Summary

Alphonso mango slices in syrup were frozen under thirteen different conditions, stored for three months at −28°C and the quality of the products assessed chemically, microbiologically and organoletically. the quality was insensitive to the freezing rate (cryogenic freezing, blast freezing or domestic deep freezing) and to the addition of 0.1% vitamin C to the cover syrup. Presoaking in CaCla prior to pasteurization caused a marked firming of the slices. Soaking the slices in acidic syrup followed by mild pasteurization greatly decreased the microbial counts but had an adverse effect on flavour. Fruit frozen in 40°Brix syrup had a better flavour than that frozen in 20° Brix syrup. Acceptable slices with good nutrient retention were produced by freezing in 40° Brix syrup using a domestic deep freezer.


Both Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) and Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) are multi-hop wireless networks. WMN is an emerging community based integrated broadband wireless network which ensures high bandwidth ubiquitous internet provision to users, while, WSN is application specific and ensures large scale real-time data processing in complex environment. Both these wireless networks have some common vulnerable features which may increase the chances of different sorts of security attacks. Wireless sensor nodes have computation, memory and power limitations, which do not allow for implementation of complex security mechanism. In this paper, we discuss the common limitations and vulnerable features of WMN and WSN, along with the associated security threats and possible countermeasures. We also propose security mechanisms keeping in view the architecture and limitations of both. This article will serve as a baseline guide for the new researchers who are concern with the security aspects of WMN and WSN.


The Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China,which came into effect in 1st July,2011,establishes a "leading by the government" style society security.The history and the present tell that,the grade of how the society security obligation is performed by all levels of governments directly infects on the fulfillment of all kinds of citizens'social insurance rights and concerns the harmony and stability of the society.The implementation of Social Insurance Law of the People's Republic of China,should be directed against the existing problems of governments'performance in fulfilling the society security obligations,and should be according to the characters of different items of society security,establish a obligation sharing mechanism between central government and local governments as well.


In the southeast edge of the Junggar basin,the forest resources belonging to farmers six division Qitai center farm is not entirely reasonable in tree species and age structures,and forest quality is lower.The reasonable management and utilization strategy to strengthen forest protection,actively cultivate forest was put forward.


A field experiment was carried out in district-Sangli (Maharashtra) to study the effect of sustainable agricultural practices for improving growth, yield and quality of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) variety Salem during 2018 and 2019. Twelve treatments were evaluated in randomized block design with three replications. The results revealed that plant height, leaves/plant, width of leaves, leaf area index and clumps/plant tended to increase with age of plant and maximum values were recorded at 150 DAP, irrespective to various treatments. Application of 50% RDF + 50% NC resulted in significantly higher fresh weight of primary rhizome (46.5 g), fresh weight of secondary rhizome (55.5 g) and high marketable yield of rhizome (251.2 q ha-1) over control. The total yield of fresh rhizome per plot was comparatively on higher side (418.5g) when compared to control (308.1g) and other treatments. The application of 50% RDF + 50% NC proved superior for enhancing the quality parameters of turmeric such as fats (1.06 %), protein (1.25 %), carbohydrates (9.25 %) and curcumin (5.13 %) content to other treatments. Soil productivity was recorded maximum due to combined application of 50 % RDF + 50 % NC than the application of all these fertilizers alone. Fertility status of post-harvest soil improved with most of the treatments over control and higher values were recorded with 50% RDF + 50% NC treatment.


Although antibiotics hold a leading position in the medical treatment and animal husbandry, but its prone-resistance to the pathogen lead to the rise of research and development of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). As natural active substances, AMPs have antibacterial, antiviral, anti-tumor and immune regulation function, while the shortcomings such as short efficacy, sensitive to proteinase and high cytotoxicity limit its application. In this paper, the bottlenecks and their solution of antimicrobial peptide engineering were reviewed in terms of gene engineering, PEGylation, targeting and immobilization in order to promote the industrialization of AMPs.


Synthesis and Characterization of Melamine-Based Dendrimers with Potential Biological Applications. (May 2008) Hannah Loiuse Crampton, B.S., Trinity University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Eric E. Simanek The convergent strategy towards dendrimer synthesis is well-suited to generate macromolecules with a diverse periphery, at the expense of time and effort, while the divergent strategy has historically been effective at yielding higher generation dendrimers, although they are often plagued by impurities. Both the convergent and divergent routes were applied to the synthesis of melamine-based dendrimers, offering a comparison of the routes within a system. Generation-1 dendrons heterogeneously functionalized with Boc-protected amines and hydrazones were synthesized convergently and coupled to a generation-1 tris(piperazine) core to yield a generation-2 dendrimer bearing 18 Boc-amines and three hydrazones. Although the yield for the final coupling step was rather low (56%), the yields for all intermediate steps were quite high. Attempts toward obtaining a generation-3 dendrimer through this route were unsuccessful due presumably to steric hindrance. The materials obtained showed no impurities in their H and C NMR and mass spectra, although several chromatographic purifications were necessary throughout the synthesis.


Background: Unsafe abortions occur when pregnancy is terminated by unqualified person or in an environment that do not conform to minimal medical standards or both. The aim of this study was to analyse the causes in referred patients of unsafe abortions, methods used and complications with which patients were admitted.Methods: A retrospective observational study conducted in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, SIMS Hapur Uttar Pradesh, India from 1stJune 2019 to 29thFebruary 2020. Data was collected from previous hospital records. Total 150 women aged between 18-40 years, admitted with complications of unsafe abortions and who had taken advice for termination outside our institute, were included. The demographic profile, detailed history, first contact person for abortion advice, abortion service provider, method of termination and prior ultrasound were noted. Exclusion criteria was period of gestation more than 20 weeks and spontaneous abortions.Results: The study showed 92% contacted unqualified person, out of which 22.5%were uncertified doctors, 30.4% ANM's, 16.7% Nurses, 12.3% consulted quacks and 10.9% Chemists. Among the abortion service providers 23.6% were uncertified doctors, 45.7% Chemists, 15% Nurses, 5.7% Quacks, 3.6% ANM's and 6.4% had taken self-medication. Prior ultrasound was done in 28% cases. Method of termination was medical in 78.7% and surgical in 21.3% cases. Period of gestation was <8 weeks in 69.3%, 8-12 weeks in 27.3%, 12-16 weeks in 2%. 37.3% had parity 2 and 55.3% were Hindus.Conclusions: Despite availability of safe abortion services, unsafe abortion practices are still prevalent. Approved MTP centres, skilled and certified abortion providers must be easily accessible to women even in rural areas to safeguard their health.


Displacement of kerosene to Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), giving a positive impact as one of the staples in several respects. Viewed from the increasing demand for gas fuel (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), government through Pertamina launched a system to monitor the process of distribution of liquefied petroleum gas which of course is expected to meet the needs of the various elements of society, as well as monitor every distribution process. The truth is, LPG distribution monitoring system is considered still cannot cover up the station, retailer especially the lack of service to the community, which is a monitoring map that displays the number of the stock of LPG. The objective of this journal is to create a web service technology using LPG availability coding in the distribution area to reach the community so it can provide services to all elements of society. The design of these applications used the Personal Home Page (PHP) programming language and database using My SQL. The method used in the design is the structured design method, and the testing method used is the Black-box method and questionnaire. Distribution monitoring system utilizes web service technology, which can accessed at all elements of society and availability information of LPG stock at each agent, station, and retailers which can be accessed by all elements of society in the form of a code of the location, address and the amount of availability. Keywords—Liquefied Petroleum Gas; Personal Home Page; MySQL 2015


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Menopause plays a pivotal role in women's life comprising of approximately one third of it. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the significance of this period. This study aimed to determine the age of menopause and its associated factors in postmenopausal women in Babol, Iran METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted by cluster sampling on 300 postmenopausal women identified by doorstep questioning of the homes in selected areas. The questionnaires consisted of information on the menopause age, body mass index (BMI), age at menarche, first pregnancy age, duration of hormonal contraceptive use, left-handedness, occupation, menstrual regularity, exercise, smoking habits, couple's education degree, marital status, family size and the number of births and abortions. The collected data were registered into checklists and The Holmes & Rahe Stress Scale was used for the assessment of the variables. FINDINGS: In total, the average age of menopause was 50.02±0.21 years, the average length of marriage was 42.10±0.63 years, age at last pregnancy was 35.15±0.35 years and the lactation duration was 106.02±3.5 months. A significant correlation was found between the length of marriage, age at last pregnancy, stress scores, lactation duration and the menopause age (p<0.001), while some factors such as BMI, regulation and age at menarche, duration of hormonal contraceptive use and exercise were found to have no significant correlations with the onset of


"5·12" Wenchuan earthquake occurred,the emergency medical treatment reduced casualties. Sichuan Province now is faced with rapid growth in the poverty population,higher cost for rehabilitation caused by earthquake,although policy to protect residents of the follow-up medical treatment and rehabilitation. However,the existing medical assistance system couldn't meet the needs,the existing medical assistance system should be adjusted.


Extension of the method of partial waves to scattering by an impurity center in a crystal requires the construction of energy eigenfunctions of the unperturbed crystal that are irregular at the center. These irregular solutions of a nonseparable problem are constructed by utilizing the expansion of the Green's function into the regular solutions symmetry‐adapted about the impurity center, which have been obtained earlier. The wavefunction within an impurity can thus be continued throughout the surrounding crystal by matching it at the impurity boundary to a superposition of regular and irregular solutions. This procedure is compared to the current EXAFS treatment of photoabsorption.


Abstract : The report describes a methodology which can be used to identify the most cost-effective plan for the phase-in and phase-out of vehicle systems--a methodology for optimal fleet planning over time. This volume provides a systematic development of the problem structure, a qualitative description of the solution procedure, and mathematical and operational descriptions of the algorithm.


WHAT DOES THE MARCH OF HISTORICAL EVENTS MEAN? I would argue that this is the fundamental question of all historical study. But like unto it is a corollary question that I have been asking more and more often of late and struggling to discover an answer or answers. Why do reasonably intelligent, well-meaning, and commonsensical people make decisions that bring ruin upon themselves, on others, and on the ideals they embrace? In addition, once they have determined courses that lead to the collapse of their goals, why to do they persist in them to their (il)logical conclusions? These are, I believe, important questions that are neither neatly contemplated nor readily answered. For the history of the Reorganized Church, a field of study where I have invested considerable effort, I keep puzzling over the developments of a theological and cultural reformation that began to be apparent in the 1960s and what it has meant for the church and its membership at the end of the twentieth century. In this essay I intend to build on my earlier work on the Reorganized Church and the decade of decision it faces in the 1990s. Among other points I make, I believe this reformation in the church has undercut the traditional belief system that had pretty much held sway for more than one hundred years. While one can debate the necessity of some type of transformation of that RLDS consensus, it has led to an identity crisis of capital significance. Furthermore, the loss of a traditional RLDS identity has precipi-


Background: The aim of this study was to derive a scoring algorithm for the McSad depression-specific classification system for future use in cost-utility analyses of depression interventions. Methods: Thirty profiles describing depression states were generated based on the McSad and valued using the time-trade-off task. Regression modelling was used to develop a scoring algorithm to predict values for all states possibly generated by the McSad. The validity of the model was assessed through its goodness-of-fit (R) and ensuing coefficients. Results: The sample consisted of 1268 participants, representative of the general Dutch population. Each of the thirty McSad states was valued on average by 169 participants. Regression coefficients were used to assign weights to each level of each domain, on which the scoring algorithm was based. However, as indicated by the rather low R (.011), and non-significant regression coefficients, model performance was not satisfactory, i.e., did not explain variability in our data. Conclusions: We report on preliminary results to develop a scoring algorithm for a depression-specific preference-based measure and discuss the relevant challenges.


Carbon fragments have long been studied in the gas phase and as astrophysical objects.' Gaseous carbon fragments such as C2 and C3 are generated by subjecting hydrocarbons or graphite to high temperatures or irradiatione2 In order to study these fragments in condensed phases, they must be trapped by an organic reaction or by attachment to an inorganic framework. There are several examples of complexes with C1 or C2 ligands bridging two or more metal^.^^^ More recently, complexes with linear C3596 and C4 chains connecting two metals have been r e p ~ r t e d . ~ . ~ Other complexes of pure carbon ligands include a tricobalt complex of cyck?-c187 and several metal complexes of the fullerenes (Cm, c70, etc.) prepared by Fagan,8 B a l ~ h , ~ and others4 We are interested in preparing metal complexes of other small C, ligands. We report here the first trimetallic complex of cyclo-C3. The reaction of 3 equiv of cyclopentadienyldicarbonyliron anion with [C3C13][SbF6], generated from C3C4 and AgSbF6,'O.'' produces trimetallic [ { F ~ ( C O ) ~ ( C P ) } ~ ~ ~ C ~ ) ] S ~ F ~ (1, eq 1) in about 65% yield.I2 An X-ray crystal structure determinati~n'~


In order to develop a tool for modeling the efficiency of municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTP), a reliable prediction tool is essential. In this research, two scenarios (I and II) were investigated for modeling the performance of Nicosia MWWTP. The extreme learning machine (ELM), which is a newly developed black-box model, combined with principal component analysis was developed in scenario I and two principal components (PCs) variables were generated, while in scenario II, traditional multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network and multiple linear regression (MLR) models were established for comparison. The daily measured data obtained from new Nicosia MWWTP includes (pHinf, Conductivityinf, BODinf, CODinf, Total-Ninf, Total-Pinf, NH4–Ninf, SSinf and TSSinf) as the input variables and (BODeff, CODeff, Total-Neff, Total-Peff) as the corresponding outputs. Taylor diagrams, box and whisker were also utilized to examine the similarities and comparisons between the observed and predicted values for both the ELM and PCs-ELM in scenario I. The obtained results based on the performance indices showed that the PCs-ELM model has higher performance accuracy than the novel ELM model. The results also showed increases of the PCs-ELM of about 12%, 2%, 20% and 6% for BODeff, CODeff, TNeff (total nitrogen) and TPeff (total phosphorite) with regard to the ELM model. Also, the comparison results demonstrated that ELM and MLP revealed higher prediction accuracy than the MLR model, and the ELM model comparably outperformed the MLP model. The overall results indicated that both the PCs-ELM and two scenarios could be alternative reliable tools for modeling the performance of Nicosia MWWTP.


Objective:To study the distribution and clinical significance of the karyotype of amenorrhea.Methods:Blood samples were regular cultured,proceeding,G-banding and analysed.Results: 59 cases were chosen including 53 primary amenorrhea patients and 6 secondary amnorrhea patients.28 patients are abnormal(47.46%).[45,X 16 cases,45,X/46,X,i(Xq) 3 cases,46,X,i(Xq) 1case,46,XY 5 cases,47,XXX 1 case,46,XY/45,X 1 case,46,X,dup(Xp) 1case].The karyotype of 6 secondary amnorrhea patients is normal.Conclusion: Abnormal karyotype is one of the reason of primary amenorrheal.It′s necessary to analyse the blood karyotype of patients with amenorrhea.


Based on analyzing the main problems of ordinary mold powder used in casting of 09CuPRE series RE-treated steels at PZH Steel and the research upon effect of RE oxide(RE_ x O_ y ) on the properties of mold powder,a prefused mold powder with low solidification temperatures and low crystallization temperature and strong ability of absorption and solution of RE_ x O_ y was developed. This mold powder is of suitable component,special fluxes and inferior oxidizability. Industrial experiment results show that the developed mold powder is satisfied with the demand of 09CuPRE series steels casting process, the ratio without slab surface finishing is 95%, no one breakout accident happened in the past 3 years.


Natural gas and oil production has been increasing in the United States since 2009, while coal production has been falling. Contributing to these national trends are the four states of the Federal Reserve's Fourth District—Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia—which together produce 14 percent of the nation's natural gas and 28 percent of its coal. Changes in production have coincided with falling prices in residential natural gas and, more recently, gasoline prices.  Some of these movements in production and prices have the potential to benefit various sectors of the Fourth District economy.


A research study was carried out to develop vitamin-C enriched flavoured milk by using vitamin-C microcapsules. Vitamin-C was encapsulated through extrusion technique using sodium alginate (stabilizer) as coating material. Standardization of sodium alginate was done by the formation of beads. The beads were found hard and of good quality with 2 g sodium alginate for carrying the vitamin-C. The level of addition of vitamin-C powder was standardized based on the encapsulation efficiency (EE). In the present study, 71 percentage EE level was used to prepare vitamin-C fortified flavoured milk. The developed flavoured milk (F1) and control flavoured milk (CF) were assessed for consumer acceptability through nine point's hedonic rating scale. Among the samples, F1 had the highest rate of consumer acceptance next to the control sample (CF). The pH value of control (CF) and F1 were observed to be 5.65 and 5.32 respectively. The sterilization efficiency of CF and F1 samples was found positive. The vitamin-C encapsulated flavoured milk (F1) sample was observed better up to 30 days with the retained quantity of 92 ± 0.50 mg of vitamin-C.


In order to improve agrometeorological service level,strengthen the agricultural disaster prevention and reduction ability of meteorological disasters,the agricultural decision-making meteorological service system platform was designed and realized.By using the meteorological data and forecast products,according to agricultural production and crop growth dynamic,spatial variation of growth adaptability domain integrated meteorological background,agricultural production and environmental capacity and average crop development period,the countermeasures for adapting weather change and the knowledge and experience of the service table were established,with the help of computer and modern communication network technology,the database,decision-making theory,experience and method software were realized.


Abstract: The most severe kind of mood disorder, depression, has a significant impact on mental health and causes difficulties in daily living. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals can detect this mood condition. EEG signal analysis is a tedious, timeconsuming, and highly specialized method for manually diagnos- ing depression. Therefore, a fully automated depression detection system developed using EEG signals will be useful to clinicians. In this research work, a CNN based hybrid model was designed and this model resulted with 90percent accuracy, whereas with SVM it resulted in 60.


he landscape plays an important role in order to promote the multisectorial and multifunctional rural development. In this perspective, a research in the Province of Turin territory has developed. It uses an interpretative matrix composed of four analysis approaches: geographic and social-economic, historical, ecological and territorial. Each approach highlights the strengthens and weaknesses aspects in order to promote policy of rural development founded on the valorisation of the landscape. From the analysis, it achieves guidelines to address the territorial planning, the conservation and the valorisation policies aimed at rural development. Those guidelines propose to share values and resources between city and rural territory, founded on a natural and social cohesion contract between city and agriculture, aimed at regulating the territorial system, acting on the visible landscape, habitable and liveable landscape. The Manifesto summarizes some principles in order to innovate the rural environment and to promote its development.


Objective To analyze CT appearance of solid-pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas(SPTP)and enhance the accurate diagnostic rate.Methods Twenty one patients with surgically and pathologically confirmed SPTP were reviewed.All cases underwent unenhanced spiral scanning CT and three phases post-contrast scanning.The CT imaging was analyzed in comparison with surgical pathological features.Results Thirteen cases were located in pancreatic head,8 located in pancreatic body and tail.The diameter of tumors were 2~15 cm,19 were well-circumscribed and encapsulated,most tumor including cystic and solid portion,the largest diameter of cyst was 4 cm,the wall thickness was 0.2~3 cm,only 2 were completely solid;The pancreatic head tumors did not cause pancreatic duct and common bile duct dilate obviously.The unenhanced CT scanning showed that tumors were non-homogeneous.On post-contrast CT,the solid portion was slightly enhanced in the arterial phase and markedly enhanced in portal and delay phase.Conclusion CT was helpful in diagnosing SPTP,the appearance of CT was based on pathology.


Scholars discovered that the majority of studies studying why women engage in sustainable fashion practices focused on environmental incentive, personal drive, or hedonistic motivation. In fact, women may anticipate the social value of fashion to be associated with the concept of self-improvement rather than the dimension of conservatism. This study aims to determine whether women's fashion consumption serves as a signifier of social identity, class, or position, as well as the degree to which the social value of fashion is embedded inside the product itself. The thesis to be demonstrated in this study is that women are agents of sustainable behavior to transmit sustainable habits because women are grassroots agents with the most influence in daily life. This research is based on a constructivist paradigm with a qualitative method that enables researchers to comprehend how behavior from the perspective of research subjects (women) with their subjective understanding underpins the sustainable behavior that they practice. Seven female agents were interviewed via Zoom meetings or WhatsApp video calls to collect the primary data. This study finds that sustainable fashion consumption has a social value. The social value of sustainable fashion consumption is inherent in the purchase or consumption of these products, as well as in the location where these items are purchased. The implication of this study is that a campaign to promote sustainable fashion consumption may incorporate social values.


The paper presents an idea together with its experimental realisation of shaping step pulses with picosecond transition time. Shaping circuit is built from several stages, each of them containing Step Recovery Diode (SRD). Time-domain measurement illustrate achieved results. Computer simulation is shown to be useful to predict circuit behaviour.


The object of this thesis is to propose a marketing strategy for the company Hejdanek s.r.o. The first part focuses on the definition of basic terms in the marketing area and the area of the marketing strategy. In the second part is made analysis of the company´s environment. The last part proposes solutions for the future development in the area of the marketing strategy.


On the basis of a brief introduction of 6 types of hydropower station operation and maintenance training contents, the methods and skills to develop network video courses are discussed in detail. It also points out the network learning on the video courses will play an important role in safe and reliable operation of hydropower station.


Although the five-year survival of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) exceeds 80%, a group of patients presents poor prognosis due to early relapse (van den Berg et al, 2011). To date, treatment strategies have been defined by cytogenetically-based subtype categorization. However, ALL patients without chromosomal translocations associated with poor prognosis lack diagnostic markers that would allow specific therapies to be developed. DNA methylation alteration is a frequent event in cancer and is potentially very useful in the diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of drug response (Rodriguez-Paredes & Esteller, 2011). Hence, we attempted to characterize childhood B-ALLs without Philadelphia (BCR-ABL1) and MLL translocations on the basis of the DNA methylation profile of more than 450 000 CpG sites with the aim of providing a means to improve the accuracy of prognosis and treatment strategies. All the obtained DNA methylation data have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database in the following link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?token=bfsbfcigsakcuty&acc={"type":"entrez-geo","attrs":{"text":"GSE39141","term_id":"39141"}}GSE39141

We derived genome-wide DNA methylation profiles of 29 childhood B-ALL patients and four normal B-cell samples (NBC) using the Infinium 450 K DNA methylation Bead assay (450 K) (Deneberg et al, 2011). Twenty-five patient samples were obtained at the time of diagnosis (including 10 cytogenetically normal, eight hyperdiploid, five pseudodiploid and two unclassified samples) and four samples at disease relapse (Table 1). Profiling varying 11 112 CpG sites (SD>0·25) within all samples analysed clearly distinguished healthy B-cell specimens from B-ALL patient samples (Fig 1A).

Figure 1

Genome-wide DNA methylation profile of B-cell ALL patients. (A) Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of four normal B-cell donors (yellow) and 29 ALL patients (orange) using CpGs with standard deviation>0.25. The cytogenetic subtypes and disease ...

Table 1

Clinical characteristics of the B-ALL samples

Overall, B-ALL samples had a significantly greater variance in DNA methylation level than NBC samples (Wilcoxon test, P 0·05). However, the highest variance (SD≥0·25) was DNA hypermethylation found within the CGI context (Fig 1C, Fig S1), consistent with previous results obtained with lower coverage platforms (Milani et al, 2010).

To obtain closer insight into the nature of variant sites, we determined differentially methylated CpG sites (dmCpGs) between healthy and cancer specimens (Table S1). We identified 3,414 dmCpGs, 88·2% (3,014) and 11·8% (400) of which respectively lost and gained DNA methylation in cancer samples (Fig 1D; Fig S2). Despite the predominantly hypomethylated dmCpGs, CGIs in gene promoters significantly gained DNA methylation at dmCpGs (Wilcoxon test; P < 0·01). Interestingly, the CGIs flanking CpG-poor regions (CpG island shores) were hypomethylated in ALL samples (Wilcoxon test; P < 0·01), consistent with previous studies identifying both regions as being highly variable in different cancer types, including leukaemia (Milani et al, 2010; Irizarry et al, 2009).

Analysing variant CpG sites in an unsupervised manner, we identified two clearly distinct DNA methylome profiles in B-ALL patients (Fig 1A). While 14 samples (ALL-1) displayed highly aberrant methylation levels compared with the control, 15 samples (ALL-2) showed close similarities to healthy B-cells. Most strikingly, the five with disease-relapse-associated samples were all present in ALL-2 (5/15; X2 test, P < 0·01), presenting a signature with a significant association between DNA methylation and disease-free survival (log-rank Mantel-Cox test, P < 0·01; Fig 1E) and suggesting a possible application in future therapy strategies by taking into account epigenetically defined groups as previously suggested (Milani et al, 2010).

Considering the presence of distinct DNA methylation subtypes in childhood B-ALLs and their potential application in clinical practice, we extracted a DNA methylation profile represented by 20 661 dmCpGs that distinguished the two groups (Table S2). In total, we detected 17 182 hypo- and 3 479 hypermethylated CpG sites in ALL-2 compared with ALL-1, respectively; differing in variance and associated with unique genomic features (Fig 1F-H). Confirming the signature in a 10-fold cross-validation model (area under the curve: 89·5), we concluded that the signature reliably detected both B-ALL subtypes and is thus an important tool for future disease diagnosis.

In order to determine the affected biological and disease-associated pathways, we analysed the gene ontology (GO) of hyper- and hypomethylated CpG sites located in gene promoters. We noticed an enrichment (GO, level 5) of genes related to lymphocyte (including B-cell) differentiation in 672 gene promoters presenting higher methylation level in ALL-2 (false discovery rate [FDR]<0·05, Table S3). These genes include FOXP1, TCF3, BLNK, CD79A, RAG1 and RAG2, also associated with chromosomal translocations in ALLs and mutation in B-cell maturation-defective syndromes. We suggest that defects in the B-cell differentiation process display a unique property of samples present in ALL-2.

The 2 608 genes associated with promoters showing less methylation in ALL-2 were highly enriched in developmental genes (FDR<0·05), including 97 HOX genes (Table S4). From the epigenetic point of view, developmental genes are associated with the Polycomb (Pc) complex and are marked by the histone modification H3K27me3. Interestingly, 43% (281 out of 654) of Polycomb target genes (PcTG) displayed lower methylation in ALL-2 gene promoters and were significantly enriched compared with promoters gaining methylation (X2 test, P < 0·01) (Lee et al, 2006). Accordingly, we found 24% (2181 out of 9052) of hypomethylated CpG sites associated with and significantly enriched in the Polycomb histone mark H3K27me3 (X2 test, P < 0·01, Fig S3) (Ernst et al, 2011). Taken together, the GO and PcTG analyses suggest that hypomethylation of genes involved in developmental processes are a unique feature of patient samples present in ALL-2. Hypermethylation of PcTG (Deneberg et al, 2011) has been previously identified as good prognostic markers in acute myeloid leukaemia patients, supporting the predictive potential of DNA methylation signatures in leukaemia. In addition, overexpression of HOX genes has been related to oncogenic transformation (Bach et al, 2010) and an increase in stem cell self-renewal (Ross et al, 2012) in leukaemia cells.

Overall, genome-wide screening of DNA methylation in normal B-cells and primary B-ALL samples revealed distinct profiles, but most importantly defined two previously unknown B-ALL subtypes. Furthermore, we hypothesize that epigenetic changes mediate an undifferentiated stem cell-like phenotype of a newly identified B-ALL subtype that is possibly associated with drug resistance, resulting in disease relapse and presenting a signature of potential clinical use in the future.


Objective To compare selective splenic artery embolization(SSAE) with non-operative therapy of traumatic splenic rupture(TSR).Method The clinical data of 18 patients with TSR receiving SSAE and 30 undergoing non-operative therapy between 1995 and 2006 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed.Results There was no blood transfusion in SSAE group,and 1 patient was received it in the non-operative therapy group.Two patients in SSAE group had complications with left pleural effusion,and 1 had left pulmonary infection.One patient with non-operative therapy complicated with spleen abscess(P=0.298).The ratio of successful management in SSAE and non-operative group were 100%(23/23) and 81.3%(26/32) respectively(P=0.035).All the patients in both groups were survival.The mean hospital days in non-operative group(11.9±4.6) d were significantly longer than that in SSAE group(7.9±2.1)d,(P=0.045).Conclusion Splenic injuries with grade Ⅰor Ⅱ are suitable for preserving spleen management.SSAE may be more safe and effective than non-operative therapy.


The invention discloses an intelligent management system for parking lots. The system comprises management terminals and a data integration control terminal. The management terminals are connected with the data integration control module. The management terminals comprise processors A and image acquisition devices, and network interfaces are arranged on the processors A. The data integration control terminal comprises a processor B, a network interface and a storage device are arranged on the processor B, the management terminals are arranged at the positions corresponding to the parking lots, and then the image acquisition devices can acquire image information of the parking lots. The system intelligently acquires information of parked vehicles in real time, a user can inquire the information in multiple modes, no artificial participation is needed in the whole management process, labor is saved, and the management effect is better. Vehicle information recording is conducted on the vehicles not paying parking expenses, and normal charging is guaranteed.


ABSTRACT This paper describes young Europeans' labour migration to Asian global cities as one emerging consequence of European bureaucrats' vision of the ideal citizen. Qualitative interviews with highly educated European millennials working in Singapore and Tokyo demonstrate that they have internalised mobility as a norm. They perceive international experience as beneficial for their career and self-development and view the lack of such experience as a personal deficiency. They pursue migration to socio-culturally distant Asian cities as a means of distinguishing themselves; in addition, these cities offer good employment and a high living standard whereas Europe's economic power is decreasing. I argue that these migrants are using mobility to Asia as a practice of middle-class reproduction. They are avoiding constraints on their cosmopolitan and professional aspirations in their home countries by moving to locations where they anticipate that the cultural and social capital gained during previous overseas sojourns will be more valued. The longitudinal research design reveals that fear of immobility at home deters many of these 'ideal' young Europeans from returning and instead propels them towards on-going geographical mobility. I conclude by problematising the celebration of mobility in discourse on Europeanisation and higher education and by reflecting on the implications of this new mobility pattern.


We generalize the coincidence semi-index introduced in (D-J) to pairs of maps between topological manifolds. This permits extending the Nielsen theory to this class of maps. Introduction. In this paper we generalize the coincidence semi-index theory, introduced in (D-J) in the smooth case, to pairs of maps between topological manifolds. It will be based on the topological transversality lemma (1.1). To show that this new theory generalizes the previous one it will be necessary to reformulate (D-J) since the graphs of any two maps are never topologically transverse. This is done in Section 2: we give three equivalent versions of the semi-index in the smooth case and then we show that one of them coincides with the semi-index defined in Section 1. In Section 3 we prove a Wecken type theorem on realizing the above Nielsen number.


This letter is concerned with low-complexity decoding algorithms for nonbinary low-density parity-check (NB-LDPC) codes. A new truncation rule based on an adaptive threshold μ is proposed for the extended min-sum (EMS) algorithm. The threshold μ is determined by the mean of the message vector. Therefore, it can be matched to channel observation and decoding iteration. The resulting algorithm is referred to as μ-EMS algorithm. Simulation results show that the μ-EMS algorithm performs almost as well as the Q-ary sum-product algorithm (QSPA). Simulation results also show that the μ-EMS algorithm is simpler than the other X-EMS algorithms for NB-LDPC over high order finite fields.


━━ Objective. Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has recently been investigated as an alternative treatment in place of surgery in clinical trials, especially in medically inoperable (MI) patients. However, no clear rationale for the criteria used to determine whether or not a patient is MI has yet been demonstrated. Methods. Between January 2004 and October 2012, 740 patients underwent surgical resection of clinical stage IA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the present study, MI was defined as an FEV1.0 of 0.8 l, %DLCO of <40%, PaO2 of 70 mmHg, PaCO2 of >50 mmHg or three or more severe comorbidities, based on the criteria of MI frequently used in clinical trials of SBRT for NSCLC patients. The clinicopathological characteristics and surgical outcomes were compared between the MI patients (n=91) and operable patients (n=649). Results. The proportion of males (P=0.002), elderly subjects (P<0.001) and smokers (P<0.001) were higher among the MI patients than the operable patients. Limited surgery (wedge lung resection or segmentectomy) was performed in 37 (40.7%) MI patients and 227 (35.0%) operable patients (P=0.289). Mediastinal lymph node dissection was performed in 48 (52.7%) MI patients and 413 (63.6%) operable patients (P=0.045). The rate of overall morbidity was higher in the MI patients (38.5% in the MI patients vs 23.4% in the operable patients, P=0.002). The 30-day and 90-day mortality rates among the MI patients were 1.1% and 3.3%, respectively. Although overall survival was significantly worse in the MI patients (P=0.002), there were no significant differences in cancer-specific survival between the groups (P=0.293). Conclusions. Surgical resection can be performed safely in MI patients, with an equivalent cancerspecific survival to that observed in operable patients. Therefore, the current criteria used to determine whether a patient is MI for clinical trials of SBRT for NSCLC are not appropriate for evaluating the true degree of operability. (JJLC. 2014;54:903-909) KEY WORDS━━ Lung cancer, Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), Medically inoperable Reprints: Kenji Suzuki, Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Juntendo University School of Medicine, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan (e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com). 要旨━━目的.早期肺癌に対する新たな治療として,体 幹部定位放射線治療(SBRT)の有用性が多数報告されて いる.SBRTの臨床試験の多くはmedically inoperable (MI)な肺癌を対象にしているが,確立されたMIの定義 はない.方法.対象は 2004 年 1 月~2012 年 10 月に当科 で手術を行った臨床病期 IA期の肺癌 740 例.SBRTの 臨床試験でMIの規準として頻用されている定義を改変 し,FEV1.0 ≦0.8 l,%DLCO <40%,pO2 ≦70 mmHg, 1順天堂大学呼吸器外科. 別刷請求先:鈴木健司,順天堂大学呼吸器外科,〒113-8421 東 京都文京区本郷 2-1-1(e-mail: email@example.com). ※第 54 回日本肺癌学会総会シンポジウム 4「早期肺癌に対する 治療戦略(外科治療 vs.非外科治療,重粒子線,陽子線,SRT,ラ ジオ波,凍結療法)」. (肺癌.2014;54:903-909) 2014 The Japan Lung Cancer Society Medically Inoperable Lung Cancer―Takamochi et al 904 Japanese Journal of Lung Cancer―Vol 54, No 7, Dec 20, 2014―www.haigan.gr.jp pCO2 >50 mmHg,もしくは重篤な併存疾患を 3つ以上 有する患者をMI肺癌とし,術式,周術期合併症,予後な どについてOperable 群と比較した.結果.(1)MI の規 準を満たす患者は 91 例(12%).(2)MI 肺癌は男性,高 齢者,喫煙者に有意に多かった.(3)肺切除の術式には, 両群間で有意差は認められなかった.(4)MI 群の周術期 合併症の頻度は 38.5%, 術後 30 日 90 日死亡の割合は, 1.1% 3.3%であった.(5)全生存割合はMI群で有意に低 かったが,癌特異的生存割合には有意差は認められな かった.結論.MI 肺癌は癌特異的生存割合がOperable 群と同等で,周術期死亡の割合は臨床的に許容できる範 囲であり,切除不能とは言えない.SBRTの臨床試験にお けるMIの定義は,今後見直す必要がある. 索引用語━━肺癌,体幹部定位放射線治療(SBRT),医 学的切除不能(MI)


Automobile starter electromagnetic switch performance test-bed is used in the pull in test of the electromagnetic switch, release test, the pressure drop test of contact, power cut-off test and stroke test items etc[1]. Its mechanical device adopts flexible design, it can adjust the size of many different product; Software system adopts industrial computer as the measurement platform, friendly interface, easy to use, can fully meet the requirements of automotive starter electromagnetic switch for factory test.


The work hardening behavior of electrodeposited nanocrystalline (grain size: 100 nm) and fully annealed polycrystalline nickel (grain size: 160 µm) was examined by hardness indentation analysis. First, plastic strain was introduced into the materials through large Rockwell hardness indentations. A series of Vickers micro-hardness traces below and away from the Rockwell indentation then measured the change in hardness as a function of distance from the plastic zone. The results showed that polycrystalline nickel exhibited considerable strain hardening, with micro-hardness values closest to the Rockwell indentation averaging twice the hardness value of the bulk material. On the other hand, for the nanocrystalline nickel the Vickers micro-hardness values changed only by a few percent indicating a limited strain hardening capacity.


During the Dynamics of the Madden‐Julian Oscillation/Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) Investigation Experiment field experiment in the Indian Ocean, the National Center for Atmospheric Research dual‐polarimetric S‐ and Ka‐band radar (S‐PolKa) radar observed three active Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) events. These events were separated by suppressed periods characterized by shallower, more isolated convection and relatively little rainfall. The sensitivity of S‐PolKa allowed investigation of the initiation and organization of both nonprecipitating and precipitating clouds. Early in the suppressed periods, shallow nonprecipitating clouds occurred in shear‐parallel lines along apparent boundary layer rolls during early morning. Once some of the clouds began to precipitate, small cold pools formed below the showers. By afternoon, the lines all but disappeared with nonprecipitating clouds instead forming along the edges of cold pools. All such convection was limited in depth early in suppressed periods. As the suppressed environment gained moisture, the nonprecipitating clouds were able to grow to larger size, with the deepest precipitating clouds occurring in clusters at intersections of cold pool boundaries by afternoon. Upscale growth into mesoscale convective systems was observed as the suppressed periods transitioned into active MJO phases, contributing to overnight precipitation during the later part of the suppressed period. This study demonstrates the need for models to accurately represent the organization and evolution of nonprecipitating clouds in association with boundary layer dynamics under suppressed conditions of the MJO, prior to the occurrence of precipitating clouds and their cold pools.


This study evaluated the setting shrinkage characteristics of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA)-modified vinyl ester polymer concrete with different curing ages, MMA contents and curing temperatures. Results have shown that most of the setting shrinkage developed within 24 h after curing initiation. It was also found that an increase in MMA content led to an almost linear decrease in setting shrinkage, indicating that adding an MMA monomer was an effective measure to reduce the setting shrinkage of MMA-modified vinyl ester polymer concrete. A higher curing temperature tended to result in greater setting shrinkage, indicating that low-temperature curing is beneficial for reducing the setting shrinkage. The magnitude of setting shrinkage observed in vinyl ester polymer concrete was much greater than the drying shrinkage typically observed in ordinary Portland cement concrete but was smaller than the setting shrinkage of polymer concrete incorporating other types of binder.


The aim of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, it seeks to compare the efficacy of the Malaysian integrated population (i.e., integration of family planning with health) program with its categorial family planning counterpart. Secondly, it attempts to identify the organizational factors and the `integration' factors (operationalized as staff integrative linkages) that result in better program performance for the two programs. On the basis of effectiveness of family planning diffusion, the results of the analysis indicate that the Malaysian integrated population program is more effective than its categorial counterpart. Further, integrative linkage variables were found to be an important group of variables that results in the improved effectiveness of the integrated program. This suggests that future expansion of the Malaysian population program (and population programs of other developing countries in a similar stage of development as Malaysia) should be through the approach of integrating family planning services with the health network, rather than through the expansion of the categorial family planning organization.


Objective To investigate the therapeutic effects on multiple tics of dynamic and static needle retentions during scalp acupuncture.Methods Forty-one patients with multiple tics were randomly allocated to a treatment group of 19 cases and a control group of 22 cases.The treatment group received dynamic needle retention during scalp acupuncture and the control group,static needle retention during scalp acupuncture.The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale(YGTSS) scores were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.Results The total efficacy rate was 94.7% in the treatment group and 81.8% in the control group.There were no statistically significant differences in the total efficacy rate and post-treatment scale score between the two groups(P0.05).There was a statistically significant pre-/post-treatment difference in the scale score in both groups(P0.05).Conclusion Scalp acupuncture has a definite therapeutic effect on multiple tics,but different methods of needle retention are not clearly related to the therapeutic effect on this disease.


A casting process for the manufacture of a brake caliper (1) which has a receiving space (2) for functional parts, such as an application device having a brake lever, and an outside flange (4) on which a brake master cylinder is fastened, wherein a in a mold prior to casting the receiving space (2) defining core (6) is positioned, is formed so as to form the flange (4) is arranged in addition a separate molded part (7) in the mold.


We suggest that the life histories of species within communities may differ among geographic locations and that communities from distinct biomes may respond uniquely to a given trajectory of landscape change. This paper presents initial tests relevant to these hypotheses. First, the representation of various life-history guilds in avifaunas from the Eastern Deciduous (EDF) and Pacific Northwest (PNW) forests were compared. Three guilds contained more species in the EDF community (large patch and/or habitat interior guild, small patch and/or edge guild, and fragmentation-sensitive guild). The guild of predators requiring large forest tracts was better represented in the PNW. Next, the relative sensitivity of each community to habitat change was ranked based on the life-history traits of their species. The EDF avifauna had a significantly higher index of sensitivity to both forest fragmentation and to landscape change in general. Among the birds with high scores for sensitivity to landscape change were several species that have received little conservation attention thus far including some associated with open-canopy habitats. Lastly, the validity of using life histories to predict community response to landscape change was supported by the fact that the sensitivity scores for PNW species correlated significantly with independent data on species population trends. While more rigorous analyses are suggested, we conclude that knowledge of life histories is useful for predicting community response to landscape change and that conservation strategies should be uniquely tailored to local communities.


Articulatory Kinematic Differences During Adaptation to a Bite Block Madison Ann McHaley Department of Communication Disorders, BYU Master of Science The current study examined the effects of bite blocks on articulatory kinematics when producing /r/ within a phrase. Participants consisted of 20 young adults (10 males, 10 females) with no speech, language or hearing disorders. Participants produced the carrier phrase, I say __ with the nonsense words /əri/ (high front vowel), /əræ/ (low front vowel), /əru/ (high back vowel), /ərɑ/ (low back vowel). A Northern Digital Instruments Wave electromagnetic articulograph measured the articulatory movements while the speaker produced the stimuli in two conditions (Pre bite block and post bite block). Bilateral bite blocks were made using Express dental putty, which is a silicone impression material, in order to create an inter-incisal gap of 10 mm. The hull area (i.e., a boundary enclosing the total distance the sensor traveled during the target phrase) of the data for each sensor (i.e., tongue back, tongue mid, tongue front, lower lip, mandibular central incisor) was calculated for the individual nonsense words /e͜ɪərɑ/, /e͜ɪəræ/, /e͜ɪəri/, and /e͜ɪəru/. Results revealed kinematic differences across vowel phrases and between genders. The hull area of the tongue and jaw were significantly different for the vowel phrases /e͜ɪəræ/, /e͜ɪəri/, and /e͜ɪəru/ compared to /e͜ɪərɑ/. The hull area for the jaw for /e͜ɪərɑ/ was significantly larger than the other vowel phrases. The between-gender analyses showed larger hull areas for males than females. Different motor equivalent strategies for tongue movements were observed when speakers produced /e͜ɪərɑ/ and there were individual differences in compensating for the presence of the bite block.


Abstract The chalk cliffs of south-eastern England are liable to catastrophic cliff falls, giving edaphic conditions very variable in space and time. Chalk has ∼50% porosity, holding much water between 100 kPa and 1,000 kPa, but its availability to plants is restricted by salinity. The electrical conductivity of extracts of saturated pastes (ECs), as commonly used for agricultural soils, was used to measure the salinity of chalk and chalky soils. Studies along cliff transects between Folkestone and Dover showed that salinity thus measured was a good predictor of the distribution of both individual plant species and associations. Cliff geomorphology was far more important than distance from the sea in explaining salinity and plant distribution. We suggest that moist chalk surfaces are effectively impermeable, causing salt spray to run off during storms and concentrate in crevices, ledges and the topmost part of talus slopes, even at 400 m from the sea, which then support halophytes. We suggest that ECs could be used to model the interaction of salinity and competitive vigour.


This report considers the changing nature of temporary work in the 1990s. Both quantitative and qualitative data are used to explore the various motives which explain how, and why, employers use temporary workers. It examines the considerable variation that exists in the way employers recruit temporary workers, and their perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of the intermediary bodies involved. The occupational and other characteristics of this group of employees are explored, and the study discusses the critical issues affecting the prospects for job seekers to make the transition from temporary to permanent employment.


Creation of model of a kinetic method of calculation to multicomponent nonisothermal absorption is considered. The method is based on the nonlocal version of thermodynamics developed by Maikov V.P. Within a framework of nonlocal version of thermodynamics, a principle of discretization of thermodynamics parameters is set. This principal allows to introduce time to thermodynamics and to define a minimum macroscopic scale for description of transfer processes of mass, heat and impulse. For gas-liquid system the equations of a mass transfer and a heat transfer are received. The equation of a mass transfer contains composed, considering thermal diffusion, and the equation of a heat transfer contains composed, considering thermal effects of absorption on limit of the section of phases. For the conclusion of this equation approaching of theory of frontier layer is applied. Within the limits of frontier layer the overfall of concentrations and temperatures takes place on a linear law. In the coefficients of massreturn and heatreturn it was succeeded to hydrodynamic and physical constituents. Hydrodynamic constituent depends on a certain hydrodynamic situation on the border of division of phases and actually determines the thickness of frontier layer. Physical constituent shows: what thermophysical properties of contacting phases of gas and liquid the coefficient of massreturn and heatreturn depends on.


To make China's international trade in agricultural products develop more quickly and steadily, in this study, through the analysis of the development of international trade and the import and export of agricultural products under the strategy of "The Belt and Road (B&R)," in terms of agricultural products, the problems about the international trade in China are discussed. The results show that under the influence of "B&R," China has established economic cooperation with many countries along the route. Even facing fierce international competition, it can promote the deep development of China's international trade. Based on the discussion of the problems affecting the development of international trade of agricultural products in China, combined with the problems faced by the international development, in this study, the corresponding countermeasures are given, aiming to provide ideas for its future development. Therefore, the analysis of the development of international trade of agricultural products in China under the strategy of "B&R" has positive significance for finding the factors that affect the development of China's agricultural products in international trade and also promoting the steady development of China's international trade in agricultural products.


Madeira wine is produced via spontaneous alcoholic fermentation arrested by ethanol addition. The increasing demand of the wine market has led to the need to standardize the winemaking process. This study focuses on identifying the microbiota of indigenous yeasts present during Madeira wine fermentation and then evaluates the impact of selected indigenous non-Saccharomyces as pure starter culture (Hanseniaspora uvarum, Starmerella bacillaris, Pichia terricola, Pichia fermentans, and Pichia kluyveri) in the chemical and phenolic characterization of Madeira wine production. Results showed that the polyphenol content of the wines was influenced by yeast species, with higher levels found in wines produced by Pichia spp. (ranging from 356.85 to 367.68 mg GAE/L in total polyphenols and 50.52 to 51.50 mg/L in total individual polyphenols through HPLC methods). Antioxidant potential was higher in wines produced with Hanseniaspora uvarum (133.60 mg Trolox/L) and Starmerella bacillaris (137.61 mg Trolox/L). Additionally, Starmerella bacillaris stands out due to its sugar consumption during fermentation (the totality of fructose and 43% of glucose) and 15.80 g/L of total organic acids compared to 9.23 g/L (on average) for the other yeasts. This knowledge can be advantageous to standardizing the winemaking process and increasing the bioactive compounds, resulting in the production of high-quality wines.


Creativity fostering behaviours of teachers are essential in every teaching and learning environment. It promotes teachers' consistent efforts that are aimed at enhancing independent and flexible thinking. It also equips students with a variety of knowledge and materials for divergent thinking, encourages novel ways of solving problems and helps students cope with obstacles and failures. Unlocking students' academic potential is a priority for many researchers and practitioners within the educational context. Reports on students' academic achievement in mathematics revealed that there are areas of difficulties among the students. It could be that these areas of difficulties have led to poor academic achievement in mathematics over the years. On issues relevant to this study, teachers should give students direct feedback, encourage autonomy, re-word assignments to promote creativity and also create an accepting environment. Mathematics anxiety, inadequate problem-solving skills, lack of conceptual understanding and language barriers in mathematics were all highlighted as challenges of students' difficulties in mathematics. Theoretically, this study was anchored on Self-Determination Theory. Practically, students, teachers, parents, educational administrators, government and researchers are all expected to benefit from the findings of this study. The ability to be creative, to create something from personal feelings and experiences, can reflect, nurture and unlock students' understanding of mathematical concepts. The educational implications was highlighted and it was recommended among others that teachers should provide opportunities for students to share strengths and weaknesses as this in turn increases students' active participation in the classroom.


Kinetics of Zn(II)-extraction from SO4 2− medium by purified Cyanex 272 (BTMPPA, H2A2) and of Zn(II)-stripping from Zn(II)-BTMPPA complex by H2SO4 solution have been investigated using the single falling drop technique and F-method of data treatment. At 303 K, the empirical extraction and stripping flux equations are: Ff (kmol/m2s) = 10−8.4 [Zn(II)] [H+ ] (int) −1 ([H2A2 ] (o) 0.5 + 1.07[H2A2 ] (o)) (1+0.708 [SO4 2− ])−1 and Fb (kmol/m2s) = 10−5.25 [Zn-BTMPPA complex] (o) [ H+ ] [H2A2 ] (o) −0.5 (1 + 1.5 [HSO4 −]), respectively. In both cases, values of Ea, ΔH±, and ΔS± have been estimated. With the help of flux equations and Ea-values, the mechanisms of extraction and stripping are proposed. The extraction is diffusion controlled in all parametric conditions at high temperature region (htr). At lower temperature region (ltr), it may be under diffusion, intermediate, or chemical control depending on the experimental parameters. The chemical control step is: . High negative ΔS± values suggest that this step occurs via an SN2 mechanism. On the other hand, the stripping is intermediate control at htr and chemical control at ltr. The chemical controlling step is either: ZnA+ → Zn2+ + A−; or, ZnA+ + HSO4 −→ ZnHSO4 + + A−; depending on [HSO4 −] in the medium. The slow reaction step in stripping occurs via an SN2 mechanism. The equilibrium constant derived from the rate study matches well with that obtained from the equilibrium study.


In these pages I present some reflections on the construction processes of collective identities of the Afro populations in the north of Ecuador, showing how the discursive formation of the communes and the ethnic groups expresses representations of identity, which are a result of tensions, negotiations and political stands of the populations in their collective agency before the State. These identities will then be considered as battle scenarios, where power relations are negotiated and subverted. For this, I initially refer to some historical milestones that allow us to locate the Afrodescendant settlement of Esmeraldas as a scenario of resistance, moments that, in turn, delineate the place of this region in the Ecuadorian national ideology. Subsequently, I refer to the constitution of the Rio Santiago Cayapas Commune, to show the particular ways in which the process of communalization took place in this scenario. Finally, I take on some relevant elements surrounding ethnization as the result obtained by the Afro-Ecuadorian movement.


Expression of Concern: "Oral carnitine supplementation reduces body weight and insulin resistance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial." Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 84(6): 851‐857 (https://doi.org/10.1111/cen.13003). This Expression of Concern is for the above article, published online on (29 January 2016) in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), and has been published by agreement between the journal's senior editors and Wiley Periodicals LLC. The expression of concern has been agreed due to concerns raised regarding the integrity of the research. An investigation has been conducted by The National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research Iran, in coordination with Kashan University of Medical Sciences (KAUMS). However, without verification of clinical records there remain sufficient doubts about the feasibility and integrity of the research undertaken. As a result, the journal has decided to issue an Expression of Concern to alert readers.


Footstep impact noise transmission through floor-ceiling assemblies is a major source of complaints in wood-framed multi-family buildings. Experience shows that adding a finishing-topping-underlayment sandwich on a base floor-ceiling assembly significantly affects the noise transmission. So far, no reliable tool has been developed for designing the proper sandwich and most proposed solutions rely basically on trial and error. FPInnovations has launched a major research project to develop such tools. First phase of the project is focused on understanding the effects of flooring, topping and underlayment on the impact sound insulation. A mock-up assembly simulating a pair of typical stacked rooms was built. Standard field impact sound transmission tests were conducted on floors topped with a 1.2 m by 1.2 m four-layer sandwich patch. By varying the combination of flooring, topping and underlayment, over 50 patches were tested to better understand the effects of the type of materials in each layer on the asse...


The plate loop count as described in Standard Methods for the Examination of Dairy Products. 13th Edition, was evaluated as a simplified technique for determining total viable counts in single strength orange juice. This procedure requires use of standardized loops (0.01 and 0.001 ml) for making serial dilutions instead of pipets and dilution bottles. Data show there is a statistically significant difference in results between the plate count and plate loop count procedures for determining total viable population of orange juice. However, since the difference is so small for normal operating conditions, the plate loop method is a reliable alternate to routine plating procedure. It can also be done without flaming the loop between samples. The plate loop count saves time and equipment, but requires analysts to be specially trained to maintain this degree of accuracy.


These structural shifts surely played a role in some of the transitions explored by the contributors. To begin with, a clear discursive shift is evident. In the early Middle Ages discussions of heresy were sparse, elliptical, and not tremendously rigorous. In the later Middle Ages the problematic is rationalized; detailed and well-thought-out policy statements, so to speak, are advanced by ecclesiastical specialists. These were geared at dealing in a "handson" fashion with assorted social deviants. By the time of the German Enlightenment, however, quasi-academic historical studies of heresy emerge. Their writers insisted upon their own "impartiality," though the degree of anti-Catholic invective that saturates these works is impossible to miss (see Laursen). Another transhistorical change concerns the demystification of "orthodoxy." In premodernity, a facile equation of orthodoxy with Truth is discernible (see the discussion of William of Ockham by Takashi Shogimen). In early modernity, by contrast, a dogged refusal to see religious orthodoxy as isomorphic with some type of Truth is evident. Rather, orthodoxy is increasingly understood in terms of the dynamics of power. Its potency lies not in its proximity to any Truth, but in its ability to monopolize the legitimate use of violence (towards the defense of an un-Truth). Lastly, one begins to see a reevaluation of heresies. For Protestants of early modernity the despised heretics of old were often stumbling toward Truth, or at the very least bravely combating a despotic Church. For later Enlightenment thinkers, the heretical imperative, with its emphasis on dissent and the challenge it issued to dogma, signifies what is best in Occidental civilization. Even today this conception is in vogue, though perhaps a value-neutral orientation toward heretics may be preferable.


This chapter presents several cases of Scrupulosity that are revisited throughout the book. The cases raise questions almost immediately: Why are these people like this? Do they really believe what they say? Are they mentally ill or mistaken? If they're mentally ill, what is wrong with them? If they're mistaken, what are they mistaken about? Cases of Scrupulosity are contrasted with other cases of extreme moral or religious concern. The disorder Scrupulosity is distinguished from nonclinical scrupulous behavior and the question is raised of how to categorize a particular case. The method of starting with cases to build a characterization of Scrupulosity is defended in the following chapters.


Abstract Objective The driver's instantaneous situation awareness in the process of take-over of vehicle control in automated driving has not yet been thoroughly investigated. The proposed research can provide a better understanding of the driver's perceived characteristics and identify the most urgent information requirements of the on-site scenario when the driver's eye sight returns from other distractors to the driving scene. Methods We conducted an experiment in simulated automated driving to study the participants' ability of instantaneous hazard perception and judgment. The scene pictures, which were displayed in millisecond time, were used to imitate the situations that drivers would see when the distracted drivers returned their gaze from the distractive sources to the road in the simulated automated driving. Results The results show that the driving state, scene representation time and hazard levels affect the instantaneous situation awareness of drivers. In addition, the scene perception accuracy of the group who played games during automated driving is much lower than that of the group that chatted with the copilot. The longer picture-showing duration decreases the accuracy of hazard identification, whereas the shorter picture-showing duration increases the accuracy of hazard perception and the hazard rating score. Conclusions In conclusion, distraction reduces the accuracy of the instantaneous scene perception of drivers, and drivers behave more cautiously in decision making when the driving situations are more hazardous. This study provides a good theoretical basis for the design of hazard warning information for automated driving.


An outline of the strategies to improve energy efficiency, reduce emissions across operations and supply chains, and invest in low-emissions and renewable technologies.


Relationship between limit interrupting capacity of axial magnetic field vacuum interrupters with cup type axial magnetic field contacts and their contact diameters and contact gaps is studied.Test data from synthetic circuit is used and axial magnetic flux density from 3D eddy current field calculation by FEM is introduced to obtain the relationship.It suggests that the relationship between limit interrupting capacity and contact diameter and contact gap is I=k×D2×Bz0.4,where k is a constant.The physical meaning of the relationship is that the limit interrupting capacity increases with increasing of contact diameter and decreases with increasing of contact gap.


Objective To compare the curative effect of two different methods of percutaneous tracheostomy(PT),which were the guide wire dilating forceps(GWDF method) and the guide wire cattle horn(GWCH method).Methods 42 patients in RICU were randomly divided into two groups: the GWDF group and the GWCH group.Their operation duration,bleeding volume and operation complications were compared.Results The operation duration was slightly shorter in the GWCH group than in the GWDF group(P0.05).The incidence of operation complications and the volume of bleeding were obviously shorter in the GWCH group than in the GWDF group(P0.05).Conclusion The GWCH method has the advantages of less operation complications and trauma than the GWDF method does.


The invention relates to a universal energy storing machine randomly arranged below hundred millions of watt which is born according to the Huang Law that ''spiral positive and negative overlapping generates an infinitesimal/infinitesimal power and the automatic and perpetuum mobile storage of a moving track is set by people.'' The universal energy storing machine mainly consists of a clockwork spring, a barrel arbor, a driving wheel on barrel, a large steel wheel, a detent, a speed reducing gear cluster, a speed increasing gear cluster, a main splint, a secondary splint and a shell. The universal energy storing machine replaces and surpasses all traffic vehicles as well as ships, planes and the petrol engines, diesel engines or electromotors on special plots like a field water pump, a forest lumbering machine, a plurality of farming and engineering machines, and the like. The universal energy storing machine can also be utilized to manufacture a charging-free mobile phone and help to improve the efficiencies of a hydraulic power generating device and a wind power generating device by more than 3 to 10 times as well as eliminate firepower generating which includes nuclear power. The universal energy storing machine fills in the global blank and has the double characteristics of ''power and storage''; the universal energy storing machine not only can store the power of riptide/hurricane or the flexible force of drop/breeze into a whole, but also can store the tiny power of people for closing a door when going in and out into gold; besides, the universal energy storing machine has no noises, air pollution and radiation, is environmental friendly for 100 percent, is skillfully designed, is easily manufactured, is light in weight and is large in power, but the use cost is zero.


According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method is provided for a communication device that process a signal. A first processing unit, a physical downlink shared channel in the communication device: a first baseband signal transmitted over a (PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel), which maps the symbol. The first processing unit, a mapping of the first baseband signal, via the interface between the first processor and the second processor of the communication device, and transmits to the second processor. The second processing unit, modulates the first baseband signal transmission. And it converts to the second processing unit, the modulating the first baseband signal an intermediate frequency (intermediate frequency) signal.


This paper will discuss the design of a TCP/IP implementation and its upper level protocols on the University of Illinois supercomputer. We will also discuss some of the issues peculiar to TCP communication with a supercomputer, and some of the special problems encountered while writing and debugging under CTSS, which is not an environment particularly conducive to network development.


This article concerns the relationship between the city, its literary images and tourism, which is illustrated on the example of Barcelona. In the context of literary tourism, the author indicates quotes referring to the city on the basis of the literature review, fills them in with information from other sources, as well as from her own experiences. Determining how the connection between tourism and reading influences the experiences of the visitor who goes to a city known beforehand from literature is an essential part of the text. However, the characteristic of the literary tourist is more of a side motif.


Sand elevating wheel at the Waikino gold mining stamper battery, circa 1900. Photographer unidentified.
Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s).
Physical Description: Glass negative


Background: The oxidative-related enzymes are involved in the pathogenesis of various stages of systemic sclerosis (SSc). SSc is a chronic autoimmune disorder that is intimately associated with vascular damage and therefore with chronic perfusion/reperfusion and oxidative organ injury. Mesenchymal cell acti-vation in SSc is now also considered to be mediated primarily through oxidative burst. Regulation of oxidative stress by specific enzymes including several purine metabolism enzymes is likely to play an important role in SSc progression. Objectives: to characterize interrelationships among circulating xanthine oxi-dase (XO), xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activ- ities and SSc activity. Methods: The study was performed according to bioethical standards. 51 patients with verified and 30 were included the study. close rela- prooxidant/antioxidant Background: Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is an autoinmune disease that can affect several organs and its mortality is fundamentally related to its pulmonary involvement. It is mandatory to seek for biomarkers that help us with early diagnosis and that are also useful for predicting organic involvement, so that we can adjust the diag-nostic and therapeutic approach. Objectives: Our aim was to check if the presence of CXCL4, CXCL8 and GDF-15 is greater in the disease than in healthy population, and also their involvement in organic damage. Methods: Observational and cross-sectional study, with a prospectively per- formed protocol, of patients diagnosed of SSc according to ACR/EULAR 2013 criteria. Demographic, clinical, analytical, activity (EUSTAR index), severity (Medsger scale and modified Rodnan index), health perception and disability (HAQ and Cochin Moreover, Videocap- illaroscopy (VCL) and Respiratory Function as well High Reso-lution Tomography and Echocardiography in order to describe pulmonary features. Serum levels of CXCL4, CXCL8 and GDF-15 measured in SSc patients and in healthy controls. Results: A total of 42 patients (95.4% women) were included, with an average age of 59.2 years. The median of years since diagnosis was 4, by 6 since the first non-Raynaud symptom. 20 patients were diagnosed with limited SSc, 20 patients diffusely and 2 patients with SSc without scleroderma. 42 healthy controls were also included. We found significantly higher levels of GDF-15 in patients with SSc (P<0.001), without significant differences in CXCL4 and CXCL8 levels between patients with SSc and healthy controls. The presence of GDF-15 was associated with diffuse SSc (P=0.009), pulmonary arterial hypertension (P=0.038), interstitial lung disease (P=0.004), decreased forced vital capacity (FVC), (P=0.002), high serum titles of antiScl70 (P=0.006), increased disease activity measured by EUSTAR index (P=0.001), as with capil- lary dilations in Capillaroscopy (P=0.015). Moreover, we found an association between CXCL4 levels and the consumption of complement C3 fraction (P=0.008) and skin involvement (higher Rodnan score), (P = 0.001); not finding association with lung involvement or other features (spirometric or analytical changes, capillaroscopy or functional tests). Background: Regulatory IgG autoantibodies directed against diverse G pro- tein-coupled receptors (GPCR), i.e. antibodies with agonistic or antagonis-tic activity are abundant in human serum. The serum titers of autoantibodies targeting angiotensin II receptor 1 (AT 1 ) and endothelin receptor A (ET A ) are specifically altered in autoimmune diseases such as systemic sclerosis (SSc). Disease-promoting mechanisms regulated by anti-AT 1 and anti-ET A IgG are still elusive, but induction of pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic chemokines (CXCL8, CCL18) has been suggested to be one of them. Objectives: To determine the cytokine and phospho-kinase profiles induced in monocyte-like cells by IgG derived from SSc patients (SSc-IgG) enriched with anti-AT and anti-ET A antibodies in comparison to IgG derived from healthy donors (IgG-HD). Methods: A monocyte-like cell line (THP-1) was cultured in vitro and stim- ulated with IgG (1 mg/ml) derived from SSc patients or HD in the presence of various inhibitors/blockers for 24h. Then, supernatants were analyzed by a human cytokine/chemokine array. Data were analyzed using bio-mathematical tools such as generalized t-test including the robust regression method from R/ Bioconductor package LIMMA. In addition, THP-1 cells were cultured in vitro and stimulated with IgG (1 mg/ml) derived from SSc patients or HD for up to 30 minutes. Thereafter, cell lysates were assayed for the kinome employing a human phospho-kinase array. To validate potential effects of transcription factor inhibition, release of CXCL8 and CCL18 into the supernatant was measured by Elisa. Results: In general, SSc-IgG induced the release of most cytokines by THP-1 cells more pronouncedly than HD-IgG. The bio-mathematical analysis suggested that stimuli, responsible for the shift of the THP-1 cell cytokine profile, are more abundant in SSc-IgG than in HD-IgG. Based upon these findings a gene set enrichment analysis for transcription factors yielded the transcription factors NF- B, AP-1, and PRDM1 (Blimp-1) as putative major regulatory hubs for the response of THP-1 cells SSc-IgG. Further, SSc-IgG altered the phosphoryla-tion status of several indicative of an involvement of MAPK and/or JAK/ STAT a role for AP-1 also by the inhibition an AP-1 drives THP-1 cells towards a general pro-in- flammatory and pro-fibrotic phenotype, which is reflected by broad changes in the secretome and kinome of these cells. Furthermore, our results highlight AP-1 as critical regulator of gene transcription of CXCL8 and CCL18 in a mono-cyte-like cell line. Background: Dermal fibroblasts are responsible for the excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) formation observed in the skin of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients and fibroblasts are therefore an obvious target for anti-fibrotic treatments. TGF β , PDGF and IL-6 are known to be central cytokines in systemic sclerosis. Nintedanib, a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor approved for treatment of idiopathic pul- monary fibrosis, did not show effect on dermal fibrosis only on pulmonary fibrosis in SSc patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). Tofacitinib, as Pan JAK inhib- itor, has shown to inhibit dermal fibrosis in mouse models and shown positive indications in patients. Objectives: We investigated the direct effect of Nintedanib and Tofacitinib on ECM production from human dermal fibroblast using translational biomarkers of type I, III and VI collagens and fibronectin. Methods: Primary healthy were grown in containing produce a cells were stimulated PDGF nM] TGF nM] nM-10 μM] treatment at nM] at collagen by ELISAs Statistical analysis and fibronectin. Nintedanib inhibited ECM production differently in PDGF and TGF β induced dermal fibroblast, but in the combination of TGF β and PDGF Nintedanib significantly decreased the ongoing fibrosis. In PDGF induced fibrosis, Nintedanib acted as an on-off switch, whereas the inhibition was dose-dependent in TGF β induced fibrosis. This cell study indicates that Nintedanib and Tofacitinib inhibits collagen production in dermal fibroblasts.


Daum glass of the Art Nouveau era rivals that of Lalique and Galle in combining artistic expression with the finest craftsmanship. In 1900 the firm was awarded a Grand Prix at the Paris Exposition Universelle; and its designers later embraced Art Deco with equal flair. Many of their innovations were later adopted by other glassmakers, and the quality and distinctiveness of Daum design has remained up to the present day. Daum brings together the most representative and outstanding examples of the company's production from the 1890s to the 1990s. A brief history of the Daum family and their workshops at Nancy is followed by large-format colour photographs of over 200 individual objets d'art, from highly ornate Art Nouveau vases and lamps to recent sculptures. In translucent tints and elegantly curving lines, Daum glass depicts flowers, leaves, dragonflies and other insects with astonishing accuracy and delicacy. Designs from the 1930s combine etched and hand-carved designs set off by frosted surfaces. Salvador Dan and Philippe Starck are amongst the luminaries who have created some of Daum's most striking modern pieces. This collection of highly prized work is not only a glitter display of excellence in the fine arts, but is also a fitting tribute to a century of achievement by one of France's most esteemed manufacturers of fine glassware. Clotilde Bacri is the General Director of Daum, and holds degrees in political science and the history of art.


By means of computers and the technology of geographic information system, based on the statistics and related data of geological hazards in cities and towns of Gansu province, a spatial analysis of such geological hazards as landslides and debris flows has been carred out, thus laying a solid foundation for the application of geographic information system to the planning of geological hazards prevention in that region.


Broadband synthetic seismograms of scattering from two dimensionally rough surfaces in a three dimensional, but horizontally stratified media are presented. These results are obtained using the elastic perturbation theory of Kuperman and Schmidt [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 1511–1522 (1989)] under the Born approximation, for scattering scenarios where rough surfaces of finite extent, which are different on each interface, are insonified by an acoustic point source. These results, while constrained to the single scattering physics of perturbation theory, graphically illustrate the conversion of acoustic energy into trapped Scholte interface modes on elastic half‐spaces, and Von Schmidt, antisymmetric, horizontally polarized shear (SH) and Love waves in elastic layers, as well as into a continuous scattered spectrum in the water column. Examples include a small compact scatterer attached to an elastic plate insonified by an acoustic point source, where forward scattering into the flexural mode, backscattering i...


The present work deals with preparation and characterization of boric acid (b) dopped cdo thin films by the jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique at optimized temperature 450°C. Boric acid doped cdo thin films were prepared by jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique with different wt% of boric acid (x=0, 0.5,2.5, 4). The xrd pattern of various weight percentage boric acid dopped cdo thin films show the polycrystalline nature with cubic structure. At room temperature, the electrical conductivity of the prepared films increases with 4Wt% of 2.32x10-3 S/cm. The plot of voltage versus current as a function of temperature (RT-30°C) indicates the ohmic behavior of the films. Moreover, significant optoelectronic applications are cadmium oxide dopped with boric acid thin films at room temperature electrical resistivity is in the order of 101Ω cm which is low enough to be a good supercapacitor electrode material.


Chemiluminescent enzyme immunoassay method(CLEIA) was utilized to detect clenbuterol residue.After optimized incubation time and temperature,pH and concentration of buffer system,and the concentration of Tween-20,the method shew a liner detection range of 0.04~42.5 μg·L-1.The IC50 value was 1.46 μg·L-1 and the theoretical detective limit was 0.0014 μg·L-1.Coefficient of variation of this method was less than 10% in intra-and inter-assay and recovery rate was between 95%~110%.


We present a method for reconstructing the shape of buried planar defects supposed to be infinitely thick from optical lock-in thermography phase images. Several image processing algorithms are combined, to extract quantitative defect information from a series of phase images (phasegram) in a semi-automatic way. It is shown, that the depth and the shape of a planar defect can be retrieved.


The molecule of the title compound, C26H26N2, sits on a center of symmetry such that the two naphthalene ring systems are in an anti conformation with respect to one another across the piperazine ring. An intermolecular π–π interaction between the naphthalene ring systems is observed.


Cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species has been implicated in several diseases and hence antioxidants have significant importance in human health. In vitro evaluation of antioxidant activities of Polyporus grammocephalus Berk. showed significant inhibition of lipid peroxidation, potent hydroxyl and 1,1-Diphenyl-2-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity when compared with a standard drug. IC50 values of crude, boiled and ethanolic extracts of P. grammocephalus represented 393.6 ± 24.3, 300.4 ± 25.43 and 62.25 ± 9.67 �g/ml in the case of hydroxyl radical scavenging activity, 125.10 ± 34.61, 92.31 ± 34.49 and 129.52 ± 12.09 �g/ml in DPPH radical scavenging activity, and 362.13 ± 22.98, 179.33 ± 27.44 and 137.2 ± 22.13 �g/ml for lipid peroxidation, respectively. F urthermore, crude, boiled and ethanolic extracts also increased nitric oxide production significantly, one of the important multifunctional molecules that mediate a number of diverse physiological functions (198.2 ± 22.6, 112.6 ± 6.70, 297.7 ± 19.2 pmol/mg dry wt/h, respectively) over the control. Although all the three extracts showed antioxidant activity and NOS activation properties, the ethanolic extract was the most effective when compared with crude and boiled extracts. The present results revealed that P. grammocephalus has potent therapeutic use.


Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of venture capital (VC) involvement on investment efficiency (IE) and its potential action mechanisms from the perspective of financial resource allocation.

Design/methodology/approach
Using data of Chinese firms between 2008 and 2020, and the propensity score matching–difference in differences method, the authors investigate the relationship between VC and IE.

Findings
The results show that VC involvement significantly promotes IE, and the effect exhibits an inverted U-shape dynamic over time. The authors find two mechanisms through which VC promotes IE: alleviating financing constraints and improving corporate governance. Supplementary tests indicate that VC institutions with high reputations play a significant role in enhancing IE; the promotion effect is more pronounced for firms in non-high-tech industries, firms facing higher industrial competition and firms located in areas with better property rights protection systems.

Originality/value
This study provides several original contributions. First, based on principal–agent and financing constraint theories, this study enhances the literature by revealing how VC drives the IE of newly public firms in China. Second, to the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt to identify the mechanisms between VC and IE; Third, from an empirical perspective, besides discussing the average and dynamic effect of VC on IE, this study also explores the impact of the interaction between VC and market competition and property rights protection on IE.


This article analyzes the changing role of the United Nations in the post-Cold War era. After the end of the Cold War, many internal conflicts broke out in different parts of the world. There was a dramatic demand for the UN peacekeeping operations. Thus, the UN started to challenge traditional norms of international politics, such as state sovereignty, non-intervention into domestic affairs, and non-use of force in peacekeeping operations, and itself as an international organization. Within this context, this paper vvill examine the UN peacekeeping operations in the post-Cold War era; former Secretary General Boutros Ghali's "An Agenda for Peace"; case studies of Bosnia, Somalia, Rvvanda, Haiti and Cambodia; blurring distinction betvveen peacekeeping and peace enforcement; and humanitarian intervention of the UN. The article also seeks to analyze structural reform proposals for the UN to respond the challenges it faces today. Current issues of the Security Council reform proposals and fınancing the UN vvill be discussed.


Field plot experiments were conducted in an attempt to find a coordinated control procedure for the alfalfa weevil ( Hypera postica (Gyllenhal)), the pea aphid ( Macrosiphum pisi (Harris)) and the meadow spittlebug ( Philaneus spumarius (L.)). No insecticide tested was satisfactory for the control of all three pests with only one application. Guthion® ( O,O -dimethyl S -(4-oxo-1,2,3-benzotriazin-3-(4H)-ylmethyl) phosphorodithioate) at rates from 0.5 to 1 lb. per acre and the combination methoxychlor at 1 lb. and 1.5 Ins., respectively, gave the most nearly satisfactory control of all three pests. The most effective control of the alfalfa weevil in Maryland was a mid-November treatment with heptachlor granules at 1 lb. per acre. The most promising newer materials for the control of alfalfa weevil in the spring were Geigy 30494 S-(2,5-diehlorophenylthio)methyl O,O -dimethyl phosphorodithioate) at 1.5 Ins. per acre and Stauffer R-1504 ( O,O -dimethyl S -phthalimidomethyl phosphorodithioate) at 1 lb. per acre.


The mechanism of appearance of order on chaos with Gaussian white noise is investigated in the one-dimensional return map of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky chaos. This order (noise-induced order) appears as the constancy of the topological entropy and the decrease of the Kolmogorov entropy. Analysis of the five-times iterated return map reveals that "noise-induced order" is caused by the increase of the length of the laminar region and the subsequent change of the invariant density, where noise generates the stable point on the diagonal. The result of the mutual information also supports this fact.


In the attempt to identify an appropriate molecular marker which will enable genetic distinction between different Cystoseira species from the Adriatic Sea, two mitochondrial molecular markers were tested: the mt 23S rDNA and the mt23S-tRNAVal spacer. Two species were studied: Cystoseira spinosa and Cystoseira squarrosa. Sequence analyses showed no variation in the mt 23S rDNA among all individuals analyzed. But the analysis of the mt23S-tRNAVal spacer showed a differentiation between three haplotypes named A, B and C. The most abundant haplotype A was found in equal number in both species, while haplotype B was found only in C. spinosa and haplotype C was found in C. squarrosa only. However, when comparing to sequences available for several selected Mediterranean Cystoseira species, the mt23S-tRNAVal spacer failed to discriminate between species. Although these results indicate a limited use of the mitochondrial mt23S-tRNAVal intergenic spacer for discrimination among Adriatic Cystoseira species, they could also be interpreted as a sign of conspecificity of the investigated species or the reflection of a recent radiation. Further analysis will be necessary to improve molecular identification of these brown algae.


A new extreme learning machine (ELM) localization technique that uses received signal strength indicator fingerprints only is proposed for multifloor environments. This structured scheme forms multiple individual ELMs for the floors as well as for the geographically formed data clusters of each floor. Multifloor environments often have huge amount of training and online measurement data. To maximize efficiency, we develop a data preprocessing algorithm, aiming to: 1) efficiently extract out only the essential information from the vast amount of data sets and reduce the data dimension and 2) transform the floor-level data sets and positioning data sets of each floor into a proper structure that is suitable for the proposed ensemble ELM technique. The proposed solution is unique in that its offline phase exploits multiple individual ELMs for all floors to generate a set of floor-level classification functions with the preprocessed training data sets, and for each floor, it exploits multiple ELMs for the data clusters to generate a set of position regression functions. The online phase executes a coarse localization step to estimate the floor by using the floor-level classification functions and a refined step to estimate the position on the floor by using the position regression functions. The proposed algorithm and several existing algorithms are implemented to perform localization using the same measured datasets in a multistory building. For both floor estimation and localization on the floor, it outperforms existing schemes. For most cases, the performance gap is substantial.


Statistics of the saturation mixing ratio of H2 O at the temperature minimum and at 100 mb are extracted from about 16 000 radiosonde ascents between latitudes 20°N and 20°N on 140 days, sampling the year December 1978 through November 1979 (FGGE). 'Window' radiance temperatures measured by satellite (TIROS and Japanese GMS) between 15°N and 15°N latitude 85° to 185° longitude, at the highest available resolution (about 5 km × 5 km) on one day (Julian day 28 1979), are analysed to extract frequencies of occurrence of temperatures in ranges below −70°C. (Radiosondes and cloud imagery on this day are representative of conditions in these latitudes in the southern summer.) Low radiance temperatures are rare, the frequency of occurrence in the range −86°C to −90°C is 2.5×10−4, whereas about 1 in 4 of the radiosonde ascents in the area at this time have temperatures below −86°C. It is estimated that the cloud turrets with these low radiance temperatures could provide a sufficient source of the driest stratospheric air, but the temperature structure required, by Danielsen's hypothesis, for subsequent dehydration is not observed by radiosonde.

All published in situ observations of H2 O mixing ratio in the tropical and northern temperate stratosphere are examined in conjunction with the zonal means observed by the LIMS satellite in December 1978 and May 1979. Constraints imposed by the observations on descriptions of air motion within the stratosphere are discussed.


Objective To investigate the life quality of patients with severe burns and discuss the nursing intervention measures.Methods Burn specific health scale(BSHS-A) was employed to investigate 64 patients with severe burns.Results Overall life quality score,body function,mental function,social relations and general health scores were all low in patients with severe burns.Conclusion The medical staff and the society should focus on the life quality of patients with severe burns.Measures should be taken to improve their life quality.


Objective\ To provide detailed anatomical information for the extradural middle fossa approach(EMFA) with a proper technique modification.\ Methods\ The axial sections of anterior petrous bone structure were microscopically measured in 20 sides of 10 formalin fixed adult cadaveric heads.\ The EMFA was simulated and observed microscopically with a proper reformation in 6 sides of 3 heads and clinically applied.\ Results\ (1)The temporal muscle\|fascia flap with a vessel base attached is formed to reconstruct the cranial base.\ (2)The key landmarks are identified as a guide of safe operation.\ (3)The removal of the anterolateral bone of oval foramen and the opening of both the sheath of the mandibular nerve and the dural interspace of Gasserian ganglion help the medial portion of middle fossa dural nearly isolated with the anterior petrous bone.\ (4) The medial half of SPS was ligated.\ The double "T" type of dural incision was formed to improve the exposure of PA and CPA.\ Conclusion\ The key landmarks in EMFA were defined.\ The limitation of anterior petrous apex region bone for safe resection was confined.\;