coefficient at the solid-liquid phase line increases for constant volumetric flow rates of water and gas. If the heat transfer rate to the hydrate layer matches the heat transfer rate transferred to the cooling agent, the hydrate layer will not grow up anymore. A stable hydrate layer is achieved. Criteria for achieving stable hydrate layers are presented.


This particular article relates to the study of the effect of MRET Activated water on growth and development of higher plants. It provides some evidence that MRET Activated water with the modified physical and electrodynamic characteristics may enhance specific molecular mechanisms in living cells of botanical origin. In particular, the discovered change (a reduction) of the viscosity of activated water should influence essentially the movement of cellular juice in the vessels of xylem and phloem. Change of the conductivity and the dielectric permittivity should render a strong influence on the movement and the characteristics of ions in water. The living cells of botanical origin have rather complex structure, consisting of the folding membranes, the specialized connections, and organelles. The localization of ions is particularly important, since each of the complex structures must be expected to have a specific role in the electrical function of the cells and as a result it may affect plants germination and development. To verify the validity of the proposed hypothesis the study on higher plants was conducted at the Institute of Cellular Biology and Gene Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.


Through analyzing the heavy rainstorm process in North Anhui Province on August 1-3,2005,the main dry intrusion features were discussed.As indicated by the results,with the relative humidity ≤60% and PV value of 0.5-0.8 PVU as the eigenvalue of this dry intrusion,the high PV air near the high-altitude troposphere glided along the intensive area of potential temperature lines,the stratification was unstable;CAPE corresponded with the rainstorm center,its change reflected the evolution of rainstorm process.Dry intrusion catalyzed this rainstorm,which thus should be paid enough attention to.


Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are protective and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) organisms that are involved in fermentation process. Idly batter is a traditional fermented food source in south India and distribution of LAB varies with source of batter preparation and seasons. Thus, an attempt was made to isolate LAB from idly batter. A total of 40 cocci were obtained out of which 18 exhibit wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity against Gram positive and negative organisms. The antimicrobial activity was lost completely after treatment with protease suggesting bacteriocinogenic in nature. These potent bacteriocinogenic isolates were clustered into four based on the RAPD and further grouped into six based on physiological, and biochemical characterization. One isolate from each group were further characterized using various molecular tools. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing of homofermentative isolates exhibited 98–100% homology with Pediococcus pentosaceus. These isolates obtained from idly batter may have a significant role imposing health benefits.


Bleaching efficiency of cottonseed oil using activated products prepared with various do-sage of sulfuric acid was investigated.The results showed that the bleaching performance were significant.The peroxide value of bleached oil was decreased distinctly,higher activity degree and free acid of acid activated bentonite could increase the acid value of bleached oil,at the same time,some of free fatty acids were adsorbed easily by acid activated bentonite.In addition,bleaching process of cottonseed oil by acid activated bentonite treated with 25% sulfuric acid was performed,the optimum conditions were obtained as bleaching temperature 95℃,time 15 min and dosage of acid activated bentonite 5%(W/V) under va-cuum 0.09 MPa.


ABSTRACT The present model is a conceptualisation of different heat flow situations under different geo-mining conditions using finite difference method. The model has been tested on a network of workstations running under UNIX platform. The interprocess communication for such computational study has been done through MBX (mail box). Application of this method under different modelling context has been adequately discussed.


Science and technology parks (STPs) play an essential role in strengthening industry–university relationships and fostering innovation that can be considered an important mechanism to facilitate the formation and growth of knowledge-based firms. Therefore, this article investigates the effect of university STPs' financial support, which was found to be the main barrier to innovation in the literature, on the innovation of their tenant firms. Data were collected in the summer of 2019 through interviews with ten experts and questionnaires filled by 348 firms located in university-affiliated STPs in Iran. Data were analysed quantitatively by SPSS. The findings of the research indicated that there is a positive and significant correlative relationship between the university STPs' financial support and the innovation of firms. Although the effect of different STPs' financial support mechanisms was in a similar range, branding facilities were more effective, particularly on marketing innovation. Eventually, to make improvements in this regard, suggestions were made to STPs, their tenant firms for conducting fruitful future research.


During the spring 2010 semester, Texas Woman's University Libraries participated in a LibQual survey. Offered by the Association of Research Libraries, LibQual has been used by over 1000 libraries around the world to analyze and improve services. TWU Libraries saw LibQual participation as an opportunity to help the Libraries better understand user perceptions of library service quality and make improvements.


Data (77°K) are presented showing a dynamic Burstein shift of the absorption edge during spontaneous and laser operation of GaAs:Ge platelets. This is indicated directly by an increase in the relative transmission of the pump power through the sample with increased pump excitation. By the use of pumps with photon energies (1.527 eV) closely matched to the GaAs absorption edge (1. 513 eV), changes in the relative transmission of from 4 to 30% have been achieved. The data presented also show a change in the rate of decrease of the absorption with the onset of stimulated emission by the platelet.


Rather than revelling in postmodern depthlessness DeLillo's fiction pursues a Modernist fascination with aesthetic transcendence, which is usually invested in invocations of the visual arts. The novel is then proposed as a form of resistance to media saturation and death as spectacle.


Unidentified Vietnam, the umbrella project by the artist team Lin + Lam (Lana Lin and H. Lan Thao Lam), consists of an installation and a thirty-minute film, and works with a displaced archive as its primary material: the Embassy of South Vietnam Collection, transported to the Library of Congress in Washington DC in 1975 following the fall of Saigon.


The shape of HP gas and steam turbine stages, as well as of an LP exit stage of a steam turbine, is optimised numerically using a code Optimus and 3D RANS solver FlowER. The numerical method draws on direct constrained optimisation based on the method of deformed polyhedron. Values of the minimised objective function, that is stage losses with the exit energy are found from 3D viscous compressible computations. There are constraints imposed on the mass flow rate, exit swirl angle and reactions. Among the optimised parameters are stator and rotor blade numbers, stagger and twist angles, stator sweep and lean, both straight and compound. The optimisation gives new 3D designs with increased eciencies.


The melt strength (MS) and extensional viscosity of low-density polyethylene/poly(butylene succinate) (LDPE/PBS) blends were measured using a melt-spinning technique to investigate the effects of extrusion conditions and mixing ratios on the extensional flow. The experimental results indicated that maximal extensional length and MS of the LDPE/PBS blends decreased with an increase of PBS content. The response of the MS to the extrusion rate depended on the components of the blends. The extensional viscosity of the LDPE/PBS blends decreased with the increases of PBS content, extrusion rate, and extensional strain rate. Extensional master curves were suitable for the LDPE/PBS blends, and the scaling factor decreased with the increase of extrusion rate according to a power law. When the PBS content was not more than 40%, with the further increase of the PBS content, the sensitivity of the scaling factor to the extrusion rate decreased. However, when the PBS content was 60%, the sensitivity of the scaling factor to the extrusion rate increased, and was close to the sensitivity of the LDPE melt. Based on the extensional master curve and the back propagation (BP) neural network model, predicted extensional viscosities were compared with the experimental results.


Significance The plant cortical microtubule array is an established model system for self-organization, with a rich history of complementary experiments, computer simulations, and analytical theory. A hitherto unappreciated question is how array homogeneity is maintained given that new microtubules nucleate from existing microtubules. Based on detailed observations of the nucleation process, we derive a more realistic nucleation algorithm that promotes homogeneity. Our work highlights critical aspects of microtubule nucleation that warrant further experimental investigation and enables various lines of new quantitative, mechanistic research into how cells dynamically control their cell wall properties. At a mechanistic level, moreover, this work relates to the theory of cluster coexistence in Turing-like continuum models and demonstrates its relevance for discrete stochastic entities.


Objective To assess the efficacy of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage Ⅰ endometrial cancer with high-risk factors for unfavorable prognosis. Methods A retrospective review of 95 FIGO stage Ⅰ endometrial cancer patients treated between 1996 and 2006 in Beijing Cancer Hospital was performed. All patients underwent surgery, of which 20 patients underwent adjuvant chemotherapy. The patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups based on the high-risk prognostic factors (non-endometrial adenocarcinoma, tumor grade G3, outer half myometrial invasion, lymph-vascular space involvement). Actuarial techniques were used for the survival and recurrence rates. Results Eight of ten recurrences occurred in patients who did not receive postoperative chemotherapy, in which six were long-term failure. In the remaining two patients who were in the chemotherapy group were pelvic recurrence. Disease recurrence occurred in 4 (16.7%) of 24 high-risk group patients. The 5-year disease-free survival and the 5-year overall survival for the low-risk group were 90.4% and 97.1% respectively, which were 79.5% and 64.9% for the high-risk group (P 0.05, P = 0.005, respectively). Compared to surgery alone, patients with high-risk factors who underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy had a trend to improved 3-year disease-free survival and 3-year overall survival (90.0% vs. 64.8%, 88.9% vs. 83.3%, respectively). Conclusion It is possible that the high-risk FIGO stage Ⅰ endometrial cancer patients should be treated with postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy to decrease long-term failure and improve prognosis.


The pathological characteristics of salmonid herpesviruses (strain H-83, and OO-7812 strain of Oncorhynchus masou virus (OMV)) to three species of salmonid fish and the antibody production of the fish to the viruses were investigated. The strain H-83 was pathogenic to masu salmon (O. masou) and rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) fry. OMV was also pathogenic in masu salmon and coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) fry. Coho salmon developed tumors in the eyes and in and around the oral cavity. From the results of virus re-isolation, the liver seemed to be the target organ of OMV infection. In vitro passages of both herpesviruses resulted in the decrease of pathogenicity to masu salmon. Yearling masu salmon and rainbow trout appeared not to be sensitive to the infection with the strain H-83. The fish produced virus-neutralizing antibody but the antibody titers were relatively low. The expression of seconday immune response was observed.


The block chain algorithm is applied to the 'Information Transfer' to the plant related personnel, which is a kind of cybersecurity matter. So, the 'Unavailability of a system' data can be seen by the personnel securely, that could be used for making a decision with multiple opinions and protecting against possible terrorist's hacking. This concept is described as multiple and secured data transfers in Fig. 1. Following COVID-19 pandemic, the untact technology is investigated where the blockchain technology has been applied to nuclear industry in which the security as well as safety is particularly important in the industrial aspects. In the information of the nuclear power plants (NPPs), it is possible to be misused for the criminal purposes such as the terrorism. In 2014, the cyber terrorism happened in the commercial South Korean NPP [1]. So, it is needed to transfer the information in NPPs to be treated by the highly advanced secured method. The cryptography as the information security could be representative where the data should be modified following the designed conditions. The Bitcoin has been considered as the cyber-based currency, cryptocurrency, which makes a panic to the public in the marketing due to the very high price [2]. It is a kind of technology of the blockchain which is commonly used in crypto-currency [3] in which the hash algorithm is to make the encryption where the information is modified following the designed logic. For the case of the cryptocurrency, the price has been regarded as the future trading where it could be changeable very fast. Therefore, the unexpected very high price could be reached. One of most important characteristics is the merit for accumulations of the information where the block of information is added continuously with spreading to all network connected bodies. So, the information couldn't be changed and the faking is impossible. Hence, the secured industries like nuclear or airplane operations fields need the blockchain algorithm in the data processing. Previously, there are some applications of the blockchain in the nuclear industry. There was a nuclear safety stuff that is considered as the blockchain way [4]. The peer-to-peer business has been considered in the energy industries [5]. Additionally, the nuclear bomb could be protected by the blockchain skills [6]. In this work, the blockchain technology is used to enhance the system integrity in the cybersecurity of NPPs where the cyber performance using the security analysis information is highly enhanced. For the simulations, the blockchain modified modeling is performed with system dynamics (SD) method. 2. Methods


Peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is a ligand‐activated transcription factor that has been implicated in the carcinogenesis and progression of various solid tumors, including pancreatic carcinomas. We aimed to clarify the role of this receptor in pancreatic cell motility in vitro and in metastasis in vivo. Cell motility was examined by assaying transwell migration and wound filling in Capan‐1 and Panc‐1 pancreatic cancer cells, with or without the PPARγ‐specific inhibitor T0070907. A severe combined immunodeficiency xenograft metastasis model was used to examine the in vivo effect of PPARγ inhibition on pancreatic cancer metastasis. In both transwell‐migration and wound‐filling assays, inhibition of PPARγ activity suppressed pancreatic cell motility without affecting in vitro cell proliferation. Inhibition of PPARγ also suppressed liver metastasis in vivo in metastatic mice. In PPARγ‐inhibited cells, p120 catenin accumulation was induced predominantly in cell membranes, and the Ras‐homologous GTPases Rac1 and Cdc42 were inactive. Inhibition of PPARγ in pancreatic cancer cells decreased cell motility by altering p120ctn localization and by suppressing the activity of the Ras‐homologous GTPases Rac1 and Cdc42. Based on these findings, PPARγ could function as a novel target for the therapeutic control of cancer cell invasion or metastasis. (Cancer Sci 2008; 99: 1892–1900)


The invention provides a method suitable for library construction of gene region of higher blossom plant containing gene complex genome. In the method provided by the invention, methylation sensitive enzyme is used to substitute conventional non-methylation sensitive enzyme to conduct gene region enrichment on genome and then library construction. The invention also provides an SNP searching method suitable for higher blossom plant containing complex genome.


Urologists were taken aback at the ruling, some less so than others, and their responses varied widely at what the law might mean for their practices and the delivery of health care in this country.


Chemical investigation of the organic extract of a soft coral belonging to the genus Alcyonium furnished a steroid, 3alpha,7alpha,12alpha-triacetoxy-5beta-cholanic acid (1). The structure of steroid 1 was assigned on the basis of spectroscopic evidence, particularly in 1D and 2D NMR experiments. The configuration of steroid 1 was further supported by molecular mechanics calculations.


This chapter on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) surveys the history of this effective treatment modality in psychiatry. It reviews the first publication introducing ECT, which was followed by rapid expansion throughout the world. Next, the important topic of memory impairment is reviewed. Thereafter, it discusses the technical modifications that resulted in less memory impairment, most notably unilateral electrode placement and brief-pulse square-wave electrical stimulation. The publication of a placebo-controlled trial establishing efficacy using modern research methods is also discussed. Finally, a controlled trial of continuation ECT is presented, which touches on the need to prevent relapse. The chapter can be appreciated by readers of any background, whether medical or not.


The CNC flame cutting machine is an advanced heating cutting equipment.It synthesizes many disciplines such as computer technology,precision machinery manufacturing,electric motor driver,numerical control,weld and so on.On how to determine size parameters,rational distribution and reduce costs,practical and durable issue.Introduce the structure design method of the CNC flame cutting machine in the mechanical design.It expounds a design concept on the beam mechanism and the drive mechanis.The mechanism improved production efficiency and cutting quality.


An general model of the micro explosion of emulsified droplets,suitable for oil in water(O/W) and water in oil(W/O) is presented.Using this new model,a definition of micro explosion strength is proposed,also the effects of various parameters on micro explosion strength are discussed.Although emulsified oils have two different structures and different processes of forming an oil membrane,the definition of micro explosion strength and its calculation are identical in the general model.The results show that the predictions of the general model agree with experiments.Furthermore,some extra effects,such as the properties of a surfactant,the solubility of a gas and the deformation of a droplet under an aerodynamic force are also discussed.


Pierre de Fermat is one of the greatest mathematicians of 17. century. He is considered a founder of modern number theory. The main purpose of this work is to present and partly to prove the results and contributions Fermat's contributions to number theory. Fermat gave a whole series of assertions, mostly without the proof, which have been years, and some of them centuries later proved to be true. Fermat is famous for his numbers \(F_m=2^{2^{m}}+1, m \in \mathbb{N}\), which we call Fermat's numbers, and for his contributions in development of Diophant's equations. In the work are presented and proved (all except the last one) following theorems: Fermat's Little theorem, Two-Square Theorem, Fermat polygonal number theorem and Fermat's Last Theorem. Except the theorems, two Fermat's methods: Fermat's factorizations method and Fermat's method of infinite descent are described and explained trough the examples.


The addition of rare earth elements into 23CoNi steel caused δ_5 and ψ improved,and σ_b and a_(ku) increased slightly,but the indistinctive effect on K_(IC) and σ_(0.2).As a result,the addition of rare earth could form rare earth compounds which contain S and Al.The other finding of the study was that rare earth elements blocked the grain growing up and refined martensitic laths.


Very few HIEs transfer medical images, but that data together with an exchange approach that aggregates patient data will reveal HIE's potential, say experts at SIIM 2013.


E and the activity of glutathione peroxidase in RBCS were both below the normal ranges. Histologically there was fat necrosis, fibrosis and pyogranulomatous lymphocytic inflammation, as observed in previous cases of sterile nodular panniculitis. However, ceroid pigment was observed in macrophages, a consistent feature of vitamin E and selenium deficiency in other species, including kittens, mink and pigs (Yager and Scott 1993). Only two of the 10 reported cases of equine sterile nodular panniculitis in the literature had their serum vitamin E and selenium concentrations measured (Dyson and Platt 1985, Scott 1985, Karcher and others 1990, Bassage and others 1996, Dagleish and others 2000). The prognosis for this case is uncertain, but after 12 months of treatment the mare's condition was improved and controlled, although the lesions have not resolved completely. At first, the mare appeared to respond to the dexamethasone alone, before it was supplemented with vitamin E and selenium. The role of the vitamin E and selenium deficiency in the development of the condition is uncertain. It is possible that the deficiency was a factor in the initiation of the panniculitis, but that the treatment of the deficiency alone would not have resolved the lesions. The fact that the mare responded, although its vitamin E remained unchanged after it was supplemented, gives some support to this suggestion.


To examine associations of healthy lifestyle during pregnancy with anthropometric characteristics of grandchildren during adolescence and young adulthood.

 Our study population included 14,001 grandmother-mother-child triads comprised of participants of two ongoing prospective cohort studies of related individuals. We used self-reported grand-maternal gestational weight gain (GWG), diet, physical activity, and smoking during pregnancy to create a lifestyle score ranged from 0–12, with a higher score indicating healthier lifestyle. Maternal and grandchild characteristics, including anthropometry, were self-assessed in follow-up questionnaires.

 Compared with individuals whose grandmothers had the least healthy lifestyle during pregnancy, individuals whose grandmothers had the most healthy lifestyle had 0.17 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.33; P for trend = 0.05) kg/m2 lower body mass index (BMI) and 7% (95% CI: 2%, 12%; P for trend = 0.001) lower risk of overweight or obesity in the offspring during adolescence and young adulthood. The inverse associations between grand-maternal lifestyle and BMI in offspring were mainly mediated by maternal pre-pregnancy BMI (mediation effect: 64%; P value = 0.001). Overall, maternal BMI, along with maternal socioeconomic status and lifestyles in the second and third generations accounted for all of the inter-generational association (mediation effect: 99%; P value < 0.001). The inverse associations between grand-maternal lifestyle and anthropometric characteristics of offspring were not modified by grand-maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, grandchild age, or grandchild gender.

 Grandchildren of women who had the healthiest lifestyles during pregnancy defined by no excess gestational weight gain, no smoking, a healthy diet and being physically active, were less likely to be overweight or obese in adolescence through early adulthood.

 Supported by National Institutes of Health grants U01-HL145386, UM1-CA176726, P30-DK046200, U54-CA155626, HD066963, HL096905, DK084001 and MH087786.


BaxCa1� xRuO3 (BCRO) thin films were prepared by laser ablation on quartz substrates at a substrate temperature (Tsub) of 973 K and an oxygen pressure (PO2 ) of 13 Pa. The effect of Ba substitution on the microstructure and electrical conductivity (� ) was investigated. Rectangularshaped CaRuO3 (CRO) island grains grew in BCRO thin films at a Ba fraction (x) below 0.1. BCRO thin films prepared at x > 0:2 consisted of fine grains. BCRO thin films at x > 0:2 showed metallic conduction, whereas those with an island structure at x < 0:1 showed semi-conducting


Perinatal and Maternal Mortality THE TIME HONOURED categories of stillbirths and neonatal deaths have proved inadequate for the productive analysis of the hazards of labour and the establishment of an extra-uterine existence. Perinatal mortality, best defined as fresh stillbirths and neonatal deaths during the first week (Gold, 1955), narrows the focus and accents such preventable factors as intra-partum asphyxia, birth trauma and pulmonary infections acquired intranatally (Kohl, 1955; Bound and others, [9.')6; Smith and others, [956).


Abstract: A child with psychotic symptoms and attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder who developed extrapyramidal symptoms while on a combination of risperidone, methylphenidate, sertraline, tropisetron and ketorolac is described herein. The extrapyramidal symptoms resolved with the administration of benztropine, an anticholinergic drug. Successful treatment of his psychosis was achieved by decreasing the dose of risperidone, followed by slow upward titration.


China has entered a period of rapid development of information technology, and the 5G era is coming. With the continuous development of Internet technology and the upgrading of network carriers, education must keep pace with the times and improve the quality of teaching with the help of modern technology. Physical education is one of the important contents of school education, through the use of modern technology teaching, we can better improve the problems existing in traditional physical education teaching. This paper mainly explores the application of modern technology in Higher Vocational Physical Education teaching, and excavates the promoting role of modern information technology in Higher Vocational Physical Education teaching. After thinking about Higher Vocational Physical Education and information technology physical education, we find the existing problems and need to be improved, and promote the development of modern information technology in Higher Vocational Physical education.


Education quality is the lifeline of institutions of higher education.Along with the gradual deepening and energetical practice of undergraduate teaching quality and reformation project,many institutions of higher education in our country are constructing and exploring inside education and teaching quality supervision and insurance system.Student evaluation of teacher performance is the important component of this system.By many years' practice,analyzes the index design principle of student evaluation of teacher performance,discusses the key problems should be attached high importance to during evaluation,finds the main causes affect evaluation results,puts forward the thought that teacher performance should be evaluated from many dimensions.


Online Informal Learning of English (OILE) involves the many different types of language practices that non-specialist EFL students of English are involved in on the Internet. This article reviews previous studies in the area and summarises the specific outcomes that OILE is thought to produce. It then presents an analysis of a survey of teachers' cognitions concerning OILE from a sample of 30 professors of English working in French universities. It analyses survey data in various manners, offering insight into teachers' awareness of the OILE phenomenon amongst students, the perceived or imagined effects of these practices on their students' English and the ways they do or do not integrate these cognitions into their own teaching. Results indicate that many professors are aware of the types of input that their learners may be exposed to, but that they know little of the specifics and few make use of this knowledge in their English courses. In the discussion some questions are raised as to future forms for English language teaching to specialists of other disciplines.


Objective The three-dimensional reconstructed images of maximum intensity projection (MIP) for membranous labyrinth and internal auditory meatus in Chinese adults were observed and measured in order to provide anatomic basis for otolosurgery and nerosurgery. Methods Thirty inner ears of 15 volunteers were scanned by using a circular temporal coil and three-dimension fast spin echo sequence with a 1^5T GE-signal MRI scanner. All original images were transferred to MRI workstation and all the structures of inner ear were reconstructed, rotated from various angles and measured by using maximum intensity projection. All the data were analyzed using SPSS 10.0 software. Results Anatomic structures of membranous labyrinth and internal auditory meatus were well demonstrated in three-dimensional reconstructed images of MIP in all volunteers. All three semicircular ducts, utricle, saccule, cochlear duct and internal auditory meatus produced high intensity signal. The results of measurement were statistically in significant.Conclusion Three-dimensional reconstruction of MlP might document, lively, stereoscopically and directly, the minute structures of membranous labyrinth and internal auditory meatus. We provide the basic data for the establishment of the MRI measurement criterion of inner ear.


This paper addresses the Optimal Transmission Switching (OTS) problem in electricity networks, which aims to find an optimal power grid topology that minimizes system operation costs while satisfying physical and operational constraints. Existing methods typically convert the OTS problem into a Mixed-Integer Linear Program (MILP) using big-M constants. However, the computational performance of these approaches relies significantly on the tightness of these big-Ms. In this paper, we propose an iterative tightening strategy to strengthen the big-Ms by efficiently solving a series of bounding problems that account for the economics of the OTS objective function through an upper-bound on the generating cost. We also discuss how the performance of the proposed tightening strategy is enhanced if reduced line capacities are considered. Using the 118-bus test system we demonstrate that the proposed methodology outperforms existing approaches, offering tighter bounds and significantly reducing the computational burden of the OTS problem.


The invention relates to mid-stage compound feed for cyprinus carpio and a producing method of the mid-stage compound feed. The mid-stage compound feed comprises the ingredients of fish meal, soybean meal, flour, silkworm chrysalis, rape seed cake, peanut kernel cake, casing powder, corn germ cake, corn protein powder, rice bran, wheat germ, monocalcium phosphate, bentonite, fat, salt, compound betaine, choline chloride, fish multi-vitamin premixed material, fish multi-mineral mixed material and feed-grade compound amino acid. The producing method comprises the steps of firstly mixing the raw materials, and pelletizing after smashing the raw materials for twice. The mid-stage compound feed disclosed by the invention is capable of increasing the immunity of the cyprinus carpio and promoting the growth development, is high in nutrition, good in palatability and can be easily digested and absorbed; after the use of the mid-stage compound feed, the cyprinus carpio is balanced in growth, bright in color, high in premonition, low in morbidity, strong in anti-stress capacity and low in feed coefficient, the feed cost is reduced, and the promotion value is very good.


Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an increasingly popular noninvasive neuromodulatory tool in the fields of cognitive and clinical neuroscience and psychiatry. It is an inexpensive, painless, and safe brain‐stimulation technique that has proven to be effective in modulating cognitive and sensory–perceptual functioning in healthy individuals and clinical populations. Importantly, recent findings have shown that tDCS may also be an effective and promising tool for probing the neural mechanisms of social cognition. In this review, we present the state‐of‐the‐art of the field of tDCS research in social cognition. By doing so, we aim to gather knowledge of the potential of tDCS to modulate social functioning and social decision making in healthy humans, and to inspire future research investigations.


We investigate the influence of charged kaon condensation in hadronic sector on the formation of the electron-free charge neutral quark matter of equipartition of three light flavors, i.e., a phenomenon called ``enforced electrical neutrality" of the color-flavor locked (CFL) phase. We employ the chiral quark model which is assumed to be applicable, "bottom-up," toward chiral restoration while accessible to kaon condensation in the hadronic sector. Approaching "bottom-up" the high density regime is more appropriate in addressing the properties of compact stars than approaching "top-down" from asymptotic QCD. It turns out that the presence of hadronic kaon condensation makes the electron-free charge-neutral CFL phase energetically more favorable with a relatively small color-superconducting gap $\Delta_0\sim 20$ MeV compared to $\Delta_0\sim 70$ MeV required in the absence of such kaon condensation.


This invention relates to a slat profile (1) for holding a LED strip (8), wherein the LED strip (8) is easily replaceable and the slat profile (1) can be made longer than the existing ones, such bar members (1), comprising a carrying profile ( 2) which is attachable is displaceable to a supporting structure (17) of a lamella wall (20) to the slat profile (1) in the lamella wall (20) to receive a sealing profile (3) which in the mounted state of the lamella profile (1) at with respect to the supporting profile (2) between an open position in which the LED strip (8) in the slat profile (1) can be fitted is in a closed position. This invention also relates to a louvre system (20) in which is recorded such a lamella profile (1).


Removing or reduction mixed noise that corrupted image is very active environment research area in image processing. In this paper a hybrid filter that combine the advantage of fuzzy classical filter and median filter with Kalman filter are suggested, the hybrid filters can be reducing the effect of mixed noise(Gaussian and salt-pepper) noise with different level densities for two type gray and color images. The first sub two filters(fuzzy classical filter and median filter )are reducing the salt -peppers noise, while the second sub filter (Kalman filter) reducing the Gaussian noise and the final output from the last has updated (modify) the central pixel of the noisy image window 3*3 in recursive model. Comparative result of the hybrid filter with the conventional reduction filter such as mean, Median, single Kalman filter, the asymmetrical triangular fuzzy filters with median center (ATMED), the symmetrical triangular fuzzy filter with median center (TMED), and median rational hybrid filter are done by using Matlab with numerical measurement signal to noise ratio (SNR) and mean square error (MSE) to explain the performance of this filtering technique.


A monolithically integrated InP-based few-mode laser comprising of a distributed feedback laser (DFB) and a multimode interference coupler (MMI) based mode converter is designed and manufactured. TE0 and TE1 laser modes generation are demonstrated.


Recognition of persons on the basis of biometric features is an emerging phenomenon which has received increasing attention in recent years due to the need for security in a wide range of applications. Singular points are the discontinuities in the directional field. Two types of singular points exist- core point and delta points. A core is the uppermost point of the innermost curving ridge, and a delta is a point where three ridge flows meet .In human fingerprint, it may contains more than one core point or delta point. By using these points we can construct a graphical shape that is used for fingerprint identification. According to the position of core- delta points the graphical shape for each person is different from others, so comparing with these shape can identify each person.


In 2004, the Advanced Placement Computer Science (APCS) curriculum underwent significant changes. Following the lead of many college programs, Java replaced C++ as the programming language for APCS...


This paper presents cyclist monitoring system that tracks cyclist path and shows the cyclist training condition. Cyclist monitoring system is using NI myRIO-1900 that integrates the sensors and modules and then monitors the cyclist data using Ubidots web interface. In this system, heart rate sensor, magnetic sensor, GPS module and GSM module are connected to NI myRIO-1900. Heart rate sensor was used to calculate the heart rate of cyclist from time to time. Magnetic sensor was attached to the frame of bicycle to calculate the speed of bicycle. GPS module was used to track location of cyclist. GSM modules was used to send SOS message if there has an accident happened on cyclist. At the first, NI myRIO-1900 initialized the state of the GPS signal. After initializing, NI myRIO-1900 received the signal from magnetic sensor and heart rate sensor. After receiving all of the signals from those sensors, the data was uploaded to the GUI in LabVIEW and the web interface that run by Ubidots. The parameters such as speed, heart rate, distance travel and power were displayed on the GUI and Ubidots for cyclist to monitor their condition of body during cycling. The S.O.S button was installed on the bicycle. If the cyclist is in dangerous situation, cyclist can press this button to send the emergency signal to police or the person that is important to them.


Culinary Science The ever-increasing size, and scope, of the diabetes epidemic, however, means that we need more and more support.4 Recent trends in patient empowerment and patient advocacy suggest that persons with diabetes expect, and shoulder, a greater role in their management. It is also clear that a lot needs done to promote healthy eating behaviour, and improve adherence to medical nutrition therapy.


Waste polymer recycling has received a great attention due to increasing amounts of waste polymers generate enormous environmental problems. The pyrolysis of polystyrene was examined as an effective way to recycle this polymer and recover its monomer styrene. In this paper, thermal and catalytic degradation of polystyrene at the atmospheric pressure was investigated. Various conditions of temperature and catalyst/Polystyrene mass ratio were considered to determine the product composition and effects of catalyst/ Polystyrene mass ratio and temperature on conversion. The results showed that with increasing the temperature, the conversion increased. The products of the degradation mostly consist of liquid, less gas and solid residue. The AIT100s catalyst showed good catalytic performance for the degradation of PS with selectivity to aromatics more than 99%. Keywords— Catalytic degradation, polystyrene, monomer, AIT100s


Abundant scoring systems are available to assess the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its intervention. However, the majority of them require advanced technologies. CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF is a novel and simple risk scoring, easily used for screening in primary care level. We hypothesize that CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF is predictive for severe CAD and indicative for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Additionally, we compared its predictive value with CHA2DS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc score. A total of 210 consecutive patients who underwent elective coronary angiography were enrolled in our study. Anthropometric, laboratory, angiographic findings, and patient history were obtained from medical records and used to calculate CHA2DS2, CHA2DS2-VASc, and CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF score. Severe CAD is defined as Gensini Score >20. CABG indication was defined based on Class I recommendation from the American Heart Association (AHA). Statistical analyses were done using SPSS 25.0. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed the CHA2DS2 score (AUC [Area Under the Curve], 0.630; 95% CI, 0.555–0.706; p = 0.001), CHA2DS2-VASc score (AUC, 0.680; 95% CI, 0.608–0.752; p=0.000), and CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF score (AUC, 0.785; 95% CI, 0.723–0.846; p=0.000) were predictive of severe CAD. CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF score (AUC, 0.841; 95% CI, 0.711–0.971; p=0.00) were predictive of CABG indication. The CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF score provides the highest predictive value for severe CAD and CABG indication compared to the CHA2DS2 and CHA2DS2-VASc score, suggesting that CHA2DS2-VASc-HSF score may be used in primary care settings to suggest referral for coronary angiography and predict CABG possibilities.


[Objective] To find out the causes of vision fatigue in different age groups to get right prevention and cure. [Methods] We divided 362 patients into 4 groups and used ophthalmologic usual methods to observe and compare carefully. [Results] The causes of vision fatigue were many and varied with the change of age groups and error of refraction in the first place in whatever age groups with the common occurrence age from 25 to 50 years old. [Conclusion] The causes of vision fatigue are complex and dividing patients into different age groups to detect the causes can lead to more purposeful and effective precautions.


The jet mass is an useful variable to distinguish the interesting signal jets formed by highly boosted massive paricles from the purely QCD background, so the QCD jet mass needs to be understood very precisely. We present precision prediction for the jet mass spectrum in onejet inclusive production at the LHC with soft-collinear effective theory. The large logarithms ln(mJ/p 2 T ) in the process are resummed to all order in αs. The peak of the spectrum is enhanced by about 23% from the next-to-leading logarithmic level to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic level. Our results agree with PYTHIA and ATLAS data at the 7 TeV LHC after considering the non-perturbative effects. We also present the predictions at the 13 TeV LHC.


To survey protein expression patterns in the reduced culm number (RCN) rice, a comparative shotgun proteomic analysis was conducted. For large‐scale protein identification, multidimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT) coupled with pre‐fractionation of plant shoot proteins led to the identification of 3004 non‐redundant rice proteins. By statistically comparing relative amounts of 1353 reproducibly identified proteins between the RCN rice and the wild‐type rice, 44 differentially expressed proteins were detected, where 42 proteins were increased and 2 proteins were decreased in the RCN rice. These proteins appear to have roles in glycolysis, trichloroacetic acid cycle, secondary metabolism, nutrient recycling, and nucleotide metabolism and repair. Consequently, we hypothesized that the RCN rice might fail to maintain sugar nutrient homeostasis. This was confirmed with the observation that the sucrose concentration was increased significantly in the RCN rice compared with the wild‐type rice. Also, the RCN rice showed a hypersensitive response to exogenous sucrose treatment.


SYSTEM INCLUDES PORTABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE SUCH AS INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CARD INCLUDING A MEMORY FOR STORING DATA CHAIN FOR FIRST OR SECOND STATEMENT ISSUED BY EQUIPMENT HANDLING THE INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CARD AND COUNTER THE QUANTITY OF DATA REMAINING IN CALCULATING THE AMOUNT REMAINING FROM ON A CHAIN THE REMAINING CAPACITY MEMORY AND LENGTH DATA FIRST TRAINING AND TO AFFECT THE REMAINING AMOUNT AUDIT METER (STEPS 50, 62) SO THAT THE CARD ISSUED TO THE UNIT HANDLING: A) WHERE THAT AMOUNT OF REMAINING DATA IS "0" A GIVEN THE ANSWER IS INDICATIVE OF cOMPLETION OF TREATMENT The first instruction (STEP 74), and B) when said amount of data REMAINING IS DIFFERENT FROM "0", a data response that is indicative of the acceptability of said second instruction (STEP 68) .


Agriculture plays an important role in national economy and development of Croatia. Bearing in mind that the longterm development of the country is directed towards sustainable development, environmental protection, utilization of natural resources and effective management, we can conclude that in agriculture, and in all segments of economy, it is necessary to introduce changes. The objective of this paper is to analyze knowledge and needs of a farmer related production in accordance with current changes due to Croatian entrance of the European Union, and general knowledge and skills needed for competitive and sustainable business. A special emphasis was given on needs and capacities related to use of renewable energy sources in food production. The research showed that there is need for agricultural knowledge for farmers in order to achieve green development standards: improving the agricultural competitiveness, the quality of agricultural production and marketing of agricultural products, and conservation, protection and sustainable use of the environment. Those results can contribute in decisions on topics proposing the contents which can be expanded, thus enhance the existing high school curriculum, prepare a draft curriculum for adult training as well as for the farmers who have completed secondary vocational school.


In this article I discuss educational practices and policies relating to special needs, and I also address the assumptions about teacher professionalism in doing so. At the same time I consider the ontological premise of materiality and relationality as something that urges and opens up new possibilities for how qualitative analysis is done. I experiment with feminist posthumanist storytelling to analyse a particularly complex and affective piece of memory data. The empirical materials consist of "memory data" involving a 10-year-old girl, Siiri, myself, then her teacher, and the writing of a teacher's statement about the student's behaviour needed to make a special needs decision. The "bag lady" storytelling strategy by Donna Haraway foregrounds material detail and allows various close readings of the complexities of the special needs politics in schools. I propose this approach as a way of enacting critical analysis in an affirmative manner, that is, in a way that resists divisions and binaries and enhances nonreductive movement within the material entanglements of education.


Nowadays, English teaching in virtual era is very intensive in utilizing information and communication technology such as WhatsApp, You Tube, Zoom, and etc. However, there are difference in utilizing technology for teaching and learning especially in remote area. This study aimed to know the facts and the challenges in virtual English teaching in remote area. This qualitative descriptive study used in-depth interview and documentation to collect primary data from three English teachers and three students in primary level. The result showed that there are facts and challenges on virtual English teaching in remote area such as difficult to provide the online class or teleconference; the teacher must be creative and innovative to create and implement various strategy or media in English teaching.


We found that a polycistronic operon (ywfBCDEFG) and a monocistronic gene (ywfH) are required for the biosynthesis of bacilysin in Bacillus subtilis. The disruption of these genes by plasmid integration caused loss of the ability to produce bacilysin, accompanied by a lack of bacilysin synthetase activity in the crude extract. We investigated the regulatory mechanism for bacilysin biosynthesis using the transcriptional lacZ fusion system. The transcription of these genes was found to be induced at the transition from exponential to stationary phase. Induction of transcription was accelerated by depleting a required amino acid, which was done by transferring the wild-type (rel +) cells to an amino acid-limited medium. In contrast, no enhancement of the gene expression was detected in relA mutant cells. In wild-type (rel +) cells, a forced reduction of intracellular GTP, brought about by addition of decoyinine, which is a GMP synthetase inhibitor, enhanced the expression of both theywfBCDEFG operon and the ywfH gene, resulting in a 2.5-fold increase in bacilysin production. Disruption of thecodY gene, which regulates stationary phase genes by detecting the level of GTP, also induced transcription of these genes. In contrast, the expression of ywfBCDEFG inrelA cells was not activated either by decoyinine addition or codY disruption, although the expression ofywfH was induced. Moreover, the codY disruption resulted in an increase of bacilysin production only inrel + cells. These results indicate that guanosine 5′-diphosphate 3′-diphosphate (ppGpp) plays a crucial role in transcription of the ywfBCDEFG operon and that the transcription of these genes are dependent upon the level of intracellular GTP which is transmitted as a signal via the CodY-mediated repression system. We propose that, unlike antibiotic production in Streptomyces spp., bacilysin production inB. subtilis is controlled by a dual regulation system composed of the guanine nucleotides ppGpp and GTP.


The utility model relates to a radio accompanying sound remote controller for receiving and remotely controlling accompanying sound of a TV. The utility model is characterized in that the utility model is composed of an emitter and a remote control handset, the emitter transmits sound signal, and the remote control handset receives the accompanying sound and control remotely the TV; the emitter can be arranged in a machine case of the TV, and can also is externally connected with the TV; a handset circuit composed of a remote controller circuit and an accompanying sound receiving circuit is arranged in the casing of the remote control handset. The utility model has the advantages that the utility model can be used as a remote controller, and can receive the accompanying sound without affecting other people. The utility model has the advantages of reliable and convenient use and low power consumption.


This article examines the asymptotic time complexity development for several approaches to compute the rectangular determinants. In this analysis are taken into consideration the Cullis/Radic method which has asymptotic time complexity of $O\left(C\binom {n}{m}\cdot m^{3}\right)$, Laplace method with the asymptotic time complexity calculated as $O(m!\cdot(n-m))$, Chios-like method that has asymptotic time complexity as $o(m^{2}\cdot n\cdot(n-m))$ and Dodgson's condensation methods which have asymptotic time complexity of $O(2^{2m}\cdot(n-m)^{2})$. According to the calculations of time complexity growth for different order of matrices, the Chios-like method is the most useful method for computing rectangular matrices' determinant.


This thesis addresses two important issues of environmental and resource economics: how agricultural households adapt to climate change (CC) and how the households recover from climate hazards. Chapter 1 attempts to enunciate the perspective of the overall research and the rationale for researching on Bangladesh. It summarizes the global evidences of CC and disaster, their impacts, vulnerabilities in agriculture sector, significance of adaptation and poverty impact of disaster. Chapter 2 examines whether crop choice is affected by CC and the extent to which households switch their crops in response to the CC scenarios. It finds that crop choice is climate-sensitive and a shift in crop choices will take place in Bangladesh in response to CC scenarios. This research also finds that crop choice will be more sensitive to change in temperature than change in rainfall. Chapter 3 examines the effect of CC on crop diversification and the households' response to CC scenarios. It finds that crop diversity is climate sensitive and this diversity in different locations varies with climatic conditions. Effects of rainfall scenarios on crop diversity are much lower compared to the effects of temperature. Chapter 4 investigates the impact of cyclone on consumption and income dynamics in a quasi-experimental setting and finds that low income people are more sensitive of their asset loss to income generation compared to the high income people, and disaster causes income loss, but, people show their resilience in accelerating higher income growth compared to the non-affected areas. Chapter 5 examines poverty group dynamics in the post-shock period and the existence of a poverty trap in the cyclone affected coastal region of Bangladesh. It finds that asset loss or asset holding impacts the dynamism of the poverty groups and poverty traps exists at low levels of income in the disaster affected areas compared to the unaffected areas.


Streamflow consists of runoff, interflow and baseflow which is reflected / illustrated in the river flow hydrograph. Predicting the interflow and baseflow in a catchment is important for the water resource management, specifically to find out the relationship between groundwater with surface water and ground water potential. Although, baseflow analysis according to some researchers produces uncertainty, due to difficulties in measuring baseflow. In the hydrological cycle, the relationship between precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff, recharge, interflow, percolation, groundwater storage changes, baseflow and streamflow is described in hydrological model. In this study, a simulation of the hydrological model above, evapotranspiration and runoff was analysed by the tank method, the recharge was analysed by using equations from previous researches, using precipitation data in 2011-2015. In addition, the analysis of interflow and baseflow was performed by using graphic hydrograph comparative method from the years 2011-2015 discharge data on catchment in Katulampa, Bogor, Indonesia. The results showed that streamflow is the same as baseflow at the end of the dry season in August or September or October. The annual flow of the model is smaller than the baseflow with the UKIH , HYSEP and PART hydrograph separation methods. The interflow value is 7 % and the baseflow is 53% from the precipitation in a year.


Data science is the extension of research findings and drawing conclusions from data[1]. BigTable is built on a few of Google technologies[2]. MapReduce is a programming model and an associated implementation for processing and generating large data sets with a parallel, distributed algorithm on a cluster[3]. Google File System is designed to provide efficient, reliable access to data using large clusters of commodity hardware[4]. This paper will discuss Bigtable, MapReduce and Google File System, along with discussing the top 10 algorithms in data mining in brief.


The article reviews the problem of meaning construction and language use in the field of sociocultural cognitive semantics, focusing on meaning as a dynamic experience construction process represented by virtue of language within multiple networks of human knowledge. After outlining the core theoretical assumptions, the article examines the empirical evidence on the processes that underlie the generation of meaning. The paper presents five outcomes for both usage-based theory and empirical linguistic methodology. In reviewing the evidence, we highlight issues of alternative potential explanations as well as remaining areas for future research. The approach establishes new findings and authentic contributions to cognitive linguistics.


This paper reviews the construction of urban overhead roads in many cities in China, and points out reasons of traffic problems in these traffic facilities. Details about analyzing features of overhead road and suggestion of improving these kind of form are given in the paper.


Many migrants make substantial career investments and contributions to the economies of host countries where they live and work. Whenever migrants' countries of origin are not direct beneficiaries ...


This article focuses on Eileen Chang's "Xinjing" to map and understand the ways in which the author depicts different types of emotional, erotic, sexual, and psychological flows and exchanges among parents, children, and their partners and spouses. "Xinjing" is here read in conversation with a wide array of other sources, first and foremost the middle and late Qing literary heritage that so greatly occupied and influenced Chang's own literary universe and pursuits, as well as the westernized literary milieu in which she lived and operated in 1940s Shanghai.


Purpose: Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) is caused partially by the migration of lens epithelial cells. To date, the mechanism of the migration is largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-triggered signaling pathways and its downstream effectors in the migration of lens epithelial cells. Methods: In vitro scratch-wound healing and transwell migration assays were used to measure the migration of lens epithelial cells. The activation of PDGFRβ, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinas (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) and mitogen activation protein kinase (MAPK) pathways, the impact of PDGF stimulation on the expression of cell protrusion molecules, and the stabilization of β-catenin were measured by western blotting. The translocation of β-catenin was detected using indirect immunofluorescence. Results: PDGF was found to enhance cell migration, which depended on the PI3K/Akt pathway. The activation of the PI3K/Akt pathway by the PDGF/PDGFRβ axis induced the up regulation of cell protrusion molecules and stabilization and translocation of β-catenin, contributing to enhanced cell migration. Conclusion: Data from this study directly linked the central PI3K/Akt pathway to lens epithelial cell migration and pointed to new avenues for therapeutic intervention in PCO.


Proposing new materials and systems to improve buildings' performance and energy efficiency often requires testing their performance in the field. Experimental performance characterization of new and existing building systems is crucial to understanding their behaviour. Full-scale experimental test cell facilities have been at the forefront of experimental performance evaluation in building-related research, as they provide a realistic representation of buildings, including environmental conditions, assembling challenges, and operational characteristics. In this paper, trends in the design and construction of outdoor testing facilities are first discussed. Then, based on the current literature and the knowledge gained through visits to multiple facilities, the new test cell facility "BeTOP", located in Toronto (Ontario), is described. BeTOP is a full-scale experimental facility with the capacity to perform multiple experimental tests simultaneously. This paper describes its characteristics, including structure details, testing capabilities, system details, current monitoring campaigns, and future testing potential. The paper concludes by showing that the design of a full-scale testing facility is crucial to observe the long-term performance of new systems under variable boundary conditions in a continental climate with cold winters and hot and humid summers.


Serum matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), hypersensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and other clinical parameters were measured in patients with types 2 diabetes mellitu (with or without angiopathy of lower limbs). The serum levels of MMP-9 and hsCRP were higher in type 2 diabetic patients and those with angiopathy by Doppler ultrasonography than those in normal controls. The change of serum MMP-9 was positively correlated with the level of hsCRP. The extent of angiopathy was correlated positively with both hsCRP and MMP-9.

Key words:
Matrix metalloproteinase-9;  C-reactive protein;  Diabetes mellitus, type 2;  Angiopathy


Ionosphere is part of the upper atmosphere of the Earth, research of ionosphere model is meaningful to reduce ionosphere delay on microwave signals. In this paper, the Back Propagation (BP) model was designed with data of Jason-2 altimeter from 2008 to 2018. The inputs of the model are year, day of the year, hour of the day, latitude and longitude, and the output is the double-frequency correction of the ionosphere. The best model is obtained by repeated training. The selected best model is validated with four cycles of Jason-3. The results show that the mean differences between the model and target of four cycles are between -0.2 and 0.06cm, the standard deviations are less than 1cm, the differences of 95% are located between ± 2cm, the correlation coefficients are all above 0.7. The result indicates that BP model is efficient for the correction of ionosphere delay and with a high accuracy.


The L‐map method is an innovative method for sequential machine state minimization. More specifically, the L‐map method consists of five steps. This method uses a portion of the partitioning method (step 1), and a portion of the implication table method (step 4). Steps 2 (eliminate singleton blocks), 3 (order non‐singleton blocks) and 5 (process the block implication table cells) are developed in this paper. The resultant method is more effective than both the partitioning method and the implication table method. The L‐map method is best illustrated by examples. In addition, 11 theorems are proven with illustrative examples. The advantages of this method over the partitioning method and the implication table method are stated. Furthermore, an algorithm which has four steps for finding the shortest input sequences for separating all pairs of distinguishable states using the L‐map method is developed. Illustrative examples are given to demonstrate this algorithm. The results obtained in this may have useful applications in logic design, computer design, as well as VLSI design.


An ideal rehabilitation program post anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction enables an individual to return to pre injury levels at a faster rate with minimal to no risk of reinjury to the graft. The aim of our study is to assess the outcome of accelerated rehabilitation post anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. A rehabilitation program for a duration of 6 months is sufficient when compared to 9 months 106 patients were operated by a single surgeon underwent arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction using quadrupled semitendinosus and gracilis graft and partial meniscectomy for associated meniscal tear. Patients were put on an accelerated rehabilitation protocol designed in our institute on first post-operative day, under the guidance of a physical therapist in consultation with the operated surgeon. Patients were followed up at 3weeks, 6 months and 9 months post onset of rehabilitation. Patients were assessed using KT1000 Arthrometer and Lysholm knee scoring system. Out of 106 patients, who were selected, 96 (91%) were males and 10 (9%) were females. The mean pre-operative Lysholm score was 55.09. Post operatively, while on accelerated rehabilitation program the Lysholm scores were 69.73 at 3 weeks, 89.13 at 6 months and 89.19 at 9 months. In our preoperative evaluation mean KT 1000 arthrometer score was 10.53 and post-operative at six months was 3.49. At nine months 105 patients had excellent results whereas 1 patient had good result. Accelerated rehabilitation protocol enables the patient to functionally recover faster to pre injury levels. A rehabilitation protocol for 6 months is sufficient in enabling a patient to get back to pre-injury levels. Functional outcome is the same with or without associated meniscal injuries. KT 1000 knee Arthrometer plays a vital role in diagnosing anterior cruciate ligament injuries and can be used to compare preoperative and post-operative ligament status.