Objective To investigate the frequencies of the allele and genotype of MTHFR C677T between Hui and Han Population in Ningxia.Methods Restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) and direct DNA sequencing were used to detect the genetic genotype.The genetic polymorphism distribution of MTHFR C677T between the 146 Hui nationalities and 169 Han nationalities in Ningxia were compared.Results The genotype frequencies of MTHFR C677T in Han population were C/C 20.4%,C/T 54.5%,T/T 24.8% and in Hui population were C/C 8.2%,88.4%,3.4% respectively.The genotype frequencies of male and female in Hui were 7.1%,88.6%,4.3%;9.2%,88.2%,2.6% respectively.And the genotype frequencies of male and female in Han were 26.0%,46.3%,27.7%;17.4%,59.1%,23.5%,respectively.Conclusion There is a significant difference between Ningxia Han and Hui in genetic polymorphism distribution of the MTHFR C677T(P0.05).And there is not a significant difference between male and female both in Ningxia Hui and Han of genetic polymorphism distribution of the MTHFR C677T(P0.05).


field experiment was carried out at Ras Suder Research Station (located at 29o 32' 28" N and 32o 39' 25'' E) throughout two seasons, i.e., 2014 and 2015 (saline soil of 8.56 dS m -1 , soil paste extract) and irrigated with water of 7.94 dS m -1 on quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, cv. Utosaya) using organic manure, mineral N-fertilization and foliar spry with humic and ascorbic acids. Growth, yield and nutrient uptake parameters increased with increasing N fertilizer, application of humic acid and spraying with ascorbic acid. Treatments with organic manure gave yield values greater than without manure by 9.0, 7.3, 8.9 and 9.4% for plant height, number of branches per plant, 1000-seed weight per plant and total seed yield. The combination of 48 mg organic manure ha -1 + 240 kg N ha -1 with spraying with humic acid solution of 600 mg L -1 + ascorbic acid solution of 1000 mg L -1


In this paper, the properties of the extraordinary mode and surface plasmon modes in the three-dimensional (3D) magnetized plasma photonic crystals (MPPCs) with face-centered-cubic lattices that are composed of the core tellurium (Te) spheres with surrounded by the homogeneous magnetized plasma shells inserted in the air, are theoretically investigated in detail by the plane wave expansion method, as the magneto-optical Voigt effects of magnetized plasma are considered (the incidence electromagnetic wave vector is perpendicular to the external magnetic field at any time). The optical switching or wavelength division multiplexer can be realized by the proposed 3D MPPCs. Our analyses demonstrate that the complete photonic band gaps (PBGs) and two flatbands regions for the extraordinary mode can be observed obviously. PBGs can be tuned by the radius of core Te sphere, the plasma density and the external magnetic field. The flatbands regions are determined by the existence of surface plasmon modes. Numerical simulations also show that if the thickness of magnetized plasma shell is larger than a threshold value, the band structures of the extraordinary mode will be similar to those obtained from the same structure containing the pure magnetized plasma spheres. In this case, the band structures also will not be affected by the inserted core spheres. It is also provided that the upper edges of two flatbands regions will not depend on the topology of lattice. However, the frequencies of lower edges of two flatbands regions will be convergent to the different constants for different lattices, as the thickness of magnetized plasma shell is close to zero.


It is of great importance to test and evaluate the on-road energy use characteristics and its impact factors of the new energy vehicles to support the industrial policies and national energy saving and emission control strategy making. This research have collected 180,000 km high frequent travel data of 30 new energy vehicle samples belonging to 4 typical models, building the database of travel characteristics and energy consumption. The energy use characteristics and its impact analysis of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles are done in terms of trip chain and short trip perspective. The results show that, the trip chains of electric vehicles mainly distribute between 60~90 km, which has large probability to travel in low speed with AC on in downtown and the mileage anxiety exists; for the plug-in, they could cover daily city travel averagely but, all the conditions should be advantaged to enlarge the mileage ratio of electrified range to reach the current type-approval fuel economy.


In this paper we present a new model-based feature matching method for an object recognition system. The actual matching takes place on a 2D image space by comparing a projected image of a 3D model with a sensor-extracted image of an actual target. The proposed method can be used with images generated by a wide variety of both camera and radar sensors, but we focus our attention on camera images with some discussions on synthetic aperture radar images. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated only using point features. An extension to include region features should require some but not major revisions to the main structure of the proposed method. The method contains three phases to complete the target recognition process. The inputs to the method are a model projected image, a sensor-extracted image, an estimated current pose of the sensor with respect to a reference coordinate frame, and the Jacobian function associated with the estimated current sensor pose which relates 3D target features with 2D image features. The first stage uses geometric information of the target model to limit the number of possible corresponding feature sets, the second stage generates a set of possible sensor pose changes by solving a set of optimization problems, and the final stage finds the `best' change of sensor pose out of all possible ones. This change of sensor pose is added to the current sensor pose to form a new sensor location and orientation. The revised pose can then be used to reproject the model features and subsequently compute a compatibility measure between the model-projected and sensor-extracted images: this quantifies the reliability of the desired target recognition. In this paper we describe each of the three steps of the method and provide experimental results to demonstrate its validity.


Wepresent a software image processing methodology to generate complementary gray-scale images for visual perception experiments examining the interaction between the spatial localization and orientation sensitivity of visual perception. Specifically, our system is able to selectively mask or unmask specific resolutions, positions, and/or orientations of an input gray-level image using Gabor wavelet decomposition. The resulting representations are then combined to obtain partially reconstructed images for novel psychophysical experimentations.


In order to model the long-term durability and reliability of SiC-based, clay-bonded ceramic candle filters at complex service environments, it is first necessary to understand the mechanisms responsible for their failure in a manner that is scientifically and technologically tractable, i.e.-through experiments at the laboratory scale. In this work, the strength and fracture behavior of commercial SiC- based candle filter material were studied. The effect of thermal cycling between 150°C and 400°C on the strength and fracture toughness of the material was investigated. The behavior of as received material was used as reference for room temperature hoop and tensile strengths and for high temperature tensile stress-strain response. The microstructure and fracture surfaces of the test specimens were characterized using conventional techniques. It was found that thermal cycling increased both the tensile hoop and tensile axial strength of the material. It was also found that thermal cycling modified the path of crack propagation between the binder phase and the SiC -grains.


It has previously been shown that reducing sugars are frequently excreted in the urine by mature and premature newborn babies (Haworth and McCredie, 1956; Haworth and MacDonald, 1957). Other workers, using paper chromatographic methods, have also found small amounts of sugars in the urines of children and usually higher concentrations of lactose and galactose in urines from young babies (Woolf, 1951; Apthorp, 1957; Bickel, 1959). Coant, Glowacki and Reardon (1959) found a high urinary excretion rate of sugars by premature babies which could be correlated with the amount of lactose in the feedings. This paper describes further observations on sugars in the urine and blood of newborn babies and older children following the oral ingestion of different disaccharides.


The characteristics of non-genotoxic phenolic compound-induced rat forestomach carcinogenesis were analysed. The incidence of forestomach lesions did not increase with BHA pretreatment, but was elevated when BHA or caffeic acid was administered after N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) initiation in the 2-step rat forestomach carcinogenesis model. Induction of forestomach tumors was also strongly enhanced by BHA given together with genotoxic carcinogens such as methylnitrosourea (MNU), 3, 2'-dimethyl-4-aminobiphenyl (DMAB) or 2, 2'-dihydroxy-di-n-propyl-nitrosamine (DHPN) as compared to with these carcinogens alone. DNA synthesis in the forestomach epithelium increased within 12 hr to 3 days after commencement of chemical treatment in all cases. Toxicity (inflammation and erosion or ulceration) and cell proliferation became evident subsequent to increase in DNA synthesis in each case. Elevated expression of c-for and c-myc oncogenes in the forestomach epithelium was demontrated 15 min after beginning treatment with BHA, caffeic acid or 4-methoxyphenol. In a reversibility study, although most of the proliferative lesions in the forestomach epithelium induced by these antioxidants regressed after cessation of chemical treatment, some dysplastic lesions were still observed at week 48. The results indicated that these non-genotoxic phenolic compounds possess strong promoting activity, primarily acting as mitogens in rat forestomach epithelium, with regeneration due to toxicity further enhancing cell proliferation. During this continuous elevation of cell turnover, dysplastic lesions appear which persist and presumably play a role in the eventual development of forestomach carcinomas.


The power cycling test is an important method to study the reliability of IGBT module. In order to solve the problem that traditional power cycling test simulation load is too idealistically, we proposed an improved power cycling test simulation based on the traditional power cycling test simulation considering the anode spike voltage during turn off process and the voltage drop of MOSFET and PNP transistors device in the process of conducting. In addition, using ANSYS simulation software for simulate the both power cycling test, we get the temperature field distribution of the IGBT module by the two power cycling simulation. Considering the transient characteristics during the IGBT turn-off process, so that the loads in improved power cycling test simulation more realistic, therefore a more accurate simulation result than traditional test. Nearly 10% lower than the highest temperature of the temperature field of conventional power cycling test. This simulation provides a more accurate theory for the power cycling test in the IGBT applications.


Dr. PA Nikiforov presented three cases of knee cap fracture, of which two extra-articular were treated conservatively, and one - promptly. Conservative treatment consisted in fixing the fragments with adhesive tape strips and a cotton gauze roller with leg extension with a moderate weight.


How do we define Black politics conceptually? What is the conceptual jurisdiction from which it is framed as distinct from other political concepts? The concept of Black politics, I argue, operates as a force of refusal of the inevitability of liberalism as the 'end of history.' It repudiates what liberal politics routinely represents as pacific, universal, rational and inclusive to the field of politics. The concept of Black politics, then, is an anamorphic signifier that destabilises dominant conceptions of liberal politics as inevitable. I make two arguments in this article: first, that liberalism is an anaemic singularity that excludes the imperial and racial assemblages in which it is implicated, and second, that the concept of Black politics is anamorphic in so far as it creates the possibility for emancipation that transcends this liberal obligation in its imperial and racial assemblages.


This paper deals with the influence of biological preparations of Mikosan-B and Phytosporin and growth regulator Emistim C on the phytosanitary state of agrobiocenosis of purple echinacea. Mikosan-V had the highest effectiveness in protecting against the disease. It reduced the development of Churchosporosis by 26% and ensured an increase in the extraction of raw material of the above-ground mass by 24%, and the roots — by 26% compared with control


Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the hypolipidaemic and antioxidant activities of leaves of Phlogacanthus thyrsiflorus, Oxalis corniculata L. and Fragaria vesca. Methods:Ethanolic extracts were prepared by percolation method and acute oral toxicity tests were performed according to recent OECD guidelines. Hyperlipidaemia was induced in rats by giving high fat diet consisting of coconut oil and vanaspati ghee, in a ratio of 2 : 3 v/v at a dose of 10 ml/Kg body weight. The extracts were given at a dose of 500mg/kgbody weight. Lipid profile, MDA, CAT and SOD were measured using standard methods. Results: The extracts showed a significant decrease in total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL and MDA in blood. On the other hand, HDL, CAT and SOD were increased significantly. EELOC was found to be most effective in decreasing total Cholesterol, Triglycerides and LDL and increasing HDL levels. MDA was reduced maximally by EELOC, while CAT and SOD was increased maximally by EELFV and EELPT respectively. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that the leaf extracts of Phlogacanthus thyrsiflorus, Oxalis corniculata L. and Fragaria vesca decreases blood lipid levels and lipid peroxidation.


You Only Look Once (YOLO) is a single-stage object detection model popular for real-time object detection, accuracy, and speed. This paper investigates the YOLOv5 model to identify cattle in the yards. The current solution to cattle identification includes radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags. The problem occurs when the RFID tag is lost or damaged. A biometric solution identifies the cattle and helps to assign the lost or damaged tag or replace the RFID-based system. Muzzle patterns in cattle are unique biometric solutions like a fingerprint in humans. This paper aims to present our recent research in utilizing five popular object detection models, looking at the architecture of YOLOv5, investigating the performance of eight backbones with the YOLOv5 model, and the influence of mosaic augmentation in YOLOv5 by experimental results on the available cattle muzzle images. Finally, we concluded with the excellent potential of using YOLOv5 in automatic cattle identification. Our experiments show YOLOv5 with transformer performed best with mean Average Precision (mAP)_0.5 (the average of AP when the IoU is greater than 50%) of 0.995, and mAP_0.5:0.95 (the average of AP from 50% to 95% IoU with an interval of 5%) of 0.9366. In addition, our experiments show the increase in accuracy of the model by using mosaic augmentation in all backbones used in our experiments. Moreover, we can also detect cattle with partial muzzle images.


Objective To set up a method for the determination of the concentration of dexamethasone sodium phosphate in perilymph and blood plasma of guinea pigs. Methods HPLC was used for the determination of the content of dexamethasone sodium phosphate in the samples of perilymph and blood plasma after intracardiac injection of the drug .HPLC conditions: A ZORBAX Eclipse XDB-C_18 column (4.6 mm×250 mm,5 μm)served as the stationary phase,the mobile phase was 7.56 mmol·L~-1 ammonium sulfate- acetonitrile (70∶30) , with a flow rate of 1.0 mL·min~-1; the column temperature was 20℃, the wavelength for detection, 239 nm. Results The calibration curve of dexamethasone sodium phosphate was linear within the concentration range of 0.05-4.80 mg·L~-1(r=0.999 8), the lower limit of detection was 6.25 μg·L~-1, the intra-day and inter-days RSD were 1.7% and 2.3%. One hour after the administration of the drug, the concentrations of dexamethasone sodium phosphate were 0.08 mg·L~-1 and 2.77 mg·L~-1 in the perilymph and blood plasma ,respectively. Conclusion The method was shown to be sensitive, accurate and well reproducible ,it can thus be used for the determination of the concentration of dexamethasone sodium phosphate in perilymph and blood plasma. Our results also suggest that systemic medication of the drug is not a suitable method for the treatment of diseases of the inner ear. Other routes for the administration of the drug, therefore, should be sought.


The invention relates to a preparation method of a zinc oxide antireflection film for a transparent aluminum oxide ceramic. The preparation method comprises the following steps: adopting a common transparent aluminum oxide ceramic, zinc acetate (Zn(CH3COO)2.2H2O) with the purity higher than 99%, diethanol amine (C4H11NO2) and ethanol (CH3CH2OH) as raw materials, taking the transparent aluminum oxide ceramic as a substrate, regulating parameters such as annealing temperature, annealing time and zinc ion concentration, and adopting a sol-gel method to prepare the zinc oxide antireflection film. The novel transparent aluminum oxide ceramic which is plated with the zinc oxide antireflection film has higher light transmittance, excellent interface bonding, can be used as a sodium lamp discharge tube, and can be widely used for the field of illumination, so as to greatly improve the energy utilization ratio and largely increase the added value of the transparent aluminum oxide ceramic product. Compared with the international like products, the novel transparent aluminum oxide ceramic has better competitiveness.


The mistaken identity of 1,3-bis (1-naphthyl)-5-(2-naphthyl) benzene (1,3α-5β TNB throughout the article) for 1,3,5-tris (1-naphthyl) benzene (TαNB throughout the article) is acknowledged and viscosities and recoverable creep compliances above Tg for the real TαNB are reported. In addition, semicontinuous creep measurements have been carried out below Tg while time dependent structural changes occurred as the material drifted towards an equilibrium state, following temperature decreases ("down jump") and increases ("up jump"). With this new measurement scheme, the evolution of both viscosity and recoverable creep compliance can be followed during the isothermal and isobaric drifts toward equilibrium. Since the steady state creep compliance of TαNB is nearly independent of temperature in the temperature range from 61.8 to 72.4 °C, the recoverable compliance curves did not change shape with changes in temperature; i.e., thermorheologically simple behavior was observed.


Abstract: Supermassive black holes were utilized in the early universe to eliminate redundant -H bosons after their use in transferring +mass fermions from the previous universe. The large initial masses of the holes later decreased as some of the +mass transferred was captured by the negative intrinsic mass H bosons, leaving previously active galaxies with smaller or no central black holes


The authors conducted an experiment to investigate factors that could influence the tensile strength of scarf-jointed poplar veneer.They made several kinds of scarf-joints differing in scarf length and angle.The behavior of those scarf-jointed veneers under a load was observed.The relation between veneer tensile strength and scarf length and angle,were then analyzed.


Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is recognized as the "gold standard" for biophotonic simulation, capturing all relevant physics and material properties at the perceived cost of high computing demands. Tetrahedral-mesh-based MC simulations particularly are attractive due to the ability to refine the mesh at will to conform to complicated geometries or user-defined resolution requirements. Since no approximations of material or light-source properties are required, MC methods are applicable to the broadest set of biophotonic simulation problems. MC methods also have other implementation features including inherent parallelism, and permit a continuously-variable quality-runtime tradeoff. We demonstrate here a complete MC-based prospective fluence dose evaluation system for interstitial PDT to generate dose-volume histograms on a tetrahedral mesh geometry description. To our knowledge, this is the first such system for general interstitial photodynamic therapy employing MC methods and is therefore applicable to a very broad cross-section of anatomy and material properties. We demonstrate that evaluation of dose-volume histograms is an effective variance-reduction scheme in its own right which greatly reduces the number of packets required and hence runtime required to achieve acceptable result confidence. We conclude that MC methods are feasible for general PDT treatment evaluation and planning, and considerably less costly than widely believed.


Expansions of functions in series of Chebyshev polynomials are frequently used in numerical analysis. The coefficients occurring in the expansion are definite integrals; the purpose of this paper is to investigate numerical integration formulae for the coefficients of highest degree of precision.


This paper presents a IPM based SRD system, which achieves some advantages: such as safety reliability and simple design. It focus on the analysis of varies operation modes of single IPM based SRD system, studying the intention of design process in detail: including freewheeling procession, transferring, and operating states of clockwise and anticlockwise rotation condition, it offers reference for designer to select devices of the main circuit and decrease the project exploiting time. The theoretical analysis is verified by experimental results.


The reading and understanding of source code is a necessary prerequisite for prospective programmers to write their own code. Thus, a reasonable task is to determine certain concepts like class identifiers in a given source code. In order to automatically evaluate the responses, they must be quantified. Hence, it is vital to have reliable and valid methods of measurement. In this paper we apply different means of measurement on constructed examples and compare them. Cohen's κ seems to be an adequate measure.


The article presents the results of measurements regarding the impact of the MHT9002HV tracked harvester on surface deformations and changing the physical parameters of the soil of three operational trails. The measurements were made in the terrain with a longitudinal slope of up to 14.9° (33.2%) and a transverse slope of up to 8.8° (17.9%). Spruce deadwood trees in mountain forest habitats were harvested. Static Eijkelkamp Penetrologger 0615SA and dynamic own design penetrometer were used to measure penetration resistance, soil samples were taken to determine bulk density, moisture content, and ground deformations on the trails were measured with a laser profilometer. A statistically significant increase in soil penetration resistance measured with penetrometers occurred for trails in the left rut at a depth of 16–20 cm. The change in the bulk density and moisture content proved statistically insignificant. The maximum ground deformation on the trails reached an average of 5.9 cm. The selection of a machine with low unit pressures (33 kPa), under the given favorable atmospheric conditions (there was a high temperature reaching 35 °C), with low soil moisture, protective organic layer of high thickness, and post-limbing residues, was optimal. The comparison of the results of the compactness measurements made with different penetrometers shows that the values obtained for the static penetrometer 0615SA are lower than those of the dynamic penetrometer of our own design. This is due to the lack of registration of high compactness in the memory of the 0615SA device. In the case of the impact penetrometer measurement, this problem does not occur, however, the presented solution does not allow performing a large number of measurements, and data processing in the case of such a simple solution is tedious. There is a need to develop a new penetrometer useful for determining soil compaction under similar difficult measurement conditions.


INTRODUCTION
The city of Villeurbanne has made the political choice to reduce social inequalities in health (SIH). The Public Health Department wanted to assess the health impact in the context of this project. The main objective was to analyse the links between urban development and health in order to identify the impact of the urban project on health and to make recommendations to reduce physical inactivity of children. Attention was focused on a neighbourhood of 6,000 inhabitants in the process of urban renewal. A high rate of adults on antidiabetic treatment was observed in this relatively deprived neighbourhood. School medicine also noted a high proportion of overweight children in schools in the neighbourhood, higher than in all schools of the city. The objective of this HIA was therefore to identify the impact of the renovation project on children's mobility and to make recommendations in order to combat their physical inactivity by encouraging spontaneous physical activity.

METHODS
The selected determinants were grouped into four categories: outdoor environment, use of open spaces, adapted sports facilities/equipment, roads. The evaluation was based on analysis of urban planning documents, environmental analysis reports, ad hoc surveys, individual interviews with the various partners and target actors. A bibliographic review confirmed the positive or negative impacts of various aspects of the project on health.

RESULTS
Although some aspects of the project had a positive impact on the health of the inhabitants, others have a negative impact on children's mobility, well-being and social capital. About 30 recommendations were proposed and prioritized according to their political support and their technical, economic and temporal feasibility.

DISCUSSION
The HIA created a dynamic cross-working between sectors other than health and provided an opportunity to educate and inform stakeholders on different concepts and their roles in promoting positive health behaviours. The HIA, as a tool to promote health, contributes to implementation of strategies designed to transform living conditions responsible for social inequalities in health.


The Helminthosporium leaf blight, caused by Exserohilum turcicum, is one of the main spots that attacks corn crop in Southern Brazil. This disease causes considerable economic losses on this crop, especially when the attack begins before the flowering period. The aim of this research was to elaborate and validate a diagrammatic scale to evaluate the severity of the Helminthosporium leaf blight in corn. Corn leaves with symptoms of the disease were collected for measuring the real severity and defining the maximum and minimum limits, as well as the intermediate levels and the logarithmic increments, according to Weber-Fechner's stimulus-response law. The elaborated scale suggested seven severity levels: 0,5; 1,0; 2,5; 6,5; 15,5; 30,0 and 54,0%. The validation was performed by six persons without previous experience to quantify this disease. The severity of 30 leaves with different levels of symptoms was estimated, with and without the help of the scale. The use of the diagrammatic scale resulted in better accuracy and precision in the estimates, being a tool for quick and easy use, which can be adopted to assist in the severity evaluation of the Helminthosporium leaf blight in corn.


Predictive Factors of Drug Court Completion for Female Participants by Shannon Shaw Jordan, LCSW-C, LICSW MSW, Saint Louis University, 2000 BSW, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1995 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Human Services Walden University November 2019 Abstract Women comprise one of the fastest growing populations of the criminal justice system, yet little research exists concerning the success of these women completing a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. Trauma theory was applied to inform the variables in this quantitative correlational study. The predictive nature of age, educational level, marital status, violent criminal history, and mental health problems for women were examined in relation to completion of a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. A convenience sample from secondary, archival data was obtained from a criminal justice agency in Washington, DC. The dataset included women who participated in the program between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014. Logistic regression models were used to predict the likelihood of whether these women completed drug court and determine which independent variables were likely to increase or decrease the probability of program completion. Results of the study failed to yield statistically significant relationships between the variables examined. However, the findings indicate possible relationships between marriage and drug court completion, and postsecondary education and drug court completion, which require additional research. Implications for positive social change are drawn for other criminal justice agencies, drug courts, and administrators for enhancing program delivery and reducing women's recidivism.Women comprise one of the fastest growing populations of the criminal justice system, yet little research exists concerning the success of these women completing a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. Trauma theory was applied to inform the variables in this quantitative correlational study. The predictive nature of age, educational level, marital status, violent criminal history, and mental health problems for women were examined in relation to completion of a coed pretrial drug court diversion program. A convenience sample from secondary, archival data was obtained from a criminal justice agency in Washington, DC. The dataset included women who participated in the program between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2014. Logistic regression models were used to predict the likelihood of whether these women completed drug court and determine which independent variables were likely to increase or decrease the probability of program completion. Results of the study failed to yield statistically significant relationships between the variables examined. However, the findings indicate possible relationships between marriage and drug court completion, and postsecondary education and drug court completion, which require additional research. Implications for positive social change are drawn for other criminal justice agencies, drug courts, and administrators for enhancing program delivery and reducing women's recidivism. Predictive Factors of Drug Court Completion for Female Participants by Shannon Shaw Jordan, LCSW-C, LICSW MSW, Saint Louis University, 2000 BSW, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1995 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Human Services Walden University November 2019 Dedication I dedicate this work to my beloved mother, the late Linda G. Shaw. Thank you for guiding and watching over me. I thank you for teaching me humility, perseverance, and confidence. To my father, James E. Shaw, Sr., who has shown me the importance of education and family. To my dear mother-in-law and father-in-law who both passed away during this journey. Thank you for your continuous encouragement and love. Lastly, I want to thank my incredible husband, Christopher P. Jordan, Sr., who stood by me so that I could achieve this amazing goal. I would not and could not have accomplished this without you! I am fortunate. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Tracy Jackson and Dr. Jeffrey Harlow. A special thanks goes to Dr. Jackson for her relentless encouragement, support, and patience during this journey. You are the epitome of awesomeness and I am grateful to have had you as my committee chair. To my "Methods Man" Dr. Harlow, thank you for listening and sharing your knowledge. I admire your commitment to education. I would also like to thank all of my family and friends who helped me reach this academic achievement. Ra'Nijah, "Trey," Avah, and Chris Jr., always remember: "The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet" (Aristole). Next, I would like to thank the Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia for entrusting me with their records to conduct this research, and to the Office of Policy and Planning for your assistance with gathering data. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my "sisters," Sonya, Myriam, Angela, Ubax, Kathy, Diane, and Dr. Juanita for believing in me.


The Armenian intellectual community of Russia realized the positive aspects of Russian and Armenian peoples' mutual influence, united by common social and political destiny. V. Teryan, K. Mikaelyan, P. Makintsyan and their colleagues – prominent writers and strong advocates of Armenia's pro-Russian orientation and productive development of Russian-Armenian cultural links, actively participated in the creation and publication of a unique anthology «The Poetry of Armenia», edited by V. Brusov, in Moscow in 1916.


The GSK-980T CNC system does not have the offsetting function of tool radius.The turning of the piece with the conical or circular facet would result in over-gouging or under-gouging affected by the radius of the knifepoint. Corresponding measures can guarantee the accuracy of processing in the precious contour processing.This paper makes a detailed analysis of the causes of over-gouging and under-gouging,proposes a solution for this problem and exemplifies the comprehensive programming,tool position and other methods in accurate contour turning.


This work would not have been possible without the rich resources of the Illinois State Museum and the curatorial and research expertise of their staff. Modern dental calculus was obtained under informed consent. The authors would like to thank Roger Seiler for his assistance with collecting modern dental calculus. Genetic data are available in the NCBI Short Read Archive (SRA) under the BioProject accession PRJNA293758 (SRA accession SRA291772). Citations available upon request. Acknowledgments Figure 1: (A) Location of Norris Farms #36 in Illinois; (B) Dental calculus on a NF tooth; (C) Layout of burials within NF, yellow indicates individuals with both dentine and calculus examined, red is only calculus, blue is only dentine. Until recently, ancient DNA research necessitated the destruction of skeletal material in order to extract human genetic information. The destruction of human remains has raised a number of ethical and cultural concerns for researchers and native communities alike. Research to date has shown calcified dental plaque (dental calculus) as being an excellent reservoir for microbial and dietary biomolecules. However, no research has shown it to be a viable resource for host DNA. Here we compare human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) preservation from both dental calculus and dentine by way of high-throughput mitogenomic enrichment sequencing. Material from eight individuals (Figure 1) from Norris Farms #36, a Mississippian period Oneota cemetery in Illinois dating back to 700BP, underwent analysis.


Two experiments were conducted to study the performance of 3- and 5-wk-weaned pigs fed creep or starter diets of differing complexity. In experiment 1, 36 litters, adjusted to seven or eight pigs per litter, were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments: no creep feed or ad libitum access to a feed of a simple, semi-complex or complex formulation during the pre-weaning period from 10 days of age until weaning at 3 wk of age. After weaning, pigs were paired by weight, within litters and treatments and each pair randomly allotted to one of the three diets. The post-weaning feeding period was from 3 to 7 wk of age. In experiment 2 the same creep and starter treatments as were used in experiment 1 were fed to 48 litters from 2 to 5 wk of age. After weaning, litter sizes were adjusted to seven or eight pigs and four litters from each pre-weaning treatment were allotted to each of the diets from 5 to 8 wk of age. In both experiments, creep feed intake was low for all three diets and though more of the compl...


The eighteenth century - farm implements before industrialization the rise of agricultural engineering: 1790-1850 the age of steam in farming: 1850-1914 the twentieth century: 1914-1945.


Spatial heterogeneity of ecological variables is recognized as an important stabilizing factor for ecosystem function, but has proved to be a difficult concept to characterize in quantitative, operational terms. In the sea, however, chlorophyll concentration can be estimated by a continuous in vivo measurement, and used to describe the spatial structure of phytoplankton populations in terms of a variance spectrum in either wavenumber or frequency space. In this paper a theoretical represent ation is proposed, from dimensional considerations, of the variance spectrum of phytoplankton abundance in which the critical parameters are the net rate of reproduction of the phytoplankton r and rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy e. The resulting spectrum is shown to have two distinct regions separated by a third boundary region centered about a wavenumber k, = (r"IE)~. (For typical upper ocean values of r and E, k,-, e,; 1 km). For wavenumbers k >> k, , the chlorophyll variance spectrum E~(k) is proportional to k----,,13, not unlike that for a passive scalar like temperature , but for wavenumbers k << k,, it is predicted that E~(k) o: k-• Finally several spectra derived from observations in the upper ocean are shown to be consistent with the proposed kspectrum.


The invention discloses a method for intelligently controlling the pressure difference of a cement raw meal vertical mill. In the method, internal pressure difference of the mill is taken as a major controlled variable, external circulating current is taken as an auxiliary controlled variable, a feeding amount is taken as a major control variable, and a water spray amount is taken as an auxiliarycontrol variable. The method comprises the following steps of: judging a current production condition according to the internal pressure difference of the mill and external circulating current information with a production rule method; and under the normal working condition, controlling the internal pressure difference of the mill by adopting GPC-PID (Generalized Predictive Control-Proportion Integration Differentiation). In the method, a mathematic model for describing the change of the pressure difference along with the feeding amount can be established only by using input and output data of a process without analyzing the complex material milling process of the raw meal vertical mill, the identifying process is simple, and online identification is available; the method has certain adaptability to the change of the production condition; and the advantages of multistep prediction, rolling optimization and feedback correction of a GPC algorithm as well as the advantages of easiness and high robustness of a PID algorithm are fully utilized, so that the labor intensity of field operating personnel is lowered greatly.


T he emerging capability to observe and organize matter at the atomic level has captured the attention of government, the science and engineering communities, and the general public. Huge allocations of financial and personnel resources are now being poured into ventures of research, exploration, and development with the hope that nanoscience will provide the knowledge and skills required to achieve precise manipulation and control over matter. Applications projected for this new technology span a broad range, from the design and fabrication of new membranes, to


We show that the well-known Routhian procedure of ignoring cyclic coordinates is far more than a tool for obtaining equations of motion of reduced order in a Lagrangian form. A transformation is introduced that involves a number of arbitrary functions or additional parameters in the system while preserving the Routhian equations of motion. Although these parameters invoke new physical effects in the transformed system, the solution of the latter is always obtained in a simple way from that of the original system. In particular, from any integrable system with k cyclic degrees of freedom we obtain a family of systems integrable on a fixed level of the cyclic integrals and physically generalizing that system through the inclusion of k arbitrary functions that depend only on the noncyclic coordinates. In many problems of physical interest, a general integrable case can also be generalized to an integrable case for arbitrary initial conditions. The method is applied to some problems of rigid body dynamics. Four new integrable problems are obtained as generalizations of known cases by including certain additional combinations of gravitational and electromagnetic forces. The new cases are presented in an explicit way that enables direct verification of the constancy of the integrals using the equations of motion. Explicit time solution of the new cases is discussed. Physical interpretation is given for two cases.


Abstract: Anti-enzyme antibodies can be utilized for various purposes. They have been used for single step immunoaffinity purification of enzymes and for their immobilization. Both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies have been employed in the immobilization of enzymes. The resulting immobilized enzymes exhibit almost full activity and enhanced stability. Antibodies raised against the peptides corresponding to the labile region of enzymes can be used to prepare affinity supports that bind and selectively confer enhanced stability to them. Antibodies can facilitate folding and prevent aggregation of protein antigens. This chaperone-like antibody activity may prove to be a promising approach to the treatment of Alzheimer's and prion-related diseases. The antibodies have immense therapeutic potential and are being utilized to treat various diseases. This review aims at giving an overview on the stabilization of enzymes by antibodies and the therapeutic potential of the anti-enzyme antibodies. Keywords : Enzymes; Antibodies; Stabilization; Therapeutic potential.


A simulation experiment was conducted to assess the performance of the generalized estimating equations (GEE) approximated cluster Cook's Distance relative to its fully-iterated exact version. Specific interest was in the eect of clusterdeletion on the overall fit of a model for the marginal mean and on the overall fit of a model for the marginal association, in the context of alternating logistic regressions (ALR). The experiment demonstrated that one-step approximated cluster Cook's Distance statistics successfully identify clusters having the greatest influence, as measured by their fully iterated exact counterparts. The regression diagnostic identified the cluster with the greatest influence on the fit of the marginal association model 88% of the time. The cluster with the greatest influence on the fit of the marginal mean model was identified 60% of the time, and the probability of detection increased with increasing size of the diagnostic. Cook's Distance statistics for GEE and recently proposed analogous measures for ALR are useful for the analysis of clustered binary data. Performance of One-Step Approximation Relative to Exact Cluster Cook's Distance for GEE John S. Preisser, Kunthel By, and Bahjat F. Qaqish Department of Biostatistics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Summary Abstract A simulation experiment was conducted to assess the performance of the generalized estimating equations (GEE) approximated cluster Cook's Distance relative to its fully-iterated exact version. Specific interest was in the effect of cluster-deletion on the overall fit of a model for the marginal mean and on the overall fit of a model for the marginal association, in the context of alternating logistic regressions (ALR). The experiment demonstrated that one-step approximated cluster Cook's Distance statistics successfully identify clusters having the greatest influence, as measured by their fully iterated exact counterparts. The regression diagnostic identified the cluster with the greatest influence on the fit of the marginal association model 88% of the time. The cluster with the greatest influence on the fit of the marginal mean model was identified 60% of the time, and the probability of detection increased with increasing size of the diagnostic. Cook's Distance statistics for GEE and recently proposed analogous measures for ALR are useful for the analysis of clustered binary data.


Oliver Clark talks to GVK Power and Infrastructure L:imited chairman, Sanjay Reddy, about his company's plans to modernise its airports in India and further afield.


Spin kinetics in $n$-type InAs quantum wells under intense terahertz laser fields is investigated by developing fully microscopic kinetic spin Bloch equations via the Floquet-Markov theory and the nonequilibrium Green's function approach, with all the relevant scattering, such as the electron-impurity, electron-phonon, and electron-electron Coulomb scattering explicitly included. We find that a finite steady-state terahertz spin polarization induced by the terahertz laser field, first predicted by Cheng and Wu [Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 032107 (2005)] in the absence of dissipation, exists even in the presence of all the scattering. We further discuss the effects of the terahertz laser fields on the spin relaxation and the steady-state spin polarization. It is found that the terahertz laser fields can strongly affect the spin relaxation via hot-electron effect and the terahertz-field-induced effective magnetic field in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. The two effects compete with each other, giving rise to nonmonotonic dependence of the spin-relaxation time as well as the amplitude of the steady-state spin polarization on the terahertz field strength and frequency. The terahertz field dependences of these quantities are investigated for various impurity densities, lattice temperatures, and strengths of the spin-orbit coupling. Finally, the importance of the electron-electron Coulomb scattering on spin kinetics is also addressed.


'Male Voices' describes a diverse group of Australian boys and men actively engaging in making music. The book discusses how these males may need to overcome societal resistance and stereotypical images to pursue music but, when they achieve this, music makes a powerful, joyful difference to their lives. This volume brings together leading thinkers and practitioners in the field - from the conductor of the award-winning, mould-breaking Birralee Blokes, Paul Holley who comments on the phenomenal success of his choir, through to Scott Harrison and Robert Smith who bring research into adolescent participation and Indigenous music-making respectively.


The electric dipole moments of the complexes π-LFe(CO)4, where L =trans-PhCHCHCOCH3, trans-PhCHCHCOPh, trans-PhCHCHCHO, CH2HCHO, and CH2CHCN, have been determined. It is found that the ligand plane is never parallel to the axis of the trigonal bipyramid. The ligand CO group in the carbonyl derivatives is slightly out of the CCC plane. The structure of the acrylonitrile complex in solution is the same as that found for the solid from X-ray studies. The ketone iigands have the same conformation in the complex as in the free ligand. The aldehyde ligands. present only as the s-trans-conformer in the free state, form both isomers when bonded to the metal. The enthalpy variation for the conformational equilibrium s-cis⇄s-trans for the aldehyde complexes has been ca culated from i.r. data, and an assignment of the CO stretchings has been proposed.


A field experiment was conducted in a factorial randomized block design during the rainy (kharif) season of 2013 at Pantnagar, Uttrakhand, to study the influence of different planting geometry and weed-management practices on weed and crop dynamics in direct seeded aerobic rice (Oryza sativa L.). Continuous drilling at 20 cm with pendimethalin as pre-and bispyribac-Na as post emergence herbicide supplemented with 1 hand-weeding 45 days after sowing provided excellent results. Echinochloa colona (2.04 +0.71) recorded the maximum summed dominance ratio. Among the planting geometries, continuous drilling at 20 cm and among weed-control practices, pendimethalin (1, 000 g a.i./ha) + bispyribac-Na (25 g a.i./ha) + 1-hand-weeding 45 days after sowing (DAS) provided the higher weed-control efficiency (87.4%), productivity (4.79 t/ha) and net benefit (40, 633/ha).


Abstract : The last two years have seen an extraordinary growth of interest in photovoltaic (PV) cells made from organic conducting polymers. Such attention stems primarily from the prospect of using organic materials in manufacturing ultra thin, flexible devices. Polymeric photovoltaic cells also present a tantalizing possibility for producing coatings that function as sunlight-harvesting paints or even for developing fabrics to produce electricity from sunlight. The U.S. Navy developed an interest in electroactive polymeric research because of these specific potential applications for such devices and the materials from which they are based. The Office of Naval Research is currently probing new opportunities to convert energy into useful power sources, motivated by its interest in the development of an electric Navy for future years. The technical objectives for this Trident Scholar project were the synthesis and characterization of high conductivity, high optical transparency conducting polymer films that incorporate 3,4-ethylenedixoythiophene (EDOT) monomers. Initially, the EDOT derivative 2,3-dihydrothieno3,4-B1,4dioxin-2-yl methanol was synthesized via a multi-step process starting from diethyl 3,4-dihydroxythiophene-2,5-dicarboxylate. Triphenylamine and oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) units were also synthesized to be employed as light-harvesting groups.


A study of the history and function of oral tradition in Kiribati. Aspects of the study include the value of oral traditions - myths, legends, genealogical lists, spells, chants, and all oral materials connected with the transmission and preservation of the past for posterity - in extending the history of Kiribati beyond European contact from the point of view of the island chroniclers.


The sensitive period for successful treatment of strabismic amblyopia is thought to be over after the age of 6 to 8 years.' However, there are several reports that document an improvement in vision in the amblyopic eye in adulthood after loss of vision in the non-amblyopic eye.2' Experimental studies in adult monkeys show a significant improvement in visual function following enucleation of the fixing eye.5 In human strabismic amblyopia there are no data available about whether enucleation of the previously fixing eye after severe visual loss will further increase visual acuity. We report a case where a two step recovery of vision in an eye with strabismic amblyopia occurred


Objective The present study aimed to explore the clinical significance of neutrophils infiltration and carcinoembryonic antigen related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) expression in the tongue squamous cell carcinoma (TSCC), and to probe the possible relationship between them. Materials and Methods Tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry were used to detect neutrophils density and CEACAM1 expression in 74 cases of primary TSCC specimens and 17 cases of corresponding peritumoral tissues. The relationship of CEACAM1 expression and neutrophils density with clinicopathologic parameters and cancer-related survival of TSCC patients were evaluated. The correlation between CEACAM1 expression and neutrophils density was also evaluated. Real-time quantitative transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to explore the possible molecular mechanisms between CEACAM1 expression and neutrophils infiltration. Results Immunohistochemistry evaluation revealed that there was more neutrophils infiltration in TSCC tissues than in peritumoral tissues. High neutrophil density was associated with LN metastasis (P = 0.01), higher clinical stage (P = 0.037) and tumor recurrence (P = 0.024). CEACAM1 overexpression was also associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.000) and higher clinical stage (P = 0.001). Survival analysis revealed that both neutrophils infiltration and CEACAM1 overexpression were associated with poorer cancer-related survival of TSCC patients (P<0.05), and neutrophils infiltration was an independent prognostic factor for TSCC (P<0.05). Furthermore, overexpression of CEACAM1 was correlated with more neutrophils infiltration in TSCC tissues (P<0.01). qRT-PCR results showed that CEACAM1-4L can upregulate the mRNA expression of IL-8 and CXCL-6, which were strong chemotactic factors of neutrophils. Conclusion Our results demonstrated that more neutrophils infiltration and overexpression of CEACAM1 were associated with poor clinical outcomes in TSCC tissues. Overexpression of CEACAM1 on tumor cells correlated with more neutrophils infiltration to some extent through upregulating mRNA expression of IL-8 and CXCL-6.


In the chemical industry, product composition is one of the most important quality indicators and it is usually employed as a feedback signal for process control. This is particularly so when batch processes are concerned, since they are usually employed to obtain high value-added products. However, conventional techniques used to obtain direct measurements of this process variable (e.g. gas-chromatography, spectroscopy, analysis of refractive index, density, or dielectric constant) provide delayed or inaccurate measurements, and imply high investment and maintenance costs. In order to avoid these drawbacks, inferential estimators (or soft sensors) can be used to obtain an estimate of product composition, using a model of the process to be controlled and some information retained by secondary process variables, which are more easily and less expensively measured on-line, and with a negligible time delay. When a first-principle process model cannot be implemented on line, artificial neural networks (ANN's) have shown to provide an attractive alternative to describe the behavior of the process.


This dissertation is an historical study of the German book trade in the early decades of the nineteenth century. In this period, German states passed authorial rights reforms that prompted energet ...


In order to describe kinetic differences between isothermal and anisothermal fermentations, a study using an automatic device for monitoring fermentation was conducted. Isothermal alcoholic fermentations were compared with anisothermal fermentations reaching the same final temperature. In most cases, the rate at the end of the fermentation was faster under anisothermal conditions. This phenomenon appeared to be influenced by several parameters, particularly the assimilable nitrogen content of the must. However, in some cases, the fermentation rate decreased dramatically after the activation was noticed because of the adverse effect of loss of cell viability. Some practical consequences of these observations are discussed.


a. analysis of health-related empirical data Tests such as sit-ups and push-ups The studies produced normative data on different ages of children. b. Sit and Reach · Interpret & Improve In the standard push-up test, you push your body weight using muscles in your arms, Normative data for the push-up and modified push-up are based on a population that is 20 years of age and older. normative data on a battery of tests. of cardiorespiratory function, (b & c) bent-knee timed sit—ups and sit-and-reach test, teered to collect normative data.


Abstract For given sets D and B of vectors of linear spaces over a finite field of dimensions n and T, respectively, and a random T × n matrix A over this field, we consider the distribution of the number of vectors satisfying the system of relations x ∈ D, Ax ∈ B (that is, the number of solutions of the random linear inclusion Ax ∈ B belonging to the set D). The conditions of convergence of this distribution, as n, T → ∞, to the simple and compound Poisson distributions are given. These conditions require that the distribution of the matrix A converge to the uniform distribution and at least one of the sets D and B satisfy the condition which is called here the condition of asymptotic freedom from linear combinations. These results generalise the known limit theorems on the number of special solutions of a system of random linear equations. In particular, they give a possibility to describe the asymptotic behaviour of the number of approximate solutions of a priori solvable systems.


Learning takes place as an act, process or experiences of gaining knowledge or skills about a topic. Androgagy has become the study of how adults learn in our modern society. This knowledge can only help the information technology educator understand their students and help assist in preparing both faculty and students for a better classroom experience. Knowles has taken some general adult learning theory and created the study of andragogy - the study of how adults learn. Knowles' theory of andragogy is his attempt to develop a theory for all adult learners. He points out that adults tend to be self-directed and expect to take responsibility for decisions. Education programs need to accommodate these fundamental aspects.
 Andragogy has as a main theme the model of self-directed learning. Knowles' theory states that adult learners are independent, self-directed learners and that adults expect to be held accountable for their learning. Originally Knowles defined four underlying assumptions for adult learners. This has since been changed to five underlying assumptions. These are 1) adult learners need to know the importance of a subject and its relevancy before undertaking to learn it; 2) adult learners are self-directed learners and want to be treated as capable of self-direction; 3) adult learners bring a variety of life experiences that represent the foundation for learning; 4) adult learners are ready to learn those things most relevant to their employment or personal lives; and 5) adult learners are more goal-oriented and want education to be clearly defined with achievable goals.
 As educators teach in the information age, adult learners play an important role in the future of education. IT educators need to learn about these adult learners, and how best to structure the classroom to allow adult learners to succeed fully.
 Studies in how adults learn have been carried out by Brookfield and McEvoy - for general adult learning, and Malcolm Knowles for the study of andragogy - from the Greek adult learning.
 Brookfield lists six principles of facilitation for adult learners. These are: 1) voluntary participation, 2) respect for participants self worth, 3) collaboration, 4) praxix, 5) critical reflection, and 6) nurture of self directed, empowered adults.
 McEvoy defines: adult learners 1) are not beginners, but are in a continual state of growth; 2) bring with them a package of experiences and values, each one unique; 3) come to education with intentions; 4) bring expectations about the learning process; 5) have competing interests, the realities of their lives; and 6) already have their own set patterns of learning.
 As IT educator, we need to be more aware of how our adult students learn, and be able to adjust our teaching styles accordingly.


One of the significant contributors to credit access in Malaysia is the moneylenders, currently known as community credit companies. The governing law, the Moneylenders Act 1951 (MLA), has undergone a series of amendments with the objective of improving the regulation of the moneylending business as well as enhancing borrowers' protection. However, rigorous analysis needs to be carried out to evaluate the extent of borrowers' protection under this law after these amendments. Thus, this research aims to explore and discuss the protection afforded to borrowers under the current Moneylenders Act 1951 (MLA) based on the international framework of financial consumer protection. This research adopted the doctrinal research approach as a systematic means of legal reasoning, analysing the legal propositions and instrumentalisations from both primary and secondary sources. The research employed content analysis approach whereby the relevant laws and regulations were rigorously scrutinised. The results of the study revealed that the legislation has provided various protections to borrowers, which have been classified into three primary categories: licensing regime, fair treatment, and transparency and disclosure. Findings from this study will assist in identifying the loopholes and weaknesses in providing comprehensive legal protection to the borrowers in Malaysia.


Exposures of Proterozoic crust in Alaska are rare; however, isotopic data from younger rocks derived from unexposed basement suggest that Proterozoic (or older) crust may underlie large areas of northern Alaska. Late Proterozoic orthogneisses, Late Proterozoic to Cambrian metasedimentary rocks, and Devonian granitic orthogneisses in the western Brooks Range have Nd-and Sr-isotope compositions consistent with derivation, at least in part, from Middle to Early Proterozoic crust. Proterozoic metasedimentary rocks have calculated Nd crustal residence ages of 2.0 Ga and are intruded by Late Proterozoic metagranites with somewhat more radiogenic initial isotopic compositions than the metasedimentary rocks at the time of intrusion. Initial isotopic compositions of Devonian metagranitic rocks range from $$\epsilon_{Nd} = -6.5 to 1.6$$. The least radiogenic values are compatible with nearly pure crustal melts of a source with isotopic composition similar to what exposed Proterozoic crust, as sampled by the metasedimentary rocks and Late Proterozoic metagranites, would have had at 370 Ma. The range of observed isotopic compositions may be explained by mixing mantle-derived magmas, or melts of juvenile crust, with melts of Proterozoic crust in varying proportions. Nd isotope systematics of the Late Proterozoic metasedimentary rocks are identical to reported values from Early Proterozoic metaplutonic rocks in the Idono Complex and Kilbuck terrane in SW Alaska, and to clastic sedimentary rocks from the Belt Supergroup in Montana. Isotopic compositions of sampled metagranitic and metasedimentary rocks are not compatible with derivation exclusively from crust with the age and isotope characteristics of the Yukon-Tanana terrane. Very limited isotopic data from other continental domains within North America leave open the possibility of affinity with crust exposed in NW Canada, the Canadian Arctic Islands, or the NW Canadian Cordillera.


Return-path discontinuity of an edge-mount SubMiniature version A (SMA) launch structure in multilayer boards, widely used in high-frequency fixtures and boards, is analyzed, and a simple equation to quantitatively estimate the frequency bandwidth without signal distortions is proposed. The proposed equations are experimentally validated for various physical dimensions, and a simple circuit model is demonstrated to take the return-path discontinuity into account in the channel simulations. In addition, based on the understanding of the return current discontinuity, quantitative design guides are drawn and a technique using an edge plating to enhance the bandwidth up to 50 GHz is demonstrated


Abstract Rehabilitated mine sites are suitable environments for the study of primary ecological succession. Plant and Orthoptera communities were simultaneously monitored for 4 years on 7 sites in the Limousin region (France), covering 9 years of rehabilitation. Insect and plant diversity varied in parallel when top soil had been restored. Absence of added soil did not modify the course of insect succession but had a clear effect on plant succession. For broom heaths, both insect density and diversity decreased from the second year on; although, several Tettigoniidae species settled in this habitat. In herbaceous habitats, insect density grows continually whereas diversity peaks at about the third year. In these habitats, multivariate analysis shows three Orthopteran seres which can be used as ecological markers of succession course.


Gabapentin granules obtained by granulating with a PEG having a melting point of 50 to 80 ° C. gabapentin and pharmaceutical compositions containing the granulated product.


The crack occurs after the boiler has worked fo r a year with a pressure of 9 8 MPa at 540 ℃. With macroscopic inspection, SED , metallographic examination, chemical composition and mechanical performance te sting. The results showed that the tube was made of 20G steel, but not of 12Cr1M oVG steel that was planned. The creep performance of 20G steel is worse than 12C r1MoVG. There were overheating in the tube working. When the steel had worked at high temperature, the creep of tube was accelerated and mechanical performance was descended. In the end the tube was forepart creep cracked.


In recording five students' business experiences,this article aims to analyze the characteristics and differences of starting a business by college grdauates.It also explores four types of problems in present college education,which include business awareness education,psychological education of starting a business,skills education and knowledge structure of enterprise education.To effectively start a business,it is necessary to rely on the resources and practice environment of technical college.


The article covers the main stages of Bloch's biography regarding his reflection on religion and hope. Deeply dominated by what he calls «the melancholy of fulfillment», Bloch insists on the «latencies and potentials» of reality. Man is «something which has yet to be discovered». He is a being in hope, creative and utopic, who has not yet found his full identity. Bloch calls him homo absconditus, someone who intrepidly seeks «the homeland of identity» without ever reaching it. Evil and negativity are a permanent threat. Bloch perceived this evil in the two world wars he experienced. The main enemy of hope is death, to which Bloch devotes selected pages. Death is what turns hope into «hope in mourning», that is, precarious, uncertain hope. Bloch compares this hope to Christian trust which, sure of achieving its object, has no knowledge of the category «danger». Two metaphysical questions preside over Blochian philosophy: the «to where» and the «for what» of reality.


We investigated the changes of volatile flavor components from Codonopsis lanceolata, which were packed in woven polypropylene(WP) film or low density polyethylene(LDPE) film and stored for 15 and 30 days at refrigerated(2~4℃) or room(18~20℃) temperature. A hundred and sixty seven volatile flavor components in fhe fresh C. lanceolata were identified by GC/MS analysis. When determining the flavor components from C. lanceolata cultivated on a wild hill and stored at 4 conditions for 30days, six volatile component such as 1-hexadecene, 2,6-dimethyl-2-octano, 2-methyl-2-dodecanol, a-guaiene, δ-cadinene and trans-2-hexen-1-ol were detected as common component of all stored samples, and The types of common flavor components of C. lanceolata were different according to storage conditions. The numbers were 16 from refrigerated, 7 from room temperature stored, and 10 components from WP or LOPE packed conditions, respectively. The total peak area ratio of the major 10 compounds were 52.0~86.8%, and the percentage of trans-2-hexen-1-ol, which was the only common compound among the major 10 components, was the highest as 26.4~68.1%. The major flavor profile, describe by highly trained panel, were green, aldehydic, earthy and camphoreous. As the result from sensory evaluation, the freshness of C. lanceolata was maintained better by controlling storage temperature rather than selection of package materials. The best condition for characteristic flavor of C. lanceolata was packing with LDPE and chilling.


Fluorine-doped carbon enables the tuning of electron distribution, providing positively charged carbon sites with enhanced N2 adsorption and subsequent electroreduction.


The invention discloses a fixing rod for preparing a cylindrical graphite heater and a manufacture method of the heater. The fixing rod for preparing the cylindrical graphite heater comprises a cylindrical body with two end surfaces and a side surface, wherein a plurality of grooves are arranged on the side surface of the cylindrical body, the circumferential annular grooves are uniformly distributed in the axial direction, the width of each groove is 1-5cm, the depth of each groove is 1-2mm, and the grooves occupy one third to three fourths of the surface area of the side surface of the cylindrical body. With the adoption of the fixing rod for preparing the cylindrical graphite heater, a center shaft of a cylindrical raw material is coincided with a center shaft of the fixing rod, and the cylindrical raw material is firmly adhered to the fixing rod.


A vehicle data acquisition analysis system comprises a vehicle-mounted terminal unit, a data acquisition-transmission unit and a server unit, wherein the vehicle-mounted terminal unit measures the comprehensive data of vehicle driving, and the data acquisition-transmission unit receives the data transmitted from the vehicle-mounted terminal unit at fixed time and transmits the data to the server unit for analysis treatment, thus providing the vehicle data acquisition analysis system with low power consumption, less cost and stable properties.


The embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for analyzing identity hubs. Specifically, the user connects to the identity hub, captures the initial collection of data records, creates and / or edits the identity hub configuration locally, and includes entity analysis tools, data analysis tools, bucket analysis tools, and chains. Through a collection of analysis tools, including analysis tools, the configuration can be analyzed and / or validated and the valid configuration can be remotely deployed to the identity hub instance. In some embodiments, via a graphical user interface, these analysis tools allow users to identify identity hubs in real time while the identity hub is operating to ensure data quality and enhance system performance. Allows analysis and modification of the configuration.


Disclosed is a coating method for a vehicle shift fork. In particular, an amorphous coating layer is formed on a pad part of the vehicle shift fork by using high velocity oxygen fuel spraying (HVOF) method. Also disclosed is a shift fork with an amorphous coating layer formed by the coating method. The coating method for a vehicle shift fork comprises: preparing a Fe-Cr-Mo-based composition such as a powder; pretreating the shift fork by washing a pad part of the shift fork to remove impurities; forming a coating layer on the pad part using the Fe-Cr-Mo-based powder by high velocity oxygen fuel spraying (HVOF) method; and cooling the coating layer at a rate of about 106 to about 108 K/s to form an amorphous coating layer.


An autostereoscopic 3D display can be viewed without the need for any special glasses or other headgear. This paper describes a multi-view autostereoscopic 3D display, developed at the University of Cambridge, and initial investigations into the feasibility of this device in laparoscopic surgery. The outcomes of these investigations are a plausible design for a 10mm diameter autostereoscopic laparoscope and a prototype of this design. The paper considers the challenges of this new technology as applied to laparoscopy, and assesses the bene ts and costs of autostereoscopic 3D display with respect to conventional 2D TV display.


In this paper we investigate fault tolerance and dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) in hard real time systems. We present two low-complexity fault-aware scheduling algorithms that combine feasibility analysis of rate monotonic algorithm (RMA) schedules and DVS-based frequency scaling using exact characterization of RMA algorithm. These algorithms lay the foundation for highly efficient online schemes that minimize energy consumption by adapting DVS policies to runtime behavior of tasks and fault occurrences without violating the offline feasibility analysis. Simulation results demonstrate energy savings of up to 60% over low-energy offline scheduling algorithms (Zhang and Chakrabarty, 2004)


The aim of this study was to improve methods for nonspecific and specific prophylaxis of teratogenic effects of rubella infection based on the study of the characteristics of immune reactions, their consequences and a basic assessment of the state of immunity in risk groups. The object of the study was 36 children. The revealed changes in children of the II subgroup indicate that T-suppressors block T-helpers, proliferation of B-lymphocytes and even the secretion of immunoglobulins by plasma cells. This, in turn, determines the state of immunological tolerance of the body.


This work, based upon a survey, focuses on the services that libraries can offer businesses that lack their own information sources. Profiles of representative libraries are included to demonstrate the range and scope of these services.


In cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning (c-MARL), agents learn to cooperatively take actions as a team to maximize a total team reward. We analyze the robustness of c-MARL to adversaries capable of attacking one of the agents on a team. Through the ability to manipulate this agent's observations, the adversary seeks to decrease the total team reward. Attacking c-MARL is challenging for three reasons: first, it is difficult to estimate team rewards or how they are impacted by an agent mispredicting; second, models are non-differentiable; and third, the feature space is low-dimensional. Thus, we introduce a novel attack. The attacker first trains a policy network with reinforcement learning to find a wrong action it should encourage the victim agent to take. Then, the adversary uses targeted adversarial examples to force the victim to take this action. Our results on the StartCraft II multi-agent benchmark demonstrate that c-MARL teams are highly vulnerable to perturbations applied to one of their agent's observations. By attacking a single agent, our attack method has highly negative impact on the overall team reward, reducing it from 20 to 9.4. This results in the team's winning rate to go down from 98.9% to 0%.


The surface functionality leading to a high reversibility adsorption of melamine was determined. Four different silane coupling agents, namely, 3‐(tri‐methoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate (TMSPMA), n‐propyl tri‐methoxy‐silane (PTMS), 3‐(tri‐ethoxysilyl) propionitrile (TESPN), and tri‐methoxy‐(octadecyl) silane (OTMS) were taken for making chemical functionality methacrylate, short methyl, nitrile, and extended methyl group respectively. The adsorption behavior of melamine over the substrates with four functionalities was determined using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms of the adsorption studies were analyzed. The initial adsorption rate depends on the hydrophobicity and roughness of the surfaces. However, the subsequent adsorption rate depends on the specific interaction. The data of equilibrium adsorbed mass at various equilibrium concentrations were fitted with the modified Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The estimated model parameters were analyzed and compared with the reported parameters of the relevant systems. There is good agreement between our results and the reported results. In addition, very high adsorption with a very high binding constant was observed for the adsorption of melamine OTMS surface. On the other hand, high adsorption with an intermediate layer binding constant for the adsorption of melamine on the methacrylate surface was observed. Based on this, we propose using acrylate chemical functionality to develop molecularly imprinted polymer‐based melamine sensors.


1. Kenny Y.C. Kwong, MD*
2. Craig A. Jones, MD†

1.

2. *Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Allergy-Immunology.

3.

4. †Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Chief, Division of Allergy-Immunology, LAC+USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. Dr Jones has received grants from and has served as a speaker and consultant for the following companies: Glaxo-Wellcome, Merck, Schering, Pfizer, and Hoechst Marion Roussel.

Upon completing the article, the reader should be able to:

1. Describe the symptoms of persistent asthma with chronic airway inflammation.

2. List the types of medications required by patients who have persistent asthma.

3. Delineate the coexisting conditions that can exacerbate asthma.

4. Describe the benefits and risks of inhaled steroids for the treatment of persistent asthma.

5. List the benefits of an asthma action plan for a patient.

During the past 20 years, asthma-related morbidity and mortality have increased in industrialized countries worldwide. This has led to expanded research on the pathophysiology of the disease and the development of more effective therapeutic agents for its control. In addition, national and international organizations have established and disseminated guidelines for the evaluation and treatment of asthma. Despite these efforts, asthma remains a leading cause of pediatric emergency department visits and hospitalizations. However, these trends in outcomes can be reversed through early recognition of disease severity and initiation of appropriate preventive therapy.

Current emphasis in asthma therapy is directed toward accurate assessment of asthma severity, avoidance of environmental risk factors, and appropriate use of agents to control inflammation in the airways. This strategy is based on an improved understanding of the pathogenesis of asthma and an appreciation of the link between airway inflammation, airway hyper-responsiveness, and asthma severity. The pathophysiology of this disease is a complex interplay between inflammation, structural airway changes, and airway responsiveness. Persistent airway inflammation, characterized by the presence of CD4+ lymphocyte subsets (TH2), eosinophils, and mast cells, is considered central to the disease process (Fig. 1⇓) . This inflammation has been associated with an increase in airway responsiveness to various stimuli and pathologic airway changes, including epithelial cell damage, airway edema, airway smooth muscle hypertrophy, mucous gland hypertrophy, and abnormal collagen matrix deposition with thickening of the basement membrane. Long-term …


Aggressive angiomyxoma is a locally aggressive tumor of mesenchymal origin. The condition predominantly affects females, with a male/female ratio of 6:1. Most cases occur during the reproductive years, with a peak between the third and fourth decades of life. The symptoms are non-specific, and the principal differential diagnosis is with Bartholin's cysts or abscesses. The treatment of choice is surgical excision of the lesion, including evaluation of the margins. This case report refers to a 41-year old patient with an insidiously growing lesion on the right vestibular area measuring approximately 9 x 5 x 5 cm, associated with dyspareunia. Surgical excision was successful, and there have been no signs of tumor recurrence in the six months of follow-up. Differential diagnosis in cases of vulvar lesions is of the utmost importance. A detailed vulvar examination is essential to ensure early diagnosis and to reduce the rate of underdiagnosed cases of aggressive angiomyxoma


We consider, for h , E > 0, resolvent estimates for the semiclassical Schrödinger operator − h 2 Δ + V − E. Near infinity, the potential takes the form V = V L + V S , where V L is a long range potential which is Lipschitz with respect to the radial variable, while V S = O ( | x | − 1 ( log | x | ) − ρ ) for some ρ > 1. Near the origin, | V | may behave like | x | − β , provided 0 ⩽ β < 2 ( 3 − 1 ). We find that, for any ρ ˜ > 1, there are C , h 0 > 0 such that we have a resolvent bound of the form exp ( C h − 2 ( log ( h − 1 ) ) 1 + ρ ˜ ) for all h ∈ ( 0 , h 0 ]. The h-dependence of the bound improves if V S decays at a faster rate toward infinity.


Support of individual enterprises was an important part of anti-crisis policy of Russian government during 2008—2009. The officially declared goal of this support was maintaining sustainability of "systemically important", or strategic enterprises. Using regression analysis, the author seeks to determine the extent to which inclusion in the The List of strategic organizations approved by the Government Commission on sustainable development of the Russian economy in December 2008 was defined by the social significance of the company or by its affiliation with one of the 16 largest Russian business groups.


We have shown that the promoter of the human beta‐globin gene contains three regions in addition to the known CAC, CAAT and TATA box regions that are important for the induction of transcription in erythroid cells. By using DNaseI footprinting and gel mobility shift assays we were able to show that two of these regions bind the erythroid specific nuclear factor NF‐E1 (and ubiquitous factors). The third region binds a ubiquitous CAAT‐box factor (CP1). Deletion experiments suggest that only the combination of NF‐E1 and CP1 binding sites, but not each of the sites alone, are capable of mediating the induction of transcription of a minimal (CAC, CAAT, TATA box) beta‐globin promoter in mouse erythroleukaemia (MEL) cells.


[1] We examined the role of short-period waves on the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) through analysis of 6-hourly reanalysis data of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF ERA-Interim). We focused on medium-scale waves, those with periods shorter than about 6 days. Although medium-scale waves generally have much smaller amplitudes than synoptic waves, they have a much higher correlation with the SAM index. As a result, about one third of wave-driven meridional circulation and zonal wind acceleration associated with the SAM is generated by medium-scale waves. Their contribution is large in spite of their climatologically smaller amplitude. Moreover, two thirds of SAM-related meridional circulation and zonal wind acceleration comes from waves of periods shorter than about 3 days. Our analysis demonstrates a positive feedback between westerly winds around 60°S and amplification of synoptic and medium-scale waves, which sustains hemispheric SAM variability. For the feedback process between zonal wind and waves, baroclinic conversion is a key process to both synoptic waves and medium-scale waves. Our analysis also shows that wave forcings calculated from daily data explain only half of the total forcings and that the contribution from short-period waves is very significant around 50°S.


Objective: Simple, sensitive and extraction-free spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of three antipsychotics drugs, namely aripiprazole (ARP), clozapine (CLP) and sulpiride (SUP) both in tablets and in biological fluids. Methods: Two spectrophotometric methods are based on the formation of yellow colored ion-pair complexes between the studied drugs and two sulphonphthalein acid dyes, bromophenol blue (BPB) and bromothymol blue (BTB) with absorption maxima at 408 and 406 nm, respectively. Results: Molar ratio of formed ion-pair complex was found to be 1:1 as deduced by Job's method. Several parameters such as pH and buffer type, reagent volume, sequence of addition and effect of extracting solvent were optimized to achieve high sensitivity, stability, low blank reading and reproducible results. Various analytical parameters have been evaluated and the results have been validated by statistical data. A proposal for the reaction pathway was postulated. Conclusion: The proposed methods were successfully applied to the analysis of commercial tablets containing the drugs and the results were in good agreement with those obtained with reported methods. The proposed methods were further applied to the determination of the studied drugs in spiked human serum and urine.


The computational stability of nonlinear Schrdinger equation is analyzed by the Hirt heuristic analysis in this study. Using the method,the necessary condition of computational stability of difference schemes about the nonlinear Schrdinger equation is given,which is proved to be practical and effective by four sets of numerical examples.


Tangible Landscape is a tangible interface for geographic information systems (GIS). It interactively couples physical and digital models of a landscape so that users can intuitively explore, model, and analyze geospatial data in a collaborative environment. Conceptually Tangible Landscape lets users hold a GIS in their hands so that they can feel the shape of the topography, naturally sculpt new landforms, and interact with simulations like water flow. Since it only affords a bird's-eye view of the landscape, we coupled it with an immersive virtual environment so that users can virtually walk around the modeled landscape and visualize it at a human-scale. Now as users shape topography, draw trees, define viewpoints, or route a walkthrough, they can see the results on the projection-augmented model, rendered on a display, or rendered on a head-mounted display. In this paper we present the Tangible Landscape Immersive Extension, describe its physical setup and software architecture, and demonstrate its features with a case study.


(57) Abstract: The present invention relates to an absorbent structure for use in disposable absorbent products for absorbing body fluids. It said absorbent structure comprises a fluid storage layer comprising matrix fibers and superabsorbent polymer for receiving the liquid, and a dispersed strip located under the liquid storage layer. The dispersion strip comprises cellulosic fibers having a basis weight of between 45 grams / square meter 140 grams / square meter, having a density between 0.60 grams / cubic centimeter 0.20 grams / cubic centimeter.


For one hundred years the dominant image of the North in the American imagination has been "the last frontier." Alaskans have cherished this description, characterizing themselves as "pioneers" and rugged individualists living the rough, free life of bygone days. This trope of "the last frontier" evokes nostalgia for the nineteenth-century Western frontier, and generally implies that Alaska is in constant danger of losing its special status and becoming more like the rest of the United States. As Alaska enters the twenty-first century, many Alaskans (not all in the tourism industry) still vigorously promote images of the nineteenth century. But there is another way of imagining Alaska as well, one in which the relatively brief "frontier" period was an aberration, though it altered northern life radically. For Native cultures in Alaska the last century or more of denigration and oppression has been a period of special hardship, like a small ice age or a dip in the caribou cycle. In the last thirty years, however, traditional practices have been increasingly reaffirmed, traditional arts recovered, old languages revitalized, and remembered stories retold. In those ancient stories Alaska is not a distant frontier, but a familiar homeland. 1


Allergic asthma and inflammation is a disease of the airways. The prevalence of allergic responses and asthma are increasing worldwide, but it is still unclear why some predisposed individuals develop disease. Eosinophils and T helper 2 cells (TH2) and eosinophils are critical cellular mediators in asthma. The signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-6 is a crucial mediator of TH2 cytokine responses, acting downstream of interleukin -4 and -13 (IL-4 and IL-13). We have previously shown that eosinophil derived IL-13 plays an important role in the recruitment of T cells to the lung, and subsequent development of allergic asthma. However whether eosinophils respond to TH2 signals to control allergic airway inflammation is unclear. The objective of this study is to understand the role of STAT6 in eosinophil-dependent regulation of allergic asthma and inflammation. Using ΔdblGATA mice lacking eosinophils and transfer of STAT6-/- eosinophils, we found that compared to ΔdblGATA reconstituted with WT eosinophils, eosinophils lacking STAT6 were unable to rescue recruitment of CD4+ T cells and eosinophils into the lungs compared to WT eosinophils. These data indicates that STAT6 is important in the recruitment of both T cells and eosinophils to the lung during the development of allergic airway inflammation. Ultimately, deciphering the mechanisms of intracellular and cytokine signals will afford us improved insights on developing therapeutic strategies in asthma.


Abstract The nonlinear evolution of disturbances that emanate from unstable westerly and easterly jet profiles is examined with a two-layer quasi-geostrophic β-plane channel model. Significant differences arise between the solutions for westerly and easterly jets. For unstable narrow (width less than the deformation radius) westerly jets, the disturbance undergoes a sequence of life cycles characterized by barotropic growth and barotropic decay. Unstable easterly jets also give rise to a series of life cycles in which the disturbance grows and decays in a combined baroclinic/barotropic manner. In each of these cases, the disturbance structure remains close to its unstable normal mode form throughout the life cycle. This contrasts with earlier results of Feldstein and Held who find that disturbances emanating from unstable wide (width greater than the deformation radius) westerly jets undergo a change in meridional structure, enhanced lateral radiation, and a single life cycle consisting of baroclinic grow...


The Classical Review vol. 61 no. 1 © The Classical Association 2011; all rights reserved Delphic temple of Apollo, the south side of the Athenian treasury at Delphi and the murals at the Theseion respectively. The inscribed monuments acquire mobility in song, and the dynamic developed between poetry and art enriches the experience of vision. After discussing the occasion, performance-context and possible political dimensions of each ode, A. argues that the dialogue of poetry with art reshapes the audience's views of the specifi c monument. The poems contribute to the pan-Hellenic praise of Athens and make the monuments known in a panHellenic context. Chapter 3 discusses those epinician odes that inscribe their performance in a sympotic context: Olympian 1, Nemean 1 and 9. A. points out that they present the symposium either as the actual place of performance or as an alternative context for future re-performances. She argues that these odes can be interpreted politically, the image of the typical aristocratic symposium being a Pindaric technique that harmonises the ethos of powerful men in Syracuse with the aristocratic ethos of equality and intimacy. A. also claims that the inscription of an aristocratic symposium in the poems broadens the reception and circulation of the odes, since the symposium was a pan-Hellenic institution. The book should be read by anyone who is interested in choral performance and re-performance, and more generally in the interaction between art and poetry. A. opens up possible routes through which art and poetry could infl uence each other. She reconsiders what has been plausibly established so far on the above topics and offers reasons for considering other possibilities. The book is descriptive at some points, and there is a tendency towards doxography. This is amply justifi ed by its uniqueness as the fi rst book in Greek on its subject. A. has sought, with considerable success, not only to speak to the experts but also to make the book accessible to readers with little or no prior knowledge of choral lyric. All in all, the book is an important contribution to the fi eld.


The rate of online shopping is increasing multifold and is driving the E-commerce stores to keep their solidplace in the online race. Retailers that have not figured out how to build a powerful presence online, andhave not invested in doing so, are catching the fallout. But the shift to e-commerce is a structural process andisn't an overnight phenomenon. Hence it is essential to segment the market and understand the purchaseintention of every potential generation. This study attempts to focus on purchase intention of Generation Xconsumers as they make up a large portion of the purchasing power. The research made efforts to identify thevarious factors that influence the purchase behaviour of online consumers. The key factors under studyinclude perceived benefits like price discounts, online shopping convenience and availability of numerousbrands. Earlier studies had revealed that Gen X consumers tend to be more loyal than other generations. Theobjectives of the study were understanding the shopping pattern of Gen X consumers and influencing factorsrelated to perceived benefits Primary data was collected from the online consumers of age group between 37and 57 years using direct survey and e-survey across customers of Chennai City. The study adoptedDescriptive type of research and stratified random sampling technique. Data analysis was carried out usingstatistical tools like Independent sample t test, One way ANOVA and Chi-square test to analyze theassociation and difference between the various factors of perceived benefits. The findings of the studyrevealed that price discounts / offers and convenience are the important determinants of online purchaseintention. The study also