Purpose: An optimization program using Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) algorithm was developed in Rush University Medical Center for HDR volumetric brachytherapy. The purpose of this paper is to benchmark our program against a well established commercial system (IPSA) and compare optimized plans using physical dose‐based IPSA and gEUD‐based cost functions. Methods: Eight cervical cancer Syed‐template cases were used. The prescribed dose was 35Gy in 5 fractions from HDR brachytherapy after 45Gy from external beam. Treatment plans were generated based on IPSA cost function using both IPSA and ASA programs and a gEUD‐based cost function using ASA program. The dosimetric parameters compared include V150% and V200% for PTV, V75%, for bladder and rectum, Homogeneity Index(HI), Conformity Index(COIN), gEUD of each ROIs, tumor control probability (TCP), and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP). Friedman rank test was used to analyze the statistical significance of these differences between plans. Results: For PTV dose distribution homogeneity and conformity, the ASA plans were slightly better than IPSA plans but the differences were not statistically significant. In IPSA plans, the average Bladder V75% was lower than that in ASA plans; but the average Rectum V75% was higher than that in ASA plans and the differences were significant. The average PTV_gEUD and TCP of gEUD‐based plans were larger than those of IPSA plans, but the differences were not significant. The Bladder gEUD and NTCP of IPSA plans were lower than those of gEUD‐ based plans, but the differences were not significant. The Rectum gEUD and NTCP of gEUD‐based plans were lower than those of IPSA plans, and the differences were significant. Conclusions: Our ASA optimization program can generate comparable optimized plans to IPSA. The dose distribution in gEUD‐based plans is less homogeneous and less conformal than in IPSA plans. However gEUD‐based plans have better OARs sparing than IPSA plans.


Combined with the practice,the paper analyzed the relationship between expressway traffic accident and road alignment,traffic volume and vehicle composition,road environment etc.,established safety evaluation model of expressway operation for reference.


ROLE OF ACTINOBACILLUS SUIS ADHESINS IN HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS IN THE TONSILS OF THE SOFT PALATE OF SWINE Adina Rachel Bujold Advisor University of Guelph, 2016 Dr. Janet I. MacInnes Tonsils are the immune system's first line of defence against antigens entering the upper respiratory tract. Paradoxically, they are also an important site of colonisation and can be a portal of entry for many pathogens. Despite their significant role, virtually nothing is known about how bacteria attach to or the factors that control invasion of tonsils. To address these questions, I have used the gram-negative facultative anaerobe, Actinobacillus suis, as a model. A. suis is a common resident of swine tonsils, but it sometimes invades the bloodstream, leading to systemic disease and death. Using a combination of bioinformatic and expression studies, I have shown that A. suis expresses different adhesins in growth conditions that mimic the environment of the tonsils and the biofilm and planktonic stages of the bacterium that might lead to host invasion. Three knockout mutants were created to better understand mechanisms of attachment of A. suis to tonsils, and experiments to identify host molecules involved in infection were completed. I found that disrupting adhesins involved in attachment and cell integrity (ompA), attachment to host connective tissues (comE1), and biofilm formation (flp1) resulted in reduced binding of A. suis to purified extracellular matrix components (fibronectin, vitronectin, laminin, collagen I, collagen IV), as well as reduced its ability to form biofilms. Together, these studies provide insight into the pathogenesis of A. suis and other important invasive pathogens known to colonise the tonsils of swine and other species.


This paper presents a coordination model, the Actor, Role and Coordinator (ARC) model, to address three main concerns inherent in a pervasive Open Distributed and Embedded (ODE) system: dynamicity, scalability, and stringent QoS requirements. The model treats a pervasive ODE system as a composition of concurrent computation and coerced coordination. In particular, concurrent computation is modeled as Actors, while coerced coordination specifies the system's QoS requirements by mapping them to coordination constraints. The coordination constraints are transparently imposed on actors through message manipulations, which are carried out by the roles and coordinators. The coordinators are responsible for the coordination among roles, while the roles in our model provide abstractions for coordinated behaviors that may be shared by multiple actors and further assume local coordination responsibilities for the actors playing the roles. The role's behavior abstraction decouples the syntactic dependencies between the coordinators and the actors, thus shielding the coordinator layer from the dynamicity of underlying actors inherent in ODE systems. This paper also formally defines the role and coordinator behaviors and the composition of the actor computation model with the proposed coerced coordination model. Our formal study has shown that the ARC system is closed under composition and recursion.


Women's Human Rights and the Muslim Question shows how Muslim women have made meaningful contributions to the development of the international framework on gender equality and women's rights. An investigation into the women's movement of Iran offers a practical grounding for this argument, and presents unprecedented findings on how ideological divisions along secular and religious lines have been worked in favour of a rights-based framework for change.The book presents a comprehensive synthesis and analysis of the campaign material of the women's movement 'Change for Equality Campaign'—one of the most progressive and sophisticated movements in the Middle East/Central Asia.


Emblematic images of skulls, ambulant skeletons, and other representations of death haunt the pages of William E. Engel's study of Renaissance literature and memory, Death and Drama in Renaissance England: Shades of Memory. According to Engel, such images illustrate a seventeenth-century "aesthetic of decline," a sense of impending "oblivion," which to Engel covers everything from individual death to the collective ruin threatened by political and social crisis. However, even while manifesting this cultural unease, Engel argues, emblems and other Renaissance art forms provided audiences with a sense of overcoming decline. In demonstrating this through his study of Renaissance drama, foreign language phrase books, and historical compendia, Engel examines artistic applications of the classical ars memorativa (art of memory), a battery of mnemonic techniques revived during the Renaissance. Engel argues that the Renaissance imagination saw the regenerative power of the memory arts in general (with their promise to stem forgetfulness and thus human limitation), and their application in emblems and other literary texts, as weapons against death and decline. Like an emblem writ large, Engel's book is most effective when images complement text. His argument, therefore, is perhaps best demonstrated through one of the book's many illustrations. On the frontispiece to Walter Ralegh's The History of the World, which Engel discusses in the final section of his study, an anthropomorphic figure of history, holding the Earth above her head and standing before four pillars representing mortal learning, tramples the slouched figures of "Death" and "Oblivion" (126). While this image, in the context of Ralegh's history project, has specific resonances concerning what Ralegh saw as post-Elizabethan political decline, Engel argues that its portrayal of the triumph over "oblivion" corresponds to a general view of memory as regenerative force. While Engel provides some background on the memory arts, his book will be best received by those with prior knowledge of this subject and of earlier studies like Frances Yates's The Art of Memory. Nevertheless, in structuring his argument for those with lesser backgrounds, Engel does well to focus first on drama, with its natural connection to the memory theater, a frequently cited and easily illustrated component of the memory arts. Classical and Renaissance practitioners of the memory arts were counseled, as one technique, to place items they wished to remember in various locations of a mental theater. These thought-items were often iconic images meant to represent larger ideas. By remembering the layout of images within one's mental theater, one could recall a desired image, which would then discharge its corresponding information. Memory theaters thus functioned much as emblems do, with the memorable iconic image acting as powerful mnemonic placeholder for the emblem's verbal message. Engel argues that Renaissance drama employs emblematic principles as well, particularly through


Thirteen patients with inflammatory bowel disease were treated 17 times for an average of 22 days with elemental diet. The diet was well tolerated in all but one patient. All but one demonstrated weight gain and positive nitrogen balance, without apparent irritation of the inflamed gut. Nine patients were considered to have indications for surgery and seven underwent operation, approaching it in an improved nutritional state and withstanding it well. Elemental diet is able to provide nutrition while allowing bowel rest, without the risks of intravenous hyperalimentation. Occasionally indications for surgery resolve during the period of nutritional improvement. Whether this represents a primary therapeutic effect of elemental diet or the natural course of the disease remains to be examined by controlled studies.


Davis, CA 95616 (*correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.com) The pre  sence of highly siderophile elements in Earth's mantle indicates that a small percentage of the Earth's mass was delivered after the last giant impact and closure of Earth's core in a stage of 'late accretion.' There is substantial debate about the nature of this late accreted material, and the sizes of the bodies that delivered it. Earth appears isotopically most similar to the enstatite chondrite family, and it has been suggested that late accretion must also have been dominated by enstatite-like material, rather than carbonaceous chondrites. The origin of late accreted bodies is unknown, but the lack of a substantial outer solar system isotopic signature suggests that most late-accreted in the inner Planet formation models typically show continued planetesimal impacts at late times, but these planetesimals are usually unable to evolve during the simulations. Here, we use high-resolution, fully interacting, collisional  N  -body simulations that allow us to follow the evolution and production (via fragmentation) of small bodies. We examine the compositions (defined by initial locations) of the 'leftover planetesimals'


pp. 859–864 Behavior of nitrogen in the media was investigated when the aqueous phase produced by methane fermentation was supplied as liquid fertilizer. When the aqueous phase was supplied to masa-soil, included in masa-soil was nitrified to . Additionally, in masa-soil, absorption was observed. On the other hand, in the case of coconut fiber and rockwool, has been hardly nitrified. From above results, it was determined that toxic effect from the aqueous phase on tomato plants growth was inhibited by means of the progress of nitrification and absorption by masa-soil.  However, nitrification was restrained so that was fixed in masa-soil. On the other hand, in the sampled field soil, was not fixed, and was nitrified immediately. In the field soil, there was a great deal of generated . In comparison with masa-soil.


Suvorexant, an orexin receptor antagonist, improved total sleep time (TST) in a sleep laboratory polysomnography (PSG) study of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and insomnia. The study included a pilot evaluation of an actigraphy watch for continuously recording patient's sleep and daytime activity. We report on the utility of the watch for assessing sleep in relation to gold-standard PSG.

 This was a randomized, double-blind, 4-week trial (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02750306). Participants who met diagnostic criteria for both probable AD dementia and insomnia were randomized to suvorexant 10-20mg or placebo. Overnight sleep laboratory PSG was performed on 3 nights: screening, baseline, and Night-29 (last dose). An actigraphy watch (Garmin vívosmart® HR) was worn continuously by the patient. Separate analyses were performed for PSG and watch. We compared treatment effects on change-from-baseline in PSG-TST at Night-29 and WATCH-TST at Week-4 (average TST per night over Week-4). We also analyzed Night-29 data only with watch data restricted to the PSG recording time.

 A total of 274 participants were included in the Night-29 PSG analysis (suvorexant=135, placebo=139) and 223 in the Week-4 watch analysis (suvorexant=113, placebo=110). Suvorexant improved Night-29 PSG-TST by 28 minutes versus placebo (p=0.001) and Week-4 WATCH-TST by 17 minutes versus placebo (p=0.144). In the subgroup who had usable data for both assessments at Night-29 (suvorexant=57, placebo=50), the watch overestimated TST compared to PSG (e.g. placebo baseline scores = 412 minutes for WATCH-TST and 265 minutes for PSG-TST) and underestimated change-from-baseline treatment effects: the suvorexant versus placebo difference was 35 minutes for PSG-TST (p=0.057) and 20 minutes for WATCH-TST (p=0.405).

 The watch was less sensitive than PSG for evaluating treatment effects on TST. However, results obtained with the watch were directionally similar to PSG in indicating a benefit of suvorexant versus placebo for improving TST in AD patients with insomnia.

 Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA


For decades weed scientists have monitored the development of resistance to both preand postemergent herbicides from a number of herbicide modes of action. However, in the last 6-7 years we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of weed species developing resistance to one of the most widely used herbicides in modern production agriculture, glyphosate ( the act ive ingredient in Roundup ). For example, Arkansas f irst documented horseweed resistance to glyphosate in 2003. That was followed by common ragweed in 2004, giant ragweed in 2005, Palmer amaranth in 2006, johnsongrass in 2007, and Italian ryegrass in 2008. All of these species were susceptible to glyphosate in the past but now cannot be adequately controlled by this herbicide.


In order to explain the 3050A and 4750A emissions of KCl:Tl phosphor which are raised by excitation in any of the absorption bands, a multi-dimensional configuration coordinate model is introduced. This is achieved by taking into account the Jahn-Teller effect for the excited states of the thallium ion. The Jahn-Teller effect is treated by means of an intermediate coupling scheme within the 6s6p configuration, because the mixing of the 3 P and 1 P states by the spin-orbit interaction is essential to understand the optical properties. It is shown that introduction of a tetragonal distortion of the emission center is able to explain the luminescence processes of this phosphor both semi-quantitatively and qualitatively: Under the tetragonal and trigonal distortions, both the crossing of the pure spin singlet 1 P and triplet 3 P curves and the appearance of two minima in the 3 P 1 energy curves are expected. The former accounts for the non-radiative transition from the 1 P 1 state to the 3 P 1 state and the l...


The importance of police evidence in court cannot be exaggerated, both from the point of view of the police themselves and in the context of the outcome of criminal trials. A great deal of work goes into the bringing of a prosecution, particularly if the charge is serious or involves complicated transactions. The task of the Criminal Investigation Department is difficult and sometimes dangerous. After an arrest months, sometimes years of investigation have to be translated into a case to be presented in court. This is the work of the Solicitor's Department employed by the police force concerned. When the matter finally comes for trial much will depend upon the impression made by police witnesses. If that impression isa poor one the exhaustive preliminary spade work that has been put into the preparation of the case will count for nothing. There are some cases in which police evidence plays a minor part. In most serious trials, however, police witnesses, while not always giving crucial evidence relating to the occasion of the offence itself, do frequently testify to interviews with defendants. These interviews often contain alleged admissions or confessions which, if accepted as genuine, greatly strengthen the Crown's case. In a very high proportion of jury trials, it is absolutely vital for the defence to discredit the evidence of police officers. Thus it may be put to officers that an alleged confession has been forged or taken in an improper way, or that evidence has been "planted" on an accused person, or that pressure has been brought to bear upon him to extract a plea of guilty, or that he has been "verballed" that is to say statements attributed to him and recorded in the officer's note-book were never in fact made and have been fabricated by the police officer(s) concerned. The attack upon the police witness may be direct or indirect. It might be put to an officer that he is "mistaken", notwithstanding the fact that his evidence is irreconcilable with that of the defendant. This oblique way of putting the defence case may be due to the fact that the defendant has a bad character and his counsel is anxious not to have this revealed by attacking the character of prosecution witnesses. Secondly, when the defence decide to allow the issue of character to go in it may be put bluntly to the police witness that he is lying or has fabricated evidence. To be able to cope with cross-examination such as this an officer requires considerable training in the area of


Let H and K be infinite-dimensional separable Hilbert spaces, and denote by the upper triangular linear relation matrix with unknown C in . For given relations A and B, some necessary and sufficient conditions are presented under which the range of is (not) closed for any bounded operator and relation based on certain appropriate space decompositions, respectively.


Objective The effects of new drug metabolism on CYP1A2 and CYP2E1 were studied and the drugs safety assessment of this drugs were evaluated. Methods The metabolic changes of the Caffeine and Chlorzoxazone probed to respectively were studied in vivo, then the inhibitory or induced effects of these new drugs on CYPIA2 or CYP2E1 were evaluated. Results Sulfated polymannuroguluronate (SPMG) had no effect on CYP1A2 and 2E1; Acidic oligosaccharide sugar chain compound (AOSC) had no effect on CYP1A2 while it can induced the CYP2E1 on male rats; Cheliensisin A (GC) can inhibit CYP1A2 on female rats while induced CYP2E1 on male rats.Conclusion Different drugs has different effect on CYP subtype enzymes and these effect had a sex-based difference. When AOSC and GC are used combined with other drugs which are related with CYP1A2 and CYP2E1enzymes, the different effects of these drugs on it should be considered totally to avoid the potential toxicities or side-effects. SPMG are relatively safe.


THE "UNDERPLAY OF OPPOSITES" which Derek Stanford finds in Christopher Fry's plays' deserves further study. As Stanford points out, Fry's antitheses grow out of the confusion of appearance and reality, or the elusiveness of truth; and as Stanford implies, they sometimes take the form of moral dilemmas. However, the extent and complexity of this underplay have not been sufficiently explored, nor has there been a sufficient attempt to relate these dilemmas to the dramatist's view of life. This is such an attempt.


The paper considers modern information technologies of working with knowledge bases and describes the concepts of «Knowledge Management» and «Business Intellect». The classification of knowledge according to various categories of attributes is given. The principles of building knowledge management systems that are based on decision support algorithms and contain a database of models, a database, auxiliary and control programs are considered. The general architecture of the knowledge base management system is defined, which is multi-level and operates on the basis of data exchange between the data storage, ontology level and user application. Data exchange between these levels is carried out through the use of a query language and manipulation, as well as a data presentation language, on the basis of which two main directions of developing the architecture of knowledge management systems in business are defined: improving the functional parts of the user application and the direction that consists in manipulating data, orientation of the system to work with knowledge bases. Among the mechanisms for access to knowledge, there are mechanisms for searching, navigation and visualization, as well as the direct exchange of knowledge between users of the system. The list of components of the knowledge management system is given depending. A review of the categories of knowledge management software systems in business has been carried out and the functional purpose of each group of software products for managing knowledge bases has been described. The paper describes the existing categories of knowledge management software taking into account data access technologies, content management systems and the socially-oriented direction of development of knowledge management software in business with a description of the features of the software of each category. The work determined that the key role in the functioning of knowledge management systems belongs to the module of knowledge extraction, which can be represented in the form of frames, semantic networks and rules. The basic principles of building and using knowledge bases in solving key data mining tasks are included, including the task of finding interdependencies and associations, classifying objects and events, and predicting business process indicators through the use of a knowledge management system in business.


Strong mechanical strength at the connection portion between the superconducting cable conductor and the terminal member, to reduce the electrical connection resistance. Superconductivity terminal portion of the cable conductor (10), a structure for connecting the metal sleeve (30) which also serves as a terminal member of a good conductor, the terminal portion (10) is arranged on the outer circumference of the central support (11) superconducting layer (12), and an insulating layer surrounding the superconducting layer (13), in order from the end, the central support (11), as the superconducting layer (12) is exposed, the insulator layer (13) , the superconducting layer (12) is removed. Metal sleeve (30), the central support (11) inner surface to the exposed portion of the first cylindrical portion (31) which (3a) is in close contact, the inner surface (3b) are soldered to the exposed portions of the superconducting layers (12) that the second cylindrical portion (32), inside the insulator layer and the third cylindrical portion (13) is inserted (33), characterized in that it comprises a.


The treatment of malignant brain tumors poses a basic challenge in todays cancer therapy. Since the quantitative resection is hardly possible due to the invasive growth of the tumor, prevention of relapse after resection by concomitant irradiation treatment and chemotherapy is of major importance for patient outcome. While surgery and irradiation therapy seem to be exploited, new approaches in the chemotherapy may provide hope for the future. Amongst them are the exploration of new transport pathways across the blood-brain barrier and the overcome of the p-glycoprotein (pgp)-mediated multi-drug resistance, respectively, and the evaluation of new pharmacological targets, allowing selective inhibition of tumor growth, while minimizing cytotoxic side effects. The objective of this work was to investigate, whether doxorubicin-loaded polybutylcyanoacrylate (PBCA) nanoparticles are able to provide overcome of the pgp-mediated multi-drug resistance in vitro, and to investigate the mechanism of the enhanced antiproliferative activity of doxorubicin nanoparticles compared to the efficiency of the drug in solution. The nanoparticle formulations exceeded the antiproliferative effect of the dissolved drug against pgp-overexpressing KBv1 cells. Flow cytometric determination of the cell-associated doxorubicin fluorescence after incubation with the different drug formulations indicated an enhanced drug uptake with the nanoparticle formulations in pgp-negative glioblastoma cells as well as in KBwt cells with weak pgp expression. No differential fluorescence increase was observed in KBv1 cells at a drug concentration equivalent 500 nM doxorubicin, but at a concentration of 2 µM doxorubicin KBv1 cells showed increased fluorescence after incubation with nanoparticle-bound drug. Confocal microscopic (CLSM) studies with living KBwt cells showed similar cytoplasmic doxorubicin distribution after incubation with different drug formulations. A higher overall doxorubicin fluorescence was observed after incubation with the nanoparticle-bound drug, and the cells were hemmed by doxorubicin fluorescence. With a mixture of empty PBCA nanoparticles and lucifer yellow, pgp-negative U-373 MG were hemmed by lucifer yellow derived fluorescence. The results from CLSM studies indicate that the nanoparticles do not enter the cells. In conclusion, the enhanced antiproliferative effect of the nanoparticle-bound doxorubicin against pgp-overexpressing cells, can be explained by a concentration gradient of drug, released from nanoparticles after adsorption to the cell surface, leading to saturation and overcome of the pgp-mediated drug efflux transport. As a non-cytotoxic approach in the chemotherapy of malignant glioblastoma, the concept of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptor kinase inhibition was evaluated as the second part of this work. PDGF receptor expression and activity were demonstrated in human glioblastoma cell lines. However, the inhibition of PDGF receptors in human glioblastoma cells, using various selective PDGF receptor kinase inhibitors, amongst them the registered drug imatinib, did not affect cell growth in therapeutically relevant concentrations. Moreover, no enhanced cytotoxicity was observed when imatinib was combined with paclitaxel. The cells lacked expression of the resistance proteins pgp and breast cancer resistance protein (bcrp), demonstrating that lack of antiproliferative activity of the PDGF receptor inhibitors cannot be ascribed to these drug resistance mechanisms. Moreover glioblastoma cell proliferation was independent of PDGF. These results suggest that the single PDGF receptor inhibition by selective tyrosine kinase inhibitors, including imatinib, does not represent a suitable approach in the treatment of glioblastoma. The selective inhibition of the Eg5 kinesin by small molecule inhibitors such as monastrol is currently preclinically evaluated as a new approach to the treatment of malignant tumors. The potency of the first identified selective Eg5 inhibitor monastrol is rather low. Several new monastrol analogs exhibited higher antiproliferative activity against human glioblastoma cells. In the last part of this work, the effects of these new monastrol analogs on the spindle formation and the cytoskeleton of mitotic and quiescent glioblastoma cells were evaluated by CLSM. Except for the two compounds VS-17 and VS-48 all other tested compounds led to the characteristic monoaster spindle formation with a potency of at least one order of magnitude higher than that of monastrol. Although the expression of the Eg5 kinesin in the human glioblastoma cells was not limited to the mitosis phase, the microtubule and actin cytoskeleton remained unaffected by the new compounds. These results support the hypothesis that selective Eg5 inhibitors may represent an interesting class of potential anticancer drugs, predicted to exhibit less cytotoxic side effects in comparison to classical tubulin inhibitors.


The aim of this research is improve biology learning quality for teacher performance, learning facilities, classroom climate, student's science attitude in class, and student motivation of learning in student class XI Sains 5 SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta. The research is classroom action research. The steps of research include planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The collecting data of research uses questionnaire, observation, and interview. The research uses triangulation as validation data. The research uses descriptive as analytic data. The acts of research contain three cycles. The result in cycles I, II and III describes that mean of observation data in the classroom for aspect teacher performance, classroom climate, student's science attitude and students motivation in learning have been increase for every cycles and achieve of target ≥ 75% in cycles III, the utility of learning facilities in the classroom as well have been optimal. In addition, this research also uses interview and the result of interview shows that student motivation can improve after acts of research end, attitude of students can improve after act of research end, and conditioning of class can more interesting after acts of research end. The conclusion of research describes that the implementation of learning model cooperative type two stay two stray with media audio-visual can improve biology learning quality for teacher performance, learning facilities, classroom climate, student's science attitude, and motivation of learning in student class XI Sains 5 SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta.
Keywords: learning model cooperative type two stay two stray, media audio-visual, biology learning quality.


Most of us use just one search engine, and often settle for the first, relevant Web site on the list. Some researchers advise using more than one search tool because each offers different features, and also because no search tool can access the billions of Web pages on the Internet. According to researchers, no single search engine captures more than 16 per cent of the entire Internet – and all search engines, combined, capture less than 50 per cent of online information.


TCi Compression Test Accessory (CTA) - C-Therm - Thermal Conductivity Instruments - Simplifying thermal conductivity and thermal effusivity analysis with the patented Modified Transient Plane Source technique.


patient's illness.4 For example, patients with anorexia nervosa have normal serum albumin levels, yet these patients are considered malnourished.5 Conversely, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, serum albumin has been found to be a good marker of active inflammation but not of nutritional status.6 It has become clear that albumin is a negative acute phase protein, meaning that in times of illness or trauma, hepatic production of albumin is decreased in favor of acute phase proteins such as globulins, fibrinogen, and haptoglobin. In addition, the inflammatory cascade induced by a severe illness or trauma increases vascular permeability, leading to the loss of serum albumin into the interstitium, further decreasing serum albumin levels. It is now recognized that serum albumin levels reflect the severity of the illness or trauma more accurately than nutritional status. It is in this role that serum albumin levels have been reported to be the best preoperative patient characteristic for predicting operative morbidity and mortality.2 Obese surgical patients are at increased risk of postoperative infections, delayed wound healing, and respiratory, and venous thromboembolic complications.7 Obese patients are at increased risk of SSI for a variety of reasons, such as increased wound dead space, poor wound healing, and poor glycemic control. More recently, it has been suggested that these patient have a high inflammatory burden and that a state of chronic inflammation and dysmetabolism in visceral obese patients can negatively influences postoperative outcomes.7 To investigate the relationship between low serum albumin and SSI, we performed a retrospective analysis of 524 patients who underwent gastrointestinal surgery. Patients included in our study were those who underwent operations on the gastrointestinal tract, including gastroduodenal, gallbladder, small intestine, colon, and rectum. We acknowledge that our patient population was heterogeneous; however, the population chosen were patients who underwent "major" gastrointestinal surgery. The diagnosis of SSI in each case was made by the attending doctor who was blinded to the patient's serum albumin to prevent bias. We noted that there was no statistical difference between operation site and the development of SSI. The incidence of SSI after gastric surgery was 10.7%, small bowel was 24.5%, and colorectal 18.3%. The high incidence of SSI after small bowel surgery may reflect our surgical population. The majority of these patients had chronic inflammatory bowel disease that was either refractory to medical therapy or surgically correctable complications such as intestinal obstruction or internal fistula and abscess. In our study, we reported that hypoalbuminemia was a risk factor for the development of SSI, in addition to previously recognized risk factors such as American Society of Anesthetics (ASA) grade III/IV, contaminated wounds and emergency surgery. The mean preoperative albumin level of patients that developed a SSI was 30 (25-34.5) mg/dL; in patients that did not develop SSI, it was 36 (32-39) mg/dL. We reported that 46.4% of patients that developed a superficial SSI had an albumin level less than 30 mg/dL. In contrast, 80% of patients that developed a deep wound infection had an albumin level less than 30 mg/dL.1 These results suggest that hypoalbuminemia in the development of a SSI is selective to the type of SSI. Those patients with a low serum albumin level are at increased risk of a deep SSI rather than superficial SSI.


It has long been known that, in higher-dimensional general relativity, there are black hole solutions with an arbitrarily large angular momentum for a fixed mass [1]. We examine the geometry of the event horizon of such ultra-spinning black holes and argue that these solutions become unstable at large enough rotation. Hence we find that higher-dimensional general relativity imposes an effective ``Kerr-bound'' on spinning black holes through a dynamical decay mechanism. Our results also give indications of the existence of new stationary black holes with ``rippled" horizons of spherical topology. We consider various scenarios for the possible decay of ultra-spinning black holes, and finally discuss the implications of our results for black holes in braneworld scenarios.


The relationship between aspects of environmental uncertainty, such as dynamism and hostility, and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has been well established in the literature. Drawing predominantly on perceptions of uncertainty, there is general consensus that dynamism and hostility nurtures EO. This study uses data from small service firms in New Zealand (NZ) and South Africa (SA) to structurally analyse and compare the nature of this relationship. The findings contribute to the current understanding of the environmental uncertainty and EO relationship as follows. First, although the mean levels for EO are similar between firms in the more dynamic NZ environment and the more hostile SA environment, the factors that nurture such an EO differ significantly between countries. More specifically, EO in small service firms is supported by higher levels of environmental hostility in NZ and by higher levels of internal strategy processes in SA. Second, it contributes to research methodology by using and confirming the use of country of origin as an objective measure of environmental uncertainty.


This study investigates the effect of environmental regulation on green total factor productivity (GTFP) of marine economy in China. Environmental regulation can reduce environmental pollution, and it is the key to sustainable development, but we scarcely know its effects on marine economy. Although environmental regulation increases the cost of economic operation and reduces profits, it also can improve the productivity through stimulating more innovation activities. Therefore, the net effect of environmental regulation on productivity depends on the relative size of the two competitive effects. We present the following evidence on the basis of marine economy in China's coastal provinces. (1) The GTFP of marine economy shows an upward trend. (2) Environmental regulation from investment and cost perspectives has a positive effect on GTFP of marine economy in the long term but not the short term, which supports the Porter hypothesis. (3) Environmental regulation has a single threshold effect on GTFP with environmental regulation, economic development level, and technological level as the threshold variable, respectively. The influence on GTFP can be significantly positively after crossing the threshold value. This study provides timely evidence and important policy implications for achieving a win-win situation between environmental protection and economic development through environmental


An artistic joss stick of explicit figure, comprising a pedestal and a joss stick body erecting on the pedestal, the joss stick body comprises inner layer joss stick whose ash is coagulated and not falling after burning and outer layer joss stick covering the inner layer joss stick r, the outer layer joss stick is comprised of intermediate layer joss stick near to inner layer joss stick and outmost layer joss stick r, wherein the percentage of contraction of intermediate layer joss stick is less than that of outmost layer joss stick, an isolated layer is arranged between the inner layer joss stick and intermediate layer joss stick, a combustion-supporting layer capable of initiating fire is positioned on the top of inner layer joss stick and outer layer. joss stick The utility model the ash of inner layer joss stick coagulates and not falls after burning, and keeps special shape, the outer layer joss stick is made of two layers of different percentages of contraction substance, because of different percentages of contraction, the outer layer joss stick is drawn to outside from the same location splitting and cracking as lotus flower after fire point, achieve novel artistic effect. At the same time, adding the initiating fire combustion-supporting layer, guarantees igniting conveniently with one match, if in the component material, adding medicinal spice according to the need, capable of achieving the effect of air cleaning and expelling worms.


Eucalyptus, Open Nebula and Nimbus are three major open-source cloud-computing software platforms. The overall function of these systems is to manage the provisioning of virtual machines for a cloud providing infrastructure-as-a-service. These various open-source projects provide an important alternative for those who do not wish to use a commercially provided cloud. We provide a comparison and analysis of each of these systems. We begin with a short summary comparing the current raw feature set of these projects. After that, we deepen our analysis by describing how these cloud management frameworks relate to the many other software components required to create a functioning cloud computing system. We also analyse the overall structure of each of these projects and address how the differing features and implementations reflect the different goals of each of these projects. Lastly, we discuss some of the common challenges that emerge in setting up any of these frameworks and suggest avenues of further research and development. These include the problem of fair scheduling in absence of money, eviction or preemption, the difficulties of network configuration, and the frequent lack of clean abstractions.


In this article, analog fiber optic links (radio-over-fiber, RoF, links) are presented as a flexible, low-cost solution for in-house distribution of millimeter-wave (mmw) signals. Mode-locked laser diodes (MLLD) serve as inexpensive mmw sources for the downlink distribution of mmw signals across an optical fiber link. We compare the robustness of direct and external RF modulation for such MLLD-based RoF systems, whereas the error vector magnitude (EVM) of the received symbols serves as a figure of merit. On the eve of 60 GHz WLAN standardization, we experimentally investigate the transmission of narrowband WLAN (IEEE 802.11a) signals in the millimetric range at moderate data rates. We also demonstrate broadband transmission of multi-band orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (MB-OFDM) ultra-wideband (UWB) european computer manufacturers association (ECMA 368) signals in the 60 GHz band for data rates of up to 480 Mbps.


In May and June, 1965, the author made five bird surveys in less known parts of Hokkaido. These are reported here under the headings: 1. Notes on birds along Shiretoko Peninsula (May), 2. Sea-bird survey of Kojima I., off Matsumae (May), 3. Observations of birds of Rishiri I. (June), 4. Bird survey of Cape Esan (May, June) and 5. Birds of Soya area and Rishiri. They are sea bird observations (pelagic census and breeding colonies) and notes on land birds.1. Along Shiretoko peninsula, sea bird colonies were observed from ship at some distance. The main colony was on the west-side cliffs at Iwaobetsu chiefly consisting of some hundreds of Larus schistisagus and Phalacrocorax capillatus with Ph. pelagicus and Cepphus carbo, etc. There were a few other smaller ones but they could not be observed at close range. According to local observer, Mr. Yoshida, there appears to be some colonies of Uria aalge, Lunda cirrhata, Cerorhinca monocerata, and breeding of Fratercula and Brachyramphus marmoratus, possibly also Phalacrocorax urile is suggestive. Summer records so far known for Brachyramphus are listed and two birds were encountered this time. A flock of scores of Larus crassirostris were observed near the tip of the peninsula but the breeding was not confirmed. According to Yoshida, he saw chicks of Histrionicus with an adult bird in June, 1963. A White-tailed Sea Eagle was seen on a pack ice with some Larus schistisagus; it breeds at several places of the peninsula. Two Japanese Robins, Erithacus akahige, were unexpectedly found at rocky tip of the peninsula where there were no vegetations and some snow was remaining. Offshore census of sea birds is given in tables.2. Kojima I. is situated in 139°50'E, 41°20'N, 20km. WSW of Matsumae, the southwesternmost tip of Hokkaido. It is a small volcanic island with a coastal line of about 7km., surrounded by steep cliffs and inhabited only by lighthouse keeper family. The breeding species consisted of Larus crassirostris, Uria aalge, Cerorhinca monocerata, Cepphus carbo and Phalacrocorax capillatus, as on Teuri I. (Kuroda, 1963). Many nest burrows of Cerorhinca were found excavated (by a dog of the lighthouse) and this puffin was apparently decreasing (but increasing at Teuri I.) judging from remains of nests on which grasses were already growing. Gull eggs were still being taken by fishermen and thus protection of the whole island is hoped. The time (May 14) was too early (the season was 10-14 days in retard this year) for Uria aalge which we saw only a few, but on May 31 some hundreds were seen by Mr. Saito. On the island some passerines on migration (both leaving winter bird such as Turdus naumanni and arriving summer birds such as Muscicapa narcissina were found). Scattered Cerorhinca and some flocks of Puffinus griseus and P. carneipes were seen in this sea area and a huge migrating flock of about 3, 000 birds (probably of the latter species) were flying northwestward off Cape Shirakami in an endless line. A flock of 300 birds of this species (definitely identified) had been observed on May 7 all making west the Tsugaru Strait.3. Rishiri and Rebun Is. (See also 5.) situated at a little north of 45N°, west of Wakkanai, northern end of Hokkaido, were visited June 7-9, staying on Rishiri. Cerorhinca was found scattered on the sea between Wakkanai and the islands and many were non-breeding birds without the bill-nob. A small number of Puffinus tenuirostris was seen confined off Wakkanai, a great flock of about 1, 500 of P. griseus consisting of numerous small groups was making a circular movements over the sea area between Rishiri and Rebun,


The optical properties of porphyrins have been extensively investigated in the fields of labels,catalysts and sensors,which are attributed to the absorbance in the near ultraviolet and visible region and emission in the red light region.In general,porphyrins present weak luminescence in aqueous media.Especially,the emission of metal phorphyrin shows much weaker.Therefore,it is a challenging task to enhance the emission of the metal complex in aqueous system.In this paper,the optical properties of metalloporphyrin complex,silver(Ⅱ) tetra-phenyl porphyrin,(TPP-Ag),intercalated into an inorganic lamellar framework(dodecyltrimethylammomium zirconium phosphate,DTZrP) was studied.It was attempted to optimize the optical property resorting to the special microenvironment provided by DTZrP.The DTZrP lamellar framework was prepared by lyophilization method,and the result of X-ray powder diffraction demonstrates that the interval of the lamellar framework is about 3.00 nm.The metalloporphyrin TPP-Ag was synthesized according to previous procedure and characterized with FTIR,UV-visible,and elementary analysis.By means of intercalation chemistry,the TPP-Ag chromophore was assembled into DTZrP successfully.The optical behavior of the chromophore takes on evident change.The Soret absorption peak is red-shifted from 421 nm in the aqueous solution to 429 nm in the suspension.Most of all,the fluorescence property of TPP-Ag assembled into lamellar framework is improved dramatically compared to the chromophore in the aqueous solution.The fluorescence intensity is enhanced by nearly 10-fold.It is concluded that the lamellar framework DTZrP provides appropriate setting which can improve effectively the optical behavior.The optimized fluorescence property is in favor of the chromophore as fluorescence probe in the body of organism.


In accordance with the hourly urban SO_2 concentration time series data from January 1st to March 31th in one of the northwest cities of China,the phase space reconstruction theory and the fractal theory were applied in discussing the changes of attractors' dimension with respect to embedding dimension,and the Kolmogorov entropy as well as maximal Lyapunov exponent was calculated.The result showed that the urban SO_2 concentration time series was a chaotic series,and the longest forecasted time limit was 19 hours.


The presence and diversity of class 1 integrase gene (intI) sequences were evaluated by PCR using previously designed primers. Two clone libraries were constructed from DNA in sediment and microbial mat samples collected on Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica.The libraries constructed from samples collected at Halfthree Point (HP) and Norma Cove (NC) contained 62 and 36 partial intI sequences, respectively. These sequences clustered into 10 different groups with intI integrases. The HP library contained 42 nucleotide sequences identical to the class 1 intI gene found in a collection of trimethoprim-resistant (Tmpr) Antarctic Enterobacter sp. isolates, previously collected in the same area. These integrons, located on plasmids, had a genetic organization similar to that of pKOX105 from Klebsiella oxytoca. The 20 remaining HP and NC library sequences were similar to integrase sequences previously determined in a metagenomic analysis of environmental samples. We have demonstrated the presence of integron integrase genes in Antarctic sediment samples. About half these genes were very similar to the class 1 integrons found in human- associated microbiota, suggesting that they originated from human-dominated ecosystems. The remaining integrase genes were probably associated with endemic bacteria. Citation: Antelo V, Romero H, Batista S. Detection of integron integrase genes on King George Island, Antarctica. Adv Polar Sci, 2015, 26: 30-37, doi: 10.13679/j.advps.2015.1.00030


SUMMARYCytochemical reactions for peroxidase, poliphenoloxidase and phenols were performed in compatible and incompatibile combinations. The enhancement of phenolic metabolism in susceptible plants infected with a non-pathogen race, and in resistant plants infected with a pathogen race, confirms their role in resistance mechanisms. The fine localization at an ultrastructural level indicated that these induced processes are connected with adjacent parenchymatous cells and that the enzymatic reactions and their products are strictly associated with the presence of the hyphae.


This study describes teacher performance by quantifying every detail of teacher activity. This research results from a case study conducted for eight months in elementary school. The research focuses on the workload of primary school teachers. This research data collection through observation, interviews, and document review. This research was conducted at SD Negeri 18 Maroangin and SD Islam Terpadu Madan Insan Palopo City, South Sulawesi Province. The study results are as follows: (1) Based on the implementation time, to complete all tasks, the workload of elementary school teachers takes 17 hours a day. Therefore, it equates to 102 hours per week. In this case, the teacher experiences an "overload" workload. (2) The professionalism of primary school teachers is a challenge for education in Indonesia. In addition to the limited ability of teacher resources.


Situs inversus totalis is very rare anatomical condition found in 1 in 10,000 subjects. Here we describe the case of left middle lobe lung abscess with situs inversus totalis in 60 year old Sikh male presented with high grade fever with chills , cough with copious production of foul smelling sputum. [Agrawal A et al NJIRM 2013; 4(2) : 178-180]


Introduction: Genome-wide methylation analyses recently revealed novel epigenetic pineoblastoma (PBL) subtypes, but so far few data are available on recurrent cytogenetic alterations due to the rarity of these neoplasms. Therefore, our aim was to shed further light onto the molecular and genetic characteristics underlying the pathogenesis of pineoblastoma subtypes.
 Experimental procedures: Cytogenetic alterations of tumor samples of 60 patients with a diagnosis of PBL confirmed by reference neuropathology and methylation array profiling (450K or EPIC BeadChips (Illumina)) were analyzed by high-resolution genome-wide molecular inversion probe analysis. 52 cases could be screened for mutations by next-generation DNA panel sequencing. Survival data of 41 patients were available. All patients had surgery and older patients (≥4y) received RT followed by maintenance chemotherapy (n=37); infants (<4y) were primarily given a RT-sparing regimen that involved intensified chemotherapy dosage.
 Results: Of the recently published epigenetic consensus PBL subtypes (Liu et al., 2021), our cohort consisted of 37 PBL-miRNA1 (1A, 30; 1B, 7), 17 PBL-miRNA2, 2 PBL-MYC/FOXR2, and 4 PBL-RB1 samples. PBL-miRNA subtype tumors had characteristic alterations in microRNA-processing genes; DICER1 mutations (n=14; 4 in Grp1A/1 in Grp1B/9 in Grp2) were most abundant, followed by homozygous deletions of the DROSHA locus (n=11; 8/1/2) and DROSHA mutations (n=9; 3/3/3). Most frequent cytogenetic aberrations in these subtypes were chromosome (chr.) 7 gains (n=25) and chr. 14 losses (n=20, with all but one of miRNA2 cases). DICER1 mutations were significantly associated with chr. 14 losses (p<0.001). 17 cases showed gains of the chromosomal arm 14q, in 6 additional cases, focal gains were found of the OTX2 oncogene located on chr. 14q. In the miRNA subtypes we identified cases with a tetraploid phenotype (n=11; 7/4/0). Interestingly, none of the 6 patients with tetraploid tumors and survival data had relapses, while the remaining patients of the miRNA subtypes had a 5-year PFS of 72% and 5-year OS of 68% (10 of 31 with relapse/death) after a median follow-up time of 3.9 years. However, this did not reach statistical significance. A significant impact on survival could not be demonstrated for chr. 14q gains or focal OTX2 gains. The PBL-RB1 subtype cases had homozygous RB1 deletions (n=3) or biallelic RB1 mutations (n=1). Focal chromosomal aberrations were frequently found in this subtype, but rarely numerical alterations.
 Conclusion: The epigenetically defined PBL subtypes were characterized by distinct cytogenetic and mutational events. Although we could not demonstrate a prognostic impact of these events, this might be due to the small sample size. A possible prognostic role for a superior (e.g. tetraploidy) or inferior outcome (e.g. OTX2 gains) need studies in larger cohorts and ideally in prospective clinical trials.
 Citation Format: Tobias Goschzik, Mathias Yuan, Martin Mynarek, Elke Pfaff, Evelyn Dörner, David T. Jones, Stefan M. Pfister, Stefan Rutkowski, Torsten Pietsch. Recurrent genetic alterations in epigenetic pineoblastoma subtypes. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3561.


A new iridoid glucoside, nepetacilicioside (1), was isolated from the aerial parts of Nepeta cilicia together with the known compound velpetin. The structure of the new compound was elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical evidence.


This paper consists of a Japanese translation of Patanjali's Mahabhasya ad P 1. 3. 1 bhuvadayo dhatavah and the Prodipa, a commentary on it by Kaiyata, together with a brief exposition of my own.


Many of today's distribution grids and their protection schemes were designed for vertical electrical power flow from higher voltage levels to lower voltage levels. These grids are more and more applied in a situation with an increased penetration of distributed generation. This paper focuses on the effect of increased penetration of distributed generation on voltage profiles in the distribution grid. Classical and power electronics based solutions to resulting problems are illustrated by means of simulations. It is shown that especially for cable networks series controllers can be useful. An overview is given of future research, also concentrating on other benefits of series controllers


Generally,in Xin'anjiang model,the basin is divided into a set of sub-basins by Thiessen method so that the spatial distribution of rainfall can be taken account,which the same recession constants of runoff concentration are used in all sub-basins.It can be seen that topography is not taken account.However,it is well known that the runoff concentration behaviors of a basin is largely depend on topographic characteristic.A new method is proposed using digital elevation model(DEM) to divide sub-basins and to derive average slope and along-channel length of sub-basins to basin outlet.The quantitative relation between runoff concentration parameters and slope is established,which the spatial distribution not only of rainfall,but also of topography can be taken account in Xin'anjiang model.The application results in Yandu river basin show that the number of floods with effective coefficient of bigger than 0.9 increased to 46.67% from 20% and that with relative error of peak of less than 10% increased to 76.67% from 40% in 30 floods.


The utility model discloses a repeated filter device for camellia oil, which comprises a filter pressing device, a camellia oil box, an oil storage box, an oil storage pipe, an oil outlet and a fixed bracket, wherein the filter pressing device, the oil outlet, the fixed bracket and the camellia oil box are fixedly connected in sequence; an oil transportation port is arranged above the filter pressing device; the oil outlet is arranged below the left part of the filter pressing device; a layer of filter screen is arranged at the joint of the filter pressing device and the oil outlet; the fixed bracket is arranged below the filter pressing device; a filter layer is arranged in the camellia oil box; a thermal insulation layer is arranged at the inner layer of the camellia oil box; a right-triangle bottom plate is arranged at the bottom of the camellia oil box; the oil storage pipe is arranged below the right part of the camellia oil box; the oil storage pipe is connected with the top left of the oil storage box. The repeated filter device is reasonable in structure, and is capable of decreasing the impurities of the camellia oil to bring a good filter pressing effect and effectively filtering and separating the saturated acid and ester in the camellia oil.


A dual-time method is introduced to calculate the unsteady flow in a certain vibrating fiat cascade.An implicit lower-upper symmetric-gauss-seidel scheme(LU-SGS) is applied for time stepping in pseudo time domains,and the convection items are discretized with the spatial three-order weighted non-oscillatory and non-free-parameter dissipation difference (WNND) scheme.The turbulence model adopts q-ωlow-Reynolds-number model.The frequency spectrums of lift coefficients and the unsteady pressure-difference coefficients at different spanwise heights as well as the entropy contours at blade tips on different vibrating instants,are obtained.By the analysis of frequency spectrums of lift coefficients at three spanwise heights,it is considered that there exist obvious non-linear perturbations in the flow induced by the vibrating,and the perturbation frequencies are higher than the basic frequency.The entropy contours at blade tips at different times display an intensively unsteady attribute of the flow under large amplitudes.


distinct zones of Cu and Pb–Zn mineralisation. The textural and structural relationships associated with the mineralised lodes suggests that they formed through oblique-slip faulting within a transtensional regime. The geochemical and economic significance of the Copper Coast mineralisation is not yet resolved, although the structural and petrographic evidence, revealed by this study, indicate that the system may represent remobilization from a proximal VMS deposit (Figures 1–3).


This essay proposes to view networks as sociocultural structures. Following authors from Leopold von Wiese and Norbert Elias to Gary Alan Fine and Harrison White, networks are configurations of social relationships interwoven with meaning. Social relationships as the basic building blocks of networks are conceived of as dynamic structures of reciprocal (but not necessarily symmetric) expectations between alter and ego. Through their transactions, alter and ego construct an idiosyncratic "relationship culture" comprising symbols, narratives, and relational identities. The coupling of social relationships to networks, too, is heavily laden with meaning. The symbolic construction of persons is one instance of this coupling. Another instance is the application of social categories (like race or gender), which both map and structure social networks. The conclusion offers an agenda for research on this "meaning structure of social networks."


The geometrical structures and optical properties of the K(5S)XeN polyatomic exciplexes are studied by using the Metropolis Monte Carlo method. The many‐body potentials between an electronically excited potassium atom and xenon atoms are calculated by using the improved Baylis potential model, in which the Hamiltonian is diagonalized at every Monte Carlo step. At low temperature, the exciplex has a closed structure at the number of xenons N=8. The shifts and the linewidths of the transition energy of the calculated fluorescence spectra of individual exciplexes reflect the structures and thermal properties of each polyatomic exciplex.


This article examines some of the ways in which sociohistorical contexts influence the formulation of issues in developmental psychology. It is essential to examine social, political, and historical forces when trying to understand the discipline. Two examples are provided, the first having to do with child care and the origins of developmental psychology in the USA, the second having to do with formal schooling and the Vygotskian approach to developmental psychology in the USSR. Both these cases may be viewed as part of the general problem of how nation-building is related to the formulation of issues in social science.


Abstract Over the last few decades, Bhutan has followed a controlled tourism policy, with a 'high value, low volume' strategy. This approach is based on the country's sustainable development policy. In recent years, tourism has been identified as the backbone of private sector growth. To this end, a 'high value, low impact' strategy was adopted, which would allow for a doubling of the number of tourists in the next decade. Growing numbers of visitors could jeopardize the intended low impact on both nature and culture, which are the selling points of Bhutanese tourism. In this article, we examine the contribution of tourism to the sustainable development of Bhutan, focusing on the socio-economic, environmental and cultural impacts of present-day tourism. Information was gathered by conducting field surveys in the tourist sector and in rural communities, and by analysing financial data relating to tourism. The results indicate that tourism has the potential to stimulate private sector growth by producing spin-off effects in the related service sector and to transform the rural economy. The impact on culture and the environment is currently low. However, the expected growth may, if it is not managed properly, erode the unique nature of tourism in Bhutan.


Deposition of the Early Cambrian Ouldburra Formation, a mixed siliciclastic/carbonate, marine carbonate and evaporite succession, occurred in the shallow marine setting of the Manya Trough. The observed variations between the facies are interpreted as both autocyclic and allocyclic in nature, largely controlled by sea level fluctuations. Periodic exposure of the carbonates resulted in dolomitisation and secondary porosity development. Secondary porosity was generated within the siliciclastic-carbonate zone by carbonate matrix and grain dissolution, and also by dolomitisation. The sedimentary facies and rock character suggest that sabkha and brine reflux models can be used to explain early dolomitisation within the Ouldburra Formation. Dolomite mainly occurs in two stages: (l) common anhedral dolomites formed early by replacement of preexisting limestone and (2) saddle dolomite and coarse crystalline dolomite formed during the late stages of burial diagenesis and associated with hydrocarbon shows. The diagenetic path includes cementation, dolomitisation, dissolution, compaction, silicification, dedolomitisation, burial dolomitisation, sulphide mineralisation, pressure solution, fracturing and hydrocarbon migration. The dolomite reservoirs were ranked on the basis of their porosity distribution and texture into groups I to IV. Dolomites with rank I and tr exhibit excellent to good reservoir characteristics respectively. Petrophysical logs, including gamma ray and density logs, helped to identify porous intervals. Stable carbon and oxygen analyses, together with fluid inclusion microthermometry, suggest that the early dolomite with relatively heavy ôr8O but depleted ôr3C formed in a sabkha environment under relatively low temperatures, and the late replacement and saddle dolomites with depleted ôt80 suggest deposition under somewhat higher temperatures. ln the Manya Trough, the organic-rich carbonates were deposited under anoxic to suboxic conditions. They are mature to overmature and have Type Itr to IV kerogen. In the Tallaringa Trough, the carbonates were deposited under highly anoxic conditions. They are early mature to mature and have Type II kerogen. The occurrence of live oil, together with thucholites in proximity to the common lamalginite, are characteristic features associated with these excellent quality, oil-prone source rocks. The recognition of Gloeocapsomorpha prisca in these source rocks is the first reported occurrence of this organism from the Early Cambrian. Biomarker characteristics of the clay-free Tallaringa Trough limestones are unusual and are characterised by high abundances of hopanes and diasteranes relative to steranes. Other significant biomarkers are dinosterane and 24-isopropylcholestane, where the former is the first reported occurrence of this compound from an Early Palaeozoic rock. The latter confirms an earlier report of this compound from the Ouldburra Formation and strengthens its significance as an age-specific sponge marker. TABLE OF CONTENTS REPRINTS APPENDICES LIST OF FIGURES STATEMENT ACKNOV/LEDGMENTS CHAPTER


The paper analyses the actions of Ivanko, a Bulgarian nobleman, possibly a member of the ruling family of the Asenides, who in 1196 killed the ruling tsar, Asen, and escaped to Constantinople once his plan to take control of the country failed. Owing to the benevolence of Alexios III Angelos, he joined the Byzantine military and very quickly rose through its ranks until he became the military commander of the region of Philippopolis. In 1198 or 1999 he defected and created an independent dominion on the slopes of the Stara Planina massif, precariously balanced between Bulgaria and the empire, exploiting to his own advantage the constant state of warfare between the two polities. His adventure was short-lived: in 1200 he was captured through deception by the Byzantines, taken prisoner, and presumably executed. While his political career was very short, his importance for the history of medieval Bulgaria is not to be underestimated. It is a testimony of the fluidity of the political situation at the Bulgaro-Byzantine border, whose instability often allowed ambitious and cunning local commanders to carve up autonomous dominions, and of the difficulties experienced by the central power in keeping control of the peripheral areas of the state. It is also proof of the constantly shifting ethnic and cultural allegiances of the citizens of those polities, entangled between different and often conflicting identities, usually regarded as irreconcilable but that were actually the object of a continuous negotiation and adjusting. Ivanko is an interesting case study in regard to all of those factors, especially when considered within the larger phenomenon of provincial separatism in the imperial (and Bulgarian) lands between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century.


We compute the accuracy with which Omega and Lambda can be measured by combining future SN Ia and CMB experiments, deriving a handy expression for the SN Ia Fisher information matrix. The two data sets are found to be highly complementary: a joint analysis reduces the error bars by more than an order of magnitude compared to a separate analysis of either data set.


The possibilities of constructing a solution to an inhomogeneous the third-order equation have been studied, in particular the Clausen equation in the vicinity of special points x=0 and x=∞. The construction of the method for indeterminate coefficients to the construction of partial solutions of the Clausen equation is shown. These ideas are extended to constructing private solutions of the simple Clausen system near a regular feature with solutions in the form of a product of two hypergeometric Clausen functions, each of which depends on one variable. A number of properties of the product of Clausen functions constructed near these features have been proved. The construction of a common solution of the main heterogeneous system of Clausen is investigated. Four new functions have been created, representing the private solutions of the heterogeneous equation and systems like Clausen.


ABSTRACT Kazdaği National Park is located in the Southern part of Marmara region in the North-west of Turkey. There are about 800 taxa naturally grown in the National Park and 79 of them are endemic to Turkey. Also, thirty one of the endemic taxa are grown only in the area. Additionally, there are thirty one "rare plants" in this area. Due to these characteristics, the area is an important plant area in Turkey and Europe as well. Therefore, the area was determined as "Important Plant Areas (IPAs)" by Planta Europa and WWF. This paper evaluates the environmental and anthropogenic impacts on the plant diversity in the National Park. Threatening factors on the endemic and rare species in the National Park have been determined. Also, conservation suggestions for endemic and rare plants were emphasized in this study. Fieldwork was done on the area during 2007 and 2008. The results show that the festival in Sarıkız hill and visitors density have negative effects on the natural resources of the protected area. Because of insufficient facilities and unplanned usage of the festival area, degredation of the plant habitat was observed. A number of precaution in Kazdağ National Park should be taken in order to minimize the anthropogenic impacts.


This study aimed to obtain the best ratio of inoculums and types of alternative media in increasing the growth of the probiotic consortium with the observed variables consisting of viability, cell biomass and decrease in pH. Completely randomized design (CRD) factorial consisting of 2 factors with 3 replications, factor A were the probiotic consortium (A1: Lactobacillus parabuchneri: L. buchneri: L. harbinensis, Schieferilactobacillus harbinensis and Lentilactobacillus parabuchner) with ratio 1:1:1:1:1; A2: same consortium with ratio 1:1:1:1:2; A3: same consortium with ratio 1:1:1:2:1; A4: same consortium with ratio 1:1:2:1:1; A5: same consortium with ratio 1:2:1:1:1; A6: same consortium with ratio 2:1:1:1:1 and factor B were the type of alternative media (B1=control; B2=coconut water (90%) + cassava flour (5%) + fish waste flour (5%); B3=tofu liquid waste (90%) + flour onggok (5%) + fish waste meal (5%); B4= tofu whey (90%) + onggok flour (5%) + fish waste meal (5%). The results showed that there was an interaction between factor A and factor B which was highly significant (P<0.01) on viability, cell biomass and decrease in medium pH. In conclusion, the best ratio of probiotic consortium was 1:1:1:2:1, with growth medium coconut water (90%) + cassava flour (5%) + fish waste flour (5%) which resulted in a viability value of: 3, 02, cell biomass: 22.47 mg/ml and a decrease in the pH of the medium by 2.84.


An arithmetical function f is a rational arithmetical function of order (r,s) if it can be written as the Dirichlet convolution of r completely multiplicative functions and s inverses of completely multiplicative functions. In this paper we show that pseudo-unitarily semimultiplicative functions and a related generalization of the unitary analog of Euler's totient function are rational arithmetical functions of orders (1,2) and (2,3). These functions arise from the theory the so-called pseudo-LCUM and GCUD reciprocal pseudo-LCUM matrices, where GCUD and pseudoLCUM stand for the greatest common unitary divisor and an extension of the least common unitary multiple.


The paper by Piquer and coauthors, on the structural characterization of a NW-striking fault system in the southern Central Andes, reports new fault kinematic data and performs stress inversion analysis, which are used to discuss the relationship between pre-existing structures, local stress field, and fluid migration. The results from these analyses are then integrated with geophysical data to provide an integral characterization of the fault system. The paper is well-written, and of wide interest to the broad Solid Earth audience. Below, I provide six recommendations on how to clarify and enhance the manuscript, to make it a stronger contribution: (1) Tectonic setting: To give


The most effective postharvest tool to extend storage life and maintain the quality of fruits is low-temperature storage. However, storing fruits below the optimum level caused a chilling injury. Papaya is prone to chilling injuries characterised by scald, pitting of the skin, hard lumps in the pulp around the vascular bundles, abnormal ripening with blotchy discolouration and water soaking of the flesh, all these increased susceptibility to decay. The study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of temperature preconditioning treatment in developing chilling tolerance of papaya cv. 'Sekaki' during storage at suboptimum temperature. The study was carried out by manipulating temperature preconditioning and storage at sub-optimum temperature (7°C). No chilling injury symptom was observed in samples stored at a sub-optimum temperature of 7 °C throughout the storage period. Quality parameters like pH, total titratable acidity (TTA), total soluble solids (TSS) and ascorbic acid content showed no significant differences between treatments. Higher firmness value was recorded in fruits subjected to temperature conditioning, associated with delayed ripening. The temperature preconditioning technique preserves the papaya quality under storage at sub-optimum temperatures as low as 7 °C without chilling injury symptoms, with a longer shelf life (4 weeks) than only three weeks for conventional handling techniques. The fruits can be ripened by being exposed to ethylene when they are ready to be marketed. A preliminary study on temperature preconditioning treatment on papaya var. 'Sekaki' has been reported by Razali (2013). Treatments involved were control stored directly at 12°C, temperature preconditioning 15°C (1 day), temperature preconditioning 15°C (1 day) + 10°C (3 days) and 15°C (1 day) + 10°C (1 day). Temperature preconditioning was applied by step-wise temperature reduction before storage at sub-optimal temperature (7°C). Results showed that preconditioned papaya (15°C (1 day) + 10°C (3 days)) could be stored up to 4-5 weeks at a sub-optimum storage temperature of 7°C, while the control samples can only be stored for 2-3 weeks. Therefore, this study was conducted to validate the effectiveness of the temperature preconditioning treatment in developing the chilling tolerance of papaya cv. 'Sekaki' during storage at suboptimum temperature, hence extending papaya's storage life. setup was a completely randomised design and performed for each variable. Statistical analyses of the treatment responses were conducted using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The analysis is used to identify the relationship between parameters and treatments. Experimental data are presented as means, with a discussion of significant differences in the text.


In the present study, we explore an environmental tax reform for Austria as an instrument to achieve the main objectives of the current Austrian Climate and Energy Strategy #mission2030. Our concept aims at a dual objective of reducing CO2-eq emissions, while simultaneously further triggering innovation processes of the Austrian industry, resulting in a transfer of benefits to society. The focused measures at the national level to achieve climate protection comprise an increase of the mineral oil tax and the introduction of CO2-eq taxation for non-EU-ETS sectors. These taxes create revenues which are recycled through 1) reductions of non-wage labor costs for companies, 2) compensation transfers for private households of low- and middle-income groups, 3) investment in research and innovation for industry and 4) investments in key technologies to advance #mission2030, such as alternative propulsion systems (electric, H2), and the use of biomethane for space heating and thermal renovation. Results of simulations for the period 2020 to 2025 via a macro-sectoral model display the potential for multiple dividends if the revenues are reused this way. Furthermore, besides offering significant reductions of CO2e emissions, the proposed reform triggers positive impacts on GDP, employment, and private consumption, thereby ensuring social compatibility.


A simple, inexpensive and rapid LC method has been developed for the quantative determination ofCitalopram, an anti-depressant drug. Themethod can also be employed for the determination of Citalopramand its impurities in the bulk drug. Degradation studies were performed on the bulk drug by heating to 105 °C, exposure to UV light at an energy of 200 Watt hours/ m2and toVisible light at an illumination of not less than 1.2million lux hours, acid (0.5 N hydrochloric acid), base (0.1 N sodium hydroxide) aqueous hydrolysis and oxidation with 3.0% v/v hydrogen peroxide and 0.2% w/w Meta chloro per benzoic acid. Considerable degradation was observed under acid, base and oxidation conditions. Good resolution between the peaks corresponding to impurities produced during synthesis, degradation products and the analyte was achieved on a Symmetry C18 LC column using a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of aqueous potassium dihydrogen phosphate, N,N-Dimethyl octyl amine, methanol and acetonitrile. The degradation samples were assayed against the reference standard of Citalopram and the mass balance in each case was close to 99.9%. Validation of the method was carried out as per ICH requirements.


To clarify the modification mechanism of bio-oil for phenol-formaldehyde resin with crude bio-oil (BPF), the bio-oil compounds were simplified by model compound method according to the component distribution. The phenol-formaldehyde resin with bio-oil model compounds (BMPF) were prepared and their basic performance, bonding strength and aging characteristics were determined. The changes on the microstructure and chemical bonds of BMPF were also analyzed by scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. Results showed that the components of bio-oil had different influence on the performance and microstructure of BMPF, especially phenols. Structural analysis indicated that the phenols and ketones of bio-oil had positive effects on the synthesis of BMPF, while the aldehydes and acids had negative effects. But all components of bio-oil could improve the aging resistance of BMPF inordinately. These results could provide a basis for the modification of BPF.


In this thesis, I am examining the anti-German sentiment that swept through American society during World War I, with a focus on its impact on the classical music community. When the United States entered the fighting in 1917, the government had to create a sense of purpose, unity, and national identity among the public in order to organize an effective war effort and overcome the country's lack of both preparation and compelling reasons to be involved in the conflict at all. To achieve this, the new Committee on Public Information organized a largescale propaganda campaign to encourage a combination of unwavering nationalism and fear of the enemy, specifically the Germans. The propaganda was effective to the point where extreme paranoia took over the nation, and people began to stigmatize anything that was even remotely connected with Germany. In addition, the government and its propaganda created such a conformist environment that dissenters of any kind, German or otherwise, faced persecution and incarceration. Laws passed during that time took away many basic civil liberties such as freedom of speech and right to privacy, so it was even easier to identify and catch anybody who was even remotely critical of the war or the United States in general. At the same time, music had become intertwined with wartime politics and could not escape the irrational prejudice that had pervaded the nation. Germany had traditionally provided the greatest influence of any country on the development of a musical identity in the United States, but in the war, many Americans chose to link its artistic identity with its politics and militarism. It was part of a larger, ongoing debate about whether music should even be politicized at all, or simply valued for its trans-national, emotional, aesthetic qualities; in this case, however, American music was connected too closely with nationalism to be treated as separate from the war. As a result, some cities and communities banned music by German composers, and many enemy alien performers and conductors were suspected of working against the United States. I am specifically looking at Frederick Stock, conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as a case study of these larger issues in the war. Because he was born in Germany, he faced attacks and accusations of disloyalty by the press and public, and eventually had to resign until he could attain American citizenship. In reality, however, he had lived in the United States for over twenty years and was considered patriotic and trustworthy by the people who knew and worked with him. It is his nationalist record that makes him a compelling case study of issues such as conformity, propaganda, civil liberties, prejudice, and the role of music in the war. On the one hand, the fact that he faced persecution at all demonstrates the irrational extremes that anti-Germanism had reached. Even an official investigation had concluded that he was innocent, but that verdict did not stop newspapers from continuing to question his loyalty. On the other hand, it is important to note that Stock was luckier than many of his German-born contemporaries, who were arrested and interned. In a time when people's statements could be used against them easily and nationalism was more important than aesthetics, Stock's supporters succeeded in defending him as a patriotic American, not just a talented conductor. As a result, his story demonstrates the many complexities of life on the World War I home front. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Field: An Interdisciplinary Perspective Sources SECTION I: WORLD WAR I BACKGROUND, PRE-1917 Germans in Chicago Changing German-American Relations Prewar Europe The Early War Years, 1914-1917 SECTION II: THE UNITED STATES AT WAR, 1917-1919 CPI Propaganda The Spread of Anti-Germanism Legal Repressions SECTION III: THE WARTIME EXPERIENCES OF FREDERICK STOCK Suspicion v. Support of Stock SECTION IV: NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS National Contexts International Contexts CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY 1 2 5 8 8 10 12 14 19 20 26 28 32 37 43 43 51


Abstract. A theoretical model based on common pump structure is proposed to analyze the output characteristics of a diode-pumped alkali vapor laser (DPAL) and XPAL (exciplex-pumped alkali laser). Cs-DPAL and Cs-Ar XPAL systems are used as examples. The model predicts that an optical-to-optical efficiency approaching 80% can be achieved for continuous-wave four- and five-level XPAL systems with broadband pumping, which is several times the pumped linewidth for DPAL. Operation parameters including pumped intensity, temperature, cell's length, mixed gas concentration, pumped linewidth, and output coupler are analyzed for DPAL and XPAL systems based on the kinetic model. In addition, the predictions of selection principal of temperature and cell's length are also presented. The concept of the equivalent "alkali areal density" is proposed. The result shows that the output characteristics with the same alkali areal density but different temperatures turn out to be equal for either the DPAL or the XPAL system. It is the areal density that reflects the potential of DPAL or XPAL systems directly. A more detailed analysis of similar influences of cavity parameters with the same areal density is also presented.


Background: Cough is an important defense mechanism, whose main function is to remove mucus and/or foreign bodies from the airways. In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), respiratory muscle function may be affected and cough may be impaired. Objectives: Respiratory muscle strength and voluntary cough efficacy were determined in MS patients and controls, and the relationship between cough efficacy and patients' degree of disability was investigated. Methods: We recruited 27 MS patients (age: 41 ± 11 years; 18 females) with mild-to-moderate disability, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score range: 1–7, and 20 healthy controls (age: 37 ± 11 years; 12 females). The maximal inspiratory (PIMAX) and expiratory (PEMAX) pressures, maximal whistle mouth pressures (PMOW), cough peak flows (CPF), cough expiratory volumes (CEV) and cough gastric pressures (PGA) were measured in all subjects. Results: In MS patients, the EDSS score was significantly related to CPF, PEMAX, PMOW, cough PGA, PIMAX and CEV (p < 0.01, each correlation). The receiver-operating characteristic curve showed that an EDSS score ≧5.5 was consistent with impaired cough (CPF ≤5.6 l/s), with a sensitivity of 0.85 and a specificity of 0.95 (area under curve 0.90, p < 0.001). CPF was related to and predicted by PEMAX, PMOW, cough PGA and PIMAX in MS patients (p < 0.01 each correlation), but not in controls. Conclusions: MS can affect voluntary cough efficacy and respiratory muscle strength, which are inversely related to the patients' degree of disability. In addition, this study shows that CPF is a measure of clinical relevance in MS patients.


In recent years parallel computing has been widely employed for both science research and commercial applications. For parallel systems such as many-core or computer clusters, it is inevitable to have one or more computing node failures due to random errors or injected attacks. Usually a diagnosis mechanism is able to locate several defective nodes through a number of tests and the analysis of those test signatures (syndromes). Although this covers the cases caused by random errors, sophisticated attacks are still able to manipulate the outputs of each node, so that they will be masked and pass the diagnosis. Therefore in this paper we propose a hybrid self-diagnosis mechanism. We adopt a new type of analysis with the linear syndromes, which are able to locate up to a certain number of defective nodes caused by random errors. In addition to this, we introduce a new type of robust analysis of the non-linear syndromes, which is capable of detecting the attacks undetectable by the linear syndromes at a probability close to one. Moreover, since this hybrid self-diagnosis mechanism is on the data level which makes little distinction among different operating systems and programming languages, it can be migrated onto any other platforms conveniently.


The anthers of Xi'an eggplant variety were cultured under different hormones,carbon sources,amino acids and AgNO3to study the effects on the callus rate for establishing the optimum culture condition.The results showed that: 1) the callus rate was nearly zero when a single hormone was used in the medium,total callus rate and callus rate of central anther was above 18.0% and 4.0% when auxin and cytokinin was used in the medium simultaneously and the optimum medium was 0.2 mg/L 2,4-D+1.0 mg/L NAA+0.25 mg/L KT.2) totall callus rate was 57.14% when 2% sucrose was used in the medium and the callus rate of central anther all was above 12% when 2% sucrose and 6.5% glucose was used in the medium seperatly.3)the total callus rate and callus rate of central anther of treatments with adding amino acids and AgNO3was higher than CK.The optimum medium for improving anther callus rate of Xi'an eggplant variety was MS+0.2 mg/L 2,4-D+1.0 mg/L NAA+0.25 mg/L KT+2% sucrose +100 mg/L Ser.


New product qualification frequently requires that a manufacturer provide customers with several independent samples for evaluation. For continuous manufacturing processes, equipment residence time distributions (RTDs) introduce serial dependence among the samples. Determining RTD by pulse or step modulation of a tracer or process variable can produce off-spec material and add costs by limiting the opportunity to conduct other product or process development experiments. A novel method of determining a continuous process' RTD does not risk production of off-spec material. Through analysis of serial component analytical data, the process' washout curve can be inferred. The theoretical basis for the method is presented and experimental requirements enumerated. Applicability to well-mixed, laminar flow and convective-dispersive processes is demonstrated. Experimental validation in a specialty polymer pilot plant resulted in an error of about 5% in mean residence time, when compared to estimates from pulse tests and calibrated level measurements.


In this paper, we present a framework for quantitative characterization of codeswitching patterns in multi-party conversations, which allows us to compare and contrast the socio-cultural and functional aspects of code-switching within a set of cultural contexts. Our method applies some of the proposed metrics for quantification of code-switching (Gamback and Das, 2016; Guzman et al., 2017) at the level of entire conversations, dyads and participants. We apply this technique to analyze the conversations from 18 recent Hindi movies. In the process, we are able to tease apart the use of code-switching as a device for establishing identity, sociocultural contexts of the characters and the events in a movie.