The phase space portrait of the cosmological models deduced from fourth-order gravity theories is discussed with the analytical and numerical methods of our previous paper. A comparison is carried out between models inferred from Lagrangian densities containing powers higher than two in the Ricci scalar of curvature, and the Starobinsky model. Some peculiar structures, such as attractors and singular points, emerging neatly from both theories, have a close physical affinity, in addition to the mathematical one. Trajectories of interest in both scenarios are those undergoing an inflationary expansion and then reaching a Friedmannian asymptotic stable phase. These features are moreover discussed through a potential U(R) in RN-models. Three kinds of potential regions are recognized. They are the allowed regions (a-regions), in which trajectories can reach the Friedmannian phase after possibly undergoing an inflationary period, the disconnected regions (d-regions), in which trajectories, although physical, never reach the Friedmannian stage and the forbidden regions (f-regions), in which there are no physical solutions. A general survey of the global phase space for Starobinsky and RN-models is given via Poincare projections of suitable variables. a-, d-, and f-regions are represented.


The present invention relates to aqueous phase passivating agent for improving the performance of the antioxidant-corrosion of the plating layer of the PCB. The above aqueous phase passivating agents, corrosion inhibitors 4-12 parts by weight, the composite surfactant system of 15-25 parts by weight, ion chelator 10-20 parts by weight, pH regulators in 6-15 parts by weight agents, builders agent 20-40 parts by weight, and by the remaining pure water. The PCB processes passivated with an aqueous phase passivating agent. First diluted with pure water, the dilution ratio is 10 to 100, preferably 100 / 8-100 / 3 times. pH is 7-11, preferably 7.5-9.5. A surface tension of 18 ~ 28dyn / cm. In the process passivation, utilizing impregnation process, more preferably, in addition an auxiliary cleaning ultrasonic processing passivated. At a temperature of passivating process is 20 ~ 60 ° C., the treatment time of 60 to 150 seconds. After the PCB is processed by the water phase passivating agent of the present invention, the neutral salt spray test, nitrate vapor test, the mixed gas test, sulfur dioxide tests, are comprehensively tested in bonding tensile test, the results plating layer performance of antioxidant-corrosion can be significantly improved in.


An expansion of the confluent hypergeometric functioll IP(a, c, z) in series of functions of the same kind has been given by Buchholz (1). By specializa- tion of some quantities, there is obtained an expansion in series of modified Bessel functions of the first kind, Iv(z), where v depends on the parameter a. Tricomi (2, 3) has developed two expansions of similar type where both the order and -argument of the Bessel functions depend on the parameters a and c. In the present paper, we derive an expansion in series of Bessel functions of integral order whose argu- ment is independent of a and c. Our expansion is advantageous for many purposes of computation since the parameters and variable of 41(a, c, z) appear in separated form. Also, for desk calculation, extensive tables of In(z) are available, while for automatic computation Bessel functions are easy to generate (4). Special cases of the confluent function, such as the incomplete gamma functionl, are also studied. For the class of transcendents known as the error functions, including the Fresnel integrals, it is shown that our expansion coincides with that of Buchholz (1). By specializing a parameter and passing to a limit, we derive ex- pansions for the exponential integral and related functions. Other expansions for the error and exponential integrals are derived on altogether different bases. Finally, some numerical examples are presented to manifest the efficiency of our formulas. 1. Representation of the Confluent Hypergeometric Function in Series of Bessel Functions of Integral Order. The confluent hypergeometric function is defined by the series


LIMITED excavation in Gloucester showed timber structures replacing stone in the late 4th century. The town centre was re-planned in the early 5th century, creating the line of medieval Westgate Street. Preserved organic levels of the 9th century indicate an agricultural economy with animal stabling in the town centre. 10th- to 12th-century levels were also excavated. Specialist reports are offered on Saxon and medieval pottery, seeds, textiles, wood and other materials.


Insulin stimulates glucose transport in adipose and muscle tissue by stimulating the movement (' translocation') of an intracellular pool of glucose transporters (the Glut4 isoform) to the plasma membrane. We have engineered a series of chimaeras between Glut4 and green fluorescent protein (GFP) from Aequoria Šictoria and expressed these proteins in 3T3-L1 adipocytes by microinjection of plasmid cDNA. In the absence of insulin, GFP–Glut4 is localized intracellularly within a perinuclear compartment and multiple intracellular punctate structures. In response to insulin, chimaeric GFP–Glut4 species exhibit a profound redistribution to the cell surface with kinetics comparable with the endogenous protein. The intracellular localization of GFP–Glut4 overlaps partially with compartments labelled with Texas Red transferrin, but is largely distinct from intracellular structures identified using Lysotracker-Red2. K+-depletion resulted in the accumu-


Introduction: Nicotinamide (NAM), a water-soluble form of niacin (Vitamin B3), is a precursor of nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) and regulates cellular energy metabolism. In our previous study with metabolic RNA panel assay, we confirmed ALDOA (Aldolase A) is suppressed after treatment of nicotinamide in breast cancer organoids. ALDOA is a crucial glycolytic enzyme that turns fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) into glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate. Several studies have shown that high expression of ALDOA is associated with poor prognosis in various types of cancer. However, its function in breast cancer remains unclear.
 Methods: ALDOA expression in breast cancer was analyzed with METABRIC data set. A total of 79 fresh cancer tissues and tumor microarrays (TMA) with 402 breast cancer patients were enrolled. Metabolic RNA sequencing panel assay was performed with human breast cancer organoids after treatment of nicotinamide. The breast cancer cell lines including MCF7, T47D, and BT474 were generated to establish stable cells in which ALDOA expression is continuously reduced using lentiviral system. Total RNA was isolated from human breast cancer cells and performed RT-PCR for Sanger sequencing. Proliferation assay was performed using cell counting kit-8. We used transwell migration and invasion assay. To identify cancer stemness, we performed sphere formation assay. Mitochondrial function was measured using the Seahorse XF24 Flux Analyzer.
 Results: In our previous study, after the treatment of nicotinamide, ALDOA expression in breast cancer organoids was suppressed. So we assumed that ALDOA has an oncogenic function in cellular metabolism. The expression of ALDOA was much higher in breast cancer clinical tissues compared with normal tissues. High expression of ALDOA was correlated with the worse prognosis of breast cancer patients in METABRIC public data and our own cohort. Sanger sequencing in the cell lines showed no mutation in exon5 to exon9 which is known as mutation hotspot in breast cancer. Cell proliferation activity and ability of cellular movement were inhibited in ALDOA-downregulated breast cancer cells. In the sphere formation assay, we found that the tumor cells with low expression of ALDOA decreased cancer stem cell properties. When POU2F1 or POU2F2 was suppressed, ALDOA protein expression was also inhibited. ECAR and OCR concerning mitochondrial metabolic functions were also downregulated in the tumor cells with ALDOA suppression.
 Conclusions: In conclusion, we suggest that ALDOA might be a key biomarker inducing tumor aggressiveness by modulating metabolic processes in breast cancer. Our results suggest that nicotinamide can be a novel therapeutic candidate targeting in breast cancer with high expression of ALDOA.
 Citation Format: Da Sol Kim, Cheng Hyun Lee, Soo Young Park, Han Suk Ryu. New metabolic biomarker of ALDOA induces tumor aggressiveness in breast cancer and nicotinamide as a potential anti-tumor agent targeting ALDOA [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 269.


Background: Deaths by acute organ phosphorus poisoning is very common in rural India especially in people associated with agriculture sector. The present study was aimed to study the clinical characteristics of organ phosphorus compound (OPC) poisoning and to assess the associated factors related to the outcome (recovery/death) of intermediate syndrome (IMS). Methods: This is an observational study conducted on 40 patients showing features of intermediate syndrome at Poison center, Institute of internal medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai. Detailed clinical examination was done on the day of admission and daily with close monitoring. All patients included under study will be treated with pralidoxime as per protocol, atropine as required and other supportive measures was provided. Mechanical ventilatory support was provided for patients in respiratory failure. Patients are followed up till the end point of outcome (recovered and discharged/death) that was correlated with type of compound, quantum of exposure, duration of IMS, serum cholinesterase and creatinine kinase levels and respiratory failure. Result: Patients of age group between 30-40 years are more affected. Males outnumbered the females and most of them are from agriculture sector (65%). Out of 40, on treatment and follow up 34 patients were recovered and 6 were died. Onset of intermediate syndrome ranges between days 2-4 following exposure and duration of symptoms was observed for 5–16 days. Methylparathion was the frequent compound associated with IMS in about 9 cases. Out of 40, 16 had respiratory failure and given ventilator support. Proximal muscle weakness was seen in about 38 patients as common symptom. Conclusion: The results of the present study concludes that factors such as mode of poisoning, onset of IMS, type of compound, PChE level are not correlated with the outcome of study. Duration of IMS, respiratory failure, ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP), ventilator support duration were associated with outcome of the study. Hence, early recognition of IMS and its associated respiratory paralysis is very important in patients affected with OPC toxicity to prevent morbidity and mortality rate.


In this paper we address the problem of supporting communication in partially connected military tactical radio networks. In such networks traditional multi-hop forwarding techniques cannot guarantee end-to-end communication. Alternative techniques must therefore be designed to compensate for connectivity disruption. We propose a communication model that relies on opportunistic disruption-tolerant networking techniques to support information dissemination in highly fragmented military tactical radio networks. This model we designed is specifically devoted to content-driven information dissemination: pieces of information can be published on a terminal, disseminate in the network by being stored, carried, and forwarded by mobile terminals, and be received ultimately by terminals that have subscribed to receive this kind of information. This model was implemented in a middleware platform we developed, and tested on an experimental testbed composed of the French VHF battlefield radios PR4G.


Contents * Introduction * Advancing Aging Policy as the 21st Century Begins * Overview * Emergence of the Third Age: Toward a Productive Aging Society * The Politics of Near-Term Action to Deal with the Aging of the Baby Boom * Towards a Society for All Ages * The Elderly's Future Stake in Voluntary Associations * Employment and Retirement * Gradual Retirement in Europe * Increasing Life Expectancy, Retirement Age, and Pension Reform in the German Context * "The Full Monty" and Life-Long Learning in the 21st Century * An Aging Workforce in an Increasingly Global World * Long Term Care * Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Efficiency in the Financing of Long-Term Care * A Special Consumer Cooperative Association Nursing Home * The Chronic Care Paradox * Who Will Care for Mother Tomorrow? * Uneasy Allies: Nursing Home Regulators and Consumer Advocates * End of Life * The Future of Physician-Assisted Suicide * Dying and Social Policy in the New Millennium * Economic Security * The Continuing Gender Gap in Later Life Economic Security * Aging Prisoners * The Elderly and Prison Policy * Latino Elders * Policy Development and the Older Latino Population in the 21st Century * Family Medical Leave * Time Not Yet Money: The Politics and Promise of the Family Medical Leave Act * Transportation * How Will We Get There from Here? Placing Transportation on the Aging Policy Agenda * Index * Reference Notes Included


Background. The purpose of this work is to research the dynamic stability of an elastic element of a wall of a flow channel with a subsonic stream of gas or liquid in it. Materials and methods. Gas or liquid influence (in the model of ideal compressed environment) on the constructions is defined from the asymptotic linear equations of aerohydromechanics. For the description of dynamics of the elastic element representing an elastic plate, the linear theory of a solid deformable body was used. According to the specified assumptions the mathematical model of a channel containing an elastic element on one of walls, with a subsonic stream of gas or liquid, was constructed. The model was described by the related system of differential equations with partial derivatives, containing both the equation of movement of the gas-liquid environment and the equation of dynamics of a deformable element, for two unknown functions the potential of gas velocity and deformations of an elastic element. Determination of stability of an elastic body corresponds to the concept of stability of dynamic systems across Lyapunov. Research of stability was conducted on the basis of creation of the "mixed" functionals of Lyapunov type for the received related system of equations. Results. The mathematical model of a channel containing an elastic element on one of walls, with a flow of a subsonic stream of gas or liquid, was constructed. On the basis of the constructed functionals the dynamic stability of an elastic element was investigated. The sufficient stability conditions were received. The conditions impose restrictions on velocity of a uniform stream of gas, squeezing (stretching) effort of an element, flexural rigidity of an element and other parameters of the mechanical system. For the concrete example of mechanical systems the stability area on the plane of two parameters "squeezing effort-stream velocity" was constructed. Conclusions. The received sufficient stability conditions, imposing restrictions on parameters of the mechanical system, provide stability of fluctuations of an elastic element, namely: small deformations of an elastic element in the initial timepoint (i.e. small initial deviations from the position of balance) correspond to small deformations at any timepoint. For the parameters which aren't meeting these conditions, it is impossible to make certain conclusions about stability of fluctuations of an elastic element.


Using data from the 2005 One Percent Population Sampling Survey of Chongqing City,this paper examines demographic characteristics of the non-agricultural labour migration,and analyzes the factors affecting non-agricultural labour migration.Logistic regression results show that age,gender,education and type of work unit significantly affect migration preference.There are differences in the influencing factors as compared to those for agricultural labour migration.


The pre-oviposition period was reduced to 3.10 days in case of adults fed on flowers of Hibiscus rosasinensis followed by flowers of Cannabis sativa (3.70 days) as against 8.30 days obtained on Cicer arietinum. The oviposition period was reduced to 12.40 days in the case of control followed by Cicer arietinum (14.90 days). The highest % hatchability (97.00%) was observed when they fed on flowers of Ricinus communis compared to control (44%). There was many-fold increase in fecundity (eggs/female) when female fed on floral feed of R. communis (310.90), Brassica campestris (297.70) as against the lowest 20.60 eggs/female in adult fed on control. Lowest longevity of males (23.70 days) and females (28.20 days) was observed when fed on control followed by Cicer arietinum and longest longevity of males (52.80 days) was observed when fed on R. communis and Zea mays and longest longevity of female (55.90 days) fed on floral feed R. communis.


The aims of this study were to recover and characterize extra virgin fish oil (EVFO) from tuna eyes, and avoid deterioration and loss of EVFO functionality during extraction, formulation and storage of EVFO emulsion supplement. Research comprised extraction, characterization, and formulation of emulsions with addition of mangrove (Rhizophora mucronata) natural antioxidant extracts (0%, 2%, 4% and 8%), ascorbic acid (0.2%) and combination of mangrove extract and ascorbic acid (0.2%:0.2%). The extraction of EVFO used cool centrifugation technology and antioxidant activity of mangroves was measured by the ABTS method. Emulsion stability was verified for 2 weeks (25°C). The best formula was determined by using Bayes method. About 10% EVFO was isolated from tuna eye but its peroxide value was still high. The EVFO had a proportion of DHA up to 34.96%. Mangrove extract had an antioxidant activity of 52.96±0.42 ppm. The best preferred emulsion formula closest to the standard of stability was the formula added with mangrove fruit extract 0.8%. This EVFO emulsions supplement formula with serving sizes of 2 tea spoon (10 mL) donated 0.38 g of DHA which was approximately 32% of the average omega-3 requirement for the first trimester period of pregnancy.


T HIS article is concerned with the welfare costs to a country, to the rest of the world, and to the world as a whole, of the stabilization of the country's exchange rate in the face of fluctuations in its domestic price level relative to the foreign price level. Such stabilization is effected by the accumulation and decumulation of exchange reserves. In real terms, a surplus in the trade balance used to finance the accumulation of reserves involves a transfer to the rest of the world; and, conversely, the use of reserves to finance the trade deficit involves receipt of a transfer from the rest of the world. If countries are assumed to maintain full employment, it must also be assumed that they follow the domestic policies required to effect such transfers. Specifically it must be assumed that the surplus country arranges to reduce domestic expenditure below the full-employment income level sufficiently to create the excess of income over expenditure required to finance the transfer, and the deficit country arranges to increase domestic expenditures above the full-employment income level sufficiently to create the excess of expenditure over income required to dispose of the transfer. Analytically, the problem of the welfare costs of exchange-rate stabilization in the face of variations in the domestic relative to the foreign price level is equivalent to the problem of the welfare costs of deliberate destabilization of the exchange rate for the purpose of acquiring and disposing of foreign-exchange reserves when the relationship of domestic to foreign prices would otherwise be constant at the equilibrium (balanced-trade) level. This is the way the problem is formulated here. For simplicity it is assumed that the world consists of only two countries, each of which produces a single good, the price of which is constant in terms of domestic currency. Full employment is assumed to be maintained in each by the levying of taxes or the distribution of subsidies so calculated that, whatever the exchange rate, the demand for domestic output from domestic and foreign sources just exhausts the full-employment supply; government surpluses are assumed to be invested in the currency of the other country, and deficits to be financed by the sale of foreign exchange. (It may equally well be assumed that the governments buy and sell currency through sales and purchases of gold.) The exchange rate is assumed to be fixed by the government of the country under analysis ("country 1," the rest of the world being "country 2"). The analysis consists in contrasting two policies, assumed to prevail over a two-period sequence. The first ("policy 1") is maintenance of the exchange rate at the same equilibrium (balanced-trade) level in both periods, this level being assumed for mathematical 1 The problem considered in this article was first posed and analyzed by John Hause ("The Welfare Costs of Disequilibrium Exchange Rates," J.P.E. LXXIV [August, 1966], 333-52). Hause employs a partial equilibrium approach, which suppresses the "absorption" or "transfer" aspects of international disequilibrium; the analysis presented here was worked out to remedy this deficiency.


Analyzing on-line partial discharge (PD) data using commercially available spreadsheet application software like Microsoft Excel is possible but very difficult to do. The problem is because the PD data are quite long and depend on the sampling rate used during testing. Increasing the sampling rate will increase data samples in one cycle of 50 Hz waveform, and longer time is needed to analyze the data. A further problem is associated with compiling the PD data; Excel uses a large memory to run, plot and calculate the PD data for analysis purpose, and sometimes this leads to computer memory crash. Due to this problem, an alternative on-line PD analyzer (on-LPDA) needs to be developed. This paper reports on the performance of the software that was developed using LabViewTM 8.5. The result shows that the software can extract PD parameters like PD numbers, PD magnitude, and plotting PD pattern without large time and memory consumption, compared with Excel, and experiences no memory crash up to 125 mega sampling (MS) rate.


Chinese lignite boiler generally uses fan mill system,but Inner Mongolie Shangdu Power Co.,Ltd.uses race mill system which combusts with high water content lignite.Experimental research of NOx emission was done on this boiler.The influence of primary air rate,excess air and air distribution was investigated.It is showed that NOx emission increases significantly when primary rate increases and excess air increases.Nabla air distribution can reduce NOx emission.


A selective medium (XAS medium) was developed for the isolation of Xanthamonas albilineans (Ashby) Dowson, which causes leaf scald disease of sugarcane. XAS medium supported high plating efficiencies of the pathogen. The growth rate, morphology, and pigmentation of colonies on the medium were useful differential characteristics to identify the pathogen. XAS medium consisted of a modification of Wilbrink's medium that was supplemented with 5 g of KBr, 100 mg of cycloheximide, 2 mg of benomyl, 25 mg of cephalexin, 30 mg of novobiocin, and 50 mg of kasugamycin per liter. The pathogen was isolated on XAS medium with greater than 98% frequency from symptomatic sugarcane in Florida, Guadeloupe, and the Dominican Republic, and was isolated less frequently from asymptomatic sugacane


Purpose: "This test was conducted to gain information and experience in the handling of heavy aggregate concrete. The results from this test were to establish procedures for a subsequent program -- "Construction Test of High Density Concrete Shielding.""


This paper studies the automatic carrier landing control problem of carrier-based aircraft, by applying a preview control method. A new automatic carrier landing system (ACLS) for carrier-based aircraft is developed using the advanced knowledge of glide path and longitudinal deck motion. The deck motion preview information is generated by the deck motion predictor which is designed based on the particle filter algorithm. Moreover, the air wake under medium sea condition is considered as the exogenous disturbance to verify the robustness of the proposed ACLS scheme. Simulation results demonstrate that the preview control ACLS can realize a better glide path tracking performance, more effective deck motion compensation, and stronger robustness under air wake disturbance, when comparing with the PID control scheme.


The purpose of the present invention is to secure isolation of an external connection terminal without increasing the width thereof at an external connection part. An external connection conductor (231) is connected to one end in a signal transmission direction of a first signal conductor (21) and is exposed to a first surface of an insulation substrate (20). An external connection conductor (241) is connected to one end in a signal transmission direction of a second signal conductor (22) and is exposed to the first surface of an insulation substrate (20). The external connection conductors (231, 241) are arranged side by side along the signal transmission direction. The first signal conductor (21) is provided with, in the signal transmission direction, a parallel running part and a first routing part that connects the parallel running part and the external connection conductor (231). The parallel running part of the first signal conductor (21) and a parallel running part of the second signal conductor (22) are arranged at the same position in the thickness direction. The first routing part is arranged at a position different from the second signal conductor (22) in terms of the thickness and width directions of the insulation substrate (20).


A new decomposition product of 1,1-dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), 1-formyl-2,2-dimethylhydrazine (FDMH), was found in water and soil samples. The formation of FDMH was confirmed by LC-MS and NMR studies. The possibility of FDMH conversion to initial UDMH by alkaline hydrolysis was shown.


In her article "Roth's The analyzes some aspects of the readers' Roth in the novel's first chapter "Basel" which guide the text and the keys tive created by the employment of prepare readers to the metafictional analysis, Masiero posits that the novel and a window on how our own minds > Literature and Culture ISSN 1481-4374 16 Issue 2 (June 2014) Article 13 Pia Masiero, and the Negotiation of Reality and Fiction b.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol16/iss2/13> Comparative Literature and Culture 16.2 (2014) Memory, and the Making of Character in Roth's Fiction Sanchez-Canales and Victoria Aarons > Counterlife and the Negotiation of Reality and Fiction" negotiations of Phillip Roth's 1986 novel. Masiero anatomizes what follows and provides the rules to interpret its meaning. Masiero argues that the effects third-person narration and contra-punctual simultaneous choices they encounter in the final chapters of the turns out to be a journey in Nathan Zuckerman's work. > ©Purdue University journal in the of comparative In addition to the material in its Language and the Humanities the Modern LanguaPress monog-


: Data mining on large database has been a major concern in research community due to the difficulty in analyzing huge volumes of data. Data mining refers to extracting or mining knowledge from large amounts of data. This paper attempts to explain data mining techniques, particularly "classification", to predict which loan applicants are "risky" and which are "safe" for loan data set. For this purpose we use Rattle— "R Analytical Tool To Learn Easily" which is a powerful platform for data mining. Some preprocessing techniques such as Data Cleaning, Relevance Analysis, Data Transformation and Data Reduction have to be applied to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the classification process i.e removing noise by filling missing values, performing correlation analysis for identifying redundancies, scaling data to a specified range and performing principal component analysis (PCA) for reducing the dimensionality of data set. The main goal is to classify the loan applicants by classification based on decision tree method.


The results of an experimental research of the power combiner based on the half-open resonator (HOR) are presented in this work. The HOR represents half of the usual spherical OR, which is cut by a conducting plane along OZ axis. Therefore, the modes are excited on this, which does not contradict boundary conditions on a conducting plane of the HOR.


We have identified a mutation at the DAG locus of Antirrhinum majus which blocks the development of chloroplasts to give white leaves with green revertant sectors. The green areas contain normal chloroplasts whereas the white areas have small plastids that resemble proplastids. The cotyledons of dark‐grown dag mutant seedlings have plastids which also resemble proplastids. The palisade cells in the white areas of dag mutant leaves also lack their characteristic columnar shape. The DAG locus was cloned by transposon tagging: DAG encodes a novel protein with a predicted Mr of 26k, which is targeted to the plastids. Cleavage of its predicted transit peptide gives a mature protein of Mr 20k. Screening of databases and analysis of Southern blots gave evidence that DAG belongs to a protein family with homology to several proteins of unknown function from plants. Expression of DAG is required for expression of nuclear genes affecting the chloroplasts, such as CAB and RBCS, and also for expression of the plastidial gene RPOB encoding the plastidial RNA polymerase beta subunit, indicating that it functions very early in chloroplast development.


Tension pneumothorax is very rare complications of the pulmonary hydatid cyst and its diagnosis and treatment is still a complex of problem. We report four cases of tension pneumothorax, of which, two cases were referral to our hospital from local hospital with complaints of chest pain, cyanosis and dyspnea. Chest radiograph showed tension pneumothorax with mediastinal shift, and tracheal displacement. They had persistent air leaks with lung collapse despite insertion of chest tube. CT-scan of chest, performed in our center, showed lung was collapsed with air fluid level. All patients underwent bronchoscopy after stabilizing cardiovascular problems. Patients were taken to the operating room. During operation and exploration, ruptured pulmonary hydatid cysts were found in all four patients with a lot of debris and laminated membrane in the pleural space. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of hydatid cyst. Patients were discharged in good condition after 6 to 8 days of post operative period with the advice of Albendazole [800mg] daily. Ruptured pulmonary hydatid cyst should be kept in mind in the differential diagnosis of tension pneumothorax and surgical intervention should be performed as early as possible.


Dinophytes acquired chloroplasts obviously early in evolution and later lost them multiple times. Most families and genera contain both photosynthetic and heterotrophic species. Chloroplasts enveloped by three membranes with thylakoids in stacks of three, containing peridinin as the main pigment, are regarded as the original dinophyte plastids. Pyrenoids are generally present. Stigmata, if present, are usually parts of the chloroplast or are modified original plastids. The form II type RUBISCO found in the dinophytes is unique for eukaryotes, otherwise known only in some anaerobic bacteria. It is disputed whether the original dinophyte chloroplasts are derived from a prokaryotic or an eukaryotic endosymbiosis. Various dinoflagellates contain aberrant chloroplasts. Glenodinium foliaceum and Peridinium balticum have a single complete endosymbiont, originally a pcnnate diatom. Podolampas bipes houses several dictyophycean symbiont cells. The "symbionts" of Lepidodiniurn viride and Gymnodinium chlorophorum ar...


Don't let dilution wreck your merger There are many reasons why a bank might consider a merger or acquisition, but the ultimate reason should be to enhance or protect shareholder value. Investors tend to react negatively to an overly dilutive acquisition, which causes the acquiror's stock price to tumble. This situation can be prevented with proper dilution analysis. Occasionally, a bank will announce that it has negotiated an acquisition at a price of three times the book value of the target bank. How can the management of the acquiror justify such a premium? It could be that the dilution resulting from the transaction is not readily apparent to the shareholders of the acquiring bank. If the earnings per share for the first year of operations after the acquisition is above the previous year's results, it might appear to shareholders that no dilution has resulted from the merger. However, if the consolidated earnings per share are compared to the acquiror's earnings per share without the acquisition, it becomes apparent that the transaction is actually dilutive. To further explore the shortcomings of conventional dilution analysis, consider two acquirors who are identical in all respects except that the second acquiror is one half the size of the other acquiror. Ignoring for the moment the impact of synergy and related force, the value of a target should reflect the future earnings capacity of the institution. Under these assumptions, the target should be of equal value to both acquirors. However, the dilution to the smaller acquiror would be roughly double, thereby inferring that the target is somehow of less value to this institution. The reason for these incongruities is that conventional dilution analysis dies not fully explain the dilutive forces at work. Conventional dilution analysis can be distorted by the size differential between the acquiror and target and may fail to accurately reflect the underlying economics of the merger. These problems can be eliminated by examining dilution on an incremental basis. The earnings per share attributable to the merger is calculated by dividing the target's net income by the number of shares issued in the merger. Comparing this to the acquiror's existing earnings per share yields the incremental dilution arising from the merger. Dilution calculated on an incremental basis is not biased by asset size and therefore is more reliable in presenting the relative merti of an acquisition. This is not to say that conventional dilution analysis should be abandoned. After all, this is the amount existing shareholders will realize. Instead, it is recommended that the incremental approach be included in the analysis so that the underlying dilutive forces can be more fully understood. Overcoming dilution. While investors tend to dislike, it is rare to see an acquisition that is not dilutive. However, a dilutive acquisition can still serve to benefit stockholders as long as the dilution can be overcome. Some of the ways of beating dilution include: * High growth rate of target. Dilution can be overcome by acquiring an institution with more favorable growth prospects than its acquiror. The dilution break-even point is dependent upon the earnings growth differential between the two institutions and the purchase price of the acquisition. The longer the break-even point, the less desirable the acquisition is to existing shareholders. It helps to set a ceiling on the number of years that dilution will be tolerated. This ceiling will serve as a constraint in determining the maximum exchange ratio that can be offered to the target institution. * Synergy. Buy a bank that will add value to yours. With the benefits of synergy, the combined institution is stronger than the sum of its independent parts. …


An SOI CMOS circuit for electricpulse timeinterval measurement is presented in the paper Its operational principle is dealt with and the layout design of the circuit is described Test results of the fabricated chip show that the device has a good performance with respect to measurement accuracy,measuring speed and radiation hardness


The hydrodynamic behaviour of the crystalline aquifer remains difficult to quantify due to the number of parameters involved. Earlier studies [1] have proposed anlytical and probabilistic approaches of numerical and non-numerical parameters to identify the influence of various parameters. These techniques remain complex and hard to use due to the heterogeneity of the databases obtained from drilling campaigns. Presented here is a three-step sliding average method which has made it possible to verify existing relations and to show-for the first time-the impact of geomorphological locations on the hydrodynamic characteristics of the plutonic crystalline basement of Burkina Faso


We define a new model of complexity, called object complexity, for measuring the performance of hidden-surface removal algorithms. This model is more appropriate for predicting the performance of these algorithms on current graphics rendering systems than the standard measure of scene complexity used in computational geometry. We also consider the problem of determining the set of visible windows in scenes consisting of n axis-parallel windows in ℝ3. We present an algorithm that runs in optimal Θ(n log n) time. The algorithm solves in the object complexity model the same problem that Bern3 addressed in the scene complexity model.


Beginning by summarizing conception of suburbanization and dispute on its research in China, the author first reviews progress in suburbanization research of China since 1990s from the method and procedure, and research which has been made in the light of cities in China. Then, the author lays emphasis on prospect of further research from several aspects as follows: ①The fifth national population census and research on suburbanization; ②Research on seasonal suburbanization o f big cities; ③Research on expanding of urban social space; ④Research on the pluralistic mechanisms of suburbanization in viewpoint of macro, middle and micro levels; ⑤Extension of varieties of suburbanization; ⑥Diversification of city types and methods of research on suburbanization; ⑦Research on suburbanization of cities in a certain region.


With four books published in as many years, Guillaume Dustan, scion of the bourgeoisie, well-educated former student at Sciences Po (Plus fort 16), has recently become the latest French gay writer to mark the representations of homosexuality and of the AIDS years with his writing. In France, to speak blithely, it would seem that there is a niche for one gay writer at any given moment. Renaud Camus, born in 1946, had a succès de scandale with his autofiction, Tricks, originally published in 1971. Approximately ten years younger was Hervé Guibert, who wrote copiously during the eighties, but who became a media darling with his first AIDS narrative, A l 'ami qui ne m'a pas sauvé la vie. Briefly and in parallel with Guibert, there was the writer, actor, and film director Cyril Collard, whose Les Nuits sauvages was warmly received in the eighties, but who, unlike the other two writers did not leave a large body of work. Now, a decade younger – born in 1965 – there is Guillaume Dustan whose four narratives have begun to receive some attention from the media and not just from the gay community, for their raw depiction of the fast-lane lifestyle of the young urban male gay community in a world in which, as Dustan writes, ''Il me dit Tu sais personne ne met plus de capotes, même les américaines, maintenant tout le monde est séropositif, je ne connais plus personne qui soit séronégatif (moi non plus, je pense, à part Quentin) [He says to me, You know no one wears rubbers, even Americans, now everyone is


The invention belongs to the field of house buildings and particularly relates to an integrated mobile house. The integrated mobile house comprises a house body formed by a wall part and a roof part. The wall part is made of boards and serves as a whole to form a pure shear wall structure for bearing the roof part. The wall part comprises house peripheral wall boards and partition walls located in the house. Bearing cross beams are arranged between the peripheral wall boards or between the peripheral wallboards and the partition walls or between the partition walls. The wall part forms the bearing structure of the roof part, all the wallboards forming the wall part have the shear wall function, the situation that bearing columns need to be additionally arranged, so that the area in the house is occupied is avoided, and the integrated mobile house is simple in structure and easy to install.


Abstract Microsporogenesis and male gametogenesis of Jatropha curcas L. (Euphorbiaceae) was studied in order to provide additional data on this poorly studied family. Male flowers of J. curcas have ten stamens, which each bear four microsporangia. The development of the anther wall is of the dicotyledonous type, and is composed of an epidermis, endothecium, middle layer(s) and glandular tapetum. The cytokinesis following meiosis is simultaneous, producing tetrahedral tetrads. Mature pollen grains are two-celled at anthesis, with a spindle shaped generative cell. A few abnormal microspores were observed following the early stages of microgametophyte development.


Recently, significant efforts have been done to improve quality of comfort for commercial buildings' users while also trying to reduce energy use and costs. Most of these efforts have concentrated in energy efficient control of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air conditioning) system, which is usually the core system in charge of controlling buildings' conditioning and ventilation. However, in practice, HVAC systems alone cannot control every aspect of conditioning and comfort that affects buildings' occupants. Modern lighting, blind and window systems, usually considered as independent systems, when present, can significantly affect building energy use, and perhaps more importantly, user comfort in terms of thermal, air quality and illumination conditions. For example, it has been shown that a blind system can provide 12%~35% reduction in cooling load in summer while also improving visual comfort. In this paper, we take a holistic approach to deal with the trade-offs between energy use and comfort in commercial buildings. We developed a system called OCTOPUS, which employs a novel deep reinforcement learning (DRL) framework that uses a data-driven approach to find the optimal control sequences of all building's subsystems, including HVAC, lighting, blind and window systems. The DRL architecture includes a novel reward function that allows the framework to explore the trade-offs between energy use and users' comfort, while at the same time enable the solution of the high-dimensional control problem due to the interactions of four different building subsystems. In order to cope with OCTOPUS's data training requirements, we argue that calibrated simulations that match the target building operational points are the vehicle to generate enough data to be able to train our DRL framework to find the control solution for the target building. In our work, we trained OCTOPUS with 10-year weather data and a building model that is implemented in the EnergyPlus building simulator, which was calibrated using data from a real production building. Through extensive simulations we demonstrate that OCTOPUS can achieve 14.26% and 8.1% energy savings compared with the state-of-the art rule-based method in a LEED Gold Certified building and the latest DRL-based method available in the literature respectively, while maintaining human comfort within a desired range.


Right up-to-date and completely revised, this work enables the international reader to know who the key people in Austria are and to evaluate them, and to know which are the main Austrian enterprises and institutions guiding the country towards the 21st century. With the sub-title "Biographies, Companies and Institutions", "Who's Who in Austria" is the consultancy and communications work containing over 2500 personal profiles of top-ranking decision makers, politicians and other leading personalities operating in business and finance, politics and public administration, justice and the military, science and research, religion, the arts and literature, sports and entertainment. The second part of the work, "Companies and Institutions", is exclusively focused on over 1500 Austrian economic and socio-political structures, and it enhances and completes information about the political, economic, cultural, social and religious life. In particular, it pinpoints those enterprises which, despite the country's bumpy economic trend, have consolidated their market ranking, reached high standards of quality, constantly sought innovation and play a primary role in their respective fields of business.


We report on the magnetic properties of the Cr-based diluted magnetic semiconductors Zn1-xCrxSe and Zn1-xCrxS (x<0.01). The specific heat was measured in the temperature range 1.5<T<10 K and in magnetic fields up to 3 T, while the magnetization was measured at 2<T<40 K and B<6 T. The magnetic behavior is neither that of Brillouin paramagnets [Mn, Co diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS's)] nor of Van Vleck systems (Fe DMS's). It results from a strong, static Jahn-Teller (JT) distortion for the Cr ions. A simple crystal-field model, which includes the JT effect, provides an overall description of the experimental data, but some discrepancies remain.


We optimized and validated a rapid, simple, and sensitive HPLC assay for pioglitazone concentration in human plasma and studied the stability of pioglitazone under various clinical laboratory conditions. Pioglitazone and lansoprazole as internal standard (IS) were extracted from 1 ml plasma sample spiked with 4.0 μg in 160 μl mobile phase) as follows: 4.0 ml of tert. butyl methyl ether was added and the sample was vortexed for 5 min then centrifuged for 10 min at 6000 rpm at room temperature. The organic layer was transferred to a clean tube and dried under a gentle stream of nitrogen at 40 oC, and the residue was reconstituted in 250 μl mobile phase. After centrifugation at 3500 rpm for 2 min, the supernatant was transferred into auto-sampler vials and 100 μl were injected into the HPLC system. Pioglitazone and IS -Pak C18 steel column, using a Guard Pak pre-column module with Nova-Pak C18 4-μm insert, with a run time of 7 min. The mobile phase consisted of a mixture of 0.01 M dibasic sodium hydrogen phosphate and dihydrogen sodium phosphate (pH= 7.0), methanol, and acetonitrile (55:30:15, v:v:v) and was delivered at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The analytes were detected with Waters 2996 photodiode array detector with the wavelength set at 228 nm. The response was linear over the range of 0.05 – 5 μg/ml. Extraction recovery of pioglitazone and inter-run bias and imprecision were ≥ 90%, ≤ 7.2%, and ≤ 5.8, respectively. In human plasma, pioglitazone was stable for at least 24 hours at room temperature (RT) (≥ 100%), 14 weeks at –200C (≥ 99%), and after 3 cycles of freeze at –200C and thaw at RT (≥ 100%). In processed samples, it was stable for at least 24 hours at RT (≥ 97%) and 48 hours at –200C (≥ 96%). Stock solution of pioglitazone (1 mg/ml in methanol) was stable for at least 48 hours at RT


Background: Chronic diseases are a major problem in health care, and concretely, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the deadliest diseases with 17.3 million individuals dead in 2008, which represented 30% of all deaths worldwide. The authors developed a market research of cardiology apps in Google Play and the App Store and they found 710 apps related to cardiology. These apps have different objectives and, in general, they have proved to influence positively on heart diseases. The majority of those apps are heart monitors, medical calculators, informative guides and apps to help with ECG interpretation, but only 1 app for heart conditions management and one for heart rehabilitation were found.
Objective: In light of the results of this market research, the main objective is to develop a new and innovative app for the self-management of heart diseases due to the lack of this type of apps.
Methods: The process of the creation of the app, named CardioManager, consisted of three stages: design, development and validation. The app was designed for Android because it is the most extended mobile operating system worldwide, the implementation was done by using Android Software Development Kit (SDK) and the app was validated using different devices with a wide range of screen sizes.
Results: CardioManager focus on the most common cardiology diseases based on the experience of three cardiologists that help the authors with the design of CardioManager: ischemic cardiopathy, hypertension, valvular heart disease, diabetes and auricular fibrillation. The app is divided into three sections. The first is an informative section with medical information about the diseases that will help the patients to understand their illness; and a patient guide in order to inform the users about best practices, prohibitions and life style they should adopt. The second is a section to record the user's activities (good and bad for their conditions) and health measures in order to act in consequence with them. The last section is used for registering the users' medications and the hours that they should have them, offering the possibility to establish alarms to warn them. Besides, CardioManager allows the creation of a medical record of the user, whose data will be protected by encryption mechanisms. Additionally, all the data stored by CardioManager are kept only in the mobile device and are not sent to third parties, so the privacy is guaranteed.
Conclusion: An app for the self-management of heart diseases has been developed to improve the patients' conditions by motivating them to do healthy activities and avoid bad habits, taking their medications punctually and improving their knowledge about their conditions. It can even contribute to save their lives in case of emergencies such as an infarct, since the emergency staff can use the information stored in the medical record in order to apply the best treatment. From an economical perspective, the app can mean significant saves in the health budgets of the countries since it can avoid hospitalizations derived from incorrect intakes or bad lifestyle habits. []


The visualization of the Gorontalonese bridal costume worn at the wedding reception is increasingly diverse in terms of the modification forms. The modification can be seen in the design elements including shape, texture, color, material, and accessory. Furthermore, the modification of the current costume makes the functional value of the bridal costume different from the already patterned one, which can be seen from its social, symbolic, and economic values of the Gorontalo community. The data in this study was collected through the review of books and previous studies related to the wedding clothing, the interviews, and the observation of bridal costumes and analyzed using the qualitative data analysis approach. The observation of unmodified bridal costume objects was done at the Dulahopa Traditional House in Gorontalo, while that of modified bridal costume objects was conducted on the widely used bridal costumes within the last two years in Gorontalo. The purpose of this study was to find out the aspects underlying the modification of bridal costume in Gorontalo. The results show that Gorontalo people tend to choose modified wedding dresses in the wedding party. Moreover, this study suggests that the bridal costume modification is influenced by the family's social status in Gorontalonese community, migratory Gorontalonese people (staying outside the area of origin), and technological advancement.


The asymptotic structure of the three-dimensional turbulent boundary layer near a plane of symmetry is considered in the limit of large Reynolds number. A selfconsistent two-layer structure is shown to exist wherein the streamwise velocity is brought to rest through an outer defect layer and an inner wall layer in a manner similar to that in two-dimensional boundary layers. The cross-stream velocity distribution is more complex and two terms in the asymptotic expansion are required to yield a complete profile which is shown to exhibit a logarithmic region. The flow in the inner wall layer is demonstrated to be collateral to leading order; pressure gradient effects are formally of higher order but can cause the velocity profile to skew substantially near the wall at the large but finite Reynolds numbers encountered in practice. The governing set of ordinary differential equations describing a self-similar flow is derived. The calculated numerical solutions of these equations are matched asymptotically to an inner wall-layer solution and the results show trends that are consistent with experimental observations.


It is a pleasure to introduce Daniel Glavin as this year's Nier Prize winner. I first met Danny when he took my undergraduate course ''Introduction to Geochemistry'' at UCSD in 1996. I was impressed with how rapidly he mastered the subject material and his overall understanding of the concepts. Because he was one of the best students in the course that quarter and had expressed an interest in my research, I invited him to work with me as a summer research student. Danny worked out so well that I hired him as a laboratory assistant at the end of the summer. When he was preparing to graduate from UCSD (Physics, cum laude) I encouraged him to apply to graduate school, and told him that I would gladly take him as a graduate student at Scripps. I was very happy when he accepted this offer. Danny completed a very impressive amount of research in the period he worked in my laboratory. Most of the research was published in major journals such as Science, EPSL, and PNAS. Some of the publications dealt with amino acids and other organic compounds in the Allan Hills 84001 Martian meteorite and how terrestrial contamination greatly compromises what these types of meteorites tell us about the possibility of life on Mars. This work demonstrated to Danny the need for the very careful examination of contamination artifacts in meteorite research. Some of the other papers described a unique new sublimationbased method for extracting amino acids from natural samples and how this could be used in an instrument to search for amino acids directly on Mars and other solar system bodies. Danny obtained his Ph.D. in 2001. Since Danny obtained his Ph.D., he has clearly established himself as an independent and innovative researcher. He has been an important player in the analyses of primary amines in material collected by the Stardust spacecraft. He is a science team member on the SAM instrument for the NASA 2011 MSL mission and has played an important role in the development and testing of the mission's GC-MS component. Danny has recently led an extensive study, titled ''The Astrobiology Sample Analysis Program,'' which involved the measurement of the organic constituents in a variety of natural samples by multiple instruments and individuals. He has played a leading role in the development of novel methodologies for the sensitive detection of organic compounds in cosmochemical samples and has several NASA-funded programs to support this activity. At the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Danny with his colleague Jason Dworkin (who obtained his Ph.D. from UCSD with the late Stanley Milller) has set up one of the best amino acid analytical laboratories in the world. They recently used this facility to confirm that one of the amino acids, isovaline, detected in Murchison has an enantiomeric excess (D ⁄L " 1). They also provided additional aspects of the finding and suggested a possible mechanism for the origin of this interesting cosmochemical feature of some carbonaceous meteorites. Recently, when I found original portions of the 1950s classical spark discharge experiments of Stanley Miller, I turned to Danny to help ascertain the diversity of amino acids present in the samples. This work has recently published in Science, and it generated extensive Daniel Glavin with the late Stanley Miller.


The modular multilevel converters (MMCs) have emerged as one of the promising topologies for mediumlhigh power applications. The aluminum electrolytic capacitors (AECs) are usually employed in the MMC as floating capacitors due to their high volumetric efficiency and low price. The AECs are reported as one of the most fragile components in the converter, which gradually deteriorates over the time due to vaporization of the electrolyte. As a result, its capacitance decreases and equivalent series resistance (ESR) increases with ageing, which can result in an increase of submodule (SM) capacitor voltage ripple, power loss and could damage the operation of the MMC with prolonged use of the aged capacitors. Therefore, health monitoring of SM capacitors is essential to enhance the reliability of the MMC by predictive maintenance. This paper presents a new health monitoring technique for SM capacitors in the MMC utilizing inherent SM capacitor voltage fluctuations. The capacitance is estimated by second-harmonic impedance, which is evaluated using the ripple in capacitor voltage and current. The proposed method utilizes the available measurement used for the converter control and can be easily implemented in the same converter controller. The proposed scheme is verified for five-level MMC through simulation results in PLECS software.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer responses to CSR in a developed and emerging economy (The Netherlands and India).Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a survey of 95 consumers in each country to investigate attitudes to CSR platforms and CSR initiatives and responses to CSR‐based marketing strategies (in terms of attitude to the company and purchasing intent).Findings – The study found similar attitudes across nationalities to both CSR platforms and CSR initiatives, with greater importance assigned to CSR reflecting legal and ethical (rather than philanthropic) concerns. (Some) CSR‐based marketing strategies, reflecting an ethical (people/planet) concern, led to significantly more positive attitudes to the company and higher purchasing intent. The study found some cross‐cultural variation in the extent to which different CSR‐based marketing strategies influenced consumer outcomes.Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory study, limited to highly educa...


In the field of sensorless control for Synchronous Motors (SMs), machine magnetic anisotropy based techinques which exploit the star-point voltage to estimate the rotor position have been applied successfully. Although these techniques present a mathematical model to describe the star-point voltage dynamics, the influence of the eddy currents effects is usually neglected. The inclusion of these effects into the mathematical model can be exploited to improve the measurement techniques and therefore to reduce the position estimation error. Thus, the aim of this work is to improve the mathematical model of the star-point voltage dynamics by considering the presence of eddy currents. Therefore, in the first section of this work a new mathematical model is developed. Through experimental results, this new model is validated and compared with a star-point dynamics model proposed in literature.


This paper deals with the analysis, design and control of a small power standalone solar photovoltaic (SPV) generating system. A PV array of 33V-43.2V is taken as an input and its output voltage is achieved as 360V dc using a flyback converter. The battery is charged at this voltage and using a single-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) it is converted into a single phase ac of 220Vac, 50 Hz. A closed loop control for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and a PI (Proportional Integral) controller for output voltage control of VSI are used to optimize the system. Perturbation and observation method is applied for MPPT. The simulation of the developed model of the designed SPV system is performed in Matlab platform. Simulation results are presented with linear and nonlinear loads to demonstrate its satisfactory performance. Keywords–Battery, Isolated flyback converter, Maximum power point tracking, Solar photovoltaic generation, Standalone system, Voltage source inverter.


Background: Widespread usage of antimicrobial drugs has increased the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and that's why we need new drugs. Lignin and its derivatives considered as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal and antimicrobial. This study aimed to investigate the effect of lignin polymer against the bacteria isolated from clinical samples, and to study the antibiotic resistance pattern using the Vitek system. Materials and Methods: 50 clinical bacterial samples were collected from two hospitals in Baghdad city. All the isolates of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus were subjected to Vitek system to determine the resistance for 12 antibiotics. The Soda lignin polymer had been prepared from the palm tree empty fruit/ Malaysia. The biological activity of lignin polymer against resistant bacteria was evaluated by well agar diffusion method. Results: According to the Vitek system, all the bacterial isolates were multi-resistance to many antibiotics. Lignin polymer dilutions inhibited the growth of some bacterial isolates, and it was more effective in all the concentrations with a good inhibition zone on Pseudomonas aeruginosa which reached to 20mm. Conclusion: Lignin polymer has an antibacterial effect against some pathogenic multidrug resistant bacteria isolated from clinical samples, including urine and wound infection. Lignin polymer was more effective in all the concentrations on the isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, with a good inhibition zone.


The microstructures of the nanocrystalline layer in 40?Cr steel induced by using a high-power surface processing (HPSP) technique were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM),X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).A possible mechanism of the nanocrystallined layer was discussed.Nanohardness of the nanocrystalline layer was measured by nanoindentation.Experimental evidences showed that the nanocrystalline layer was fabricated on the surface of 40?Cr steel treated by HPSP treatment.The mean grain size in the surface layer is about 11 nm.The mechanism of the nanocrystalized layer can be discribed as follows∶particulate cementite is fractured,which is induced by the concentration of stress; after dislocations generation,accumulation and interaction in ferrite,and so on,the dislocation activities lead to the formation of the dislocation cells,ferrite nanocrystals coming into being.The nanohardness in the surface nanocrystallized layer is enhanced significantly after HPSP treatment.


Major mechanisms of crustal addition are volcanism and plutonism at plate boundaries and within plate interiors. One approach to deciding if island arc magmatism dominated ancient crustal growth is to assess the rate at which the process has operated in the recent past. The localized addition rates were found to be comparable to present day global rates. One physical observable that was used to constrain models of crustal growth is sea level. A simple physical model was developed to explore the consequences of constant freeboard (the height of the continents above sea level). Global geoid and sea floor topography data were used to identify and study oceanic plateaus and swells that have either continental crustal roots or anomalously thick ocean crusts.


Heart rate (HR) and left ventricular co ntractility (VC) responses to sympathetic and vagal nerve stimulation were assessed in 15 lambs from < 1 to 3 days of during lactic acidemia, hypercapnia and hypoxemia. These were compared with responses under control conditions. In all experiments supramaximal electrical stimulation of the left inferior cardiac sympathetic nerve produced large increases of VC as measured by the dP/dt max from a given end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) when HR, mean aortic pressure and cardiac output (Medicon) were held constant. With a pH of 7.39 the dp/dt max increased from 3,000 (±155 SE) to 4,244 (±147 SE) mm Hg/sec during stimulation, while the LVEDP fell from 7.3 (±0.73 SE) to 5.8 (±0.79). During acidemia the increase (1,310±159 SE) was unchanged. With hypercapnia (PCO2 69 mm Hg) the responses were less (840 mm Hg/sec) than with low PCO2 (1,300 mm Hg/sec, p<0.01). Responses during hypoxemia (PO2 33 mm Hg) were indentical to those with normal PO2. Cardiac slowing in response to stimulation of the right distal vagus N was measured at several frequencies (F) from 1-15/sec, duration 5msec, and 10-15 V. slowing was a function of F, but was unaltered by changes of PO2, PCO2 of pH up to an F of 10/sec. At F 15 the bradycardia was often enhanced by hypercapnia. It is co ncluded that hypoxemia and lactic acidemia do not alter adrenergic (A) or cholinergic (C) transmission, but that hypercapnic acidosis may reduce A, and enhance C during maximal stimulation. This suggests a mechanism whereby autonomic control of the heart may be altered in neonatal asphyxia.


This research aims to examine how students, teachers and parents in Korea perceive the needs and concerns about integrating mobile applications to support science learning in schools. The sample includes 632 students, 68 teachers and 141 parents from 11 primary schools. Results reveal some important implications regarding users' acceptance of mobile applications for teaching and learning. First, the majority of students did not frequently access and use mobile devices, which might be associated with the school policy to ban or limit the use of mobile devices in the classroom. Second, the teacher group was the most conservative in their perceptions toward integrating mobile applications in science education. Lastly, there was a clear pattern observed in users' perceptions about science topics that are relevant or irrelevant in integrating mobile applications. This study provides important insights about how the three distinctive groups perceive the role of mobile applications in science education.


strong sulfuric acid solutions, and can be measured by a fluorometer.1) Gotelli et al.2) and Shihabi et al.3) have used high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to separate fluorescent derivatives, and have measured cortisol levels in serum and urine. Since the sulfuric acid-induced fluorescence is unstable, it is necessary to inject the reaction mixture into HPLC immediately after the formation of fluorescent derivatives is completed. The difficulty in timing the manual injection of the sample may be eliminated if an automated procedure is used for the sulfuric acid reaction and sampling in HPLC. For this purpose, we tried to develop a post-label HPLC method in which the steroids are first separated by HPLC and then changed to fluorescent compounds by an automated procedure. Heparinized plasma (0.5 ml) or whole saliva (2 ml) was extracted with 15 ml


The purpose of this study is to develop a questionnaire for determining aura life colours and test the reliability of the developed 'Aura Life Colour' instrument. Questionnaire was framed from 7 aura colours consisted of 91 questions grouped under 5 components based on previous work and literatures, which are spiritual, psychological, physical, interpersonal attraction and interpersonal communication, such that each component consists of questions from all the seven colours. Data from 104 respondents was drawn from four prominent service sectors in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (India), which are Academic, Banking, Hospital and Spiritual Centers. Respondents gave suggestions to change ambiguous, lengthy, sensitive and intimate questions. It was found that the questions, which were suggested for change, were identified to have negative or low CITC values. These questions were modified for the main study. 'Aura Life Colour Questionnaire' developed from the study has its application in research to determine every individual's 'Aura Life Colour'. In an industry, the tool helps Human Resource managers to determine employees 'Aura Life Colour' and enhance the effectiveness of individual's performance.


Hyperspectral imaging is an important technology for the detection of surface and buried land mines from an airborne platform. For this reason, hyperspectral was included in the two experiments that were executed by the Army RDECOM Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) in Fall 2002 and in Spring 2003. The purpose of these experiments was to bring together a wide variety of airborne sensors for the detection of mines, with well ground-truthed targets. The hyperspectral sensors included the Airborne Hyperspectral Imager (AHI), a University of Hawaii LWIR HSI sensor and the Compact Airborne Spectral Sensor (COMPASS), an NVESD VNIR/SWIR sensor. These experiments were carried out at sites where an extensive array of buried and surface mines were deployed. At the first experiment called Forest Fusion I, the mines were deployed against several different backgrounds ranging from bare dirt to long grass. For the second experiment, called Desert Fusion, the mines were placed on backgrounds ranging from loose sand to mixed sand and vegetation. The COMPASS and AHI sensors were both placed on the Twin Otter aircraft, and data was collected with the airplane at a variety of altitudes. In this paper, the data collected on surface mines are reviewed, and specific examples from each background type presented. Spectral detection algorithms are applied to the data and the results of the algorithm processing are presented


Power series are derived with which, given data on the electric field, the focal properties of some common electron lenses can be quickly computed even when the speed of the electrons approaches that of light. The expansion is in powers of the ratio of the P.D. across the lens to the sum of the P.D.'s between its electrodes and the cathode (for electrons) or anode (for positive ions), squares of this ratio being neglected in comparison with unity. As an example the focusing properties of two cylinders almost in contact are calculated.


In a recent paper1 we presented a data structure to be used with multigrid techniques on non-homogeneously refined FEM meshes. This paper focuses on the adaptive refinement techniques used there. The error estimate is obtained from standard Taylor series. For each element we compute its efficiency in terms of the size, the norm of the second derivatives of the unknown and the parameter p, where Lp is the chosen norm. The way the norm influences the optimal mesh is studied. The number of elements to be refined at each step is such to produce a fast convergence to the optimal mesh, followed by successive homogeneous refinements. We hope that the analysis of these two subjects could be of value for people working with other (perhaps very dissimilar) adaptive refinement techniques (error estimate and data structure, for instance).


The 200 words were bandpass filtered separately through 10 adjacent half‐octave conditions ranging from 210–297 Hz to 4709–6660 Hz. A separate group of eight normal‐hearing adults judged each condition at a most‐comfortable‐loudness level. As expected, significantly higher intelligibility scores were obtained for the conditions 1177–1665 Hz and 1682–2378 Hz. Eighty‐five (42%) of the 200 words achieved a score of 50% or greater for at least one of the conditions. These 85 words were assigned "tonality" (frequency) regions of low, low‐middle, middle, middle‐high, or high. The percent of words for each region was 2%, 11%, 69%, 17%, and 1%, respectively. The phonetic content of the words for each tonality will be discussed. The total intelligibility of each of the 200 words was computed across the 10 conditions. Fifty‐one words (26%) had a total intelligibility score greater than 10%, 127 words (63%) had a score of between 1% and 9%, and 22 words (11%) had a score of 0%.


Background: Lipodystrophy constitutes a spectrum of diseases characterized by generalized or partial absence of adipose tissue. Underscoring the role of healthy fat in maintenance of metabolic homeostasis, fat deficiency in lipodystrophy typically leads to metabolic disturbances including insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridemia and ectopic fat accumulation. While rare recent genetic studies indicate that lipodystrophy is more prevalent than has been previously thought, suggesting underdiagnosis in clinical practice. Aims and Objectives: The present case series highlights the spectrum of lipodystrophy syndromes, clinical profile and complications. Case Details C1 & C2 who wer 28 yr & 26 yr female siblings presented with neck swelling, double chin appearance, loss of fat in extremities and not gaining weight, inspite of increased appetite. History of father having CAD mortality at 30 yr age. C3: 22 y/o female came with c/o oligomenorrhea, polyuria, polydipsia. On examination generalized loss of body fat was present. C4: 20 y/o female presented with c/o generalized fat loss, hirsutism, muscular appearance, polyuria and polydipsia. On evaluation of C1 & C2 a clinical diagnosis of Familial Partial lipodystrophy was made. Investigations revealed Prediabetes and Hypertriglyceridemia. C3 & C4 were clinically diagnosed as Congenital Generalized Lipodystrophy. Investigations revealed T2DM, PCOS, Hypertriglyceridemia which were appropriately managed. Conclusion: The aetiology and clinical features of lipodystrophy are variable. Awareness and early recognition in these cases is necessary for optimal management of the patient.


Background: Poor eating habits are an important public health issue that has large health and economic implications. There are other outcomes of food choice and nutrition that also have an independent effect on health including some types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. For these reasons, food selection is an important consumer behavior with many long-term consequences to the individual in the form of health and longevity and to society in the form of health costs. This study aimed to determine factors affecting the decision to choose healthy food among junior high school students in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. Subjects and Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted at Islamic junior high state school Plus Nurul Iman Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara on November to December 2016. A total sample of 127 students was selected for this study by simple random sampling. The dependent variable was the decision to choose healthy snacks. The independent variables were knowledge, attitude, practice, maternal education, student allowance, exposure to advertisement, and peer influence. The data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed by a multiple logistic regression. Results : Good knowledge (OR= 2.09; 95% CI= 1.32 to 3.13; p= 0.003), positive attitude (OR= 1.29; 95% CI= 1.32 to 2.13; p=0.031), good practice (OR= 1.8; 95% CI= 1.32 to 5.13; p= 0.016), exposure to advertisement (OR= 1.79; 95% CI= 1.32 to 3.13; p= 0.033), and peer influence (OR= 2.79; 95% CI= 1.32 to 3.43; p= 0.023) were associated with the decision to choose healthy snacks. Conclusion: Good knowledge, positive attitude, habit, exposure to advertisement, and peer influence, are associated with the decision to choose healthy snacks.


Reviews selected issues involved in the deployment of intranets, with particular reference to those that have stimulated the development and adoption of corporate portal applications. Notes a questionnaire survey, conducted by Enterprise LSE, of 145 UK departments and agencies in late 1999 (report available from www.governmentonline.org), which showed that many intranets were not yielding the anticipated benefits. Discusses the genesis of corporate portals and lists the main features that these should include in terms of: content; communication; collaboration; customization; and currency. Notes the emergence of collaborative portal companies, business intelligence applications vendors, enterprise information/corporate portal (EIP) vendors, portal framework vendors, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors. Describes the issues to be considered when selecting a corporate portal solution, including: product functionalities; pre-sales; costs; external source integration; and the impact on the provision of business information. Corporate portal vendors are becoming aware of the importance of providing effective integration, but may well decide to work with a selected number of vendors to reduce the technical integration issues. Concludes that, although corporate portal applications have been marketed for a couple of years, they are still in their infancy. Business information managers must make an effort to understanding the technology and benefits of corporate portal applications.


This paper discusses the correlational relationship between three very important concepts in business and entrepreneurship arena. Prior to the concept of entrepreneurship as a way out of the current global economic crises, people easily get admission into higher institutions after their secondary education. On completion, they are assured of an already made job with a car and free accommodation with other relevant facilities. Then, the demand for human capital was much more than supply. But as time goes on, graduate started having problem with getting job on graduation. People who are flexible in thought and reasoning started adjusting but those who are not realistic with the changing trends in the national and international business environment kept on waiting for non-existing jobs in the government establishments believing that one day government would give them job whether there are job vacancies or not. Some did succeed but many did not and this still pervades the environment till date. In view of the above, this paper looks at the possibility of solving the problem by finding a supposedly missing link between attitudinal change, power of thought and entrepreneurship.


This paper deals with the free vibration behavior of anisotropic laminated angle-ply non-circular cylindrical shells using finite element approach. The formulation is based on first-order shear deformation theory. A detailed study is carried out to highlight the effects of lap-up and ply-angle on the natural frequencies pertaining to different types of modes of vibrations of simply supported non-circular shell structures.


The anisotropy field of permanent magnets base on the formula Sm 2 (Co 0.725 Fe 0.2 Cu 0.055 Zr 0.02 ) 17 was measured in pulsed fields in the temperature range of 150K to 300K. The temperature dependence of the anisotropy field is influenced by the aging temperature. A comparison of the magnetic data as obtained in a pulsed field with that measured in a static field showed the reliability of the pulsed field technique. The calibration problems, however, are not yet satisfactorily solved. The thermal expansion of a SmCo 5 magnet is characteristically different from that of a 2/17-based magnet. Therefore thermal expansion measurements between 4.2K and 300K are used to distinguish the 1/5 phase from the 2/17 phase.


The purposes of this study were to report on a systematic approach to validating a Spanish version of the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale and then to apply the scale in a cross-national comparison of principal instructional leadership. The study yielded a validated Spanish language version of the PIMRS Teacher Form and offers a model of scale validation for other scholars who are interested in preparing an instrument for use outside of its culture of origin. The researchers used a back translation and expert panel procedure combined with psychometric analysis in order to achieve cultural equivalency for the translation. Psychometric properties of reliability (G Theory test of reliability) and validity (CFA, Rasch analysis) of the new version were assessed and compared to the original version in order to underpin its validity. The validation study employed a sample of 595 teachers and 26 principals in Santiago, Chile. The study yielded both a comprehensive analytical approach to cultural adaptation of survey instruments, as well a scale that can be used in Spanish speaking contexts. The study further demonstrated variability in patterns of instructional leadership practice across several national contexts.


In my thesis I want to compare CASE tools used primarily in Business Analysis. These tools allow user to create models of processes or systems (which may be very huge in accordance with enormous systems of banks or telecommunication companies), and in accordance with UML (Unified Modeling Language of business analysis) illustratively suggest the solution which may be well-understood by TOP Management as also by developers or testers, who physically create the solution. Thanks to these tools the comprehensible communication among parties involved in development process is successfully reached.


A new chelating resin, 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone loaded XAD-4, was synthesized and characterized by FT-IR and elemental analyses. The synthesized resin was used for solid phase extraction (SPE) and preconcentration of Cu 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Pb 2+ from aqueous solution, where the metal ions were subsequently determined by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). The optimum pH for preconcentration and separation of these metal ions was found to be 6.00. Optimum flow rate for quantitative sorption of the metal ions on functionalized resin was found to be 1 mL/min whereas 2 M nitric acid was selected as the eluent for quantitative release of the three metal ions from the resin column. The maximum adsorption capacity of the functionalized resin was found to be 3.5, 6.1, and 11.26 mg/g for Cu 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Pb 2+ , respectively. The detection limits for these metal ions are 0.87, 0.95, and 1.09 µg/L, respectively and limits of quantification are 1.12, 1.29, and 1.16 µg/L, respectively. The sorption half time (t1/2) was found to be 6 min for Cu 2+ and Cd 2+ and 8 min for Pb 2+ . Tolerance limits for various foreign electrolytes have also been investigated. A high preconcentration factor (~100) and low relative standard deviation ≤ 5% (n=3) values were obtained. Under optimum conditions, recovery of all metal ions was found to be nearly quantitative. The validation of the procedure was carried out by analysis of certified reference materials. The functionalized resin is highly stable and can be reused more than 100 times. The newly developed method was applied to the separation, preconcentration and determination of Cu 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Pb 2+ in tea leaves


A variety of laboratory tests are used in the evaluation of hepatic patients. Serum cholinesterase is reduced in liver dysfunction in contrast to other enzymes. Liver is the main source of Pseudocholinesterase. A comparative study of Pseudocholinesterase along with other relevant liver function test parameters were investigated in different hepatic disorders in present study. The present study was designed to compared the levels of the serum cholinestearse with convectional liver functions tests to determine whether the single estimation of serum CHE level can help to distiniguish hepatic disease from nonhepatic diseases. Total 100 subjects of both sex with age ranged from 15 to 65 years were selected for the study. All the subjects were then divided into two groups, 50 hepatic diseases subjects and 50 nonhepatic diseases subjects. Then liver function tests were evaluated by estimating comprising total billirubin, direct billirubin, indirect billirubin total plasma protein, albumin, globulin serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, serum alkaline phosphatases and Serum cholinesterase of both the groups. In this study all the parameters show highly significant changes in hepatic diseased as compared to non hepatic diseased group. (p< 0.001). Serum cholinesterase values were significantly lowers in hepatic disease patients and mean ± SD value was 10.81±2.74KU/L as compared to non hepatic diseased patients (23.56±2.41). Data present study clearly states that serum cholinesterase activity alone can be useful to differentiate liver diseases from nonliver diseases. It is cost effective as compared to conventional liver function tests whenever there is need to excluded liver involvement.


Tetrazolo[1,5-a]quinoxaline-5-oxide 4 reacts with the carbanions of β-diketones and β-keto esters to give enaminoketones and enamino esters, respectively. The N-oxide 4 reacts with 3-methyl- and 3-ethyl-pentane-2,4-dione under similar conditions to give a racemic mixture of the derivatives of aziridinotetrazoloquinoxaline 10 and 11. Their structure and the trans configuration of hydrogen atom and methyl group on the aziridine ring of compound 10 were estimated by means of 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy, and were in accord with the results of X-ray diffraction measurements, which also provided bond lengths, and valence, torsion, and dihedral angles.


It analyzed the connotation and significance of Naxi Dongba text as the only alive hieroglyphs still in the world,discussed the unique artistic aesthetic feeling of Dongba text and analyzed the values embodiment of Dongba text in the ethnic product design.On this basis,based on the modern design concept,using formal beauty of text,features of figurative beauty,text and graphics complementary,give product unique individual character,give consumers perfect visual image and make them more effectively spread packaging information.Meanwhile do modern national supplies design speciality and fashionalization of area.


The design and construction of an upgraded HF quarter-wavelength two-dipole active array with 90° difference feed was implemented in the course of a research project to perform a directional (azimuthal) investigation of interference at HF. The lack of affordable compact antennas to meet the project requirements was the incentive to develop a compact unidirectional antenna, with the maximum possible front-to-back ratio at frequencies of 20–30 MHz, where the dimensions of traditional passive antennas are enormous. By installing a low-noise very-high-input impedance amplifier in each dipole of the array, the effect of the mutual coupling between the two dipoles was reduced, improving the front-to-back (F/B) ratio over a wide frequency range. Electronic steering, easy polarization adjustment, and fast and easy deployment were the key requirements for the construction of the antenna. Therefore, a light and compact design was of the utmost importance to meet the space limitations at the monitoring site, which did not allow the deployment of a traditional HF directional antenna that employs a very long boom and elements.


We introduce a novel application of optical reflectance spectroscopy to detect positive surgical margins for prostate adenocarcinoma during laparoscopic prostatectomy to monitor hemodynamic and light scattering changes.


Although studies of the role of mammalian liver cytochrome P-450 in the microsomal mixed-function oxidase-catalysed activation of porphyrogens have been instrumental in the development of the concept of feedback regulation of 5-aminolaevulinate synthase (EC 188.8.131.52) synthesis (see De Matteis, 1975, 1978), there is now sufficient evidence to question the widely held view that the haem moiety of this major haemoprotein participates in the above regulatory process. The following is a summary of this evidence. The marked enhancement of 5-aminolaevulinate synthase activity caused by the porphyrogen 2-allyl-2-isopropylacetamide, which is produced as a result of the initial loss of liver haem, is not potentiated by joint administration of phenobarbitone, despite the ability of the latter agent to potentiate the above loss of cytochrome P-450 haem (De Matteis, 1971). By contrast, phenylbutazone is capable of potentiating the enhancement of synthase activity by the porphyrogen 3,5-diethoxycarbonyl1,4-dihydrocollidine without causing a further early loss of cytochrome P-450 haem above that produced by this latter porphyrogen (De Matteis & Gibbs, 1972). Cytochrome P-450 and other hepatic cytochromes and haemoproteins (except tryptophan pyrrolase, EC 1.13.1 1.1 1) are insensitive to administered 5-aminolaevulinate, despite the concomitant repression of synthase synthesis (Druyan & Kelly, 1972). The diminished ability of 2-allyl-2-isopropylacetamide to enhance markedly synthase activity in the liver of the adrenalectomized (and/or ovariectomized) rat, and the ability of cortisol to exert its permissive effect on this enhancement in these rats, are observed in the absence of any changes in cytochrome P-450 haem (Padmanaban et al., 1973). Synthase activity is enhanced by acute administration of hexachlorobiphenyls and by chronic treatment with the organophosphate insecticide fenitrothion in the absence of any loss of cytochrome P-450 (Yoshida et al., 1975; Goldstein et al., 1976). Enhancement of synthase activity by small doses of 2-allyl-2-isopropylacetamide is not associated with changes in cytochrome P-450 haem (Klinger & Muller, 1980). There is no consistent correlation between the decrease in cytochrome P-450 concentration and the enhancement of synthase activity in rats treated with iron-dextran (Bonkowsky et al., 1981). Phenobarbitone causes a prompt enhancement of synthase activity (in chick embryos in ovo and in cultured hepatocytes) without any measurable initial destruction of cytochrome P-450 haem (Giger & Meyer, 1981). The impaired ability of 2-allyl-2isopropylacetamide to enhance synthase activity in pregnant rats is not associated with impaired destruction of cytochrome P-450 haem (Sardana etal., 1981). Many of the above findings are in marked contrast with the reported response of tryptophan pyrrolase haem (Badawy, 1978, 1979; Badawy & Morgan, 1980; Morgan & Badawy, 1980). It is therefore proposed that the mammalian liver regulatory-haem pool is not utilized by cytochrome P-450, but may be closely associated with tryptophan pyrrolase in the cytosol compartment. Evidence supporting this latter suggestion will be presented in a future publication.


Abstract The Spanish version of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) has enjoyed widespread use in many clinical and research studies since its introduction. However, there are no normative data available for this test, and the original English language order of presentation is maintained. The purpose of this study was to collect normative information in Buenos Aires and to evaluate age and education effects for the BNT. We studied 200 independent healthy controls between 30 and 82 years of age. No subjects had any history of neurological or psychiatric disorders or alcohol abuse. Neuropsychological evaluation included the Mini-Mental State Examination, Signoret Memory Battery, Serial Frontal Test, Phonologic and Semantic Fluency Test, and Hamilton Depression Scale. The Spanish version of the Boston Naming Test was administered according to the standard protocol. We observed that naming abilities remain generally intact throughout advancing age. Results on the BNT were significantly correlated with education (p<....


For effectual analysis and diagnosis of medical images, image deblurring is the essential step. While acquiring, medical images usually get corrupted by noise and blur. The paper aims to improve the clarity and quality of blurred and noisy MRI (Magnetic Resonance Image) due to various causes such as Gaussian blurring, out of focus blur, motion artifacts, turbulence, and etc. Several procedures are available for denoising and deblurring image, but they lack uniqueness. Blind and non-blind deconvolution is utilized in this work to restore the original uncorrupted image. Deconvolution algorithms are analyzed both theoretically and experimentally for deblurring of MRI images. The performance evaluation is conducted using PSNR (Peak Signal to Noise Ratio), SNR (Signal to Noise Ratio) and MSE (Mean Square Error) on the basics of all the above mentioned parameters it was inferred that blind deconvolution algorithm produced more accurate result both analytically and experimentally.


This scientific article aims to describe the communication strategies currently used in sports journalism, also making a comparison with those used in the past. For this, the most widely used and / or widely accepted means of communication to promote sport were identified; as well as the style of the most outstanding sports narrators in the city of Guayaquil, especially, and some national references were described. The methodology was descriptive and documentary type, reviewing scientific articles, bibliographic texts and electronic media, such as news portals, blog, web pages and social networks. The information collected allows us to affirm that the sports journalism that is carried out in these times is characterized by making use of the show or show to differentiate oneself from other narrators, when compared to the style of the narrators of 20 or 30 years ago, those of today They demonstrate a lack of professionalism and little knowledge of cultural and social issues, in addition to showing a hint of reading and general culture. Current communication strategies highlight sport as a lucrative spectacle, beyond the importance of this discipline in the human and social development of a country.


The problem of freshwater deficit in the last decade has progressed, not only in Africa or Asia, but also in European countries. One of the possible solutions is to obtain freshwater from drifting icebergs. The towing of large icebergs is the topic analyzed in various freshwater supply projects conducted in different zone-specific regions of the world. These projects show general effects of iceberg transport efficiency but do not present a detailed methodology for the calculation of their mass losses. The aim of this article is to develop the methodology to calculate the mass losses of icebergs transported on a selected route. A multi-agent simulation was used, and the numerical model to estimate the melting rate of the iceberg during its energy-efficient towing was developed. Moreover, the effect of towing speed on the iceberg's mass loss was determined. It was stated that the maximum use of ocean currents, despite longer route and increased transport time, allows for energy-efficient transport of the iceberg. The optimal towing speed of the iceberg on the selected route was recommended at the range of 0.4–1 m/s. The achieved results may be of interest to institutions responsible for sustainable development and dealing with water resources and freshwater supply.


Post-mortem spermatozoa recovery is an important technique for obtaining germplasm reservesfrom genetically valuable animals or endangered species. The purpose of this study was to studywhether ram spermatozoa within epididymides stored at 4o C for 24 and 48 h remain their motility andviability. The characteristic of ram epididymal spermatozoa after freezing and thawing was alsoobserved. Six pairs of ram testes with attached epididymides were used in this study. The motility ofcontrol spermatozoa was well maintained throughout the dilution procedure (83.3±1.1, 80±1.3, and80±1.3% for collection, Niwa and Sasaki freezing -1 extender (NSF-1 and NSF-2 groups respectively);but declined (P<0.05) after freezing and thawing (38.3±3.1%). Motile and viable spermatozoa could berecovered from epididymides up to 48 h of storage, although their quality declined significantly(P<0.05) as post-mortem storage time increased (motility: 83±1.2, 67±3.0, and 46±5.1; viability:84.2±2.4, 73±2.8, and 66.6±2.6 % for control, 24 h and 48 h group respectively). These data indicatethat ram epididymides could be stored at 4o C for 48 h when epididymal spermatozoa cannot beimmmediately collected and cryopreserved. These storage conditions might be possible to use forepididymal sperm recovery in wild ruminants.


Objective To investigate the treating effect and changes of cardiac function and brain natriuretic polypeptide in patient with coronary heart disease complicating heart failure.Method A total of 66 coronary heart disease with heart failure were randomly divided into two groups,treatment group(33 cases) and control group(33 cases).The control group were received medication of digoxin,Diuretics,βblockers and ACEI or ARB.The treatment group were treated with TanshinoneⅡA Sodium Sulfonate in addition for 15 days,the heart funciton and brain natriuretic polypeptide,left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF) and left ventricular internal dimension at end-diastole(LVEDd) were measured before and after treatment.Results Improved heart function and decreased BNP level were seen in both groups,There were more improvements in the treatment group than that in the control group The difference was statistically significant(P 0.05).Conclusion Treating the coronary heart disease with heart failure with Tanshinone Ⅱ A Sodium Sulfonate combined routine therapy can markedly improve the heart function parameters and the clinical effect and decrease the plasma BNP.


Special topic teaching is a new teaching method in which some common characteristics of diseases are gathered to form lecture topics and these lecture topics are immportant clues that guide students' learning. This new teaching method is quite different from traditional teaching in which students are taught to learn diseases one by one. By applying this method, students were instructed not only the basic knowledge of topic-related diseases, but clinical thinking as well. Theoretical learning and practical application were emphasized equally in special topic teaching. In our experience, special topic teaching was superior to traditional teaching of lemology and suitable for the teaching of the science of infectious diseases.


The present invention relates to a process for the production of biperiden, 1- (bicyclo [2.2.1] hept-5-en-2-yl) -3-piperidino-1-propanone exo / endo mixture of the exo pair endo at least 2.5 isomer ratio: 1 to reacted with diphenyl magnesium, thereby to obtain an isomer mixture containing biperiden, characterized in that to produce the biperiden from the resulting isomer mixture.