Results of a 2—yr evaluation of aboveground production of 7 plant species commonly found in Louisiana's coastal marshes show a generally higher level of production compared to other studies. In 5 of the 7 species significant growth occurred throughout the year. Calculated annual production in grams per square metre for each species was; Distichlis spicata–3237; Juncus roemerianus–3416; Phragmites communis–2318; Sagittaria falcata–1501; Spartina alterniflora–2658; Spartina cynosuroids—1355; and Spartina patens–6043. Sampling variability, expressed as the ratio of the standard error to the mean x 100, averaged between 8 and 18 different species. Instantaneous loss rates (mg x g(—1) x day(—1)) of dead vegetation from the marsh, averaged over the year, ranged from 4.7 for P. communis to 25.2 for S. falcata. See full-text article at JSTOR


By analyzing the connotation and forming process of strategic innovation performance, this paper reveals that the existing problem of strategic innovation performance evaluation is that execution of strategic innovation has been ignored. On this foundation, efficiency index is introduced. Meanwhile its methods and meaning are clarified, anticipating a new thought for strategic innovation performance.


Objective] To study the therapeatic effects of combined of therapy with intrabronchial brachytherapy using remote afterloading and microwave through branchofiberoscope on patients with advanced stage central type lung cancer.[Methods] 48 cases with advanced stage central type lung cancer were divided into treating group and control group at random. The two groups acceped the same chemotherapy, the treating group was given combined theraphy with microwave and intrabronchial branchytherapy using remote afterloading via branchofiberoscope while the control group was given just intrabronchial branchytherapy using remote afterloading. [Results] 24 cases of the treating group, 8 cases CR, 14 cases PR, had a significantly higher overall response rate 91.7%, compared with the control group (58.4%) (P0.01), and had the improvement of quality of life and prolongation of remission time.[Conclusions] The clinical therapeutic effects of using remote afterloading and microwave though branchofiberoscope on patients with advanced stage central type lung cancer is apparently superior comparing with just intrabronchial branchytherapy using remote afterloading. The combined therapy can improve patients life quality and prolong their remission time, and it is worth expanding clinical use.


Philosophical underpinning is important in research as this leads to the investigation as per a specific paradigm. Every subject domain has a dominant paradigm in which the research is carried out. This paper surveys various journal articles in finance, specifically in financial markets contagion and spillover effects, to find the research paradigms and finds that the dominant paradigm in finance and market contagion research is functionalism-positivist. This provides opportunities to conduct research in other paradigmatic approaches. This paper explores the possibility of using an interpretivist paradigm to the financial market contagion research.


Objective To investigate the status of acid-base balance of VLBWI in 24 h after birth. Methods Analyzing 66 VLBWI in retrospect of the past 4 years. Results The main types of acid-base disorder were respiratory acidosis and metabolic acido-sis. There were no difference between different gestational age, birth-weight and hours after birth. Disorders were most eminent in those suffered from lung diseases. VLBWI with asphyxia almost all had metabolic acidosis. Conclusion the status of acid-base balance of VLBWI in 24 h after birth were affected mainly by lung diseases, asphyxia and were not related to gestational age, birth-weight and hours after birth.


In this article, we are interested in viscosity solutions for second-order fully nonlinear parabolic equations having a $L^1$ dependence in time and associated with nonlinear Neumann boundary conditions. The main contributions of our study are, not only to treat the case of nonlinear Neumann boundary conditions, but also to revisit the theory of viscosity solutions for such equations and to extend it in order to take in account singular geometrical equations.
In particular, we provide comparison results, both for the cases of standard and geometrical equations, which extend the known results for Neumann boundary conditions even in the framework of continuous equations.


Rayuela is an interactive light installation created with the purpose of using art to draw attention to a serious issue plaguing our society: namely plastic usage and waste, and how its overuse and under recycling end up polluting the oceans and compromising the food chain by disintegrating into microplastics. To create an experience that could be playful enough to attract and engage people, while still subtly conveying a serious message, we chose the game of hopscotch as a backdrop for a playful experience, revealing at each step the journey a plastic bottle goes through during its lifecycle. Accordingly, we named the work Rayuela, which is the Spanish word for hopscotch. We built Rayuela as a modular system consisting of 11 light boxes, each telling a different fact about the plastic bottle's journey. Each time people jumped on a box, it turned the next one on, thus progressively revealing the story. As the work was designed for exhibition in a very large public festival lasting about a month, design considerations ranged form aesthetic and interactive aspects to robustness and reliability. In this paper, we describe the conceptual rationale for Rayuela, its design and building process, and the methods for automated data gathering we implemented. We then present the results of the field study, and discuss preliminary findings, as well as implications for future design.


In this work, a model dependent control design method based feedback scheme was investigated for autonomous underwater vehicle control. The controller was designed with the nonlinear terms - inertia, hydrodynamic damping, and gravitational, and buoyancy - of the vehicle dynamical model consideration. Then, the model independent controller (PD) was also investigated, with no nonlinear terms consideration. The stability analysis of the proposed model dependent feedback controller was obtained based on a Lyapunov function. The simulation results of the proposed controller were compared with that of PD controller. The comparison shows the validation of the proposed controller.
Index Terms: Model Dependent Controller, PD Controller, Underwater Vehicle


Trace amounts of acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate, isoamyl alcohol, n-propanol and methyl ethyl ketone were effectively extracted and removed from the ethanol aqueous solution by carbon dioxide as solvent with countercurrent contractors. The experiments were carried out at 298.2 K and 7.0 MPa or 303.2 K and 7.5 MPa with solvent-to-feed ratios from 1.3 to 5.0 mol/mol. The concentration of feed ethanol aqueous solution was 20 mol%. Packed columns with 6 mm Raschig rings were employed as contractors.Although a certain amount of ethanol was dissolved into the solvent simultaneously with the trace components, the dissolved ethanol was easily recovered by scrubbing the solvent with a small amount of water. Assuming the state of infinite dilution for each component, a simple calculational procedure was devised to determine the height per mass-transfer unit for some components in packed columns from the experimental data.


The invention provides a method for testing the PORTAL performance of an access controller. The method comprises the following steps that: a test tool for simulating an access station (STA) sends network connection requests of a plurality of access stations to the access controller; and after a test tool for simulating a PORTAL server returns an authentication interface to the simulated access stations through the access controller, the test tool for simulating the PORTAL server produces user names and passwords in batch so as to simulate an on-line process of the access stations. According to the method, the cost of the PORTAL server/an RADIUS (remote authentication dial in user service) server and STA in the PORTAL-STA performance test can be reduced, and a feasibility test method can be provided for PORTAL-STA bearing capability in on-line test systems for batch users.


Bio-inspired computing architectures enable ultra-low power consumption and massive parallelism using neuromorphic computing, which is apt to implement Spiking Neural Networks (SNN). Such architectures are particularly suitable for energy-constrained applications. A deeper understanding of Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) behavior during training is needed to improve these architectures. This paper presents VS2N, a web-based tool for interactive visualization and analysis of SNN activity over time. This simulator-independent tool offers a way to examine, analyze and validate different hypotheses about SNN activity. We present available analysis modules and use-cases of the tool as an example.


The main aim of the paper is to study the influence of new type heat treatment - sinter hardening - on the wear characteristics of high-strength sint ered steels. The wear behaviour of the chromium pre-alloyed sintered steels was investigat ed through pin-on-disk tests. Two different processing conditions have been used, involving dif ferent cooling rates from the sintering temperatures of 1180 °C, the first of which, identi fied as slow, implied a cooling rate of 0.05 °C/s. The later cooling rate obtained applying a pr ocess called sinter hardening determined an average cooling of 6 °C/s. The role of the differen t chemical compositions has also been evaluated. The microscopic investigations reveal de formed layers and tracks along the direction of sliding during wear. Particular attention has al so been paid to the friction coefficient and to the role of porosity on wear. The results showed th at the microstructure characteristics represent an important parameter affecting the wear behaviour of sintered steels and sinter hardening is a suitable heat treatment for improving the wear resi stance of sintered steels.


Approaches based on Petri nets are important for the development and redesign of distributed and concurrent systems. This thesis introduces the formal approach of algebraic higher-order nets as a novel modeling technique, which comprises the advantages of the well-researched net classes of coloured Petri nets and algebraic highlevel nets. Moreover, algebraic higher-order nets can be seen as a formal approach for higher-order object nets, which are well-established for workflow modeling, but which so far have been mainly described informally. While the dynamic behavior of systems is graphically modeled by Petri nets, the concept of higher-order partial algebras turned out to be well-suited for algebraic higher-order nets. The combination of these techniques is achieved by the inscription of net elements with terms over the given data structure. It is the aim of this thesis to develop a clear, mathematically well-founded, and practically valid formalism, which supports the flexibility and adaptability of models in an extensive way. In this context the extension by higher-order features is an important aspect, since we gain the possibility to abstract from functional behavior in the static structure of models. Hence, the functional behavior can be given at run time by suitable operations and altered dynamically by the exchange of these operations. The chosen concept of higher-order algebras highly increases the expressiveness of operations, so that even Petri nets become parameters and results of operations. After a comprising introduction into higher-order algebras, the modeling technique of algebraic higher-order nets becomes formally defined and investigated extensively. As the main results of the theoretical part we have achieved horizontal structuring techniques and folding and unfolding constructions to support the composition of model segments on the one hand, and a compact description of abstract models on the other hand. In the practical part we present appropriate algebraic higher-order nets for the modeling of specific application domains, especially Petri nets and rules as tokens. Here we use rule-based transformations in the sense of graph transformation systems to attain a solid definition of rules and their applications. The significance of our approach is demonstrated by several large examples and two case studies in the area of medical information systems and logistics processes.


On a substrate, the optical information recording medium reflectance and / or transmittance based on the change in temperature, characterized by comprising a formed temperature sensitive layer reversibly changes is provided. That, together with utilizing a temperature responsive layer having a property of refractive index with temperature changes is changed, further, by using together also a property of changing the light interference effect with the temperature change, higher, and it is possible to provide an optical information recording medium stable reproduction signal intensity.


To improve the performance of passive tracking for maneuvering target in clutter,a new particle filtering algorithm for passive tracking is proposed.At the output of sonar,the Amplitude Information(AI) of signal is extracted.Based on the particle filtering,multiple models are constructed to obtain the state estimation of the target making turning maneuver.The likelihood ratio of AI is combined with that of Possibility Data Association(PDA),and detailed implementation steps of Particle Filtering tracking algorithm with Amplitude Information(PF-AI) are deduced.Passive tracking on simulated data is performed by the single PDA,the PDA with AI and the PF-AI schemes,and performance of tracking and error is analyzed by trajectory tracking and the root mean square error.Simulation results show that the PF-AI scheme has better performance than other two PDA-based schemes in tracking.Furthermore,the PFAI scheme is easy to implement.


The study of random fields has spawned two multi-parameter generalizations of the standard Brownian motion process on IR 1. These are known as the N-parameter Brownian sheet, W(t), and Levy's N-parameter Brownian motion, Bit), where in each case, t E IR • Both are zero-mean Gaussian processes with covariance functions Rw(s, r) = min (s., t1)x··· x min (SN' tN ) and RB(s, r) = ~{Is 1+ Itl-It sl} respectively. Both Wand B have been objects of substantial probabilistic investigation, the general result of which has been to show that although their covariance functions are quite different, most of their sample path properties of a local nature are shared. In this paper we use some simple (but counter-intuitive) properties of N-dimensional spheres and cubes to show that the global behaviours of the sample paths of Wand B are notably different, particularly as the dimension, N, of the parameter space becomes large.


The mechanism of disulfide reduction by thioredoxin in the cell is thought to occur through the formation and subsequent destruction of a mixed-disulfide intermediate between thioredoxin and the substrate. In order to model the interaction, we have prepared a mutant of Escherichia coli thioredoxin where the second cysteine residue of the active site has been replaced by an alanine residue. A specific covalent complex has been prepared between the remaining cysteine residue and a short cysteine-containing peptide. This paper describes the preparation and characterization of the mutant protein both free and in the peptide complex.


It has been well documented that diabetes mellitus is associated with cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy including dysfunction of arterial baroreflex. The mechanisms underlying diabetes-induced baroreflex dysfunction remain poorly understood. Here we investigated the function and expression of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) in aortic baroreceptor (AB) neurons isolated from streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats between 4 and 8 weeks after onset of diabetes. AB neurons in nodose ganglion were retrograde-labeled by a transported fluorescent dye, Dil. Using the whole-cell patch clamp, we found that the inward current activated by the application of capsaicin (1 μM) was significantly smaller in AB neurons from diabetic rats compared with controls. The mean peak current density of capsaicin-induced currents was 145.7 ± 24.7 pA/pF (n = 16) in diabetic neurons and 269.3 ± 31.8 pA/pF (n =15) in controls, respectively. The duration of inward current was decreased 51% in diabetic rats compared with the control group. These evoked currents were completely blocked by the capsaicin antagonist capsazepine. In addition, capsaicin-induced desensitization of TRPV1 was up-regulated, whereas TRPV1 re-sensitization was down-regulated in AB neurons from diabetic rats. Immunofluorescence staining studies demonstrated that the percentage of TRPV1-positive neurons was 50.2 ± 5.0% in control rats and 38.2 ± 1.9% in diabetic rats, respectively. This reduction in TRPV1-positive neurons in AB neurons in diabetic rats was significant (n = 11, P


Means (1) for supporting a tool for an endoscope (6) comprises: an attachment member (2), which means for attaching an endoscope (9); a first guide tube (4), a distal end having an opening (41) and configured to receive a tool through which the endoscope; and a first projection member and the second member protrusion (31, 32) which extends distally from the attachment member, and when when the device is attached to the endoscope, the first member protrusion and the second protrusion members spaced apart to define therebetween a working space (33). The attachment member (2) comprises at least one cable (23, 24) of the first clamping member (21) and the second clamping member (22) and coupled to the clamping member. Cable may be remotely actuated for the clamping member relative to each other to adjust the spacing therebetween, to accommodate an endoscope. Allowing the cable holding member is fixed to the endoscope. A first projection member (31) attached to the first clamping member (21), so that it with respect to the first clamping member having at least one fixed or fixable position, and the second projection member (32) is attached the second clamping member (22). A first guide tube (4) relative to the first clamping member (21) slides, and the distal end of the first guide tube (41) is pivotally attached to the distal end of the first projection member (31), so that the distal end of the first guide tube can be pivoted transversely to the orientation of the first protrusion member.


Technical Field The present invention relates to a coating, roll coating, to a particular type of simulation tile coatings, the coating is made in a dispersion vessel via the following parts by weight of the components: 10-20 parts by weight of ethylene glycol, Dispersant 2 -6 parts by weight, 1-2 parts by weight AMP 95, 2% solution of hydroxyethylcellulose 50-100 parts by weight, 30-50 parts of 10% by weight of inorganic gel, 1-2 parts by weight of a wetting agent, a defoaming agent 3 -9 parts by weight of mineral powder 500-600 parts by weight of sand, 50 to 100 parts by weight of rigid polymer emulsion, the emulsion 50 to 100 parts by weight of elastomeric polymer, 5-10 parts by weight of film-forming aid, hydrophobically modified alkali-swellable 5-10 parts by weight of thickening thickeners, hydrophobically modified alkali swellable associative thickener 1-6 parts by weight, 1-2 parts by weight of fungicides, 110-240 parts by weight water. The present invention can keep a sense of traditional lacquer stone, while addressing the traditional lacquer and easy to blur the issue affect the overall decorative effect, after the roll coating the resulting coating film and the exterior texture tile closer, simulation results than traditional lacquer higher.


Form factors for α+12C inelastic scattering are obtained within two theoretical (α+α+α) approaches:The hyperspherical framework for three identical bosons, and the algebraic cluster model assuming the D3h symmetry of an equilateral triangle subject to rotations and vibrations. Results show a good agreement, with form factors involving the Hoyle state having a slightly larger extension within the hyperspherical approach. Coupled-channel calculations using these form factors are ongoing.


Werner syndrome (WS) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by premature aging and caused by mutations of the WRN gene mapped at 8p12. To examine functional complementation of WS phenotypes, we introduced a normal human chromosome 8 into a strain of WS fibroblasts (WS3RGB) immortalized by expressing a human telomerase reverse transcriptase subunit (hTERT) gene. Here, we demonstrate that the abnormal WS phenotypes including cellular sensitivities to 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) and hydroxy urea (HU), and chromosomal radiosensitivity at G(2) phase are corrected by expression of the WRN gene mediated by introducing a chromosome 8. This indicates that those multiple abnormal WS phenotypes are derived from a primary, but not secondary, defect in the WRN gene.


Introduction: Acetylcholine receptor (AChR) and striated muscle antibodies (StrAbs) are found frequently in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients with thymoma. In this study we aimed to determine the positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of these antibodies for thymoma in patients with MG. Methods: Antibody findings, thymic histology, and onset age were reviewed for 1141 patients with MG. PPV and NPV of these antibodies for thymoma were determined. Results: The PPV of AChR binding antibodies plus StrAbs was highest (50.0%) with onset before the age of 40 years. The PPV of all antibodies was low (<9%) after age 40. Higher StrAb levels did not increase the PPV. The NPV of AChR binding antibodies was high (99.7%) for all ages. Conclusions: Patients without AChR binding antibody are not likely to have a thymoma. StrAbs and AChR binding antibodies are not diagnostic for thymoma, but in early‐onset MG their presence should raise the clinical suspicion for thymoma. Muscle Nerve 49: 30–34, 2014


Depression is a mood health issue that can result in persistent feelings of melancholy, a lack of interest in once-enjoyable activities, and physical changes. While many other approaches, like watching facial expressions on video, listening to spoken emotions, reading written responses from the text, and measuring physiology with wearable technology have all been used in past times, multi-modal approaches have also produced encouraging results. This proposed research presents a unique approach for diagnosing depression using social media text data that combines the GloVe word embedding technology with a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network model. The method takes advantage of both methodologies strengths to represent social media text data as high-dimensional vectors and capture the temporal connections between words in the text. The work trained a GloVe model on a huge data-set of depression-related social site messages to develop high dimensional numerical vectors to the words. These embedding were then fed into an LSTM model, which classified the text as either depressive or non-depressive. The proposed method was tested on a data-set collected from reddit platform and achieved a classification accuracy of 95%. The findings show that the proposed approach for early diagnosis of depression using social media data is successful, and that it has real-world implications in mental health monitoring and intervention.


This paper attempts to describe the origin and development of Soviet Union Study in America from the late 19th century and the early 1950s.Before the 1st World War,the Soviet Union Study developed slowly in America.In the 1920s and 1930s,Americans had developed a research interest in Soviet Union.The 2nd World War witnessed U.S.government's support towards relevant study.In the late 1940s,professional research bodies were established and journals published,and Soviet Union Study developed gradually in America.


ABSTRACT Since the year 2000 over 300,000 military service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury/concussion. Consequently, this injury has become the subject of increased awareness and study within the military healthcare environment. Although single and/or isolated concussions typically heal in a relatively rapid fashion with limited to no long-term sequelae, there is debate in the field about the impact of repeat concussion. To this end, various ethical challenges arise when managing patients with such injuries. Several papers outlining these issues with regard to athletes have been published in the sports medicine literature. However, because providers caring for military service members must make return-to-duty-decisions, practice within the military setting results in a number of unique ethical considerations. More specifically, management of service members with a history of repeat concussion and increasingly complicated recoveries, as well as the potential for premature return-to-duty are topics of concern for military health care providers. Using the American Psychological Association ethical principles and standards, the current article outlines various ethical challenges to concussion management in the military setting. The ethical principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence and Respect for People's Rights and Dignity, as well as the 3 related ethical standards of Competence, Avoiding Harm, and Conflict of Interest are discussed. Policy changes are highlighted as a proximal solution to these ethical challenges.


As part of continuous process improvement at KEMET, most failure modes caused by the capacitor manufacturing process have been systematically eliminated. Today these capacitor manufacturing-related defects are now at a partsper-billion (PPB) level. Pareto analysis of customer complaints indicates that the #1 failure mode is IR failure due to flex cracks. Flex Cracks Flex cracks have been known in PCB manufacturing for quite some time. Flex cracks are created in capacitors when board flex stress / bending stress is applied to a circuit board with ceramic components already affixed to the PCB. As the ceramic capacitor is inherently hard, non-elastic, and brittle (relative to the PCB), any bending of the board creates stress, and that stress can be transmitted through the solder joint, directly to the ceramic body. This stress must be relieved somehow – and this stress relief can result in the creation of a board flex crack (See Figure 1).


OBJECTIVE
To determine the contents of four lignan glycosides in the root of Gaultheria yunnanensis, namely, D1: gaultheroside A, D2:(-)-8'-methoxyisolariciresinol-2a-O-beta-D-xylopyranoside, D3:(-)-isolariciresinol-2a-O-beta-D-xylopyranside, D4:(+)-lyoniresinol-2a-O-beta-D-glucoxylopyranoside.

METHOD
Rp-HPLC was used to separate and analyze the lignan glycosides in the root of the title plant.

RESULT
The method for sample preparation was set up; the gradient program for the mobile phase was established; and the retention times of four lignan glycosides were determined.

CONCLUSION
The method has been proved to be accurate, reproducible and of higher recovery rate.


31P spectra were obtained from 22 healthy volunteers and 35 patients with malignant lymphomas. Sera from patients were collected at the time of diagnosis and at several time‐points during therapy. Long‐term follow‐up studies showed a good correlation between the 31P NMR spectra of sera and the clinically evident response of the disease to the chemotherapy. During therapy leading to remission resonance from phospholipids increased progressively resulting in spectra similar to those seen in normal sera. By contrast, in patients who did not respond to therapy the intensities of the phospholipid peaks remained relatively low or became progressively reduced as the disease progressed. To understand the source of the spectral differences, we also examined the concentrations of high‐density lipoprotein, low‐density lipoprotein, cholesterol, and triglycerides. In individuals responding to the treatment, both high‐density lipoprotein and cholesterol increased to the point where they were statistically equivalent to those from healthy volunteers.


This study performs the bootstrap full- and sub-sample rolling-window Granger causality tests, in order to investigate the time-varying causal relationship between the consumer confidence index (CCI) and the outbound tourism expenditure (OTM) in China. For this purpose, it introduces the variable of consumer confidence as a subjective psychological perception variable into the gravity model and explores its impact on the outbound travel. The results reveal that CCI tends to exert positive impacts on the OTM in most subsamples. That is to say that the Chinese consumer confidence can be considered as a catalyst for the OTM. However, the impact tends to be negative during times such as the global financial crisis, caused by the appreciation in the renminbi. In turn, OTM does not affect CCI. This suggests that the only change of private expenditure on outbound tourism cannot alter consumer confidence regarding the current economic and income situation. These findings compel the foreign tourism authorities to take CCI into account, especially when predicating the tourism arrivals from China, and hence plan their tourism strategy accordingly. Also, Chinese travel agencies should ideally take notice of the CCI in order to plan their international tour packages.


Since the mid-1980s, mounting evidence has shown that psoriasis is an immune disorder — specifically, that abnormal T-cell activity is a critical component of the disease.


Acknowledgments xi Introduction Invisible Listeners 1 CHAPTER ONE: George Herbert and God 9 CHAPTER TWO: Walt Whitman and the Reader-in-Futurity 31 CHAPTER THREE: John Ashbery and the Artist of the Past 57 Conclusion Domesticating the Unseen 79 Notes 81 Index 91


In this paper, a theoretical and experimental study of two interferometric sensor multiplexing schemes has been carried out by means of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis. This study addresses one of the main drawbacks of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) sensors, that is, its multiplexing capability. Using a commercial optical interrogator combined with a simple FFT measurement technique, the simultaneous real-time monitoring of several PCF sensors is achieved. A theoretical analysis has been performed where simulations matched with the experimental results. For the experimental verification, highly birefringent (HiBi) fiber sections that operated as sensing elements were multiplexed and tested in two configurations. Due to the FFT analysis, both multiplexing schemes can be properly interrogated by monitoring the FFT phase change at the characteristic spatial-frequency of each sensor. For this purpose, a commercial interrogator and a custom Matlab program were used for computing the FFT and for monitoring the FFT phase change in real time (1 Hz).


Wireless body sensor networks (WBSN) are a particular type of wireless sensor networks (WSN) that thanks to the development of innovative wearable, wireless and implantable biosensors have gained tremendous international interest in recent years. The applications of WBSN extend from in-vivo monitoring and intervention to everyday healthcare, as well as fitness, sport and security. This paper provides a brief introduction to the 802.15.4 standard and investigates its use in wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs).


We demonstrate 1.8-ps pulse 43 Gbps RZ-OOK transmissions over 126-km zero-DSF using a parametric tunable dispersion compensator with slope compensation. The penalty dependence on the converted wavelengths was consistent with the designed dispersion values.


Chromobacterium violaceum is a facultative anaerobic, gram-negative rodshaped bacteria normally found in soil and stagnant water of tropical and subtropical countries. Infections of Chromobacterium violaceum are rare among mammals, but the first human infection were reported in Malaysia in 1927. This clinical case reports two separate cases of Chromobacterium violaceum infection in two sub-adult male Black-handed Gibbon (Hylobates agilis). Both animals were presented with the history of diarrhea, pyrexia and inappetance. From the physical examination, the findings were high body temperature, dull, inactive, soft fecal stained at the rectum and small open wound at lower limb of one of the case. The treatment given was antipyretic and multivitamin. Unfortunately, due to poor prognosis both patients died within 48 hours after presentation and treatment. Autopsy examinations were performed to find out the cause of death. Pos t mor tem e xamination f indings revealed hepatomegaly with multiple size whitish-yellow spots on the liver surface, congestion and enlargement of spleen and lymph node, congestion of lung and loss of demarcation between renal cortex and medulla of the kidney. The cellular changes via histopathological findings of kidney, spleen, lung and liver were suggestive of septicaemia. The gross and histopathological findings were supported by the isolation of Chromobacterium violaceum via bacterial isolation and identification from lung, liver, spleen and kidney. Thus, the cause of death of the two sub-adult male Black-handed gibbon in this case are due to septicaemia due to Chromobacterium violaceum infection.


Abstract : The online collective Anonymous is a complex cyber actor that exhibits many elements of a tribal culture. It represents a new class of cyber actor that, like tribal societies, derives meaning from place, follows an influence-based leadership model, and conducts war for reasons not readily understood by modern nation-states. Anonymous challenges the usefulness of contemporary military doctrine.


A THF suspension of FeCl2 reacts with the 15-electron complex, vanadocene [V(C5H5)2] to give ultrafine magnetic Fe powder. X-Ray diffraction and Mossbauer spectra confirm the presence of the α-iron phase. The average crystallite size was estimated to be 18 nm and the magnetic hyperfine field was found to be 341 kG at 100 K, as expected for fine iron particles. A typical ferromagnetic behaviour was observed for the powder in the 5–300 K range. Saturation magnetization at 5 K (223 emu gFe-1), very close to the value for bulk α-Fe, revealed the presence of small α-iron particles without iron oxide contaminant at the surface. The same reaction carried out in the presence of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) yields PVP-protected zerovalent iron particles. Mossbauer analysis revealed the presence of 83% F and 17% unreduced FeCl2. The sample exhibits ferromagnetic behaviour with saturation magnetization (ca. 240 emu gFe-1) comparable to the bulk value, confirming the presence of small zerovalent nanoparticles. HREM experiments performed at high magnification display small Fe particles (diameter of about 8 nm) agglomerated into 50–200 nm superstructures. The particles show an astonishing common magnetic and crystallographic orientation.


Volatile acids of aerobically and anaerobically fermented fish sauces were investigated using GC and GC-MS. There was no significant difference in pH values of the two types of sauces. Volatile acids found in the aerobically fermented sauce had concentrations significantly higher than the anaerobically fermented one. Sensory evaluation revealed that the aroma of the anaerobically fermented sauce was a little sweet, less acidic and less rancid than the aerobically made sauce which was sharp, and cheesy. Thus, fermentation under anaerobic condition altered the aroma quality of the sauce during manufacturing, yielding an acceptable product.


Performance of flux-oriented control of induction motors is highly impacted by accurate knowledge of rotor temperature. Rotor temperature mismatches lead to deviations of flux and torque calculated by motor models, also modifying the actual magnetic saturation level. Saturation level, at the same time, strongly influences the parameters of machine saliencies used for speed sensorless control. This paper proposes a novel rotor temperature estimation method that is integrated in a sensorless control scheme, using a voltage step excitation method and extracting rotor slotting information as control signal. The same excitation method is also used to calculate the symmetrical value of the transient reluctance using a new parallel signal processing scheme. The amplitude of the symmetrical transient reluctance presents a temperature-dependent behaviour, which is exploited by a controller leading to accurate rotor temperature estimation. Proposed temperature estimation requires almost no additional resources. Experimental results are presented to verify excellent sensorless FOC performance combined with accurate rotor temperature estimation.


Semecarpus anacardium Linn. is a medicinal plant known for its potent medicinal properties, used in Ayurveda and Siddha, also popularly used in tribal and rural areas of India for treatment of various disorders and gaining immunity. It is known as 'rasayana' and reported in ancient literature that indiscriminate use of nut oil cause ill effects on skin, and eyes. S. anacardium pericarp oil extract (SAE) has commercial importance in preparation of herbal medicines and dyes. Large number of labours from rural areas are involved in extraction of oil, were found suffering from deformities due to exposure. No work was reported yet regarding toxic effects of Semecarpus anacardium . The present work deals with the assessment of effect of SAE on biochemical parameters (Total proteins, glucose, glycogen, cholesterol and Mg) and activity of GOT, GPT, LDH, SDH and AChE enzymes of brain of albino rat. Experimental albino rat after oral treatment of SAE showed alteration in studied parameters indicating the adverse effect on brain compared to control group. Outputs of the study signify the need of safe environment, safer extraction process and a proper training to those workers.


As well as representing a human rights and humanitarian crisis in its own right, the ongoing Rohingya migrant crisis in Myanmar and Bangladesh demonstrates the linkages between unresolved internal conflicts, mass displacement and wider instability in Australia's region. In its latest worldwide threat assessment, published in February 2018, the United States Director of National Intelligence concluded that the mass displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh 'will threaten Burma's [Myanmar] fledgling democracy, increase the risk of violent extremism and provide openings for Beijing to expand its influence'.


A 90% completion time (sample registration to result reporting) of <60 minutes for laboratory tests is suggested as an initial goal for acceptable TAT. This measure serves to promote performance improvement and quality assurance within the laboratory. In our laboratory at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (PPMC), we encountered a problem with our in-lab turnaround time for resulting troponin T during the night shift. Less than 90% of patient troponins were being resulted within 60 minutes of registration. A laboratory team was assembled to perform observations to ascertain the current state, vote on most likely culprits for failure of troponin testing results and to make recommendations for improvement. With the use of several suggested countermeasures, including involvement of a physician pathologist, supervisor, and several laboratory professionals, daily huddles to discuss and troubleshoot troponin reporting, reinstitution of a communication log book for "hands off" between shifts and centralizing the delivery of specimens to one location; the laboratory was able to reach a goal of reporting >90% of troponins within 60 minutes in less than 1 month. This was a success as results for troponins had not met an acceptable turnaround time for many months on third shift, where results meeting the turnaround time occurred for 84.5-88.7 % of cases within 60 minutes. The lab has been able to maintain these results over an extended time frame. As a result of a focused performance improvement project defining one problem, "improvement of troponin turnaround time reporting on third shift" and use of specific countermeasures, the laboratory was able to transform turnaround time reporting of troponins in the laboratory. Moreover, this success has highlighted the exceptional work of our laboratory professionals through acknowledgement of their role in meeting benchmarks as well as invigorating our laboratory toward use of similar tools in future performance improvement projects.


This book highlights some of the national and global agendas and issues, from emerging sectors, to the meaning of student engagement for different stakeholders. It provides a backdrop to themes of student engagement as well as examples of innovative and inspiring means of engaging with students in practice, empowering them to take responsibility wi


Cr, Nb, Cr/Nb, CrNx, NbNx, CrNbN, and (CrN/NbN)n structures were produced on Si and glass substrates, using the d.c. magnetron sputtering technique. Compositional analysis, based on binding energies of Cr, Nb, and N, was carried out by means of X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Through Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), depth profiles were obtained, allowing to demonstrate the multilayers production. Surface morphological characteristics, as roughness and grain size, were evaluated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), revealing very smooth surfaces, that is a consequence of the deposition parameters used in the synthetization experiments. Finally, for different configurations, conductivity measurements were carried out, revealing the influence of nitrogen content and temperature on electron transport. It was found that substoichiometric nitrides (CrN0.35 and NbN0.12) exhibited the highest conductivity, because the nitrogen atoms act as donor of electrons.


studies have shown that they limit the proliferative response to vascular injury.'5 Future treatments might include specific monoclonal antibodies, which can block receptors for platelet adhesion or mitogens such as platelet derived growth factor. Restenosis is the greatest challenge facing angioplasty. New treatments and an explanation of individual differences in susceptibility to restenosis will depend on a better understanding of vascular repair and the proliferation of smooth muscle cells. ADRIAN J B BRADY Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellow


Reduced basis methods [1] are a model reduction technique for parametric partial differential equations. Their main advantage is the ability to compute reliable a posteriori error bounds [2] on the reduced field solutions as well as their linear and quadratic outputs. We consider the reduction of steady Navier-Stokes equations arising from computational fluid dynamics applications in cardiovascular modelling. Unsteady flows can be treated by coupling the reduced basis technique to the proper orthogonal decomposition [3] approach for the temporal reduction part. We present applications of reduced basis methods in cardiovascular modelling that involve shape optimization [4] as well as the interaction between fluid and structure [5].


To solve the problem of active collision avoidance for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in a complex maritime environment, a method of deep reinforcement learning (DRL) based on proximal policy optimization (PPO) is proposed. To master the collision avoidance policy by self-learning, the mathematical model of USV, dynamic obstacle generation model, and reward mechanism were established. Using the relative position between the obstacle and USV and the information of the closest point of approach (CPA), high-dimensional state features including the collision track layer and collision threat layer were constructed. On this basis, combined with low-dimensional states such as navigation state and path error, a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) structure fused in multifeature and multiscale was designed. The proposed DRL network was trained through repeated collision avoidance simulations in random environments. Simulation results reveal that the proposed algorithm can output effective decisions in complex scenarios and avoid dynamic obstacles quickly and safely.


The purpose of this comment is not to pass legal or political judgment on the actions of the governments involved in the U-2 and the RB-47 incidents of 1960, but to note and analyze, now that the passions aroused by the incidents have subsided, some of the legal implications of the positions taken by these and other governments in connection with these incidents, particularly with respect to sovereignty and jurisdiction in space.


Point symbols on a scanned topographic map (STM) provide crucial geographic information. However, point symbol recognition entails high complexity and uncertainty owing to the stickiness of map elements and singularity of symbol structures. Therefore, extracting point symbols from STMs is challenging. Currently, point symbol recognition is performed primarily through pattern recognition methods that have low accuracy and efficiency. To address this problem, we investigated the potential of a deep learning-based method for point symbol recognition and proposed a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN)-based model for this task. We created point symbol datasets from different sources for training and prediction models. Within this framework, atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) was adopted to handle the recognition difficulty owing to the differences between point symbols and natural objects. To increase the positioning accuracy, the k-means++ clustering method was used to generate anchor boxes that were more suitable for our point symbol datasets. Additionally, to improve the generalization ability of the model, we designed two data augmentation methods to adapt to symbol recognition. Experiments demonstrated that the deep learning method considerably improved the recognition accuracy and efficiency compared with classical algorithms. The introduction of ASPP in the object detection algorithm resulted in higher mean average precision and intersection over union values, indicating a higher recognition accuracy. It is also demonstrated that data augmentation methods can alleviate the cross-domain problem and improve the rotation robustness. This study contributes to the development of algorithms and the evaluation of geographic elements extracted from STMs.


Purpose: Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is one of the causes of death or permanent invalidity which can occur unexpectedly in both military and civilian populations. This study set out to conduct a combined Eulerian-Lagrangian computational analysis of the interaction between a single planar blast wave and a human head in order to assess the extent of intracranial shock wave generation and its potential for causing traumatic brain injury. Materials and Methods: To investigate the mechanical response of human brain to blast waves and to identify the injury mechanisms of TBI, a three-dimensional finite elementhead model consisting of the scalp, skull, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain was developed from the imaging data of a human head.The mechanical properties of brain tissue were obtained from the literature. Results: Throughout the loading regime, CSF acted as a protective layer for brain tissue by absorbing shear strain energy. Biomechanical loading of the brain was governed by direct wave transmission, structural deformations, and wave reflections from tissue-material interfaces. Conclusion: The brain experiences a complex set of direct and indirect loadings emanating from different sources (reflections from tissue interfaces and skull deformation) at different points of time. The flow dynamics strongly depend on geometry (shape, curvature) and structure (flexural rigidity, thickness) of a specimen and should be considered in understanding biomechanical loading pattern.


A 7-year stint in the Navy wasn't enough to stop a Kalgoorlie-Boulder race horse trainer following in the family trade. Paddy Birmingham doesn't mind the early mornings when he gets to see his horses cross the line.


By expanding the dependent variables in series of orthogonal functions on the one hand, and expanding the coefficients of these functions in power series of a parameter η on the other hand, a solution has been obtained for the system of non-linear equations of cellular convection. The expansion parameter η is chosen in such a way as to make it remain less than 1 for all finite values of the Rayleigh number. The solution so obtained is found to be valid for a large range of the imposed temperature difference, and converges rapidly. This solution provides a quantitative theory for the convective heat transport as a function of the temperature difference in the range of laminar flow. The solution also reveals that when the actual Rayleigh number is greater than twice the critical Rayleigh number, a layer of isothermal (adiabatic lapserate in a gas medium) mean temperature develops in the middle of the fluid layer. The thickness of this layer increases as the actual Rayleigh number increases, and at the same time the temperature gradient increases in the boundary layer so that an increase in the heat transport is accomplished. The solution reveals further that the large temperture gradients are concentrated in the region where the cold descending current approaches the lower boundary and where the warm ascending current approaches the upper boundary. It is also shown that these ascending and descending currents spread out in mushroom-like patterns, a feature characteristic of the convection of isolated hot bubbles, but one which never has been considered as the form for finite cellular convection. Recent optical observations indicate that this is the most common form of the temperature field. The heat transport given by this solution fits a power law of exponent 1.24, which is very close to the observed power law of exponent 1.25 for laminar flow.


In order to further improve the timeliness and quality of wireless communication, an optimization method of wireless sensing signal fusion processing based on BPNN and DS evidence theory is proposed. The basic idea of the method: PSO is used as the link between BPNN and DS evidence theory in the field of wireless sensing signals, and achieves the global optimal solution process in signal processing and wireless communication. In the signal acquisition stage of wireless sensor nodes, BPNN is used to realize the artificial intelligence acquisition process of signal output, and PSO is used to realize the global optimal allocation of signal weight from signal acquisition input to signal output analysis; in the information fusion stage of wireless communication, DS evidence theory is used to realize the information fusion process, and PSO is used to realize the global optimal solution of information discrimination evidence synthesis. By proposing the joint innovation mode of the above intelligent algorithms, the main contributions of this paper are as follows: with the BPNN with PSO method, redundant signal compression processing and signal analysis efficiency can be improved; with the DS evidence theory with PSO method, the accuracy of information discrimination for wireless communication can be improved. This scientifically reconciles the contradiction between signal compression and information extraction.


The objectives of ATAP-NEPAH are to enhance and nurture healthy habits among adolescents as well as to empower adolescents in inculcating these healthy habits among them. Health education through peer-to-peer approach is used to instill the knowledge on important areas such as sexual and reproductive health, smoking, substance abuse, illegal street racing (rempit) and mental health. Specific modules were developed by experts (lecturers) in multidisciplinary fields in collaboration with Malaysian Association for Adolescent Health (MAAH), National Population and Family Development Board (NPFDB), Reproductive Health Association of Kelantan (REHAK) and Rhaudatus Sakinah Kelantan. The trained Medical Students Facilitator Team (MSFT) of USM became trainers to secondary one school students. The selected school students were trained by the medical students to become peer educators to their juniors and peers. There was improvement in the readiness level of peer educators, knowledge and attitude towards healthy habits and risky behaviors of other school students after the intervention.


This paper presents recent works on the thermal fatigue crack growth approach in structure integrity analysis proposed by nuclear standard codes such as A16 Appendix of RCC-MR. The proposed approach for crack growth is used to study the mechanisms leading to cracking of piping as a result of thermal loading in mixed flow zones. To accurately determine the mechanical response of a complex component such as a pipe or a mixing zone due to thermal loading, it is necessary to be able to take into account in modelling the effects due to the structure, i.e. the effects due to the boundary conditions, the geometry and the additional loadings (pressure). The first part of our proposed approach consists of the description of our analytical model of the thermo-mechanical problem. By using this analytical model, a study to determine the critical range of frequency of the thermal loadings for a particular thermal fatigue problem is done. And the second part treated the used of analytical model to estimate the crack growth under a spectrum temperature signal.


This paper presents a protection scheme to protect multi-terminal high voltage dc (MTDC) networks for interconnection of renewable energy sources. The proposed scheme detects faults by using the Consecutive Data Window Method (CDWM) and harmonics of the system voltage to avoid maloperation of breakers without communication. Fault location is classified and faulty parts is isolated from the rest of the healthier network by using hybrid circuit breakers (HCBs). Moreover; it also categorises the fault with the help of the voltage drop. The rapid response to isolate the faulty portion in a few milliseconds is primarily considered to enhance the reliability and security of the network. The results of simulations verify the efficient fault detection and isolation for different DC faults and the investigation for the impact of significant parameters of the proposed scheme has been considered. The simulations are performed in PSCAD for four terminal MTDC networks to validate the proposed scheme. The performance is also verified under different fault conditions by using Matlab after computing the data from simulations.


With the digital information explosive growth,storage technology has become a new impetus to the development of IT industry,constantly expanding the size of the storage system,energy efficiency problem is becoming more and more serious,main show is increase of system operation and maintenance cost,reduces the system operation reliability and expansibility,exacerbated by the storage system to environmental pollution,so the study of stored energy efficiency has great economic value and practical significance.The article elaborated the storage system disk energy current situation and research progress,and from the semantic information of design and realization,based on the semantic information of the driver.Experimental results show that the driver can effectively reduced the energy consumption of the disk storage system,improved the I/O performance,optimized the energy efficiency of storage.


The superconducting synchrotron Nuclotron was put into operation in March 1993. Seventeen runs of the accelerator have been performed by the present time. The first experiments with the Nuclotron Beam Slow Extraction System (BES) were carried out in December 1999 and in March 2000. The Nuclotron Control System (NCS)[1] provided an efficient support for the machine operation during all runs. Design and pilot configurations of the control subsystem for the BES are described.


The twenty-first century began with unusual optimism. The halting of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 was hailed as the result of rigorous quarantine and isolation meas...


Citation for most recent IARC review IARC Monograph 93 (in press) Current evaluation Conclusion from the previous review: Titanium dioxide is possible carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) based on sufficient evidence in experimental animals and inadequate evidence from epidemiological studies. Exposure and biomonitoring Occupational exposure Titanium dioxide is produced from iron titanate or titanium slag by digesting with sulfuric acid or from ores with a high titanium content by heating with coke and chlorine to form titanium tetrachloride, then oxidizing to titanium chloride. Production workers are exposed to sulfuric acid mist or hydrochloric acid and titanium dioxide dust. The occupational


In 1995, Alcoa Inc. (Alcoa) implemented a Non-Time-Criti cal Removal Action (NTCRA) at a localized area within the Grasse River Study Area (Massena, New York). The objective of the NTCRA was to remove the most upstream source of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-containing sediment in the Grasse River, while obtaining site-specific data for use in developing remedial alternatives for the site. Approximately 2,600 cubic yards (cy) of sediments and 400 cy of boulders/debris were removed/dewatered and disposed from the 1-acre removal area. The targeted removal area was enclosed by a triple-tiered silt containment system to mitigate the escape of total suspended solids (TSS). Boulder removal operations occurred first using a long-stick excavator fitted with a specialized bucket. Sediments within the 1-acre area were subsequently dredged using an 8-foot horizontal auger dredge. In addition, a hand-held suction dredge was used to remove a relatively small amount of material from an isolated area adjacent to Outfall 001. Water column data collected both during and after the removal operations showed that, despite the containment system's ability to significantly reduce TSS levels, approximately 5 to 30 pounds of sediment-bound and soluble PCBs did escape from the containment area. Similarly, caged fish and spottail shiner studies indicated increases in PCB bioavailability during, and immediately following, the operations. Given the general rocky nature of the River bottom, removal efficiencies associated with the horizontal auger and the manual hydraulic dredge were limited. This resulted in up to 14 inches of sediment (average of 4 inches) remaining in some areas. PCBs were detected in the remaining sediments at an overall arithmetic average concentration of 75 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg). Although the arithmetic average PCB concentration decreased by approximately 86% in the top 12 inches of sediment, PCB concentrations increased at 30% of the locations sampled post-NTCRA. In the years since the NTCRA, resident fish PCB levels have declined. This decline is likely the result of two factors: 1) the recovery from PCB water column exposures attributable to NTCRA activities; and 2) a downward trend in water column PCB concentrations resulting from both the deposition of clean solids from upstream and on- site remediation efforts at the Alcoa facility. The existing database is not sufficient to determine the relative contribution of each of these factors to the observed decline.


In this alternate ending of the motion picture "I Am Legend," the full CG-infected characters interact with our hero, played by Will Smith.


Hybrid systems have been used to describe complex dynamic systems that involve both continuous and discrete states. The complexity of hybrid systems and the increasing demand for quality, safety, and reliability have made the fault diagnosis of hybrid systems a crucial research topic. This paper describes an integrated fuzzy sets and fuzzy entropy approach to identify faults in hybrid systems. Based on both quantitative information and qualitative knowledge, this semi-qualitative approach uses fuzzy set describing the system character parameter, sequentially constructs a set of fuzzy fault diagnosis rules, computes the weighting coefficient with fuzzy entropy, thereby identifies the faults in hybrid systems. Simulation results for a fault detection and diagnostic system for a hybrid three-tank-system demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach and show that this semi-qualitative method can be used in fault identification of hybrid systems.


Objectives: Recent trends towards socioeconomic and demographic transition have led to simultaneous increase in multiple cardiometabolic (CM) risk markers such as overweight/obesity, diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) worldwide. This study assesses the multiple CM risk factors and their association with socioeconomic status among semi-urban population of Nepal. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted, including 2,310 adults aged 25–64 years from a semi-urban Pokhara-Lekhnath area using World Health Organization-STEPS questionnaire. Respondents were categorized as singly morbid (DM; HTN; Overweight/obese), doubly morbid (DM and HTN; Overweight/ Obese and HTN; Overweight/ Obese and HTN; Overweight/ Obese and DM), and triply morbid (Overweight/ Obese and DM and HTN). Results: The mean age of the respondents was 47.37 ± 9.9 years, with 68% being females. In total 65% were hypertensive with ≥130/80 mmHg, 11.7% had diabetes with ≥7.0 mmol/l fasting glucose and 62.6% were overweight/obese. Only 16.2% of participants did not have any CM risk factors while 36.9% were singly morbid. Remaining 46.9% respondents had clustering of risk factors (≥two risk factors). Of them, 39.3% and 7.6% participants were doubly and triply morbid, respectively. Increasing age and indigenous ethnicity were significantly associated across singly, doubly and triply morbid conditions (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Our study found a high prevalence and clustering of multiple CM risk factors at individual level, highlighting the maturation of CM syndemics from single to multiple CM risk factors in Nepal. This serves as a wake-up call for action for planning of health services for prevention and management of multiple CM risk factors together.


The polycrystalline La1−xCexMnO3 manganites do not exist in single phase in bulk under the preparation conditions so far employed, but their polycrystalline and epitaxial films deposited by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique form readily in single phase. The cerium oxide (CeO2) remains partially unreacted when the bulk sample is prepared through the solid state reaction route. The resistivity of the bulk La0.7Ce0.3MnO3 sample shows a broad metal insulator transition (MIT) clearly resolved into two peaks, suggesting the presence of a second (impurity) phase, which is identified as unreacted CeO2 by the intensity analysis of the x-ray diffraction (XRD) data. However, when prepared as thin films by PLD, La0.7Ce0.3MnO3 forms in single phase, as corroborated by the uniqueness and sharpness of the MIT peak and also by the XRD patterns of the polycrystalline films. We also performed a detailed study of the epitaxial films by a high-resolution XRD system with a four-circle goniometer and did not find any...


The present invention relates to suspension systems, particularly suspension systems for vehicles and modes of transportation. Said suspension systems are characterized in that the right-hand suspension springs are symmetrical to the left-hand suspension springs relative to a plane and provide mechanical symmetry taking into account the fluid frictional forces of the air and water, geometric symmetry, architectural symmetry, symmetry of the look, symmetry of design, aerodynamic symmetry, symmetry of sound, directional balance, and fuel and energy efficiency for automobiles, cars, race vehicles and cars, race motorcycles, trains, train locomotives, train wagons, pickup trucks, 4x4 vehicles, motor trucks, bicycles, mountain bikes, motorcycles, tricycles, quad bikes, airplanes, and all vehicles and modes of transportation. The invention relates to a suspension system (9), characterized in that the right-hand suspension spring (10) is symmetrical to the left-hand suspension spring (11) relative to a plane, and to a motorcycle having a suspension system (9). The invention relates to a suspension system (18), characterized in that the right-hand coaxial suspension springs (19) are symmetrical to the left-hand coaxial suspension springs (20) relative to a plane.


Although the beneficial impact of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the stabilization on farming income is undisputable, the distribution of benefits derived from the CAP between operators and regions gives rise to some controversy. The objective of this paper was to estimate regional differences in the benefits derived from the Common Agricultural Policy in Poland based on the partial equilibrium model of the European Union (EU) agricultural sector with simulated interventions. The expectations of farmers from different regions of Poland were represented as a non-cooperative game to define vectors of change in the agricultural policy. The theory of moves was applied to set the game between different groups of farmers. Our results demonstrate that both the 1st and the 2nd pillars of the CAP were more profitable to farmers from regions with a more advantageous agrarian structure and a higher agricultural potential compared to their peers from the regions with a fragmented agriculture. However, considering long-term development objectives of the Polish agriculture, the theory of moves outcome argues against compensating for these differences by increasing redistributive payments to farmers in less favorable regions. To prevent widening of regional differences and ensure the social and economic development of rural areas in regions with less favorable agrarian structures where agriculture is currently unable to compete, it would be critical to enhance conditions for alternative types of economic activities.


Abstract During the years 1999 through 2008 middle ear fluid (MEF) and nasopharyngeal/oropharyngeal (NP/OP) samples were obtained from Costa Rican children with otitis media (OM). Streptococcus pneumoniae was identified and serotyped according to standard procedures. A total of 1,389 MEF isolates were collected, of which 353 (25%) were S. pneumoniae. Serotyping was performed in 286/353 (81%) isolates, of which 40 (14%) were serogroup 6: serotype 6A (10/40; 25%), 6B (27/40; 67%) and 6C (3/40; 8%). Among 755 NP/OP S. pneumoniae isolated, 537 (71%) were serotyped and serogroup 6 was identified in 112 (21%) isolates: 6A (24/112; 21%), 6B (78/112; 70%), and 6C (10/112; 9%). Twenty percent, 86% and 0% of serotypes 6A, 6B and 6C isolated from the MEF, respectively, were penicillin non-susceptible (MIC ≥ 0.06 μg/mL) and among the NP/OP isolates, 25%, 17.9% and 10%, respectively, were penicillin non-susceptible. Our results show that in Costa Rican children with OM, S. pneumoniae serotype 6C is an infrequent cause of OM and is sporadically found in NP/OP samples.


Abstract : The FORTRAN IV programs for processing spectra (number of events per energy interval histograms) include: GAMMA, which normalizes the zero intercept and energy per interval; SPEC, which determines quantitatively the redioisotopes in the spectra by sequential subtraction of standard spectra; MONTE CARLO, which produces standard spectra for a given detector and incident energy; and MERGE, which combines standard spectra of various energies to duplicate the spectrum of a radioisotope. GAMMA, MERGE, AND SPEC will work for any consistent set of histograms, while MONTE CARLO contains parameters for a sodium iodide (thallium) gamma-ray detector in an infinite medium containing a uniformly distributed source. The programs are used to analyze the concentration of radioisotopes in water. (Author)


NAtural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NADES) were discovered in 2011 as being mixtures of polar "primary metabolites" that exhibit unexpected solubilizing and stabilizing abilities for hydrophobic and/or bioactive ingredients. However, due to the inherent low vapor pressure of NADES, it is challenging to recover analytes such as "secondary" metabolites from a NADES-analyte(s) matrix by conventional liquid chromatography. The present study shows that countercurrent separation (CCS) can perform this task successfully. The resolution capability of CCS depends on the differential distribution coefficients (K values) of the analytes. Compared to most bioactive constituents, the NADES components have extreme K values (close to 0 or ∞, in RP or NP, resp.) because of their high polarity. Glucose-choline chloride-water (2:5:5, mole/mole) with rutin, quercetin, kaempferol, or daidzein were chosen as the test matrices. The CCS fraction analysis by UV-UHPLC and qHNMR showed that CCS can recover the target analyte completely from the NADES-analyte matrix, and at the same time yield the NADES quantitatively, allowing further study of "primary" NADES vs. bioactive "secondary" metabolites in botanical extracts. *represents equal contribution to this work


Dilute aqueous solutions of bovine serum albumin, lysozyme, chondroitin sulfate, and tRNA were measured by small‐angle x‐ray scattering. The scattering curves showed a single, broad peak as was observed for synthetic polyelectrolytes, indicating the presence of an ordered distribution of charged solutes. The intermolecular distance evaluated from the peak position (2Dexpt) increased with decreasing polymer concentration and with increasing salt concentration. Except for chondroitin sulfate, 2Dexpt values were nearly equal to the interparticle distance (2D0) calculated based on the assumption of a uniform distribution. The observed relationship between 2Dexpt and 2D0 was in agreement with the proposal that intermacroion attraction is weak for low‐charge density particles under discussion. This attraction and repulsive interparticle interaction create a ''secondary'' minimum in the potential curve enabling ordering to take place. For tRNA, the scattering peak became lower with rising temperature. The fact t...


Purpose: The goal of this study is to look into several approaches to approaching damaged instruments in the root canal, as well as to show possible outcomes in terms of dentin thickness, fracture resistance, technique success, and clinical time. Methodology: PubMed, Cochrane, Lilacs, Web of Science, Scopus, grey literature, and manual searches were used to conduct the bibliographic research. The titles and abstracts of 506 papers were examined using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Sixty items were chosen and read in their entirety. This systematic review includes fourteen papers. Results: The ultrasonic approach was the most extensively researched and yielded positive results in general. The more apically positioned the tool is, the more difficult it is to remove it, the more dentin is removed, and the poorer the tooth's fracture resistance. When removal is not possible, the bypass technique (bypassing) can be employed, and the GentleWave System approach can be used on weakened teeth or with little dental fragments. Conclusion: The data from laboratory investigations showing the curvature and root third in which instrument fractures originate is related to fracture resistance and success is presented in this comprehensive review.


OBJECTIVE:To establish the method for the content determination of indigo in Koukui powder.METHODS: HPLC was used.The determination was performed on Agilent TC-C18(250 mm×4.6 mm,5 μm)column with mobile phase consisted of methanol-wate(r75 ∶25,V/V)at the flow rate of 1.0 ml/min.The detection wavelength was set at 289 nm,and the column temperature was 30 ℃.RESULTS:The linear range of indigo was 0.198-1.188 μ g(r=0.999 8) with an average recovery of 99.61%(RSD=0.69%,n=6).RSDs of precision,stability and reproducibility tests were all lower than 2%.CONCLUSIONS:The method is simple,accurate,reliable,specific and reproducible for the content determination and quality control of indigo in Koukui powder.


Spatial birth-and-death processes with time dependent rates are obtained as solutions to certain stochastic equations. Existence, uniqueness, uniqueness in law and the Markov property of unique solutions are proven when the integral of the birth rate over R^d grows not faster than linearly with the number of points of the system. Martingale properties of the constructed process provide a formal connection to the heuristic generator. We also study pathwise behavior of aggregation model. We estimate the probability of extinction and the speed of growth of the number of particles of the process conditioned on non-extinction.


Version anglaise dans la bibliotheque: Management and administration of IDRC - funded grant projects : a source book and guide


Analyses of chemical constituents in sand were undertaken
after these sand samples were collected from different sources,
including river sand and manufactured sand from all over India,
ensuring a fair representation. Indian subcontinent is home to
20% of the worlds' population. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) results
along with data from X-Ray diffraction suggested that Indian
sand is not necessarily pure silica based sand but all most always
has calcium carbonate as a constituent. Its content varied from a
few percent to majority fraction of the sand at certain locations.
This can chemically react with acidic ground water (hard water)
and make any exposed concrete porous and susceptible to
further degradation based on capillary action. As calcium salts
like carbonate was present in non-negligible amounts, such sand
samples need to be leached with dilute acids and such content
removed to make the sand chemically more stable before
mixing with cement for production of reinforced concrete, for
better durability even in slightly acidic environments with nonpotable
ground water or in areas close to the sea coast or areas
with tidal effects.


The role of hard coatings in prolonging the life of cemented carbide tools is now well‐documented for continuous turning applications. In contrast, relatively few studies have elucidated the effect of such coatings in milling, where both mechanical and thermal cyclic loading impose special requirements on the tool cutting edge. This investigation describes the wear mechanisms observed in coated carbide milling tools which have been the object of recent commercial tool development. Coated carbide tools (by CVD and PVD) of varying cutting edge geometry, substrate, and coating composition were subjected to fly‐cutter milling tests under a nominal range of cutting conditions. Examination of the used cutting edges under optical and electron microscopy showed both thermal‐fatigue‐induced vertical cracks, perpendicular to the cutting edge, as well as lateral cracks parallel to the edge which result from mechanical cyclic stresses. The wear patterns and the sequential progression of these cracks were characterize...


[Objective] To understand and study the factors affected on mental development for children with early education. [Method] With measuring the mental development for children, the mental growth situation of 253 children with early education were analyzed and investigated. [Results] The children treated by early education had higher percentage of developmental quotient than theoretical value; Since it was intervened in time, the main risk factors such as elderly delivery unnormal birth weight and asphyxia experience were not affected obviously for their mental development; the multiple prognacy parents, high education level were attected factors in which children had higher mental development index (MOI), The psychomotor developmental index (PDI) of the premature was clearly lower than that of the mature ones. [Conclusion] The effect of early education is important to the children's mental growth and will take a positive role on it.


Introduction: Community Based Environmental Protection Engaging in behavior to change a local situation, whether by an individual or an organizations, requires discovering that the current situation is problematic and related to human activity and that alternatives to current behavior and its consequences are possible. Once that has happened, individual, community and institutional actors can engage in mobilizing resources to bring about change. Awareness of a threatening situation at an international, national, or even state level may not lead to awareness of local issues and alternatives nor lead to local action. Discovery and engagement are intrinsic social activities. However, if that discovery and engagement are not widely present within a local area, action related to improving ecosystem health while at the same time dealing with issues of social equity and economic vitality is unlikely to be sustainable. Water quality protection is one example of a global shift to local natural resource management. There is growing concern about the protection and supply of drinking water to citizens. Governments in many parts of the world suffer from a conundrum when it comes to water. They are mandated to maintain legitimacy through the provision of safe drinking water to their citizens. Yet, years of experience has shown that protection of water quality is not best carried out at the central level—except in the cases of where large water bodies have been diverted to provide water resources. Even in these cases (southern California and Israel are examples), the delivery of water over vast distances through centralized delivery


Part 1 Epistemology: knowing in self-regulating organisms - a constructivist approach, E.Von Glaserfield conceptual difficulties involved in relations between the United States and the USSR, S.Umpleby. Part 2 Methodology: on some new lines of research in cybernetics and system modelling, O.A.Kossov logic in artificial intelligence systems, D.A.Pospelov. Part 3 Management: managing complexity in the systems age - a Renaissance systems perspective, W.J.Reckmeyer the systems approach to international relations - a comparison of US and Soviet models, B.J.Allyn.


Co O/Cd S nanocomposite was prepared by physical vapor deposition method. The microstructure and the light absorption characteristics of Co O/Cd S nanocomposite were investigated using scan electron microscopy( SEM),X-ray diffraction( XRD),X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy( EDS) and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectrum( UV-vis). The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue was performed under visible irradiation as the probe reaction to evaluate its photocatalytic activity. The results indicated that Co O/Cd S nanocomposite showed much higher photocatalytic activity than Cd S nanoparticle. When photocatalytic reaction attained 100 min,the degradation rate of methylene blue was 92. 4%.


Most ageing processes are accelerated due to an increasing amount of endogenic stress from outdoor or indoor activity overload. The essence of aloe vera is formulated in the form of a biocellulose mask. It is one of the solutions to deliver essence within polymeric substances, obtained through the fermentation process with the help of Acetobacter xyllinum.
The aim of this study is to enhance anti-ageing activity derived from Aloe vera (L) essence combined with vitamin E, thus in the form of a biocellulose mask that will prolong skin contact and reduce the main cotton sheet mask problem of deforestation, hence its eco-friendly benefit.
Material and methods: Twelve volunteers around 25 to 45 years old are subjected to a biocellulose mask containing Aloe vera essence combined with vitamin E for at least 4 weeks to achieve a balanced skin criterion including wrinkles, spots, facial pores, and moisture. Aloe vera and vitamin E constituents within F0; F1, F2; F3, [0%, 0%]; [0%, 1%]; [5%, 0 %] and [5 %, 1 %] as per the following.
Results: Results showed that bio-cellulose masks containing 5  % Aloe vera with 1  % of vitamin E essence in F3 provide a beneficial anti-ageing activity rather than other biocellulose mask preparations.
Conclusion: Biocellulose mask through the fermentation process can improve skin conditions, the formula combined with the well-known activity of aloe vera as an exfoliating agent and antioxidant vitamin E, it can not only provide skin rejuvenation but also provide anti-ageing activity


Objective To study the regulative effect of angelica sinensis on cellular immune function in perioperative patients with obstructive jaundice. Methods Fourteen patients with obstructive jaundice were injected with angelica before and after operation for 14 days. The activity of IL-2 and the expression of IL-2R in lymphocytes in peripheral blood were measured, respectively. Results The activity of IL-2 and the expression of IL-2R decreased significantly in patients with obstructive jaundice (P0.01). The activity of IL-2 and the expression of IL-2R in peripheral blood lymphocyte increased significantly before and after operations (after treatment using angelica) (P0.01), though there was a little decrease after operation but they were still higher than that befor using angelica. Conclusion It maybe useful to use angelica to improve the cellular immune function in patients with obstructive jaundice.


The effective production rate of a number of radionuclides has been calculated in iron targets bombarded with a monoenergetic, collimated beam of 400-Mev protons. The purpose of the calculations has been to study the cosmic-ray interaction in meteorites and to follow nuclear cascades in multielement, multilayer targets due to primary and secondary protons and neutrons. The buildup of low-energy products, Co56, Mn54, Cr51, Mn52, and V48, has been followed in an Fe56 target, and the results have been compared with those of experimental proton irradiations of identical targets reported by Shedlovsky and Rayudu. The results show good agreement for the integral production rates of nuclides and predict the same maximums as a function of depth. The calculations also give the proton and neutron fluxes at various depths along the iron target and predict the radial spread of particles and radionuclides. The computations have been carried out to a depth of 50 cm and a radial spread of 30 cm to compare with the experimental data available.


The last international features proposed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) and United Nations (UN) are analyzed in the use of the environmental indicators, in typology, selection criteria, and models, for organizing the information for management, environmental performance, and decision making. The advantages and disadvantages of each model are analyzed, as well as their environmental index characteristics. The analyzed models are Pressure – State – Response (PSR) and its conceptual developments: Driving Force-State-Response (DSR), Driving Force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR), Model-Flow-Quality (MFQ), Pressure-State-Impact-Effect-Response (PSIER), and, finally, Pressure-State-Impact-Effect-Response-Management (PSIERM). The use of one or another model will depend on the quality of the available information, as well as on the proposed objectives.


A kinetic study on reduction has been carried out by heating a central column of blue dust ( a fine variety of iron ore) surrounded by a concentric layer of non-coking coal fines in the temperature range of 1173 - 1323 K. The temperature of the periphery of blue dust column is kept constant at the temperature of experimentation, however, the temperature of the interior of the cylindrical column increases with time of residence and the change in volume of the reaction mass occurs. The loose column of blue dust gets reduced, consolidated and sintered to produce directly reduced iron rod (DRIR). The work also comprises studies concerning the effect of volume change on the reduction kinetics. The reduction phenomena are very much influenced by the change in volume of reaction mass. The kinetics of reduction shows an agreement with Ginstling-Brounshtein model whereas the kinetics of change in volume is interpreted using Johnson-Mehl equation. The rate constants k(1) and k(2) derived from kinetic analysis of reduction and volume change respectively are shown to be linearly interrelated till the change in volume with respect to the original volume becomes more or less constant.


ABSTRACT The Peabody Fellows in Earth Science program was a professional development opportunity for middle and high school teachers to enhance their knowledge of, and teaching skills in, the Earth sciences. It combined a summer institute and academic year workshops with the production of new curricular resources on the interpretation of landforms in Connecticut. Teachers implemented these materials with the aid of an accompanying classroom kit. The program included in-depth evaluation of the project outcomes for teachers and students; focused on tectonic processes; and on erosion, weathering, and glaciers. Forty-seven teachers participated in the institute, 30 taught the full curriculum, and 21 completed all the evaluation activities. Teachers reported that they had significantly increased their geoscience content knowledge as well as their ability to teach geoscience-related skills, particularly in guiding students to make observations and inferences about the local landscape. In the majority of cases for teachers that completed all evaluation activities, there was a significant increase in student performance in at least one learning goal as a result of the teachers' participation in the program. These data show this type of informal–formal educational initiative can be highly successful in improving teacher competence and student learning in the geosciences. They also provide evidence that positive proximal outcomes for the teachers are reflected in the ultimate outcomes for students.


Background: Increasing scientific evidence suggests that exposure to phthalates during pregnancy may be associated with an elevated risk of adverse reproductive outcomes such as preterm birth. Maternal endocrine disruption across pregnancy may be one pathway mediating some of these relationships. We investigated whether urinary phthalate metabolites were associated with maternal serum thyroid (free thyroxine [FT4], free triiodothyronine [FT3], and thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH]), and sex (estradiol, progesterone, and sex hormone-binding globulin [SHBG]) hormone levels at multiple time points during pregnancy. Methods: Preliminary data (n=106) were obtained from an ongoing prospective birth cohort in Northern Puerto Rico. We collected urine and serum sample at the first and third study visits that occurred at 18 +/2 and 26 +/-2 weeks of gestation, respectively. To explore the longitudinal relationships between urinary phthalate metabolites and serum thyroid and sex hormone concentrations, we used linear mixed models (LMMs) adjusted for prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and maternal age. An interaction term was added to each LMM to test whether the effect of urinary phthalate metabolites on serum thyroid and sex hormone levels varied by study visit. In cross-sectional analyses, we stratified BMIand age-adjusted linear regression models


I give a brief introduction to many worlds or "no wave function collapse" quantum mechanics, suitable for non-specialists. I then discuss the origin of probability in such formulations, distinguishing between objective and subjective notions of probability.


In this paper, we present a novel position sensitive signal pickup scheme for a cavity BPM. The scheme utilizes the H-plane of the waveguide to couple magnetically to the side of the cavity, which results in a selective coupling to the dipole mode and a total rejection of the monopole mode. This scheme greatly simplifies the BPM geometry and relaxes machining tolerances. We will present detailed numerical studies on such a cavity BPM, analyze its resolution limit and tolerance requirements for a nanometer resolution. Finally present the measurement results of a X-band prototype.


ABSTRACT This article explores the evolution of the field of military innovation studies, critiquing its theoretical foundations and setting out a number of challenges that must be overcome if the field is to fulfil its potential and enhance its contribution to wider disciplinary debates as well as to the practitioner community. Tensions between the main theoretical approaches to military innovation are examined as are the challenges inherent in its increasingly multidisciplinary character. The issue of whether military innovation studies constitutes a field in its own right is addressed before recommendations are made to expand the field's research agenda, broaden its theoretical base and strengthen its multidisciplinary credibility.


ABSTRACT Our previous data demonstrated that cells deficient in MutL homo-logue-1 (MLH1) expression had a reduced and shorter G 2 arrest afterhigh-dose-rate ionizing radiation (IR), suggesting that the mismatch repair (MMR) system mediates this cell cycle checkpoint. We confirmed thisobservation using two additional isogenetically matched human MLH1(hMLH1)-deficient and -proficient human tumor cell systems: humanovarian cancer cells, A2780/CP70, with or without ectopically expressedhMLH1, and human colorectal carcinoma cells, RKO, with or withoutazacytidine treatment to reexpress hMLH1. We also examined matchedMutS homologue-2 (hMSH2)-deficient and -proficient human endometrialcarcinoma HEC59 cell lines to determine whether hMSH2, and MMR ingeneral, is involved in IR-related G 2 arrest responses. As in MLH1-deficient cells, cells lacking hMSH2 demonstrated a similarly altered G 2 arrest in response to IR (6 Gy). These differences in IR-induced G 2 arrestbetween MMR-proficient and -deficient cells were found regardless ofwhether synchronized cells were irradiated in G


The use of metal acetates, metal chlorides and metal triflates as Lewis acid catalysts for the depolymerization of soda lignin under supercritical conditions was investigated. The reactions were carried out at 400 ◦C in water and ethanol. Lignin conversion in supercritical water led to formation of insoluble char and resulted in low yields of monomeric products. When the reaction was performed in supercritical ethanol, char formation was inhibited and higher yields of low molecular-weight organic products were


Gastric outlet obstruction (GOO) presenting with symptoms like nausea, vomiting, abdominal bloating, pain abdomen and distension of the abdomen can arise as a consequence of acid peptic disease, gastric polyps, malignancy of the stomach or gall stones. Superior mesenteric syndrome is a rare entity causing obstruction of the gastric outlet triggered by narrowing of aorta and mesenteric angle and shortening of aortomesenteric distance. We report a rare case of superior mesenteric syndrome presenting as gastric outlet obstruction to stress the importance of considering superior mesenteric artery syndrome as a differential diagnosis for GOO.


Simple Summary Crisdesalazine is a multi-targeted drug with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action to prevent amyloid plaque, neurofibrillary tangle, and neurodegeneration that cause dementia. We tried this drug on meningoencephalitis of unknown origin in dogs, expecting the improvement of their neurologic signs. In Case 1, the dog was tentatively diagnosed with meningoencephalitis of unknown origin by MRI and has started treatment with prednisolone and cytarabine. However, recurrent severe bacterial cystitis has occurred, suspected as the side effect of immunosuppressants. After adding crisdesalazine in ongoing therapy, the patient could reduce the dosage of the drugs successfully. In Case 2, the dog was tentatively diagnosed with meningoencephalitis of unknown origin through its history using clinical signs, blood analysis, neurologic examination, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis. The dog has started treatment with cytarabine, prednisolone, and levetiracetam and the alleviation of the clinical signs was inadequate. However, after adding crisdesalazine in ongoing treatment, the neurologic signs of the dog were markedly improved. To the best of our knowledge, no previous report has documented clinical cases of reduced neurological signs in dogs with meningoencephalitis of unknown origin after adding crisdesalazine as an adjunct to ongoing immunosuppressive treatment. Abstract An 8-year-old, castrated male Shih-tzu dog (Case 1) showing ataxia and gait disorder was referred for neurological examination and magnetic resonance imaging. Through comprehensive examinations, the patient was tentatively diagnosed with meningoencephalitis of unknown origin (MUO) and treatment with prednisolone and cytosine arabinoside was started. The symptoms were improving with immunosuppressive treatment. However, severe bacterial cystitis occurred and we could not avoid tapering off prednisolone. Then, neurological signs recurred. Therefore, we added crisdesalazine, which allowed us to reduce the daily dosage of immunosuppressants easily. In another case, a 4-year-old, spayed female Yorkshire terrier dog (Case 2) was referred to our hospital showing a head tilt, circling, and loss of the menace reflex. The patient was tentatively diagnosed with MUO and treatment with some immunosuppressants was attempted. The clinical symptoms improved, but the alleviation was inadequate. Thus, we added crisdesalazine. The neurological signs then markedly improved. Moreover, the drugs could be tapered off more easily than before. Crisdesalazine is a novel drug that has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action in brain disease and is used particularly for dementia. In this paper, we tried an off-label use of this drug in canine MUO patients, and found that it had, in these two patients, additional therapeutic effects on the MUO.


Novae are cataclysmic variables driven by accretion of H-rich material onto a white dwarf (WD) star from its low-mass main-sequence binary companion. New time-domain observational capabilities, such as the Palomar Transient Factory and Pan-STARRS, have revealed a diversity of their behavior that should be theoretically addressed. Nova outbursts depend sensitively on nuclear physics data, and more readily available nova simulations are needed in order to effectively prioritize experimental effort in nuclear astrophysics. In this paper, we use the MESA stellar evolution code to construct multicycle nova evolution sequences with CO WD cores. We explore a range of WD masses and accretion rates as well as the effect of different cooling times before the onset of accretion. In addition, we study the dependence on the elemental abundance distribution of accreted material and convective boundary mixing at the core–envelope interface. Models with such convective boundary mixing display an enrichment of the accreted envelope with C and O from the underlying WD that is commensurate with observations. We compare our results with the previous work and investigate a new scenario for novae with the 3He-triggered convection.


Thrombin-mediated platelet function is enhanced by the presence of C3, C5, C6, C7, C8 and C9 of human complement. The interaction of thrombin with its receptor on the platelet membrane initiates activation of complement on the platelet surface. Trypsin mediated platelet function is not enhanced by the addition of complement, probably since trypsin has no receptor on the platelet surface so activation of complement is triggered in the fluid phase and not on the platelet surface. Activation of complement by thrombin led to production of C5-9 complexes on the platelet surface. These complexes were eluted from the platelet membrane and were identified physicochemically and morphologically. The mechanism of the complement induced enhancement of platelet function is not clear, however It is mediated via the arachidonic acid transformation pathway since this activity wos Inhibited by known inhibitors of cycla-oxygenase namely aspirin and indomethacin.


We describe new observations of POX 52, a previously known but nearly forgotten example of a dwarf galaxy with an active nucleus. While POX 52 was originally thought to be a Seyfert 2 galaxy, the new data reveal an emission-line spectrum very similar to that of the dwarf Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4395, with clear broad components to the permitted line profiles. The host galaxy appears to be a dwarf elliptical; this is the only known case of a Seyfert nucleus in a galaxy of this type. Applying scaling relations to estimate the black hole mass from the broad H-beta linewidth and continuum luminosity, we find M_BH ~ 1.6x10^5 solar masses. The stellar velocity dispersion in the host galaxy is 36+/-5 km/s, also suggestive of a black hole mass of order 10^5 solar masses. Further searches for AGNs in dwarf galaxies can provide crucial constraints on the demographics of black holes in the mass range below 10^6 solar masses.


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