The article is devoted to the study of problems and development prospects of the agricultural advisory system in Ukraine. The relevance of the chosen topic is determined by the fact that today in Ukraine agricultural advisory as a consulting system has not been properly developed and remains out of the state's attention, needs modernization and increasing the efficiency in order to further ensure the development of agricultural cooperation in Ukraine.
Despite the provisions of the State Target Program for the Development of the Agricultural Sector for the Period until 2022 and the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, the number of agricultural advisory services in Ukraine remains small, majority of the agricultural advisory services are located in administrative centers, while agricultural producers are located in rural areas, the level of financial support from the state and local authorities is too small for successful development.
This article highlights proposals for modernizing the agricultural advisory system. The introduction of a hierarchical three-level system of the agricultural advisory services is proposed. The article stressed the need to review the principle of financing the advisory activities and to introduce web-platforms of the digital advisory in Ukraine, which will help to reduce the barriers to access of agricultural producers to information and consulting service of advisory services.


Objective To investigate the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) on cerebral hemodynamics and ambulatory electroencephalogram(AEEG) of patients with moderate and severe brain trauma and to analyze its therapeutic efficiency. Methods One hundred and forty-two patients with moderate and severe brain trauma were randomly divided into the conventional therapy group (71 cases) and the HBO plus conventional therapy group (71 cases). The conventional therapy group received surgical treatment and conventional drug treatment, while the HBO group received the same treatment as the conventional therapy group and plus 3 courses of HBO treatment, following stabilization of the illness. Thirty normal healthy people who received physical check-ups were used as control. All the patients received Transcranial Doppler (TCD)detection, before treatment and on the 10th and 30th day after treatment. Ambulatory electroencephalogram (AEEG) was detected and the scores of Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were evaluated before treatment and on the 30th day after treatment. The scores of Glasgow outcome scale (GOS) were again measured in a clinical followup, following 6 months of brain trauma. Results Before treatment, Vs, Vm, Vd, PI and RI of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in all the patients of both the conventional therapy group and HBO plus conventional therapy group were significantly higher than those of the normal control group ( P < 0. 05 ) and the abnormal rates of AEEG accounted for 94. 4% and 95.8% respectively. On the 10th day after treatment, Vs, Vm, PI and RI in the conventional therapy group decreased significantly (P < 0. 05), but were still higher than those of the normal control group ( P < 0. 05 ). Vs, Vm, PI and RIin the HBO plus conventional therapy group decreased more significantly, when compared with those of the conventional therapy group ( P < 0. 05 ),however, Vs, Vm and PI were still higher than those of the normal control group ( P < 0. 05 ). On the 30th day after treatment, Vs and Vm in the conventional therapy group were lower than those of the normal control group (P<0. 05), but, PI and RI were still higher than those of the normal control group (P <0.05). No significant differences in Vs, Vm, Vd, PI and RIcould be noted between the HBO plus conventional therapy group and the normal control group (P >0. 05 ). On the 30th day after treatment, abnormal rates of AEEG of both groups decreased significantly than those before treatment ( P < 0. 05 ), while scores of GCS increased significantly than those before treatment ( P < 0. 05 ) and more significant differences could be noticed in the HBO plus conventional therapy group, when compared with those of the conventional therapy group (P < 0. 05). Six months after brain trauma, GOS scores indicated that the number of patients with good prognosis in the HBO plus conventional therapy group increased, and mortality rate decreased obviously, when compared with those of the conventional therapy group (P < 0. 05 ). Conclusions HBO therapy could alleviate cerebral vascular spasms, regulate cerebral blood flow and promote the electrophysiological activity and function of neurons, thus enhancing therapeutic efficiency of the patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury.

Key words:
Hyperbaric oxygen;  Traumatic brain injury;  Transcranial Doppler;  Cerebral hemodynamics;  Ambulatory electroencephalogram


AbstractThis research tackles the problem of missing cycling counts at permanent count stations that experience frequent sensor malfunctions during the year. A simple approach that has been widely ...


Weight hierarchy of a linear [n, 3; 7] code corresponds to its difference sequence. In this paper, construction 4 (iv)[1] is improved, then non-chain difference sequences of linear [n, 3; 7] codes are obtained. In particular, an improved genetic algorithm is applied to search of chain difference sequences of lienar [n, 3; 7] codes. The results demonstrate that the algorithm is very effective.


Li-Fi is a new wireless technology which provides the connectivity within localized network environment. These days the usage of Wi-Fi has reached to every nook and corner of the world. There are some downsides belong to the usage of Wi-Fi such as those concerning to the speed, limited bandwidth, security and range of its usage. In order to overcome these hitches we can use the Advanced Version of Li-Fi which is efficient, high speed, and fully networked wireless communication, like Wi-Fi, using light. We mean to use "LASERS", in order to produce the Advanced Version of Li-Fi technology where the transmission of information takes place at higher speeds and reduced losses with an increased amount of bandwidth.


In view of the huge challenges brought by the continuous and rapid increase in the scale of wind power grid connection to the operation stability and dispatch economy of the power system, a joint dispatch model with load response based on stochastic model predictive control is proposed, and the adjustable load is introduced to increa se the system. Scheduling capability. Construct an objective function for minimizing the cost of joint dispatch based on load response, as well as including unit capacity and minimum technical output constraints, output limitation constraints, and climbing capacity constraints, load response scheduling constraints, climbing constraints, cumulative upper and lower limits of load response, etc. constraint. A number of typical scenarios are used to express the uncertainty of the system, and simulation examples verify that the flexibility of load response plays an important role in improving the economy of system operation.


A B S T R A C T This paper investigates the possibility and effectiveness of multi-mode vibration control of a plate through real-time FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) implementation. This type of embedded system offers true parallel and high throughput computation abilities. The control object is an aluminum panel, clamped to a Perspex box's upper side. Two types of control laws are studied. The first belongs to non-model based control. This control law is designed to generate active damping within the designed bandwidth. The second control law is model based H-infinity robust control. A system identification process is needed before the controller comes out. Each of the control laws is implemented on a FPGA target, which is powerful enough to achieve high throughput control loop rates. The experimental control results demonstrate that the non-model based control law has sufficient authority to suppress the interesting modes. The model-based robust control law's control performance is not so positive compared to the previous method. Therefore, it is not recommended for this application.


Background. It is known that the number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes increases with the development of periodontitis. However, their role in the pathogenesis of chronic periodontitis has not been fully defined.
Aim. To study the pathogenetic role of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the development of chronic periodontitis, realized by microvesicles and aggression factors (metalloproteinases, myeloperoxidase, calprotectin, lipocaine 2).
Material and methods. 30 patients aged 30 to 50 years with a diagnosis of chronic generalized periodontitis of moderate severity (K05.3) and no severe somatic pathology were under observation. The comparison group included 20 people with no inflammatory diseases in the oral cavity, comparable with the main group in terms of gender, age, nationality, and the presence of bad habits. Using a standard set of indices, the state of periodontal tissues was assessed, and all examined patients underwent X-ray examination. In the oral fluid of the examined, the total number of microvesicles and their phenotype, the concentration of matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9, myeloperoxidase, calprotectin, lipocaine 2 were determined. The parameters were determined using a flow cytometer. Descriptive statistics are represented by the median and interquartile range (25th and 75th percentiles). Two independent sample sets were compared using the MannWhitney test. Correlation analysis was carried out according to the Spearman method.
Results. The total number of microvesicles in the oral fluid in patients with chronic periodontitis was 11 times higher than in healthy volunteers (p=0.00001). More than a third of them had neutrophil markers. The levels of neutrophil aggression factors were also higher in patients with periodontitis and correlated with the value of the periodontal index, the depth of the periodontal pocket, bleeding index, indicators of periodontal health. Thus, a strong positive relationship was found between the total number of microvesicles and the value of the periodontal index (r=0.675), the depth of the periodontal pocket (r=0.763), the bleeding index (r=0.704); the number of neutrophilic microvesicles and indicators of periodontal health r=0.816, r=0.837 and r=0.776, respectively. The content of metalloproteinase-2 correlated with the depth of the periodontal pocket (r=0.754), bleeding index (r=0.811), papillary-marginal-alveolar index (r=0.675).
Conclusion. Neutrophils contribute to the pathogenesis of chronic periodontitis through the secretion of aggression factors: metalloproteinases, myeloperoxidase, calprotectin, lipocaine 2, and microvesicles.


The canal's instrumentation by using single file in reciprocation movement is gaining popularity due to the reduction of working time and less prone to fractures of the instruments. Before choosing which system will use, the dentist must know the capabilities and limitations of each system based on scientific evidence. This article reviews the literature on the reciprocation movement pointing out the advantages and disadvantages of this different kinematic instrumentation.


This paper surveys the historical development and current status of industrial R&D in the USA, in order to examine the factors affecting the location of R&D within industrial firms and the relationship between intrafirm R&D and research activities external to the firm, and to draw some implications for the reorganization of the Russian Federation's network of independent research institutes. As I note in my conclusions, the weight of historical and contemporary evidence suggests that externally performed R&D is likely to prove most effective as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, research activities within the firm. The need for close links between manufacturing practice and technology development, the 'tacit' character of much of the knowledge incorporated into industrial technology, and the difficulties in transmitting this knowledge across organizational boundaries all suggest that the contributions of contract or external research to industrial technology development will be greatest when this research is parallelled by R&D activities within the firm.


A new fine grain film was developed by VEB Agfa, Wolfen, which shows a marked improvement in sensitivity and contrast for gamma defectoscopy than other commercial X-ray and gamma -ray films. Results are summarized of a sys tematic investigation with Co/sup 60/ and Ir/sup 192/ on the influence of exposure duration and on the contrast and clarity of this film for various test materials. (OID)


Excerpts from Too Big to Fail: The Hazards of Bank Bailouts by Stern and Feldman, forthcoming from Brookings Institution Press.


In view of its potential for dental diagnostics, noninvasive optical methods have been the object of research for the last years. Different techniques (spectroscopy, microscopy, and tomography) are used to discriminate between caries and sound enamel. The main aim of this paper is to determine a simple way to see incipient caries with the naked eye.


The breakdown rates of Alnus glutinosa leaves and the structure of macroinvertebrate communities were used to evaluate the impact of the village of Montalegre (Portugal) on the water quality of the Cavado river. Chemical and microbial analyses of stream water indicated a high organic load in the vicinity of the village. The abundance of macroinvertebrates associated with leaves increased along the pollution gradient, whereas richness of the community decreased. Biotic indices and multivariate analysis applied to aquatic macroinvertebrate communities discriminated polluted from non-polluted sites. Exponential breakdown rates of alder leaves were high (0.014 to 0.060 day -1 ) and the differences observed among sites suggested that nutrient enrichment stimulated leaf breakdown significantly. Leaf breakdown rates have not reflected improved biotic conditions as assessed by biotic indices at the most downstream site. These results suggest that both data from the structure and function of a stream are important for assessing water quality.


Magnesium diboride (MgB2) is known as a promising superconductor due to its high transmission temperature. Similarly to single-wall carbon nanotube, unique characteristics would be seen if a nanotube structure of MgB2 having a unit-wall of Mg and B atomic bilayer is prepared. However, such MgB2 nanotubes have not ever been synthesized. In this article, formation mechanism of unit-wall MgB2 nanotube is elucidated by molecular mechanics calculation. From the viewpoint of energetic stability, the unit-wall will be curled up to form nanotube structure when MgB2 crystal is disassembled to an isolated unit-wall layer. An experiment using arc plasma in inert liquid was utilized to produce unit-wall MgB2 nanotubes. As a result, a single and multiunit-wall MgB2 nanotube was successfully synthesized. In this reaction field, the arc plasma may play a role to produce isolated MgB2 unit-wall fragment, and the cold cathode surface can contribute to preserve MgB2 nanotube structure.


Perfect works. It provides novel insight into ncRNA roles in male fertility. however, which and how the specific ncRNA regulated the corresponding genes are still unknown. The crosstalks of piRNA with ncRNA and target genes still need varified in the furture.


The purpose of this study was to investigate how and why nurses intuit the time of death of the child. By analyzing interviews of twenty-five pediatric nurses, it was discovered that they intuit the time of the death by observing charges in both the physical condition and the actions of the child. Although many nurses could make their assessments by observing a child's physical condition, fewer could make their assessments based on a child's actions since this required more sensitive observation. However, nurses that are able to make these sensitive observations possess a unique and valuable skill since they become able to predict an imminent death before it is detectable in the physical condition and medical tests. Intuiting the time of death is associated with the task of preparing for the death. The nurses shared their intuitions with other nurses and physicians in order to make sure everyone is on alert, they can reduce the child's agony, and to make sure the physician will be present at the time of death. The nurses also share their intuitions with family members to encourage them to come to terms with the situation and to arrange for people to be at the bed side at the time of death. For these reasons, intuiting the time of death is the fundamental skill needed by nurses to make sure the death occurs in a well controlled situation according to the terms of a 'good death'.


The human MAGE-3 gene encodes a melanoma antigenic epitope rec ognized by specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, but its gene product has not been identified thus far. We produced a recombinant MAGE-3 gene product by expression cloning of the entire reading frame in the context of a fusion protein characterized by a 10-histidine tail, allowing purification by metal chelation on a nickel Sepharose column. The semipurified prod uct was used to generate MAGE-3-specific monoclonal antibodies. One reagent could identify by immunoblotting the native MAGE-3 gene prod uct as a ,l/r 48,000 protein in lysates of cell lines showing evidence of MAGE-3 gene expression. No apparent cross-reactivity with recombinant or native MAGE-1 gene product was observed. Immunohistochemistry shows that, closely resembling the MAGE-1 gene product, MAGE-3 is a cytoplasmic protein.


A major challenge for Local Governments today is represented by the introduction of new networked service delivery models able to coordinate a number of different local actors for responding effectively to increasing community's expectations. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are instrumental here. Though, the implementation of ICTs in Local Government Agencies (LGA) is a challenge too. That's why effective new services delivery models and successful adoption of enabling ICTs within the LGA goes hand-in-hand. Following these considerations, this paper aims at illustrating a case of ICT-based solutions adoption into a Local Government Agency in charge of tourism promotion. More specifically the e-business case methodology crafted and used for this purpose will be shown. In doing so, the role of the e-business case will be advocated both as a tool to accompany Local Government Agencies into the process of introducing and using ICTs, both as a starting point for a wider strategy aimed at modernizing local communities though ICTs.


Abstract A stability indicating reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatographic assay of propranolol (PP) was developed. The assay enabled the quantitation of PP in both diffusate and human skin extract samples of permeation study, at as low as 0.1 μg/ml with a signal noise ratio of 7. Baseline resolution of PP from internal standard, Verapamil (VRP) and degraded products was achieved with a cyano column and a mobile phase of 47% acetonitrile in water with 5 mM heptane sulfonic acid as the ion pairing agent. The linear range was established at 0.5–10 μg/ml, and 1–15 μg/ml, for diffusate and skin extract samples, respectively. The assay was reproducible with low within-day (2.2 and 8.8 % for diffusate and skin extract, respectively) and between-day (2.2 and 7.7%, respectively) variations. The applicability of the assay for transdermal permeation studies of PPHC1 and PP was demonstrated.


When studying isolates from waste of processing animal meat products and mechanically deboned meat the comparative analysis of nutrient media was done. The assessment of the growth of bacteria of the genus Proteus on the media based on such parameters as productivity, differentiating and inhibiting properties. Of special interest is a new highly selective nutrient media tested in the veterinary laboratory. It has been shown that the domestic differential diagnostic medium to isolate bacteria of the genera Proteus, Morganella, and Providencia is characterized by high productivity and significant inhibitory properties to be used in veterinary medicine to analyze any material contaminated with proteins along with concomitant bacteria. Key words: veterinary medicine, nutrient media, Proteus, differentiating properties, selectivity


In current scenario in electric power systems, customer participation of Demand Response in grid operations and management has been gaining importance in Smart Grid with the advent of information communication technology. In this paper an Automatic Generation Control (AGC) scheme that includes price based demand response scheme is proposed. The price based demand response scheme finds the optimal thermostat set point of the Thermostatically Controlled Load (TCL) for a change in price issued by Independent system operator for AGC. This paper provides a load model that includes demand response as a transfer function that provides the change in power consumed due to the price based demand response of aggregated TCLs using coupled Fokker-Planck equations. Thus the main work of this paper is the load modelling of power gain from the demand response of aggregated TCL units for AGC. Simulation results show that AGC in single area system with demand response improves system performance and leads to economic operation of the system as generators operate close to their fixed power loading.


There has been considerable interest in purely hydrodynamic instabilities in the dead zones of protoplanetary disks (PPDs) as a mechanism for driving angular momentum transport and as a source of vortices to incubate planetesimal formation. We present a series of numerical simulations with both a pseudo-spectral anelastic code and the fully compressible Godunov finite-volume code Athena, showing that stably stratified flows in a shearing, rotating box are violently unstable and produce space-filling, sustained turbulence dominated by large vortices with Rossby numbers of order ∼0.2− 0.3. This Zombie Vortex Instability (ZVI) is observed in both codes and is triggered by initial Kolmogorov turbulence with Mach numbers less than ∼0.01. ZVI is robust and requires no special tuning of cooling times, boundary conditions, or initial radial entropy or


In this paper, a proposal for trajectory generation especially well-suited for wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) is presented. In this proposal (PVLAVPB) linear and angular velocities of the WMR are specified as Bézier polynomials. The PVLAVPB is able to generate smooth complex shapes, which would involve more complicated mathematical algorithms if other trajectory generation methods were used. Also, this proposal helps to avoid slipping and skidding of the WMR, since smooth starting and braking can be achieved proposing suitable linear and angular velocities. The generated trajectory is introduced in a hierarchical controller that solves the trajectory tracking task in a differential drive WMR. The experimental validation of the PVLAVPB is carried out via Matlab-Simulink along with a DS1104 board, obtaining satisfactory results.


Resources about Native American heritage Native Americans history, government documents, legal resources, statistics, health, art, museum, biographies, authors and science.


Starting in the XVII century with the scientific revolution, Physics revolutionized the world with great inventions and discoveries. Nowadays, with the ever increasing capabilities of computers, gamers became more demanding in terms of realism, which led to the latest addition to their virtual worlds – Physics. Starting by being hardcoded on the application, physics processing evolved into software libraries called Physics Engines. They focus on implementing the physics effects often in close connection with the graphics processing. This way the developer is responsible for embedding it on its own application. This approach works well but limits the scalability of the applications. This happens because they were specifically developed using the implementation details of the chosen physics engine. Change to a different physics engine, specially a better one, becomes very difficult. It often means redeveloping the application from scratch. A possible solution would be to have an intermediate layer capable of making the bridge between our applications and the physics engines in a generic way. As such in this paper we show a solution to the question: "Is it possible to define a generic physics abstraction, powerful enough to allow the developing of virtual worlds applications, independent of the solution underneath?" To develop our solution we analyzed classical physics and the majority of physics engines currently on market. Focusing on Rigid Body Physics and Collision Detection this analysis allowed the extraction of concepts, their relationship and essential simulation functions to ultimately develop the conceptual model of our solution. Finally this model was implemented using an object oriented programming into an interface system. For our case study we implemented the interface with two enginesOgre3D for the graphics and ODE for the physics. Finally we used our implementation to develop a simple Virtual World Editor. We used our Editor to demonstrate that our conceptual model resulted in a generic physics programming interface that allows the creation of physically enabled simulations. Although only demonstrated on the rigid body domain theoretically this approach can be applied to all physics domains.


To prepare substrate surface before coating by ultrasonic impact treatment a surface area of microrelief elements and surface roughness have to be taken into consideration. For these aims an integral parameter as a total volume of microrelief elements is proposed to use. This paper is devoted to description of the mathematical model calculation for a total volume of microrelief elements formed by ultrasonic impact treatment.


Objective To investigate clinical characteristics and the bronchoscopy features of endobronchial tuberculosis(EBTB)and investigate the main key points in diagnosis.Methods The clinical manifestations,imaging signs and bronchoscopic features of 102 EBTB patients admitted into our hospital during Mary 2005 and February 2010 were analyzed retrospectively.Results 95 patients had a cough,84 had expectoration,56 had night sweat,54 had a fever,52 had fatigue weight loss,45 had hemoptysis,32 had hemoptysis sputum and 24 had chest pain.Chest X-ray showed that 26 patients had the imaging signs of tuberculosis,24 had lung hyperinflation,23 had obstructive pneumonia,21 had atelectasis,16 had bronchiectasis,12 had poor lung inflation and 5 had tracheal stenosis in the performance.The CT results showed that 36 had stenosis,32 had local thickening of the wall,30 had imaging signs of tuberculosis,23 had luminal occlusion,21 had atelectasis,15 had intraluminal tumor,and 12 had wall spinous process.The bronchoscopic features showed that 18 patients were exudative type,28 were ulcerative and caseating type,25 were granular type,15 were cicatrical type,6 were bronchus collapse type,and 10 were mixed type.23 patients had missed diagnosis,56 were misdiagnosed.The missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis rate was 77.4%.96 patients were cured,and 6 patients were lost in follow-ups.Conclusion EBTB tends to be misdiagnosed because the clinical symptoms and imaging signs of EBTB are not specific.To increase vigilance and improve to knowledge of the diversity of the bronchoscopic manifestations in combination with endoscopic biopsy and finding acid-fast bacilli in bronchial brush slice and sputum smear after bronchoscopy can reduce missed-diagnosis and misdiagnosis rates.


To visit Japanese government and business offices in the 1960s or 1970s was to take a step back in time for Australians, Europeans, New Zealanders and North Americans, who tended to take the typewritten business cultures of their home countries for granted, as indeed did I. Handwriting was still the norm in many Japanese offices then, and there was rarely a typewriter to be seen. Sometimes documents needed to be reproduced, of course, and for that purpose there were various duplicating technologies available, but these technologies were developed for alphabetic writing and it had been necessary to adapt them for non-alphabetic scripts that lacked the ready availability and convenience of typewriters. Duplicating technology was developed in the USA in the 1880s, and in 1887 a machine known as 'Edison's Mimeograph' went on sale. Further development came in 1891, when David Gestetner (1854–1939), a Hungarian living in London, introduced the automatic cyclostyle system, which allowed copies to be reproduced in quantity and at speed using stencils. In Japan, the prolific inventor Horii Shinjir o (1856–1932) was already interested in finding ways to simplify printing technology, and he went to the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 to see the latest technologies in person. The following year he and his son invented a technique that was similar to Gestetner's but was suitable for Japanese: this involved using a steel pen to write Japanese text on a stencil from which numerous copies could be produced. This technology they named t oshaban, but the popular name was gariban, 'gari' being an onomatopoeic rendering of the sound made by the printing mechanism. In the West, duplicating technologies were used in combination with alphabetic typewriters to produce multiple copies of typewritten texts, but in Japan it was mostly handwritten texts that were reproduced in this way, and gariban became the most


Ahstract- In this paper, the dipole-moment based reciprocity method is used to perform desense prediction and mitigation from the DDR noise source to the nearby RF antenna. The noise source is from the DDR signals between the application processor and the memory IC. Radiation physics of the noise source is analyzed by understanding of the current flow. Firstly, the random nature of the DDR signals is analyzed using the measurement data. Based on the measurement data, the setup of the near field scanning is further determined. The desense prediction procedures are decomposed into two steps: the forward problem and the reverse problem. In the forward problem, the noise source is approximately regarded as a single magnetic dipole moment based on the near field scanning above this specific electronic device. In the reverse problem, the transfer function from the magnetic dipole moment to the victim antenna is obtained by measuring the H field when the victim antenna radiates. Based on the measurements of forward and reverse problem, the coupled noise to the victim antenna can be analytically estimated. The estimated RFI results are compared with direct RFI measurement to validate the dipole-moment based reciprocity method. Lastly, a few methods to mitigate the desense are also discussed.


The classroom experience exposed in this paper aims to use the Aronson method as facilitator of the collaborative learning process of contents of a course of differential calculus, in particular the limits of a continuous function of , form, with students of the third semester of Mathematics from Universidad Pedagogica y Tecnologica de Colombia, in order to see another possibility of teaching and learning in the classroom at undergraduate levels.


Design and fabrication of high performance pseudocapacitors from 3D hierarchical hybrid electrodes with large areal capacitance and excellent rate capability still remains a challenge. Here, 3D hierarchical hybrid mesoporous NiCo2O4@CoxNi1−x(OH)2 core–shell nanosheet arrays on Ni foam have been rationally designed and facilely synthesized via an electrodeposited routine for pseudocapacitor applications. Electrochemical measurements show that the firstname.lastname@example.com(OH)2 electrode material exhibits a large areal capacitance as high as 5.71 F cm−2 at a current density of ∼5.5 mA cm−2, as a result of our high mass loading up to ∼5.5 mg cm−2. Moreover, it exhibits an excellent rate capability (∼83.7% capacitance retention at 273 mA cm−2). Based on these excellent properties, an asymmetric supercapacitor based on 3D hierarchical hybrid mesoporous firstname.lastname@example.com(OH)2 nanosheet arrays as the positive electrode and CMK-3 as the negative electrode was successfully fabricated. The as-fabricated device achieved the maximum areal capacitance of 887.5 mF cm−2 (specific capacitance of 87.9 F g−1) at 5 mA cm−2 with a stable operational voltage of 1.6 V and a high energy density of 31.2 W h kg−1 at a power density of 396 W kg−1. Moreover, two asymmetric supercapacitors in series could power 5 mm diameter red round light-emitting diode (LED) indicators efficiently for more than 5 minutes. The present 3D hierarchical hybrid material electrode with remarkable electrochemical properties has significant potential applications in high energy density storage systems.


A new form of weighted Voronoi diagrams named Projective Weighted Voronoi Diagram (PWVD) is introduced. Thus the interspace produced by tessellation can be used in GIS spatial competition analysis model. Several different partition models and competition triangles' attribute and distribution characters are discussed. The final section shows some potential applications of the analysis method.


Background: Belief innon-medical remedies such as 'folk' cures and faith healing are likely to impact on patients' relationship with health care, and one area of particular current interest is adherence to medication. Aim: The aim was to explore the impact of such beliefs and patients' satisfaction with healthcare on self-reported adherence to medication. Method: A survey using questionnaire measures assessed 766 participants (326 males and 440 females) ranging in age from 18-69 years. Results: Results showed that self-reported adherence was significantly correlated with satisfaction with medical interviews but when the individual dimensions of satisfaction were explored it was distress relief and rapport rather than communication that accounted for the variance. Intention to use non-medical treatments was correlated with self-reported non-adherence and was the single significant predictor from multiple regression analysis. Conclusions: It was concluded that cultural beliefs related to non-medical treatments are intricately linked to patients' interaction with health care. The existence of such beliefs needs to be fully integrated into an analysis of health and illness behaviours, particularly in regard to adherence to medication.


The recent approval of highly effective, well-tolerated direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimens for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) has revolutionized the field of transplant hepatology. Recurrent HCV following liver transplantation in patients with persistent HCV viremia is universal, and rapidly progressive fibrosis as well as severe cholestatic forms of the disease have led to diminished patient and graft outcomes in transplant recipients with HCV. However, HCV is now curable in the vast majority of patients with a relatively short course of therapy, including with decompensated cirrhosis and following transplantation. Thus, we have reached a remarkable phase in which we no longer question whether a cure is possible but must now focus on the nuances that will identify the most effective, safest, and ultimately most cost-effective regimen. The currently available DAA regimens that have included transplant recipients in published prospective trials include sofosbuvir/ledipasvir with ribavirin for 12 or 24 weeks, daclatasvir with sofosbuvir and ribavirin for 12 weeks, simeprevir with sofosbuvir and ribavirin for 12 weeks, and paritaprevir/ritonavir/ombitasvir with dasabuvir and ribavirin for 24 weeks, all enrolling almost exclusively HCV genotypes 1 and 4. Overall response rates have been excellent, with 90%100% of patients achieving sustained virological response at 12 weeks (SVR12), including patients with early stage disease through compensated recurrent cirrhosis. Perhaps even more remarkable is the success achieved in transplant recipients with severe cholestatic hepatitis and recurrent cirrhosis. However, these trials have been relatively small, and given concerns about the impact of immunosuppression on response rates, patients typically have been treated with ribavirincontaining regimens, many with a prolonged duration of 24 weeks. Analysis of large real-world cohorts will be an essential resource to confirm these high response rates and address the remaining unanswered questions. In this issue of Liver Transplantation, Kwok et al. describe the largest real-world cohort available to date of liver transplant recipients treated with ledipasvir/sofosbuvir fixed-dose combination. Patients were treated with or without ribavirin for 8, 12, or 24 weeks. The vast majority of patients were HCV genotype 1, though a small number of patients with genotypes 2, 3, 4, and 6 were included. Consistent with the previously published clinical trials and real-world and compassionate cohorts, the overall SVR12 rate was 96%. Remarkably, 72% of patients were treated without ribavirin, representing the largest experience of ribavirinfree therapy in liver transplant recipients. Although overall SVR12 rates were statistically similar in patients who did and did not receive ribavirin (94% versus 98%, respectively), in this nonrandomized cohort, this numerical drop in SVR12 without ribavirin may be magnified by lower-risk profiles in the patients chosen to receive this therapy. Therefore, whether ribavirin can be eliminated with no diminution in sustained virological response (SVR) rate, and in whom, has not been definitively answered here. Larger prospective trials will be required to accurately risk stratify patients for ribavirinfree therapy with the currently approved agents. As more potent combinations are tested in liver transplant recipients with a priori elimination of ribavirin (including the sofosbuvir/velpatasvir trial currently enrolling), ribavirin use may soon be confined to only small subsets of patients even in the posttransplant setting, but this Abbreviations: DAA, direct-acting antiviral; HCV, hepatitis C virus; SVR12, sustained virological response at 12 weeks; SVR, sustained virological response.


Al-(4~5)%Cu alloy served as experiment material,the effect on its solidification structure of electromagnetic compound field on the solidification structure was investigated.The result showed that the electromagnetic compound field can refine solidification structure evidently.With optimal electromagnetic compound field parameter as 100V magnetic field and 100A-300Hz-100μs electric pulse,the structure changed from bulky dendrite structure into near-equiaxed crystal or particle,at the same time,the partical arm spacing reduced clearly and distributed evenly.But oversize pulse width could make solidification structure germinate grow up.Finally,the operation mechanism was analysed on the theory of ultrasonic wave generated by Electromagnetic.


The ßuorescent alkaloid norharmane has been isolated fromReticulitermes termites and characterized by H NMR, UV/Vis, mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Microcoil H NMR spectroscopy allowed spectra to be obtained from mass-limited material, facilitating the identiÞcation of norharmane, which is the major component in termite ßuorescence under UV light. Norharmane was uniformly present at 1 ng/mg in Reticulitermes tibialis Banks workers, soldiers, and alates; Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) workers; and Reticulitermes virginicus (Banks) workers. Some termites were observed to ßuoresce with less intensity, but no differences in norharmane levels were detected. Mechanisms that may account for ßuorescent differences are discussed as are the possible ecological implications of norharmane in termites. WHILE CONDUCTING LABORATORY experiments with a commercial UV lamp, we serendipitously observed ßuorescence in Reticulitermes tibialis Banks termites from Colorado and in Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) andReticulitermes virginicus(Banks) from Mississippi. All threeReticulitermes species ßuoresced blue/green under UV light, with the thorax and abdomen exhibiting the most intense ßuorescence on both workers and soldiers. Fluorescence was Þrst reported in arthropods from a number of taxa, including the insects in 1954 when commercial UV lamps became readily available (Lawrence 1954; Pavan 1954a, b; Pavan and Vachon 1954). Fluorescence is not a commonly reported phenomenon among arthropods, but it is well known in scorpions and solpugids (Stahnke 1972, CloudsleyThompson 1978). Limited examples of ßuorescence in insects have been reported in at least eight orders, most commonly in the Coleoptera (Stahnke 1972). However, recent work has shown ßuorescence in unsclerotized larvae from a range of insect taxa that are stored-product pests (Abels and Ludescher 2003). This research has led to the suggestion that the possession of ßuorescent chromophores may be relatively common in insect larvae with adults losing the ßuorescence due to biochemical changes or cuticular sclerotization (Abels and Ludescher 2003). UV chromophores may be common in internal ßuids with ßuorescence blocked by pigments such as melanin or sclerotized cuticle (Hopkins and Kramer 1992). Whole-body ßuorescence has been reported previously in the termite Paraneotermes simplicicornis Banks and the termite R. tibialis (Stahnke 1972), but the UV chromophore(s) involved has not been investigated. Examples of ßuorescent chromophores isolated from other arthropods include pterins (Ziegler and Harmsen 1969), purine uric acids (Melber and Schmidt 1992), tyrosine polymers (Messner et al. 1981), trytophan/indole derivatives (Mello and Vidal 1985, Wessing and Eichelbe 1968), and -carbolines (Stachel et al. 1999), but the biological roles of these compounds are poorly deÞned. Pterins are the most widespread ßuorescent compounds, known in the Diptera (Bridges and Sohal 1980), Lepidoptera (Watt and Bowden 1966), Homoptera (Banks and Cameron 1973), Phasmida (Berthold and Henze 1971), and Orthoptera (Nemec et al. 2003). Fluorescent methanogen bacteria have been isolated from the termite gut (Leadbetter and Breznak 1996). These bacteria are endosymbionts of gut-restricted ßagellates and contain the ßuorescent chromophores coenzyme F420 and methanopterin derivatives (Jones et al. 1987, Leadbetter and Breznak 1996, Frohlich and Konig 1999). The biological role of coenzyme F420 is to metabolize CO2 and H2 to methane (Frohlich and Konig 1999). Additionally, a second example of ßuorescence in termites has been observed in hemolymph extracts from Macrotermes natalensis (Haviland) and is attributed to riboßavin (vitamin B2) (Joly 1940). However, given the techniques used for this determination and the structural similarities between riboßavin and methanopterin derivatives, some uncertainty must be attached to this identiÞcation. Attempts to identify natural products in biological systems, such as insects, are often hampered by the minute amounts of material that can be obtained from a given organism, particularly organisms that are small 1 Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Col-


This papers puts forward a conceptual model that defines an integrated model for the empowerment and satisfaction of organizational commitment for the Jordanian Telecommunication firm, which is Jordan's first company privatized. In order to meet the study's goals, a survey was created to gather data, and this was shared with a sample of 250 employees in the above company. In total, 235 questionnaires were received, of which 218 were complete and 17 incomplete, with 15 remaining unreturned. The empirical findings of this research show that two specific elements, namely empowerment and satisfaction have a positive relationship towards boosting organizational commitment.


The propagation properties of nonlinear microwave-magnetic-envelope ~MME! wave packets, or MME solitons, have been measured as a function of input microwave power in a 7.56 mm-thick yttrium ion garnet film at 5 GHz with the static magnetic field of 1088 Oe parallel to the propagation direction in the backward volume wave configuration. Input pulse widths ranged from 13 to 38 ns. While linear MME wave packets at low power levels propagate at the usual group velocity ng , the velocity of MME solitons increases with input power and shows characteristic plateaus at values given by ns 5ng1knD , where D is the dispersion coefficient and kn5(2n21)p/Tng is an effective wave-number parameter obtained from modulational instability considerations. The parameter n51, 2, 3, etc., indexes the soliton order and T is the width of the input pulse. In between the plateau regions, the velocity increases more-or-less linearly with power, and the slope of the response generally increases with the initial pulse width T . @S0163-1829~98!02029-3#


A previously undescribed pteridophyte, Isoetes junciformis, is reported from Tift County, Georgia. This new tetraploid appears to be a rare endemic of the upper Coastal Plain region. It is suspected to be an allopolyploid, possibly arising from the hybrid between I. flaccida and I. melanopoda.


Artificial neural Network gives good solution to the optimization of Rectangular Microstrip Antenna. Artificial Neural Networks is good approximation method to calculate Microstrip antenna dimensions. Applications of Neural Network in Microwave engineering is recently hot research area for researchers. Neural Network has different algorithms which are most suitable methodologies for antenna designs.


It is to discuss the historical developing process of"Er"by its form in the Baoding dialect and its influence to the Chinese construction.


Signal propagation speed may not be available in practical localization scenarios. This article addresses both the moving and stationary source localization problems by using frequency measurements when the signal propagation speed is unavailable. The task is fulfilled by exploiting the Doppler frequency shift coming from the relative motion between the source and a network of mobile sensors. Owing to the complicated nonlinear measurement model and the absence of the knowledge about signal propagation speed, it is difficult to conduct localization. To address this problem, we first transform the measurement model to a tractable form, from which to formulate a constrained weighted least squares (CWLS) problem. Afterwards, we propose two methods to solve the nonconvex CWLS problem. The first method relaxes the CWLS problem into a semidefinite programming problem by applying semidefinite relaxation (SDR). The second method adopts the alternating estimation procedure by utilizing the prior information about the nominal value of the signal propagation speed. Two subproblems are formulated and solved in an alternate manner, one in estimating the source position and velocity by applying SDR and the other the signal propagation speed by an explicit expression. Furthermore, we conduct the mean square error analysis to show that the CWLS solution is able to reach the Cramér–Rao lower bound performance. Simulation results validate the expected performance of the proposed methods.


Okamoto, Curtis T., Dar C. Chow, and John G. Forte. Interaction of aand b-subunits in native H-K-ATPase and cultured cells transfected with H-K-ATPase b-subunit. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 278: C727–C738, 2000.—The assembly of the b-subunit of the gastric H-K-ATPase (HKb) with the a-subunit of the H-K-ATPase or the Na-K-ATPase (NaKa) was characterized with two anti-HKb monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). In fixed gastric oxyntic cells, in H-K-ATPase in vitro, and in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells transfected with HKb, MAb 2/2E6 was observed to bind to HKb only when interactions between aand b-subunits were disrupted by various denaturants. The epitope for MAb 2/2E6 was mapped to the tetrapeptide S226LHY229 of the extracellular domain of HKb. The epitope for MAb 2G11 was mapped to the eight NH2-terminal amino acids of the cytoplasmic domain of HKb. In transfected MDCK cells, MAb 2G11 could immunoprecipitate HKb with a-subunits of the endogenous cell surface NaKa, as well as that from early in the biosynthetic pathway, whereas MAb 2/2E6 immunoprecipitated only a cohort of unassembled endoglycosidase H-sensitive HKb. In HKb-transfected LLC-PK1 cells, significant immunofluorescent labeling of HKb at the cell surface could be detected without postfixation denaturation or in live cells, although a fraction of transfected HKb could also be coimmunoprecipitated with NaKa. Thus assembly of HKb with NaKa does not appear to be a stringent requirement for cell surface delivery of HKb in LLC-PK1 cells but may be required in MDCK cells. In addition, endogenous posttranslational regulatory mechanisms to prevent hybrid a-b heterodimer assembly appear to be compromised in transfected cultured renal epithelial cells. Finally, the extracellular epitope for assembly-sensitive MAb 2/2E6 may represent a region of HKb that is associated with a-b interaction.


This study presents computational analysis of the complex dynamics observed in chemically blown polyurethane foams during reaction injection molding process. The mathematical formulation introduces an experimentally motivated non-divergence free setup for the continuity equations which reflects the self expanding behaviour observed in the physical system. The foam growth phenomena which is normally initiated by adequate pre-mixing of necessary reactant polymers, leading to an exothermic polymerization reaction, bubble nucleation, and gas formation, is captured numerically. We assume the dependence of material viscosity on the degree of cure/polymerization, gas volume fraction, and temperature as well as non-dependence of mixture density on pressure. The set of unsteady nonlinear coupled partial differential equations describing the dynamics of the system are solved numerically for state variables using finite volume techniques such that the front of the flow is tracked with high resolution interface captu...


Sealing ring is a component having higher application requirements with special structure,which can be widely used in many applications. According to material,structure and machining requirements of sealing ring,the high-speed cutting machines were selected by analyzing the characteristics of PoweMILL,then the clamping method of sealing ring with process head was designed.The main machining tools and cutting parameters of sealing ring were determined though process analysis and related cutting experiments. NC programmings were completed by special part of PowerMILL,including roughing,semi-finishing,finishing and clean-up machining. Taking sealing ring stiffener as example,the NC programming strategy selection and tool path optimization process were analyzed in details,by which high speed and precision machining of sealing ring was achieved.


By systematically analyzing the papers published on the 12 national sports journals from 1992 to 1999,the author examined the characteristics of these papers on soccer research and found that the annual volume of papers published was still low,although there was increasing trend during the period of eight years Among these publications,only a few papers were multi_specialties based basic works,while most of them focused on the issues of strategy and technique In addition,there was an imbalance between the different fields such as youth soccer and women soccer the author suggest that well_organized,problem_focusing research is needied to solve the existing issues in the national soccer development Moreover,more researchers from different specialties should be invloved in the soccer research


Objective To investigate the clinical effect of using zero-balanced ultrafiltration on postoperative lung function of coronary artery bypass grafting(CABG) patients under cardiopulmonary bypass(CPB). Methods Forty coronary artery bypass grafting patients in the First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University from June 2006 to December 2008 were enrolled in this study,and were divided into two groups based on different ultrafiltration procedures.Patients in the experimental group(n=20),14 males and 6 females,with an age of 65.43±8.31 years,underwent zero-balanced ultrafiltration and conventional ultrafiltration after CPB was carried out.Patients in the control group(n=20),15 males and 5 females,with an age of 66.51±7.62 years,only underwent conventional ultrafiltration after temperature restoration.Preoperative pulmonary function and arterial blood gas were tested routinely.Airway resistance(Raw),oxygenation index(OI) and alveolar-arterial oxygen difference [P(A-a)O2] were measured at the following points: before CPB,at the end of CPB,6 hours,and 12 hours after operation.Postoperative mechanical ventilation time was also recorded. Results There was no significantly statistical difference between the two groups of patients in pulmonary function and arterial blood gas indexes before operation,and Raw,OI and P(A-a)O2 before CPB(P0.05). Nevertheless,at the points of 6 hours and 12 hours after operation,Raw [2.22±0.31 cm H2O/(L·s) vs.2.94±0.42 cm H2O/(L·s),F=0.061,P0.05; 1.89±0.51 cm H2O/(L·s) vs.2.52±0.29 cm H2O/(L·s),F=0.096,P0.05] and P(A-a)O2(86.74±7.63 mm Hg vs.111.66±7.49 mm Hg,F=0.036,P0.05;74.82±5.67 mm Hg vs.95.23±6.78 mm Hg,F=0.059,P0.05) of patients in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of patients in the control group.At the same points,OI of patients in the experimental group was significantly higher than that of patients in the control group(384.33±30.67 vs.324.63±31.22,F=0.033,P0.05;342.24±23.43 vs.293.67±25.44,F=0.047,P0.05).Ventilator support time of the experimental group was shorter than the control group(15.44±3.93 h vs.20.68±5.77 h,P0.05). Conclusion Zero-balanced ultrafiltration can improve pulmonary function after coronary artery bypass grafting and shorten postoperative mechanical ventilation time.


IN an interesting longitudinal study conducted in a mixed group of eight critically ill patients requiring long-term mechanical ventilation, Ginz et al. (1) used non-invasive-stimulated muscle force assessments during a 5–22-week observation period. The authors observed a decrease in muscle force in seven out of eight patients during the early course of the disease, which subsequently recovered in those who survived. The study is notable, because force measurement after electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves is a non-invasive approach to detect muscle weakness, which may compromise the quality of life of survivors of critical illness (2). While the authors are to be commended for reporting the first longitudinal data on skeletal muscle force measurements in critically ill patients to our knowledge, we feel the conclusion that 'the method of noninvasive-stimulated muscle force assessment can be used for long-term outcomes assessment (1)' seems premature. Skeletal muscle force readings in ICU patients are very sensitive to a variety of factors including but not limited to the technique used for making the measurements, and effects of drugs to which the patient may have been exposed. Cross-sectional studies showed that maximum skeletal muscle force is decreased in many ICU patients who differ markedly in the severity of disease and mortality (3, 4). While very sick patients with sepsis and multiorgan failure expectedly have a high incidence of muscle weakness (3), low readings of muscle force have also been observed as a consequence of residual drug effects in patients without any systemic disease, scheduled for extubation after surgery (4). In order to balance positive and negative predictive values of skeletal muscle force for long-term outcomes assessment, a clinically meaningful decrease in skeletal muscle force must be defined. Moreover, it seems to be important to develop standards for the peripheral nerve stimulation pattern, which could be generally adopted for stimulated muscle force assessments in critically ill patients. Ginz et al. (1) included a train-of-four repetitive nerve stimulation pulse with pulse durations of 0.3 ms and interpulse intervals of 5 ms, reflecting a nerve stimulation frequency of more than 180 Hz (1). This high frequency exceeds markedly the 80 Hz motor unit firing rate observed during maximum voluntary contraction (5). The measured force output decreases with increasing nerve stimulation frequency even when patients are exposed to drugs, even sub-clinically affecting neuromuscular transmission (4). Thus, we may speculate that muscle force readings at 180 Hz (1) may be artificially low in critically ill patients exposed to a variety of drugs such as anesthetics or antibiotics (and possibly their metabolites) (6, 7). In turn, it might well be that the increase in muscle force observed in survivors with recovery from critical illness (1) was a result of the withdrawal of these factors. We should use lessons from the past and not waste the clinical value of 'new' parameters by improper use. The pulmonary artery catheter has been used for cardiac output measurement for 430 years, and studies suggest that physicians' knowledge of the clinical value of variables such as pulmonary vascular resistance is quite insufficient (8). To evaluate whether stimulated muscle force assessment is a viable method for the long-term


Consumers and Alliances United for Supported Education (CAUSE) has assisted people with psychiatric disabilities to attend the postsecondary educational institution of their choice in the greater Boston metropolitan area since 1991. This article provides the unique grassroots history of CAUSE and describes the components of this supported education program. In keeping with the consumer involvement fundamental to its development, CAUSE has a significant number of staff members who are consumer-providers. Staff and participants attribute the program's empirically supported success to the quality of relationships between staff and clients, to strong advocacy, and to mutually beneficial collaborations among multiple stakeholders including consumers, psychosocial clubhouses, mental health agencies, supported employment programs, higher education settings, mental health advocacy groups, and vocational rehabilitation agencies.


In this paper we present SOI, suspended Si, and Ge-on-Si photonic platforms and mid-IR passive and active devices based on these platforms. We demonstrate low loss waveguides, splitters, filters, interferometers and spectrometers in different material platforms. Mid-infrared detection using defect engineered silicon waveguides is reported at the wavelength of 2-2.5 µm. All optical modulation in Ge is also analyzed. Finally, theoretical investigation of electroabsorption and electrorefraction in Ge is reported.


The present invention discloses a building block (1) that can be used in the construction field for execution both pavement, as fences or walls. The block (1) is shaped right prism of polygonal section, for example square, hexagonal or rectangular, with upper sides (3) and lower (2) and whose lateral faces (4) comprise projections (5) and some recesses (6) alternatively allow attachment pieces other. special pieces called blocks? intersection also describes? (1?), Which serve to build a perpendicular to a floor covered with blocks (1) of the invention wall. Only in the case of blocks (1) hexagonal, for the construction of a perpendicular wall a second type of special parts called blocks? Coupling is also required? (one??).


This paper presents a dynamic neutron transport mode, currently being implemented in the Serpent 2 Monte Carlo code for the purpose of simulating short reactivity transients with temperature feedback. The transport routine is introduced and validated by comparison to MCNP5 calculations. The method is also tested in combination with an internal temperature feedback module, which forms the inner part of a multi-physics coupling scheme in Serpent 2. The demo case for the coupled calculation is a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) in PWR fuel.


A postal survey of allied health professionals working in hospice and palliative care in Australia was conducted in 1995. Its aims were to investigate the education presently provided for allied health professionals in this field and the interest of these workers in further education. A total of 223 questionnaires were returned. One hundred and sixty-five respondents stated that no specific education for allied health professionals was provided in their workplace. Almost all considered that there was a need for more palliative care education for allied health professionals. Seventy-five per cent said they were interested in distance education in palliative care. The implications of these findings for further training are discussed, as well as the development of a post-graduate distance education package.


The objective of this study was to identify the patients who are at low or high‐risk by defining the prognostic factors in node‐negative breast carcinomas.


To gauge pavement conditions, researchers have come up with a complex heuristic algorithm that combines several expert estimates of pavement characteristics into a single index – which is well correlated with the pavement's durability and other physical characteristics. While empirically, this algorithm works well, it lacks physical or mathematical justification beyond being a good fit for the available data. This lack of justification decreases our confidence in the algorithm's results – since it is known that often, empirically successful heuristic algorithms need change when the conditions change. To increase the practitioners' confidence in the resulting pavement condition estimates, it is therefore desirable to come up with a theoretical justification for this algorithm. In this paper, we show that by using fuzzy techniques, it is possible to come up with the desired justification. I. FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM It is important to gauge pavement conditions. Most roads are heavily used. Heavy traffic stresses the pavement. As a result, after several years, it is necessary to maintain – or sometimes even repair – the roads. Roads repairs are expensive. It is therefore important to adequately gauge pavement conditions – so that we will be able to correctly decide which road segments need maintenance or repair, and which can wait a few more years. This is especially important since it is known that a proper maintenance can make the road last much longer and thus, drastically decrease the need for expensive road repairs. How pavement conditions are gauged now. One of the most frequently used technique for gauging pavement conditions is based on visual inspection of the pavement. Visual inspection enables the inspectors to detect different types of problems – known as distresses. We can have buckling, we can have potholes, we can have cracks, etc. For each type of distress, inspectors: • measure the area affected by this type of distress (or the length, for linear distresses like linear cracks), and • use the results of these measurement to evaluate the severity of the corresponding distress. The resulting data is then combined into a single pavement condition index (PCI). The combination rules used in the computation of the PCI are selected so as to provide the most accurate prediction of the pavement durability. To improve the predictive quality, more and more complex algorithms are used; see, e.g., the latest international standard [1]. Problem. The problem is that the existing algorithm for gauging the pavement condition is heuristic. This algorithm has been selected purely empirically, it does not have any physical or mathematical justification – beyond being a good fit for the available data. In general, heuristic methods often work well, but they are usually less reliable than theoretically justified algorithms – since they rely solely on the past experiences and when the situations change, we may need to change the algorithms as well. To increase the user's confidence in the PCI algorithm, it is thus desirable to come up with a theoretical justification for this algorithm. What we do in this paper. In this paper, we provide the desired theoretical justification for the current state-of-the-art complex heuristic algorithm for gauging pavement conditions. In this justification, we take into account the fact that this algorithm combines – somewhat subjective – inspector observations, observations which include information described not in numerical terms, but rather in terms of imprecise ("fuzzy') words from natural language, such as "high", "low", and "medium". Thus, to analyze this problem, it is reasonable to use techniques specifically designed for translating such knowledge into precise numbers – namely, fuzzy techniques; see, e.g., [2], [3], [4], [6], [7], [9]. These techniques are what we will use in our justification. II. THE CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART ALGORITHM FOR GAUGING PAVEMENT CONDITIONS: A BRIEF REMINDER What we start with. For each road segment, this algorithm starts with the numbers


Objective: Objective: To compare the two methods of establishing a nude mice transplantation tumor model with human larynx squamous carcinoma.Methods: The nude mice were randomly assigned into two groups to receive injection of Hep-2 carcinoma cell suspension and modified injection of tumor masses subcutaneously,to establish the nude mice model with human larynx squamous carcinoma.The successful rate of the tumor transplantation,the size of tumors,and growth speed were observed;the hTERT expression level in transplantation tumor tissue was measured by immunohistochemical method.Results: The models of modified injection of tumor masses had emerged smaller tumor three days later.After one week,the successful rate of the tumor transplantation by injection carcinoma cell suspension was 75%,while the rate by modified injection of tumor masses was 85%,meanwhile,the size of transplantation tumors was different between the two groups too(both P0.05).Three weeks later,no differences were found in the size of transplantation tumors and in the rate of hTERT expression between the two groups.Conclusion: Construction of larynx squamous carcioma tumor model in nude mice by modified injection of tumor masses is better than the way of injecting cell suspension,and the subcutaneously tumor could inherit some significance biology features of larynx squamous carcioma,thus paves a way for further investigation on telomerase,an antitumor target,in vivo.


In a 3-year longitudinal study of first-time juvenile status offenders assigned at random to three treatment groups and a control group, no significant differences were found in recidivism rates among the groups. A total of 398 juveniles in this study were cited for offenses of tobacco or alcohol in a medium-sized metropolitan northwest city. The offenders were assigned at random to four groups: a traditional magistrate court, a traditional youth court diversion program, a new nonjudicial-diversion program, and a control group. None of the groups, including the control group, showed a significant difference in recidivism rates. It was determined from the evaluation of all groups that the diversion program offered the most cost-effective program intervention to provide more services to potentially troubled teens.


NiO nanosheets was prepared by the hydrothermal method;its microstructure and morphology were analyzed by XRD,TEM.The effect of heat treatment temperature and dosage of catalyst,time of irradiation,initial concentration of the dyestuff KN-R,and the repeated use of catalyst on decolorization rate of the dyestuff was investigated.With authraquinone KN-R as treating object and UV lamp as irradiation source,the results showed that NiO nanosheets could degrade KN-R solution effectively;the catalyst could be used repeatedly;and its photocatalytic activity is better than that of p-25 TiO2 in the same conditions.


AbstractThe comprehension of network-level consequences resulting from disruptive events is a main gray area in the evaluation of transportation network resilience at the regional level. Explaining...


The heart is mainly composed of myocytes, blood vessels and collagen interstitial matrix. When these factors are in equilibrium they contribute towards the maintenance of the heart's form and function. Heart growth after birth mainly occurs through hypertrophy of the cardiomyocyte and the proliferation of interstitial components. This occurs because cardiomyocytes lose their ability to perform complete mitosis resulting in the absence of cell hyperplasia. Cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, the most efficient mechanism for heart compensation in an overload context, makes adequate heart performance to systemic metabolic demands. In spite of the benefits provided by physical activity, the sedentary lifestyle is a risk factor to approximately 60% of the population in big cities. A fast increase in the number of obese people has been reported during the last decades and obesity turned out to be a public health problem. The present research investigates the occurrences of heart hypertrophy caused by physical exercises and in sedentary and obesity cases


We discuss the problem of symmetry, namely of the orientation of the logical consequence, represented by the sequent sign in sequent calculus. We show that the problem is surprisingly entangled with the problem of "being infinite". We present a model based on quantum states and we show that the requirements of Matte Blanco's symmetric mode are satisfied. We briefly discuss the model for symmetry to include correlations, in order to obtain a possible approach to displacement. In this setting, we find a possible reading of the structural rules of sequent calculus, whose role in computation, on one side, and in the representation of human reasoning, on the other, has been debated for a long time.


A low-voltage phase-locked-loop (PLL) circuit with a supply-noise-compensated feedforward ring voltage-controlled oscillator (FRVCO) is demonstrated. The oscillation frequency fluctuation due to supply noise is compensated by adjusting the ratio of driving strength in feedforward and direct paths in FRVCO. A prototype 400-MHz PLL circuit operating at 0.65 V is fabricated with 180-nm standard CMOS process. Measurement results show that supply-noise compensation is successfully achieved. Our PLL consumes only 242.1 μW.


The degree of a based graph is the number of essential nonbasepoint vertices after generic perturbation. Hatcher--Vogtmann's degree theorem states that the subcomplex of Auter space of graphs of degree at most d is (d-1)-connected. We extend the definition of degree to the simplicial closure of Auter space and prove a version of Hatcher--Vogtmann's result in this context.


Abstract Predicted Differences on 1187 Alpine, 323 LaMancha, 1358 Nubian, 489 Saanen, and 615 Toggenburg bucks for milk yield, milk fat yield, and milk fat percentage were analyzed for state and regional differences. There were significant breed, state, and breed by state effects for Predicted Difference milk and fat. Spearman rank correlations on state and on region averages, and on buck values, generally were positive and highly significant for Predicted Difference milk with Predicted Difference fat. Rank correlations for Predicted Difference fat with Predicted Difference percentage were often positive and for Predicted Difference milk with Predicted Difference percentage were consistently negative.


Background : The mechanism for regional vulnerability to thoracic aortic aneurysm is poorly understood. Bicuspid aortic valve with distal ascending aortic aneurysm (BAV/ DAscAA) is the most common heritable aneurysm condition with a strong male bias. Unlike Marfan syndrome (MFS), which is characterized by aortic root aneurysm, little is known about the genetic and mechanistic causes of BAV/ DAscAA although rare cases have been attributed to haplo-insufficiency in NOTCH1. In a mouse model of MFS, calcium channel blocker (CCB) exposure shifts vulnerability to the DAscAA in an ERK1/2-, AT1R-, and PKC-dependent manner. Methods : We applied ascending aortic RNA-sequencing to identify gene expression changes that occur in tight temporal sequence with conditional provocations including CCB exposure with or without concomitant rescue upon ERK1/2 antagonism. Candidate pathways and downstream mechanistic hypotheses were interrogated with targeted pharmacologic and/or genetic manipulations. Results : Pathway analysis revealed enrichment of differentially expressed genes in the NOTCH or androgen receptor


To use a 3D numerical MHD experiment representing magnetic flux emerging into an open field region as a background field for tracing charged particles. The interaction between the two flux systems generates a localised current sheet where MHD reconnection takes place. We investigate how efficiently the reconnection region accelerates charged particles and what kind of energy distribution they acquire. The particle tracing is done numerically using the Guiding Center Approximation on individual data sets from the numerical MHD experiment. We derive particle and implied photon distribution functions having power law forms, and look at the impact patterns of particles hitting the photosphere. We find that particles reach energies far in excess of those seen in observations of solar flares. However the structure of the impact region in the photosphere gives a good representation of the topological structure of the magnetic field.


In this paper, according to the time series theory and the term life insurance of fixed insurance amount, a mathematical model of single premium of term life insurance under stochastic interest is established, and the example analysis illustrates the significant rationality of this model under fixed interest.


The effectiveness and contribution of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax is one means that can measure how far the contribution of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax to Regional Tax Revenues is and also how far the level of achievement of tax collection by local governments regarding Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax is because regional tax revenues are very important. to build an area. This study aims to determine how big the contribution of Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax to Regional Tax Revenue of DKI Jakarta Province. And to determine how much effectiveness the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax in DKI Jakarta Province is. This study is using a qualitative method. Based on the calculation of the effectiveness of Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax receipts for 2016-2020, it has increased but has decreased. The contribution of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax to Regional Tax Revenues for 2016-2020 is still lacking but the achievements each year have increased and decreased. From this explanation, the results of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax in 2016-2020 are very effective and still do not contribute to the regional tax revenue of DKI Jakarta Province.


This paper presents a method for grading fruits and vegetables by means of using RGB-D (RGB and depth) images and convolutional neural network (CNN). Here, we focus on grading according to the size of objects. First, the method transforms positions of pixels in RGB image so that the center of the object in 3D space is placed at the position equidistant from the focal point by means of using the corresponding depth image. Then, with the transformed RGB images involving equidistant objects, the method uses CNN for learning to classify the objects or fruits and vegetables in the images for grading according to the size, where the CNN is structured for achieving both size sensitivity for grading and shift invariance for reducing position error involved in images. By means of numerical experiments, we show the effectiveness and the analysis of the present method.


Research was conducted to examine physical and biological factors which affect the establishment and forest structure of mangrove community and to understand the patterns of past and present mangrove distribution.


This study investigates the influence of operating parameters (current density, detention time and time of electrolysis) on COD and color removals from a simulated basic dyebath effluent using electrocoagulation (EC) with iron electrodes in continuous flow mode. Till today, researchers are mainly focused on use of EC systems in batch processes. Looking to large quantities of wastewater from textile Industry, continuous flow regime may offer a better solution. Firstly, the operational parameters including current density (j), detention time (DT) and time of electrolysis were optimized. Then, total electric work (E) and sacrificial weight of anode were calculated under optimum conditions. The size of electrode plate (5cm*5cm*0.5cm, 124cm 2 ) was kept constant for all sets of experiments. Our results indicated that for a solution of 300mg/L basic red dye 5001 B, almost 76% COD and 95% color were removed, when the pH was about 9, the DT was 20 min and the j was 14-17 mA/cm 2 . Pseudo steady-state was achieved after passing 60 minutes of current in the solution. In addition, the result of our study indicates that when the j and DT was increased above optimum level, charge reversal and surface saturation was occur due to the excessive addition of coagulant.


Asian soybean rust (ASR) causes a significant reduction of yield in soybean, causing billions of dollars of damage annually on one of the world's most important crops [1]. Application of fungicides is critical in many geographies today to consistently achieve optimal crop yields. Crop protection fungicides are routinely evaluated with field trials in multiple geographies under a broad range of environmental conditions [2]. While this field trial data is critical to understanding the efficacy and spectrum of a fungicidal molecule, microscopic studies allow for a much deeper understanding of the action of the molecule at the cellular level.


This article continues the rejection of certain myths about the right to life at the end of life commenced in an article in the previous issue of the journal Clinical Ethics. It focuses upon ethical arguments that seek to exclude two categories of human beings from the usual protection of human life: those described as 'non-persons' and those 'designated for death'. The article argues that, while the protection offered to life by means of the right to life is far from absolute, the right remains applicable to all human beings, irrespective of their life expectancy or mental capacity.


The friction and wear behavior of vinylester composites filled with uniformly sized micron and submicron cenosphere particles is discussed in this paper. Three distinct uniform size cenosphere particles (2 µm, 900 nm and 400 nm in diameter) were prepared in the laboratory. The experiments have been carried on a pin on disc arrangement at normal room temperature conditions. In this study, a plan of experiments, based on the Taguchi design technique, has been used to acquire data in a controlled way. An orthogonal array L27 (313) and analysis of variance have been applied to investigate the influence of process parameters on the coefficient of friction and sliding wear behavior of these composites under dry sliding condition. It was found that the submicron size particulates as fillers contributed significantly to improve the wear resistance of the vinylester composites. Scanning electron microscopy has been used to investigate the interaction between filler and matrix and various wear mechanisms involved.


Bone disorder is a common abnormality in most of the human kind. This emerges with mild stiffness and later ends up with joint immobility. X-rays are the most commonly used means of visualizing the joint, but at times ultrasound and MRI are also used. The methods can be classified into invasive methods and non-invasive methods. Invasive methods are generally done through image studies which do not furnish information regarding the early disorders in bone joints and on the other hand study procedures are painful to the subjects. This work deals with a non-invasive method of early diagnosis of bone disorders. The VAG signals acquired on the surface of the suspicious bone joint are analysed using LabVIEW software which yields information regarding the bone disorders. The study can be extended for early diagnosis of bone disorders.


The growing demand for food associated with rising population has necessitated the increased need for fertilization. But too much reliance on chemical fertilization has led to various environmental hazards as well as the cost of chemical fertilizers is becoming unaffordable for the farmers. Thus in order to make farming system more sustainable, some means are to be evolved to reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, in particular the nitrogen fertilizers. Legume has long been known for their unique ability to enrich the soil through biological nitrogen fixing system in symbiotic association with rhizobial strains.


This article describes how the proteomic data were produced on sunflower plants subjected to water deficit. Twenty-four sunflower genotypes were selected to represent genetic diversity within cultivated sunflower. They included both inbred lines and their hybrids Water deficit was applied to plants in pots at the vegetative stage using the high-throughput phenotyping platform Heliaphen. Here, we provide proteomic data from sunflower leaves corresponding to the identification of 3062 proteins and the quantification of 1211 of them in these 24 genotypes grown in two watering conditions. These data differentiate both treatment and the different genotypes and constitute a valuable resource to the community to study adaptation of crops to drought and the molecular basis of heterosis.


Background Previous study shows that estrogen exerts both immunosuppressive and immunostimulative effects. Methods In this study, estrogen was added to a Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection model, and transcriptome sequencing and metabolomics studies were performed to clarify the changes in circular RNA (circRNA) and metabolic pathways regulated by the addition of estrogen. Results The results showed that following the addition of estrogen to the gonococcal infection model, the expression of circRNAs was up-regulated and the expression of circRNAs was down-regulated. In the metabolic group, it was found that after the addition of estrogen, the expression of nine metabolites was down-regulated and 61 metabolites were up-regulated. Furthermore, through network interaction analysis of differentially-expressed circRNAs and differentially-expressed metabolites, we found that the top 10 significantly related metabolites and circRNA were 2-Epoxybutane/novel_circ_0024520; 1,2-Epoxybutane/novel_circ_0061793; 2-Imino-4-methylpiperidine/novel_circ_0012178; 2-Imino-4-methylpiperidine/novel_circ_0056959; Acetone oxime/novel_circ_0012178; Adifoline/novel_circ_0012178; CARBETAPENTANE/novel_circ_0054387; CARBETAPENTANE/novel_circ_0056959; deoxy-PF1140/mmu_circ_0000397; and Methyl (2E,6Z)-dodecadienoate/novel_circ_0012178. Among these, CARBETAPENTANE/novel_circ_0054387 and CARBETAPENTANE/novel_circ_0056959 were positively correlated, while the remaining metabolites were negatively correlated. Conclusions In this study, high-throughput sequencing and metabolomics mass spectrum were applied to screen the differentially-expressed circRNAs and metabolites regulated by estrogen, which will help to provide new research ideas and indicators for asymptomatic infections in women, and can be meaningful for the relevant study in the future.


Teaching "beans" was carried out at an elementary school with 460 children in Osaka City. With that as the focus, the deployment of teaching food was summarized and the results were examined.1) Quizzes were accepted with interest by the children and considered effective in teaching many children.2) The first year of teaching increased the degree of children's recognition of bean names and nutritional values. Children also came to eat beans as part of their school lunch more than before the teaching. So the second year's goal was to have the children eat beans at home.3) In teaching food, a relationship with the home is necessary to carry out in practice what children have learned. It is important to create an interactive relationship between the school and the home.4) Through the experience of cooking beans, both children and their parents changed their image of beans from "Cooking beans is difficult" to "Cooking beans is easy". Teaching traditional foods and how to eat them is one of the most important roles of teaching food.5) Teaching food at the elementary school is based on the three colors of food groups and started with school lunches. Children received the handouts of beans used for school lunches and understood the nutritional values of soybeans by the three colors of food groups.


G. H., a railway carter, aged 55, was wheeling a hand truck carrying 7 cwt. of goods in October, 1922, when he felt a sharp pain behind the sternum and over the heart but not down the arms. For half an hour he felt short of breath and had to sit down, and attempts to breathe " punished him like a knife." After this he felt practically normal, but reported the inicident, according to instructions. He went to work next day, feeling sore before the heairt and in the chest, and with a sharp pain now and again when he was lifting heavy weights. He was sent, against his wish, as he wanted to work, to see the company's surgeon, who found nothing wrong, but thinking of the possibility of heart strain advised that the man be sent on to see me. I fouind systolic blood pressure 150. There was no albumin or sugar, and no arterio-sclerosis; the heart was practically normal, rate 90 standing, no sign of aneurysm. An electro-cardiograph record was taken, but it showed nothing abnormal. The seat of the pain and its nature and mode of onset certainly suggested the likelihood of strain of the heart from sudden overexertion, but I thought it might be due to strain of a skeletal muscle and of the triangularis sterni. As the man was very anxious to get back to work we accepted this view, but put him back on a lighter job, and he kept perfectly well until he hald an attack of encephalitis in February, 1924; from this he recovered.


Apart from a few comparative surveys focusing on the largest companies, there are no content analyses of the codes of conduct of German companies. Due to country-specific differences in the legal, economic, and cultural environment, results of content analyses can hardly be transferred from one country to another. Refining existing coding schemes to include upcoming topics, like privacy consideration, but also code enforcement and implementation, we analyze the content, patterns, and anteceding background factors. Our findings indicate that while codes are very common nowadays, there are substantial differences in the degree to which codes address specific topics and functions. We find a single underlying dimension: the intensity of regulation. Codes are most elaborate in terms of what actors are supposed to do, while issues like guidance and enforcement are dealt with in less detail. Endorsement of the code by the top management is also quite low. As for background factors like sector and stock market segment, we find that regulatory intensity differs in line with stock market segment, which is not a proxy for company size but rather for the presence of companies in the public and regarding the code's role, e.g., the preservation of a company's image. Our study contributes to the literature by examining codes' content of the largest German listed companies, which allows for both, international level comparisons and comparisons over time. In addition, we modified and disclosed a frequently used coding scheme that can be used for future research. Finally, we contribute to the business practice by generating a basis for benchmarking their code and giving recommendations for reconsidering their content and design.


This paper is a presentation of the results of the third stage of a project designed to investigate the incidence and causes of postwar building cycles in the British economy. In the first stage spectral analysis was used to identify the main postwar cycles in each sector of building (industrial, commercial, and residential); the second stage involved the development of a theoretical framework suitable for dynamic modelling of these cycles; and the third stage was concerned with estimating the best time-series model for each cycle. The estimated models demonstrate the presence of both an endogenous supply-side mechanism creating major building cycles of up to nine years' duration, and the exogenous influence of business-cycle fluctuations within user and investment submarkets which are transmitted via the demand for property into short building cycles of four to five years duration. In addition, the models demonstrate how the building cycle in each sector may be influenced by other factors, such as development costs and property rents and values.


Optometry & Vision Development When I first wrote a letter to Dr. Oliver Sacks explaining that I had been esotropic since infancy but had gained stereovision in midlife, he encouraged me to seek out and talk with other cross-eyed individuals. This was the last thing I wanted to do. My three childhood surgeries had made my eyes look almost straight, and I did not want to associate with other cross-eyed people and be reminded of the way I used to look. A year later, Dr. Sacks published my story titled "Stereo Sue" in the New Yorker1 and one week later I was interviewed on NPR's Morning Edition.2 Within an hour of the first airing of the radio program, twenty emails specifically from people with strabismus and amblyopia appeared in my Inbox. By the end of the week, the number of messages approached one hundred and a steady stream has persisted ever since. My email address had not been made public, but these individuals had found me anyway. The frustrations, concerns, and desire for better vision expressed in these emails inspired me to find out more about my correspondents, to learn more about binocular disorders, and to write Fixing My Gaze.3 Among the many messages sent to me were emails from other adults who gained stereovision by participating in an optometric vision therapy program. From our various perspectives as patients, we considered just what is required for a successful vision therapy program. Several principles emerged that apply to rehabilitation in general and optometric vision therapy in particular. Throughout our lives, my email correspondents and I had developed certain ways of seeing, such as fixating with one eye and turning in the other. These habits were so entrenched that we did not know how to break them. In order to learn to see in a new way, we had to be made aware of the way that we saw and then, with great attention and conscious effort, change the way we moved our eyes. Vision therapy tools provided us with the feedback to do just that. Only after we attained a more informative and more efficient way of seeing did the new visual habits replace the old. One friend who had deprivation amblyopia from a congenital cataract wrote the following: Every procedure required my intense, focused, concentration. For months, I couldn't handle doing the work when another student was in the clinic, couldn't have a conversation, etc. ... I can't believe in some ways -now looking back on it how extraordinarily difficult it was for me, physically, psychologically, temporally, etc. But what a result, what a benefit.


Background: Stunting is a condition that occurs as a result of a defective growth process. It may remain unnoticed in some children, with the diagnosis made as late as during adolescence. The accurate diagnosis of stunting is mainly done by physical examination, including the assessment of anthropometric parameters, while etiological explorations may require deeper and more complex investigations such as radiological and hormonal or endocrinal analyses. The various etiologies described in the literature may vary from nutritional, hormonal, pathological to psychological factors. A number of determinants of stunting in children have equally been documented, but they may vary from one context to another according to environmental factors. The effective management of stunting generally relies on the treatment of the underlying causes and the prevention of risk factors. Our objective was to determine the factors associated with stunting in school children living in an urban community of Yaounde, Cameroon. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was carried out on primary and secondary school children aged from 8 to 15 years, between January and June 2015. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were made to identify risk factors and eventually predictive factors. Results: The study involved 1442 children of which 79 presented stature delay. After bivariate analysis, the risk factors associated with stunting were: the presence of chronic pathological conditions (p=0.03), low socioeconomic level (p=0.0022), poor or limited diet (p=0.03), delayed puberty (p=0), and children "living with their mothers only" (p=0.02). After multivariate analysis, low socioeconomic level (OR=4.2; CI=1.7-10.3), children "living with their mother only" (OR=0.2; CI=0.6-0.8), and delayed puberty (OR=12.6; CI=4.9-31.8) persisted as independent predictive factors. Conclusion: Common risk factors such as chronic pathologies, low socioeconomic level, poor or limited diet and delayed puberty which are generally incriminated by various researches were verified in this survey. Delayed puberty was the most strongly associated factor, followed by "low socioeconomic level" and children "living with their mothers only", which appeared as predictive factors as well. Nevertheless, children "living with their mothers only" were protected from stunting. Therefore, improvement of socioeconomic standards, food quality, prevention of chronic pathologies and delayed puberty may help to reduce stunting in such children. While mothers' presence for nurturing and affective attention is necessary.


Observation of the changes produced in donor-acceptor pair cathodiluminescence emission intensities of as-grown, cadmium fired and sulphur fired cadmium sulphide samples by electron radiation damage allows an estimate to be made of the initial donor concentration present and of the fraction of pairs excited. This analysis also shows that an increase in the donor or acceptor concentration need not necessarily result in an enhancement of the donor-acceptor pair luminescence emission intensity and, under certain circumstances, could lead to a reduction in emission intensity. The observations presented provide confirmation of the effect.


WARTIME supply problems and the use of substitute materials have greatly complicated the work of fat and oil technologists, and more than 400 attended the 18th fail meeting of the American Oil Chemists' Society staged last month in the Hotel La Salle, Chicago, to hear and discuss the new problems which are disturbing the industry. Papers were read on new analytical methods, problems in soap and glycerin processing, antioxidants, and general fat and oil technology. The four-day meeting was called to order by Klare S. Markley, chief of the Oil, Fat, and Protein Division, Southern Regional Research Laboratory, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Synergy has been part of the chemist's nomenclature for a long time, but it is only recently that he has been making industrial use of this phenomenon. It is defined as the "opposite of antagonism". It is noted when a chemical substance is introduced into a compound or mixture and when this ...


Abstract In this paper we introduce a new functional invariant of discrete time dynamical systems—the so-called t-entropy. The main result is that this t-entropy is the Legendre dual functional to the logarithm of the spectral radius of the weighted shift operator on L1(X,m) generated by the dynamical system. This result is called the variational principle and is similar to the classical variational principle for the topological pressure.


Additive manufacturing is the most famous technology which requires materials or composites to be fabricated with layer by layer deposition strategy. Due to its lower cost, higher accuracy and less material wastage; this technology is used in almost every sector. But in many applications there is a need to alter the properties of a product in a certain direction with the help of some reinforcements. With the use of reinforcements, composite layers can be fabricated using additive manufacturing technique which will enhance the directional properties. A novel apparatus is designed to spray the reinforcement material into the printed structures in a very neat and precise manner. This spray nozzle is fully automated, which works according to tool-paths generated by slicing software. The alternate deposition of layers of reinforcement and build materials helped to fabricate customized composite products.

The objective of present study is to design and analyze the working principle of novel technique which has been developed to fabricate composite materials using additive manufacturing. The apparatus is numerically controlled by computer according to CAD data which facilitates the deposition of alternate layers of reinforcement and matrix material. The major challenges during the design process and function of each component has been explored.

The design process is initiated after comprehensive literature review performed to study previous composite manufacturing processes. The recent patents published by different patent offices of the world are studied in detail and analysis has been used to design a low cost composite fabrication apparatus. A liquid dispensing device comprises a storage tank attached with a pump and microprocessor. The microprocessor receives the signal from the computer as per tool paths generated by slicing software which decides the spray of reinforcements on polymer layers. The spraying apparatus moves in coordination with the primary nozzle of the Fused Filament Fabrication process.

The hybridization of Fused Filament Fabrication [process with metal spray process has been successfully performed. The apparatus facilitates the fabrication of low cost composite materials along with flexibility of complete customization of composite manufacturing process. The anisotropic behaviour of products can be easily controlled and managed during fabrication which can be used for different applications.