A dilemma arises for researchers who sample hidden populations, such as injection drug users (IDUs), and use financial incentives to recruit respondents. To prevent respondent duplication (a subject participates in a study multiple times by using different identities) and respondent impersonation (a subject assumes the identity of other respondents), researchers must confirm their subjects' identities. Documentation, however, introduces sampling bias against those who lack such identification, or who wish to remain anonymous. Definitive forms of identification like photography and fingerprints introduce a bias against the more distrustful members of the population, and scanner-based biometrics can be expensive. Most research projects therefore rely on staff to recognize former respondents, but staff turnover and a large number of respondents compromise accuracy. We describe and assess quantitatively the accuracy of a method for subject identification based on a statistical principle, the interchangeability of indicators, in which multiple weak indicators combine to form a stronger aggregate measure. The analysis shows that observable indicators of identity (scars, birthmarks, tattoos, eye color, ethnicity, and gender) and five biometric measures (height, forearm lengths, and wrist widths) provide the basis for a reliable and easily administered method for subject identification.


Results: Out of the 540 women included, uterine anomaly by using ASRM criteria was found in 82 (15%) and by ESHRE-ESGE in 39 (7%) women. According to ASRM, 43 (8%) women were judged to have arcuate uterus. Septate uterus was found in 19 (34%) women according to both classifications. Within nine years after the ultrasound scan 14 (17%) womenwith uterine anomalies had one or two miscarriages, and one had three miscarriages. Five (6%) women delivered prematurely week 32-36 (median 35), two of these twin pregnancies. Premature deliveries were registered in two (2%) women with arcuate, two (2%) with septate uterus and one (1%) with t-shaped uterus. Conclusions: Prevalence of congenital uterine anomalies in asymptomatic premenopausal women depends on the classification used and are common in gynecologically healthy population.


(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Ecclesiastical Colony: China's Catholic Church and the French Religious Protectorate . By Ernest P. Young . London : Oxford University Press , 2014. xii + 383 pp. $74.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesThis book has all the characteristics which make for a work of rigorous scholarship and enduring value. It deals with an interesting and important topic in a relatively understudied field; it is thorough in research and precise in documentation; it is very well written and edited; and it does not shy away from making historical judgments while remaining basically fair-minded. The author did a great deal of careful research in French archives, many of them only recently opened.The broad context of Ernest Young's endeavor is the whole history of the French missionaries in China from the late 1500s to the mid-twentieth century, and, secondarily, the Chinese Catholic church which came into existence during those centuries. His focus, the French Religious Protectorate, a somewhat informal (that is, not precisely described in diplomatic documents) set of arrangements under which the French Government, through its diplomatic officials in China, played a unique political-diplomatic role among the Western nations in modern China. The "protectorate" began in the 1840s and lasted in some aspects until the 1940s. By Young's account, suggestive rather than accusatory, the institutional results of the protectorate were an egregious case of Western imperialism in modern China.The European missionaries in China, including the French, were somewhat successful in building a Catholic church of perhaps 300,000 nationwide by the early 1700s. All of the missions were severely hit by the imperial expulsion of missionaries after the well-known "rites controversy" and then the outright proscription of Christianity in 1724. For more than a century, until the Opium War of 1839-1842, Christianity was outlawed; European priests continued to sneak into China, to give the sacraments to the faithful, but the Europeans were few, and always on the move. Moreover, there were only a few Chinese Catholic ordained priests. However, as recent scholarship has shown, this period resulted in Chinese lay Catholic leaders emerging to maintain the coherence of Christian life. The result was a dispersal of largely self-regulating Catholic communities across the land, mostly in rural and semi-rural areas. By the time the missionaries (Protestants as well as Catholics now) returned, after more than a century of absence, there was firmly in place in many Catholic communities with a considerable degree of autonomy, local Christian gentry elite managing tasks such as catechism, maintenance of the church building, and so forth.When China was forcibly opened to foreign commerce and to foreign residence after the Opium War of 1839-1842 and then the second China war in 1856-1860, the government of France in this decade established a unique place in the structure of China's relationships with the West. This was the "French religious protectorate." Conceived by diplomats and executed by them and a few French missionaries acting as translators and interpreters in the complicated negotiations to end the second China war during 1858-1860, the French government wound up having the right to represent legally and to defend the interests of all of the Catholic missions and all of the individual Catholic missionaries, of whatever nationality. …


Background: Activating mutations of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene have been utilized to predict the effectiveness of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy. The most common EGFR mutations are exon 19 deletion and exon 21-point mutation, which are sensitive to EGFR TKI. However, rare/complex EGFR mutations still exist, data of which are scarce and controversial. Hence, their role in response to standard therapy remains uncertain. Case Report: We present the case of a patient diagnosed with stage IV lung adenocarcinoma for whom standard chemotherapies, including platinum agents, had failed. The patient was found to have an EGFR exon 19 (L747P) mutation, as evident in her liquid biopsy. This alteration has not been described before in the literature on non-Asian females. Data from the current case study highlight the aggressive nature of this type of EGFR mutation as indicated by the complete resistance to erlotinib. Using standard first-generation EGFR inhibitors in treating this point mutation was considered inadequate. However, this patient showed a substantial response when treated with erlotinib combined with epigenetic therapies, consisting of DNA methyltransferase and histone deacetylase inhibitors. For more than 8 years, the patient has been responding to combination therapy with a normal quality of life. Conclusion: This case represents a possible novel approach to reducing resistance in patients harboring this rare EGFR mutation which may translate to better outcomes.


African Pygmy hedgehogs (Atelerix albiventris) are commonly kept in zoological collections and as pets. The aim of this study was to present disease occurrence in captive African Pygmy hedgehogs. Medical records of 106 male and female African Pygmy hedgehogs, both privately owned and from zoological collections, presented to a veterinary teaching hospital from 1994 to 2013 were reviewed. The most common diseases found in captive African Pygmy hedgehogs in this study were dermatological diseases (66.04%), gastrointestinal diseases (33.02%), and skeletal diseases (15.09%). Other identified disorders included neurologic disease, obesity, and renal disease. This is the first retrospective study to describe occurrence of diseases observed in captive African Pygmy hedgehogs. The most common clinical finding in captive hedgehogs was dermatological disease, specifically acariasis. Based on this study, it is recommended that all captive hedgehogs be examined regularly for timely diagnosis and treatment of common diseases of this species.


This study investigated and analyzed awareness of the virtual organization and the extent of its use by professionals and management personnel. It tried to find out the specific purposes for which the virtual organization is used and to determine the perception of a sector of professionals about its effect on their professions and personal development. The data for this study hinged on a survey questionnaire. Data were analyzed and a descriptive statistical summary outlines the profile of users. Percentage was used to identify the level of knowledge of the virtual organization. Frequency analysis measured the level of perception and attitudes of respondents on the virtual organization. The study found a positive trend toward the use of the virtual organization among professionals and management personnel. Most of the respondents indicated that they are aware of the existence of the virtual organization and value it as important and advantageous to their professional careers.


The theory uses methods and language of linear algebra to study nonlinear spaces. These techniques can be used particularly to describe analytic geometry of non-linear elliptic, hyperbolic, De Sitter and Anti de Sitter spaces. The main innovation of elaborated theory is space parameterization by introduction of space signature. This parameterization allows studying of different homogeneous spaces in one global framework. When the parameters are used as variables in definitions, axioms, equations, theorems, proofs, all these have exactly the same form that describes the reality of all homogeneous spaces simultaneously. When it is necessary to describe some space particularities or to see the difference between two concrete spaces, the concrete values can be put in parameters of each definition, axiom, equation, theorem and proof.


'^MONG the many contributions to the concept °f psychopathic personality three recently expressed points of view may be found to be °f interest. Halleck (1966) stresses the quality °f detachment and concludes " T h e pure Psychopath does not exist but there are indill'jduals who are more or less psychopathic." Tong (1964) questions whether there are two different individuals or two forms of dis°fder, " . . . extreme callousness, brutality, <lisregard for others, on the one hand, or criminal behaviour which is not necessarily violent or serious, but which is repeated over and over again, in spite of, or because of, repeated punishment by society. . . . In terms °f social danger, neither group should be regarded less seriously than the other." Annesley (1963) considers the inadequate Psychopath and the aggressive psychopath to have the same foundation, the former being Psychopathy in an introverted personality and fhe latter in an extroverted personality " . . . but *t is the same condition superimposed on jjifferent personality types," and concludes 'Although this accentuation of antisocial behaviour as a cardinal symptom is frequent, certain studies from the U.S.A. suggest there 's no close correlation between psychopathic Personality and antisocial behaviour sufficient ^0 cause conflict with the law."


In this paper, we investigate the power control problem for spectrum sharing in the cognitive satellite-terrestrial networks (CSTNs), aiming to maximize the throughput of global networks while meeting the requirements of signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) in the satellite links. Since the power control problem for global networks involves a mass of information collection or exchange, it is not conducive to centralized control in CSTNs. So we solve it by constructing a non-cooperative game with limited information exchange. First, we theoretically prove that the Nash equilibrium (NE) of the proposed game is consistent with the stationary point of the global throughput maximization problem. Then, we design a distributed power control (DPC) algorithm to obtain the NE of the game with guaranteeing the SINR demand of the satellite links. Considering that the precise channel state information (CSI) is often difficult to be obtained in actual communication scenarios, we propose a modified scheme of the DPC algorithm for the case of imperfect CSI. The modified scheme not only ensures that the SINR requirements of the satellite links can be met but also approximately converges to an NE of the problem with a little performance loss. Finally, the numerical results demonstrate that our scheme outperforms the existing typical algorithms in terms of the throughput of the global networks as well as the number of iterations.


In recent years, intelligent transport systems (ITS) have been investigated intensively. In particular, vehicle-to-vehicle communication is expected to be a key technology to enhance flexible networking to exchange various information among vehicles. In vehicle-to-vehicle communications, au- tonomous decentralized control is required to coor- dinate the channel use by multiple users because of constant change of vehicle positions. When time division access scheme is employed for vehicle-to- vehicle communications, transmission power con- trol is basically not necessary owing to high orthog- onality among communication channels. In time di- vision transmission, resource assignment technique is one of the most important issues, and should be realized in autonomous decentralized manner for ITS scenario. In this paper, two autonomous de- centralized resource assignment protocols are pro- posed and evaluated in terms of link outage proba- bility. These protocols can assign the same carrier frequency to a group of neighboring vehicles and give an available free time slot to each vehicle with- out collision.


An optimisation framework is presented for robust design configuration of composite aircraft wings through consideration of uncertainties in material properties, ply orientations and thickness. A detailed Finite Element wing box model of a regional jet airliner is used as a benchmark. The wing structure is optimised for minimum weight with strain, buckling, flutter/divergence and gust constraints. Polynomial Chaos Expansion approach is used to efficiently quantify the effects of uncertainty in the design parameters. This method is used to determine the probability of flutter/divergence occurring, and the allowable root bending moment being exceeded, for any given design specification which is then optimised using a Particle Swarm Optimisation algorithm. Results are compared with deterministic solution for optimal flutter speed and minimum root bending moment. Three layup strategies were undertaken, a first which only consists of 0◦, ±45◦ and 90◦ plies, a second which included ±30◦ and ±60◦ plies and a third which also uses ±15◦ and ±75◦ plies. A minimum improvement in reliability of 32.6% is achieved for laminate with 0◦, ±45◦ and 90◦ plies and highest reduction in mean root bending moment value is obtained with inclusion of ±30◦ and ±60◦ plies. The layup strategy with 0◦, ±30◦, ±45◦, ±60◦ and 90◦ plies give the optimal robust solution for both flutter and root bending moment responses.


A new berth allocation model was proposed,which objective is to minimize the total service time for all ships in the planning horizon.The time window constraints on the service time of ships and the available time of berth were considered in the model.A heuristic based on the Tabu search algorithm was developed for this berth allocation problem with time windows.The computational experiments showed that the proposed algorithm is adaptable to the real world application.And for larger sizes it is always better than a limited CPLEX on computational time.So this method may be helpful in the efficient management of busy terminals during extreme peaking conditions.


Probability calibration is the act of assigning probabilities to uncertain events. We develop a testing procedure consisting of two components to check whether the ex-ante probabilities are in line with the ex-post frequencies. The first component tests the level of the probability calibration under dependencies. In the long run the number of events should equal the sum of assigned probabilities. The second component validates the shape, measuring the differentiation between high and low probability events. Out of it we construct a goodness-of-fit statistic which is asymptotically χ2-distributed and further a traffic light system for a time-series of forecasts. JEL Classification Codes: C12, C52, and G21


We have previously shown that the insulin‐like growth factor‐2 (IGF‐2) gene is partially coexpressed with the IGF‐1 and ‐2 receptor genes in proliferative cytotrophoblasts of the human extraembryonic tissue. Here we show that high levels of IGF‐2 gene expression are not restricted to the embryonic tissue but can also be found in the decidua compacta. The IGF‐2 gene is thus expressed at high levels in the mesenchymal stroma of the decidua to establish potentially short‐range communication with primarily IGF‐1 receptor‐positive mesenchymal stroma cells. Conversely, the glandular and surface epithelia coexpress the IGF‐1 receptor and IGF‐1 genes, while the IGF‐2 gene is not detected above background levels. The potential control machanisms of these cell‐cell signalling pathways were investigated by the analysis of the spatial distribution of active IGF binding proteins (IGFBP) genes. The IGFBP‐3 gene is coexpressed with the IGF‐2 gene in proliferative cytotrophoblasts of the embryonic placenta. While active IGFBP‐1 and ‐2 genes in our hands cannot be detected in the embryonic placenta, all three IGFBP genes are expressed in complex and overlapping patterns in the decidua compacta. The results are discussed in terms of how the various IGFBP genes may operate in different cell types to restrict IGF local stimulatory pathways. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Although Frege is one of the prominent figureheads of analytic philosophy, it is not surprising that there are still issues surrounding his views, interpreting them, and labeling them. Frege's view on numbers is typically termed as Platonistic or at least a type of Platonism (Reck 2005). Still, the term 'Platonism' has views and assumptions ascribed to it that may be misleading and leads to mischaracterizations of Frege's outlook on numbers and ideas. So, clarification of the term 'Platonism' is required to portray Frege's views more accurately (Reck 2005). This clarification gives us a better picture of what Frege is interested in and what he does not emphasize. Moreover, in such a clarifying process, we find that Frege draws heavy influence from Rudolf Hermann Lotze, who is frequently called a Neo-Kantian (Vagnetti 2018). In Lotze's major work, Logik, Lotze has a central focus on validity, in its most general form as he used it, that investigates various related topics, i.e., concepts, language, etc. (Vagnetti 2018; Lotze 1888). Furthermore, we observe that Frege's work is so similar to Lotze, that it seems questionable to call his outlook 'Platonism'. Therefore, attributing 'Platonism' to Frege may be a slight misnomer. This paper's entirety is mostly a synthesis of a variety of articles related to Frege, Lotze, and their respective outlooks and the original works of Frege and Lotze that I use to support the view that the term 'Platonism' is a slight issue when predicated to Frege. As such, I include an overview of Frege's treatment in contemporary literature that highlights the usage of the term 'Platonism' and how broad its uses tend to be utilized (Balaguer 2006; Burge 1992). In sum, it is observed that the general label 'Platonism' becomes less appropriate when we consider Lotze in the picture and contrast Lotze alongside Mr. Frege. Overall, this paper is just an explanatory one of Mr. Frege, the Platonist, and the issues of applying the term 'Platonism' onto him as his views are seemingly more of a segue from Lotze.


Biomedical image analysis has become critically important to the public health and welfare. However, analyzing biomedical images is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and has long been performed manually by highly trained human experts. As a result, there has been an increasing interest in applying machine learning to automate biomedical image analysis. Recent progress in deep learning research has catalyzed the development of machine learning in learning discriminative features from data with minimum human intervention. Many deep learning models have been designed and achieved superior performance in various data analysis applications. This chapter starts with the basic of deep learning models and some practical strategies for handling biomedical image applications with limited data. After that, case studies of deep feature extraction for gene expression pattern image annotations, imaging data completion for brain disease diagnosis, and segmentation of infant brain tissue images are discussed to demonstrate the effectiveness of deep learning in biomedical image analysis.


A core-shell composite polymer was produced by the method of high internal phase emulsion polymerization. The continuous phase of emulsion contained styrene(St), butyl methacrylate(BMA), octamethylcylotetrasiloxane(D4), and azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) which worked as an initiator. The block copolymers with St, BMA, D4 units are particularly promising for surface modification and hydrophobicity. The core-shell structure is proved by the use of Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, the water contact angle increased with the increasing weight ratio of D4. The results show that the concentrated emulsion system has good stability and the water resistance of the polymer has been improved greatly.


Information literacy in higher education and academic research has proliferated. From 1991 to 2020, a total of 9,400 research publications on information literacy and higher education were produced steadily, as indexed in Web of Science (WoS) on 10 June 2021. This study shows the scientometric visualisation of information literacy and research in higher education using quantifiable characteristics from the publication's dataset. The results disclose that the publication growth rate (16.84%) is highly significant for a synergistic response. Due to the productivity of authors, total of 470 papers were produced on an average per year from 1991 to 2020. Several academic publishers have allowed immediate access to their preprints and also allowed open access. The research output on Information Literacy has been published in more than 1256 journals. The results shows that most of the publications were in the domain of educational research and Library and Information Science. However, closely associated terms are health literacy, education, information literacy, higher education, and so on. Academic pivots are mainly located in Germany, USA, Australia, India, and Canada. The University of California, USA; The State University System of Florida, USA; and The University of London, UK are outstanding productive institutions. The G20 countries together produced 90% of the world's research output on information literacy and higher education and also identified encouraging trends in collaborative research in several countries. Thus, the CI (3.757), DC (0.862), and CC (0.584) values are very substantial. Lastly, the geographic range of collaborating authors thereby visualized their linkages through co-occurrences. It analysed the influence of publications to show the most dominant contributions of global research on information literacy and higher education.


Event segmentation has been a growing field of academic research. Through the profiling of attendees based on characteristics such as demographics, psychographics and behavioural tendencies, researchers are able to identify similarities and differences in the types of people that frequent an event. Largely due to the advances in technology, event researchers have the option of alternative data collection methods such as on-line surveys. Whilst self-administered surveys dominate event segmentation research (e.g. Chhabara, 2004; Fox & Edwards, 2009), researchers (e.g. Florek, Breitbarth, & Conejo, 2008; Kim & Jamal, 2007) are utilizing online surveys as their data collection method for reasons such as reaching a large number of individuals in a timely and costly manner ( Van Selm & Jankowski, 2006 ). This research applied both an on-site and online self-administered survey to profile attendees to Easterfest, a Christian music festival held over the 2011 Easter weekend in Toowoomba, Queensland.


The pH of cloudy apple juice was reduced temporarily and then returned to its initial value using electrodialysis (ED) technology by water splitting with a bipolar membrane. The juice was treated in a small scale unit at temperatures between 16 and 24 °C and a constant current density of 40 mA/cm 2 . The pH of the juice was reduced from 3.5 to 2.0 in 30 min. However, this level of acidification required the addition of 12.3 mM K + (KCl) every 5 min during the treatment. Exogenous K + compensated for the K + loss from the juice and maintained the electric charge at neutrality, which favored the accumulation of H3O + in the juice. The reduction of juice pH to 2.0 resulted in the complete inhibition of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity compared with the control. Following acidification, the pH of the juice was returned to its initial value in 60 min by introducing OH produced by water splitting. The pH adjustment of the juice slightly reactivated the PPO, but browning inhibition was complete and irreversible. The treatment enhanced the color of cloudy apple juice during storage without modifying the flavor or sugar content. However, the ED treatment slightly reduced the malic acid content and substantially reduced the mineral contents.


All chapters of the previous edition [see HbA 37, 2103] have been completely rewritten to cover the rapid increase in research in this area. The number of literature citations have been reduced by referring to recent review articles and the book aims at a comprehensive and critical rather than encyclopaedic summary of the data of environmental chemistry. The 1st 4 chapters deal with air, water, rocks and soils; the cycling of C, N, H, O2 and S in the biosphere are covered in 1 chapter and the elemental Other CABI sites 


Let G=(V,E), $V={v_1,v_2,ldots,v_n}$, be a simple connected graph with $%n$ vertices, $m$ edges and a sequence of vertex degrees $d_1geqd_2geqcdotsgeq d_n>0$, $d_i=d(v_i)$. Let ${A}=(a_{ij})_{ntimes n}$ and ${%D}=mathrm{diag }(d_1,d_2,ldots , d_n)$ be the adjacency and the diagonaldegree matrix of $G$, respectively. Denote by ${mathcal{L}^+}(G)={D}^{-1/2}(D+A) {D}^{-1/2}$ the normalized signless Laplacian matrix of graph $G$. Theeigenvalues of matrix $mathcal{L}^{+}(G)$, $2=gamma _{1}^{+}geq gamma_{2}^{+}geq cdots geq gamma _{n}^{+}geq 0$, are normalized signlessLaplacian eigenvalues of $G$. In this paper some bounds for the sum $%K^{+}(G)=sum_{i=1}^nfrac{1}{gamma _{i}^{+}}$ are considered.


PCB embedding in combination with direct-bonded copper (DBC) substrates is an attractive approach for packaging of power semiconductors facilitating low-inductive designs while relying on a proven insulating material. However, the CTE mismatch of these materials could cause reliability issues. This study presents an initial reliability screening using simple IGBT prepackages with alumina-based DBC as test vehicles. After -40/150 °C temperature cycles, fracture of the substrate and the chip is observed, resulting in an increased on-state resistance. Literature data suggest that the substrate failure is independent from the embedding. To gain a deeper understanding of the limitations of the technology, further research with optimized DBC substrates is required.


This paper deals with the global analysis of a delayed SEIR epidemic model with saturation incidence rate and vaccination strategy.By constructing suitable Lyapunov functionals and using LaSalle-type theorems for delayed differential equations,we will prove that when the basic reproduction ratio is less than unity,then the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable and when the basic reproduction ratio is great than unity, a unique endemic equilibrium exists and is globally asymptotically stable.


Dear Taurillon, I've been exploring the Netherlands for three weeks, and I've discovered a colourful flat country. First thing to know, the Dutch are champions in green transport. They use their…


(57) Abstract: screw for fixing the profile to the substructure, consists of a shaft portion having a perforated portion (4) and threaded portion (5) (2) and the screw head (3). Shaft portion adjacent to the screw head (2) (2) parts (6) screw head (3) in the direction toward the being expanded conically have been designed. Screw head (3) on its underside (7) has a raised and or indentations. When used to secure the profile on the lower structure, it is pressed against the fixed substructure screwing direction (11) by profile or conical portions to be fixed (6).


Purpose: To investigate the character temperament properties and life quality of patients with chronic kidney. Materials and Methods: This study was completed with 50 healty people and 50 patient people who undergo hemodialysis and were diagnosid with chronic kidney in Eskisehir Public Hospital in 2012-2013. Participants were asked to filled Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and Quality of Life Scale (SF-36). Results: There were found to be significantly differences in total scores of harm avoidance, self directedness and cooperativeness and some subscale scores between patients and controls. There were significantly differences in all subscales of SF-36 between two groups. Conclusion: Patients with chronic kidney disease were found to be personality with less excited, quickly tired and not taking responsibility


An isolated monoclonal antibody, or antigen-binding portion thereof, comprising: a) a CDR1 of the heavy chain variable region comprising the amino acids having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 18; b) a CDR2 of the heavy chain variable region comprising the amino acids having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 25; c) a CDR3 of the heavy chain variable region comprising amino acids having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 32; d) a CDR1 of the light chain variable region comprising the amino acids having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 39; e) a CDR2 of the light chain variable region comprising the amino acids having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 46; and f) a CDR3 of the light chain variable region comprising the amino acids having the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 53; wherein the antibody specifically binds to the Human Programmed Death 1 (PD-1) protein.


In this article, the authors explore the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and financial incentives in British manufacturing industry. In particular, they examine the view of some of the most influential quality management 'gurus' that there is an incompatibility between incentive pay and TQM. Drawing on survey and case study evidence, they show that TQM is being implemented in the presence of financial incentives. Furthermore, those organisations which had such incentives did not appear to have less success in implementing TQM. On the basis of the evidence presented, the authors conclude that it is not possible to rule out a role for financial incentives in implementing TQM, although incentives are only likely to form one element in a broader implementation strategy.


Nursing Standard reported that delegates at the RCN's annual congress were told that Australia was among the countries that had not signed the Commonwealth code on ethical recruitment (news June 2).


resistance-specific QTL is very important and may be useful to pyramid FHB resistance from sources such as Sumai 3 and others. The resources generated during the present study, particularly high-density molecular marker and QTL map and the DH lines with different gene/QTL combinations, will help in building better elite wheat cultivars using marker assisted breeding and will also help in map-based cloning of resistance genes.


The real world is inherently three dimensional. Therefore it is natural to represent it in 3D. Many application domains such as architecture, urban planning, epidemiology, and virtual reality require representation of objects in three dimensions. These applications require an effective way of querying three dimensional data. Querying 3D objects based on their exact geometry has proven to be computationally expensive. This paper presents a representation that approximates the geometry of 3D objects. This representation is based on 3D line segments. We compare the proposed representation with the polyhedral representation to detect collision between two objects. Our experiments show that our representation can reduce significantly the computation time to detect collisions. We also show how our representation combined with meta-data can be used to effectively query 3D objects. 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


The author has interviewed 20 women who in the last few years have taken an MBA. Through the voices of these women, she paints a well-rounded picture of what life means for women on the way to the top. Does success mean they have given up love and marriage?


Suncor Energy is in the process of reclaiming one of its consolidated tailings ponds (Pond 5). In order to deal with residual soft tailings (aqueous solution of silt, sand, clay and bitumen) still contained within the pond area, a capping and dewatering system is being used. Petroleum coke is used to create the primary, floating trafficability cap, with vertical strip drains then installed to dewater and strengthen the underlying tailings. As these tailings dewater, additional loading is required in order to ensure dewatering of the top of the tailings column under the cap. This loading is to be accomplished through the placement of a layer of tailings sand on top of the coke. The need for a temporary reclamation cover over tailings sand has been identified to stabilise the sand against water and wind erosion prior to the final reclamation cover being established. A peat/mineral amendment is usually used to mitigate poor water retention in the sand, but rather than using stockpiled cover soil in the establishment of the temporary cover (and potentially lost to future use), an alternative amendment was desired. Barley (Hordeum vulgare), an annual species has been the cover crop of choice for years. To evaluate the possibility of establishing a temporary reclamation cover on tailings sand, a program was initiated to identify appropriate grass species, and to evaluate the use of alfalfa pellets (Medicago sativa) as an amendment. It is proposed that alfalfa pellets may improve soil structure and moisture storage, and serve as a slow release fertiliser providing nutrition to plants. This study screens a series of native grasses [fringed brome grass (Bromus ciliatus), June grass (Koeleria macrantha), a mix of native grasses along with barley and oats (Avena sativa) for suitability to grow and stabilise tailing sands. First year observations showed remarkable growth of native species on tailings sand. Plant height, plant cover and total nitrogen were similar across the tested alfalfa pellets application rates of 5, 10 and 20 t/ha. Despite the shorter plant height and lower vigour of the fringed brome grass and June grass compared to barley and oats, the native grasses exhibited greater nitrogen (N) uptake, which may be explained by extensive root growth and development. Additionally, the perennial native grasses have potential to provide adequate cover against erosion for a longer portion of the year and in subsequent years. The application of alfalfa pellets at the rate of 5 t/ha improved moisture retention and bulk density, but to a lesser extent than at 20 t/ha. Experimental plots will be monitored in 2011 to quantify residual N in soils that could be potentially available to plants. Generally, study results suggest the studied native species can be used to stabilise tailings sand against water and wind erosion.


Principal objective of the proposed project is a computational and experimental investigation of the novel concept of the VTOL (Vertical Take-Off) aircraft with the nickname Anuloid regarding its flight properties and flying qualities, and to then compare Anuloid with helicopters, tilt rotor aircraft, or other VTOL aircraft concepts, in relation to the potential utilization for transport missions in urban areas.


In nanoelectronics the speed of the device is the main concern along with their size. The device integrated in nanospace, needs to work faster. The traditional silicon field effect transistors have low sensitivity and low mobility which limit device speed compare to compound semiconductors devices. On the other hand compound metal field effect transistor (MESFET) shows very high cutoff frequency, around 15GHz, for 1 μm channel whereas NMOS shows only 2GHz. The high mobility of GaAs plays the pivotal roles for this enhanced speed of MESFET. Speed of the device also increases for shorter channel length. However fabrication of short channel MESFET needs very complicated lithography process. Self aligned implantation for N+ layer technology (SAINT) is a promising method for fabricating short channel MESFET. To achieve short channel MESFET SAINT method has been opted in this work. In this paper we simulated SAINT short channel MESFET using TCAD tool then evaluate the characteristics of voltage and current for different channel length.


Korean Citrus aurantium L. has long been used as a medicinal herb for its anti‐inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. The present study investigates the anticancer role of flavonoids extracted from C. aurantium on human hepatoblastoma cell, HepG2. The Citrus flavonoids inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells in a dose‐dependent manner. This result was consistent with the in vivo xenograft results. Apoptosis was detected by cell morphology, cell cycle analysis, and immunoblot. Flavonoids decreased the level of pAkt and other downstream targets of phosphoinositide‐3‐kinase/Akt pathway – P‐4EBP1 and P‐p70S6K. The expressions of cleaved caspase 3, Bax, and Bak were increased, while those of Bcl‐2 and Bcl‐xL were decreased with an increase in the expression of Bax/Bcl‐xL ratio in treated cells. Loss of mitochondrial membrane potential was also observed in flavonoid‐treated HepG2 cells. It was also observed that the P‐p38 protein level was increased both dose and time dependently in flavonoid‐treated cells. Collectively, these results suggest that flavonoid extracted from Citrus inhibits HepG2 cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis via an intrinsic pathway. These findings suggest that flavonoids extracted from C. aurantium L. are potential chemotherapeutic agents against liver cancer. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This essay describes the Brazilian anticorruption operation known as Operação Lava Jato ("Operation Car Wash"), its findings, and its results based on cases tried up to March 2018. Told from the perspective of the federal judge of the Thirteenth Federal Criminal Court of Curitiba, in whose court most of the Lava Jato cases have been prosecuted, this massive criminal case offers lessons that may be useful to other anticorruption efforts. Preventing systemic corruption is a challenge, but it is a necessary step for the improvement of democracy.


State-of-the-art sensing methods mostly detect the spectrum holes by exploring the feature in frequency, time, and geography dimensions. In this paper, we analyze the sensing problem from angle/space domain by using the angle of arrival (AoA) estimation technology. We show a property that the spatial spectrum of noise has the feature of central symmetry, which the arriving signal does not have in general. Hence, the existence of the central symmetry feature depends on the presence or absence of the primary user signal. Motivated by this, we introduce a novel spatial spectrum sensing framework and propose a blind central-symmetry-based feature detection (CSFD) method correspondingly. Different from conventional spectrum sensing, the designed sensing framework reduces the complexity of spatial spectrum sensing and is available for spectrum access. Taking advantage of the inherent central symmetry feature of noise spatial spectrum, the proposed CSFD can achieve higher probability of detection even at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and offer AoA information. Theoretical performance analysis of the proposed CSFD method is also provided. Simulation results are presented to verify the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.


Women remain significantly under-represented in undergraduate electrical and computer engineering (ECE) degree programs in the U.S.; in recent years, their representation has eroded further. We are a group of women undergraduate students and faculty in ECE at a public university with one of the largest engineering programs in the U.S. In this paper, we present our perspective on why women are under-represented in undergraduate ECE programs: we examine some of the previously cited reasons for women's persistent under-representation and provide evidence for efforts that have been effective at recruiting and retaining women students in ECE. We elucidate the often-cited "lower self-confidence" issue that remains a significant threat by focusing on fallacies (there's something wrong with the women; they need to be fixed to have higher self-confidence) and distracting attention from the real problems that are grounded in the typical undergraduate engineering education experience. We describe results that indicate how four factors improved all students' learning, retention and satisfaction—and dramatically increased women students' enrollment—in our university's first-year ECE program.


Make a difference on July 27 by joining the Tesco Malaysia
Walk For Life 2008 at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa to help raise funds for research into the prevention treatment and cure
of cancer.


Purpose – To promote university education quality, performance measure indicators (PMIs) must be established. These indicators ensure the maintenance of university operating standards, encourage individual universities to work on inadequacies, and promote university competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – A literature analysis was conducted and European, American and Taiwanese education evaluation indicators were used to develop the PMIs. Data were collected from the following sources: US‐MBNAQ; US News & World Report; two renowned US education journals; UK University Committee Reports; UK‐CVCP/UGC; three renowned UK education evaluation newspapers, opinions from the Ministry of Education and submissions from scholars in Australia and Taiwan. A total of 13 scholars were invited to participate in the literature review and analysis, which employed Delphi methods.Findings – These indicators included 18 measurement dimensions, and 78 PMIs were develope...


The double fabrics having a complex structure are used in different areas both technically and aesthetically. In this study, tensile and air permeability properties of self-stitched double fabrics were investigated. Firstly, six different self-stitched double fabrics having the same yarn type, same settings, two different weave types, and three different stitching arrangements were designed and manufactured. Then, the tensile properties of these double fabrics were tested by applying tensile test at warp and weft directions, and bias-extension test at 45° bias direction. The effect of structural properties on tensile and air permeability results was discussed statistically. The tensile properties of self-stitched double fabrics having plain weave types are mostly better than 2/2 twill ones. The differences between tensile properties of self-stitched double fabrics generally were not found statistically significant according to stitching arrangement except the double fabric having plain weave type and higher stitching points. On the other hand, the differences between air permeability properties of all self-stitched double fabrics were found statistically significant at 95 % confidence level in terms of both stitching arrangement and weave type.


Political participation is considered as the conscious involvement of people in the accomplishment of their affairs and improvement of their social life. Political participation can be assumed in different degrees and can manifest itself in such forms like cooperation, collaboration, solidarity, conformity, adaptation and acceptance. Participation is a process that occurs across the time and therefore it is a continuous and evolutionary process. The researcher has used questionnaires. The population of the study has been the inhabitants of khormoj city. As the sample 341 youths were selected randomly. Face validity and reliability test of Cronbach Alpha is used. Hypotheses are tested using Pearson coefficient and path analysis technique. The results of the study show that social and economic status and organizational relation are related with political participation.


This paper employs the discrete element method (DEM) to study the mechanical properties of artificial crushed stone. Different grain shapes and gradations are considered, and three types of 3D artificial stone models are generated based on the statistical conclusions in the relevant literature and the observed data. Concurrently, the 3D models of the artificial stones are divided into three groups by their shape parameters (elongation index and flatness index). Furthermore, three types of gradation with different Cu (coefficient of uniformity) and Cc (coefficient of curvature) are also considered. Then, several 3D triaxial compression tests are conducted with the numerical methods to determine the relationship between the grain shapes and their mechanical characteristics. The test results showed that there was a positive correlation between a particles' angularities and the maximum deviatoric stress in the triaxial compression tests when there were obvious distinctions between the particles. In addition, gradations had a conspicuous impact on the stiffness of the sample. The stress–strain curve possessed a larger slope when the coefficient of curvature was bigger. In terms of shear strength, the results in this paper align well with the traditional shear strength envelope which are convincing for the dependability of the methods used in this paper. The radial deformation capacity and volume strain of the specimen during the triaxial compression tests are also examined. It is believed that there were great differences in deformability between different samples. At the mesoscopic level, the change in coordination number is identified as the fundamental reason for the change in volume strain trend.


State of the Art vehicle body structures show a separation between the primary body structure and externally installed functions, such as media-carrying lines or thermal insulation. Through integration of additional functions into load bearing structures, secondary weight-saving potentials can be made accessible by eliminating no longer required components. Due to their specific design and manufacturing processes, FRP materials offer excellent opportunities for the integration of a variety of additional functions into the structural components.

An integrated approach of methods, materials and design is the key for developing concepts for holistic lightweight solutions. The research campus ARENA2036 with partners from industry and research in Baden-Wurttemberg provides a suitable framework for the implementation of these methods into a functionally integrated automotive floor module using fiber composite materials.
The concept phase focuses strongly on mechanical and functional demands. An early implementation of optimization methods provides an assessment basis for the development of multi-functional body structures.


The formation of the European Single Market and unification in particular is shaking the hierarchy and system of German cities. This holds strongly for East German cities, but most for Berlin-the re-united city and the new capital of Germany. In the first part of the paper the developments of the two halves of the city between 1945 and 1989 are described under the topics of political development and planning, population, housing and economic development. The second part describes the problems of the creation of the German urban system at 1990/1991 right after unification, in the fields of planning and policy, finance, population and economy. The last part gives some sceptical spotlights on future developments in the aforementioned fields.


Research reveals that many mathematics teachers find it difficult to stimulate learners' interest in learning geometry. One major reason suggested is that geometric concepts are not well conceptualised and comprehended by both learners and teachers. The study explored learners' views on how polygon pieces and dictionary mediate learning of geometry. Nine Grade 8 learners were purposely selected from the cohort of 56 learners based on the diagnostic test results. By employing a qualitative approach through exploration data were gathered from semi- structured interviews and document analysis was implemented and reported in themes. The study found that polygon pieces with mathematics dictionary enhance learners' learning of geometry through geometric inquiry. Polygon pieces assisted learners with geometric conceptualisation through cutting, constructing and measuring of angles and line segments. The dictionary enhanced learners' geometric vocabulary by transferring informal vocabulary. We recommend mathematics teachers to integrate polygon pieces assisted by mathematics dictionary in the teaching and learning of mathematics.


lash or rinse solution use in liver transplantation has Fgathered much interest to prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury. Several solutions have been applied for clinical testing, but they remain controversial. Pratschke et al recently reported from a prospective randomized multicenter trial using Tacrolimus rinse based with histidine-tryptophanketoglutarate preservation solution for marginal liver grafts. Unfortunately, they concluded that the tested rinse solution failed to improve the primary endpoint of the study. However, I would like to discuss some key points regarding such "Ex-site" back table perfusions. They administered a total of 10 000 mL of the rinse solution sequentially to the portal vein and the common hepatic artery at the end of the back table. The total duration of the procurement was 18.1± 7.3minutes (mean ± SD).However, some details remain unknown. For example, what was the temperature of the solution at the end of infusion? The ideal temperature of flash solution is still debated from based on available experimental data. How much warm ischemia time does it take for vascular reconstruction of suprahepatic inferior vena cava (IVC) and portal vein of the perfused liver graft? Although the temperature of the cold liver graft is increased during vascular anastomosis in the recipient, the function of the liver graft would get worse and worse. Even if the rinse solution has a benefit for reperfusion injuries, the marginal graft might fall into a vicious cycle without oxygen and nutritional supply until blood circulation is restored. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to control the temperature of the liver graft put in the recipient by the hypothermic or subnormothermic perfusion. Following recent studies, suggesting a potential benefit of subnormothermic preservation and perfusion culture, we recently developed new "In-site" perfusion protocol and system


It is widely accepted that concrete bridge deck is protected by waterproofing material to prevent the steel from corroding. But at present there are few special waterproofing materials for concrete bridge decks in China, which can't meet the demand. So the application of waterproofing material for building to concrete bridge decks was studied. The research shows that as the performance requirements is more strict for material for bridge deck than for the building, the material for building can't be directly used for bridge decks,and the material need to be improved to meet the demand of waterproofing for concrete bridge decks.


1. The silicone composition for sealing a semiconductor device comprising: (A) 100 parts by weight polyorganosiloxane comprising one or more alkenyl groups on average per molecule, obtained by reacting (a1) 60-99 parts by weight organosiloxane having at least tri-functional siloxane unit represented by the formula: RSiO, where Roznachaet alkyl or aryl group and did not participate in the hydrosilylation reaction with (a2) from 40 to 1 part by weight organosiloxane containing a bifunctional siloxane unit represented by the formula: R SiOgde Roznachaet alkenyl group, an alkyl group or an aryl group and at least one of the groups in the molecule means an alkenyl group and / or a monofunctional siloxane unit represented by the formula: R SiO /, where Rimeet hereinbefore defined; (B) a quantity poliorganogidrosiloksana containing two or more hydrogen atoms bonded to silicon atoms per molecule and having a viscosity at 25 ° C of 1 to 1,000 mPa · s, so that the number of hydrogen atoms bonded to carbon atoms silicon, 0.5 to 3.0 mol per mol of alkenyl groups bonded to silicon atoms in component (a); and (C) a catalytic amount of platinum-based catalyst, wherein a reduction in the corresponding module dynamic elasticity of the cured product at a temperature from 25 ° to 50 ° C SDE is 40% or bolee.2. The silicone composition for sealing a semiconductor device according to Claim. 1, where the silicone composition decrease in dynamic modulus of the cured product of the semiconductor device for sealing at a temperature of 25 ° C to 50 ° C is 70% yl


Nursing is the largest health care and support profession in the United States, with more than 5.8 million US nurses overall (registered nurses, licensed practical or vocational nurses, and nursing assistants) and 3.8 million registered nurses (https://bit. ly/35sWKsJ).1 Nurses provide care in multisector community settings across the care continuum and have unique patient-adjacent perspectives and skills that can aid public health policy development, including interpersonal and communication skills and support and management skills (Figure 1). Notably, in the second phase ofthe recent Woodhull replication, researchers asked journalists and communication, public relations, and media staff from health care organizations and university settings to comment on why nursing expertise was not solicited more often.5 The study team found that although nurses were considered useful in enriching a health-related news story, journalists did not believe that nurses were credible voices of authority. [...]the findings revealed that the nursing profession was less strategic than other health professions (e.g., medicine) in engaging public health journalists.5 Although representing a sizable health care workforce, nurses are also significantly underrepresented in leadership arenas, adding another element to their public policy invisibility. [...]among the thousands of US hospital networks, only 33 hospital chief executive officers are nurses (https://bit.ly/3qR4P20). [...]despite there being four times as many registered nurses as physicians in the United States, currently three nurses are members of Congress (https://bit. ly/36LeuAf), as compared with 17 physicians (https://bit.ly/3JZN08e).


This work presents a new version of tactile-sensing finger, GelSlim 3.0, which integrates the ability to sense high-resolution shape, force, and slip in a more compact form factor than previous implementations, designed for cluttered bin-picking scenarios. The novel design integrates real-time model-based algorithms to measure shape, estimate the 3-D contact force distribution, and detect incipient slip. The constraints imposed by the photometric stereo algorithm used for depth reconstruction and the implementation of a planar sensing surface make the miniaturization of previous designs nontrivial. To achieve a compact integration, we optimize the optical path from illumination source to camera. Using an optical simulation environment, we develop an illumination shaping lens and position the source LEDs and camera. The optimized optical configuration is integrated into a finger design composed of a robust and easily replaceable snap-to-fit fingertip module that facilitates manufacture, assembly, use, and repair. To stimulate future research in tactile-sensing and provide the robotics community access to a reliable and easily reproducible tactile finger with a diversity of sensing modalities, we open-source the design, fabrication methods, and software at https://github.com/mcubelab/gelslim.


Abstract Lemma 4.1 in [Comm. Math. Phys.91(1983)] by Ron Diperna pertaining to the vacuum case for an existence proof of polytropic gas dynamics using compensated compactness is incomplete as given. Here we give a quick fix of the lemma plus some generalization.


A method is presented for easy spatial reconstruction of the complete human thorax. Eight cameras are used to photograph the subject simultaneously. Position and orientation of the cameras is not critical and no alignment tool is needed as the use of a reference frame allows easy computerized determination of these parameters a posteriori. The eight photographs are digitized. Processing of the digitized data by computer results in the determination of the spatial coordinates of any arbitrary point on the thorax (such as characteristic bodymarks, electrodes, etc...). After axistransformation and representation in cylindrical coordinates, smoothing of these coordinates is realized with a special computer program using bicubic B-spline functions. Mathematical constraints for this program are provided by a set of anthropometrical measurements. In this way the complete thorax is reconstructed and an analytical function of the thorax surface is obtained. The model of the thorax, obtained with this cinematographical technique is validated by the results of axial tomography.


My research focuses on promoting the advancement of intelligent computational systems with better awareness of commonsense and expert knowledge, which leads to more efficient information exchange of the system with people and the world. My goal, in the long term, is to leverage unified methodologies to help machines understand the relations of lexemes, entities and concepts in human languages as well as the interactions of objects in nature (such as molecules and biomolecules). In the near term, I am motivated by the objective of developing new technologies in representation learning and information extraction, and extending their use in various tasks for knowledge base construction, natural language understanding, computational biology and medicine. The challenges span over a range of fields, from the fundamental questions in the acquisition, representation and inference of knowledge, to systematic paradigms for scalable data management, mining and retrieval. In this decade, AI systems in various application domains are empowered by representation learning technologies for automatically discovering and acquiring relations, patterns and properties of objects from large-scale data. In particular, such technologies involve relational embedding, language modeling and constrained learning. My work seeks to trigger the advancement of these technologies, with focus on knowledge acquisition from data in different modalities, and in scenarios with or without plausible supervision signals. My investigation in these research directions has led to over 30 published papers, and have benefited real-world applications in various computational and interdisciplinary areas. The following of this statement presents parts of my investigation into these directions, followed by some exciting future directions that I am planning to explore.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by extracellular accumulation of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), generated by proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by βand γ-secretase. Aβ generation is inhibited when the initial ectodomain shedding is caused by α-secretase, cleaving APP within the Aβ domain. Therefore, an increase in α-secretase activity is an attractive therapeutic target for AD treatment. APP and the APP-cleaving secretases are all transmembrane proteins, thus local membrane lipid composition is proposed to influence APP processing. Although several studies have focused on γ-secretase, the effect of the membrane lipid microenvironment on α-secretase is poorly understood. In the present study, we systematically investigated the effect of fatty acid (FA) acyl chain length (10:0, 12:0, 14:0, 16:0, 18:0, 20:0, 22:0, 24:0), membrane polar lipid headgroup (phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine), OPEN ACCESS Publika onen


Membrane preparations fromdeveloping soybean (var. Prize) cotyledon tissue, atthetimeofsynthesis ofstorage glycoproteins, catalyze the sequential assembly oflipid-linked oligosaccharides fromuridine-5'diphospho-N-acetyl-E-16_3Hlglucosamine andguanosine-5'-diphospho-nIU-14Clmannose. Themaximumsize oflipid-linked oligosaccharide that accumulates contains theequivalent of10saccharide units onthebasis of Bio-Gel P-2gelfiltration studies. Theselipid-linked oligosaccharides show similar characteristics topolyisoprenyl diphosphate derivatives ondiethylaminoethyl-cellulose chromatography andarepotential intermediates in glycoprotein biosynthesis inthis tissue. Theseglycolipids donotappear to turnoverinpulse-chase experiments andnocompleted storage glycoproteins weredetected amongtheproducts ofthese incubations. Tissue slices fromcotyledons atthesamestage ofdevelopment synthesizelipid-linked oligosaccharides from13Hlmannose and13Hlglucosamine withsizes equivalent to1,7,10,andapproximately 15saccharide units. In pulse-chase experiments, thelipid-linked saccharides withtheequivalent ofIand10units rapidly turnover, whereas those with7and15units do not.Examination ofthehigher oligosaccharide peaks (10and15)byBioGelP4 gelfiltration showsthemtocomprise 2 distinct subsets of oligosaccharides containing different proportions ofglucosanine andmannoseunits. Tissue slices synthesize products which resemble thecompleted 7Sstorage glycoproteins asjudged bysimilarity ofmolecular weight and precipitation withspecific antisera. Analysis oftheoligosaccharides obtained byhydrazinolysis ofglycoproteins showsthepresence ofasimilar size "high-mannose" typeN-linked oligosaccharides asinother glycoproteins fromanimal andplant cells.


Three groups of hospitalized psychiatric women patients were exposed to three experimental situations. The first group saw videotaped recordings of themselves in biweekly scheduled sessions, the second group saw audiovisual recordings of another person and the third group was not shown any recordings. It was predicted that the first group would show greater clinical improvement and increased feelings of self-acceptance and enter into a closer relationship with an interviewer. A battery of evaluation procedures was administered at the beginning and at the end of the series of exposures. The battery included indicators of clinical improvement, measures of self-acceptance and measures of interpersonal relationships. The psychiatrists who conducted the viewing and videotaping sessions observed striking reactions in those patients who saw their own videotaped recordings. These patients seemed: a) to become aware of negative feelings about themselves; b) to experience a decrease in these feelings and become more self-accepting as the sessions progressed; c) to enter a closer relationship with the interviewers; and d) to disclose personal items more readily. The psychological test data did not confirm the clinical impressions. Statistically significant differences were not found among groups along the dimensions measured by the test battery. A comparison of our subjects with a control group of female patients meeting the same criteria, but not involved in this study, revealed no significant differences in clinical outcome or number of days spent in the hospital. Thus our study offers no evidence that these procedures are necessarily either helpful or harmful.


Alfamart is a retail business which is began to grow rapidly and currently has many outlets in Pekanbaru city. Therefore, the Agency of Integrated Services and Investment (BPTPM) of Pekanbaru city as the agencies that implement the business premises licensing service have to provide license according to standards that have been established so that retail business Alfamart does not give any adverse impact to minimarkets that belongs to local communities or other small business nearby. This research is conducted to observe how the Agency of Integrated Services and Investment (BPTPM) of Pekanbaru city implement the standard and factors that affected the implementation of license's standard of retail business Alfamart. In order to look for the result that will be discussed, this research uses the following indicators: specialization of work, chain of command, control range, and formalization. This research uses qualitative descriptive approach with data collecting technique interview, observation, and documentation. The result of this research is that the implementation of license's standard of retail business Alfamart by the Agency of Integrated Services and Investment (BPTPM) of Pekanbaru city is overall still not good enough seen from specialization of work, chain of command, control range, and formalization. Although the task was already divided evenly and suitable to the field of each agency. The affecting factors are lack of human resources to execute the work, obstacle in coordination, difficulty of monitoring and license's standard of business premises that is still unclear. Keywords: License's Standard of Business Premises, Alfamart, the Agency of Integrated Services an Investment (BPTPM).


channels via a G protein–coupled mechanism. Ziconotide, an N-type calcium channel antagonist, effective in the treatment of neuropathic, nociceptive, and mixed neuropathic/nociceptive pain [1,2] blocks calcium influx into the presynaptic nerve terminal, preventing the release of neurotransmitters into the synapse. Unlike morphine, which acts indirectly and only partially (because some of the µ-opioid receptors are not linked to N-type calcium channels), ziconotide directly inhibits the N-type calcium channel. The phenomenon of tolerance observed with opioids, given the lack of coupling of µ-opioid receptors with calcium channels, has not been observed with ziconotide because it acts directly on calcium channels.An algorithm allowing identification of the "


This paper describes new techniques for implementing a low-cost video decoder that can decode an HDTV bitstream and display the signal at lower resolutions. Two key algorithms are discussed: downconversion and low-resolution motion compensation. In the proposed scheme, incoming blocks are subject to a down-conversion process within the decoding loop, hence motion compensation is performed from the downconverted images. The filters used for down-conversion are based on the concept of frequency synthesis, and the filters used to perform the low-resolution motion compensation are determined by an optimal least squares solution. Using these algorithms, three different architectures that provide equal quality with varying system level complexity are presented; the first is directly derived from the initial model of the low-resolution decoder, another attempts to reduce the amount of computation for the IDCT, while another addresses the concerns regarding the amount of interface with an existing decoder structure. All of the above systems are hierarchical with regard to the logic used for filtering and scalable in the amount of memory which is required to reconstruct each output layer. Our simulation results demonstrate that high quality video can be provided at lower-resolutions with significant memory savings.


Introduction: Guanfacine is a selective α 2A -adrenergic agonist and suppresses sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) by acting on the central nervous system. In the use of intravenous guanfacine in animal experiments, however, arterial pressure (AP) does not necessarily fall much even when SNA is markedly suppressed. Hypothesis: Intravenous guanfacine may act on peripheral α-adrenergic receptors to increase AP at a given SNA. Methods: To separately assess the neural and peripheral effects of intravenous guanfacine, an open-loop analysis of the carotid sinus baroreflex was performed in 7 anesthetized Wistar-Kyoto rats. Carotid sinus pressure was changed from 60 to 180 mmHg in a staircase manner while steady-state SNA and AP were measured. Effects of intravenous guanfacine (100 μg/kg, bolus) on the baroreflex response was examined. Results: As shown in the figure, the neural arc of the baroreflex approximated a sigmoid curve. Guanfacine reduced the response range of the neural arc from 89.8±2.2% to 32.9±10.9% (P Conclusions: The operating-point AP and SNA are determined through the interaction between the neural and peripheral effects of intravenous guanfacine. While the operating-point SNA was significantly decreased, the operating-point AP was relatively maintained via the peripheral effect.


In the process of unmanned aerial vehicle (uav) cruising formation flight control, traditional step predictive control method limits the maneuverability of the aircraft, prone to excessive regulation, which leads to the unmanned aerial vehicle collision problems. In this paper,a scheme of using multi-model predictive control method to design cruising formation controller will be described, which converts the nonlinear rolling optimization problem into linear quadratic optimization problem, improves the real-time nonlinear prediction, and finally realizes the reliable control of the unmanned aerial vehicle formation. Through the simulation experiment it can be seen that based on multi-model predictive control for UAV cruising formation control can not only meet the control requirements, but also can satisfy the real-time requirements.


The present work outlines the implementation of an algorithm for the control of a robot assistant, which focuses on assisted feeding. The algorithm applied to the robot has 3 fundamental pillars for its operation: detection of existence or not of food, decision making in the face of situations of obstruction of its trajectory with the user's hand and execution of the feeding task reaching the point of contact. For this, artificial intelligence techniques based on deep learning are used, as well as the use of a RGB-D camera in charge of capturing information from the environment, so that it can be processed to perform assistance. For the detection of the states of the mouth, to know if the user is chewing or waiting for food, a neuronal network with long short-term memory was used, obtaining a 99.3% accuracy in its validation tests. The recognition of the existence or not of food in the dish, was made with a convolutional neuronal network, which reached a performance of 98.7%. Regarding the detection of obstacles, the user's hand is defined as the obstacle, which is recognized and localized by means of a convolutional neural network based on regions, achieving a 77.4% mean precision in the interception over union of the location of the estimated boxes against the original (or labeled) ones. With the functionalities implemented, a graphic user interface is created in which all the algorithms are coupled within a single system, to generate the task of assisting a user in their feeding. The emulation of this task is done through the interaction of the real environment, where the user is, and a simulated environment, where the robot will perform the movements, passing the real three-dimensional information of the situations presented to the simulated environment. With this, the system's performance tests are carried out, demonstrating a high performance of each of the functions within 3 variations of the real environment, altering the lighting, ranging from a low quality of lighting to a bright one.


YE Xian by DUAN Chengshi in the Tang Dynasty is the oldest Cinderella story,according to written records available. Although plenty of scholars pay much attention to the comparative studies of Yexian and Cinderella of Europe,yet many of them are limited by investigations of communications.This article focuses on a textual analysis of DUAN Chengshi's YE Xian and Per- rauh's Cinderella by means of narration from the angles of plot,narrative mode and strategy,which can show cultural differences in the same type of stories in different contexts.In the light of such cultural differences,we can extend the lines of reasoning and the field of vision for comparative researches on Cinderella.


In recent years, sharing threat information has been one of the most suggested solutions for combating the ever-increasing number of cyberattacks, which stem from the system-wide adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and consequently endangers the digital and physical assets of organizations. Several solutions, however, were proposed to facilitate data exchange between different systems, but none were able to address the main challenges of threat sharing such as trust, privacy, interoperability, and automation in a single solution. To address these issues, this paper presents a secure and efficient threat information sharing system that leverages Trusted Automated Exchange of Intelligence Information (TAXIITM) standard and private blockchain technology to automate the threat sharing procedure while offering privacy, data integrity, and interoperability. The extensive evaluation of the solution implementation indicates its capability to offer secure communication between participants without sacrificing data privacy and overall performance as opposed to existing solutions.


UNLIKE THE PRECEDING PAPER by Mr. Murray devoted to the investment aspects of pension funds, this paper is necessarily speculative in character. While pension funds are only recently an important investment market factor, investment policy is already being shaped in practice. Mr. Murray, associated with a leading institution in this field, is in a strategic position to indicate these developing policies, even though they may change as time passes. Only a person endowed with second sight, however, could speak with any certainty as to the effects these funds as channeled through pension funds will have upon the economy. It is hoped that a general disclaimer at this point of any such pretensions will be regarded as an advance apology for any too dogmatic statements or too venturesome guesses that may follow.


The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen is not the first book on Disney's musicals; nevertheless, it is probably the first collection of critical approaches to Disney's musicals in such a wide range. Moreover, it is the very first publication on Disney musicals which is taken into consideration in the field of Czech theatre studies. The Disney Musical on Stage and Screen: Critical Approaches from 'Snow White' to 'Frozen' consists of thirteen chapters which are split into three sections: Disney Musicals: On Film, Disney Adaptations: On Stage and Beyond, and Disney Musicals: Gender and Race. However, this distribution is only formal because regardless of the way of adaptation (for stage or screen) the main topics highlighted by the editor George Rodosthenous emerge in all these chapters. In a short introduction, Rodosthe nous establishes three main frameworks or perspectives for considering the Disney musical presentation. They 'revisit musicals not only as popular entertainment or as a globalized commercial product, but firstly as a political tool for enhancing our understanding of race, sexuality, and gender, secondly as an educational tool for younger children and thirdly as a place for artistic innovation' (2). This volume presents the Disney brand as a pioneering and innovative, philanthropic and educational tool as well as non-original, limited, Much Ado About Disney?


Objective To investigate the role of BAX in apoptosis and response of human A549 cells to apoptosis induced by Cisplatin(DDP). Methods The proliferation of A549 cells were detected by CCK8 calorimetry after treated with Cisplatin. The plasmid containing BAX cDNA was transfected into A549 cell line by lipofectamine transfection. Expression of BAX was detected by RT-PCR. A549, A549/BAX and A549/pcDNA3 were treated with different concentrations of DDP for 72 h. Survival rate of cells were detected by CCK8. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the apoptosis and cell cycle of A549 cells. Results Cisplatin inhibited the proliferation of A549 cells in vitro. BAX and cisplatin retarded A549 cell at G1/S stage. RT-PCR result showed transfection of BAX vector increased BAX mRNA level, and apoptosis of BAX transfection group and cisplatin treatment group were significantly higher than that in control group. Conclusion Stable transfection of BAX significantly enhances the sensitivity of A549 cells to apoptosis induced by Cisplatin.


Deficient beam-column joints of reinforced concrete (RC) structures designed to older practices and codes often lead to destructive local or global failures. A strengthening technique for these joints based on the use of the new and innovative Carbon-FRP (C-FRP) ropes is presented and investigated. The C-FRP ropes are diagonally placed in superficial notches on the two sides of the joint. Two full scale external substandard joint subassemblages with the same characteristics, one unstrengthened and one strengthened with diagonally applied C-FRP ropes, are constructed and tested in cyclic loading. Special attention has been given to the elaboration of the acquired test measurements. The extracted conclusions are based on the comparative study of the hysteretic responses of the specimens, the observed maximum load envelopes, the comparisons of the joint body shear deformations as measured using diagonally mounted LVTDs, the calculated nominal principal stresses developed in the joint regions, the assessed joint damage as expressed by the damage index by Park and Ang and finally the calculated values of the equivalent damping ratio. From these comparisons it is concluded that application of diagonally mounted C-FRP ropes on the two sides of the joint body of exterior connections is an efficient easy-to-apply technique for the strengthening of substandard RC joints.


The present study deals with the effect of composition on the elastic and optical properties of GexSe2Sb1-x (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) glasses. The various elastic moduli of these glasses such as Young's modulus (Y) and the bulk modulus (B) along with the micro-hardness (H), Poisson's ratio (σ) and Debye temperature ( D) were obtained from the values of the longitudinal (vl) and shear (vs) ultrasonic velocities. Based on the measurements of the transmittance and reflectance spectra in the wavelength range 0.4 to 2.5 μm the optical constants like as film thickness (t), the refractive index (n) and the optical band gap (Eg) had been investigated with high accuracy. The optically determined bulk modulus of these glasses was in good agreement with that elastically investigated. The obtained results were discussed in terms of the changes in the glass density, electronegativity and electronic polarizability with the variation in antimony content.


OBJECTIVES
Intraparenchymal airways are involved in air flow regulation. Relaxation of intraparenchymal airways to volatile anesthetics varied by topographic location. This study was conducted to determine whether other bronchodilators (terbutaline, diltiazem, and aminophylline) relax bronchiolus to a greater degree than bronchus, as seen with volatile anesthetics.

DESIGN
In vitro, controlled, randomized study.

SETTING
Animal research laboratory.

SUBJECTS
Adult dogs (n = 9).

INTERVENTIONS
Proximal (outer diameter, 4-6 mm) and distal (outer diameter, 0.8-1.5 mm) airway rings of dogs were contracted in tissue baths with the effective concentration of acetylcholine that produces half the maximum response. Airway relaxant dose-response curves were constructed to measure isometric tension after administration of terbutaline (concentration range, 10(-8) to 10(-4) M), diltiazem (concentration range, 3 x 10(-7) to 1 x 10(-4) M), and aminophylline (concentration range, 10(-7) to 10(-4) M).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
All three bronchodilators caused relaxation of the proximal and distal airways. At the maximum dose, diltiazem (maximum relaxation, 95%+/-2% [proximal], 94%+/-6% [distal]; p > .05) was the most efficacious, followed by terbutaline (maximum relaxation, 72%+/-13% [proximal], 55%+/-9% [distal]; p < .05) and aminophylline (maximum relaxation, 32%+/-10% [proximal], 35%+/-18% [distal]; p > .05. At the concentrations tested, they were equally efficacious. No significant differences in relaxation between proximal and distal airways were noted with diltiazem or aminophylline in the entire dose range. However, terbutaline relaxed the distal airway more than the proximal airway in the entire dose range.

CONCLUSIONS
The results demonstrate that only terbutaline showed a differential airway relaxant effect between proximal and distal airways, as seen with volatile anesthetics.


This paper aims to disclose the damage or repair mechanism of carbonylation and thiophene on cranial nerves. To this end, the bonding pattern of binuclear titanium carbonyls with thiophene was investigated by two methods of density functional theory (DFT), namely, the B3LYP method and the BP86 method. Then, 8 stable isomer structures were found for binuclear titanium carbonyls with thiophene, including 5 doublet structures and 3 triplet structures. These structures were discussed in details and the energy needed to dissociate each of them into mononuclear fragments was calculated through the thermochemistry analysis. The results show that the Ti2(C4H3S)m(CO)n structures are linked by 2.8~3.6 A-long Ti-Ti bonds. The bonds are relatively long and considered as formal single bonds. Every structure of the binuclear titanium carbonyls with thiophene is bridged by CO group or C4H3S group and sometimes dibridged by both the CO group and C4H3S group. The energy to dissociate Ti2(C4H3S)2(CO)6 into Ti(C4H3S)2(CO)2 and Ti (CO)4 fragments is 71.4kcal/mol (B3LYP)/ 89.6kcal/mol (P86), higher than that to dissociate the other Ti2(C4H3S)m(CO)n structures into Ti(C4H3S)i(CO)j fragments. The electron structure of the Ti atom in Ti2(C4H3S)2(CO)6 is 17-electron structure, the nearest to the 18-electron structure. The research findings provide important insights into the influencing mechanism of carbonyl and thiophene on caranial nerve.


A measurement technique was developed on capture efficiency of commercial kitchen ventilation systems affected by disturbance due to HVAC diffusers and movement of kitchen workers. In the process of development, computer simulation using RANS CFD model was applied to evaluate diffusion of gaseous contaminants emitted from commercial kitchen appliances and compared with experiments. CFD results suggested that supply air flow from the displacement ventilation system to make up additional ceiling exhaust exerted little influence on capture efficiency to remove contaminated air which overflowed from the exhaust hood. It also suggested that, when overflowed contaminated air possibly elevated the surrounding concentration, that concentration level could be estimated by extrapolating secondary decay of exhaust air concentration immediately after primary decay when terminating the tracer gas dose. This measurement technique was applied to evaluate appropriate ceiling exhaust flow rate. It was confirmed that the ceiling diffuser of a HVAC system exerted little influence on capture efficiency if air velocity at the bottom front part of the capture hood was restricted to 0.4m/s. The simulated movement of kitchen workers tended to disturb buoyant plumes over the kitchen appliances and markedly lowered the capture efficiency of the hood. Capture efficiency of combustion waste gas was generally higher in low radiation cooking appliance with concentrated exhaust flue than that of the conventional type.


Ultrafiltration membranes containing a cellulose nanofiber barrier layer were fabricated by the spray coating method, where the thickness and uniformity of the barrier layer were systematically investigated as a function of air pressure, flow rate and concentration of the cellulose nanofiber suspension. In specific, the surface morphology of the barrier layer was studied by scanning electron microscopy and its uniformity was examined by the fluorescence dye imaging method. The ultrafiltration performance of the membranes fabricated by the spray coating method was also compared with that of the membranes made by the knife coating approach using dextran molecules as probe, where the former consistently exhibited significantly higher permeation flux while remaining the same rejection ratio. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44583.


In few months from now, world will have more number of mobile phones than the total human beings breathing on this earth. Technology has become very pervasive in our lives. From agriculture to education, from transportation to smarter cities, from human rights to government, technology has impacted enormously in the well-being of people. It has changed the face of business as well. However, in the recent past, corporates have woken up to new challenges where their markets and margins have shrunk and resources from the society and environment are hard to come by. In their pursuit to survive and thrive, corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives could play a strategic role for business in creating shared value for all the stakeholders including bottom of the pyramid (BOP) population. But the issue is many CSR initiatives have not been impactful, neither for the business nor for the society. In this paper, authors have proposed a 3*3 Shared Value Matrix of business value and social value, and mapped different kinds of CSR initiatives on to the matrix depending upon the impact they create. Philanthropy, volunteering efforts and technology are the drivers in the matrix for determining the impact. This paper also explains that by leveraging technology, most CSR initiatives can be evolved to create shared value for all the stakeholders. Authors have elaborated the matrix with the help of five case studies where CSR initiatives based on technology created varied forms of impact for all stakeholders.


Acetylenes may behave either as acidic or basic probes, by virtue of the C–H group, which is acidic, and of the CC triple bond, which can interact with positively charged centers, such as acidic hydroxyls or metal cations. The interaction of methylacetylene and acetylene with alkali-metal cations, acting as Lewis sites in MCM-41 materials, is studied through combined spectroscopic and ab initio techniques. On the experimental side, MCM-41 materials with low Al content, exchanged with aqueous solutions of alkali-metal nitrates, have been selected as they provide exposed alkali-metal cations with few basic adjacent oxygens. On the computational side, ab initio density functional techniques have been applied to minimal cluster models, consisting one cation (Li, Na, K, Cs) and one molecule (either acetylene or methylacetylene). A thorough characterization of the adsorption of acetylenes on Lewis acidic centers is provided,
enlightening the presence of two contributions to the interaction, namely that with alkali-cations, through the CC triple bond, and the one with basic oxygen species near the Lewis acidic sites, through H-bonding.


High aerodynamic performance is desirable for a horizontal axis wind turbine design.Wind turbine including rotor with complicated structure works in a quite execrable condition,it is unpractical to calculate the aero- dynamic performance with all influence factors considered.In this paper,the effects of various factors including solid- ity,pitch angle,cone angle,tilt angle,yaw angle and blade thickness on the aerodynamic performance of horizontal axis wind turbine rotor were analyzed based on momentum and blade element theory.Such investigation shows that the aerodynamic performance is sensitive to some factors,and others not.Proper parameters can be selected to opti- mize the design of a wind turbine to capture as much energy from wind as possible with low cost.


This paper focuses on the timeshare industry, where members own timeshare "weeks" and can exchange these weeks among themselves without a medium of exchange (such as money). Timeshare exchanges allow for the weeks to be redistributed among members to better match their preferences and thus increase efficiency. As such, the problem falls within the domain of matching problems, which have recently gained much attention in academia. We demonstrate theoretically that the two major timeshare exchange mechanisms used currently (deposit-first mechanism and request-first mechanism) can cause efficiency loss. We propose an alternate exchange mechanism, the top trading cycles chains and spacebank (TTCCS) mechanism, and show that it can increase the efficiency of the timeshare exchange market because TTCCS is Pareto efficient, individually rational, and strategyproof. We test the three exchange mechanisms in laboratory experiments where we simulate exchange markets with networked "timeshare members." The results of the experiments are robust across four different environments that we construct and strongly support our theory. The research focuses on an industry not studied earlier within academia and extends theoretical work on mechanism design to cases where supply of resources is dynamic, but resources can be stored.


To investigate the association between traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and the risk of young onset dementia (YOD), that is, dementia before 65 years of age.


We proposed a model framework which was based on generative adversarial network for video conversion. Our goal is that two different target videos can synchronize the movements (such as the head displacement and facial movements of the person), and the movements was not existed in the original video. Our key observation is that a video prediction model is added to the original framework of the generative adversarial network, so that the generated video can get the time sequence characteristics of the target video to improve the action consistency and time synchronization stability. In the training process, we obtained and aligned the spatial position of the action in video through landmark points detection, to ensure that the generated samples would not appear the phenomenon of spatial dislocation. In the training process, we will generate sample t and obtain t+1 sample through pre-trained time predictor, calculating the generate sample loss feedback pre-trained generative model. Using this framework, we can: (1) obtain more convenient to make available training samples and improve the available range of the model; (2) improve the accuracy of target generate video. We proposed a model framework which was inspired by generative adversarial network for video conversion. Our goal is that two different target videos can synchronize the movements (such as the head displacement and facial movements of the person), and the movements were not existed in the original video. Our key observation is that a video prediction model is added to the original framework of the generative adversarial network, so that the generated video can get the time sequence characteristics of the target video to improve the action consistency and time synchronization stability. In the training process, we obtained and aligned the spatial position of the action in video through landmark points detection, to ensure that the generated samples would not appear the phenomenon of spatial dislocation. In the training process, we will generate sample t and obtain sample t + 1 through pre-trained time predictor, calculating the generate sample loss feedback pre-trained generative model. Using this framework, we can: (1) obtain more convenient to make available training samples and improve the available range of the model; (2) improve the accuracy of target generates video.


A method for the determination of phenyl mercury acetate(PMA) in coating by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) was proposed.After the samples were diluted,Chromatographic separation was performed on a C18 column with acetonitrile+2 mmol NH4Ac=90+10 as the mobile phase and the detection was done at 195 nm with a detector of DAD.The linear calibration curves are obtained in the concentration range of 0.1~10 mg/L(linear correlation coefficients r2=0.9995),the detection limit is 0.097 mg/L(equal to added percentage of coating 2.43×10-3%).Recoveries of 5 different densities of PMA from coating range from 97.3% to 103.1%,with relative standard deviation of less than 4.5%(n=7).The method established is selective,sensitive,exact and completely satisfies high sensitive analysis for PMA in coating.


Earth-abundant solar absorber materials with large optical absorption coefficients in the visible enable the fabrication of low-cost high-efficiency single andmulti-junction thin-film solar cells. Here, we report a new p-type semiconductor, Cu4TiSe4 (CTSe), featuring indirect (1.15 eV) and direct (1.34 eV) band gaps in the optimal range for solar absorber materials. CTSe crystallizes in a new noncentrosymmetric cubic structure (space group F 43c) in which CuSe4 tetrahedra share edges and corners to form octahedral anionic clusters, [Cu4Se4] 4 , which in turn share corners to build the three-dimensional framework, with Ti ions located at tetrahedral interstices within the channels. The unique crystal structure and the Ti 3d orbital character of the conduction band of CTSe give rise to near-optimal band gap values and ultralarge absorption coefficients (larger than 10 cm ) throughout the visible range, which are promising for scalable low-cost high-efficiency CTSe-based thin-film solar cells.


The in vitro inhibitory potential of 50 extracts from various species of the flowering plant genus Hypericum was investigated using the KirbyBauer disk diffusion susceptibility test against Paenibacillus larvae, a spore‐forming, Gram‐positive bacterial pathogen that causes American foulbrood (AFB), a lethal disease affecting honeybee brood worldwide. Of the tested extracts, 14 were identified as highly active against P. larvae as compared to the activity of the positive control, indicating the presence of highly potent antibacterial compounds in the extracts. Examination of these extracts using TLC and HPLC/MS analyses revealed the presence of acylphloroglucinol and filicinic‐acid derivatives. Six pure compounds isolated from these extracts, viz., hyperforin (1), uliginosin B (2), uliginosin A (3), 7‐epiclusianone (4), albaspidin AA (5), and drummondin E (6), displayed strong antibacterial activity against the vegetative form of P. larvae (MIC ranging from 0.168–220 μM). Incubation of P. larvae spores with the lipophilic extract of Hypericum perforatum and its main acylphloroglucinol constituent 1 led to the observation of significantly fewer colony forming units as compared to the negative control, indicating that the acylphloroglucinol scaffold represents an interesting lead structure for the development of new AFB control agents.


The objective of this project is to provide a technical basis for materials selection and laboratory testing of practical boiler tube materials which will provide reliable long term service in syngas coolers for coal gasification combined cycle power plants. The resistance of low alloy steel, stainless steels, and aluminum-rich coatings to attack by a high sulfur, medium Btu coal gasification atmosphere has been evaluated at 300 to 500/sup 0/C. Samples were heated in mixtures representative of the product gas from entrained slagging gasifiers in laboratory furnaces for 1500 to 3000 hr. Iron sulfide scale formed rapidly on low alloy steels with estimated surface recession rates of 20 to 120 mil/y at 300 to 500/sup 0/C. Pack aluminized (alonized), chromized, and thermal sprayed aluminum were indicated to be effective protective coatings for these materials. Medium chrome (11%) stainless steels (409SS) formed thick sulfide-oxide scales with estimated recession rates of 35 to 50 mil/y at 400 to 500/sup 0/C. High Cr (>23%) ferritic and austenitic stainless steels (Ebrite 26-1, 309SS, 310SS, HK40)FeCrA1Y, and titanium had the best resistance to attack with estimated recession rates of <0.15 mil/y. These materials may have adequate resistance for long time service in radiant coolers operating upmore » to 500/sup 0/C on high sulfur medium Btu gas. Performance is analyzed in terms of thermodynamic and kinetic considerations, and recommendations for long term tests and development of protective coatings are presented.« less


We analyze nuclear effects in the deep inelastic scattering on deuteron in the framework of the covariant approach. It is shown that this approach gives us the way to investigate the role of relativistic effects in the deep inelastic scattering (DIS) on deuteron, such as the relativistic kinematics and the off-mass-shell behavior of the Compton amplitude of nucleon in the consistent manner. We have obtained that taking into account of the nucleon amplitude off-mass-shell behavior gives us an analog of the interaction corrections in nonrelativistic models.


The existing experiments and simulations suggest that the molecular symmetry is always transmitted to homogeneous phases in liquid crystals. It has been proved for rod-like molecules. We conjecture that it holds for three other symmetries, and prove it for some molecules of these symmetries.