Biodegradable plastics are plastics that will decompose  in nature with the help of microorganisms. The use various of starch as the main material of plastic manufacturing has great potential because in Indonesia there are different starch crops. To obtain bioplastics, starch is added to the plasticizer glycerol, in order to obtain a more flexible plastic and elastic. This study reviews  the  use  of starch to obtain good mechanical properties of biodegradable plastics. Addition various of starch affecting the mechanical properties of biodegradable plastics. But, addition of plasticizer  glycerol on many kinds of starch lower the value of tensile strength and raising the value of elongation. But, when added chitosan and glycerol, increasing the value of tensile strength and lower the value of elongation.


Objective: Monitoring of immune responses is essential in the care of immunosuppressed individuals, including rheumatic patients. Evaluation of cellular immunity is essential for confirming virus-specific effector cell functions, but it is poorly standardized, and suffers from technical limitations and inaccurate results. There is, therefore, a need for reliable techniques for assessing cell-mediated immunity. In this study we compared the cell-mediated immunity response to influenza vaccine between a population of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and healthy subjects by three methods.
Methods: Trivalent influenza subunit vaccine was administered to 18 RA patients who were taking disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs and to 18 healthy controls. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and sera were obtained immediately before and ~28 days after vaccination. Cell-mediated immunity responses to vaccination were evaluated by (1) flow cytometric analysis of IL-2/IFN-γ production in activated CD4/CD8 T-cells, (2) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the analysis of IFN-γ secretion, and (3) Granzyme B activity assay. Humoral response was evaluated by the hemagglutination inhibition assay.
Results: Vaccination induced a significant increase in PBMC IFN-γ secretion and Granzyme B activity in the RA patients. Granzyme B activity also significantly increased in the controls, but there was no change in the levels of secreted IFN-γ. No group differences in the frequencies of IFN-γ/IL-2-producing activated CD4/CD8 T-cells were observed by flow cytometry. The geometric mean of hemagglutination inhibition antibody titers increased significantly for the H1N1/H3N2 influenza strains in both groups.
Conclusions: Granzyme B activity assay was the only method to detect a significant cell-mediated immunity response in both groups while significant increase in IFN-γ secretion was demonstrated only in RA patients. Flow cytometric analysis failed to show IL-2 and IFN-γ production in both groups. Currently available methods for measuring cellular responsiveness to influenza vaccination are inconsistent and limited in their ability to reflect acquired cellular immunity.


Background: Resilience is a positive psychological characteristic that contributes to mental health and adjustment under challenging conditions, such as deafness. Deafness is a traumatic experience and causes communication disorders; it may also affect resilience. Objectives: We compared the resilience of deaf signers to that of a matched group of hearing individuals. Materials and Methods: This comparative study was performed to assess self-evaluated resilience in 45 deaf signers and in 76 matched hearing subjects from Hamadan, Iran. Resilience scores were measured using a modified connor-davidson resilience scale. Results: The average resilience score was 61.20 in deaf signers and 62.8 in hearing subjects; however, this difference was not statistically significant. The resilience score was different in female and male deaf participants. It was 65.22 for male deaf participants (SD = 10.4) and 55.17 for female deaf participants (SD = 16.1), and this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.014). The gender difference between the resilience scores of hearing participants (male, 66.24 [SD = 16.7] and female, 59.36 [SD = 13.9]) was not significant (P = 0.057). Discussion: Similar resilience scores in deaf and hearing participants may be due to appropriate interaction of deaf signers with family members and society. Male deaf subjects were more resilient than female ones; studies should be done to examine the effects of cultural characteristics that may provide females with less communication opportunities than males.


Rock mass movements in sedimentary rocks across bedding in Kananaskis Country, Alberta, are controlled by discontinuity orientations and topography. When bedding planes dip at less than 50°, small rock masses can slide along strike joints or fall and slope angles remain unchanged. When bedding surfaces dip at 65–70°, large rock masses topple and then slide or simply slide along sheeting joints or combinations of bedding surfaces and strike joints to reduce slope gradients. Block toppling and sliding models of large slope movements in highly jointed rock masses indicate that toppling mode is more critical than the sliding mode. A natural example, the 6 × 106 m3 Elk Ridge landslide, shows toppling from bedding planes followed by sliding can be catastrophic. Key words : topple, slide, landslide, rock, Rockies.


Purpose
This paper aims to look at the practices within the principal Konyak kingdoms in Nagaland, and how leaders in other cultural contexts can learn from reconciling tough and kind forms of leadership.

Design/methodology/approach
For centuries, the villages of the principal Konyak kingdoms in Nagaland raided each other to take the heads of men, women and children in ritualised hostilities. Originally to bring fertility and good harvests, this practice evolved almost exclusively into an expression of power and success. One of the authors spent three weeks in January 2020 living in a Konyak village learning about leadership from the last surviving face-tattooed warriors, once successful headhunters.

Findings
The authors found a servant leadership culture based on kindness and collaboration, in some ways at odds with the brutal tradition associated with their society. Framing this compassionate leader and follower relationship is the concept of matkapu, or standing for the truth of things.

Practical implications
The authors explore whether contemporary organisations looking to sustain operational excellence and well-being, and often seeking to balance the needs of different stakeholders, can learn from the Konyaks based on centuries of continual conflict and volatility.

Originality/value
The authors show how contemporary organisations looking to sustain operational excellence and well-being can learn from the Konyaks based on centuries of continual conflict and volatility.


Cone-shaped volcanoes have important research significance and application value due to their typical cone shape and unique structural features. The existing methods for recognizing volcanoes are mainly morphological feature matching and machine learning. In general, the former has low recognition accuracy, while the latter requires a large number of training samples. The contour lines of cone-shaped volcanoes are distributed in concentric circles. Furthermore, from the center outwards, the elevation of the contour lines increases first and then decreases. Based on the morphological characteristics of cone-shaped volcanoes and the Hough transform algorithm, the main algorithm includes (1) preliminary filtering of contour lines, (2) filtering circular contour lines based on random Hough transform, (3) grouping contour lines based on contour trees, (4) recognizing cone-shaped volcanoes based on concentric-circle contour lines, and (5) automatically mapping cone-shaped volcanoes. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of this method for detecting cone-shaped volcanoes in the Western Galapagos shield volcanoes and the Mariana Trench submarine volcano group. The proposed algorithm has low missed and false alarm rates, which is basically consistent with the manual recognition results. This method can effectively automatically recognize cone-shaped volcanoes and cone-shaped landscapes and is a powerful means to support deep-space and deep-sea exploration.


This letter reports on the detection of nanometer-scale perfluoropolyether (PFPE) lubricants with thickness between 2–40 nm on a magnetic disk surface using a nonvibrating Kelvin probe. Magnetic disks were partially dipped in a PFPE lubricant to create lubricated and nonlubricated regions on the disk surface. The nonvibrating Kelvin probe measures an electrical signal proportional to the surface charge gradient at the interfaces between the lubricated and nonlubricated regions, and is linearly related to the scanning velocity. The surface charge is related to the difference in surface potentials between the lubricated and nonlubricated regions. The surface potential at the nonlubricated/lubricated transition ranges from 7–30 mV. The surface potential is found to be related to the corresponding lubricant thickness through an exponential relationship.


The present invention is effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis, relates to an oral formulation and intraarticular formulations based on sulphated hyaluronic acid.


Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is an important and independent cardiovascular risk factor, but its role in the development of coronary heart disease (CHD) in hypertensives have had conflicting results. In order to study the possible role of Lp(a) in the development of coronary heart disease in hypertensive patients, we evaluated Lp(a) levels in 45 (younger than 50 years) CHD hypertensive patients, 45 patients with essential hypertension without CHD and 64 healthy controls. Lp(a) was measured by nephelometric assays in fresh serum samples. The levels of Lp(a) were significantly greater in CHD hypertensive patients (0.33 ±0.17 g/L) than in controls (0.18 ± 0.08 g/L) or patients with essential hypertension (0.20 ± 0.05 g/L). The levels of Lp(a) were increased more than 0.30 g/L in 46.6% of CHD hypertensive patiens, in 17.7% of hypertensive patiens and in 8.8% of controls. CHD hypertensive patients had also greater levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides than hypertensive patients and controls. HDL-cholesterol levels were significantly lower in CHD hypertensive patients. This study indicates that high Lp(a) levels can play a major role in the development of CHD in patients with essential hypertension. These findings suggest the great importance of identifying, among hypertensive patients, subjects with higher levels of Lp(a), who belong to a group with cardiovascular risk on the basis of their hypertension.


According to the status and questions in the development of Yantian Harbour Area,Shenzhen Port,the elements which limit the development of Yantian Harbour Area and its resolutions are discussed.Further,the principle of adjust planning and the planning option are presented the paper.


In this paper, we propose a new framework for to identifying R&D opportunities in aging society. Our framework analyzes megatrend of aging society and then identifies technologies. The framework develops scenarios, creates product/service concept, derives technology theme for identifying specific technologies.


Through the deep considerations about the new -type industrialization,this paper puts forward several strategical measures for going on th e road of new -type industrializatio n,these measures are the fundamenta l path for our country to go on the road of new -type i ndustrialization,and also are the e mphasis that the attention must be paid to for economic field especially the industrial field to persist in the scienti fic development concept.


In 1975 , the Children s Theater Associa tion of America defined creative drama as an improvisational, nonexhibit ional, process-centered form of drama in which par t ic ipants are guided by a leader to imagine, enact , and reflect upon human exper iences (DuPont, 1992, p. 4 2 ) . This dramatic experience differs from the con ventional notion of theater in that cre a t ive d rama ac t iv i t i es are m u c h m o r e spontaneous, developing through collab orat ion a m o n g t eachers and s tudents . T h e a t e r dratna is a u d i e n c e c e n t e r e d , w h e r e a s c r e a t i v e or i m p r o v i s a t i o n a l drairia is process centered. All forms of improvisation are included in this defin ition, such as dramatic play, pantomime, t a b l e a u x , puppe t s h o w s , a n d s to ry dramatization.


Objective To investigate the current status of parents' coping style on children with autism and analyze its influence factors.Methods Totaled of 93 parents of children with autism were investigated by the Chinese version of F - COPES.Results The mean total score of F - COPES for participants in this study population was 95.95 ± 11.74.The factors that showed a statistically significant irfluence on participants' scores were family income,the attitude of parents towards autism and mother~ age (P < 0.05).Conclusions When they face family stress,parents of children with autism take some measures.Family income,the attitude of parents towards autism and mother's age are main influence factors of the parents' coping style.

Key words:
Autism;  Child;  Parents;  Coping style;  Influence factor


During the last years, Ultra-WideBand (UWB) has been presented as a promising radio technology due to the large bandwidth available. This feature enables point to point high data rates at short range as well as high temporal resolution with long Channel Impulse Responses (CIR). Due to the their large bandwidth, UWB systems enables high temporal resolution with long CIR. In this paper, we propose and evaluate an original multiple access scheme called Channel Division Multiple Access (ChDMA). The idea behind the ChDMA is to use the CIR of each user as a signature, i.e., the signature code is given by the channel and the users are separated as a CDMA system. It is important to note that the signatures are given by the environment and by user's position, which means that they are uniquely determined. This signature location-dependent property provides decentralized flexible multiple access as the codes are naturally generated by the radio channel. The framework was analyzed and validated by capacity assessments using UWB measurements and compared with classical CDMA schemes with random spreading codes. The analysis is focused on the impact of the user's asynchronism and the period of symbol on system performance. Two structures are considered at the receiver: single-user matched filter and MMSE receiver with Gaussian and BPSK signaling schemes.


Summary

In 1995, a peste des petits ruminants (PPR) outbreak was diagnosed in Ilam province in Iran near the border with Iraq both serologically and virologically. As then, despite all control measures, PPR has been identified in the whole country and has led to costs of at least US$1.5 million to the Iranian owners of sheep and goats.


Rob [Odawi Porter] asked me to describe the arguments in the pending Seneca-Cayuga Tribe case and not to evaluate the arguments; I was pleased to accommodate him on that. It allows me not have to make a decision about the various issues and keep it very short. As many of you know, the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma brought a lawsuit in federal court against the Town of Aurelius and some other defendants. That lawsuit, as much as any lawsuit that I know of that has been decided in the past, presents the issue that we are confronted with today and that is: What is the right of people to return, and what kind of jurisdictional controls can they have over the land once they return? For those of you who are not aware, the lawsuit was brought by the Tribe in Oklahoma and I will refer to the Seneca-Cayugas as the Tribe throughout this talk. The Tribe brought the lawsuit, seeking to prevent the Town from enforcing various local zoning laws, land use laws, and other local laws against the Tribe with respect to 229 acres that were purchased within the Cayuga Indian claim area in New York. Specifically, they were trying to prevent the defendants from enforcing those laws with respect to their efforts to build a bingo facility on that 229 acres. The Tribe moved for what is called a preliminary injunction. For those of you who are not lawyers, that simply means that they tried to get the court at the beginning of the lawsuit to prevent the defendants from enforcing these various local laws during the construction of this facility. New York State joined the lawsuit as a defendant, and with the Town and State made its own request to the court for a preliminary injunction to prevent the building of the facility until completion of the lawsuit. Now you see why it is good I do not have to determine who is going to win this because we have two preliminary injunctions; one asking that the State not enforce its laws, the other asking that the Tribe be enjoined from proceeding with the facility. As I said, there are many issues in the case, but the one issue that we are concerned with here today focuses on whether the SenecaCayuga Tribe can exercise any jurisdictional rights over land in New York that was part of the historic Cayuga Indian Nation Land. I will try


Sensitive regions beside motorways have to be protected against traffic noise. Up to now, noise protection was mostly realised by construction of monotonous walls. The proposed presentation describes an innovative technique to reduce traffic noise by combining noise protection walls with an intelligent speed management by the use of a telematic system. This idea has already been realised, the Noise Protection Facility "MLA Gleisdorf" is located at the Austrian motorway Nr. 2 in the region of Gleisdorf. Due to the fact that vehicles' speed has a great influence on the related noise emission, noise protection will be realised by a dynamic speed management. The following values are measured and used as an input for the speed management: traffic noise, traffic volume, traffic speed and weather data (wind direction, wind speed, temperature, humidity and rainfall). The presentation describes an existing "intelligent" speed management facility which is unique in Austria. Maybe this presentation will serve as a "kick off" for further activities leading to an intelligent use of existing or planned speed management devices. For the covering abstract see ITRD E123193.


The aim of this chapter is to deepen the understanding of existential meaning dimensions of work activities, and the calling is highlighted as an example of existential work orientation. The data w ...


Dictionary learning algorithms are typically derived for dealing with one or two dimensional signals using vector-matrix operations. Little attention has been paid to the problem of dictionary learning over high dimensional tensor data. We propose a new algorithm for dictionary learning based on tensor factorization using a TUCKER model. In this algorithm, sparseness constraints are applied to the core tensor, of which the n-mode factors are learned from the input data in an alternate minimization manner using gradient descent. Simulations are provided to show the convergence and the reconstruction performance of the proposed algorithm. We also apply our algorithm to the speaker identification problem and compare the discriminative ability of the dictionaries learned with those of TUCKER and K-SVD algorithms. The results show that the classification performance of the dictionaries learned by our proposed algorithm is considerably better as compared to the two state of the art algorithms.


A new methodology and metric were developed to characterise the phase imbalance in currents on threephase LV feeders. These focus on the factors most relevant to network capacity headroom: degree of imbalance at peak loaded times, and persistence over time of imbalance towards a particular phase. Phase current data from 233 LV feeders was analysed over the winter period, which correlates with high loading. A total of 23 feeders (10%) were identified with good potential to increase capacity headroom by rebalancing. This was based on providing a capacity headroom increase of at least 20% and high existing loading. A representative cost-benefit analysis was performed to identify preferred solutions for phase imbalance and compare rebalancing with network reinforcement. For LV OHLs with imbalance, redistributing customers between phases is the most techno-economic approach to release network capacity. For imbalanced LV cables, a change of link-box configuration is the preferred solution.


Eight-year tree growth of western larch (Larix occidentalis) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) was measured following prescribed underburning on burned and control plots in western Montana. Western larch on bun.ed plots had reduced radial growth in the first year following fire but increased growth in the next 7 years. Douglas-fir had similar growth on burned and unburned plots. Growth was not reduced by low levels of crown scorch or cambial injury. Stand basal area growth was less on burned plots due to high fire-caused mortality.


Orthopedic implant‐associated infection (OIAI) is a major complication that leads to implant failure. In preclinical models of Staphylococcus aureus OIAI, osteomyelitis and septic arthritis, interleukin‐1α (IL‐1α), IL‐1β, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) are induced, but whether they have interactive or distinctive roles in host defense are unclear. Herein, a S. aureus OIAI model was performed in mice deficient in IL‐1α, IL‐1β, or TNF. Mice deficient in IL‐1β or TNF (to a lesser extent) but not IL‐1α had increased bacterial burden at the site of the OIAI throughout the 28‐day experiment. IL‐1β and TNF had a combined and critical role in host defense as mice deficient in both IL‐1R and TNF (IL‐1R/TNF‐deficient mice) had a 40% mortality rate, which was associated with markedly increased bacterial burden at the site of the OIAI infection. Finally, IL‐1α‐ and IL‐1β‐deficient mice had impaired neutrophil recruitment whereas IL‐1β‐, TNF‐, and IL‐1R/TNF‐deficient mice all had impaired recruitment of both neutrophils and monocytes. Therefore, IL‐1β and TNF contributed to host defense against S. aureus OIAI and neutrophil recruitment was primarily mediated by IL‐1β and monocyte recruitment was mediated by both IL‐1β and TNF.


Chapter 2 places A.S. Byatt's four-volume novel sequence the Quartet in the context of Michel Foucault's The Order of Things, a frequent point of reference for her fiction. It traces her engagement with the question of genetic determinism, which she reads through the lens of a debate between Noam Chomsky and Jean Piaget, and her exploration of alternative theories of 'soft inheritance'. It notes her interest in neo-Darwinian theories of sex (especially those of John Maynard Smith) and her awareness of the problematic imbrication of these theories with current social assumptions, especially in a period just on the cusp of second-wave feminism. It also considers her reflections on changes in scientific methodology, from the origins of botany in the taxonomy of Linnaeus to present-day awareness of anthropogenic climate change.


As a version of divine command ethics, Barth's theological ethics answers the two fundamental questions posed to every divine command ethics, namely, how is it that God's command determines the good of human action, and why is it that human beings must accept what God determines as good? Barth's answer to both question is that in Jesus Christ, God both poses the question of the good to human beings and answers it in their place. In him, God's goodness both confronts other human beings as the norm of their goodness and fulfills that norm in their place. It therefore determines the good of human action insofar as Jesus Christ is the human being who takes the place of other human beings. And other human beings must accept what God thereby determines as their good because—again, insofar as Jesus Christ has taken their place—their good is already a reality in him, in whom they exist as the human beings they are. The problem is that while the grace of God in Jesus Christ is the genuinely human good of other human beings insofar as they exist in Jesus Christ, it is, precisely as grace, a good that constitutes them from outside and not a good that fulfills them as the kind of creature they are.


In this article the features of the process of mainstreaming the cultural potential of young people and are an indicator of the effectiveness of a "professional" cluster and its influence on the formation of the quality of the cultural potential of the whole person.


Single-mode fiber lasers have many advantages over conventional solid-state lasers, which include high beam quality, no need for cooling, high conversion efficiency, compactness, long life time and so on, attracting attention as an industrial tool for materials processing due to rapid increase in the output power. Present article overviews recent status of the applications of high-power single-mode fiber laser to laser materials processing including microwelding and micromachining.


One of the main causes of the current decline in agricultural work in India is farmers' agricultural losses. Due to this, predicting crop yield before plantation is becoming one of the overriding strides of this era. Even before planting a crop, it is very important to predict the yield due to the frequent changes in the parameters involved. Usually, crop/plant production will be based on various geographical strategies, while analyzing such parameters using machine/deep learning algorithms helps to choose the crops that correspond to the geographical region. It will serve as a preventative measure that helps to reduce agricultural losses while also enhancing the productivity and quality of the crops that are produced. In this regard, various Machine learning models and Deep Neural Network models are employed to analyze the various geographical parameters that influence agricultural production. In this study, yield prediction is calculated in terms of state, district, area, and season for every crop/plant wise. It helps the farmers to select appropriate crops at the right place and time. The preciseness of the prediction is evaluated using various parameters such as accuracy, mean absolute error, and mean square error. Among the utilized machine/deep learning models, the Deep Neural Network model achieved Mean Absolute Error, and Mean Squared Error of 2.16% & 5.14%, and 3.02% & 8.56% for Andhra Pradesh and Punjab state dataset, respectively.


International research involves collaboration among institutions in different countries and can include the exchange of researchers or students, the organisation of conferences, and the division of tasks in a research programme. There is a greater likelihood of collaboration if countries are geographically close, if geographically distant countries share historical, political and cultural relations, if disciplines are 'small', and if collaborations are between institutions of the same type. Despite increasing calls for international collaboration in medical education research, few studies include different countries. Drawing on the broader scientific literature about international collaboration and our experiences of international research exploring medical students' narratives of professionalism dilemmas, we discuss benefits and challenges and provide recommendations on how to conduct international medical education research. Ultimately, we aim to build on the discussion paper by O'Sullivan et al. in which they discussed different types of collaborative research (i.e. uni-, multi-, interand transdisciplinary) in medical education by instead discussing the scope of collaboration to stimulate discussion about international collaboration and encourage its thoughtful use.


The aim of this paper is to advance our understanding of the normative grammar of the concept of democracy by distinguishing two levels at which a political concept may play a normative function, and proceeds by analysing the concept of democracy at these two levels. It distinguishes in particular between normativity as 'norm-compliance' and normativity as 'paradigmatic' and contends that the concept of democracy has a normative content that extends over both levels. A model of democracy consistent with this approach is then outlined based on a sociological account of democratic patterns of interaction. The structure of the paper is as follows. In sections one and two, I distinguish two meanings of normativity and introduce the concept of 'paradigm normativity'. In section three, I provide examples of rival 'paradigm normative' concepts. In section four, I provide an account of democracy as a 'paradigm normative' concept and in sections five and six, I present its two most important theoretical features.


The gas holdup and flow dynamics in a laboratory scale Rushton-turbine flotation tank were simulated using the dispersed k- turbulence model and Eulerian-Eulerian multiphase modelling approach. The inherent uncertainties in the CFD predictions were quantified by examining the model and numerical (i.e., discretization) uncertainties. The contribution of model uncertainty was explored by considering different sparger geometries while numerical uncertainty was evaluated using the Grid Convergence Index (GCI). The numerical predictions of the gas holdup for different sparger configurations showed that sparger design and location can have a significant impact on the results. Numerical uncertainty was found to be less significant since the average GCI value was less than 11.7%, for the numerical predictions of the velocity components and the turbulence parameters. Overall, the results suggest that quantification of uncertainties in CFD simulations can lead to improved predictions of the gas holdup and flow dynamics in a laboratory scale Rushtonturbine tank.


Accurate measurements of the thermal resistance between micro-objects made of insulating materials are complex because of their small size, low conductivity, and the presence of various ill-defined gaps. We address this issue using a modified scanning thermal microscope operating in vacuum and in air. The sphere-plate geometry is considered. Under controlled heating power, we measure the temperature on top of a glass microsphere glued to the probe as it approaches a glass plate at room temperature with nanometer accuracy. In vacuum, a jump is observed at contact. From this jump in temperature and the modeling of the thermal resistance of a sphere, the sphere-plate contact resistance $ R_K=(1.4 \pm 0.18)\times10^7 \ \mathrm{K.W^{-1}}$ and effective radius $r=(36 \pm 4)$ nm are obtained. In air, the temperature on top of the sphere shows a decrease starting from a sphere-plate distance of 200 $\mathrm{\mu m}$. A jump is also observed at contact, with a reduced amplitude. The sphere-plate coupling out of contact can be described by the resistance shape factor of a sphere in front of a plate in air, placed in a circuit involving a series and a parallel resistance that are determined by fitting the approach curve. The contact resistance in air $R^*_K=(1.2 \pm 0.46)\times 10^7 \ \mathrm{K.W^{-1}}$ is then estimated from the temperature jump. The method is quantitative without requiring any tedious multiple-scale numerical simulation, and is versatile to describe the coupling between micro-objects from large distances to contact in various environments.


The reactive Bi(V)N bond in (acylimino)triaryl-λ5-bismuthanes has been found to be stabilized effectively by ortho-substituted aryl ligands such as o-tolyl, o-anisyl, and mesityl groups. These imino-λ5-bismuthanes, in which the bismuth center possesses a distorted tetrahedral geometry, behave as a nitrene precursor as well as an oxidizing agent, depending on the substrates and conditions.


According to the animal experiments that sodium nitroprusside could relax the broncheal smooth muscle both in vivo and in vitro, 324 cases of acute asthmatic attacks got promissing
improvement by given sublingually the tablet of sodium nitroprosside 2.5-5.0 mg stat. Among them, 39.2% of cases, therapeutic values were immediate and excellent, and 80.6% effective. 70.6% of cases had their FEA1 increased 10% or more promptly after the medication.Side effects were minimal. Obviously there is no difference whether sodium nitroprosside is given by sublin-gual route in tablet-form or by aeration.
Clinically the former method of drug-administration is far much more convenient than the latter.


In this paper, the generalized eigenvalue complementarity problem for tensors (GEiCPT) is addressed, which arises from the stability analysis of finite dimensional mechanical systems and find applications in differential dynamical systems. The general properties of the (GEiCP-T) have been studied. We establish its relationship with the generalized tensor eigenvalue problem. It follows that if exist, the number of �-solutions can be bounded. We also give some sufficient conditions for the existence of the solution. In particular, there exists a unique solution of the (EiCP-T) (i.e., J = [n]) for irreducible nonnegative tensors. For the symmetric case, we derive a sufficient and necessary condition for the solvability of the (GEiCP-T) by reformulating it as a nonlinear program. It has also been proved that deciding the solvability of the (EiCP-T) is NP-hard in general. Moreover, a shifted projected power method is proposed to solve the symmetric (GEiCP-T). The monotonic convergence is also established. The numerical experiments demonstrate convergence behavior of our method and show that the algorithm presented is promising.


A series of studies are in progress investigating the effects of turbine-array-wake interactions for a range of atmospheric boundary layer states by means of the EnFlo meteorological wind tunnel. The small, three-blade model wind turbines drive 4-quadrant motor-generators. Only a single turbine in neutral flow is considered here. The motor-generator current can be measured with adequate sensitivity by means of a current sensor allowing the mean and fluctuating torque to be inferred. Spectra of torque fluctuations and streamwise velocity fluctuations ahead of the rotor, between 0.1 and 2 diameters, show that only the large-scale turbulent motions contribute significantly to the torque fluctuations. Time-lagged cross-correlation between upstream velocity and torque fluctuations are largest over the inner part of the blade. They also show the turbulence to be frozen in behaviour over the 2 diameters upstream of the turbine.


This paper presents a printed multi-band monopole antenna for use in wireless systems. The antenna is designed to operate at 2.4 GHz, 3.6 GHz, and 5.6 GHz under the maximum return loss of 10 dB. CST Microwave Studio was used for the design process. Chemical etching was used in the fabrication process. The resulting frequency bands cover 2.13-2.48 GHz, 3.51-3.88 GHz, and 5.56-6.70 GHz.


When James R. Napier's shipyard failed in 1861 he was left with the small steamer Lancefield, which he had built to a novel design on his own account. After failing to find a buyer he established a marginally profitable service from Ardrossan to Belfast, but came up against the might of the Glasgow & South Western Railway Company who wished to expand their empire into coastal shipping. Using James R. Napier's letter books as evidence, this paper analyses the bitter conflict that resulted in Napier's withdrawal from ship owning. The Lancefield was used to test Napier's theories in the design and operation of ships which earned it a far greater scientific significance than its commercial success warranted.


We are creatures of flesh and blood, living in a world of bits and bytes—a world shaped by the Internet. With the simple touch of a button or swipe of a finger, we can instantaneously access vast amounts of information (e.g., Ashton, 2009). A few more keystrokes, and we can interact with friends 10 time zones away (e.g., Thurlow, Lengel, & Tomic, 2004). Just a few more, and we may complete the transition to a digital life, transferring our identities from our physical bodies to online avatars (e.g., Bessière, Seay, & Kiesler, 2007). Perhaps because of its pervasive influence, it's often difficult to imagine a world without the Internet. We know there was a time when encyclopedias represented the pinnacle of information storage and communicating with faraway friends required a trip to the post office (or at least to the mailbox), but such a time feels far removed from the present moment. However, as Sparrow and Chatman (this issue) point out, the current era of digitally mediated information, communication, and exploration is a new one, a mere "blip on the timescale of human evolution" (p. 273). The Internet first made its way from private laboratories to the public sphere less than 20 years ago (Leiner et al., 2012), and many definitive elements of the Internet are newer still (e.g., Google, founded in 1998; Wikipedia, founded in 2001). For millions of years of evolution (e.g., Tattersall, 2001), "social networks" referred not to thousands of Facebook friends but to small groups of daily interaction partners (Dunbar, 1993) and information search consisted not of typing keywords into Google but of seeking out personally known experts (Wegner, 1995). Our basic cognitive architecture developed in this environment—one far removed from the present Internet Age—and most likely has not changed in the last 20 years (e.g., Bowlby, 1969; Tooby & Cosmides, 1990). When old cognitive tendencies and new technologies meet—when the world of flesh and blood collides with the world of bits and bytes—the Internet may act as a "supernormal stimulus," hijacking preexisting cognitive tendencies and creating novel outcomes. Supernormal stimuli meet or exceed long-enforced selection criteria, but are generally foreign to the environments in which these criteria developed; as a result, these new stimuli often elicit greater responses than any naturally occurring stimuli. The Internet may produce supernormal stimulus effects in many domains; for example, relatively unidirectional Internet-based communication such as blogging and tweeting may capitalize on the intrinsic rewards associated with social sharing (Tamir & Mitchell, 2012) while protecting individuals from costs associated with social anxiety (e.g., Leary & Kowalski, 1997), and experimenting with alternate identities online (e.g., Yee, 2006) may allow people to fulfill intrapsychic needs (such as the need for power; McClelland, 1961) without incurring interpersonal costs (e.g., Brewer, 1991). Internet-related supernormal stimulus effects may be particularly powerful in the domain of memory. Research on transactive memory indicates that incoming information is distributed between both internal and external storage devices (e.g., Wegner, 1986; Wegner, Giuliano, & Hertel, 1985). People may store information in their own minds, or they may offload responsibility for this information to external storage devices such as friends, family, books, or—most recently—the Internet. For much of human history, the criteria used for distributing responsibility (e.g., expertise, accessibility) ensured that memories were spread throughout social groups. However, the Internet—a supernormal stimulus—seems to outperform all other external storage devices, potentially leading people to offload responsibility for the vast majority of information to this single digital resource. My research explores how this shift toward digital information storage—and away from biological information storage (both in terms of utilizing other people and utilizing one's own memory)—may have large-scale and long-term effects on the way people remember and process information.


Precision technology elements have not been implemented yet into the sustainable oil palm industry because the knowledge and technology gap. To resolve the gaps, promote sustainability and integrate the technologies, Oil Palm Management System (OPAMS) was introduced. The precision technologies in OPAMS comprises of Geographical Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), remote sensing and yield monitoring. A phase by phase System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology was used to generate the said system with feedbacks from oil palm planters as the inputs for OPAMS's key features. OPAMS ultimately aims to increase the awareness of the industry on the benefits of utilizing technology to improve plantation performances, increase business and environmental sustainability.


In the article, base number as a parameter characterizing the washing and dispersing abilities of engine oil were characterized. Next, the influence of additives enriching engine oils on the natural environment was described. In the further part of the article, the research methodology, applied oil samples with additives of effective microorganisms and silver solution, both for fresh oil and used oil were presented. In addition, the measuring test stand with instrumentation and measuring device was shown . In the main part of the article base number value for fresh and used oil compared to oils with the addition of microorganisms and a solution of silver and colloidal silver were described. Next the analysis of the influence of these additives on the base number value was made. The article was completed conclusions.


Asserting that photographic education is an understudied area of photographic historiography, this article makes a case study of the entry of creative photography into US higher education in the post-Second World War period as a means to extend Stephen Bann's notion of "photographic exceptionalism" beyond the historiography of nineteenth-century visual culture. Charting the trajectories in post-war America of two creative photographic pedagogies, the integrated model identified with Moholy-Nagy and the medium-specific one identified with the proponents of what is here called "Aspen modernism" (Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, Ansel Adams and Minor White), it is argued that there is an Other to mid-twentieth-century photographic exceptionalism that signals its vulnerability. According to Bann, photographic exceptionalism still substantially informs thinking and writing on photography: so how did it survive postmodernism? The final section of the article looks at the legacies of the separatist model for what is now called "art photography" in relation to the institutional landscape of the art world. It is argued that the Photo Boom of the 1970s set in motion a new, institutional medium-specificity for photography and that this too has its vulnerabilities.


The status of phenological period,quality and yield of Flame Seedless and Hongqitezao in green house were investigated and analyzed.This suggested that pergola trellis system could make vine fomation faster and came imto bearing earlier.However pergola system had some advantages,which could make the vine vigor relax,easy to control growth,convenient maagement including trimming in summer and so on,to easily operate techniques.Pergola trellis system could make grape mature l day and 6 days earlier than trellis between Flame seedless and hongqitzao.Flame Seedless's and Hongqitezao's twigs with vergola trllis system were 52.0 cm and 62.3 cm longer than pergola system.The espalier of single cluster was 56.0 g and 11.0 g higher than trellis.The soluble solid content was 0.8% and 0.9% higher than trellis.Based on cultivation management and imprving fruit commodity quality,espalier had predominance of fruit maturing ahead of time and high quality of commodity.


Review for: Communicative Musicality: Exploring the Basis of Human Companionship, by Malloch, S., and Trevarthen, C. (2009). (Eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 978-0-19-856628-1. Includes photos.


Yael Navaro-Yashin is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Newnham College. She is the author of Faces of the State: Secularism and Public Life in Turkey (Princeton University Press, 2002), as well as a number of articles on sovereignty and statehood in Northern Cyprus. She is presently working on a book on governance, law and subjectivity under the unrecognised state in Northern Cyprus.


The use of technological learning tools has been increasingly recognized as a useful tool to promote students' motivation to deal with, and understand, mathematics concepts. Current digital technology allows students to work interactively with a large number and variety of graphics, complementing the theoretical results and often used paper and pencil calculations. The computer algebra system Mathematica is a very powerful software that allows the implementation of many interactive visual applications. The main goal of this work is to show how some new dynamic and interactive tools, created with Mathematica and available in the Computable Document Format (CDF), can be used as active learning tools to promote better student activity and engagement in the learning process. The CDF format allows anyone with a computer to use them, at no cost, even without an active Wolfram Mathematica license. Besides that, the presented tools are very intuitive to use which makes it suitable for less experienced users. Some tools applicable to several mathematics concepts taught in higher education will be presented. This kind of tools can be used either in a remote or classroom learning environment. The corresponding CDF files are made available as supplement of the online edition of this article.


We discuss the modification of the properties of the tetraquark-like $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ and $T_{\bar c\bar c}(3875)^-$ states in dense nuclear matter. We consider the $T_{cc}^+$ and $T_{\bar c\bar c}^-$ in vacuum as purely isoscalar $D^{\ast} D$ and $\overline{D}{}^{\ast} \overline{D}$ $S$-wave bound states, respectively, dynamically generated from a heavy-quark effective interaction between the charmed mesons. We compute the $D$, $\overline{D}$, $D^*$, and $\overline{D}{}^{*}$ spectral functions embedded in a nuclear medium and use them to determine the corresponding $T_{cc}^+$ and $T_{\bar c\bar c}^-$ self energies and spectral functions. We find important modifications of the $D^{\ast} D$ and $\overline{D}{}^{\ast} \overline{D}$ scattering amplitudes and of the pole position of these exotic states already for $\rho_0/2$, with $\rho_0$ the normal nuclear density. We also discuss the dependence of these results on the $D^{\ast} D$ ($\overline{D}{}^{\ast} \overline{D}$) molecular component in the $T_{cc}^+$ ($T_{\bar c\bar c}^-$ ) wave-function. Owing to the different nature of the $D^{(*)}N$ and $\overline{D}{}^{(*)}N$ interactions, we find characteristic changes of the in-medium properties of the $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ and $T_{\bar c\bar c}(3875)^-$, which become increasingly visible as the density increases. The experimental confirmation of the found distinctive density-pattern will give support to the molecular picture of these tetraquark-like states, since in the case they were colourless compact quark structures the density behaviour of their respective nuclear medium spectral functions would likely be similar. Finally, we perform similar analyses for the isoscalar $J^P=1^+$ heavy-quark spin symmetry partners of the $T_{cc}^+$ ($T_{cc}^{*+}$) and the $T_{\bar c\bar c}^-$ ($T_{\bar c\bar c}^{*-}$) by considering the $D^{*0}D^{*+}$ and $\overline{D}{}^{*0} D^{*-}$ scattering $T-$matrices.


INTRODUCTION: The Operative Management of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms remains a major surgical challenge. Problems with maintenance of cerebral and vital organ perfusion, the avoidance of particulate and air embolus during manipulation and excessive postoperative hemorrhage, previously resulted in mortality rates of greater than 40%. With the introduction of safer methods of vital organ support, allied to improved mate rails, an aesthetic and haemostatic techniques, the mortality in these otherwise uniform ally fatal conditions is now 1O%. CONCLUSION: Although the surgical management of thoracic aortic aneurysms remains a major challenge, with proper investigation, preparation and intraoperative support, results are increasingly favorable with an acceptable mortality rate. Wherever possible the extra-anatomical shunt should be used to protect vital organ perfusion, due to its ready availability and ease of application.In situations requiring formal support with cardiopulmonary bypass, it is difficult to advise on the superiority of either method, and the choice of method used is dependent on a careful appraisal of the individual case and the preference of the surgeon.


An experimental and analytical investigation was conducted on reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened in flexure using the near-surface mounted carbon-fiber-reinforced polymers (NSM-CFRPs) technique. A total of 11 full-scale RC rectangular beams were cast and tested under a monotonic three-point bending test, up to failure. The main test variables adopted in this study were the concrete compressive strength (high, medium, and low), the number of CFRP strips, and the strip length. The results indicated that the use of NSM-CFRPs strips in different configurations efficiently increased the load-carrying capacity of the strengthened RC beams, in which all these beams exhibited a higher moment resistance than the corresponding un-strengthened beam. Results also showed that all strengthening schemes were successful in increasing the flexural capacity of the specimens tested. Such increases ranged between 10.36% and 52.28%. Notably, a significant improvement in the ultimate load ratio was observed with beams having a low compressive strength of 17-MPa, then followed by the beams with medium strength (32-MPa), and finally beams with high compressive strength (47-MPa). The NSM technique reduced the occurrence possibility of the CFRP de-bonding failure mode. Furthermore, the test results were compared with theoretical predictions using the ACI 440.2R17 guidelines and showed a good agreement between these results.


This paper presents a novel conceptual framework for an integrated set of methodologies for the detection, identification, and evaluation of a wide variety of failures of aircraft subsystems based on the artificial immune system paradigm. The detection represents the capability to declare that a failure within any of the aircraft subsystems has occurred. The identification process determines which element has failed. The evaluation of the failure addresses three aspects: the type of the failure, its magnitude, and the reassessment of the generalized flight envelope. Failure detection, identification, and evaluation schemes are included using the bioimmune system metaphor combined with other artificial intelligence techniques. The immunity-based fault detection operates in a similar manner as does the immune system when it distinguishes between entities that belong to the organism and entities that do not. The proposed approach directly addresses the complexity and multidimensionality of aircraft dynamic response in the context of abnormal conditions and provides the adequate tools to solve the failure detection problem in an integrated and comprehensive manner. A multiself failure detection and identification scheme is presented for actuator, sensor, engine, and structural failures/damages, which was developed and tested using a motion-based flight simulator. The scheme achieves excellent detection rates and a low number of false alarms and demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework.


E-beam lithography simulation is one of the effective tools for understanding the complex e-beam lithography process. In-house E-beam Lithography Simulator, ELIS, has been developed in order to analyze the mask CD errors. ELIS adopts the Monte Carlo method to accurately describe the electron scattering and energy deposition on the resist, and fits this result with more than two Gaussians to convolute with pattern shape efficiently and rapidly. This simulator provides the function of the proximity effect correction (PEC) and fogging effect correction. ELIS, moreover, can simulate the post exposure bake step (PEB), therefore, latent image and resist profile is given for chemically amplified resists (CAR). From the exposure simulation with ELIS, the amoung of CD variation regarding different density patterns in various conditions can be predicted. The simulation results are matched with experimented values within 5% error. Even though PEC corrects perfectly, the non-zero mean-to-target (MTT) induces the CD error. The CD errors with dose modulation and GHOST along with the MTT variation have been studied with ELIS. Also, we show these errors increasing after applying fogging effect correction.


The severity of the double Intertropical Convergence Zone (DI) problem in climate models can be measured by a tropical precipitation asymmetry index (PAI), indicating whether tropical precipitation favors the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere. Examination of 19 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 models reveals that the PAI is tightly linked to the tropical sea surface temperature (SST) bias. As one of the factors determining the SST bias, the asymmetry of tropical net surface heat flux in Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations is identified as a skillful predictor of the PAI change from an AMIP to a coupled simulation, with an intermodel correlation of 0.90. Using tropical top‐of‐atmosphere (TOA) fluxes, the correlations are lower but still strong. However, the extratropical asymmetries of surface and TOA fluxes in AMIP simulations cannot serve as useful predictors of the PAI change. This study suggests that the largest source of the DI bias is from the tropics and from atmospheric models.


FIELD: mining. SUBSTANCE: installation for formation by dilution and accumulation of gas in salt cavern (26) formed by formation by dilution includes pipe string (70) intended for flow divergence, made so that a provision is made for interconnection as to fluid medium with two or more concentric pipes (2, 2A) in one main shaft of a well with at least one side hole (44) passing from internal passage (25) with external annular passage (24) interconnected with the surface under one set of X-tree with gate valves. Devices (25A) for flow control, flow diverters (47) and/or insulating tubes (22) can be introduced to the pipe string intended for flow divergence, which provides a possibility of changing a zone of dilution in the salt cavern to control the cavern shape. Besides, the pipe string intended for flow divergence and used for formation of cavern can also be used for dehydration and accumulation of gas. EFFECT: enlarging technological capabilities; improving effectiveness of a cavern creation and use method. 46 cl, 109 dwg


Retinoic acid (RA) is a potent inducer of terminal granulocytic differentiation in the human promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL-60 but not in two other human myeloid leukemia cell lines, KG-1 and K562.' HL-60 cells contain a marker chromosome apparently involving a break in the proximal portion of the long arm of chromosome 17 with translocation to a portion of chromosome 5.2,' Recently, a gene was identified which encodes a receptor protein for RA (RAR-a) with the expected binding affinity for a physiologically relevant mole~ule.~.~ The RAR-a gene has been demonstrated to belong to the steroid-thyroid hormone receptor gene superfamily and has been mapped to chromosome band 17q21.1.435 The present study was designed to determine if the chromosomal translocational breakage in the region of the RAR-a gene might lead to its derepression and account for the unique sensitivity of HL-60 cells to RAinduced differentiation. Additionally, it was asked if sublines of HL-60 cells specifically selected for resistance to differentiation inducers, including RAP or if somatic cell hybrids between RA-sensitive and RA-resistant HL-60 cells with variable resistance to RA (Gallagher, et al., submitted for publication) would manifest variant expression of the RAR-a gene. Total cellular RNA was extracted and purified from these various cell sources by the guanidinium isothiocyanate/cesium chloride procedure and analyzed by Northern blot and dot-blot hybridization to a full-length cDNA probe for the RAR-a gene under stringent condition^.^ Two radioautographic bands of approximately equal intensity, 4.0-kilobase (kb) and 3.1 kb in size, were observed in all tested sources of HL-60 cell RNA, as well as in K562 and KG-1 cells (FIG. 1 and additional data not shown). As normalized to the signal produced by a an actin gene probe, the expression of the RAR-a gene in the HL-60 cells was only 1.5to 2-fold greater than the level in RA-non-responsive K562 or KG-1 cells (FIG. 2). An initial extract of RNA from an RA-resistant HL-60 subline (RA-res 1) with 2 300-fold higher resistance to RA than that seen in the HL-60 cells was repeatedly determined


Question In patients with uncontrolled hypertension, does home blood pressure (BP) monitoring plus patient Web services training, with or without pharmacist care via the Web, improve BP control more than usual care? Methods Design Randomized controlled trial (Electronic Communications and Home Blood Pressure Monitoring [e-BP] study). Allocation Concealed.* Blinding Blinded (outcome assessors).* Follow-up period 12 months. Setting 10 medical centers in Washington and Idaho, USA, within a large integrated group practice with a comprehensive electronic health record (EHR) system and patient Web site. Patients 778 patients 25 to 75 years of age (mean age 59 y, 52% women) who had uncontrolled hypertension (systolic BP 140 to 199 mm Hg or diastolic BP 90 to 109 mm Hg on 2 occasions), were taking antihypertensive medication, and had access to the Web. Patients with diabetes, cardiovascular or renal disease, or other serious conditions were excluded. Intervention Home BP monitoring (to be done 2 times/wk with a target BP of 135/85 mm Hg) and patient Web services training (patient shown how to use Web site to refill medications, make appointments, view portions of his/her EHR, and send secure messages to the health care team) (n =259); home BP monitoring and patient Web services training plus individualized care from a pharmacist (development of an action plan, with communication via the Web every 2 wk until BP was controlled) (n =261); or usual care (n =258). All patients were registered to use the patient services Web site and received pamphlets about hypertension and Web site use. Outcomes Change in systolic and diastolic BP and proportion of patients with controlled BP (<140/90 mm Hg). Patient follow-up 94% (intention-to-treat analysis). Main results The Table shows the results. Conclusions In patients with uncontrolled hypertension, an intervention involving home blood pressure (BP) monitoring, patient Web services training, and pharmacist care via the Web improved BP control more than usual care or home blood pressure monitoring plus patient Web services training alone. The latter intervention was not more effective than usual care in improving BP control. Home blood pressure (BP) monitoring plus patient Web services training plus pharmacist care via the Web (MWP) vs monitoring plus Web services training (MW) vs usual care (UC) in uncontrolled hypertension Outcomes at 12 mo Mean change from baseline P value for difference MWP group MW group UC group MWP vs UC MW vs UC MWP vs MW Systolic BP (mm Hg) 14.2 8.2 5.3 <0.001 0.02 <0.001 Diastolic BP (mm Hg) 7.0 4.4 3.5 <0.001 0.21 <0.001 Proportion of patients RBI (95% CI) NNT (CI) BP controlled (<140/90 mm Hg) 56% 31% 84% (48 to 129) 4 (3 to 7) 36% 31% 22% (5 to 56) Not significant Abbreviations defined in Glossary. Change from baseline adjusted for baseline value, sex, already having a home BP monitor, and clinic. RBI, NNT, and CI calculated from relative risks in article, adjusted for body mass index, sex, already having a home BP monitor, baseline systolic BP, and clinic. Commentary Only 37% of hypertensive patients in the USA have BP controlled to <140/90 mm Hg (1). Clearly we need to do better. This well-designed and well-conducted trial by Green and colleagues showed how the Group Health Cooperative achieved BP control in >50% of patients with previously uncontrolled hypertension. Can we widely implement the proposed strategy? Several important features of the trial affect the transferability of the strategy to other health care settings. First, an EHR was used, but only 6% of US primary care physicians report having a comprehensive EHR (2). Second, the enrolled patients were relatively young, well-educated, and had insurance that included prescription drugsfeatures not shared by all patients with hypertension. Third, Internet access was requireda tool not accessible to 27% of the US population. Fourth, the study was done in a closed, integrated organization that both pays for and delivers health care. In the nonsystem that characterizes much of US health care, a dedicated pharmacist does not have a mechanism to get paid, a factor that probably contributes to the poor uptake of interventions from other studies showing benefits from pharmacist care. Finally, cost-effectiveness is unclear. For organizations that share Group Health's characteristics of having a fully functional EHR and a patient population with Internet access, and that pay for and deliver care, the model of Green and colleagues deserves serious consideration. For the rest, the main strategy that we can implement to get us to the Healthy People 2010 goal of 50% hypertension control is better communication between providers and patients.


occur (Table 2). The field cancerization theory would be considered the most likely in our case. The concept is that in an area vulnerable to a repeated carcinogenic insult (e.g. ultraviolet radiation), there is an elevated risk of neoplastic evolution in multiple cell lineages within the same lesion. Treatment for combined tumours is primary excision. Further management and prognosis is dependent on the more advanced of the two tumours. Despite relatively thick MM Breslow depths (1.0–6.0 mm), mortality has rarely been reported. Unexpectedly, bi-malignant tumours do not seem to be more aggressive than their monophasic counterparts. Amin et al. found a low rate of metastases and adverse events despite high Breslow thickness. In our case, the patient underwent radiological staging, which did not show any metastasis. The current classifications of these tumours are a high-risk SCC and Stage IICMM (according to the eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer staging manual). The patient continues to attend for skin cancer surveillance.


A device for delivering a drug, which is activated when a patient inhales from the device having a first chamber (14) for holding a container (18) containing a medication, being the first chamber (14) in fluid communication with a mouthpiece (16) through which a patient inhales a metered dose of a medication dispensed as an aerosol, including the first chamber (14) means (96) operable, positioned within the first chamber (14 ) between the container (18) and input means to the first chamber in fluid communication with a first port (70) of fluid passage can be opened and closed, wherein the device further comprises a second chamber (32 ) includes compression means (34, 120) in communication with the second chamber (32) to provide compression therein, further comprising the second chamber (32) outlet means in fluid communication with the pr imera via (70) defluido step which can be opened and closed; a diaphragm (68) for sealing the first channel (70) fluid passage in the closed position; and loading means (90, 92) to maintain the diaphragm (68) in closed position and to open the diaphragm (68) when the pressure differential across the diaphragm (68) exceeds a threshold value, being located biasing means (90, 92) in a second fluid passageway in fluid communication with the mouthpiece (16).


The present investigation aimed to use in-situ heating experiment in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to live characterize the thermal stability of a Cu/Ni-W-P interlayer/ZnAl solder interconnect. It demonstrated the TEM was able to detect live intermetallic compounds (IMCs) growth during heating. In addition, stress building up was evidenced by the progressive evolving of the dislocations at the interface between NiW-P interlayer and the ZnAl Solder. However, due to the μm to nm scale of specimens' dimensions required for electron microscopy, the sample preparation and data interpretation remains a challenge.


Socioeconomic analysis is facilitated when policy instruments and policy objectives are distinguished, when implicit and explicit population policies are differentiated, when the intended effects of these policies are separated from their unintended effects, and when effects in the short run are contrasted with effects in the long run. While it is difficult to assess the effect of population policies upon "welfare," it usually is possible to determine the direction of the effects of such policies upon a population's number, quality, and distribution.


Given the increasing interest in blockchain technology, we present a large-scale cross-disciplinary literature analysis of research on the blockchain using topic modelling with the goal of identifying the major research trends, research methodologies, and fruitful areas for further research. In particular, the analysis focuses on abstracting out research trends from relevant terms and topics related to the research disciplines of Business, Computer Science, Economics, Social Sciences, Engineering, Healthcare, and Law. A total of 2,125 articles published between 2008 to up until early 2019 in academic journals and conferences were analyzed. Results of our analysis reveal that research is bipartite between practical and research domains, with academic research on blockchain not clearly aligning with organizational and social benefits. Also, we found – 1) few inter-disciplinary publications, and 2) a small number of studies that use surveys, experiments, and case studies as their research method. Our findings also reveal that research on Blockchain in the social sciences and law is still in the embryonic stage, thus making it essential to develop more direct research efforts for Blockchain to thrive in all research


The long-term equilibrium relationship and dynamic mechanisms of interaction between urban road transport carbon emissions and urbanization,economic development and technological progress is studied,and forecasts for China's urban road transport carbon emissions and scenarios analysis are carried out.The results showed that:(1) The long-term equilibrium elasticity of the urbanization rate,transport energy intensity,urban household consumption level and per capita GDP on urban road transport carbon emission are 0.93,0.73,0.68 and 0.44 respectively.(2) The largest contributor to urban road transport carbon emissions is transport energy intensity in the medium and short term,and the urbanization rate in the long-term.(3) Increases of per capita GDP growth rate will lead to enhancing urban road transport carbon emissions in the short term,and will help decrease it in the long-run.(4) The growth trend of China's urban road transport carbon emissions is impossible to avoid.(5) Different development idea and policy combinations can make significant changes in urban road transport carbon emissions.Based on the research,China's urban road transport carbon emission reduction policy is put forward.


A new circuit is presented which allows a switched reluctance motor to operate from AC mains or a low voltage battery supply. In addition the AC mains can be used to charge the battery. The switched reluctance motor is used as the voltage-changing transformer, potentially reducing the cost of the system. The operation of the drive is explained, and results of an experimental prototype are presented.


For a panel contribution of the passenger vehicle compartment, a model was created for acoustic analysis of the passenger vehicle compartment and through the acoustic normal modal analysis. frequencies and mode shapes of the resonance modes were calculated.
Also, the contribution analysis of each panel was executed using acoustic reciprocal theorem, and through this analysis, normalized responses at the particular point indicate the relative contribution of each panel for generating noise and vibration


45th Symposium of the Society for the Study of Human Biology: Ethics and Human Biology, 21±22 September, London, England. Contact: George Ellison, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, 18 Woburn Square, London WC1H ONR, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 207 612 6020, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. OR Alan Goodman, School of Natural Science, Hampshire College, Cole Science Center, Amherst, MA 01002-5001 USA. Tel: +1 (0) 413 559 5372, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com .


Purpose: The paper presents a theoretical model of vocational competencies of professional team-sports coaches. The model is a theoretical background for a wider research project of which the main aim is to improve standards of professional competences for volleyball coaches in Poland. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify vocational competences through reviewing opinions of experts. Methodology: Theoretical model of vocational competencies of professional team-sports coaches was built and verified on the ground of the literature review method and afterwards compared and verified with four expert opinions gained through individual in-depth interviews. Findings: The model consists of three components: knowledge, skills and behaviour, as well as three levels of competencies: basic, complementary and leadership. It has been stated that there is no advantage for any of three levels of competences in a group of the most successful volleyball coaches in Poland, and that a relatively strong impact of behaviour among other competencies' components was observed. Therefore, all significant conclusions of the theoretical model and research outcomes are discussed.


Data management nowadays is being focused a lot in many areas in the industry, the reason for this
is attributed to the speed we are obtaining the data, the volume of it and the new technologies. So,
when we transfer this data through the network, we obviously need the most efficient way to send
and retrieve data in our network with less response time, also known as Edge-Fog-Cloud computing.
In this work, a framework is implemented in such a way that it provides minimum latency to User
devices at the Edge of the network based on the SLA agreement between a Service Provider and the
Network Provider.
It provides an algorithm for Service chain Placement and monitors the network for potential
bottlenecks that may be created in future and removes it.


This paper considers a model for the maintenance of a deteriorating system with a discrete state space. At discrete points in time a sequence of maintenance decisions is to be made. These decisions are either to leave the system in its present state, or by performing maintenance to place it in a "higher state." Between maintenance visits the behavior of the system is described by a stationary Markov matrix. For a maintenance cost c\cdotz (where z is the number of states by which the system is improved) and a convex one-period operating cost L(\cdot) a class of transition matrices is found which lead to simple maintenance policies. It is also shown that the restrictions on the transition matrix are not only sufficient but "almost necessary" if the result is to hold for all possible choices of L(\cdot).


Complex systems are used to evaluate systems, whose interaction in their processes and elements make them up, because it should be analyzed as a whole in the way to be able to modify or solve problems in the system. The case of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are considered as complex system because they perform processes that are close related and generate new processes that can't be subdivided to analyze them and modify independently. For this reason is important to make an analysis from complex system vision of the WWTP "El Naranjo" with capacity of 500 mgd, operated by Comision Estatal de Servicios Publicos de Ensenada (CESPE), located in the city of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. This analysis identified new processes generated from their multiple interactions and potential environmental impacts giving recommendations and proposals to make the operation of the WWTP efficient and decrease the environmental and social impacts.


Recent XMM-Newton observations of clusters of galaxies have provided detailed information on the distribution of heavy elements in the central regions of clusters with cooling cores providing strong evidence that most of these metals come from recent SN type Ia. In this paper we compile information on the cumulative mass profiles of iron, the most important metallicity tracer. We find that long enrichment times (≥5 Gyr) are necessary to produce the central abundance peaks. Classical cooling flows, a strongly convective intracluster medium, and a complete metal mixing by cluster mergers would destroy the observed abundance peaks too rapidly. Thus the observations set strong constraints on cluster evolution models requiring that the cooling cores in clusters are preserved over very long times. We further conclude from the observations that the innermost part of the intracluster medium is most probably dominated by gas originating predominantly from stellar mass loss of the cD galaxy.


PCT No. PCT/JP96/03282 Sec. 371 Date Jun. 16, 1997 Sec. 102(e) Date Jun. 16, 1997 PCT Filed Nov. 8, 1996 PCT Pub. No. WO97/17511 PCT Pub. Date May 15, 1997A sleeve for splicing together reinforcing bars disposed in an opposing, end-to-end relationship comprising a tubular shell member provided with opposing end walls, a grout port provided in the tubular shell for adding grout to the interior of the tubular shell, apertures provided in the end walls for receiving the reinforcing bars from opposite ends thereof, a plurality of supporting projections integrally formed with the tubular shell and extending from one side of the tubular shell, fixing means adapted to be inserted into the tubular shell on longitudinally opposite sides from the supporting projections and intermediate the supporting projections for fastening the reinforcing bar to the supporting projections, the supporting projections being formed, in cross section, with a recess for receiving the reinforcing bar coaxial to the tubular shell.


An integrated optimization model of production planning and scheduling for batch production was constructed in order to deal with various batch production.Function objective of the proposed model was to minimize the sum of total setup cost,stock cost and production cost.Restraint functions included equilibrium stock,production capacity,as well as scheduling restraints(procedure restriction and single machine capacity restriction).Feasible plan could be set down considering scheduling restraints.To build up this two level mixed integer programming model,a hybrid heuristic algorithm based on genetic algorithm and heuristics rules was put forward.Integrated optimization model was used in a batch production shop floor of a machine tool company.Cell weekly production planning of workshop section was set down by decomposing shop floor monthly production planning, and each item's weekly lot-size and sequence in which to put items into production were ascertained.


This paper introduces one technology that product mouse mould with NC milling machine and high speed machine. From this the technique processes the mold components surface quality obvious good the mold components quality which processes in the ordinary numerical control milling machine.


Microalgal assemblages were measured daily from January to December 1996 at a fixed neritic station in Marian Cove, King George Island, Antarctica. The abundance of microalgae and carbon biomass exhibited clear seasonal variation. Annual mean of total microalgal abundance in surface water was 2.43 × 10 4 cells l -1 . Microalgal cell abundance in Marian Cove showed a multi- modal distribution of standing crop during the study period. Microalgae started to bloom in October and increased abruptly during November. More than 45% (avg. 3.5 mg m -3 ) of chl a was present in the 2 months November and December, dominated by microplanktonic diatoms (>20 µm) such as Fragilaria striatula Lyngbye, Licmophora belgicae Peragallo, and Achnanthes groenlandica Grunow. The increase of these diatoms were mainly due to resuspension of benthic microalgae by wind and tidal currents in spring and summer. In contrast, microalgal assemblages in winter were character- ized by the dominance of pico- and nanoplanktonic microalgae (<20 µm) such as Phaeocystis antarc- tica Karsten, Navicula glaciei Van Heurck, and Navicula perminuta Grunow.


This article is about technology firms with operations in the city of Maceio in the state of Alagoas, Brazil, prioritizing its characterization, profile and level of technological development, their participation in incubators or acceleration programs and types of products/services developed. The nature of this study is descriptive-exploratory and it considered the census of businesses with information of two technology incubators, SEBRAE/AL as well as promotion and research institutions. A documentary survey was carried out, and subsequently, a survey with companies themselves. The data analysis used descriptive statistics. The results show the segment specifics such as: profile, number of employees, critical points, level of business development, product diversification and sectors, among others. The results indicate that in informal companies, the issues of incubation, business structuring phase and financial resources are limiting factors. The research also identified that about 40% of companies consider to be offering an innovative product/service.


The intelligent vehicle clusters concept has been introduced and developed in the Com2React project to overcome some of the limitations of the former REACT research project. Cluster of vehicles together with the regional control center constitute a hierarchical traffic information and communication structure where vehicles on the local level are mainly self-organised but then additionally controlled by the traffic management system on the regional level. The main challenge was to secure the achievements and benefits of the REACT applications and to find a new balance for efficient data processing, communication and utilisation between the different entities in the overall system. The aim here is to give a brief review and analysis of the most important features and benefits of this concept.


Organophosphorus pesticides were widely used in agriculture,causing risks for environment as well as for human health.The detection methods of organophosphate pesticide residues were summarized,and advantages and disadvantages of all kinds of detection methods were compared.The varies samples pretreatment methods were introduced.The development of sample pretreatment and determination method of organophosphorus pesticide residue was proposed as well.


The objective of this research-in-progress paper is to investigate the employees' intention to use mobile ERP under the effect of computer self-efficacy in regular-ERP firms. Mobile ERP, business software that integrates core business functions into a single system, has been increasingly penetrating the ERP market but to the best of our knowledge there is no study has examined its usage intention among traditionalERP organizations. The updated DeLone and MacLean IS success model with its three quality factors is employed in this study as a theoretical framework. Conclusion and potential contribution are discussed.


122 patients with acute episodes of endogenous uveitis (either initial or recurrent) were examined and had total serum IgE levels determined. Similarly, total serum IgE levels were determined on 100 nonuveitis controls, who were age, sex, and racially matched to the patient group. There was found to be no significant difference between the control group, the patient group, or any subgroup of the patient group, based on clinical type of uveitis. It is concluded that there is no difference in the IgE levels between patients with acute uveitis and the normal population. This suggests that atopy does not play a significant role in most cases of endogenous uveitis.


In order to meet the requirements of security and reliability of CCD in space science experiments,a new method with space level of FPGA devices is proposed,based on the principle of CCD.This FPGA can be used as a core to build peripheral drive circuit of CCD.A CCD camera structure was designed and conducted.A specific circuit is used to verify its realization of this technology.


In many ways the Introduction, with its multiple illustrations and detailed examination of cartography and the emergence of the idea of the two hemispheres, as well as a lucid overview of the historiography of both the Monroe Doctrine and the field of transnational American Studies, is the most satisfying portion of the book. Large portions of Hemispheric Imaginings are devoted to close readings of literary texts, many of which are masterfully rendered, but they occasionally obscure her larger themes. Her analysis of Francis Hawks' narrative of Commodore Perry's 1853 expedition of Japan wonderfully illuminates the multiple meanings the text might have held for readers sensitive to the growing slavery crisis in the United States. But more than once the connections drawn here between foreign policy and literature seem tenuous, as when she links Hawks' work with Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables (1851) largely on the basis that both discuss minstrelsy (a very minor element of Hawks' narrative). While her reading of Lydia Maria Child's novel Hobomok (1824) is compelling in its own right, one imagines that the author could have chosen any number of alternate popular writings from the 1820s to support the view that Adams visualized the western hemisphere, as other scholars have maintained, in fraternal terms (nations as brothers), rather than in domestic terms, as Murphy argues.


The SSOA(Systematic Safe Operating Area) of a dual-PWM converter,applied in the frequencyvariable speed-regulation system of a 55 kW induction motor,is quantitatively studied on the characteristics of its power components,the structure of its main circuits,the delay of its control,the temperature rise of system,etc. Based on the mathematical model of SSOA,the impact of control delay,DC bus stray inductance,AC filter inductance and switching frequency on the boundaries of SSOA is analyzed in detail and the parameters and protections of practical system are properly designed to improve the utilization rate of power components and the continuously operating ability of system while the system safety is ensured. The experimental results of a practical system demonstrate the correctness of SSOA analysis and the effectiveness of its application.


A rolling technique is described with which cells in epidermal strips of V. faba were differentially broken so that only guard cells remained alive and functional. In rolled epidermis potassium was retained only in live guard cells, as judged by staining with cobaltinitrite.


Mount Singai in Bau District was settled by BiSingai tribe for almost 300 years before they moved downhill to 14
villages some 40 years ago. They extracted forest products and planted crops in their clearings at the mountain.
The documentation of these plants and impacts of these activities on their composition in the area would be an
interesting discovery. A survey on understory plants at undertaken to determine these information. Two subplots
of 2 m x 2 m were made in each of the 16 plots (50 m by 10m) established along the main trail to the mountain top.
All understory plants including epiphytes were recorded in these subplots. Preliminary results show that a total of
1,148 understory plants comprising of 142 species from 66 families were recorded. Family Selaginellaceae with
174 individuals (15.16% of total) dominates while Apocynaceae with 75 and Euphorbiaceae with 70 individuals
are a distant second and third respectively. Families Verbenaceae, Theaceae, Rhamnaceae and Icacinaceae were
among the 11 families with one individual each and were considered the least. Seedlings of middle to upper canopy
trees with 396 individuals (34.5%) dominate the type of plants recorded. Mosses (Selaginella canaliculata) with
170 individuals (14.8%) form a distant second. Most of the mosses are found at the foothills (62.4%) where the
forest floor is moister. Almost all plants have uses for man apart from their ecological role. About 16% (182
plants) can be used for landscaping or has ornamental value while 10% (112 plants) for other uses (timber, cultural,
and handicrafts) followed by 7% (83 plants) have medicinal values. The remainder 771 plants (67.1%) have
overlapping or combining uses for food, medicinal, landscaping and others. Although the study was only
undertaken along a single trail which traverses through an abandoned settled area and farms, plants at Mount Singai
are considered abundant and that the locals activities and presence have little impact on the plants there. Because it
was discovered that the plots set-up missed more than 15% of the species and 21% of the family, it was suggested
that more or bigger subplots be established to capture most plants. Studies on different trails in Mount Singai are
being planned to understand more on the understory plants there. Further analysis and characterisation on the data
collected as well as information on their distribution and their relationships with some environmental variations in
the area such as soils and microhabitats will also be undertaken.


68 Background: NCCN Guidelines recommend the use of bone-modifying agents (BMAs) to prevent skeletal-related events (SRE) for patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and bone metastasis, but not for castrate-sensitive prostate cancer (CSPC). Prior studies have identified both underuse of BMAs for CRPC and overuse for CSPC, but the clinical circumstances underlying these apparent gaps in care are unknown. Methods: Qualitative interview study, with physicians who treat prostate cancer within an academic cancer center and an affiliated network of community-based practices. Using a semi-structured interview guide, an experienced moderator probed participants' experiences and perceptions around NCCN Guidelines recommendations, guideline adherence and non-adherence, and barriers to adherence. Interviews also probed participants' views of potential interventions to promote guideline-concordant BMA use. Participants used Likert-scale items to rate the likely effectiveness of each intervention in influencing BMA practice patterns. They also identified the 3 most helpful interventions for reducing BMA underuse and overuse separately. Results: 19 physicians were invited, of whom 15 agreed to participate; 1 physician did not respond to some questions as outside scope of practice. All were aware of the recommendation for use of BMAs in CRPC. 14% (2/14) were unaware of the recommendation against BMA use for CSPC; an additional 29% (4/14) believed that BMA use could be appropriate for CSPC depending on the burden of bony metastatic disease. 36% (5/14) were unaware of recommendations for baseline DEXA scan and BMA for patients with low bone mineral density. The most commonly reported barriers (occurring "often" or "sometimes") to BMA use for CRPC were obtaining dental clearance (11/15) and insufficient time in clinic (6/15). The interventions perceived as most helpful to reduce underuse for CRPC were dental navigation (11/15) and EMR-based guidance (9/15). The interventions identified as most helpful to reduce overuse for CSPC were peer-to-peer education (14/15) and EMR-based guidance (13/15). Conclusions: Among physicians treating prostate cancer in our study, there was incomplete awareness of guideline recommendations for screening and treatment of low bone mineral density, and against BMA use for SRE prevention in CSPC. Dental navigation, peer-to-peer education, and EMR-based guidance were preferred implementation strategies to reduce underuse and overuse of BMAs.


The objective of present work consists of two different experiments conducted in the years 2015-2016 (1) Comparative study for evaluating relative varroa mite levels and colony strengths within pairs of between Apis mellifera meda (Iranian race) and two exotic honey bee colonies, Apis mellifera anatolia (Turkey race) and Apis mellifera caucasica (Russian hybrid race). (2) The fifteen morphological characteristics examined A. m. meda, A. m. anatoliaca and hybrid A. m. caucasica. Results showed that colony mortality was not different between the three stocks (Turkey: 4.80%, Iranian: 5.10%, Russian: 6.12%; χ2=0.29, p= 0.72) respectively. 96.4% of all sampled colonies were infested by varroa mites during the first season, and there was no significant difference in the incidence of varroa between the three stocks (χ2=0.63, p=0.70). Iranian and Turkish colonies had significantly greater adult populations (paired t-test = 2.54, p<0.05), as well as numerically larger comb areas (paired t-test = 1.78, p=0.05).


In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized marketing of a device to help diagnose autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Cognoa ASD Diagnosis Aid is a machine learning‐based software intended to help health care providers diagnose ASD in children 18 months through 5 years of age who exhibit potential symptoms of the disorder.


BACKGROUND
Compounds containing furo[3,2-b]pyridine framework have shown interesting pharmacological properties including anticancer activities. Though these compounds are generally synthesized via the heteroannulation processes involving acetylenic derivatives some of them are not straightforward.

OBJECTIVE
To explore a series of 2-substituted furo[3,2-b]pyridines for their cytotoxic properties against cancer cell lines in vitro.

METHODS
We have developed a convenient synthesis of 2-substituted furo[3,2-b]pyridines via sequential (i) C-C coupling followed by (ii) C-O bond forming reactions in a single pot. The reactions were performed under ultrasound irradiation in the presence of Pd/C as an inexpensive, stable and widely used catalyst. A range of 2-substituted furo[3,2-b]pyridines were synthesized via coupling of 3-chloro-2-hydroxy pyridine with terminal alkynes in the presence of 10% Pd/C-CuI-PPh3-Et3N in EtOH. The in vitro evaluation of all these compounds was carried out against MDAMB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines and subsequently against SIRT1.

RESULTS
The furo[3,2-b]pyridine derivative 3b showed encouraging growth inhibition of both MDAMB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines and inhibition of SIRT1. The compound 3b also showed apoptosis inducing potential when tested against MCF-7 cells.

CONCLUSION
The Pd/C-Cu catalysis under ultrasound accomplished a one-pot and direct access to 2-substituted furo[3,2-b]pyridine derivatives some of which showed anticancer properties.


Surface carbonate ion observed in YBa2Cu3Ox from a conventional ceramic method was removed during vacuum calcination up to 1200 K. No surface condensation of Y and Ba due to the formation of the Y-CO3 and Ba-CO3 bond was observed in YBa2Cu3Ox prepared by vacuum calcination and subsequent oxidation in a pure oxygen atmosphere. YBa2Cu3Ox prepared by this process had a lower ΔTc value and low temperature coefficient of electrical resistivity than those observed in the sample from the conventional ceramic method. The existence of carbonate ion at the surface and grain boundaries had adverse effects on the superconducting properties of the products.


As I have shown in the preceding chapters, it is certain that there are many points of resemblance between Maugham and Maupassant in their scope, style and technique, subject matter. Perhaps the most significant resemblance between the two authors is Maugham's adherence to the form of the short story established by Maupassant, who considered that a short story writer's primary aim should be to tell a story. The narrative element is always of chief interest. In this respect he differed from the Russian, Chekov, who has acquired a number of followers in the 20th century. But Maugham shares Maupassant's view of this matter, and sustains the reader's interest by the quality of his narrative rather than by the introduction of mood or atmosphere. Although Maupassant's subjectivity is not precisely that of Maugham, they are alike in that each sees a thing most clearly from his own point of view. It is true that the literary theories of the two writers are simple and sound. Regarding style, both consider clearness and simplicity as important attributes, and precision, or the art of saying exactly what one means, is equally essential. Both have expressed an aversion to rhetoric, while neither can be identified with any school or group of writers. They are realistic in the selections of their material. but they do not consider it sufficient for the writer to make a literal transcript of life. Probability is the object at which the realistic writer of fiction should aim, and this involves a careful selection of material. Moreover, their views on these matters are so nearly alike that Maupassant s influence seems unquestionable. In conclusion I can say that Maupassant principally influenced Maugham in the composition of his short stories; in his insistence upon form and narrative, clarity of style, and precision of language; and in his constant effort to make his stories probable, convincing interpretations of real life.


PurposeThis paper aims to examine the cycle of labour protests in Sweden, comparing the contentious actions of trade unions in public and private sectors over 40 years. Prior studies have focused on industrial conflicts or labour protests, but a long-term perspective on the broad protest repertoire across sectors is lacking. The goal is to test the argument of diversification of action repertoire and differences between the public and private sectors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply the grievance and political opportunity theories of social movement research for explaining the cycles of labour protests and differences between sectors in Sweden over 40 years (1980–2020). The unique protest event data are combined with the official strike statistics. The research period includes the globalisation of the economy and two economic crises.FindingsAlthough unions in both sectors have decreased protest mobilisation over time, private sector unions have resigned the most, whereas public sector unions continue to mobilise a diverse set of protest actions. Swedish unions have not replaced strikes with other protest repertoires. The open opportunities have allowed them to use various protests as part of "routine" operations.Research limitations/implicationsProtest event data are derived from newspapers, leading to an over-representation of large events in the urban areas. Future studies should combine data from newspapers with data about online protests.Originality/valueBy thoroughly examining all protest events mobilised by all trade unions in different sectors over 40 years (1980–2020), the paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the cycles of labour protest. The findings should interest industrial relations and social movement scholars.


Deoxynivalenol (DON), a secondary metabolite produced by Fusarium graminearum, is one of the most common mycotoxins that contaminate food and feed. DON is highly toxic, immunosuppressive, mutagenic, and carcinogenic to humans and animals. Although various approaches have been developed to decontaminate DON on food and feed, some methods require expensive and sophisticated equipment and some approaches are inefficient, time-consuming and impractical. Recently, several studies have verified the effectiveness of a novel non-thermal technology (cold atmospheric plasma, CAP) on the degradation of DON both in solid and aqueous state. However, the different degradation mechanisms of CAP on the solid and aqueous-phase DON are still not clear.


In this short essay I shall argue that the "internationalization of capital" is a much more fruitful approach for studying the world economy than "dependency theory." Quite specifically, I suggest that political economy today should not try to explain the backwardness of one part of the world vis a vis other parts but rather should explain the dynamics of the emergence of the international capitalist economy. In this context, it is crucial to understand the unequal patterns of development which are characteristic of capitalist development and which leave certain areas and certain classes more impoverished than most. As a framework of analysis, the internationalization of capital obliges us to return to the basic laws of capitalist accumulation which imply a particular organization of production and the social relations specific to this mode of production. The internationalization of capital represents a sharp departure from previous and most current work by political economists on the international economy. Rather than starting from the nation-state as the unit of analysis, this analytical approach presupposes a qualitative change in the nature of the international economy. This transformation is related to the changes in the scale of production and the locus of decision making by those empowered to direct capitalist enterprise. With the emergence of the transnational corporation as the principal organizer of production on a global basis, decisions cease to be made with reference to a single nation. It becomes increasingly clear that the nation, or the nation-state, cannot limit capitalist expansion to its own borders. In the best of circumstances, individual political units might attempt to influence the allocation of investment resources through national policies aimed at increasing the rate of profit or improving the investment climate. But increasingly the dynamics of the world capitalist economy cannot be understood with reference to a single nation or group of nations. Productive decisions are now made on a global scale. There is another powerful reason for preferring the internationalization of capital as an explanatory theory to understand the world economy and, particularly, the plight of the nations of the "Third World." This new *David Barkin teaches at the Universidad Aut6noma Metropolitana, Xochimilco, Mexico City.