The study reveals the issue of studying the physical development and a somatotype of a child to develop a methodology for initial swimming training in open water bodies. The following methods are used in the work: analysis and generalization of literary sources, medical-biological methods (anthropometric), pedagogical observation, methods of mathematical statistics with using «Excel 2000». The buoyancy of primary school children was diagnosed in real conditions of swimming training lessons with two tests: horizontal and vertical. The survey sample consisted of children aged 8–9, out of which there were 15 girls and 14 boys. They were at «Swimming school» in Kherson during June 2016. All children were able to swim. An individual assessment of the degree of anthropometric development indicators using centimetric tables revealed that children with an average level of physical development predominated in two sexually active age groups, but there was a significant percentage of children with a low level of physical development. In the course of the study, it was discovered that boys and girls of hypersthenic somatotype had high level in two exercises; children of primary school age of normostenic and asthenic somatotype had less buoyancy. The analyzed values of the correlation coefficients indicated that there was an insignificant connection between height and buoyancy.  The study observed the relationship between the indicators of body weight and the result of buoyancy test. The most significant relationship wass between the result of the chest volume and the result of the buoyancy tests.


In this paper we describe a new experimental facility at the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech that will allow realistic testing of spacecraft autonomous rendezvous and docking (ARD) maneuvers. The previous 3-DOF Integrated Attitude Control System (IACS) was modified and upgraded to a new 5-DOF Spacecraft Simulator for Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (SSARD) facility by adding two translational degrees of freedom. Integration of on-board cameras and a ceiling-mounted camera, along with 2D and 3D laser scanners will allow vision-based, autonomous rendezvous and docking research. We describe the specifications of both the upper and lower stages of the new experimental platform, as well as the supporting facilities (experimental arena, control room, air filling system). We also provide an overview of a real-time simulation/visualization environment, developed in MATLAB/VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) that enables rapid prototyping, validation and testing of ARD control algorithms. Finally, we provide the details of an accurate and drift-free algorithm to calibrate attitude measurements using a single camera and a cross-shaped laser module.


The effects of a substrate bias voltage V<inf>s</inf> applied during reactive sputtering of CoN<inf>x</inf> films, and of the N<inf>2</inf> partial pressure fraction r, on the perpendicular magnetization properties of the films were investigated. Appropriate choice of r and V<inf>s</inf> enable fabrication of perpendicular magnetization films (H<inf>k¿</inf> ≫ 4¿M<inf>s</inf>); and the higher the input power and smaller the substrate-target distance, the gentler the changes in film magnetic properties with r and V<inf>s</inf>.


Objective To determine whether basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF)could delay the process of denervated skeletal muscle atrophy.Methods The model of denervated skeletal muscle atrophy in rat left hindlimb was established.A total of 28 rats were divided into 2 groups(n =14 each group).Membrane containing bFGF and empty membrane were put into the denervated gastrocnemius in groups A and B,respectively.Histological examination,measurement of the muscle weight,actin content,number and diameter of the muscle fiber,and electromyography were performed 30 days after the operation.Results There were significant differences in the number of muscle fiber,diamter of the muscle fiber,muscle weight,content of actin,and fibrillation potential amplitude between groups A and B(number of the muslce fiber,15.8±3.4 vs 11.8±3.4;diameter of the muscle fiber,16.575 0±3.819 2 vs 10.675 0±4.676 0 μm;msucle weight,1.690 7± 0.422 9 vs 0.932 0±0.088 5 g;actin content,451.124 11±47.131 6 vs 378.212 5±71.656 8;fibrillation potential amplitude,0.194 5±0.042 0 vs 0.155 2±0.060 3 μV;all P 0.05).Conclusion bFGF could delay the process of denervated skeletal muscle atrophy.


In the article, a theoretical analysis of some aspects of the methodology for assessing the economic sustainability of industrial enterprises is proposed; the approaches of various authors to the subject are analyzed, and a new interpretation of this concept is offered. The author has developed an innovative model for assessing the economic sustainability of industrial enterprises based on the method of integrated differential equations with the transformation of individual factors in relation to their sum, using coefficient methods for the financial indicators of an industrial enterprise, taking into account the constituent factors that show the level of influence on the economic sustainability of an industrial enterprise. The model has been tested on the basis of industrial enterprises of the Republic of Uzbekistan and can be used for calculating the economic efficiency of industrial enterprises.


Since the invention of Friction Stir Welding (FSW) in 1991, an increasing number of successful applications have been found for this unique solid-state welding technique. More recently, attention has been given to utilizing the mechanics of friction stirring to thermo-mechanically modify the microstructure of aluminum alloys to create or enhance superplasticity. Until now, superplasticity induced by friction stir processing (FSP) has only been demonstrated in small samples and evaluated by hot tensile elongation testing. The present work describes what we believe to be the first biaxial testing and full size component superplastic forming of friction stir processed aluminum sheet. The remarkable formability demonstrated in these 'first time' trials is described in detail.


Blackburn Magistrates' Court is one of the first to try a problem-solving approach to work with young offenders in an effort to improve their wellbeing and cut reoffending rates. Jo Stephenson investigates


This thesis describes syntheses and characterization of star-like amphiphilic block copolymers consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as the hydrophilic block,polycarbonate as the hydrophobic bl ...


The top design is the manifestation of development strategy in time and space area,and also an overall design for development roadmap.It not only depends on technology but also ideas which make it as a blueprint between strategic intentions and practice.The ability decomposition methods,develop-ment roadmap methods,System of Systems(SoS) structure methods and Risk matrix methods which are appropriate for the top design of informatization construction in the military are described and analyzed.


This chapter discusses the internal ratings-based approach (IRB). The IRB permits a bank to use its internal models to derive risk weights for particular exposures. There are two available bases for the IRB: foundation (F-IRB), which permits the bank to model Probability of Default (PD), but relies on regulatory standard figures to determine Loss Given Default (LGD) and Exposure at Default (EAD); and advanced (A-IRB), in which all three of these are modelled. The A-IRB IRB approach models PD, LGD, EAD, and M. Both IRB approaches model both expected loss (EL) and unexpected loss (UL), and IRB banks are expected to recognise the EL derived from their models in their capital calculations. Consequently, a bank using an IRB approach will generally have a different total capital level from that which it would have if it were an SA bank.


ABSTRACT A qualitative study explores the motivations that underlie quilters' passion for their hobby and their strategic ramifications for bolstering faltering retailers. The researchers joined "passport"-carrying quilters and conducted interviews at several stores participating in a "Shop Hop" in Southeastern United States. Responses revealed the interviewees were driven by affective, altruistic, cognitive, creative, esteem, historical, health, social, and utilitarian motivations. Marketing strategies appealing to the identified motivations are proposed to aid retailers challenged by current market conditions.


The reference radiation fields for calibration of survey meter of the Secondary Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL) is gamma ray from Cesium-137 radioactive source with an ambient dose equivalent rate (H*(10)) of 1849.82 μSv/h. It is necessary to establish other dose rate to cover measurable ranges of survey meters. These measurable ranges are as follow, 3000, 2000, 1000, 500, 300, 200, 100, 50, 30, 20, 10 and 5 μSv/h. A new shielding box made of lead was designed with a special window. The window could be shielded by different lead thickness. Thus, dose from the window could be controlled. The appropriate dose measured by survey meter is said to be about 30% to 70 % of full scale. This approximation gave rise to thicknesses of lead sheet in a series as follow, 2, 6, 12, 18, 22, 26, 32, 40, 44, 48, 54 and 60 millimeter. The doses were measured by working standard instrument. The results of H*(10) were found to be 1435.89, 947.21, 496.96, 239.11, 166.71, 99.93, 53.32, 22.99, 14.40, 10.64, 5.43 and 3.44 μSv/h respectively. A measurement uncertainty for calibration was estimated to be 2.0% at confident level of 95%. It is found that gamma radiation fields are appropriate except the 5 μSv/h range. Keywords: Survey meter, gamma, Cesium, H*(10)


ABSTRACT The internet has the potential to reshape consumer buying patterns. Using a survey of 307 internet users, we explore four domains: consumer attitudes, internet experiences, demographics, and personality traits that may potentially influence consumers' online purchasing. Via a series of logistic regression analyses and a correspondence analysis, we identify some important influencers. For instance, we find that those who have frequently requested product information and who are opinion leaders are relatively likely to engage in online purchasing. Managerial implications along with limitations of the study are provided.


Abstract: To better understand the fish fauna of Amazonian streams, we assessed small streams in a landscape of forest fragments and savannah in the region of the lower Tapajós River, Brazil. We sampled the fish fauna using a well-tested active capture method during two dry seasons (October 2006 and 2018) and one rainy season (March to May 2018). Species richness was calculated using an abundance matrix and first-order jackknife estimator. Using qualitative and quantitative data, we present a cluster analysis in which each stream corresponds to a sampling unit. We collected 6,094 individuals of 43 species distributed in six orders. The sampling effort represents 73% of the estimated richness (58.69 ± 7.65). The most abundant species were Copella nattereri, Iguanodectes variatus and Laimosemion dibaphus that together represent almost half of the total sample (48.7%). The most frequent species were Aequidens epae, Helogenes marmoratus and Laimosemion dibaphus, which were collected in 11 of the 13 sampled streams. This is the first fish fauna list for small-order streams of savannah and forest fragments landscape in Amazonian Brazil. The richness of fish and the presence of many rare species underscore the contribution of small streams to the regional fish fauna composition, even in dynamic and spatially restricted landscapes.


Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important cereal crops in the world. It has higher yield potential than any other cereal and many times it is referred as miracle crop or the queen of cereals. Maize is grown both as food for man and fodder for animal. The area under maize in HP is 292.1 thousand hectares with production of 679.0 thousand tonnes1. In Himachal Pradesh, there is a demand of about 58,840 q of maize seed every year against present supply of 18-20 thousand quintals of hybrids purchased from other states. Farmers have to depend upon alternative sources and use poor quality and costly seeds. One of the prime limiting factors in increasing productivity of this crop is unavailability of quality seed of improved varieties/hybrids. In HP at present, 30-40 % area of maize is covered under different hybrids of which single cross hybrid (SCH) constitutes only 5-7 % and remaining are double or three way cross hybrids. Thus, inadequate supply of quality seed hybrids during sowing season forces farmers to use poor quality seeds which result in 30-40 % reduction in production.


The author discusses preliminary investigation, points to be looked for in inspecting structures, on-site tests, selection of repair method and preparation of structure for repair of the concrete or the reinforcement. The following repair materials and methods are discussed: 1, patches,; 2, poured concrete; 3, dry pack; 4, gunite; 5, cement grouts; 6, epoxy resins; 7, polyester resins; 8, polyvinyl acetates; 9, styrene butadiene rubber (sbr). Patch repairs to pavements are outlined. The method of dealing with cracks where further movement is expected, the BALVAC method of vacuum grouting and fire damage to concrete are also briefly discussed. (TRRL)


Statistically based classification systems need to be trained on a large number of training data in order to classify unseen data accurately. However, it is difficult to gather enough voltage events for the training purpose from real recordings. Therefore, a classification system trained to accurately classify real voltage events, but based on synthetic training data is highly in demand. This paper therefore proposes the design of a statistically based classification system trained on synthetic data. The paper gives also the results of conducted performance tests when the proposed classification system was trained to classify seven common types of voltage events. The experiments showed an overall detection rate of 81.6%, 91.9% and 99.5% respectively.


The signal processing algorithms based on the lagged cross-correlation of probability (LCCP) have been considered very effective in the multipath environment with impulsive and DC noise coexisting in visual light/power line communication (VLC/PLC) systems for energy saving intelligent buildings. To meet the demand for higher data rates and more complicated sensor node configuration, in this paper, performance enhancement methods by employing a normalized step size in the LCCP-based algorithms which are sensitive to the scaling of system input contaminated with impulses and DC noise are proposed through the analysis of the behavior of optimum weight and the role of magnitude controlled input (MCI) on influence of large errors. The normalized LCCP algorithm with the step size normalized with the averaged power of the current MCI shows a faster speed by about 5 times and has a lower minimum mean squared error by about 3 dB than the conventional LCCP algorithm in blind equalization simulation for indoor VLC/PLC channel models.


This article considers the place of Anglo-Norman in nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholarship as caught between two academic solitudes: that of a France mainly interested in a few works that could be assigned high cultural prestige as part of the canon of medieval French literature; and that of an England for the most part concerned to ignore or denigrate Anglo-Norman writing in favour of the (for much of the high Middle Ages more exiguous) tradition of writings in Middle English. As a test case of the benefit of moving beyond nationalizing narratives, the article uses a thirteenth-century Anglo-Norman Compileison. This work is intimately related to an early Middle English guide for recluses, Ancrene Wisse, which played a prominent role in J. R. R. Tolkien's construction of the history of English. The Compileison emerges as a sophisticated rethinking of Ancrene Wisse with the capacity to upset many of our standard notions of the role of Anglo-Norman in early English culture and of the significance of ...


One species of bats,Rhinolophus marshalli,were collected in Bailong Cave, Mile County, Yunnan Province, China, on 8 September, 2003, this was the first record from China.And a total of 7 individuals were collected, but due to the small population of this species in this cave, we remained only one individual to make specimen(male),and others were released after being measured. Diagnosis of this specimen: the internarial spetum forms a large cup-shaped structure, with the sides expanded into "wings", cup-like internarial expansion trapezoid in outline rather than subcircular; sella broad, semicircular above as in R. rex and R. paradoxolophusbut much shorter, its lateral margins originating at the edges of the internarial cup rather than just within them, the lower part of the sella equal in width to the cup for a distance of about 1 mm, above its junction with the cup, the sella then narrowing so that basally the sella has small lateral lobes at this point; the anterior leaf is large, covering most of the upper lip and extending a few mm beyond the muzzle, it has a narrow, deep median anterior cleft; posteriorleaf higher than in R.rex and R.paradoxolophus, more nearly triangular and less rounded; nasal swellings higher, more inflated than in the allied species; infraorbital canal short. The dorsal fur is about 9 mm,in length, the hairs are dark brown, with pale bases; the underparts are smoky grey. The ears are very large and funnel-shaped, with a large antitragus half the length of the ear. Measurements, status, comments on taxonomy and distribution are provided.


Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: First metatarso-phalangeal joint arthrodesis is a common procedure for the treatment of end stage hallux rigidus and other conditions like severe hallux valgus deformity, hallux varus and advanced degenerative disease in association to inflammatory arthropathy. Successful fusions provide pain relief, adequate stability for the first ray during gait at the expense of sacrificing motion. Reported fusion rates range between 90 and 100% (Womack JW 2009). The time to fusion has shown more variability, with reported percentages of fusion ranging between 74 and 92% at 6 weeks (al. 2010). Hallux rigidus is a common arthritic condition affecting the first Metatarso-phalangeal joint. The progressive degenerative changes and limited motion lead to increasing pain and compromise of daily activities. Treatment includes non-surgical measures like NSAIDS, injections, shoe wear and activity modifications. Surgical options include Cheilectomy and proximal phalanx dorsiflexion osteotomies for initial stages, whereas first metatarsophalangeal arthrodesis is the standard of care for hallux rigidus with end stage arthritis. Different means for fixation include kirschner wires, single and crossed screws, staples or plates. The main goal of our study is to retrospectively compare two groups of patients who underwent first MTP fusion with and without lag screw performed by the senior attending, between 2011 and 2015 and evaluate for radiological outcomes including differences in the final coronal and sagittal metatarso phalangeal angles and union rates. Severe hallux valgus and advanced degenerative changes related to inflammatory arthropathy subjected to first metatarsophalangeal arthrodesis using a locking plate construct with or without the use of a lag screw for compression and the main purpose to evaluate differences in postoperative first metatarso phalangeal angles in the sagittal and coronal planes, rate of fusion and postoperative complications. The hypothesis is that there would be no significant differences between groups with and without the compression screw fixation. Methods: A retrospective review comparing patient that underwent first metatarso-phalangeal fusion by a single surgeon (Senior author) between 2011 and 2015 with conical joint preparation and stabilization with a locking plate placed in compression mode or with a lag screw to provide compression followed by placement of a locking plate. Inclusion criteria: age between 18 and 80 years old, end stage first metatarsophalangeal joint in relation to Hallux rigidus, se abscense of toe infection Demographics, Time to fusion, postoperative alignment, and complications were compared between the two groups and subjected to statistical analysis. Results: 98 patients were subjected to 1st MTP arthrodesis between 2011 and 2015. 84 patients met inclusion criteria and were analyzed in our study. Average age was 59 years (38-84). 67.9% female versus 32.1% male. Average Follow up was 7.6 months (min 1.4 – max 37.9) Preoperative HV angles did not show a significant difference between patients subjected to screw fixation and neutralization plate or compression plate. Postoperative HV angles Varied between the groups with and without lag screw in patients with hallux rigidus (p=0.006) in contrast to patients with hallux valgus that showed no variation (p=0.3). Patients with hallux valgus underwent a larger correction of HV angle (mean 20.2 deg) compared to patients with hallux rigidus (mean 5.8 deg) (P < 0.001) No difference found in degree of correction between patients that underwent Lag screw and neutralization plate or no lag screw and Compression plate. The Dorsiflexion angle showed a mean of 26 degrees after 1st MTP fusion in patients with hallux valgus and hallux rigidus, no difference was noted. (P=0.4) The percentage of fusion was lower in patients with hallux valgus and autoimmune disease compared to hallux rigidus and hallux varus. Patients with hallux valgus without lag screw fixation showed the highest non-union rate. Lag screw fixation did not make a difference in the rate of fusion in hallux rigidus (P=0.5). 8.3% of the patients had diabetes and 30% reported tobacco abuse. A 43% nonunion rate was associated to diabetes whereas a 24% nonunion rate was associated to smoking tobacco. Patients with diabetes had a 43% rate of complications. Tobacco was associated with complications in 20% 19% of the patients sustained complications. Highest in patients with autoimmune disease (50%), followed by hallux valgus (25.8%), hallux varus (25%) and hallux rigidus (9.3%) 8 patients had painful hardware, 4 sustained deep infections that required irrigation and debridement with hardware removal, 4 had failure of hardware associated with nonunion and 2 patients sustained superficial wound infections. Conclusion: Final alignment in the coronal (HV angle) or the Sagittal (Dorsiflexion angle) was not dependent on the method of fixation. The Union rates were highest after MTP fusion in patients with hallux rigidus compared to hallux valgus or autoimmune disease. 1st MTP fusion without lag screw showed higher rates of non union amongst patients with Hallux Valgus. No association was noted between Diabetes, Smoking and complications or rates of nonunion. Success of 1st MTP fusions may be related to the quality of preparation and surgical technique rather than the method of fixation. The increased number of no unions in hallux valgus patients may be related to the degree of deformity correction and fixation without lag screw compression although this did not show to be significant. Higher numbers of patients with comorbities like Diabetes and Smoking are needed to show statistically significant differences.


In this work, the influence of the growth conditions in the incorporation of Mg p-type dopant atoms in epitaxial GaAs(100) and (111)B thin films was investigated. Hall effect measurements and photoluminescence spectroscopy were used to investigate the electrical and optical properties of the films, respectively. The doping level varied between 1016 and 1019 cm–3 and increased with the inverse of the growth temperature and with the temperature of the Mg evaporation cell, with similar behavior in both crystal orientations. The analysis of the Mg incorporation at several growth temperatures and Mg arrival rates established a value of Ed(111)B = 1.6 ± 0.1 eV for the thermal desorption activation energy of Mg in the GaAs(111)B, a value 33% higher than for the (100) case. However, when a more realistic incomplete ionization model for the acceptors is considered, the value of the thermal activation energy for desorption of Mg adatoms increases to 2.7 ± 0.8 eV and equals the value for the (100) surface. Two very ...


Integrated circuits sensitive to both total ionizing dose (TID) and displacement damage (DD) effects can exhibit degradation profiles resulting from a combination of degradation mechanisms induced by both effects. This work presents circuit simulations based on experimental data to explain degradation mechanisms induced by combined TID and DD effects on a bipolar IC current source. First, the effect of the degradation of each internal transistor on the circuit's response is evaluated by applying electrical parametric changes. Then simulations are performed from different degradation scenarios based on observed circuit behaviors to reproduce the different TID, DD, and combined TID–DD responses. These simulations show that a synergistic interaction between a current leakage induced by DD on a transistor located in the bandgap reference part with the gain degradation of a current mirror induced by both TID and DD appears to be responsible for the combined TID–DD response. It is also shown that the circuit degradation rate depends on the DDD/TID rate ratios encountered during the exposition.


This study examines the effect of personality on entrepreneurial intention and success. Previous research has focused on why individuals become entrepreneurs and why some are more successful than o...


Agriculture Industry in Malaysia has evolve entirely over the last decade due to the advancement in science and technology in these modern era. Globally, mushroom trade has shown an increasing trend over the last three decades. Nevertheless, Malaysia's mushroom industry had also shown an upward trend recently. Thus, the increasing of mushroom production in Malaysia also has led to the increase of the mushroom waste such as the spent mushroom substrate (SMS). It is estimated that for every kilogram of mushroom grown, about 4 to 5 kg of SMS is being produced. Since the SMS has high potential to be converted to activated carbon (AC) by using the pyrolysis method and chemical activation simultaneously, thus these study is crucial to identify whether it is suitable for the AC derived from these SMS to be used in the daily life or industrial application especially in the waste water treatment as the AC has a very excellent adsorption properties. In order to characterize the AC produce, the Surface area analyzer (BET), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) is use to analyze the AC's properties. It is expected that the AC produce from the SMS is suitable to be use in the industrial waste water treatment and other application since the SMS have high content of carbon compound that can be converted to AC by pyrolysis and chemical activation method.


The Russian economy gradually evolves towards the western model of financing of investment growth. Presence of sources of financing of investments is now odes ths from the main problems in investment activity. In the conditions of transitive economy search of sources of financing of investment business becomes a constant problem of the functioning enterprises.


Introduction Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is an innate immune receptor expressed in immune cells and the heart. Activation of the immune system following myocardial ischemia causes the release of proinflammatory mediators that may negatively influence heart function. Aim The aim of this study is to determine whether TLR4 is activated in peripheral monocytes and heart tissue taken from patients with varying degrees of myocardial dysfunction caused by coronary artery diseases and scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery before 12 months following operation. Methods and Results Patients (n = 44) undergoing CABG surgery having left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 45% ('reduced EF', n = 20) were compared to patients with preserved EF >45% ('preserved EF' group, n = 24). 'Reduced EF' patients exhibited increased TLR4 expression in monocytes (2.78±0.49 vs. 1.76±0.07 rMFI, p = 0.03). Plasma levels of C-reactive protein, microRNA miR-320a, brain natriuretic peptide (pro BNP) and NADPH oxidase (NOX4) were also significantly different between the 'preserved EF' and 'reduced EF'groups. Elevated TLR4 gene expression levels in the right auricle correlated with those of EF (p<0.008), NOX4 (p<0.008) and miR320, (p<0.04). In contrast, no differences were observed in peripheral monocyte TLR2 expression. After CABG surgery, monocyte TLR4 expression decreased in all patients, reaching statistical significance in the 'reduced EF' group. Conclusion TLR4 is activated in peripheral monocytes and heart tissue obtained from patients with ischemic heart disease and reduced left ventricular function. Coronary revascularization decreases TLR4 expression. We therefore propose that TLR4 plays a pathogenic role and may serve as an additional marker of ischemic myocardial dysfunction.


Light‐emitting diodes exhibiting efficient pure‐white‐light electroluminescence have been successfully developed by using a single polymer: polyfluorene derivatives with 1,8‐naphthalimide chromophores chemically doped onto the polyfluorene backbones. By adjusting the emission wavelength of the 1,8‐naphthalimide components and optimizing the relative content of 1,8‐naphthalimide derivatives in the resulting polymers, white‐light electroluminescence from a single polymer, as opposed to a polymer blend, has been obtained in a device with a configuration of indium tin oxide/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)(50 nm)/polymer(80 nm)/Ca(10 nm)/Al(100 nm). The device exhibits Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage coordinates of (0.32,0.36), a maximum brightness of 11 900 cd m–2, a current efficiency of 3.8 cd A–1, a power efficiency of 2.0 lm W–1, an external quantum efficiency of 1.50 %, and quite stable color coordinates at different driving voltages, even at high luminances of over 5000 cd m–2.


To deal with the high volume of traffic in the historic city center of Karlsruhe (Germany), the track system of the historic surface tram is moved underground.First, seven underground stations are built, which are then connected by using a tunnel boring machine for excavation of the tracks. While the traffic continues on the surface, the new underground stations are being built in sections using the dig-and-cast construction method. Due to the high ground water level bore piles and diaphragm walls of reinforced concrete / concrete cut-off wall are used as excavation pit shoring. A grouted sealing blanket made using jet grouting processes serves as horizontal blanket.The cover is made while the traffic continues overhead, to this end traffic routing of road and tram traffic is altered in several stages of construction. The subsequent removal of the soil is realized via this newly created tunnel system – this way no truck traffic has to pass through the city center.The construction is a challenge to permit a limitation of the deformations in relation to the settlement of the immediately adjacent historic buildings and also in the logistics of the construction while keeping the traffic above ground running.


The surface brightness distributions of several extragalactic sources were measured. Results for AP Librae and B2 1652+39 are consistent with a model of a nonthermal central source superposed on a giant elliptical galaxy at redshifts of 0.0486 and 0.0337, respectively. The galaxy 0246+18 appears to have a galactic star superposed. Photoelectric UBV observations of five Markarian galaxies indicate that three are similar to BL Lacertae objects in color and spectral index. 2 figures, 4 tables.


Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are a group of metallic alloys that recover to their original form after deformation. Shape memory effect (SME) is characterized by diffusion-less transition between two phases: austenite and martensite [1]. Up to date, the Heusler alloy with chemical composition Ni-Mn-Ga (near to stoichiometry 2:1:1) is one of the prototype of SMA [2]. This alloy is known for its large recoverable deformation up to 12% strain and high-frequency response (up to 1 kHz) induced by magnetic or mechanical loadings. However, in spite of its remarkable properties, Ni2MnGa has some drawbacks originating from the loss of Mn, relatively low Curie and martensitic transformation temperatures etc. [3]. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new alloy systems to overcome such a disadvantage. Alternatively, Ni2FeGa alloy have been proposed as promising magnetic shape memory alloy. Taylor-Ulitovsky method for production of glass-coated microwires allows easy production of few kilometres of high quality monocrystalline wire along entire length with well oriented crystallographic axis. It is shown that such wire is characterized by temperature induced shape memory effect accompanied by ~2% reversible strain. As a result of different anisotropy of both low- and high- temperature phase, such strain is accompanied by huge variation of permeability. In the given contribution we show how magnetic parameters must be adjusted in order to achieve up to 1600% change of permeability due to the phase transition. Such variation allows us to control straining very precisely, which transforms the microwires into the SMART shape memory actuators. This work was supported by APVV-16-0079.


Qi and blood,yin and yang,zang-fu function were imbalance during the course of kidney disease,the pathogenesis of 'insufficiency of wind-qi'has been playing an essential role in the course of chronic kidney disease.This article redefined the concept and intension of'wind',that led to the syndrome of'insufficiency of wind-qi' which means qi often have inadequate or depressed.The syndrome should be treated with warming wind method.The method used the pungent-warm drugs,could inspire the liver and gallbladder qi and raise the kidney yang.Compared with the method of warming kidney and enhancing yanq it had better efficacy and was conducive to the treatment of edema,proteinuria and hematuria.


Abstract Background Patients with first-episode schizophrenia usually respond well to treatment, but relapse is frequent during the first years of the illness and may be associated with clinical deterioration A major concern in treating patients with schizophrenia is non-adherence with medication, with approximately 40% stopping within 1 year and 75% by 2 years. In addition to the impact on the illness, non-adherence creates serious social and psychological consequences. Although it is one of the potentially preventable causes of relapse, hospitalization, and poor outcome non-adherence is one of the most difficult problems to solve Aripiprazole is an atypical antipsychotic with partial agonist activity at dopamine D2 receptors and a potentially less burdensome metabolic profile compared with other atypical antipsychotics. A once-monthly, long-acting injectable (LAI) formulation, aripiprazole once-monthly 400 mg (AOM 400), is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia Methods To assess the evolution of the functioning and attitude to medication in a sample of patients recently diagnosed of schizophrenia during one year of treatment with aripiprazole once-monthly (AoM) Schizophrenic patients from three Mental Health units in the province of Toledo (Spain) were recruited. The inclusion criteria were an age between 18 and 65 years, a diagnosis of schizophrenia (based on the ICD-10 criteria) in the last 5 years, the start of treatment with AoM in last 6 months, and 12 months of treatment with oral antipsycohtics previosly to the AoM treatment and at least one relapsed in last 4 years. A series of demographic variables were recorded and the GAF (Global Assesment Functioning) scale was used to assess function, while the Drugs Attitude Inventory (DAI) scale was used to evaluate attiudes to medication. The scales were again applied 3, 6 and 12 months after the start of treatment. Results N=18 patients (12 males and 6 females), with a mean age of 29 years. There were 1 dropouts during the year of follow-up. The results showed an improvement in GAF score during the 12 months, manifesting from the third month (ANOVA, p<0.05). Likewise, statistically significant differences (ANOVA, p<0.05) were observed with the DAI scale for attitude to treatment; these results persisted over the year of follow-up and were manifest from the third month. Discussion First years of evolution in schizophrenia are determinants for the evolution of the illness. The correct adherence to medication is associated with an adecuated functioning Poor adherence to treatment is a recognised is predictive of poor outcomes (relapse, aggressive behaviour, suicide, substance abuse) and increased risk of hospitalisation Guidelines suggest that long-acting antipsychotic medicines may be offered to people who would prefer such treatment or in cases where avoiding covert non-adherence to antipsychotic medication (either intentional or unintentional) is a clinical priority within the treatment plan.


More than a decade has passed since the publication of the first report implicating T cells in the bone loss induced by ovariectomy (ovx). Since then there has been extraordinary progress in the understanding of the regulatory network that links the hemopoietic and the mesenchymal compartments of the bone marrow (BM), the interactions between the immune system and bone, and the role of lymphocytes as mediators of the effects of calciotrophic hormones in bone. Collectively this body of knowledge has led to the firm establishment of ''osteoimmunology'' as a novel discipline and a promising area of investigation. The objective of this perspective is to revisit the exciting hypothesis that T cells play a pivotal role in the mechanism of ovx-induced bone loss.


NASA's Exploration Technology Development and Demonstration Program has proposed plans for a series of three sub-scale flight tests at Earth for supersonic retropropulsion, a candidate decelerator technology for future, high-mass Mars missions. The first flight test in this series is intended to be a proof-of-concept test, demonstrating successful initiation and operation of supersonic retropropulsion at conditions that replicate the relevant physics of the aerodynamic-propulsive interactions expected in flight. Five sub-scale flighttest article concepts, each designed for launch on sounding rockets, have been developed in consideration of this proof-of-concept flight test. Commercial, off-the-shelf components are utilized as much as possible in each concept. The design merits of the concepts are compared along with their predicted performance for a baseline trajectory. The results of a packaging study and performance-based trade studies indicate that a sounding rocket is a viable launch platform for this proof-of-concept test of supersonic retropropulsion.


It is reasonable for the Chinese people to choose the road with Chinese characteristics after they embraced Marxism. The practice, including both the success in probing hardily into the unique road and the errors for deviating from the classical theories, are determined by some objective as well as subjective factors, from which we can gain certain important enlightenment.


In this paper, we investigate the issue of massive access in beyond fifth-generation (B5G) cellular internet of thing (IoT) network. To reduce the overhead of channel state information (CSI) acquisition and the complexity of beam design in the scenario of massive IoT devices, we propose a framework of massive access in the beamspace. Then, we analyze the performance of beamspace massive access, and reveal the impacts of beamspace parameters on the sum rate. Furthermore, in order to improve the overall performance, we present a low-complexity beamspace massive access algorithm by jointly optimizing transmit and receive beamforming. Finally, simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed beamspace massive access algorithm.


The orthogonal waveform diversity design and efficient hardware implementation are important issues in miniature multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars. The orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) chirp waveform has received attention recently because of its large time-bandwidth product (TBP), constant modulus, no range-Doppler coupling, good orthogonality, and good Doppler tolerance. The dechirp-on-receive technique can reduce the amount of raw sampled data in near-field miniature millimeter wave (mmW) MIMO radar detection and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging. However, most of the current waveform diversity design methods are based on general matched filtering (MF). In this article, the possibility of using the traditional OFDM chirp waveform for dechirp processing at the receiving end of MIMO radar is analyzed. Then, the results of different configurations of chirp rates within and between transmitted waveforms for different signal processing procedures are investigated. A novel dechirp-based OFDM chirp waveform diversity design method for MIMO radar is proposed, and the results of the waveform design are given. Numerical results, such as pulse compression (PC) results, dechirp ambiguity function (DAF), SAR imaging processing, etc., and experiments verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


An yttria-stabilized cubic zirconia (YSZ) based mixed-potential sensor coupled with CoWO4 as the sensing electrode was developed for hydrogen detection at elevated temperatures. The developed CoWO4/YSZ/Pt sensor was found to have a good sensitivity to different concentrations of hydrogen from 80 ppm to 960 ppm in a background of 10% O2/N2 at 450 °C. The sensor showed excellent selectivity to several possible interferents such as CO, C3H8 and NO2. The reproducibility and signal repeatability of the sensor was examined to test the reliability of the sensor. The influence of oxygen variation and humidity in the background on the sensor response was also studied.


Ore deposit data is the important and basic data for geology work.In order to develop and utilize Ore deposit information resources more efficiently,the present paper attempts to use ArcIMS 9.3 as development platform to realize functions of WebGIS,based on B/S(Browser/server),utilize ASP.net to write codes for updating and maintaining spatial data and attribute data,achieve share and exchange of Ore deposit data on internet.Designs a cache technology which can avod visiting a server,disk and database frequently.According to the large file of ore deposit,upload and download it by dividing it into parts.At the same time,this paper apply the core technology of ArcGIS to predict,regulate and control the ore resource.


Compound flow by confluence of two parallel flows through a convergent channel and its choking phenomenon are calculated by one-dimensional isentropic model and completely mixing model. Optical observations and pressure measurements for subsonic/subsonic compound flows are carried out and compared with the results of one-dimensional calculations. As a result, it is found that inlet conditions of one flow influence the behavior of the other flow as well as the choking condition and present experimental data agree well with the results of one-dimensional calculations.


The model PINUSCO2 hased of physiology was creted to simulate carbon dioxide budget in a population of red pine(pinus densiflora) which is one of the dominant species in Korea. Driving forces of PINUSCO2 are global radiation, maximum and minimum air temperatures. State variables fo the model are standing crops of leaf, branch, trunk and root of the red pine population. PINUSCO2 calculates net photosynthesis of canopy and respiration of each organ with 1 hour time step. PINUSCO2 estimated the annual gross productivity, respiration and net productivity of the red pine population as 43.99, 24.55, and 19.44 ton CO2·ha-1·yr-1, respectively, at the study sity(35°58′00"N, 128°25′35"E). PINUSCO2 showed that the red pine population grew mainly in spring and fall, and that in summer daily net population productivity frequently became negative.


Species detection and identification is a crucial steps in biodiversity assessment. Traditional methods are often invasive and resource intensive. The number of studies demonstrating successful of eDNA metabarcoding approach in species identification has increased rapidly in recent years. Some of large terrestrial mammals have reportedly utilize natural salt licks as a source of minerals in the diet and its genetic material left in the environment can be used to identify species from this site. An eDNA metabarcoding protocol had been carried out to identify Sulawesi mammals from Adudu natural salt-licks, Nantu Wildlife Reserve, Gorontalo. Environmental DNA were extracted from water samples, Amplicon libraries were prepared by PCR amplification and Illumina MiSeq high throughput sequencing. Reads processing and taxonomic assignment carried out in two bioinformatics packages, PipeCraft-1.0 and OBITools-2.11. Two endangered Sulawesi mammals species had been identified, i.e. lowland anoa (Bubalus depressicornis) and babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa). The accuracy of mammal species identification using eDNA metabarcoding is affected by rigorous experimental procedures, DNA marker reliability, and availability of reference sequence database.


Using 2-(5-ethyl-2-pyridyl)ethanol as starting materials,pioglitazone hydrochloride is synthesized by condensation,reduction,diazotization,cyclization,hydrolysis and saltilization,and the yield is 32%.The structure of compound is confirmed by IR,1H NMR and elemental analysis.


There are widely abrasive invalidation effects which will lead to great economic lose and serious engineering problems of hydraulic machines worked in solid-liquid two-phase flow.The development of study on the abrasive rules and anti-abrasive technique of hydraulic machines is presented in this paper.The correlative studies on erosive wear rules in two-phase flow experiment conditiion,numerical simulation and numerical prediction on the two-phase flow abrasion,and optimization of anti-abrasive design of hydraulic machines and anti-abrasive materials are included in this paper.The relationship between experimental control parameters(velocity,distribution,size and impact angle of solid particles;geometrical structure of impeller)and the wear rate of hydraulic machines are concluded and defined.Different numerical simulation methods can predefine and evaluate abrasive wear of hydraulic machines in different extent and accuracy.It is important to improve anti-abrasive performance of primary materials applied in hydraulic machines to prolong the working-life time of machines.As compared with common metal materials,the composite materials,nonmetal coats and ceramic materials are equipped with better anti-abrasive performances.Based on the study,the development direction and the predication of erosive wear in hydraulic machines are also presented in this paper.


UAV networks often partition into separated clusters due to the high node and link dynamic. As a result, network connectivity recovery is an important issue in this area. Existing solutions always need excessive movement of nodes and thus lead to low recovery efficiency in terms of the time and energy consumption. In this paper, we for the first time study the issue of how to utilize cooperative communication technology to improve the connectivity recovery efficiency in UAV networks. We propose a Cooperative Communication based Connectivity Recovery algorithm for UAV Networks, named C3RUN. The key novelty in C3RUN is nodes can proactively find better locations to establish more efficient cooperative communication links, than the ones from passively leveraging on existing opportunities. We conduct extensive simulations to evaluate the performance of C3RUN. The simulation results reveal that C3RUN can not only achieve connectivity recovery with less nodes and shorter distance to move, but also always finish recovery with less time, when comparing with existing work. Furthermore, C3RUN can achieve 100% success ratio for connectivity recovery.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the agronomic characteristics of corn hybrids short cycle on levels of plant regulator Stimulate® in two periods. The planting was done in field, in the experimental farm of the Mato Grosso do Sul State University. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a factorial scheme (3 × 2 × 2), with four replicates. The treatments consisted of three levels (0, 250 and 500 mL ha-1) of the plant regulator, with two hybrids (30A37PW Morgan and P3646-HY) and two times of application (vegetative stage and reproductive stage). The following averages were evaluated: plant height, number of leaves, tassel weight, tang weight, tang length, leaf weight, number of spikes, stem weight, stem diameter, ear diameter and whole plant weight. The number of leaves, number of spikes and stalk diameter were higher to P3646-HY and the tassel weight was higher to Morgan 30A37PW. The application of growth regulator of the doses of 250 and 500 mL ha-1, divided in the vegetative and reproductive stages, caused a reduction in stem diameter and whole plant weight, and in the other parameters the application in single dose and in divided dose did not affect plant growth. The genotype P3646-HY obtained higher number of leaves, number of spikes and stem diameter than the genotype 30A37PW Morgan, but this presented higher tassel weight.


Current investigation analyzes hegemonic themes in the music of electronic forro (Brazilian dance). The critical theory of Theodor W. Adorno and Cultural Studies revealed: a) the main thematic patterns and cliches of the genre; b) the meanings of these thematic patterns; c) and some hypothetical implications for the consumer. The above implies certain relations of domination reinforced in and by the consumption of the electronic forro .


Chapter 106 discusses the normal MRI anatomy and imaging findings of the major and common disorders leading to internal derangements of the wrist and hand including osteonecrosis (ON) of the scaphoid and lunate bones, tendon and ligamentous injuries, and common nerve entrapment syndromes. The anatomy of the wrist and hand is complex. A wide spectrum of traumatic, inflammatory, and degenerative conditions affects the wrist and hand. High-resolution MRI of the wrist and hand and MRA of the wrist provide excellent evaluation of the osseous and soft tissue structures and in many instances represent the study of choice. Radiography, CT, arthrography, CTA, and diagnostic US represent the alternative and/or complementary imaging methods in the evaluation of these structures.


Proficiency self-assessment (PSA), the ability to assess how well one can carry out a task, is a desirable capability of autonomous robot systems. Prior work has proposed assumption-alignment tracking (AAT) for performing PSA, and has shown that it can accurately predict robot performance in real-time given a dataset obtained from both normal and abnormal training runs. Obtaining data in abnormal conditions (i.e., conditions in which the robot is not prepared to operate) is difficult and is often not possible. As a result, many realistic datasets contain very few data points for abnormal conditions, making it difficult to apply AAT. This paper hypothesizes that a one-class classifier can be built to detect anomalies using only data collected under normal conditions. Two metrics, difference and separation, are proposed and used to demonstrate that AAT feature vectors from different running conditions tend to form distinct clusters that are identifiable by mainstream one-class classification algorithms. Thus, one-class classifiers trained on AAT feature vectors from normal data can detect anomalous conditions. Furthermore, preliminary results suggest that a few abnormal data points, if available, can be used to classify the abnormality type and, in turn, the degree to which the anomalies will likely impact robot performance. Empirical results from both a simulated navigation robot and a Sawyer robot manipulating blocks show the efficacy of the approach.


This article presents an overview of the fundamentals of the ISO 27001 standard and its application in organizations. As a case study presents an experimental implementation of the standard in an organization, this rule can be implemented in a company with the goal of obtaining certification or simply as best practice to improve some aspects of enterprise security. Additionally shown how to implement these best practices in small businesses that can not perform the certification.


Background This study describes a novel approach in reducing SARS-CoV-2 transmission during tracheostomy. Methods Five patients underwent tracheostomy between 01 April 2020 and 17 April 2020. A clear and sterile plastic drape was used as an additional physical barrier against droplets and aerosols. Operative diagnosis; droplet count and distribution on plastic sheet and face shields were documented. Results Tracheostomy was performed for patients with carcinoma of tonsil (n=2) and nasopharynx (n=1), and aspiration pneumonia (n=2). Droplet contamination was noted on all plastic sheets (n=5). Droplet contamination was most severe over the central surface at 91.5% (86.7%-100.0%) followed by the left and right lateral surfaces at 5.2% (6.7%-10.0%) and 3.3% (6.7%-10.0%) respectively. No droplet contamination was noted on all face shields. Conclusion Plastic drapes can help reduce viral transmission to health care providers during tracheostomy. Face shields may be spared which in turn helps to conserve resources during the COVID-19 pandemic.


The ongoing, worldwide, economic downturn that began in 2008 will have a long-lasting, negative impact on the ability to properly maintain the United States' port facilities and, in particular, perform necessary dredging within federal projects. This is exacerbating the federal government's current political atmosphere or inability to meet the navigation needs of the nation's ports for many decades. The US Congress Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) is the legislation that authorizes federal cost-sharing participation in maintenance and deepening of federally designated channels. The cost-sharing partner must be a governmental entity. Congress has been reducing or diverting funding designated for maintenance dredging projects from federal navigation channels. This problem is being aggravated by the on-going and proposed channel-deepening to service newer generations of ships. These improvements are necessary to receive vessels currently transiting the Suez Canal and those that will take advantage of the Panama Canal expansion. Federal navigation channels are typically the foundation of the nation's ports. Port authorities and private terminal operators want to take advantage of larger vessels and the cargoes they contain for economic and environmental reasons. Similarly, shippers seek the most economical cargo routing to maintain their efficiency. Many public port facilities and private terminal operators have embarked on aggressive plans to modernize and expand their shoreside infrastructure to meet these objectives. The ultimate beneficiary of these "America's Marine Highway Corridors, Connectors and Crossings" program efforts is the nation as a whole since the cost of moving goods decreases (exports and imports), ocean transit becomes more efficient and environmental impacts are lessened. This should lead the Congress to support the Corps of Engineers' maintenance dredging program. Unfortunately, even though the Corps of Engineers performs benefit/cost analyses, projects determined to be in the national economic interest are not always authorized or adequately funded. This paper will explore the issues concerning the actions, pitfalls, and consequences of paying for work that the federal government determines to be in the nation's economic interest, but is unable to perform.


The monomer 5,5-dimethyl-3-(3′-triethoxysilylpropyl)hydantoin and its hydrolysis product polymer poly[3-(5,5-dimethylhydantoinylpropyl)hydroxysiloxane] were employed to functionalize the surfaces of silica gel particles in order to produce an adhered film that becomes biocidal upon chlorination with dilute sodium hypochlorite bleach. The biocidal efficacy of the functionalized silica gel was demonstrated in a cartridge filter experiment against the bacterial pathogens Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli O157:H7. Complete 6 log inactivations of the two bacterial species were observed within 30 s of contact. Moreover, upon loss of biocidal activity due to depletion of bound chlorine, the coated silica gel particles could be recharged by further exposure to dilute bleach. Potential uses of the biocidal silica gel include disinfection and odor control in water treatment facilities and recirculating baths. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 3448–3454, 2006


Context Left pancreatectomy (LP) is considered a minor operation, when compared to pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), due to a technically easier resection, without the burden of pancreatic anastomosis. Nonetheless LP is a demanding procedure with high blood loss and a high rate of postoperative pancreatic fistula. Objective To compare surgical outcome between patients undergoing PD and LP in a high volume institution. Methods Retrospective study on prospectively collected data on 981 consecutive patients undergoing PD (n=664) and LP (n=317), between 2004 and 2011. Postoperative complications were stratified according to Clavien-Dindo classifications (major complications III-V). Pancreatic fistula (PF) was defined according to ISGPF classifications. Results Mortality was higher in PD (3.6% vs . 0.3%, P<0.001), but overall morbidity was the same (63% in both groups). Postoperative major complications were more frequently in PD group (18.4% vs . 5.3%, P<0.001). PF was more frequent in LP (PD 30% vs . LP 46%, P<0.001); however, clinically significant grade B and C PF rate was higher in PD (16% vs . 6%, P<0.001).  Intraoperative blood loss was similar between groups (PD 568±388 mL, LP 619±685 mL, P=0.169), however the rate of patients who received a blood transfusion intraoperatively was higher in the PD group (35% vs . 22%, P<0.001). This was probably due to a higher number of patients presenting with preoperative anemia (mean hemoglobin: PD 12.4±2.2 g/dL vs . LP 13.2±1.7 g/dL, P<0.001). PD patients were transfused more postoperatively (20% vs . 11%, P<0.001) and had a higher mean volume of postoperative transfusion (232±811 mL vs . 79±281 mL, P<0.001). Conclusion As expected, mortality and major complications were higher after PD. Overall morbidity and intraoperative blood loss were similar between the two operations.


IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) promotes apoptosis by both IGF-dependent and -independent mechanisms. We have previously reported that phosphorylation of IGFBP-3 (S156) by DNA-dependent protein kinase enhances its nuclear accumulation and is essential for its ability to interact with retinoid X receptor-alpha and induce apoptosis in cultured prostate cancer cells. Using specific chemical inhibitors and small interfering RNA, we demonstrate that preventing casein kinase 2 (CK2) activation enhanced the apoptotic potential of IGFBP-3. We mapped potential CK2 phosphosphorylation sites in IGFBP-3 to S167 and S175 and identified that wild-type IGFBP-3- and IGFBP-3-S175A-induced apoptosis to a comparable extent. In contrast, IGFBP-3-S167A was far more potently apoptosis inducing due to inability to undergo CK2 phosphorylation. Pretreatment of 22RV1 cells with IGFBP-3 small interfering RNA also limits the ability of high doses of CK2 inhibitor to induce apoptosis. These effects can be reversed by the addition of exogenous IGFBP-3 protein, suggesting reciprocal regulation of cell survival and apoptosis by IGFBP-3 and CK2. These studies reveal multisite phosphorylation of IGFBP-3 that both positively and negatively regulate its apoptotic potential. Understanding such intrinsic regulation of IGFBP-3 action may enhance the development of potential cancer therapies.


Luman Potentially Regulates Metabolism Through Modulation of the HypothalamicPituitary-Adrenal Axis Tiegh Taylor University of Guelph, 2018 Advisor: Dr. Ray Lu Luman is an endoplasmic reticulum associated transmembrane protein which when activated, alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress. Recently, Luman has been found to play a key role in glucocorticoid signaling which modulates the whole-body stress response; this interaction is hypothesized to be due to an interaction with the glucocorticoid receptor. Luman contains a motif which is a hallmark of general nuclear receptor cofactors, suggesting that Luman may be able to interact not just with the glucocorticoid receptor but with all nuclear steroid hormone receptors. Luman may also affect neuronal regulation of steroid hormone signaling by protecting against endoplasmic reticulum stress. Here we demonstrate that Luman directly interacts with the glucocorticoid receptor through this canonical nuclear receptor binding domain and that Luman may act as a general cofactor of other nuclear receptors. These data provide more evidence that Luman may impact whole body steroid hormone signaling through modulation of nuclear receptors.


This synthesis will be of interest to transit agency general managers, the appropriate special services staffs, and any others dealing with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit eligibility certification on behalf of transit agencies. It describes the complexities involved in creating an accurate eligibility determination process that complies with ADA requirements and is regionally and politically feasible to implement. This study documents the range of outcomes produced by the different eligibility certification models and offers information about their overall effectiveness. This report of the Transportation Research Board focuses on the range of eligibility certification models that have been adopted nationwide. It presents information in order to generate new approaches for transit agencies attempting to enhance existing procedures.


Materials and Methods Six ruminally and duodenally fistulated steers of British breeding were used in two concurrent 3 × 3 Latin squares. Treatments were three corn-based diets: control (10.2% crude protein), urea (13.3% crude protein), and dried distillers grains with solubles (14.9% crude protein). Treatments delivered dried distillers grains with solubles and urea at inclusion rates similar to those used commonly in corn-based diets fed to finishing cattle. Dried distillers grains with solubles was selected as a supplemental protein source because of its relatively high undegradable intake protein content. Urea was selected as a supplemental nitrogen source that is completely ruminally degradable.


Vision processing needs effective feature detectors to estimate the structure and properties of objects in an image. The best known is Canny edge detection that combine a Gaussian low pass filter for noise reduction and non-maximal suppression and hysteresis threshold for edge localization. A possible problem of this approach is that the threshold values. Applying a single fixed threshold to gradient maxima is not an optimal choice. Thus, Canny uses two thresholds values namely Tlow and Thigh to reduce the number of false positive of pixels that represent significant contours in the image. However, by introducing two fixed threshold values are also not an optimal choice due to high variations in images. In this paper we introduce a method that computes the threshold values from the foreground and background image pixels. According to this method, an image is divided into several blocks using at multiple resolution levels. After that, a sampling approach is used on global and local regions to get the optimal thresholds by selecting the highest between class variance values. We have performed experiments on 200 images from the Berkeley dataset. The results show that the proposed method outperforms Canny that uses two fixed threshold values.


Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy of closed reduction hollow screw internal fixation for femoral neck fractures.Methods Twenty-six young and middle-aged patients with femoral neck fractures in our hospital re ceived closed reduction 2-hollow-screw technique treatment(group A),which was compared to the open reduction in ternal fixation(group B).Results In the experimental A group,25 patients healed and 1 patient had necrosis;In the con trol group,27 patients healed and 1 patient had necrosis.The two groups were statistically different in the length of in cision,intraoperative time and bleeding(P 0.01),but were not significantly different in the healing rate(P 0.05).Conclusion The closed reduction hollow screw internal fixation is minimally invasive in the treatment of young and mid dle-aged femoral neck fractures and therefore is a good treatment method.


Phosphoric acid doped cellulose acetate propionate (CAP)
consisting of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as plasticizer was
investigated. Ionic conductivities and dielectric studies
were carried at different temperature with varying concentration of H3PO4 using AC impedance method. The highest conductivity was 8.1 3 1024 S cm21 at 343 K and a long tail was featured in dielectric studies indicating good
capacitance nature of the electrolyte. Interactions between
added constituents were observed in FTIR and differential
scanning calorimetry studies. Thin and compact fabricated
supercapacitor demonstrated specific capacitance of 64 F
g21 using cyclic voltammetry. Furthermore, the supercapacitor properties like AC impedance and charge-discharge were studied. Stability was up to 96% at 1000th cycle. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 56:196–203, 2016. VC 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers


The delays in the release of key economic variables mean that policymakers do not know their current values. Quickly produced, high frequency, indicators are essen- tial in understanding regional performance in a timely fashion. Thus, there is a need for nowcasts, which are estimates of the current values of such variables (e.g. GDP, employ- ment, etc.). This paper nowcasts growth in a regional economy, taking Scotland, UK, as our example. Regional nowcasting is complicated due to issues around data timeliness and availability. For instance, key nowcast predictors such as industrial production are often unavailable at the sub-national level. Accordingly, we use data on some non-traditional variables and investigate whether UK aggregates, and indicators for neighbouring regions of the UK, can help nowcast Scottish GDP growth. We show that these models and methods can be successfully adapted for use in a regional setting, and so produce timely macroeconomic indicators for the regional economy.


The achievement of goals in an organization is strongly influenced by employee performance. Every organization will try to work on the presentation of its employees so that organizational goals can be achieved. One of the variables that can affect individual presentations is workload and work discipline. Implementation evaluation is expected to find out the results or level of achievement of a worker. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which workload and work discipline significantly affect the shipping company at Sicepat Express Batam.  In this study, the population of this study were all employees of Sicepat Express Batam, which collected 115 people and the sample taken was the number of delivery parts for Sicepat Express Batam, which amounted to 115 people, using the multiple linear regression analysis method, namely Y = 4.091+ 0.118 X1 + 0.803 X2. The results of the T test partially prove, the results of the study state that workload and work discipline have a significant effect on employee performance at Sicepat Express Batam employees and the coefficient of determination (R2) obtained is 58.2% employee performance is influenced by workload and work discipline variables, and 41.8% influenced by other variables.
Keywords: Workload, Work Discipline, Employee Performance.


Fungi and bacteria can be responsible for undesirable changes in hides and leather. This study identifies some of the defects caused by fungal growth on pickled hides, wet blue leather and vegetable-tanned leather, such as stains, protein material loss, deterioration of grain layer, and modification of the physical and mechanical properties of resistance. The assessment of the samples exposed to microbiological attack was carried out through visual observation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), tensile strength test and determination of mass loss. Leather without preservation or treated with insufficient of antimicrobial agent to prevent fungal contamination showed changes in the structure, loss of protein material, a reduction in physical and mechanical properties as well as the presence of stains that may compromise the quality of the final product.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prepare a waxy hair dressing imparting mat feeling and dry feeling to the hair, and enabling natural styling. SOLUTION: This waxy hair dressing contains (A) one or two kinds selected from the group consisting of microcrystalline wax and candelilla wax, (B) a liquid oil, (C) kaolin, and optionally (D) a highly polymerized polyethylene glycol having an average molecular weight of >=20,000 and (E) an alkyl acrylate- alkyl methacrylate copolymer.


The administration method of the non-volatile memory and non-volatile memory based devices are disclosed. Non-volatile memory management method according to the invention in that, the free block is not the data is written to a method of managing a nonvolatile memory having a log block to write the data for updating the data block and the data block the merge method comprising: copy the valid data from the first log block corresponding to the valid data and the first data block of the data block to generate a second block of data; And on the basis of the predetermined condition, selective allocation assigning the first data in the log block to a second log block is erased without erasing the first log block data of the allocated free block, or the first log block and a step. According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the number of times of erasing of the memory block, it is possible to extend the use life of the flash memory is limited in the program / erase count.


The Permo-Triassic Gunnedah Basin has good potential for the discovery of commercial petroleum. Gas shows have been reported from the Porcupine-Watermark, Black Jack and Digby Formations, and from the basal sandstone of the Purlawaugh Formation in the overlying Surat Basin sequence. Gas flowed on drill stem test from the Porcupine-Watermark Formation in the Wilga Park No. 1 discovery well although the find was sub-commercial. An oil show was observed in Lower Permian volcanics, and oil staining has been observed in the Pilliga Sandstone in several wells. The origin of oil staining in the Pilliga Sandstone is unknown, however, and may have been the result of diesel contamination during drilling operations. Structural style within the basin sequence is characterised by north-south and north-north-west/south- south-east trending anticlines which formed in response to periodic compressive and left lateral strike-slip movements along the main Hunter Mooki Thrust Fault. These anticlines are attractive exploration targets. Westerly-derived quartz-rich sandstones occur at several stratigraphic levels within the Black Jack Formation and within the upper Digby Formation. Sandstones of the western bed-load fluvial system (lower Black Jack Formation) are most prospective with thick sections (up to 8 m) giving permeabilities from several hundred to several thousand millidarcies. Marine reworked easterly-derived sandstones up to 12 m thick in the Black Jack and Watermark Formations have minor reservoir potential with permeabilities in the order of tens of millidarcies. All potential reservoirs within the sequence are considered to be adequately sealed. Regionally extensive shaly units deposited either by marine incursion or lacustrine inundation overlie most reservoir horizons; remaining reservoirs are capped by intraformational shales. Organic petrology and geochemistry indicate the best potential source rocks within the Gunnedah Basin are floodplain, lacustrine and shallow marine facies of the Purlawaugh, Napperby, Watermark, Maules Creek and Goonbri Formations. The shallow marine Arkarula Sandstone Member within the Black Jack Formation also has significant potential for oil generation. Vitrinite reflectance, liptinite auto-fluorescence and TAI values indicate Lower Permian sediments are marginally mature to mature for oil generation. Combining the data on source quality and quantity with thermal maturity, the Permian sediments - in particular the Watermark Formation - have the best potential for generating oil.


Problem 1: The following data are from a study conducted to study the customer satisfaction levels for an overnight shipping business. In addition to the customer's satisfaction level, the customers were asked how often they used overnight shipping. The results are summarized in the following table: Satisfaction Level Frequency of Use High Medium Low TOTAL < 2 per month 250 140 10 400 2-5 per month 140 55 5 200 > 5 per month 70 25 5 100 TOTAL 460 220 20 700 Assume that one customer is chosen at random and answer the following questions. Show your work. a) What is the probability of the customer being highly satisfied? b) What is the probability that they would use the company more than five times per month and have low satisfaction? c) Given that the customer uses the company at least two times per month, what is the probability that they are highly satisfied with the company? Problem 2: A discrete random variable x can assume five possible values: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4. The probability distribution for x is shown below. x 0 1 2 3 4 p(x) .3 .1 ? .1 .2 a) What is P(x=2)? b) Calculate the mean and standard deviation for x.


Purpose This paper first focuses on outlining currently available knowledge throughout the world regarding women who decide to continue with their pregnancy knowing that there will be something abnormal about their child. Secondly, it discusses making information applicable to the existing issues available to midwives who deal with those women. Finally, the paper looks at coming up with a future agenda for improving the care environment for those women, to be worked on in clinical practice.Methods Published literature concerning those women who choose to carry on a pregnancy after having been informed of a fetal abnormality was searched for using the following sources: PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Ichu-shi WEB. A search was made for English language articles published in any country between 1998 and 2009, using the keywords "prenatal diagnosis" and "fetal abnormality". We considered each article's targets, research method and results in order to analyze how fetal diagnoses and mothers' experiences influence the framing of psychological experiences.Result In reviewing twelve domestic and international journal articles, five themes were highlighted that constitute pregnant women's experiences carrying a child with a congenital abnormality, namely: grief, attachment, dilemma, uncertainty and isolation. These themes became clear that the experiences of those women carrying a child with a known congenital abnormality cannot be described in any one way, as there are so many constituent factors to take into account.Conclusion These themes can be helpful in understanding mothers' experiences. However, more studies need to be done in order to explore how they influence mothers' relationship with, and involvement in society. Understanding mothers' experiences from both psychological and social perspectives can help nurses improve their clinical practice, both in delivering the child and in caring for the mother. Future studies will yield further useful information, to help healthcare professionals assist mothers, children, and families cope with any challenge they may face.


Currently, women are referred for BRCA1/2 mutation-testing only if their family-history of breast/ovarian cancer implies that their risk of carrying a mutation exceeds 10\%. However, as mutation-testing costs fall, prominent voices have called for testing all women, which would strain clinical resources by testing millions of women, almost all of whom will test negative. To better evaluate risk-thresholds for BRCA1/2 testing, we introduce two broadly applicable, linked metrics: Mean Risk Stratification (MRS) and a decision-theoretic metric, Net Benefit of Information (NBI). MRS and NBI provide a range of risk thresholds at which a marker/model is "optimally informative", in the sense of maximizing both MRS and NBI. NBI is a function of only MRS and the risk-threshold for action, connecting decision-theory to risk-stratification and providing a decision-theoretic rationale for MRS. AUC and Youden's index reflect on both the fraction of maximum MRS, and of maximum NBI, attained by the marker/model, providing AUC and Youden's index with long-sought decision-theoretic and risk-stratification rationale. To evaluate risk-thresholds for BRCA1/2 testing, we propose an eclectic approach considering AUC, Net Benefit, and MRS/NBI. MRS/NBI interpret AUC in the context of mutation-prevalence and provide a range of risk thresholds for which the risk model is optimally informative.


To implement high-performance global interconnect without impacting the performance of existing blocks, the use of buffer blocks is increasingly popular in structured-custom and block-based ASIC/SOC methodologies. Recent works by Cong et al. (1999) and Tang and Wong (2000) give algorithms to solve the buffer block planning problem. In this paper we address the problem of how to perform buffering of global nets given an existing buffer block plan. Assuming that global nets have been already decomposed into two-pin connections, we give a provably good algorithm based on a recent approach of Garg and Konemann (1998) and Fleischer (1999). Our method routes connections using available buffer blocks, such that required upper and lower bounds on buffer intervals-as well as wirelength upper bounds per connection-are satisfied. Our model allows more than one buffer to be inserted into any given connection. In addition, our algorithm observes buffer parity constraints, i.e., it will choose to use an inverter or a buffer (=co-located pair of inverters) according to source and destination signal parity. The algorithm outperforms previous approaches and has been validated on top-level layouts extracted from a recent high-end microprocessor design.


This paper describes a coplanar waveguide coupled to two split-ring resonators that, in turn, are loaded with two different reactive elements. By these means, balanced composite right/left-handed-like (CRLH-like) and also dual balanced CRLH-like (D-CRLH-like) responses can be obtained with the same structure showing opposite propagation characteristics. This behavior is achieved by simply varying one of the reactive elements, i.e., the capacitive or inductive load. The physical behavior of these transmission lines has been successfully explained by means of a single equivalent circuit. Besides, the proposed transmission lines have an extended bandwidth due to the balanced nature of the structure. The bandwidth of these lines can be electronically controlled using varactor diodes reverse-biased by an external dc voltage. Thus, a reconfigurable cell with CRLH-like and D-CRLH-like propagation has been designed and manufactured. The simulated and measured results show fractional bandwidths from 0% (no transmission) to 9.3% for simulations and from 0% (no transmission) to 8.7% for measurements. Undoubtedly, these new proposed transmission lines will be useful for designing reconfigurable devices that can be used in future communication systems such as radar, wireless applications, global positioning systems, or radio-frequency identification systems, among others.


The regulation of foraging activity in harvester ant colonies exemplifies a complex biological system that operates as a large distributed, multi-agent network. There is no centralized control. The queen does not direct other ants; she merely lays the eggs. Colonies perform a range of tasks such as nest construction, caring for larvae, and foraging, in a coordinated way. An ant can change tasks. Each ant responds only to local information, including its its recent experience of its rate of interaction with other ants.


Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) are a relatively new instrument joining the extensive range of regulations relating to alcohol supply and consumption. AMPs vary in design and implementation across Australia, and include strategies designed to reduce harms resulting from alcohol misuse. The majority of AMPs are based on the principle of harm minimisation and include supply, demand and harm reduction measures. Many include provisions that ban or restrict the supply, possession and/or consumption of alcohol in relevant areas and some have also been used to place restrictions on local liquor outlets. In addition, AMPs can include other measures, such as women's shelters, support groups and sobering up shelters, community patrols, education and awareness campaigns, sport and other youth diversion activities.


ABSTRACT This article examines the circumstances surrounding William Combe's attempted enclosure of open fields at Welcombe, Stratford-upon-Avon. Whilst there are many references to this episode, due largely to William Shakespeare's involvement in its early stages, its place in the wider study of pre-Parliamentary enclosure has not been discussed in any detail. This can be attributed to certain features not shared by other early seventeenth-century enclosure disputes. It was not, for instance, accompanied by serious public order disturbances. Furthermore, the opposition was led not by a loose alliance of the disaffected but by a legally constituted body, the Stratford-upon-Avon Corporation, which was able to put together a strong case to persuade, first, the justices of assize, and then the Privy Council, to call a halt to Combe's efforts despite the fact that the government was becoming increasingly reluctant to enforce anti-enclosure measures.


Designing an efficient neural architecture search method is an open and challenging problem over the last few years. A typical and well-performed strategy is gradient-based methods (i.e., Differentiable Architecture Search (DARTS)), which mainly searches the target sparse child graph from a trainable dense super graph. However, during the searching phrase, training the dense super graph usually requires excessively computational resources. Besides, the training based on a dense graph is excessively inefficient, and the memory consumption is prohibitively high. To alleviate this shortcoming, recently Iterative Shrinkage Thresholding Algorithm (ISTA), a sparse coding recovery algorithm, has been applied to DARTS, which directly optimizes the compressed representation of the super graph, and saves the memory and time consumption. Indeed, there are several such kinds of sparse coding recovery algorithms, and ISTA is not the best one in terms of recovery efficiency and effectiveness. To investigate the impact of different sparse coding recovery algorithm on performance in DARTS and provide some insights. Firstly, we design several sparse DARTS based on different sparse coding recovery algorithms (i.e., LISTA, CoD, and Lars). Then a series of controlled experiments on selected algorithms are conducted. The accuracy, search time and other indicators of the model are collected and compared. Sufficient theoretical analysis and experimental exploration reveal that the different compression algorithms show different characteristics on the sparse DARTS. Specifically, Lars-NAS tends to choose the operation with fewer parameters, while Cod-NAS is the simplest of the four recovery algorithms, and its consuming time is very short, but the CoD-NAS model is unstable. Particularly, LISTA-NAS achieves the accurate results with stable recovery time. Thus, it can be seen that all compression algorithms are available to utilized according to different environments and requirements.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the biomass production, mycelial growth and colonization of rice-straw substrate by Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus ostreatoroseus under the effect of adding vegetable-tanned leather sawdust. The first experiment consisted of the formulation of the culture media based on rice straw with the addition of leather sawdust at the concentrations of 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30%. Discs of mycelium of P. ostreatus (BF24) and P. ostreatoroseus (POR01/06) were transferred to the center of plates containing previously prepared media. They were incubated at 28° C. In the second experiment rice straw substrate underwent the same experimental conditions described above. The substrate inoculated with the two strains was placed in test tubes and incubated at 28° C. The fungal biomass was evaluated by the difference between wet weight and dry weight, while for the mycelial growth, measurements were performed at predetermined times until the complete colonization of the medium or substrate. For P. ostreatus, it was found that the treatments with the addition of 5, 15 and 25% and 15% of this supplement led to a lower biomass and mycelial growth, respectively. In the mycelial growth phase the addition of 5% of this supplement to the rice straw had a positive effect on the development of P. ostreatus.


Despite an increase of research in the realm of overeating a well-known contributor to obesity the psychological mechanisms that maintain overeating behaviors across time and context are still poorly understood. It may be that people's perceptions of their self-regulation abilities fluctuate over time, and overeating results from momentary increases in negative mood eliciting negative perceptions of their self-efficacy and current willpower, stronger beliefs that cravings can be controlled and a greater ability to tolerate distress. The current study examined the dynamics of and momentary predictors of overeating using a 7-day EMA protocol to study unsuccessful restrained eaters (n = 94, Mage = 28.01, 83.2% female) in their natural environments. Participants (1) were randomly prompted 7 times per day to assess mood, momentary perceived self-regulation abilities, and situational context and (2) initiated an eventbased prompt when consuming food. Results indicated perceived self-regulation abilities varied across time and context, and mediated the relation between negative affect and overeating, such that lower levels of negative affect predicted severity of overeating via lower levels of perceived self-regulation abilities (e.g., perceptions of willpower, craving uncontrollability, distress tolerance). Craving uncontrollability and willpower emerged as distinct predictors of overeating severity among this sample. These findings provide important implications for the treatment of overeating, suggesting that treatments may be improved by addressing the role of fluctuations in perceived self-regulation abilities in predicting overeating. ©2019 by Kayla Dawn Skinner All Rights Reserved


Purpose This experiment gives you an opportunity to test recent theoretical advances in turbulence, one of today's great unsolved problems in physics. Specifically, the Hands-On School experiments examine quasi-2D flows for evidence of unstable periodic solutions, which recent theories suggest may be used to characterize turbulent flows. The experiments are original research and may lead to publishable results that help advance understanding of turbulence.


Magnetorheological (MR) fluids, to be used as brake friction materials, must have high heat transfer rate to dissipate the heat generated during the braking action. The aim of this manuscript is to synthesize MR fluids with nano-silver and nano-copper particles to increase the heat transfer rate and characterize the demagnetizing effect of those particles on the shear stress of MR fluids. Five different MR fluids, containing a different percentage of silver and copper nano particles, were synthesized. Shear stresses of all five MR fluids were measured using magnetorheometer and the results have been plotted. A flywheel based MR brake experimental setup was developed to analyze the performance of synthesized MR fluids. "T" type thermocouples were used to measure the temperature distribution of the fabricated MR brake. The results of the temperature distribution of brakes containing five synthesized MR fluids have been presented and compared.


Objective To study whether the tumor suppressor gene PML exists mutations in cervical lesions.Methods The following fresh tissue samples of cervical lesions were randomly selected,including 30 cases of CIN Ⅰ,CIN Ⅱ,CIN Ⅲ and cervical infiltrating squamous cell carcinoma respectively and 30 cases of chronic cervicitis.DHPLC was used to screen the PML exons and exon-intron boundaries for point mutations.We did PML exons and exon-intron boundaries direct sequencing for 10 cases of cervical infiltrating squamous cell carcinoma.Results We didn′t find any PML gene mutation in all samples.Conclusion PML expression change in protein level is not caused by the genetic mutation.


Does interpersonal political communication improve the quality of individual decision making? While deliberative theorists offer reasons for hope, experimental researchers have demonstrated that biased messages can travel via interpersonal social networks. We argue that the value of interpersonal political communication depends on the motivations of the people involved, which can be shifted by different contexts. Using small-group experiments that randomly assign participants' motivations to seek or share information with others as well as their motivations for evaluating the information they receive, we demonstrate the importance of accounting for motivations in communication. We find that when individuals with more extreme preferences are motivated to acquire and share information, collective civic capacity is diminished. But if we can stimulate the exchange of information among individuals with stronger prosocial motivations, such communication can enhance collective civic capacity. We also provide advice for other researchers about conducting similar group-based experiments to study political communication.


In this paper, a new high-order multiscale finite element method (MsFEM) is developed for elliptic problems with highly oscillating coefficients. The method is inspired by the MsFEM developed in [G. Allaire and R. Brizzi, Multiscale Model. Simul., 4 (2005), pp. 790--812], but a more explicit multiscale finite element space is constructed. The approximation space is nonconforming when an oversampling technique is used. We use a Petrov--Galerkin formulation suggested in [T. Y. Hou, X.-H. Wu, and Y. Zhang, Commun. Math. Sci., 2 (2004), pp. 185--205] to simplify the implementation and to improve the accuracy. The method is natural for high-order finite element methods used with the advantage of solving the coarse grained problem. We prove optimal error estimates in the case of periodically oscillating coefficients and support the findings by various numerical experiments.


Some entire ecosystems need groundwater to survive. These are called groundwater-dependent ecosystems (GDE). These ecosystems are particularly sensitive to environmental change, but GDEs are poorly understood, and the complex underground architecture is especially difficult to study without invasive tools that could disrupt the delicate environment. Chambers et al. introduce a new way to study these environments.


This article presents a brief description of the development and use of log-linear models. Current research in areas of screening effects, partitioning chi-square statistics, stepwise procedures, and model fitting and selection is discussed. An analysis of inherent model ambiguities is provided, identifying potential problem areas for marketing applications.


Handwritten Character Recognition (HCR) plays an important role in Optical character Recognition (OCR) and Pattern Recognition (PR), as it has a good number of applications in various fields. HCR contributes extremely to the growth of automation and are applicable in the areas of bank cheque, medical prescriptions, tax returns etc. But handwritten characters are much more difficult to recognize than the printed characters due to difference in writing styles for different people. Both conventional approaches and deep learning techniques have been used for handwritten character recognition. Deep learning techniques such as Convolutional Neural Networks always shows better accuracy than the conventional techniques. In this paper a new deep learning techniques, namely Directed Acyclic Graph - Convolutional Neural Network (DAG-CNN) is used for handwritten character recognition.


Histone methyltransferase NSD2 (WHSC1/MMSET) is correlated with several cancers, but promising NSD2 inhibitors are yet to be developed for the clinic, alternative strategies should be studied parallel to probe development in targeting NSD2-driven cancer. In this thesis, I employ traditional biochemical, cellular biology methods and small molecule profiling to study a recurrent activating mutation of NSD2, E1099K. This study sought identify orthogonal proteins that can be targeted to inhibit the growth of E1099K-NSD2 cancers. The body of work describes biochemical and cellular approaches in studying E1099K-NSD2 that revealed E1099K-NSD2 to monoand dimethylate NSD2 native substrate of H3K36, leading to transcriptional signatures similar to cell lines with overexpression of NSD2. To identify NSD2 E1099K-induced dependencies of cell lines, a panel of hematopoietic cancer cell lines, were profiled against a set of small molecules to establish cell viability in response to treatment. HDAC 1/2 inhibitors, were identified to have greater potency for killing E1099Kcompared to WT-NSD2 cell lines. CRISPR technology was applied to engineer isogenic cell lines with different NSD2 genomic status and profiled them against the set of smallmolecules. RNA-seq identified oncogenic pathway and PRC2 targets to be upregulated in E1099KNSD2 clones. Further analysis of clones revealed a small molecule study on mycoplasma colonized cells that resulted in a brief study descibed at the end of the thesis.


White light interferometry for topography measurement can avoid phase uncertainty trouble which exists in laser interferometry. Spatial Frequency Domain Algorithm(FDA), based on white-light scan interferometry, has the advantage of insensitivity to noise and higher calculation accuracy compared with other methods. Applying FDA, two white light scanning tests on the surface of a step-like sample are carried on with a Mirau typed scan interference microscope. Thus two stepped profile results are obtained, their step heights difference not exceeding 1 nm. Meantime, the same sample is also tested with a Zygo Newview 7200 profiler, both topography results agreeing with each other and step heights differing by 0.9 nm. Besides, data processing results also show that the chromatic dispersion higher than 2nd order is completely negligible when applying FDA.


Abstract The commutativity degree of a finite group is the probability that two randomly chosen group elements commute. The object of this paper is to compute the commutativity degree of a class of finite groups obtained by semidirect product of two finite abelian groups. As a byproduct of our result, we provide an affirmative answer to an open question posed by Lescot.


Employers in the United States incur substantial costs associated with substance use disorders. Our goal was to examine the effectiveness of employer‐led interventions to reduce the adverse effects of drug misuse in the workplace.


A new species of Cicinnus from northern coastal Brazil is described and illustrated: C. litoralis sp. n.. The species is known from five males collected in the mangrove ecoregions of the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão (the Pará mangrove and Maranhão mangrove ecoregions respectively). This area of Brazil is poorly sampled for Mimallonidae, and the new species represents the first mimallonid considered endemic to these ecoregions. We also provide a discussion regarding the type species of Cicinnus, C. orthane Blanchard, focusing on populations from the Cerrado and the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.


A method based on liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the determination of nonylphenol in water. The level of pollution of nonylphenol in water which collect from barrelled water companies in Tianjin city has been investigated and the survey link include water source,production processes, storage and consumption. Detection limit of water was 0.1 μg/L, and the mean recoveries at three spiked levels were 86.3 %-92.2 %, with RSDs of 3.1 %-4.6 %. Study shows that the groundwater from barrelled water companies has been polluted by nonylphenol, and the concentration in the range of 5.97 μg/L-12.40 μg/L. Migration of nonylphenol from containers is not obvious. Production processes of barrelled water can effectively remove nonylphenol partly.


2-dimensional(2D)Direction-of-Arrival(DOA)estimation based on acoustic vector-sensor array is an important issue in underwater communication.The gain uncertainty of the array will degrade the accuracy of DOA estimation.The gain response is considered as part of the parameter estimation problem and propose an eigenspace based joint DOA and gain estimation algorithm.The arrival angles are estimated based on the shift invariance property and the gains are estimated based on the orthogonality of different subspaces.The arrival angle and gains are estimated iteratively until the algorithm converges.