When you are sitting in nice ambiance hotel, & you find that the tile in the corner of a wall is missing, ucontinuously start observing the same tile & think about the same instead of enjoying the great ambience.When a lady hoping for a baby, trying to conceive but unable to do so, sees all pregnant ladies everywhereshe goes & thinks about the missing baby in her life. If you see one of your friends achieving a higherposition in his professional life, instead of trying hard for the same you may think & become sad about yourpresent condition. All these situations depict the missing tile or tiles in your life.


Abstract On Monday 10 June 1907, six hundred people were gathered in a room of the French newspaper L'Illustration.1 Auguste Lurniere was about to inttoduce them to a new revolutionary process: the autochrome plate (figure 1). This lecture was a major event because, from this point, photography was endowed with colour. The fact that the christening of the autochrome process took place at the headquarters of L'Illustration was indicative of the imminent importance that colour was to hold in the illustrated press and in documentary usage. However much monochrome photography was recognized as a convenient means of record-making, it lacked an essential ingredient to achieve complete realism: colour. The autochrome plate opened the doors to new possibilities in the recording of reality. As soon as the process was marketed by the Lumiere Society its documentary qualities were unanimously welcomed.


It is very important for architectural industry to monitor automatically building material quality. The key part in the system is acquisition system. A kind of acquisition system based on micro-controller 89C52 is discussed in this paper, which is fit for sampling automatically the quality parameters of great majority of buil- ding materials. The stable and reliable system has been used in practice.


In today's world, business activities have no longer remained merely adding value to some input or providing service with the intention of earning profits and gains there from. These activities are to be performed within a vast regulatory framework. Since the laws to be followed are enormous and the nature of compliances to be made is complex, these are bound to create a lot of confusion and debate. Hence, it has become necessary for those engaged in such activities, not only to know about the relevant laws they have to comply, but also to assess, whether these are being rightly framed, properly applied and judiciously interpreted. The document which can be referred to assess any law, taxes or duties on these yardsticks is the Constitution of India, the master of all laws of the land. Being a guiding document, Constitution is the source from which emanates the laws related to any activity in general and the business activities in particular.


JoAnn Scurlock draws on all known Babylonian and Assyrian medical texts, most of which were found in the library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh (ca. 650 BC), and singles out 352 passages on the negative effects of ghosts on human wellbeing as well as the relevant treatments. In part 1 of the book she evaluates the contents of the texts. Ghosts made themselves obnoxious in three distinct ways: by emitting screams, by haunting people in visible form, and by causing physical problems (p. 5). The physical problems were many; they affected the whole body, and included neurological disorders (pp. 10–18). It is interesting that they did not cause women's troubles, jaundice, urinary tract and anal problems, constipation, cough, toothache, skin diseases, stroke, or more than a few of the many eye problems (p. 19). The following Babylonian belief is only vaguely indicated in the book: We know from nonmedical texts that the ghosts entered the head through the ears (p. 78 n. 1289), and not through the sole of the foot (as suggested on p. 64). You can hear them in your skull talking in their language, sounding like nonsense syllables (p. 23)—that is why ear-disease incantations are often phrased in incomprehensible, often rhyming, words, like tuhat shukhat ukkipshu sukkipshu (pp. 413–14; according to Scurlock, normal Babylonian language). The treatments are largely magical: incantations, prayers (legomena) (pp. 23–41), or rituals using figurines, amulets, fumigants, bandages, and so forth (dromena) (pp. 43–65). The main actor is the healer, the expert in magical lore, but healers also experimented with plants, according to the author (pp. 71, 79, 83). On the qualities of the 251 medicaments, "preliminary remarks" are made; a book is in preparation (pp. 67–71). In the conclusion of part 1 Scurlock discusses some general problems of Babylonian medicine. Sin is an important cause of disease, but not "moral" sin as "an ethical defect"—rather, it is any offense against the gods or ghosts (pp. 73–74). The distinction between "natural" and "supernatural" causes is not relevant in polytheistic religious traditions (pp. 76–77). Medicine and magic were two categories of prescriptions, the one "inspired by some sort of demonological theory" (magic), the other "suggested by the trial and error application of the various medicinal plants" (medicine): "The distinction is, however, not between 'magic' and 'medicine' as we define them, but remedies directed primarily against the putative cause of the illness and those directed primarily against the symptoms which the illness has produced" (p. 82).


Study of change of electrical resistivity of the alloy G35 depending on the heating temperature was carried out. It is shown that the resistivity of the quenched alloy deviates from the linear relation when heated. By transmission electron microscopy it was revealed that the reason for this deviation is the presence of Guinier-Preston zones in the quenched state and an increase in their numbers during low-temperature aging up to 550 ° C. Cold plastic deformation of hardened alloy enhances the effect on the resistivity curve twice. Change in the lattice parameter of a face-centered cubic solid solution nickel-based cold-worked alloy during aging has been determined by means of X-ray diffraction phase analysis. It is shown that aging the alloy at 500 ° C leads to neutralization the effect on the electrical resistance curve. It was established that the particles of body-centered cubic solid solution of chromium are precipitated from the nickel solid solution during long-term aging.


The terminology of finance, and particularly accounting
terminology, forms an organised system of lexical items. This
paper examines and explains the principles on which the English
and Czech financial and accounting terminologies are formed,
investigates the sense relations between their component parts
and compares the formation of terms in English and Czech. The
structure of accounting terminological hierarchies in different
languages is very similar as they reflect the same objective
reality or concepts, but the morphological and onomatological
properties of different languages have a substantial influence
on the consistency and transparency of lexical hierarchies. The
paper focuses on comparing the various ways of formation of
terms particularly in the two languages, and contrasts
taxonomies and meronomies, terms at superordinate and
subordinate taxonomic levels.


This thesis is about how these small farmers in two socio-ecological systems in southern Ecuador accommodate their agro-ecologies and gender systems to national and international forces and networks, and how it relates to processes of ecological appropriation conflictive with their possibilities of wellbeing.
Loja, in the Southern Ecuadorian Andes, maize growers embrace industrial production, with a stricter gendered division of labor, which is offered as a solution to low income by state agents, meat-complex agribusiness, and banks at the cost of environmental degradation. Coffee farmers, adapt and increase their labor to join alliances with NGOs and farmer organizations in order to comply with fair trade and organic coffee market demands of high quality and moderate income improvements.


Increasing the resistance of materials to fatigue crack growth by optimizing the microstructure is one major task of materials science. In this regard, grain boundaries and precipitates are well known to decelerate short cracks, influenced by many parameters like crack length, distance to obstacles or orientation of adjacent grains. A comprehensive understanding of the underlying physical principles is missing. The focused ion beam microscope offers new possibilities for systematic experiments and three dimensional investigations to quantify the microstructural impact. The ion beam is used to cut micro-notches as initiation sites for cracks. Contrary to natural cracks the influencing parameters can be varied independently for a systematic investigation of the mechanisms. Additionally, the ion beam is used for tomography of the crack path and the surrounding microstructural elements. Thereby it is possible for the first time to reveal quantitative data of the effect of microstructural barriers on short fatigue crack growth.


Prior work finds a consistent association between race and gender: People associate Asian with female and Black with male. We used mouse-tracking to examine whether different U.S. racial/ethnic groups hold this same association (Study 1) and compared Asian-American participants to ethnically Chinese participants in China (Study 2). In Study 1, White and Hispanic participants showed the expected "race is gendered" effect, and the strength of the effect did not differ between men and women. However, participants with a counter-stereotypical racial-gender identity (Black women and Asian men) showed weaker race–gender associations. The same pattern emerged for East Asian participants in Study 2, both among people living in the United States and China. These data provide the first evidence of moderation in Asian-female, Black-male associations and further reveal the importance of considering intersectional identities in social cognition and social perception.


A theory is developed for jointly minimizing the symbol error rate (SER) between the desired and decoded signals with respect to the coefficients of the transmitter and receiver FIR multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) filters. The original source signal is assumed to be a vector source with equally likely memoryless QAM vector components. The channel is modeled as a known FIR MIMO transfer function and it is contaminated by additive complex Gaussian signal-independent noise. The channel input signal is assumed to be power constrained. It is shown numerically that the proposed method gives significantly better results than the corresponding minimum mean square error (MSE) optimized system for good channel conditions.


Interactions between water and trees remain a topic of great interest, and indeed, with climate change and extreme weather, it is becoming more significant. Yet a trawl of the literature reveals an absence of informed and well-researched material on this topic. In this context, the paper by Hailey and Percival (2015) is most welcome. The authors consider detrimental impacts of prolonged flooding on tree biology. They then proceed to discuss remedial measures and aftercare management procedures that can be used to ensure tree survival and longevity. This is an important issue and hopefully their contribution will stimulate others to address some of the specific matters in more detail. One thing is certain, the problems of extended flooding for trees is some areas will get worse not better in the decades to come. Epicormic shoots on trees are frequently ignored or overlooked, yet as Drénou, Bouvier, and Lemaire (2015) point out, they may play fundamental roles in tree survival. The authors suggest that these shoots need to be taken into account when they occur, and they illustrate this with a detailed account of work on pedunculate oak (Quercus robur). To do this they apply the visual diagnostic tool (ARCHI method), to facilitate assessment of the reactions of pedunculate oaks after a stress situation. This aids the making of objective decisions about management. Invasive species are another area of concern for tree specialists; particularly those working in urban situations, and Badalamenti, Barone, and La Mantia (2015) consider the situation with regard to the Tree of Heaven. Ailanthus altissima is an invasive tree in urban and rural situations globally. In this context, there is a need to provide effective methods of control when its spread becomes problematic; and the authors indicate both environmental and economic impacts. The authors investigate the success of injection of glyphosate herbicide via holes drilled into stems. The results suggest that the timing of intervention is very important to the successful outcome of control. John Evelyn, FRS was an English writer, gardener and diarist born 31 October 1620 and died 27 February 1706. He is one of the first English writers on trees, and in 1661 he published Fumifugium: or The Inconvenience of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated, a volume in which he made the suggestion that London's grossly polluted air might be purified by planting sweet-smelling trees. Even today, the debate around the role of big, urban trees in mitigating twenty-first century air pollution still rages. As author of the major volume on trees, Sylva (1664), Evelyn has become widely recognised as the founder of the formal study of trees, woods and forests in England. In this scenario, historian, Stout (2015) makes a highly interesting contribution and extends the debate back to before the work of John Evelyn and explores the context in which he worked and the wider discourses from which his work sprang. This is fascinating stuff.


Objective Verification of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transdifferentiating into vascular endothelial cells,secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) resulting in more angiogenesis and improving the blood supply of bile duct after transplanted into biliary ischemic lesion in rats.Methods The marrow were taken from 2 - 4 week-old male Wistar rats,and cultured with a plastic adhesion method.Forty-six rats were randomly divided into transplantation group (Group A) and non-transplantion group (Group B).All of the rats underwent a operation making its common bile duct having ischemic lesion.Group A underwent MSCs (1×106 cells / point,a total of 8 points) transplanting into the biliary ischemic lesion by local injection and group B were injected phosphate buffered solution (PBS) in omentum majus.After 21 days,all of the rats underwent anesthesia and biliary lesions removed.Rat SRY (sex-determining region Y gene) DNA situ hybridization staining system combining with immunohistochemistry staining were taken to double-label the markers SRY DNA and CD34 tracking the transplanted MSCs.Immunohistochemical staining was used to mark microvascular (to calculate microvascular density,MVD) and VEGF.Results After 21 days of injection,the result of double-labeling revealed that a small portion of Y-chromosome positive cells (nuclear brown) were found positive with CD34 antigen (blue-violet).The result of MVD calculation revealed that group A (63.3±17.6) was higher than group B (53.2±13.8).There was a statistic significance between Group A and Group B on VEGF expression.Conclusions MSCs differentiated into vascular endothelial cells and secreted of VEGF resulting in more angiogenesis,which could improve the blood supply of bile duct after transplantation into biliary ischemic lesion.


Security in today's world is one of the most important challenges people are facing around the world in every aspect their lives. Similarly security in the electronic world has a great deal importance. In this paper, we check the security of the website. This is an area of great interest to a website for us note that, database usage becomes very important to modern business and information details contain such information large business assets. This study is for diagnostic purposes issues and threats to website security, requirements for database security, and how encryption is used differently rates to provide collateral.


The impacts of climate change are no longer distant and uncertain. We have seen its effects in: • The increasing intensity and slower post-landfall weakening of hurricanes, as illustrated by Hurricane Ida, which took out all the transmission lines serving New Orleans and led to 56 deaths in four Northeastern states, and in other extreme precipitation events; • The impact of heat waves, such as the heat dome that settled over the Pacific Northwest in June, increasing temperatures in Seattle to 109o, Portland to 116o and towns in Eastern Washington and British Columbia to over 120o; • The severe and exceptional drought conditions and elevated wildfire risks across the Western U.S.; and • Large areas experiencing unusually cold winter temperatures, as occurred in February 2021 during Winter Storm Uri, which led to 61.8 GW of unplanned generator outages and the shedding of 23.4 GW of firm load. Utilities are responding, in part, by committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More than 270 electric companies serving more than 70% of U.S. consumers have announced objectives to rely on 100% clean energy or to become carbon neutral no later than 2050.


Ontology has become a cross-disciplinary buzzword and a research topic for many disciplines. The discussion of the conceptual meaning of the "ontology", the borrowed meanings of the term used in different disciplines, particularly, its relationship with terminology and its conceptual meaning in terminology as well as the issues of the translated names in Chinese are of significant impact for us to understand the present ontological trend in terminology research.


Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) preferentially invaded multinucleated HeLa cells which arose naturally in monolayer cultures at a low frequency. Data suggests that enhancement of the penetration step contributes to increased invasion. Treatment of HeLa cells with polyethylene glycol (PEG) led to cell fusion, and invasion of PEG-treated monolayers by EIEC increased an average of 7-fold compared to untreated HeLa cells. Large, multinucleated cells generated by PEG showed a striking accumulation of EIEC in cellular extensions. This study demonstrates that alteration of HeLa cell morphology results in increased invasion by EIEC.


Wolkersdorfer, Ch.; Khayrulina, E.; Polyakova, S.; Bogush, A. (Editors) Abstract Carboniferous rock permeability tests can be used both for documenting hydrogeological and gas conditions, as well as for predicting the possibility of preexploitation demethanation of seams and rock mass surrounding mining excavations. The article describes the research process of rarely performed non-destructive profiling of permeability of hard rocks in different directions (x, y, z) using a PDPK400 permeameter created by Micrometrics. The solution can be applied in mining hydrogeology, and in particular in the assessment of the water hazard in mines located close to reservoirs in flooded mine, evaluation of water filtration through safety pillars and in determining zones with increased permeability, among others for the migration of mine gases to demethanize the deposits, e.g. through holes from the surface.


Agent Supervisory Control is a concept to reduce the cognitive workload of a UAV operator. ASC can be deployed on heterogenous platforms with little additional effort by using a capability oriented architecture. The system was successfully tested in flight experiments on a fixed-wing UAV and a multirotor with two different mission setups. Features are: • Platform adjusted behaviour • Different mission execution styles • Handling of unforeseen events and popup threats • Graceful subsystem failure handling • Manual subsystem operation (different levels of automation)


Recently, deep learning convolutional neural network has been widely used in food recognition and other fields, but there are still some problems such as poor semantic feature extraction ability and low recognition accuracy of Chinese food images. Based on the above reasons, this paper proposed a DenseNet model based on attention mechanism for image recognition of Chinese food. Using the idea of transfer learning, this paper applied the DenseNet pre-training model with excellent classification performance to the Chinese food image dataset. In order to improve the ability of extracting distinguishable features and learning fine-grained features of Chinese food images, this paper proposed an attention mechanism based on the DenseNet-169 model. This paper used the attention module to extract the key semantic feature map of the image, and then carried out the adaptive multi-fine-grained region tailoring. Finally, based on the region weight fusion scheme, the multi-fine-grained region feature map was integrated into an image feature description and sent to DenseNet-169 for recognition, so as to realize the end-to-end image recognition network. Experiments were carried out on VIREO Food-172 dataset, and the results shows that our method achieves considerable and comparable recognition performance to the state-of-art.


ABSTRACT YOUNG ATHLETES PARTICIPATING IN HIGH-INTENSITY SPORT DISPLAY AN INHERENT RISK OF SPORTS-RELATED INJURY, AND THIS IS HEIGHTENED AT VARIOUS STAGES OF GROWTH AND MATURATION. RECENT TRENDS HAVE HIGHLIGHTED A RANGE OF INJURY RISK FACTORS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF INJURY PREVENTION STRATEGIES WITHIN FEMALE SOCCER PLAYERS. HOWEVER, THERE IS A PAUCITY OF INFORMATION PERTAINING TO MALE YOUTH PLAYERS. THIS ARTICLE PROVIDES AN OVERVIEW OF THE AVAILABLE LITERATURE AND OUTLINES A RANGE OF RISK FACTORS THAT MAY INCREASE RELATIVE RISK OF INJURY IN MALE YOUTH SOCCER PLAYERS, INCLUDING GROWTH AND MATURATION, MOVEMENT SKILL, FATIGUE, AND PREVIOUS INJURY.


An overview is given on recent developments at Fraunhofer ISE in the field of diagnostic techniques based on carrier lifetime measurements. The status of the different lifetime spectroscopy methods and the diagnostic capabilities of infrared carrier lifetime imaging are outlined. A combination of short acquisition times with high spatial resolution and high dynamic range under (quasi‐)steady‐state conditions gives IR lifetime imaging a high potential for the application in material and process characterization. Measuring in the emission mode provides access to the temperature dependence of lifetime and thus spatially resolved temperature dependent lifetime spectroscopy. Images of injection dependent lifetimes may be measured. For the anomalous increase at low injection a modeling description was developed. Assuming carrier trapping as origin of the increase, spatially resolved trap parameter analysis is possible. A new approach to suppress the anomalous increase by the application of sub‐bandgap light was demonstrated. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Modernization models are most frequently used in explaining cross-national fertility decline in the past few decades. Economic development and female education are found with a strong negative association with fertility across nations. These fertility models, however, are criticized for neglecting culture in their assumption of a unilinear fertility transition from high to low, and also for studying cross-sectional data to attribute a temporal modernization effect on fertility decline. This paper re-examines modernization fertility models by addressing culture and testing longitudinal data. Religion is used in six continuous scales as an indicator of culture and 46 nations are examined across 30 years on their fertility decline, economic development and female education improvement. Modernization's time effects on fertility are much smaller than claimed by cross-sectional studies. Culture has its independent effect on fertility decline but it does not override the general trend of fertility transition brought by modernization


Streptomycin is now widely used for the treatment of tuberculosis, and, as the development of resistance by tubercle bacilli is a common occurrence in certain forms of the disease, bacteriological control is important. There is consequently a definite need for a reliable and simple routine method of testing the sensitivity to streptomycin of the tubercle bacillus as the demand for the information is increasing steadily. The method in general use requires the serial dilution of streptomycin in the fluid Tween-albumin medium, described by Dubos and Davis (1946) and in the M.R.C. report (Lancet, 1948). This has given consistent results, but the technique is complicated and time-consuming and there is considerable delay (six to eight weeks) in obtaining the results. Other fluid media, such as the synthetic medium of Proskauer and Beck (surface and deep), have not generally proved as satisfactory as the Dubos method although giving comparable results (Wolinsky and Steenken, 1947). Various forms of solid media, in particular Herrold's medium, have been introduced, and it is claimed that they provide a rough estimate of the sensitive and resistant organisms in the inoculum; this information is not given by fluid media (Pyle, 1947; Karlson and Needham, 1948). Herrold's egg-yolk medium does not appear to have been widely used in this country. Holt and Cruickshank (1949) tried Lowenstein and Jensen's medium, containing only approximate amounts of streptomycin, and reported satisfactory results from the examination of sputum. Youmans, Ibrahim, Sweany, and Sweany (1950) carried out direct sensitivity tests on more than 2,000 sputum examples and considered that more accurate results were obtained with Herrold's medium than with inspissated media, in which the final concentration of streptomycin was only approximate owing to the heating of the medium after the addition of the antibiotic. Williston and Youmans (1949) tested a wide range of media and demonstrated that the type of medium had a definite influence on the sensitivity results ; they considered that fluid media, in particular the original Dubos medium, had many disadvantages and recommended Herrold's medium for general use. The slide method of Pryce (1941) has been tried, but it seems to have distinct limitations as a routine test; the inoculum must contain large numbers of tubercle coright.


Background: COVID-19 is caused by a new Coronavirus, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The most at-risk population is those over 75 years and with pathologies such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, smoking, cardiovascular diseases and asthma, this condition increases the risk of death up to five times. Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in the Family Medicine Unit #27 of Tijuana, Mexico. Methods: A review of the database of epidemiological studies of the FMU 27 was carried out between April to June 2020. The clinical characteristics recollected were: age, fever, cough, headache, dyspnea, arthralgia, myalgia, odynophagia, rhinorrhea, conjunctivitis, chest pain, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Asthma and chronic kidney failure. Descriptive statistics were used, the qualitative variables were expressed in frequencies and percentages, and the quantitative variables in measures of central tendency and dispersion, the information obtained was analyzed in the statistical program SPSS version 25. Results: 111 patients were analyzed, the following clinical characteristics were found: headache 102 (91.9%), fever 97 (87.4%), myalgia 93 (83.8%) and cough 90 (80.1%). The most frequent comorbidity was obesity (24.3%). Conclusions: It is important to know all the COVID-19 clinical characteristics. The knowledge of this characteristics allows us identify the disease and complications early.


The United Kingdom has considerable experience of delivering public services through the use of private finance. Generally projects have included domestic construction and infrastructure development. Value for money is increased using private finance when it encourages greater efficiency. Moreover, private financing may often be faster and more efficient. However, this paper also identifies areas, such as quality, where private finance can be improved. UK private finance currently extends to providing a limited range of defence services too. In the future, private finance will be used to support a greater number of defence projects. Growth will be necessary to fund the defence plans of the United Kingdom and comparable military powers in the medium to long term. Only through these routes will it be possible to fund increasingly technical and expensive capabilities within politically acceptable defence budgets. Many of the defence services provided through private finance consist of home-base infrastructure and logistics capabilities not essentially different from models in the civil sector. Classical PFI and other traditional forms of PPP that can be applied to the defence sector are therefore limited in number. Increasingly new privately-financed defenee projects are likely to include front-line roles. Future developments of private finance in the defence sector could include the delivery of military capability and developing innovative means of delivering IT projects involving private finance. It will be necessary to look for innovative ways of achieving eflqeiency in the use of governmentfinanee. Traditional business models such as the Private Finance Initiative, Public-Private Partnerships and Partnering will have to be modified and new ones developed. This paper proposes the following options for extending business models: • Operating leases are lease terms on assets but could include a range of accompanying services within contracts so called wet leases. Operating leases are already being used for non-front line capability.


After taking sample plot survey of all stand in hongtian village in Fujian Province,then analysis all various types of forest resources direct at the status quo,we knew that the region's native vegetation has been almost non-existent,the major existing natural forest are broad-leaved,and the main managerial object is the large-area china fir.The double evaluation system which including the naturality(including labor system and non-labor system,seven subclasses,VI level) and the management and protection level(four kinds) was established.In Hongtian,the total area of broad-leaved forest is 35.3%,of which7.9% in general-managerial level(business management and protection degree less than 2),but 27.4% was poor;fir stand was up to 40.6%,but in low naturalness,of which 33.4% in Ⅳ naturalness and well-managed(the management and protection level is 3);The proportion of exotic species Eucalyptus was 4.7%,which naturalness is low(V class) and in general managerial level(=2);the area proportion of orchards was 9.4% and most of them was in high managerial level(=3).


In the development of wildlife surveillance system technology, images are important input data that allow real situations in the field to be viewed and analysed. This project proposed a compressed and wireless image transmission system for current system improvements. Image compression is intended to ensure that the proposed system is efficient in terms of processing, transmission and storage. The compressed images are transmitted wirelessly to provide real-time data to authorities. In this study, LabVIEW 2017 software and NI myRIO (as image transmitter) and computer (as image receiver) hardware were used for the architectural design of compression systems by using discrete cosine transform (DCT) method and wireless transmission using Wi-Fi. The implementation of DCT on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) platform, allowing the image to be compressed by 44% and minimise time consumption for transmission process, whilst the value of peak to signal noise ratio (PSNR) are considered good, between 27dB to 40dB.


Inclusions in diamond can provide chemical and mineralogical information about the source region and the genesis of diamond. Many tools are available to obtain detailed information on major and trace element chemical compositions of inclusions, but none are able to distinguish between different oxidation states, for example between Fe2+ and Fe3+, which is crucial to determination of redox conditions during mineral formation. An understanding of the relations between redox conditions and the thermal, tectonic, magmatic and metasomatic evolution of the mantle is needed to explain such processes as diamond formation and kimberlite magmatism. Mossbauer spectroscopy is an ideal method to distinguish between Fe2+ and Fe3+, and can provide an estimate of their relative abundances in individual phases. Normally experiments are performed on samples with ca. 1 cm diameter, but a recently developed technique enables routine Mossbauer measurements to be performed on samples with diameters as small as 100 Jim. The technique, also known as the Mossbauer milliprobe, is relatively simple and requires only a small amount of equipment in addition to a conventional Mossbauer spectrometer (full details of the method are given in McCammon et al., 1991). To obtain adequate count rates, the conventional Mossbauer source (typical specific activity 100 mCi/cm2) is replaced by a point source (specific activity > 2000 mCi/cm2), which can be obtained commercially at a cost similar to conventional sources. The gamma rays are collimated to the selected sample diameter using a Pb shield, and the source-sample distance is reduced to < 5 mm. The latter results in a solid angle similar to conventional experiments, and hence a similar count rate. Since the signal quality depends on


T WO factors affect lambing rate: (1) frequency of lambing and (2) number of lambs born per pregnancy. Certain individual ewes have given birth to live normal lambs three times within a 12-mo. period. I t is thus apparent that under proper physiological conditions two lambings a year are possible. When the physiological processes involved and their mechanisms of action are more adequately understood, it should be possible to sufficiently control the internal and external environment in a large proportion of ewes to regularly produce two lambings per year. One primary problem concerns early fertile rebreeding. In healthy animals, where there are no disease or nutritional problems, anestrus can result from three factors: (1) parturition (postpartum), (2) lactation and (3) season of year. Lambing during the late winter and early spring greatly complicates early rebreeding because of seasonal influences. A low percentage of ewes are able to give birth to and raise three lambs or more. Again, when the physiological processes and their mechanisms are better understood, it should be possible to greatly increase the incidence of multiple births and lactating ability of ewes. Diseases which cause abortion and acute mastitis frequently limit lamb production. The scope of this paper is limited to factors affecting frequency of lambing and number of lambs born exclusive of disease. The authors report results of their own work, part of which is only preliminary and has not yet been published. This part of their review is given to indicate areas in which work is being done, and to provide a basis for hypotheses, but not for conclusions.


–  Knowledge of maturation state of eels (Anguilla anguilla, L.) based on ocular index (OI) serves management and research functions, such as estimating how much silver eel actually could escape from a particular basin or determining more precisely the developmental biology of a particular eels. OI implies the measurements of five variables (total length and eyes diameters) in a formula which can be sensitive to measurement error. To investigate this issue, we carried out a comparative study using 13 European eels harvested in Camargue (Rhone Delta, France) and three replicated measurements by three different observers. The estimated amplitude of OI imprecision at a 95% confidence level was 1.8 whatever eel and observer. Such error may lead to classification problems particularly when OI values are close to the threshold values used to discriminate between yellow and silver stages. This study not only raised the problem of the OI imprecision but also brought up the need to develop standardised protocol for identifying silver eels. To reach this goal, two different ways are proposed in conclusion.


ation can play out in manifold ways. This richness is well depicted in the book's many chapters. The primary audience of this book is translation educators and students, and the content caters for many different specializations, making the textbook appealing across this audience. I also see a lot of potential readers in the business side, in translation agencies in different subfields, in newsrooms and in interpreting contexts. A third group will be researchers interested in indirect translation, and the authors explicitly target researchers as well. A lot of emphasis in theoretizations and empirical research has so far been on literary translation, and the broad focus of this book will likely open new avenues of thought and encourage new research agendas into the rich and varied phenomenon of indirect translation.


INTRODUCTION Pharmacokinetic models are typically used for the quantitative analysis of concentration time series obtained with Dynamic Contrast Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI). Often, the concentration medium uptake is not adequately described by the simple one compartment model (1Comp) proposed by Tofts and Kermode [4]. Malignant tissue is heterogeneous [1], especially at tumor margins such that more complex models are needed. We propose a method to fit a two tissue compartment model (2Comp) to the concentration time series and a model selection criterion to decide whether additional complexity is needed.


Gender is a risk factor for several infections that, for many pathogens, has been linked to sex hormones impacting host immunity and directly affecting microbial virulence. Candida albicans is a commensal of the urogenital tract and the predominant cause of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC). Factors that increase circulatory oestrogen levels like pregnancy, the use of oral contraceptives, and hormone replacement therapy predispose women to VVC, but the reasons for this are largely unknown. Here, we investigate how adaptation of C. albicans to oestrogen impacts the fungal host-pathogen interaction. Physiologically relevant concentrations of oestrogen promoted fungal virulence by enabling C. albicans to avoid the actions of the innate immune system. Oestrogen-induced innate immune evasion was mediated via inhibition of opsonophagocytosis through enhanced acquisition of the human complement regulatory protein, Factor H, on the fungal cell surface. Oestrogen induced accumulation of Factor H was dependent on the fungal cell surface protein Gpd2, with oestrogen dependent derepression of GPD2 being mediated via a non-canonical signalling pathway involving Ebp1 and Bcr1. Therefore, we propose that, in addition to affecting the antifungal potential of vaginal epithelial cells, elevated oestrogen levels predispose women to VVC by directly enhancing fungal pathogenicity through the inactivation of complement. The discovery of this new hormone sensing pathway might pave the way in explaining gender biases associated with fungal infections and may provide an alternative approach to improving women's health.


Wilfried Schroder has written an interesting book on the history of auroral research and its relationship to the development in science in general. The book is primarily based on original sources in the German language; the historical portrayal therefore appears to be somewhat distorted. Some readers may dislike this. What Schroder's book lacks in objectivity, however, it gains from its broad presentation of, to a large extent, forgotten important German sources in the field of auroral physics.


CT perfusion can be useful in the work-up of patients with acute stroke. The value of the additional diagnostic information gained should, however, be weighed against treatment delays and the added contrast and radiation exposure that are incurred by obtaining a CTP study. AHA stroke guidelines recommend against the routine use of CTP in the early time-window (up to 6 h) because most early-window trials did not use CTP for patient selection. Treatment decisions regarding tPA can typically be based on non-contrast CT alone and treatment decisions regarding early-window endovascular therapy can be based on NCCT and CTA. In the early time-window, it is therefore reasonable to only obtain a CTP when the NCCT CTA provide insufficient diagnostic information. In contrast, AHA guidelines do recommend CTP or MR imaging for triage beyond 6h based on the results of two recent trials that showed benefit of endovascular therapy in the 6–24-h-time window in patients selected with CT perfusion or MRI. Due to cost and workflow considerations, most hospitals will opt to primarily use CT perfusion (CTP) and not MRI for triage. Because CT perfusion protocols are not standardized, these hospitals are now faced with the question of how to acquire, process, and interpret CT perfusion imaging. These aspects are not covered in the guidelines. This brief review aims to provide practical guidance on how to implement CT perfusion for acute stroke.


Strong, effective communication may be the single most important key to success for any type of executive. Leaders of health care organizations must be able to promote ideas that others will implement, help staff see the value of their work, and have the vision to overcome limitations that stand in the way of progress.


Teacher education has found new direction in the demonstrated need for social-emotional development as a focus in our public schools. This article chronicles historic approaches to social-emotional development with references to various fields of study, leading to the recent consensus on what knowledge and skills define an appropriate education for the 21st century. A case study of one teacher education program that successfully integrates a focus on social-emotional learning is presented, using telling cases taken from teacher candidates' fieldwork and thesis projects. Additional evidence of successful preparation of teachers who attend to the social-emotional development of their students in their own classrooms is also presented. Teacher education programs interested in deepening and expanding a focus on social-emotional development will find both supporting theory and effective practices to obtain that outcome. riculum in which I am able to teach my students to be compassionate and tolerant with one another within a caring community. I want to provide ways for them to show concern, kindness and consideration. I want the children to learn to have an open-mind, be accepting and have patience for others. To do this, I planned a set of lessons that were implemented throughout the school year. One lesson was taught per month, followed by council sessions in which students discussed their progress with the lessons. (p.


This paper intends to introduce a new methodology for software radio systems validation, entirely based on UML. Right at the modeling step it will be possible to perform non-functional coherence verification of software radio architecture specifications and application requirements with UML based models. The interest of such an approach is to give the designers the opportunity to investigate, before beginning any development phase, the array of potential solutions and enabling selection of some by verification of the coherency. This approach will enable design cost saving by drastic reduction of time and minimization of the number of prototypes. This paper will mainly focus on the feasibility of such an approach, highlighting the object oriented technologies that may be involved in the validation process (UML profiles, UML diagrams, standard model file description...) as far as the non-functional characteristics validation engine approach.


Up-to-date design and development of survey items is like a medieval rite rather than a quality-controlled scientific undertaking. This holds despite existing evidencebased protocols propagated for many years by methodologists. Most prominent is the creation process of items, which in general is not a systematic selection from a universe of items belonging to a specific construct. A case is made here, to give up the round-table ritual of item creation in favor of a well-defined selection process. A differentiation of work roles is advocated in the light of knowledge accrued in other disciplines to streamline the item design and selection process for future surveys. Sampling from a universe of items Whenever survey researchers meet to design and develop a questionnaire they open their gathering with a ritual of sorts. Imagine a setting with a number of eminent survey researchers sitting around a table heading for a new survey instrument (questionnaire). Usually the chair sets out to declare that one will apply most rigorous methods and strive for highest standards. His opening statement is followed by a round of positive murmur from all sides accompanied by the culturally acceptable body language, for example, nodding heads into all directions. Then the importance of clear conceptual delineation is stated combined with a pledge to closely connect concepts with relevant theories. A world-famous saying in Germany says "von nun an ging's bergab" (Hammerschmidt & Knef 1967) (from now on it went downhill), because what follows will be hours, days, and often weeks of entrenched defense of chairs' and other eminent members' beloved 'tried and tested' items/questions. The sometimes heavy battlefield-like interand counteractions are 'interluded' by a relaxing, enjoyable activity called 'item tinkering'. After a round of serious, sometimes heated debates whether to choose an item or not, no one can deny the fun of rephrasing items as a common effort to re-establish group cohesion. One ZUMA-Nachrichten Spezial Band 10, Beyond the Horizon of Measurement 10 might add, tinkering is also the last resort for opponents to ridicule an item by absurdly rephrasing it. However, as it is the case with hierarchical academic structures, it is the chair who, inevitably, will claim to have the last word. Apart from the fact that this Round Table Approach is neither in nor according to the books, tinkering or rephrasing points to the strong conviction that one could really improve the measurement property of items just by phrasing them more elegantly. According to the textbooks of item design one can, of course, not endorse this approach. Rephrasing of items takes advantage of a language property we all know of, but hardly ever use consciously: language actually is infinite. Similar to the natural numbers where one always can add one more number (not countable but enumerable), there is, theoretically, no end to words. Thus there is nothing such as the 'last word'. Although, the universe of survey items appears to be limited compared to every-day language it is also infinite in theory. Just think of the rather straightforward concept AGE, i.e., the time span between today and a person's birth date. Just think of the multitude of ways to ask for AGE: • How old are you? • When were you born? • What is your birth date? • Could you please tell me the year you were born in? • Would you like to tell me your age? • Would you, please, like to tell me your age? • May I, please, ask for your age? • May I right now, please, ask for your age? And so on and so forth, one could add more words and more words, change words, replace words until the end of all ages. However, this tinkering exercise will quickly become boring and tedious. While language in principle is infinite as is our universe, the actual usable universe of items could be fairly small as it is the case with AGE (see also Borg 1992: 16). Mohler: Sampling from a Universe of Items ... 11 The task is then to delineate for all practical purposes a finite universe1 similar to defining a population of respondents. The next step then is to select or sample items from the universe or population of items. The very notion of 'sampling' items from a universe of items seems to counter every single design principle in survey research. But this holds only, if one does not look over the fence to psychologists and their long tradition in instrument design. They take great efforts to collect all possible items, including variations of wordings. A selection is then made following strict rules of item quality testing. The resulting scales (item batteries with well-defined properties) may contain some hundred items as well as one item only. Other than in psychological testing, survey methodologist up-to-date did not opt for commonly agreed-upon protocols for questionnaire design (cf. international testing association). The listings of 'rules for good question wording' (Groves et al. 2004: 226-235) or textbooks full of 'good and bad' examples cannot count here as well-defined selection criteria as stated in the relevant psychological literature. It is timely that survey methodology adopts a more strict position, i.e., well-defined procedures and rules for the selection of items similar to sampling strategies for selecting respondents. A scientific sample of respondents is said to be representative of the population under observation. Populations are groups of people living at a specific time in a defined region, belonging to a specific societal stratum, sharing specific characteristics, etc. Similarly, populations or universes of items can be defined as groups of items belonging to a specific theoretical concept (indicators measuring an unobservable construct which itself represents a theoretical concept). Having said this, the question may rise to what extent would such an approach be helpful in survey research (apart from the rather rare case where sociologists and political scientists borrow scales from psychologists)? One might also ask: Isn't this simply a rather academic description what underlies the ritual sketched out above? Such questions become obsolete, if one adds one more requirement, namely a strictly formal structure, best a predictive one. Items selected must correlate with other items of a scale or other characteristics of interest in a well-defined way, as is the case in Facet Theory. 1 The term 'finite universe' deviates from the contemporary concept of our universe, which is seen being infinite (Rees 2000). ZUMA-Nachrichten Spezial Band 10, Beyond the Horizon of Measurement 12 Thus three steps are involved for a scientific sampling of items: 1. Definition of the population of items (finite universe of items) 2. Census of the item population 3. Sampling of items from the population according to well-defined rules. However, the concept of a universe of items and the necessity to sample items from that universe is only half the story about modern, evidence-based questionnaire design. Because almost all survey questionnaires are composites of items/questions selected from a number of universes, additional procurements must be taken. For instance, a survey may target political participation. Thus, it will contain a sample of items selected from the universe of political-participation items. In addition, researches want to know about the social setting of respondents. Thus, they will need a sample of items from the universe of social settings (often called 'background variables'). They also might be interested in values held by respondents and their personal traits. Thus, they will have to include item samples of the respective universes. Designing the questionnaire for a social survey is thus much more complex than to develop a 'one universe' test instrument. The increase in complexity, scope(s), and technology asks for a radical different approach than the Round Table mentioned before. Instead, an evidence-based professional route has to be taken. This in turn will change the Round Table Approach into a quality-controlled survey production process. In the following we will sketch out this new setting. De-Machiavellization of questionnaire design Let us come back to the introductory scene. What would be needed to turn the academic discourse and debate into a scientific procedure? The first new aspect would be that everyone in that room is aware that there are always several strategies at hand how to define item populations, create a good census of the item populations and the various sampling strategies possible. Secondly, the discussion will concentrate on which procedural approach will be optimal at each production step. After having decided upon this, the roles of the different players will be clearly assigned (see Noelle-Neumann & Petersen 2005: 110). Finally, the quality controls will be agreed, which allows to test whether the design process successfully leads to quality items. Defining specific professional roles of participants and the implementation of a quality control process would be the major transition from an academic ritual to an up-to-date scientific endeavor. Because proper questionnaire design and item development requires different skills, talents, and knowledge on different stages we need at least nine professional roles: Mohler: Sampling from a Universe of Items ... 13 1. excellent knowledge of the subject area (necessary for the definition of the item population), 2. institutional and cultural expertise (necessary to identify culturally or institutionally inacceptable item formulations), 3. linguistic knowledge (necessary to identify odd phrases), 4. texter skills (talent for creative writing like in marketing), 5. measurement and statistical expertise (to inform others involved in the design process about desirable measurement properties and the resulting analytical possibilities), 6. cognition & survey research know-how (to check for unintended effects), 7. informatio


Traditional machine tool reliability modeling methods take static parts as the research object, ignoring the characteristic that the function and performance of computer numerical control (CNC) machine tool are ultimately driven by its most basic actions, and the traditional reliability modeling methods do not fully consider the randomness of machine tool failure. In view of this, this paper gave an improved four‐parameter nonhomogeneous Poisson process reliability modeling method based on meta‐action (MA), and a comprehensive method of system reliability was presented. A CNC machine tool made in China was taken as an example, and the reliability model of MA and the whole machine were built by the proposed method. The proposed method was compared with other methods by Akaike information criterion and Bayesian information criterion, and the method proposed in this paper was proved to be better. The reliability indexes of the system were simulated, and then the general trend of system reliability indexes was obtained by least squares support vector machines. The results verify the applicability and validity of this method, and lay a foundation for further research on the machine tool reliability based on metamotion.


Objectives: Even after 130 years have passed since the first appendectomy, diagnosing acute appendicitis can still be challenging. The objective of this study was to investigate clinical, imaging and laboratory findings of patients diagnosed with acute appendicitis in order to determine whether white blood cell count is helpful in the diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Parameters of Alvarado score, patients' complaints, physical examination and laboratory findings were recorded. Appendiceal diameters of patients detected with ultrasound (US) were also recorded. Results: Of the 98 patients, 89 patients (91%) had an appendiceal diameter wider than 8 mm and 9 patients (9%) had an appendiceal diameter of 8 mm and smaller in the preoperative US. Pathology was normal in 8 out of 9 patients (89%) with a diameter of 8 mm and below; and 9 out of 89 patients (9%) with a diameter above 8 mm (p<0.05). Sensitivity and specificity of the 8-mm cut-off was 99% and 47% respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were 90% and 89% respectively. Conclusion: Distribution of pathology results with respect to appendiceal-diameters revealed that there was an obvious threshold between normal and pathology-proven appendicitis. This outcome highlights the importance of imaging in the diagnosis.


In this paper, we present a fast and simple algorithm for constructing a minimal acyclic deterministic finite automaton from a finite set of words. Such au- tomata are useful in a wide variety of applications, including computer virus detection, computational linguistics and computational genetics. There are several known algo- rithms that solve the same problem, though most of the alternative algorithms are considerably more difficult to present, understand and implement than the one given here. Preliminary benchmarking indicates that the algorithm presented here is com- petitive with the other known algorithms.


With respect to intuitionistic fuzzy multiple attribute decision making problems with completely unknown weight information, some operational laws of intuitionistic fuzzy numbers, score function and accuracy function of intuitionistic fuzzy numbers are introduced. To determine the attribute weights, a model based on the information entropy, by which the attribute weights can be determined, is established. We utilize the intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging (IFWA) operator to aggregate the intuitionistic fuzzy information corresponding to each alternative, and then rank the alternatives and select the most desirable one(s) according to the score function and accuracy function. Finally, an illustrative example for evaluating the higher school class teaching quality is given to verify the developed approach and to demonstrate its practicality and effectiveness.


The input trajectory is critical to the output quality of batch processes; therefore, the input trajectory of an entire batch run should be designed according to the desired output before manufactu...


Meiosis is a specialized cell division that directs a diploid germ cell to produce haploid gametes (reviewed in Schvarzstein et al, 2010; Sakuno and Watanabe, 2009). Meiosis differs from mitosis, in that one round of DNA replication is followed by two rounds of chromosome segregation. In the first round, meiosis I, homologous chromosomes separate (reductional division), and in the second round, meiosis II, sister chromatids separate (equational division). Meiosis II is similar to mitosis in that in both processes, replicated sister chromatids orient away from each other (are said to be bioriented), and will be separated at the metaphase to anaphase transition. By contrast, meiosis I, represents special challenges to the cell. In the first meiotic division, sister chromatids must face the same pole (are monooriented), and instead homologs, connected by the chiasma, are oriented away from each other toward opposite poles (Fig. 1). This chapter discusses our current understanding of how sister chromatid monoorientation and homolog biorientation are achieved during meiosis I.


An investigation has been undertaken to investigate the influence of rubber inclusion at different levels of stabilisation on the behaviour of cemented granular mixtures, under static and cyclic flexural testing, and to compare this with mixtures without rubber. Both are intended to be used as base courses of semi-rigid pavement structure. 3%, 5%, and 7% of cement by dry weight of aggregate were used for stabilisation purposes. Rubberisation of cemented aggregate was conducted by replacing 30% of the aggregate of the 6 mm fraction size by an equivalent rubber volume. The investigated properties were flexural strength, static and dynamic stiffness moduli, toughness and fatigue life. Damage due to cyclic loading was evaluated in terms of stiffness degradation and permanent deformation accumulation. Flexural-induced cracking behaviour was also investigated. Results reveal that the rate of flexural strength increase is higher for the reference cemented mixtures. As stabiliser quantity increase, both static and dynamic stiffness moduli increased while rubberisation mitigated these two parameters at all stabiliser contents. Toughness and fatigue life were improved due to rubber modification at investigated stabiliser contents. Flexural-induced cracks always tend to propagate through rubber aggregate regardless of the quantity of cement.


The association constants (K) of seven metal ions (Cs/sup +/, Tl/sup +/, Cu/sup 2 +/, Co/sup 2 +/, Cr/sup 3 +/, and Eu/sup 3 +/) to sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) micelles have been determined. There does not appear to be any relationship between the metal ion's charge and its association constant. In general, these deviations from the Bjerrum theory of ionic association can be rationalized by considering the chemistry of the specific ion. The rate constants for quenching of pyrene fluorescence by the ions in both homogeneous and micellar phases are also reported. From the comparison of these rate constants, it is concluded that the water channel model proposed previously is not operative. Instead, the results indicate that the quenching mechanism in the micelle is similar to the mechanism in homogeneous solution. 5 figures, 3 tables.


Mediation is a successful way to resolve conflicts nowadays. This study aims to analyse the possibility of applying mediation in conflicts related to the civil service. First of all, in matter of collective bargaining, even in so called «juridical», than in «interest» conflicts. But mediation could also be used for individual conflicts concerning the exercise of rights by public employees, and interpersonal labour relationships. In this last sense, we think that mediation could have an interesting place in matter of mobbing. This study made a juridical approach to those questions, explaining the way to start up a mediation process inside the administrative procedure.


Background : Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen have long been used as a relief to orthodontic pain, and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has been recommended for the analgesic effects. Objective : The purpose of this study was to compare the analgesic effects of Ibuprofen and LLLT on orthodontic pain and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) level assessment in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF). Subjects and Methods: A total of 28 volunteered dental students (14 male; 14 female) were randomly divided into LLLT group and Ibuprofen group. Maxillary first molars were randomly selected to place separators in mesial and distal contacts. One group received Ibuprofen administration and the other received pulsed low-level GaAlAs laser irradiation. GCF samples were collected before therapeutic interventions and 1 h and 24 h later. Pain intensity was analyzed before therapeutic intervention and 1 h and 24 h later using visual analogue scale (VAS). Statistical analyses were Mann-Whitney U-test, t-test, Friedman test, and repeated measures ANOVA test. Results: Based on VAS scores both groups experienced increasing pain within 24 h. A significant reduction was found in PGE2 levels after 1 h and an insignificant reduction after 24 h in Ibuprofen group, but in the laser group no significant change was observed in PGE2 levels (P Conclusions : The current study showed that pulsed low-level laser did not have any analgesic effect and Ibuprofen was most effective 1 h after administration. There was no difference in analgesic effects of laser and Ibuprofen, and no correlation was found between PGE2 levels of GCF and pain perception.


The optimum conditions for the enzymatic hydrolysis of α-hydroxytriazolam (α-OHTRZ)-glucuronide, one of the major metabolites of triazolam in human urine, were determined. β-Glucuronidases from Escherichia coli (E. coli), bovine liver, Helix pomatia (H. pomatia) and Patella vulgata (P. vulgata) were used, and the parameters studied were amounts of enzyme used, temperature and pH range. α-OHTRZ was extracted with hexane/dichloromethane (1 : 1, v/v) and quantified using a high-performance liquid chromatography with a UV detector set at 230 nm. A preliminary study showed that β-glucuronidase from H. pomatia gave a poor recovery compared with the other three enzymes. The optimal conditions (amounts of enzymes, temperature and pH range) for 1 ml of urine were as follows; β-glucuronidase from E. coli (100 U, 37°C, pH 5.5-7.8), bovine liver (100 U, 45°C, pH 5.0-5.5), and P. vulgata (300 U, 60°C, pH 3.8-4.5). Among these enzymes, β-glucuronidase from E. coli was the most effective for the hydrolysis of α-OHTRZ-glucuronide in terms of efficiencies and the wide pH range tolerated. Incubation for 90 min with β-glucuronidase from E. coli was sufficient for hydrolysis of α-OHTRZ-glucuronide at clinical dose. α-OHTRZ-glucuronide in human urine can be hydrolyzed rapidly and effectively using this method.


The enzymatic conversion of an organic substrate to an intensely colored, insoluble reaction product is widely used as a detection method in immunohistochemistry [1], and has also been used for in situ hybridization detection [2]. Although widely used, it is not ideal for all applications. Diffusion of the products may limit resolution, and the continuous nature of the staining may obscure the underlying cellular structure. Contrast with other cellular stains may be less than desired, an issue which has been addressed by the recent development of nickel-based enhancement reagents that bind to the diaminobenzidine reaction product to give a darker signal [3]. Some applications also require higher sensitivity than is possible with direct enzymatic staining; this is usually achieved through an amplification method such as the polymerase chain reaction [4] or catalytic deposition of haptenated substrates such as biotinylated tyramides [5]. However, this adds substantially to the length and complexity of the procedure, and may also be subject to diffusion of the amplified products.


"Chamber music by the young Beethoven on original instruments, 1792-1800." Hermann Baumann, "Inventions" horn by Raoux (Paris, 1819); Stanley Hoogland, John Broadwood and Sons fortepiano (London, ca. 1825). Teldec (Telefunken-Decca) SAWT 9547-A, c1969. "Solo music for natural horn." Jean Rife, natural horn by Francois Riedlocker (Paris, ca. 1815); Martin Pearlman, copy of a Johann Jakob Konnicke fortepiano (Vienna, 1970; Yale University, Robert Smith). Titanic Ti-94,1983 (recorded 1981). These days, when a mere handful of horn players have careers as soloists, it is difficult to believe that horn players once commanded the same public attention as violinists and pianists. Yet such was actually the case, and when Giovanni Punto (1746-1803), the greatest horn player of his generation, joined Beethoven in a performance of the latter's Sonata for Fortepiano and Horn, Opus 17, one journalist wrote: "Who is this Bethover [sic]? Such a name is not known in German musical history. Punto is, of course, very well known."1 The audience at that performance heard a horn player fluent in all registers of his difficult instrument, with astonishing facility in arpeggiated figures, and who evoked from his horn a remarkably expressive "vocal" style. (Twenty-five years earlier Mozart had written: "Punto plays magnificently.") Small wonder that the audience responded by violating a theater ordinance against loud applause; Punto and Beethoven returned the favor by violating the ordinance against encores.2 Punto's achievement was all the more remarkable considering the limitations of the horn at that time. Lacking valves, the instrument could sound notes of the harmonic series; these open notes could be supplemented by stopped notes, produced by changing the position of the right hand in the bell. One challenge of the hand-horn technique was matching the timbres of the open notes with those muffled by the hand. Ries reported that Beethoven began the Horn Sonata the day before the premiere.3 The only sign of haste, however, is the brevity of the Adagio second movement, which is little more than a slow introduction to the concluding Rondo. The effective horn writing of this piece may be attributed to Beethoven's association with Nicolas Simrock, for whom Beethoven wrote a number of works before leaving Bonn for Vienna. (Simrock forsook the horn to found the music publishing house which still bears his name.) The Horn Sonata is heard on two recordings by players using the natural horn. Hermann Baumann, the least mere of the handful mentioned above, recorded it over fifteen years ago. (He has also recorded the Mozart Horn Concertos on natural horn; his valve horn recordings are numerous.)Jean Rife, who plays the Horn Sonata on a more recent Titanic release, is frequently featured as a soloist with Banchetto Musicale in Boston. She may be this country's foremost hand-horn player; she has even given convincing performances of Brahms' Trio for horn, violin, and piano, Op. 40, a work in which the horn part proved so intractable in the premiere that Brahms allowed the valve instrument to be played in later performances. Baumann plays with a lovely, warm tone, occasionally decorated with a slight vibrato. …


Analysis of Mies Van Der Rohe works seeking recurrences and the elements of his formal language aiming to develop a shape grammar. Elaboration of spreadsheet and explanatory images with the parameters and rules that govern these elements and initial sketch of the algorithm in Rhino + Grasshpper.


going on to gangrene and perforation. (3) A class of cases which rapidly within twelve or twenty-four hours goes on to gangrene or perforation with peritonitis or septicaemia. (4) A type characterised by rapid lymphatic poisoning, in which neither gangrene, nor perforation, nor peritonitis is present. (5) Appendicitis abscesses. (6) Chronic appendicitis. The author takes the extreme view as regards operation, which, he says, should be performed as soon as the diagnosis is made, no matter how mild the case may he, unless the patient is in severe shock following sudden perforation. In such cases first overcome the shock. In had cases of appendicitis, when the abdomen is filled with pus and the intestines are paralysed by over distension, morphine, and infectioD, an opening into the intestines to promote intestinal drainage will be of benefit. Bryant2 calls attention to a class of cases of chronic appendicitis characterised by abundant fibrinous exudation, and makes the following suggestions as an outcome of his study of these cases : (1) That an enormous deposit of lymph may ba the only product of some forms of


In the paper the writer describes the development of educational content via the construction of ability cultivation criterion on the identification standard of professional skill, of course mode system on work item to emphasize the education of professional ability and quality. How to deal with the plan with the criterion, and the course system with the certificate is also covered.


A recent investigation [J. H. Ginsberg, "A singular perturbation analysis of axisymmetric, finite amplitude sound beams," 9th Int. Symp. Nonlinear Acoustics, Leeds, England, 20–24 July 1981] derived an analytical expression for the pressure signal in an intense confined beam. That result consistently described the phenomena of nonlinear distortion, diffraction, and spherical spreading. The present paper develops that analytical result into an efficient computational algorithm using Gauss‐Chebyshev numerical integration. Results for assorted transducer vibratory patterns are given. The responses are displayed both as temporal waveforms, and as frequency spectra exhibiting the amplitudes and phase shifts of the fundamental and higher harmonics. [Work supported by the National Science Foundation, grant MEA‐8101106.]


In this issue of RoSE we open up a Forum for discussing the question of the relation between Anthroposophy and science. More precisely, the question concerns the methodological foundations of spiritual science and the scientific quality of Anthroposophy. Since Steiner Waldorf education has much of its ideational foundations in Anthroposophy, this question is of relevance for this journal. Is Anthroposophy a science in its own right that can be developed, as Rudolf Steiner claimed? If so, how can it be justified in the context of present day philosophy and theory of science? Or is Anthroposophy merely the metaphysical speculations by a deluded visionary? What other possible views may exist? Is Steiner's extended methodological path reasonable? And if so, can it be demonstrated concretely within contemporary educational research?


We present an explicit integration of the kink soliton equation obtained in a recent interesting study of the classical Skyrme model where the field configurations are of a generalized hedgehog form which is of a domain-wall type. We also show that in such a reduced one-dimensional setting the first-order and second-order equations are equivalent. Consequently, in such a context, all finite-energy solitons are Bogomolnyi-Prasad-Sommerfield type and precisely known.


Kymographic imaging refers to a special way of displaying vibrations by putting together a great number of successive images of a vibrating object viewed through a thin slit. In medicine, the method has been found particularly well suited for imaging vibrations of the vocal folds, which are the ultimate source of human voice. Here we address the question on which vibratory characteristics of the vocal folds can be identified in high-speed videokymographic images and used in clinical practice when diagnosing origins of voice problems? The ultimate long-term goal of the research is to relate the displayed vibration characteristics to the tissue properties of the vocal folds and design strategies how undesirable tissue properties can be altered through conservative or surgical treatment. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The research has been supported in the Netherlands by the STW project G5973 and in the Czech Republic by the EUREKA E!2614 project. WHAT CAN BE SEEN IN VIDEOKYMOGRAPHIC IMAGES? J. G. Svec 1,2 , F. Sram 2 , M.Fric 2 , Q.Qiu 1 , H. K. Schutte 1 1 Groningen Voice Research Lab, Department of BioMedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, the Netherlands 2 Center for Communication Disorders, Medical Healthcom, Ltd., Prague 8, the Czech Republic Models and analysis of vocal emissions for biomedical applications. 4th international workshop. October 29-31, 2005 – Firenze, Italy. Edited by C. Manfredi. ISBN 88-8453-320-1 (online) © 2005 Firenze University Press ISCAArchive http://www.isca-speech.org/archive


Widespread use of mobile phones and subsequent electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure have raised crucial question of their possible biological effects on the nervous system. The study on the effect of radiofrequency (RF) radiation on the nervous system, however, did not precede enough to determine the biological hazard to brain. Until now, several studies have reported decreases in neuron number and neuronal damage in the cortex, hippocampus, and basal ganglia in the brains of animals exposed to RF radiation. However, there were few reports about the cerebellum, the main voluntary motor control center. In this regard, by using immunohistochemisty, current study intended to investigate the changes in the calbindin D28k (CB) and calretinin (CR)-immunoreactivity (IR) in the mouse cerebellar cortex after EMF exposure at 835 ㎒ for different exposure times and absorption rates, 1h/day for 5 days at 1.6 W /㎏, 1 h/day for 5 days at 4.0 W /㎏, 5 h/day for 1 day at 1.6 W /㎏, 5 h/day for 1 day at 4.0 W /㎏, daily exposure for one month at 1.6 W /㎏. Among groups, most prominent CB IR was observed in the Purkinje cell layer followed by molecular and granular layer. The highest CB IR was noted in 5 h/day for 1 day at 1.6 W /㎏ in the entire three layers while the lowest was noted in one month at 1.6 W /㎏. Similarly CR IR was maximum in one month at 1.6 W /㎏ whilst the lowest was observed in 1 h/day for 5 days at 4.0W/㎏. EMF exposure for 5 days at 1.6 W/㎏ reduced CB-IR. The CR-IR was mainly localized in small cells in the granular layer, with maximum IR observed after one month exposure. Therefore, the present study suggest the possibility of alterations of calcium ion concentration, which playa role in maintaining metabolic homeostasis, in the cerebellum after long-term exposure to 835 ㎒ of RF radiation, which might lead to the disruption of normal trait.


The studies on the auriculotemporal nerve in humans are limited. However, we considered crucial to investigate the topographic relation between the auriculotemporal nerve and the TMJ region that can explain some of the symptoms in TMDs. The results derived from our experience in the anatomic dissection on 16 adult cadaveric heads were compared with what literature describes from 1971 to 2023. The results confirm the existence of a particular anatomic position of the ATN within the infratemporal fossa in direct contact with the lateral pterygoid muscle and the TMJ capsular region. Therefore, there is evidence of a potential entrapment mechanism involving the ATN caused by an internal derangement of TMJ or a spastic condition of the lateral pterygoid muscle. Through a detailed anatomical description of the ATN the present study aims to offer an explanation to the main sensory and otological symptoms that patients with TMJ disorders often complaint, from facial pain and paresthesias to external ear pruritus.


BACKGROUND
The Injury Severity Score (ISS) is the national standard for injury severity assessment but has been rarely validated in the pregnant population.

METHODS
We evaluated 294 pregnant women who were hospitalized for injury in Washington State from 1989 to 1997. We used ICDMAP-90 computer software to assign an ISS to all women. We identified injured pregnant women who experienced a placental abruption or a fetal death using the Washington State delivery hospitalization data and the birth certificate or fetal death records. We evaluated the accuracy of the ISS in predicting these adverse outcomes using sensitivity analysis.

RESULTS
We found that the ISS was not accurate in predicting placental abruption and fetal death. We also found that relatively minor injuries were associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

CONCLUSION
A more comprehensive injury assessment tool is needed to accurately predict adverse outcomes in the pregnant trauma population.


Routing protocols are the fundamental block of selecting the optimal path from a source node to a destination node in internetwork. Due to emerge the large networks in business aspect thus; they operate diverse routing protocols in their infrastructure. In order to keep a large network connected; the implementation of the route redistribution is needed in network routers. This paper creates the four scenarios on the same network topology by using Optimized Network Engineering Tools Modeler (OPNET 14.5) simulator in order to analyze the performance of the route redistribution among three routing protocols by configuring three protocols from a set of Routing Information Protocol (RIPv2), Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP), Open Shortest Path First (OSPF), and Intermediate System to Intermediate System (IS-IS) dynamic routing protocols on each scenario. The first scenario is EIGRP_OSPF_ISIS, the second scenario is EIGRP_OSPF_RIPv2, the third scenario is RIPv2_EIGRP_ISIS, and the fourth scenario is RIPv2_OSPF_ISIS. The simulation results showed that the RIPv2_EIGRP_ISIS scenario outperforms the other scenarios in terms of network convergence time, the hops number, jitter, packet delay variation, packet end to end delay; therefore, it fits real time applications such as voice and video conferencing. In contrast, the EIGRP_OSPF_ISIS scenario has better results compared with other scenarios in terms of response time in case of using web browsing, database query, and Email services.


This work is aimed to the retrieval of aerosol properties such as aerosol optical thickness (AOT), Angstrom exponent(AE) and single scattering albedo (SSA) using satellite observations. The authors use the short/term forecats from an aerosol assimilation system for a priori estimate of parameters to be retrieved. I would suggest the publication of this paper taking into account the comments given below: 1). Please, give equations related the parameters AOT, AE, SSA with fine particles mixing ratio and the imaginary part of their refractive index. Please, specify all assumptions used to derive the corresponding relationships. 2). Please, extend the discussion of Fig.6 pointing to the reasons for possible large deviations of ground and satellite derived aerosol products for the case of developed algorithm.


Whether or not the utility of future generations should be discounted is the most serious problem, specifically when we consider the allocation of intergenerational public bads such as CO2. This paper analyzes how the social optimum is attained under the constraint of sustainability proposed by Pezzey (1997). We find the following equivalent relationship between the optimal policies: the condition that utility should not be discounted in social planning is equivalent to adopting the socially optimal carbon tax rate in a decentralized economy.


The eighth version of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (8th AJCC) system for anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) added lymph node (LN) metastasis as the staging element. This study aimed to explore the association between LN status and ATC's prognosis, identify the optimal LN index and establish a novel prognostic model.


Cellular communication has been fundamental in the evolution of living beings, since it provides the tools for the cellular exchange of physical-chemical information with the external environment and with the other cells. In neurons, this exchange of information is mainly carried out in dendrites, which are specialized cellular structures that have distinctive and characteristic branching patterns, which depend mainly on the morphology provided by molecular arrangements of the cytoskeleton.
Deficiencies in the communication of the neural network can lead to pathologies that directly affect the nervous system (neuropathologies). Pharmacological treatments are used in the treatment of these pathologies, although therapeutic alternatives of plant origin are being evaluated in order to counteract these conditions, making use of secondary metabolites that show activity on structural plasticity. Pentacalia nitida is a species that has a high diversity of secondary metabolites of great biological activity, with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory chemical properties, which promote beneficial effects on cell survival, acting as reducing agents and regulators of some cell signaling pathways.
A study was prepared from primary cultures of neuronal cells, where the polar extract of Pentacalia nitida was used, to evaluate its dendritogenic effect and its possible associated mechanisms. A dose-dependent effect of the extract was observed by stimulating the cells for 12 hours. The results obtained show that there is a great variability linked to the extract in dendritogenesis inducing processes, through the activation of the MAP and PI3 kinase signaling pathways and NMDA type glutamate receptors, inducing the activity of proteins associated with dendrythogenesis. Therefore, it is suggested that the metabolites present in the P. nitida extract increase the complexity of the dendritic tree, by activating signaling partially linked to neuronal activity.


Transportation has always been a major, if not the major, cost that Great Lakes lumbermen faced in converting "sawlogs into currency?''1 During the middle of the nineteenth century logs were skidded (dragged directly on the ground), moved on sleighs, and/or trucked on wagons to streams where they could be floated to sawmills. Not only were these modes of transportation costly, they were not always reliable. Warm winters, called "open' often made sleighing impossible and trucking through the slush and mud too difficult. Some loggers, faced with long expensive hauls overland and unpredictable weather, attempted to lower their costs by using logging railroads to transport logs to streams or directly to sawmills. Winfield Scott Gerrish's Lake George and Muskegon River Railroad, which began operating in 1877, has often been claimed to be the first logging railroad in the Great Lakes region.2 Gerrish reported that he thought of using a railroad to transport logs after he saw a small Baldwin locomotive on exhibit at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876.3 The open winter of 1878-79 focussed attention on Gerrish's logging railroad and led numerous other Michigan lumbermen to imitate him. Gerrish's place in lumbering and railroad history is secure because his successful and wellpublicized experiment triggered the rapid expansion of logging railroads in Michigan and other regions of the country. However, Gerrish was not the first to transport logs by rail, or by steam locomotive, in Michigan. Leslie Arndt and others have claimed since 1973 that the Pinconning and Kaiserville Railroad (later known as the Glencoe and Pinconning), which began operating in 1873 in Bay County, was the state's first steam locomotive logging railroad.4 The geographer Randall Rohe, in his technological history of the use of tramways and pole railroads in the Great Lakes, has traced the history of logging railroads back to 1855. He reports that "The earliest known ... wooden railroad [used] for logging in the Great Lakes region is one built during the summer of 1855 at Tawas, Michigan" on the shore of Lake Huron.5 Considerable documentary evidence shows that lumbermen logging along the Grand River in Michigan's Ottawa County had already built and operated three logging railroads before 1855the year the first part of the Tawas logging railroad was built on the east side of the state. The fourth logging railroad constructed in Ottawa County began using a steam locomotive to haul logs on wooden rails in 1857. The history of these long-forgotten logging railroads is an important first chapter in the use of railroads to haul logs.6 These lines, some of which ran more than two decades before Gerrish's operation, were thus the first logging railroads in Michigan, and possibly in the Great Lakes region or even the United States as a whole. In short, a closer look at the history of logging railroads contradicts the "heroic lone innovator" theory that shapes most published accounts of W. S. Gerrish's "invention." Log transport by rail instead developed through multiple independent inventionsactually a transfer of technologiesand gradual evolution enforced by economic competition.7 Some historians have classified logging railroads by basic type into pole roads, tram or stringer roads, and steam railroads.8 But Michigan lumbermen employed these variants in many diverse ways. Some ran geared Shay locomotives on wooden pole roads in 1880; others used horses to draw logging cars on iron rails as late as 1910.9 The history of railroads used to haul logs as well as other commodities can best be understood by focusing on specific innovations in technology and business organization. During the mid-to-late nineteenth century in Michigan, important changes occurred in: the materials used to construct rails (wooden poles,


Abstract: A major health issue across the world is the microbial contamination of ready-to-eat meals supplied by street vendors and hawkers. Each city in India has its own distinctive street cuisine and a big portion of the population enjoys these delights because of their taste and flavor. In addition to their deliciousness and flavor, these meals are affordable and widely accessible. Panipuri is the most consumed street food from north to south and east to west. The current investigation was conducted to evaluate the microbial and fungal composition of the masala pani and matar sold with panipuri in major Indian towns. Utilizing tainted raw ingredients and food components, dirty water, unhygienic preparation methods, and infected containers all contributed to the contamination. Nearly 100 samples or more are aseptically collected in a screw cap container from various sites in various Indian cities and then analyzed following the prescribed methods, the predominant bacteria and fungus were isolated and identified. After analysis, a significant amount of bacterial pathogens were found in the food sample. The majority of the time, fungi like Mucor and Rhizopus are found alongside bacteria like Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas spp., Enterobacter spp., and Bacillus spp. Fecal contamination of the processing wat, as well as ongoing unsanitary circumstances associated with the location of the food booths,hs, were both suggested by the detection of fecal Streptococci and Coliform. Consumption of contaminated foods harboring bacteria and their toxin leads to foodborne disease. Therefore, it has been listed that to ensure the safety of human health, street food qualities must be checked and microbiological load standards must have adhered to.


Since the mid '80s Europe has tried to assert a single common social model with better welfare and social inclusion than its ultra-liberal competitor – the United States. The reality shows that many different social models coexist in Europe and they have been put to a tremendous test during the recent economic crisis. Some of them have bitterly failed this test and must undergo deep structural reforms. On the other hand, the recently exposed shortcomings of the neoliberal paradigm require a profound reconsideration of the role of the state as a regulator of imperfect markets. With its flaws revealed in the aftermath of the crisis, Europe has a unique opportunity to move forward in promoting a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.


Permian shallow marine strata are widely distributed in the Southern Kitakami Massif, Northeast Japan. They yield many marine fossils and have been well studied both stratigraphically and biostratigraphically. However, the geological age of the upper part of the Permian in the Tassobe district, located in the northern part of the Southern Kitakami Massif (Fig. 1), is still an unsettled question. The Permian is divided into the lower Tassobe and upper Sotokawame Formations (Okuyama, 1980; Yoshida et al., 1992). Early Permian (Sakmarian–Artinskian) fusulinoideans have been known from the middle to lower-upper part of the Tassobe Formation (Hirokawa and Yoshida, 1956; Saito, 1968; Yoshida et al., 1992), whereas no age-diagnostic fossils have been found from the overlying Sotokawame Formation. In the course of the geologic survey of the Permian, we collected two ammonoid fossils from the lower part of the Sotokawame Formation, which can provide us a basis for stratigraphic correlation. This paper describes these ammonoids and discusses their stratigraphic and biogeographic significance.


Conclusion In the doses employed (15 mg per kg, twice daily for 8 days), 2-3 dithiopropanol was ineffective in protecting the liver of dogs against uranium nitrate in the amounts administered.


This chapter recounts the influx of South Asian migrants to the UK since 1947, which was motivated by a need to escape civil war, to seek better economic opportunities, for marriage or to join family members. It cites the 2011 census indicating that South Asians represent the largest minority group in Britain and many of them are contributing to economic, social, and political life. It highlights the disadvantages of South Asian women migrants, such as language barriers, lack of education, lack of skills, poor-quality housing, unemployment, and specific forms of violence associated with the various cultural and religious practices that define their identity. The chapter discusses the increase in gender-based power imbalance that reinforces the patriarchal structures of both the host and migrant cultures, which leads to the further marginalisation and victimisation of women.


The couplets of Huizhou show the general characteristics of the couplets, such as symmetric forms, associated contents, corresponding part-of-speech, harmonious tones, as well as their unique features. This paper firstly expounds on four features of the couplets in Huizhou——diachronic inheritance, rich themes, pervasiveness of distribution, diversity of forms. In addition, this paper selects four kinds of perspectives to interprete the couplets in Huizhou, including material folk customs, spiritual folk customs, social folk customs and languistic folk customs. Meanwhile, this paper also points out social functions of the couplets in Huizhou, including civilizing people there, maintaining social peace, regulating social life and adjusting the spiritual world. In brief, through the intrepretation of the couplets in Huizhou the folklore scene can be presented.


In the context of Rio + 20, Israel Klabin, president of the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development (FBDS), explains to Kalinka Iaquinto the relationship he sees between the global economic crisis and a global infrastructure that created demand for non-renewable natural resources. He also explains why "environmental, social, and economic factors should be brought together in the model of governance."


Background and purpose: Due to the fact that poplar rotation is one of the shortest in forestry, and as production of poplar wood requires rational and well-planned management, the potentials of sites and species must be maximally utilised. The main characteristics of the procedure of investment in poplar cultivation, is the fact that the conditions for the beginning of production and their exploitation are not created simultaneously. The main goal of the work reported in this paper was to examine the financial effects of different discount rates on the cost-efficiency values of studied poplar plantation, based on an analysis of the present value of costs and revenues over a stated time period using different methods of investment appraisal. Material and methods: Investment Appraisal also known as Capital Budgeting is used to asses whether capital expenditure on particular poplar plantations will be beneficial for the entity or not. The investigated plantation was established from Populus x euramericana cl.I-214 on alluvial semigley, with planting spacing 6 x 3 m, aged 26 years, for technical wood production. The data used in this study were collected from the archives of the, according to the age at plantation established and from the management and materials books of the forest enterprise "Vojvodinasume". During twoyear study, the material was collected from study plot in order to assess the density, distribution and significance of individual fungal organisms present in the plantation. Identification was based on the morphological characteristics of species. Original scientific paper Results and conclusions: Under the calculation discount rate of 12%, the project for the production cycle of 26 years was not cost-effective from the economic aspect. The discount rate of 6% can be accepted in this studied plot because of the better sites (alluvial semigley) and youngness of the stand. For the studied sample plot IRR is 6.94. R for the r=12% in the study compartment is 0.407. The analysis shows that PBP is practically unacceptable for the investor under the discount rate of 6%. In the studied plot altogether 11 species of fungi causing significant damages in hybrid poplar plantations were identified. Two were found on cortical tissue, 6 on leaves and 3 species are causing decay. Number of trees attacked with decaying fungi, like Fomes fomentarius, Trametes suaveolens, was bellow 2%/ two percentage.


This paper discusses the theoretical aspects and experimental measurement of the angular dependence of the spin-torque critical currents in current perpendicular-to-plane (CPP)-GMR heads. Experimental measurements were made of E-beam lithographically defined circular pillars of all-metal CPP-GMR spin valves. The field-dependent critical current was measured from the onset of obvious deviations from the low voltage curves. RF magnetic noise vs bias current were also taken. The result can have important implication of the choice of the optimum bias current polarity for practical application of all-metal CPP spin-valve read heads.


Paper analyses management of the police structures and staff training of this public sector organization, which is also regulated by statute, in the context of the New Public Management. Authors analyses the activities of police structures in western democracies and stress modern tendency- transformation of police from providing military services to organization providing assistance for citizens. Training police officers important are the following criteria: management competencies, professionalism, human rights and liberty aspect, integration of police training organizations into common system of higher education. One of the conclusions based on the analyses of management of contemporary police structures and staff-training tendencies is that modern PA tendencies influence changes occurring in the militarist model of the police. Such values as legality, democracy, efficiency of activity, the principles of the new public management are becoming important in the police every day activities.


Most data on cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19 rely on the evaluation of hospitalized patients. Conversely as COVID-19 requires social isolation many low-symptomatic individuals develop dermatologic manifestations which prevalence is underestimated. The prevalence of skin lesions was 20% among 88 Italian hospitalized patients.


ABSTRACT A new approach accounting for the indentation size effect in metals with the dislocation mediated deformation mechanism is proposed in the paper. The model is based on the assumption that the number of dislocations contained in the 'effective' plastic zone under the contact area incrementally scales with the penetration depth with , which leads to the modification of the Nix-Gao model, so that the hardness dependence on penetration depth can be expressed as: . The approach is verified on a set of materials including single crystals, pure polycrystalline metals as well as alloys. The effect of materials parameters and the indenter geometry on the validity of the model is discussed.