A B S T R A C T The present study had the objective of evaluating the potential of a biofertilizer and bovine manure as agents to improve soil physical properties. The applied biofertilizer came from residues produced by a Batch biodigestor and the manure came from a dairy. A soil amendment was made in plots of 6 x 3 m with four treatments and three replicates. The treatments, in a volumetric ratio, were: control without amendment; soil:biofertilizer mixture on a 3:1 ratio. Soil:biofertilizer mixture on a 1:1 ratio; soil:manure mixture on a 1:1 ratio. In the second year, the plots were divided in two, leaving subplots of 6 x 1.5 m, one of which had a second amendment with the same organic material and the same ratio. The effects of the treatments were evaluated at one month, one year and two years after the first application. The soil parameters evaluated were: bulk density, specific weight, water retention, water infiltration rate and aggregate stability. A cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.) plantation was established as a test plant. The application of organic material in great volume provoked a decrease on soil bulk density in the short run; consequently, total porosity increased, particularly the coarse pores (reflected in the pF curve). The specific weight and available water were not different between treatments, while the water infiltration rate increased with amendments. There was an increase in the aggregate stability in the short term, but with successive applications the effect disappeared. Finally, the biofertilizer applications promoted cactus growth of shoots and production of DM.


This paper presents the design of a 5kV peak, 20kHz AC power supply, which is applied to a set of discharge chambers used in ozone generation applications. The power supply is composed of two stages: a PFC Flying-Capacitor Boost, in charge of generating a stable DC bus, and a Resonant Phase-Shift Full-Bridge inverter, in charge of generating high voltages to be applied in the chambers. Likewise, the necessary relationships are presented to guarantee the operation of the proposed resonant converter, the digital control of the converter stage and the simulation results for its validation and verification.


Amarjolia dactylota (Boase) comb. Nov. comprises spirally arranged bracts enclosing a whorl of Microsporophylls and the female receptacle with immature seminiferous and interseminal scales. Microsporophylls in gross features resemble the microsporophylls of Weltricha santalensis (Sitholey & Bose) Bose described by Sitholey and Bose (1971). Flowering being protandrous, the details of seminiferous and interseminal scales are not known.


Inference about predictive ability is usually carried out in the form of pairwise comparisons
between two competing forecasting methods. Nevertheless, some interesting questions are
concerned with families of models and not just with a couple of forecasting strategies. An
example of this would be the question about the predictive accuracy of pure time-series
models versus models based on economic fundamentals. It is clear that an appropriate
answer to this question requires comparing families of models, which may include a
number of different forecasting strategies. Another usual approach in the literature consists
of comparing the accuracy of a new forecasting method with a natural benchmark. Nevertheless, unless the econometrician is completely sure about the superiority of the benchmark over the rest of the methods available in the literature, he/she may want to compare the accuracy of his/her new forecasting model, and its extensions, against a broader set of methods. In this article we present a simple methodology to test the null hypothesis of equal predictive ability between two families of forecasting methods. Our approach corresponds to a natural extension of the White (2000) reality check in which we
allow for the families being compared to be populated by a large number of forecasting methods. We illustrate our testing approach with an empirical application comparing the ability of two families of models to predict headline inflation in Chile, the US, Sweden and Mexico. With this illustration we show that comparing families of models using the usual
approach based on pairwise comparisons of the best ex-post performing models in each family, may lead to conclusions that are at odds with those suggested by our approach.


The publication analyzes Ukraine's cooperation with the European, American and Japanese markets, which plays an important role in the current conditions of development of foreign economic activity. Strategic directions of the State-based aid for the development of enterprises in Ukraine are substantiated, namely their managerial and financial aspects. This proves that the sphere of entrepreneurship, like any other social activity, is influenced by the regulatory policy on the part of the State. The relevance of the topic under consideration is that the integration of a naional economy into the world economy, which is currently a priority direction for Ukraine, should be carried out with the help of effective and sometimes innovative means of international cooperation. It should be noted that the substantiated position of managing the foreign economic activity of enterprises should be considered as a significant factor in improving the efficiency of economic activity both at the level of individual economic organizations and at the level of the country. Management of foreign economic relations of any contemporary country, as well as enterprises, is in a certain sense an integral part of both the world economy and the international economic relations. In view of this, the peculiarities, basic principles and methods of managing the foreign economic activity of Ukrainian enterprises are identified. The factors of internal and external environment, influencing the provision of foreign economic activity of enterprises are studied, their peculiarities are defined. The factors that limit business development opportunities in the Ukrainian and international markets are highlighted. Methods of ensuring foreign economic activity are proposed to use favorable opportunities as to maximizing the efficiency of enterprises, as well as to ensure the activation of processes of foreign economic activity.


In this paper, two kinds of bi-layered chiral metamaterials were proposed to enhance the asymmetric transmission effects for circular polarized electromagnetic waves which are only found in planar chiral metamaterials according to previous studies. It was found that the magnitude of the asymmetric transmission parameters mainly depends on the distances between the two metal layers. With appropriate distance, the asymmetric transmission parameter for circular polarized electromagnetic waves can increase to 0.6. Moreover, both proposed configurations show no asymmetric transmission for linear polarized electromagnetic waves which is widely studied in other bi-layered metamaterials.


In this experiment,milk samples from different breeding mode(dairy herds,cultivation district and milking station) of Hohhot areas were collected for cultivation,isolation,identification in the laboratory and in order to analyze the main pathogenic bacteria of cow mastitis in the region.The results showed that Staphylococcus aureus was the main pathogenic bacterium,and environmental pathogenic microorganism was subsidiary pathogenic bacterium in areas of Hohhot.The primary problem in the dairy industry was mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus,environmental pathogenic microorganism was also a heavy trouble in the cattle breeding.


We investigated whether guinea pigs sensitized to ovalbumin show changes in T cells in the bronchial wall and whether they correlate with eosinophil migration. Animals received two injections of 10 µg ovalbumin in Al(OH)3 with a 2-week interval. Lungs were resected and frozen and cryostat sections stained with monoclonal antibodies recognizing T cells and subsets. Eosinophil peroxidase staining was used to identify this cell type. Sections stained with each marker were read 'blind' and cells enumerated in the bronchial lamina propria. A large number of T cells, mainly of CD4+ subset, were recruited into the bronchi 7 days after the booster injection of the antigen, in contrast to nonimmunized or nonboosted animals. These changes were also accompanied by an infiltration of eosinophils in boosted animals and suggest that T cells and/or their products play an important role in the development of bronchial hyperreactivity in this model.


One hundred and fifty newly-diagnosed diabetics were questioned to assess the duration of symptoms and the awareness of their significance in relation to the presence or absence of a family history of diabetes. Any complications were also noted. Forty-three per cent gave a family history of diabetes, and only 11% of these had been aware of their high risk of developing the condition. Eighty-nine per cent had symptoms and of these diabetes was suspected by 24% with a family history, and 12% without. Family history had little effect on duration of symptoms. Sixteen per cent had complications.


We report electrically tunable nonlinear optical metasurfaces for Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) based on coupling of intersubband transitions with plasmonic nanocavity. In the structure, conversion efficiency, spectral bandwidth, and local nonlinear phase of SHG can be controlled by the nonlinear response of the constituent meta-atoms. Experimentally, we demonstrate over 2900% of SHG intensity modulation depth, SHG beam diffraction, and SHG beam steering by applying electrical bias voltages. In addition, we propose a new meta-atom structure with full 2π phase tunability, which can be used to construct electrically tunable nonlinear flat optics.


AIM
To investigate the effect of vasonatrin peptide (VNP) on the expression of C-type natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR-C) in hypoxic rat hearts.

METHODS
Rats were divided randomly into three groups: control group, hypoxia group(3-28 d) and VNP (25-75 microg/kg per day) + hypoxia group. The plasma concentration of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in rats was measured by the means of radioimmunoassay. Furthermore, quantitative PCR was used to examine the NPR-C mRNA level in rat hearts.

RESULTS
The plasma concentration ANP in rats was significantly higher than that of control group, and VNP (75 microg/kg per day) made it more higher. Hypoxia for 3 day of had no significant effect on the NPR-C mRNA level in rat hearts, while hypoxia for 7-28 d significantly increased the level of NPR-C mRNA in a time dependent manner. VNP (50-75 microg/kg per day) significantly reduced the NPR-C mRNA level in rat hearts in a dose dependent manner.

CONCLUSION
VNP increases the plasma concentration of ANP in hypoxic rats. Hypoxia can increase expression of NPR-C in rat hearts significantly, which can be inhibited by VNP.


This is the second in a series of reports concerned with evaluating the impacts of land development. This report discusses in considerable depth and detail how development affects the revenues and expenditures of local government. Questions include the following: (1) Will new development inflate the demand for public services and facilities in excess of the tax revenues it generates? (2) Are communities searching for new development and new sources of revenue to ease the tax burdens associated with existing developments that do not pay their own way? and (3) Are cities, suburbs, and suburban communities pitted against each other in obtaining additional tax dollars and excluding tax users? In this report a large number of fiscal studies were examined to determine why findings differ, to identify the major analytical issues, and to synthesize a judgment about the utility of fiscal impact analysis as a tool for better land-use planning and management. (Author/MLF) *********************************************************************** Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. nevertheless, items of marginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. ***********************************************************************


Accurate calibration is prerequisite for digital camera to get satisfactory images. However, various scene types need different camera calibration schemes. A few fixed scene modes on digital camera to facilitate the users have been proposed. These common scene modes (e.g. landscape, portrait, night scene, etc.) for daily use are optimized for specific scenes and photographic conditions. When selected, a scene mode can often give better results than shooting in fully automatic mode. In this paper, an approach for automatic recognition of scene types based on semantic features is presented. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) based topic model is adopted to generate semantic features from Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) image descriptors. Semantic features in this approach are not only a better dimensional representation for original image data, but also reports satisfactory classification performances on datasets of complex scenes, especially for small size training sets. Furthermore, as it is not possible for fixing all scene types beforehand in camera, our approach gives an option for the users to define new scenes through a cluster-based retraining method, only several new training examples are required. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is effective and flexible for automatic scene recognition in camera.


The aim of the current study was to compare and verify factors associated with gender in combat phases, techniques and biomechanical leversused during judo matches, and performance probabilities in those same matches. We evaluated high-level judo athletes from each weight division who qualified for the Olympic Games. 773 male and 638 female bouts were analyzed based on the motor actions during approach, gripping, attack, defense, groundwork and biomechanics of techniques. The current results demonstrated significant differences between male and female bouts in pause frequencies [7(4;12); 9(4;13); p≤0.05], and approach with displacements [1(0; 6); 3(0;9); p≤0.05]. Female athletes used higher frequencies of techniques with different biomechanical levers for attacks (i.e. trunk leg lever attempts; waist lever variable attempts, waist lever variable effective and attempts, and maleolo lever effective and attempts; p≤0.05), while men used more variations of gripping (i.e. left collar, left collar and sleeve, both collars, right sleeve, left sleeve and both sleeves; p≤0.05) and groundwork attacks (i.e. Osae-waza, kansetsu-waza and shime-waza attempts; p≤0.05). The regression analysis demonstrated that female performance probabilities are associated positively with the use of Osae-waza, Variable/medium length attempted and scored, Arm/foot lever, Minimum lever attempted and scored and negatively with the grip on both collars, while male performance probabilities are associated positively with the use of Variable/medium length scored, Arm/foot lever scored, Minimum lever attempted and negatively with the grip on the right sleeve. The present data can be applied by coaches and athletes to elaborate the training programs focused on competitive strategies that increase the chances of winning.


Crafting Masculine Selves represents a journey into the culture and psychological dynamics of a select group of Afghan Pashtun men. The book is based on eighteen months of fieldwork in a volatile area of Afghanistan, adjoining the border with Pakistan, carried out between 2009 and 2013. In addition to participant observation, the author employed a person-centered ethnographic methodology, wherein he conducted long-term, one-on-one interview sessions with four male individuals, and analyzed four additional life trajectories. The book unveils and chronicles how the creation and use of multiple subjectivities, and the unconscious, dissociative interplay that the individual maintains between them, is one of the "stratagems" with which individuals manage to make sense of what happens to them in real life, and to pragmatically inhabit personal circumstances that are often marred by conflict and violence, both at the interpersonal and at the political level. The main cultural thread the book investigates is that of masculinity, a crucial idiom in a very androcentric Pashtun society. Virtually all the interlocutors the book presents have to navigate deep private conflicts and contradictions related to how society expects them to be appropriate, proper men, against the backdrop of a sociopolitical Afghan context heavily impacted by almost forty years of uninterrupted war. Feeling constrained by the strict norms about a severe and honor-bound masculinity in a quickly changing Afghanistan, but equally striving to be culturally validated by their own peers, these men struggle to create and publicly legitimize their own, idiosyncratic way of being appropriate men. While they suffer at times the stern rebuke of their social environment, all the same they represent the seeds for a change of those very cultural norms.


The authors study the classical simulability and computational power of so-called matchgate circuits in the presence of additional resources, and find striking parallels to the known results for Clifford circuits. They also clarify under which conditions universal quantum computation is achieved with this gate set.


Chemical weathering of silicate rocks is a primary drawdown mechanism of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The processes that affect weathering are therefore central in controlling global climate. A temperature-controlled "weathering thermostat" has long been proposed in stabilising long-term climate, but without definitive evidence from the geologic record. Here we use lithium isotopes ( δ 7 Li) to assess the impact of silicate weathering across a significant climate-cooling period, the end-Ordovician Hirnantian glaciation (~445 Ma). We find a positive δ 7 Li excursion, suggestive of a silicate weathering decline. Using a coupled lithium-carbon model, we show that initiation of the glaciation was likely caused by declining CO 2 degassing, which triggered abrupt global cooling, and much lower weathering rates. This lower CO 2 drawdown during the glaciation allowed climatic recovery and deglaciation. Combined, the data and model provide support from the geological record for the operation of the weathering thermostat.


Purpose: To compare retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) profile in subjects with myopia and emmetropia using GDx variable corneal compensator (VCC)


Photons appear as reliable information messengers since they interact very weakly with their environment. Unfortunately, they interact so weakly with each other that the direct implementation of optical two-qubit gates is impossible. The propagation through atomic nonlinear media however allows one to achieve effective photon-photon interactions. The technique of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) allows one to induce a strong resonant non-linearity -- not strong enough to be noticeable in the quantum domain though, on one of the transitions of a three-level ladder system. To enhance the nonlinear effects and reach the quantum regime, it was recently proposed to combine the EIT approach with the excitation blockade induced by the strong dipole-dipole interactions between Rydberg atoms. By putting the medium in a cavity, one imposes multiple passes to the light therefore increasing the optical nonlinearity. This kind of setup was studied both theoretically and experimentally in the dispersive regime and for a relatively weak nonlinearity, for which a classical treatment of the field is still valid. In this dissertation, we investigate the optical nonlinear effects induced by a Rydberg medium in the quantum regime.In chapter 1, we present our system, its dynamical equations and recall the definition and basic properties of the intensity correlation function g^{left(2right)}that we use to characterize the action of nonlinearity on the photonic field. In chapter 2, we consider the so-called dispersive regime, i.e. when the intermediate state is far detuned and can be adiabatically eliminated. We employ the Rydberg bubble approximation in which the system effectively consists in an ensemble of two-level superatoms coupled to the cavity mode, described by the driven Tavis-Cummings model. We compute analytically and numerically the g^{left(2right)}function of the transmitted light, which, depending on the cavity parameters, is shown to be either bunched or antibunched. In chapter 3, we present an alternative treatment of the system, which allows us to investigate the resonant regime. In the low-feeding limit, we analytically derive the correlation function g^{left(2right)}left(tauright)for the transmitted and reflected lights, based on the factorization of the lowest perturbative order of operator product averages. We then propose an effective non-linear three-boson model for the coupled atom-cavity system. Finally, we investigate the resonant regime and observe novel features of the correlation function g^{left(2right)}showing the interplay of impedance matching conditions and dipole-dipole interactions. In chapter 4, we analyze the system in the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism. Applying Wick's theorem, we perturbatively expand correlation functions with respect to both, feeding and dipole-dipole interactions Hamiltonians and perform a complete resummation with respect to the latter. By this method we recover the results of Chap. 3 in an analytic form. We also go beyond and derive analytic expressions for the elastic and inelastic components of the cavity transmission spectrum. We identify a polaritonic resonance structure in this spectrum, to our knowledge unreported so far, that we physically interpret. In chapter 5, we describe a novel scheme for high fidelity photonic controlled-phase gates using Rydberg blockade in an ensemble of atoms in an optical cavity. This protocol can be implemented with cavities of moderate finesse allowing for highly efficient processing of quantum information encoded in photons.


Field Programmable Gate Array(FPGA) plays an increasingly important role in the fields of data acquisition, signal processing and measurement control, etc. NI has already expanded LabVIEW to the development of FPGA,which makes the development of FPGA much easier and more efficient. The data acquisition system based on CompactRIO and NI9205 module is developed by using simulation technology, which is able to analyze the amplitude and phase spectrum of the signal acquired. The proposed system bears practical significance and value, and can be further expanded to an automated software testing platform.


I. Alien, F.C. 1968. Mixtures of MCPA plus dicamba and MCPA plus bromoxynil in cereals. Proceedings 21st N.Z. Weed and Pest Control Conference: 87-95. 2. Alien, F.C., Butler, J.H.B. 1980. Weed control in wheat, barley and oats. N.Z. MAF Aglink FPP 399. 3. Alien, F.C., Smallridge, T.J. 1972. Chemical control of wild oats alone, and with broad-leaved weeds in wheat and barley. Proceedings 25th N.Z. Weed and Pest Control Conference: 192-198. 4. Anon. 1910. Barley variety trials (16 cultivars). N.Z. Journal of Agriculture 1: 194-196. 5. Anon. 1967. What is the place for barley in the Waikato? N.Z. Farmer 88 (4): 39-41. 6. Anon. 1967. Barley venture on former airfield. N.Z. Farmer 88 (20): 16-17. 7. Anon. 1969. Barley meal boosts beef production on grass. N.Z. Farmer 90 (8): 6-9. 8. Anon. 1969. Lesson learnt from a change in winter feeding. N.Z. Farmer 90 (15): 2-7. 9. Anon. 1972. Barley, its value as a sheep feed. N.Z. Farmer 93 (19): 89. 10. Arnold, E.H. 1941. Which is the best method of feeding barley to pigs? N.Z. Journal of Agriculture 62: 31-32. 11. Arnst, B.J. 1976. Bwwn rust of barley. Proceedings 29th N.Z. Weed and Pest Control Conference: 225-227. 12. Arnst, B.J. 1976. Leaf stripe disease of barley. Proceedings 29th N.Z. Weed and Pest Control Conference: 228-230. 13. Arnst, B.J. 1978. New seed treatment for barley. DSIR Cereal News 5: 15. 14. Arnst, B.J., Fenwick, J.E. 1973. A survey of barley diseases in New Zealand. Proceedings 26th N.Z. Weed and Pest Control Conference: 157-160. 15. Arnst, B.J., Sheridan, J.E., Grbavac, N. 1978. Two important fungal seed-borne diseases of barley in New Zealand: net blotch caused by Drechslera teres (Sacc.) Shoemaker and leaf stripe caused by Drechslera graminea (Rabenh. ex Schecht.) Shoemaker. N.Z. Journal of Agricultural Research 21: 697-701. 16. Ashby, J.W., Burnett, P.A. 1976. Barley stripe mosaic virus. Proceedings 29th N.Z. Weed and Pest Control Conference: 231-232. 17. Barrer, P.R. 1952. Malting barley variety trials in Ellesmere County. N.Z. Journal of Agriculture 85: 479-483.


The spectre of the seventeenth century loomed large in the eighteenth century. The Anglican orthodox were particularly aghast at the radical assault on the religio-political order during the previous century and feared a reprise during theirs. In 1734, for instance, Thomas Seeker (1693–1768) warned his audience at St James's, Westminster, that Charles I's execution was 'a most peculiarly instructive example of divine judgments, brought down by a sinful people on their own heads'. In all his providential interventions in human affairs, God teaches 'an awful regard to himself, as moral governor of the world; and a faithful practice of true religion'. And what drew his divine wrath upon Britain during the 1650s was the abandonment of'real religion' for 'hypocrisy, superstition, and enthusiasm'. Certainly Laud and his followers might have displayed 'an over warm zeal, and very blameable stiffness and severity', Seeker acknowledged. 'But there was also, in the enemies of the church, a most provoking bitterness and perverseness; with a wild eagerness for innovation, founded on ignorant prejudices, which their heated fancies raised into necessary truths; and then, looking on them, as the cause of Christ, they thought themselves bound and commissioned to overturn whatever was contrary to them.'


In this paper we have designed and implemented a method for finding and presenting profile of researchers comprising academic and personal detail. Data is extracted from web considering various websites which includes social networking sites (LinkedIn in our case), IEEE, iete, springer, cse and many more. After extraction, data from all these sites is fused so that desired result can be interpreted with minimal ambiguity and repetition. It is the formal way to find the relevant data from web and then merge them logically. This model also defines various constraints including topic, location, affiliation etc. so that location or topic specific researchers list can be generated with their profiles. Online Profile Maker extracts information about academicians from different websites and provides results based upon the name entered and the area to which the academicians belong. It can be of great use while organizing a conference or a seminar in which the profile of academicians can be extracted belonging to a particular area.


A large magnetostriction effect induced by Jahn-Teller Mn 3+ centers, was found at low temperatures. The transverse magnetostriction had a significant angular dependence that is not typical of the matrix. The oscillation amplitude can be noticeably increased by a slight uniaxial deformation of the crystal


Searching for oil in Germany is an urgent task, since from its own reserves Germany can cover only four percent of the total volume of oil required for the country's economy. In this regard, we have conducted research with the aim of assessing the prospects of the Rhine Rift oil potential. Were analyzed in basalts Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH). The PAH Petroleum Association clearly indicates the presence of petroleum hydrocarbons in rocks and are an indicator of the oil content of deep horizons. The previous report (EGU2020) highlighted the positive factors of oil   potential in the Rhine Rift. There are favorable geological settings of Rhine Rift, such as seismic activity, new tectonic movements, and presence of basalt, decompressed rocks of mantle, rift stretching mode, and favorable geochemical indications, such as existence of typomorphic oil-associated PAH (Phenanthrene, Chrysene, Pyrene, Benz(a)pyren), presence the components resembling on compositions of Moravia oil . For detailing research conducted mathematical correlation between the non-hydrocarbon components PAH (Naftalen + Homologus, Difenil, Benz (ghi) perylene, Fluorene, Perilen, Antracen, Tetraphen) and hydrocarbon components PAH (Phenanthrene, Pyrene, Chrysene, Benz(a)pyren). Mathematical correlation is 0.041, which is a weak positive relationship on the Chaddock scale. The weak positive relationship between the oil components of PAHs and non-oil components probably indicates that the sources of the oil components of PAHs and non-oil components of PAHs are different. And the source of the oil PAHs is probably the oil fields. Thus the geological-geochemical-mathematical factors point to favorable oil-bearing entrails Rhine Rift! For prospecting   cluster of oil   in the first instance recommended at areas: Bad Urah, Kaizertuhl-Shellingen !


Chaired by former MP and minister for mental health, Paul Burstow, the CentreForum Mental Health Commission undertook a 12 month study of the state of wellbeing in England by identifying five key priorities between now and 2020.


Natural landmarks are assumed to exist in the environment. Global color image features are extracted from sensor data to feed the robot's self-localization approach. The color features correspond to natural landmarks, that are learned by the navigation sub-system. During the localization process, which is a Bayes filtering of a Markov environment, the posterior probability density over possible discrete robot locations (the belief) is recursively computed. The approach was tested to provide robust results under varying scene brightness conditions and small measurement errors.


Objective: Fibromuscular dysplasia (FD) is a rare idiopathic, segmental, non-atherosclerotic, non-inflammatory vascular disease, which occurs mostly in middle-aged patients and affects medium-sized arteries (renal and carotid arteries). We previously showed that renal FD is associated with supernumerary echo interfaces (triple signal pattern) detectable on echotracking tracings of the carotid artery (CA) compared to healthy subjects (HS), but we did not study patients with essential hypertension (EH). Design and method: In a cross sectional study, we compared the geometry and the mechanical properties of CA between 50 patients with multifocal FD of renal/carotid arteries, 50 patients with EH matched for age, sex, ethnicity and BP and 50 HS matched for age, sex and ethnicity. We used 1) a high-resolution radiofrequency–based echotracking system to perform a semiquantitative arterial phenotypic scoring and to detect additional interface at the level of the CA wall, and 2) Sphygmocor® to measure carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). All measurements were performed blind to the diagnosis. Results: FD, EH and HS were well matched (52yrs, 85% women, 80%caucasian). SBP was higher in FD (125 ± 15 mmHg) and EH (121 ± 12 mmHg) than EH (113 ± 10 mmHg) despite antihypertensive treatments. The FD score was significantly higher and the triple signal pattern was observed more frequently in both FD and EH than in HS, with no difference between FD and EH. This was also the case for PWV. All other parameters (CA diameter, distensibility and intima-media thickness [IMT]) did not significantly differ between the 3 groups. Figure. No caption available. Conclusions: In conclusion, even though the FD score is much higher and the prevalence of the triple signal is largely more frequent at the level of CA and PWV is higher in FD than in age, sex-, ethnicity-matched HS, this arterial phenotype is not specific for FD when compared to age-, sex- and BP-matched EH.


The feasibility of building Cu interconnects with a linewidth as small as 50 nm embedded in insulating SiO2 has been explored using the damascene process. Fine line test structures, designed for evaluating effects of small linewidth on metal line electric resistivity, were written on a poly(methylmethacrylate) resist layer and then transferred to the underlying SiO2 layer by high-density plasma etching. Using a CHF3 etching gas and an inductive power of 400 W, we were able to produce 50-nm-wide and 150-nm-deep trenches in SiO2. These trenches were then filled with a thin (5–10 nm) TaSiN or TaN liner and a thick Cu layer by the ionized physical vapor deposition technique. The field Cu was removed by a chemical-mechanical polishing process, leaving narrow damascene Cu in the oxide trenches. Direct current resistance measurements have indicated a wide distribution of resistivity in these fine lines. The low end of the distribution is close to the effective resistivity of a perfect Cu line. The high values ar...


The pulmonary abscesses are usually treated with antibiotics and postural drainage. However, some patients don't improve with conservative measures or have contraindications for conventional surgical treatment. The aim of present paper was the presentation of three cases underwent percutaneous drainage of pulmonary abscesses. The technique used for tube insertion, complications and postoperative course of patients were described. In such cases operation was successful without mortality and with a bronchopleural cutaneous fistula like the only complication requiring a further intervention (pneumonectomy). The percutaneous drainage of pulmonary abscesses was safe and effective in our patients.


The present paper describes the Children's Interaction Schedule (C.LS.), an observation schedule designed to measure the skills or processes used by children as they interact with their peers. There are nine categories of interactive behaviour on which the C.LS. is based. The effectiveness of the instrument in a field situation, using an interval-recording technique of behaviour sampling, is outlined. Acceptable observer agreement values were obtained for each category of the C.LS. as well as for the total instrument Further uses for the C.LS. are suggested.


Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is used for determining the Indoor Positioning of objects and persons since recent years. WSN has been implemented in indoor positioning applications such as real time tracking of humans/objects, patient monitoring in health care, navigation, warehouses for inventory monitoring, shopping malls, etc. But one of the problems while implementing WSN in Indoor positioning system is to ensure more coverage large number of sensors must be deployed which increases the installation cost. So in this paper, we have used MATLAB GUI named Sensor Network Localization Explorer to analyze the impact of node density on indoor positioning localization schemes. Later we have integrated the Kalman filter with the indoor positioning system to increase the reliability and reduce the localization error of the system with lesser number of nodes.


The personal pattern of coping with the stress associated with making decisions characterizes the way an individual makes choices and judgments. The Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (MDMQ) analyses these personal patterns and has been used across various cultures in order to assess four main strategies: vigilance, buck-passing, procrastination, and hypervigilance. We sought to adapt and validate a Portuguese version of the MDMQ. Our study was conducted with a sample of 523 Portuguese people aged 18 or older. The questionnaire retained the original four scales, which represent four different decisional patterns, showing good reliability and validity – concurrent as well as predictive – and invariance for gender and age. The coping pattern with the highest mean was vigilance, while procrastination had the lowest mean. In contrast to other studies of the MDMQ, our sample had a more diversified distribution of age. Young adults were less capable than older adults of managing stress when making decisions, due to their higher levels of buck-passing, hypervigilance, and procrastination. Vigilance showed stronger correlations to positive affect, satisfaction with life, and better decisional self-esteem, while the remaining scales were related to negative affect, reduced decisional self-esteem, and lower satisfaction with life. These decision-making styles are chosen depending on time constraints, pressure, or other contextual characteristics. These results suggest that individuals resort to more convenient patterns according to their situation, and that these patterns of decision-making can be trained, developed, and improved.


The current study was conducted at the college of veterinary medicine, university of basrah in the periods extended from 22/10/2016 to 22/1/2017. The present study is designed to report the toxic effects of digoxin on kidney histologically and biochemically by measuring kidney parameters urea and creatinine level in the serum. Maximum toxic dose determined by using 2 rats dosed orally until clinical signs of toxicity became prominent at 30mg for each rat and considered as MTD. The chronic toxicity study was carried out on 48 adult rats divided into 4 groups. Control (G1) receive distilled water, Low dose (G2) dosed with 1/20 MTD(1.5mg/kg) digoxin, Intermediate dose (G3) dosed with 1/10 MTD(3mg/kg) digoxin and High dose (G4) dosed with 1/5 MTD(6mg/kg) digoxin by oral gavage for 90 days. At the end of experiments all animals were sacrificed and blood sample were collected for estimation of biochemical parameters of rat. Result reveals histopathological changes presented as dilation/vaccuolation of renal tubules and atrophy of glomeruli. There is a significant (P≤0.05) increase in serum urea and creatinine level in high dose (G4) group when compared with other study group. We conclude that high dose digoxin has toxic effect on renal tissue and lead to their damage.


The discipline of Translation Studies emerged from the needs of society, and has tried to respond to its challenges. This article contains an overview of the development of Translation Studies, ranging from the normative, linguistic translation theories of the 1950's to descriptive studies and communicative and pragmatic branches, e.g., the Skopos Theory and the Manipulation School), and also some totally nonlinguistic branches of Translation Studies: the Ethics and Sociology of Translation. The article also deals with the relationship of Translation Studies with other fields of study, especially Contrastive and Applied Linguistics. It comes to the conclusion that Translation Studies constitutes a discipline in its own right – with theories and methods of its own and an object of study of its own. This includes the process of translation and interpretation, the products of this process, and the interrelations of translators and translations with society and culture.


The aim of this note is to study the arithmetic of Taelman's unit module for A := Fq[T ]. This module is the A-module (via the Carlitz module) generated by 1. Let P be a monic irreducible polynomial in A, we show that the "P -adic behaviour" of 1 is connected to some isotypic component of the ideal class group of the integral closure of A in the P th cyclotomic function field. The results contained in this note are applications of the deep results obtained by L. Taelman in [9]. The authors thank L. Taelman and D. Thakur for fruitfull discussions.


This paper discusses the use and assessment of three teaching tools (WebCT, Mindtrail, and EVE) in a postgraduate course. Firstly, the postgraduate course is introduced and the reader is provided with an overview of the course, Information Systems Auditing, an explanation of the manner in which the course was delivered, the cohort attending, the staff teaching the course, and the use of information Technology (IT) in the course. The paper then provides an overview of each of the tools used including their description, rationale, deployment and use in the course. Web CT assisted with supporting delivery of the course and class discussions, Mindtrail helped in the marking and assessment of student assignments, while EVE assisted in the identification and control of plagiarism by students in their assignments. Following descriptions of the use of these tools in the course, an assessment was carried out as to their usefulness, from both an academic staff and student perspective. Students' perspectives were gathered by use of a questionnaire at the end of the course. The overall impression of WebCT was that it was a worthwhile tool to support the course and will be used in future courses. Mindtrail was adopted to improve both the assignment marking quality and the feedback given to students and we found that the explicit construction of the knowledge tree (marking guide) assisted in focusing on the important issues of the assignment and thus provided a more 'objective' marking process. EVE analyses documents for plagiarism and was adopted as a deterrent in the major assignment. The lecturers' believe that its use was most worthwhile and demonstrated the academic staff's seriousness about stopping plagiarism. A number of deficiencies identified with the tools and recommendations for its their improvement are also presented. An analysis of students' perceptions of the three tools revealed that WebCT was rated greater than 'moderately useful' and those students who had a high WebCT access rate, perceived that WebCT was more useful than students in a lower access rate category. Students also found WebCT easy to use, and improved communications between students and instructors during the course. Similarly, Mindtrail was perceived as greater than 'moderately useful' by the students and contained 'moderately detailed' feedback on their major assignments. EVE similarly was perceived as 'moderately useful' by the students, provided 'moderately detailed' feedback to students, and students believed that is was a good idea to prevent/control plagiarism. Overall both the students and the academic staff perceived the three tools as being useful to the completion and running of the course, and the results provide a solid base for the continued use of these tools.


Nuclear density cone penetrometer(ND-CPT), incorporating the nuclear density probe into the probe of piezocone penetrometer, is a newly developed in-situ testing device that can simultaneously measure cone resistance, sleeve friction, pore water pressure and density. According to the principle that ND-CPT measures the average wet densityc? of the soil within a spheroid volume around the central point of the source and the detector, the backscatter and average value models which can calculate the average densityc? of soil within a spheroid volume are firstly proposed. Then, assuming ND-CPT is penetrated into various heterogeneous strata, the differences between the average densityc? profiles and the actual density ? profiles are investigated; and the results show that the measuredc? values are considerably different from the actual ? values near the boundaries of strata. Finally, the measuredc? profiles of seabed sediments in Ariake Sea, Japan, are interpreted and the actual ? profiles are deduced. The research results can provide the basis for accurate soil classification using ND-CPT.


The contamination of animal-based foods has a main source the food chain of that species. The paper aims at following the possible traceability of organochlorinated pesticides residues found in raw material milk from an area near the Oradea Municipality. For this purpose I tested samples of green fodders and water, gathered from the grassing area belonging to the village with the highest weight in the production of the raw material milk tested before. For comparison, the determinations have been performed using the same method, devices and chromatography conditions as in the case of milk. In respect of the 16 compounds tested, the majority of those identified positively in milk were found in the fodders and waters tested, in various concentrations.


TO THE EDITOR: Although excellent results with 13-cis-retinoic acid (isotretinoin) have been reported in acute promyelocytic leukemia [1], the role of isotretinoin has not been fully established in the treatment of other malignancies. Oxyphilic follicular thyroid cancer is associated with a poor prognosis compared with other differentiated thyroid tumors [2]. No cure is known for metastatic disease. Spontaneous tumor regression in differentiated thyroid cancer is extremely rare. Influences on iodine metabolism, induction of 5 deiodinase, and decreased proliferation in follicular thyroid cancer cells have been observed [3-5]. In May 1993, a 72-year-old man presented with an oxyphilic follicular thyroid cancer with lymph node and pulmonary involvement. After thyroidectomy, neck dissection, ablative radioiodine therapy, and suppressive levothyroxine therapy, adjuvant therapy with isotretinoin (Accutane, Hoffmann-La Roche, Grenzach-Whylen, Switzerland), 60 mg/d, was started in July 1995 because of shortness of breath and exponentially increasing human thyroglobulin (hTg) levels. There were no severe side effects. The dyspnea disappeared 3 months after first administration. A cervical lymph node metastasis was removed in March 1996. Histologic examination showed a necrotic oxyphilic tumor with trabecular structure. The patient discontinued therapy with his medication twice, for 14 days in preparation for surgery and for 3 months starting in July 1996. While therapy was discontinued, hTg levels increased and dyspnea recurred. A least-squares model showed that hTg levels from July 1993 to May 1995 were different from those seen between July 1995 and May 1996, with a probability of more than 95% in a Mann-Whitney test (Figure 1 on page 246). Glucose hypermetabolism of the lung metastases assessed by F-18-FDG-PET (F-18-fluoro-deoxy-glucose available for position emission tomography) decreased (dose-uptake ratio, 6.1 1.5 in October 1995 compared with 3.7 1.3 in April 1996; P < 0.002). Computed tomography and chest radiography show unchanging diameters of the lung metastases. Isotretinoin therapy was started again in October 1996. As of February 1997, our patient is alive and well. Figure 1. Follow-up from May 1993 to January 1997. This case report provides evidence that isotretinoin inhibits growth and induces regression of metastases in oxyphilic thyroid carcinoma.


The objective of this paper is to determine the difference, if any, between North and South in the Euro Area, by testing the influence of current account and private sector debt on the general government debt. We used panel data analysis for the period 2000 - 2011 and the results showed that current account and private sector debt influenced the dynamics of public debt both in Northern and Southern countries, but the dependence proved to be higher in the latter. Monte Carlo simulations were subsequently used in order to predict the variation in public debt for both Northern and Southern country groups.


This paper introduces " participating model" of student education administration in higher education in China which formed and developed under the guidance of Marxism theory,and its three forms in sociology: connotation of structural functionalism,sociological turn of organic solidarity and development of negation of negation. This paper reports some theoretical innovation by putting forward that this model gives a positive influence on student education administration in China,offering a bridge among student,university and society. Due to the similarity of their logic structures between " participating model" and sociology,the author appeal for more research on " participating model" from sociologists,so that this model attains sustainable development in the system of the Marxism and the Socialism with Chinese characteristics.


Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a plant that grows in tropical regions. Indonesia's cocoa plants themselves are spread mostly in some islands, including the entire territory of Indonesia on the island of Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. Cocoa fruit leather is a potentially plantation waste as livestock feed. The content of nutrients in the skin of the fruit of the cocoa is said to be high-quality feed materials, so that waste utilization of plantation can save you the cost of feed consumption. The purpose of this research is to know the effect of granting fruit skins of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) in the ration of broiler chicken growth. This research was conducted in May and June 2014, kelurahan bandar buat, kecamatan lubuk kilangan padang. Make the bottom of the wine town of Padang. Research using Randomized Complete Design (RAL), which consists of 6 treatments and four replicates. The treatment given is A Control Treatment (feeding 311), Treatment of B, by adding the flour cocoa 5% fruit peels, fruit skin Treatment C flour cocoa 10%, Treatment D flour cocoa fruit skin 15%, Treatment E flour cocoa fruit skin 20%, the treatment F flour cocoa 25% fruit leather. Data analysis with a variety of prints and continued with test BNT on α level of 5%. Research results showed issuing 5% cocoa fruit skin provides the best results against chicken broiler weight whereas the consumption of rations on the awarding of over 10% can chicken broiler weight loss due to the high content of crude fiber so that nutrients are present in the feed could not be digested by a chicken. Can be inferred grant of 5% cocoa fruit leather on a feed, the feed cost saving more than the giving of 10%.


and had no cultural center of its own. The Ruthenians of this region therefore concentrated their attention on their Slavic neighbors. After the events of 1948 Lemberg (L'viv) became an important center, but in subsequent years a growing orientation toward Russia developed. The author gives much attention to the political tendencies of the higher clergy, who represented the leading group of a small intelligentsia, and to the brothers Dobriansky, who from 1848 to 1861 fought for the formation of a Carpatho-Ruthenian dukedom similar to the one the Serbs succeeded in obtaining in the Vojvodina (1848-60). Often accused of Pan-Slavistic and pro-Russian activities, Adolf Dobriansky showed a great deal of political skill and energy until he became disappointed by the rigid attitude of the Magyars and concentrated his hopes for improvement of the social and cultural situation on the Russian capital. It was not until the "ethnographical exposition" in Moscow in 1867, which in reality was an "all-Slavic congress," that pro-Russian sympathies grew among the Carpatho-Ruthenians. The fact that the higher clergy cooperated with the Magyars and supported the Magyarophile tendencies explains the opposition to the Greek Catholic Church among the lower clergy and their growing orientation toward the Russian Orthodox Church. Social discontent and the policy of ruthless Magyarization, which resulted in attempts to replace Church Slavonic with the Hungarian language even in the liturgy, led to the intensification of contacts between the "Ukrainians" in Galicia and those in the northern districts of Hungary. The author deals very carefully with the much disputed use of the two notions "Ruthenians" and "Ukrainians" and shows precise knowledge of modern methods of treating problems of nationalism. The very few critical remarks can be restricted to the spelling of historical names, where 2eguc is not always consistent, and to the omission of two minor publications—one, for example, is about Alexei Gerovsky, a son-in-law of Dobriansky, who played an active role in the national agitation in the years before World War I (see Erich Prokopowitsch, "Dr. Gerowski—homo redivivus: Ein Beitrag zur Vorgeschichte des 1. Weltkriegs," in Der Siidostdeutsche, 12 [1961]: 8-10; and Rudolf Kiszling, "Die russische Orthodoxie und der Nordosten des ehemaligen Habsburgerreiches, 1908-1914," in Ostdeutsche Wissenschaft, 9 [1962] : 287-300). Both articles are based on documentary material available in Vienna. 2eguc's book, which contains excellent scholarly and biobibliographical annotations, is a useful contribution to the history of Eastern Europe.


The authors did a truly immense amount of research, especially in the Party histories that reflect access to archives and in the memoir literature published in recent years. Moreover, they conducted interviews with prominent Party historians as well as some actors of the time. They take great care in reconstructing events and indicating on which issues there is continuing uncertainty. Previous scholarship has covered the same terrain, but the authors' new data enables them to shed new light on many of the events of that controversial era. The thesis of an all-powerful Mao is indeed backed up with highly persuasive new evidence. Until full access to the archives becomes possible, this account, when put together with the evidence supplied by Roderick MacFarquhar's second and third volumes, can legitimately be viewed as definitive. And yet, a fundamental question remains: if Mao was as secure in his dominance as Teiwes and Sun claim, why did he find it necessary to purge the elite so savagely during the Cultural Revolution?


The past decade has seen amazing advances in radioastronomy, which led to the construction of brand-new instruments such as LOFAR and ALMA, and the updating of existing ones, e. g. JVLA and e-MERLIN. The SKA will be the spearhead of a future technological development and it will change the way astrophysical topics have been studied so far by opening up new frequency windows with unprecedented spatial resolution and sensitivity. The SKA location in the southern hemisphere makes it particularly suitable to complement ALMA, which is already giving exciting results both on the local and the more distant Universe. Among the possible synergies between SKA and ALMA, we focus on the observations of nearby star forming galaxies. Star formation processes in galaxies involve all the components of the interstellar medium, so the only way to have a complete picture of them is through multifrequency observations. ALMA observes gas and dust emission, while the SKA will trace both the free-free thermal and the non-thermal synchrotron emission. The spatial comparison between these components gives information about the contribution to star formation processes provided by magnetic fields and cosmic rays. The high spatial resolution achievable with ALMA and SKA will make it possible to compare these emissions on very small spatial scales, by resolving single molecular clouds in nearby galaxies. By the time the SKA will start observing, ALMA will have already imaged many nearby galaxies in the southern hemisphere, for which no low frequency data at comparably high spatial resolution will be available. The SKA will fill this gap, and have a profound impact on the studies of nearby galaxies, making valuable contributions to our understanding of star formation processes, and of the role of magnetic fields and cosmic rays in them.


Background A common complication of endovascular treatment for femoropopliteal lesions is bleeding at the vascular access site. Although risk factors of bleeding-associated complications at the approach site have been reported, the results have been inconclusive. Hence, this study aimed to assess the predictors of bleeding-associated complications at the approach site in patients undergoing endovascular treatment for femoropopliteal lesions. Methods This retrospective, single-center, observational study included consecutive patients who underwent endovascular treatment (n = 366, 75% male, 72.4±9.9 year) for peripheral arterial disease with claudication and critical limb ischemia in our hospital from January 2010 to December 2017. We divided the patients into bleeding and non-bleeding groups, depending on whether bleeding-associated complications occurred at the approach site. Bleeding-associated complications were defined according to the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium criteria types 2, 3, and 5. Results Altogether, 366 endovascular treatment procedures and 404 arterial accesses were performed for femoropopliteal lesions in 335 peripheral arterial disease patients with claudication and 69 critical limb ischemia patients. We recorded 35 postprocedural bleeding-associated complications at the approach site (9%), all of which were hematomas. The predictors of increased bleeding-associated complications were age ≥ 80 years (bleeding vs. non-bleeding group, 43% vs. 25%, p<0.05) and antegrade cannulation of the common femoral artery (48% vs. 69%, p<0.05). Ultrasound-guided puncture reduced bleeding-associated complications (odds ratio, 0.28; 95% confidence interval, 0.004–0.21; p<0.05). In contrast, there was no significant difference in puncture site calcification between the groups (bleeding vs. non-bleeding groups, 29% vs. 21%, p = 0.29). Conclusion Ultrasound-guided puncture is associated with a decrease in bleeding-associated complications at the approach site, regardless of the presence of calcified plaque. It is particularly effective and should be more actively used in patients aged ≥80 years and for antegrade cannulation of the common femoral artery.


The utility model relates to the technical field of medicines, in particular to a medicine delivery system, namely an electret and microneedle transdermal delivery system. The electret and microneedle transdermal delivery system comprises a reservoir type patch main body; and a microneedle array layer is arranged inside the reservoir type patch main body and comprises a microneedle array formed by a plurality of microneedles. Due to the adoption of the technical scheme, the transdermal delivery is performed by microneedle and electret double medicine release modes, and the system has the advantages that a medicine can be quickly permeated and can be delivered continuously and stably, and an obvious treatment effect is achieved.


Creatine is synthesized in a two-stage process, involving transfer of the amidine group of arginine to glycine to form guanidoacetic acid, which is subsequently methylated to creatine. The first report of testicular creatine synthesis was made by Alekseeva & Arkhangel'skaya (1964) based upon experiments in which whole testicular tissue was incubated in vitro with [ 14C]glycine. These findings were corroborated by studies in vivo in which [ I4C]arginine or [14C]guanidoacetate was injected directly into the testes of anaesthetized rats (Koszalka, 1968). However, in these studies no consideration was given to the localization of creatine synthesis within the organ. Using cell-specific testicular toxins and monitoring urinary creatine levels, we have shown that testicular creatine in the rat is associated with the seminiferous epithelium, and with the germ cells in particulr (Rawcliffe et al., 1988; N. P. Moore, D. M. Creasy, T. J. B. Gray & J. A. Timbrell, unpublished work). This led us to consider that creatine metabolism may play a role in the normal function of the seminiferous epithelium. The seminiferous tubules are highly metabolically active structures (e.g. Grootegoed er d., 1985) and the purpose of this investigation was to determine whether they synthesize creatine, as a preliminary to the study of interand intracellular creatine metabolism. The testes from 1617-week-old Hsd/Ola: SpragueDawley rats (Olac) were decapsulated and the seminiferous tubules were separated from the interstitial tissue by collagenase digestion essentially as described by Jutte et al. ( 1982). Tubules, or the unpurified interstitial cell suspension, were incubated for 3 h at 32°C in a shaking water bath and in a 5% C02:95% 0, atmosphere. The incubation medium was Hanks balanced salt solution, supplemented with glycine (0.1 5 mg/ml) and L-methionine (0.298 mg/ml), and containing L-[guanido-"Clarginine (0.1 ,uCi/ml, 54.4 mCi/mmol; Amersham (U.K.). At the end of the incubation, the tissue was homogenized by sonication (MSE Soniprep 1 SO), boiled for 5 min and centrifuged at 2000 g for 10 min. A 5 0 pI aliquot of the supernatant was applied to a C , reverse-phase h.p.1.c. column (MCH10 ODs, Varian) fitted with a guard column, and maintained at ambient temperature. The mobile phase was an aqueous solution of Na2S04 (10 mM), H2S0, ( 5 mM) and sodium 1-hexanesulphonate ( 5 mM). Arginine and its metabolites were separated by a flow program [flow rate = 1 ml/min for 8 min, increased to 2 ml/min (duration 1 min) for 4 min, and increased to 4 ml/min (duration 2 min) for a further 16 min]. Fractions were collected every 0.4 min and the radioactivity was determined by liquid scintillation counting. A typical h.p.1.c. profile, obtained from the incubation of isolated seminiferous tubules with guanido-radiolabelled Larginine as described above, is shown in Fig. 1. The major peak has a retention time of 11.6 min and is due to unmetabolized arginine; the two earlier eluting peaks ( I and 11) have retention times of 6.3 and 7.2 min and co-chromatograph with standards of guanidoacetate and creatine, respectively. Under the conditions described, seminiferous tubules extensively incorporated the amidine group of arginine into both guanidoacetate and creatine, accounting for Arginine


Situated in the lap of the mountain Himalayas, this region by the name of 'Himachal' is famous not only in India but all over the world for its natural beauty. Himachal is also considered as the penance place of sages. Many religious places, historical temples and other places of worship in the state give meaning to the name 'Dev Bhoomi' of Himachal Pradesh. Various practical forms of folk entertainment are visible in the Himachali public, in which folk songs, folk dances, folk drama and folk instruments are the main means of entertainment. Himachali folk have been fond of art and music since ancient times. Here Folk Songs, Folk-Dances, Folk-Dramas and the performance of Folk instruments used in folk music are seen on fairs, festivals and many auspicious occasions, in which the vibrant form of Himachali folk culture is displayed. The musical aspect of Himachali folk music is very elaborate. Here musical elements are naturally present in folk music, in which Swara, Rhythm, Rasa-bhaav and Dance are prominently visible. The sound quality of Himachali folk music, vocal arrangement / Swara Vyavastha, Rhythm and Rhythm arrangement, Alaap Paksh, Swara Samvaad and Raga Chhayaa etc. are helpful in the execution of Rasa and beauty in Himachali folk music.


The ceramics of the Lugovskoy type is represented by small straight-walled, weakly profiled or rounded canals with a flat or flat-concave bottom. The surface of the vessels is carefully smoothed, the external one is clogged. The fragments of ceramics have a visually dense molding material; the original plastic raw materials are silty clay, which sometimes contain an admixture of sand, shell or organic matter. The bulk of the vessels are ornamented only with horizontal bands of pits or pearls, sometimes along the neck of the vessels. The formation of the Lugovskoy type is associated with the interaction of the Elshanskaya and Lower Volga populations, while the Elshanskaya component was dominant. The existence of the Lugovskoy type dishes belongs to the end of the early Neolithic period of the forest-steppe Volga region and characterizes the second stage of the development of the Elshanskaya culture. The problem of the absolute chronology of the Lugovskoy ceramics hasnt been studied yet. As a rule, the dating obtained for vessels of this type were considered in the context of the general chronology of the Elshanskaya culture and did not receive an appropriate interpretation in special works. To fill this gap is the main task of this paper. During the analysis of a representative series of radiocarbon determinations, it was established that the existence time of the dishes of the Lugovskoy type can be determined within the end of the first - second quarter of the 6th millennium BC. At the same time, with an increase in the radiocarbon date bank, the expansion of the chronological framework for the development of the final stage of the early Neolithic of the forest-steppe Volga region cannot be ruled out.


Much of the attention on the eurozone crisis has focused on agreements among national leaders, reactions in the bond markets and statements from credit rating agencies. However, the prospects for reform in the short term and for euro-area governance in the long term depend not only on national government preferences and market pressures, but on the constraints and opportunities created by EU law. In the short term, EU law will influence which reforms can be introduced in which time frame. In the longer term, the reforms that have been tabled envision a central role for national courts and the ECJ in eurozone governance. Member states will be required to entrench 'debt brakes' in their national constitutions, to be enforced by their national courts. The European Court of Justice will be asked to assure that these national debt brake provisions are transposed into national law adequately.While this approach to enforcement (relying on national courts backed up by the ECJ) is common in EU policy-making, the reforms proposed in reaction to the eurozone crisis would entail a profound judicialization of fiscal policy across Europe — asking courts to enforce deficit and debt restrictions that politicians have so long failed to enforce. This paper will examine the prospects for judicial enforcement of deficit and debt restrictions in the EU. The paper will offer a theoretical analysis of the prospects for successful enforcement and will draw empirical lessons from the experience of federal polities using judicially enforced restrictions on state borrowing.


SUMMARY. Hair samples were obtained from the scalps of 5 infants with kwashiorkor and 5 matched control infants on a balanced diet.


The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer has recently released a first set of precise measurements of cosmic rays detected on the International Space Station in the GeV to TeV energy range. The fluxes of positrons, electrons and protons are presented. Neither of the fluxes is compatible with a single power law. Both the electron flux and the positron flux change their behavior at ∼30 GeV but the fluxes are significantly different in their magnitude and energy dependence. Between 20 and 200 GeV the positron spectral index is significantly harder than the electron spectral index. Above ∼200 GeV the positron fraction no longer exhibits an increase with energy. The proton flux is progressively hardening above rigidity ∼100 GV. The detailed variation with rigidity of the proton flux spectral index is presented.


This article introduced the development and application effect appraisal of Microbial Engineering CAI courseware for bio-engineering specialization. The courseware focuses on knowledge system integrity, content-rich and gives prominence to the key points. Pictures, animation and video, and audio effects are also utilized appropriately to achieving stimulate students interest in learning and then improve teaching and learning performance. The courseware concentrates on core content of the course, such as fermentation parameters detection and automatic control, and fermentation equipments. The courseware was manufactured using the Powerpoint software. Animation was established with Flash 4 software and the scanning pattern was edited using Adobe photoshop. And chapters of the courseware were composed and administrated using Courseware Master Software. A two-year survey showed that 85% of students satisfied with this courseware.


In the modern world,English is becoming more and more important.This encourages Chinese people to work harder to learn English well.To study a foreign language,we should master four abilities:listening,speaking,reading,and writing.Of course,communication is the main aim of learning a foreign language for ordinary learners.So in English teaching,we should pay more attention to listening and speaking.But in fact,English teachers and students are all in an ocean of paper.Because this is the best way to get a good mark.Although we can not change current situation,we can change ourselves.As English teachers,we should continue to study the methods of teaching and try our best to create the environment of listening and speaking for students.Here I would like to introduce some useful methods to help students to improve their listening and speaking and raise their interest.


The thermal dependence of the semiconductor detector is one of the critical properties. This manuscript describes changes in the threshold scans, equalization and its verification for the particle counting pixel detector Timepix. The Timepix detector family has great potential for use not only in space, i.e. for small satellite (CubeSat) missions, but also in many other areas like medicine, material testing or particle colliders (i.e. Large Hadron Collider). In this case, several experiments were performed with the Timepix detector under the vacuum conditions as well as ambient conditions with the thermal stabilization at several temperatures in a range from -15oC to +80oC. This paper describes the early experimental results of the chip temperature dependence. The detector equalization and validity of the original equalization dependently on different temperatures is examined. The changes in the detector could cause the errors and shifts of the detection limit for low-energies.


ii Copyright notice iv Acknowledgements v Table of contents vi List of Figures and Tables ix List of Abbreviations xi Chapter 1: Introduction to Hematopoietic Transcription Factors 1 Part I: Gfi1—Cells & Circuits: Unraveling transcriptional networks of development and disease Abstract 2 Introduction 3 Gfi1 in HSC Biology 5 Gfi1 in Severe Congenital Neutropenia, Myeloid Development and Leukemia 6 o Severe Congenital Neutropenia 6 o Myeloid Development & Leukemia 9 Gfi1 in Lymphoid Development and Function 12 o T cell development 12 o B-lymphopoiesis 15 Gfi1 in Lymphoid Leukemia 16 Hematopoietic-relevant lessons learned from Gfi1 in non-hematopoietic tissues 17 Conclusion 19 References 20 Part II: The Pivotal Role of Notch1: The fulcrum balancing thymocyte commitment and T-cell transformation Introduction 26 Notch1 is a transmembrane receptor 27 Notch is critical for T cell development 29 Notch1 Gain of Function Mutations Cause T Cell Leukemia 36 Targeting the Notch pathway in T cell leukemia 39


Many types of researches have proved that the negative transfer of mother tongue has exerted a great impact on the second language acquisition. Moreover, many types of researches have shown that pragmatic failure arises during the second language acquisition. For language learners, pragmalinguistic failure can be avoided gradually by adopting some effective strategies, and their interpreting competence can be correspondingly improved. This thesis aims to probe deeper into the pragmalinguistic failure caused by the negative transfer of mother tongue. The case study of this thesis chooses the third-year college students of English major as the research object, and the author is going to analyze the errors made in the students' final test on English-Chinese consecutive interpreting. By probing into the post-test interview and research data, it is found that pragmalinguistic failures frequently arise during the interpreting process and that errors in consecutive interpreting are mainly affected by the negative transfer of Chinese. The errors are manifested mainly on the lexical level, syntactic level, and textual level. The thesis will focus on the three aspects: vocabulary, syntax, and text. By analyzing the errors made by students in interpreting process and summarizing the causes for pragmalinguistic failure, the author aims to provide some enlightenment in teaching and to put forward some strategies to help students or interpreters to cope with pragmalinguistic failure under negative transfer impact of mother tongue. Keywords—pragmalinguistic failure; negative transfer; consecutive interpreting


Military forces have faced the ballistic threat in many forms for hundreds of years, ranging from spears to bomb fragmentation. Soldiers have historically worn body armor to protect themselves on the battlefield. The goal of modern lightweight body armor development has always been to develop lighter and stronger materials so that performance can be improved while reducing weight and making the mobility of the personnel easy. Body armor ballistic testing follows strict guidelines provided by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) in the United States of America. According to the new testing standards, innovative products are being released. This review elaborates on various materials and composites that are being used in the making of body armor that eventually help eliminate the threats from high-velocity bullets, shell fragments, and knives. In this paper, the science of body armor materials is quickly reviewed with emphasis on current knowledge of relevant energy-absorbing mechanisms in fibers, fabrics, polymeric laminates, and ceramics. The drive to create lightweight and comfortable armor systems for military personnel has led to the development of various composite materials. The paper reviews the major features of materials used in body armor and focuses on the development of intriguing new potential materials.


The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore school nurses' (SN) perceptions of factors influencing their ability to identify, refer, and provide mental health services to students with early signs of mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) needs. The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine have urged a preventive public health approach to decrease adverse outcomes of unidentified and untreated MEB needs among children (O'Connell, 2009). Historically and theoretically based in public health, SN have daily contact with students and are in an optimal location for early identification, referral and provision of services, yet little empirical research describing their role is available. Five focus groups with 29 SN were conducted and four themes emerged through analysis of data: Frequent flyers: student visits to SN offices, the observations that alert SN to potential MEB needs; Digging to get the whole picture: the process SN frequently used to collect information necessary to confirm MEB needs; Road to referral: the resources used and barriers encountered within the referral process; and, Safety zone: the important role SN play in the provision of services to students with early signs of MEB needs. Within the provision of services was a collective subtheme across all five focus groups: What we need to better help our kids. In this category SN identified their educational limitations and learning needs, as well as potential strategies to improve provision of services for students with MEB needs. The findings of this study provide a lens into the complex and little explored are of early identification, referral and intervention processes used by SN to care for students with MEB needs. Understanding the role of the SN is a critical first step towards improving outcomes.


As a poet Nxumalo has not so far been acclaimed in the same way as Vilakazi, the first Zulu to publish a collection of poems. However, the ardent belief that Nxumalo's poetry might equal Vilakazi's in quality, is responsible for the desire to examine this poetry more closely. The aim of this article is to ascertain how effectively Nxumalo uses imagery and symbolism in his poetry, and to examine to what extent universal and cultural influences have affected the poet in his choice of images and symbols. S. Afr. J. Afr. Lang. 1985, 5: 138–147


The focus of the object to be examined in this research is to find out if there is a improvement of using Three-Steps Interview in improving students' speaking skill towards eleventh grades students of SMA Al-Azhar 3 Bandar Lampung in Academic Year 2016/2017. The research is an experimental research design which measure the score of pre-test and post-test as an appliance to know whether there is an effect of using Three-Steps Interview or not. The subject of this research is consisted of 58 students which are divided into experimental class and control class. The data is analyzed by using independent sample test. The result shows that students' mean score of experimental and control class in post-test is significantly different. It shows the t-count is higher than t-table (11,871 > 2, 0032). Therefore, null hypotheses were rejected and alternative hypotheses were accepted. It means that there is an effect of using Three-Steps Interview to improve students' speaking skill. These researches suggest that there is an effect of using Three-Steps Interview in improving students' speaking skill towards eleventh grades students of SMA Al-Azhar 3 Bandar Lampung in Academic Year 2016/2017. In conclusion, Three-Steps Interview could be applied in teaching English process, especially in speaking.


For the past five years the American Institute of Physics has sponsored a series of visits by various physicists to a number of universities and colleges. One of the purposes of these visits is to acquaint the students and faculty of these institutions with some of the results of current researches. While discussing the present, questions are inevitably raised about the future of physics. Faculty and students, for different reasons and from different vantage points, appear extremely interested in the subject. The following text was written with this subject and this audience in mind. The lecture was never delivered as such, although many of the ideas expressed here were discussed in several of the lectures actually given.


Limited evidence exists on how the larger cultural framework affects psychological processes related to schooling. We investigated how the cultural dimensions of individualism/collectivism and power distance influence the sense of school belongingness using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 survey data on 15-year-old students from 31 countries. Hierarchical linear model analysis indicated that power distance (i.e. hierarchical nature of social relationships) is a better predictor of school belongingness on the cultural level than individualism/collectivism. Accordingly, students living in cultures with high degree of power distance (particularly East Asian countries in these data) report lower school belongingness than students living in cultures with more lateral power relationships (Western countries). Positive teacher student relations and preference for cooperative learning environment predict higher school belongingness across cultures.


Cardiac specificity provides an advantage in correlating heart failure (HF) biomarker plasma levels with indices of cardiac function and remodelling, as shown for natriuretic peptides. Using bioinformatics, we explored the cardiac specificity of secreted proteins and investigated in more detail the relationship of Dickkopf‐3 (DKK3) gene expression and DKK3 plasma concentrations with cardiac function and remodelling in (pre)clinical studies.


Clinical trials are essence for the progress of new treatments. Whether a person should engage confide in on their compassionate of the liability and gain for themselves and for society as an entity. Clinical trials are research review in which people volunteer to attempt major treatments, interventions or experiment as a means to forbid, detect, evaluate or manage assorted diseases or medical conditions. Some investigations glance at how people react to a new arbitration and what side effects valor occur. Every new medicine and treatment initiated with volunteers engage in clinical trials. We incur our present high ideal of medical care to studies that have been operate in the past under guidance of the INDIAN Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In addition to Research on new drugs and devices, clinical trials bring a scientific footing for urge and treating patients. Even when researchers do not achieve the conclusion they anticipate; trial results can help point scientists in the mend direction. Blood pressure is great because the larger than your blood pressure is, the larger than your risk of health problems in the future. If your blood pressure is higher than it is putting extra ache on your arteries and on your heart. High blood pressure clouts your heart to work higher to pump blood to the comfort of your body. This causes part of your heart (left ventricle) to congeal. A congeal left ventricle high your risk of heart attack, heart failure and sudden cardiac death. Heart failure. The arena for clinical trials of hypertension management is in transition. The stage of mega trials may not be bygone but is assuredly in decline. Incremental growth in the therapies assessable in the face of a high global disease hardship has imply that hypertension researchers have also attract on getting beat efficacy and value from the available treatments through arrangement improvement, combinations, and algorithms. There has been go on amuse in the role of nonpharmacological compute in cure and management of hypertension.


Objective: To investigate expression and significance of PTEN gene in primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods: Immunohistochemical peroxidase‐conjugated streptavidin (SP) method was used to detect expression of PTEN gene in 120 cases of primary HCC and its adjacent tissue 10 cases of normal liver tissue. The relationship between expression of tumor suppressor gene of PTEN and the percentage of lymph node metastasis of HCC was analyzed. Results: It was shown that PTEN gene was expressed in all 10 cases of normal liver tissues and paracancerous liver tissues. The staining was localized mainly in cytoplasm. Expression of PTEN in 120 cases of HCC were as follows: 12.5% were negative, 17.5% were weak positive, and 70% were strong positive. At time of diagnosis, 33/120 (27.5%) presented lymph node metastasis. Lymph node metastases were present in 80% (12 out of 15) PTEN negative HCC, 57.14% (12 out of 21) PTEN weak positive HCC and only 10.71% (9 out of 84) PTEN intense positive HCC, (P<0.05). Therefore, PTEN tumor suppresor gene malfunction seems to be involed in mtastasing capacity of HCC. Conclusion: This study suggests that PTEN gene was deleted or weakly expressed in primary hepatocellar carcinoma, which is probably related to its tumorigenesis.


In the last 15 years a large number of new high performance polymer fibres with aligned carbon chains have been developed, which include Aramid fibres (Kevlar, Twaron, Technora), polyethylene fibres (Dyneema, Spectre), polypropylene fibres (Curv, Tegris) and PBO (Zylon). The main market for these low density fibres with high tenacity is lightweight body armour, such as vests and helmets. However, they also have applications in improving crashworthiness and fragmentation resistance from a wide range of possible threats.


Abstract : The main object of this research was to show that by proper tapering of the circuit characteristics of a pulsed, high-power traveling-wave amplifier, long-persisting pulse-edge oscillations could be successfully eliminated. Several types of circuit tapering have been considered, and a particular one was chosen for this empirical study. The type of circuit taper, which appears to have several advantages over others for suppression of pulse-edge oscillations, has both the pi-mode frequency increased and the phase velocity for the passband frequencies decreased gradually toward the output end of the tube. The effect of circuit tapering on forward-wave amplification has also been studied. A method was introduced for calculating the performance and an increase in gain was predicted for the aforementioned taper by this method when the tube was operated beyond the small-signal level. This effect was also measured experimentally on a high-power tube constructed for this purpose. The effect of circuit tapering on tube efficiency has been studied qualitatively. By using the conventional velocity-phase diagram, the possibility of improving the efficiency is indicated. However, a different kind of circuit tapering other than that used for this study is required.


This paper present an efficient Genetic Algorithm based solution for Harmonic elimination in single phase PWM rectifier. A control lo has been designed to attain a suitable DC voltage with minimum ripple, input current with minimum harmonic and maximum input power factor. Theoretical studies have been carried out to show the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method for elim harmonics. Theoretical MATLAB software package. Keyword Single phase PWM rectifier, Harmonics, Power Factor , Genetic Algorithm MATLAB INTRODUCTION Ideally, electrical signals are purely sinusoidal, and all phenomena resulting in modification of this ideal shape are referred to as disturbance. Harmonics disturbances are modeled by adding to the fundamental wave a series of periodic signals of pulsations whose frequencies are multiplies of the fundamental.[1-4] Generally, these type of AC/DC converters add a capacitor to the DC side for smoothing the DC bus voltage. The benefits of these circuits are low cost, simple structure, high safety and no need o f control. The weakness of these circuits are low power factor, high , Manoj Kumar Nigam, GENETIC ALGORITHM BASED SOLUTION FOR HARMONIC N SINGLE PHASE PWM RECTIFIE , Manoj Kumar Nigam Raipur Institute Of Techonology Raipur results are validated through simulation using harmonics in the input current, system will increase and converters have a short lifetime in which this introduces several problems such as voltage of core of transformers, distribution conductors and transformers, reduction of available power and lower rectifier efficiency due to of the input current, etc Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of the input current, unity power factor and fixed DC output voltage with minimum ripple are the important parameters in rectifier. Hence, in these systems, rectifiers are considered as an important element. R


Abstract Background: Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a cardiovascular biomarker. We evaluated the association between RDW and cerebral stroke risk in hemodialysis patients. Methods: A cohort of 442 adult patients on hemodialysis was studied. Strokes were defined according to ICD-10 diagnosis codes. Routine complete blood counts, evaluated every 3–6 months, were used for RDW values. Results: Among 442 hemodialysis patients, during the 50-month follow-up, there were 62 cases (14.0%) of cerebral stroke: 41 (9.3%) with cerebral infarction and 21 (4.8%) with cerebral hemorrhage. Compared with nonstroke patients, a significantly higher RDW was measured in patients with cerebral stroke and cerebral infarction. However, no significant difference was seen in RDW between patients with cerebral hemorrhage and nonstroke patients. After adjustment by age, hypertension, albumin, Charlson Comorbidity Score, and C-reactive protein in different multivariable Cox regression models, patients with the highest mean RDW quartile had a 2.55-fold (hazard ratio = 3.55; 95% confidence interval: 1.33–9.51) higher risk of developing cerebral infarction relative to those with the lowest mean RDW quartile. RDW was not an independent risk factor for cerebral hemorrhage. Conclusions: Increased RDW is an independent risk factor of cerebral infarction in hemodialysis patients.


Background and Objectives:The objective of this study was to find the possivility for quantification of ventricular dyssynchrony by analsis of myocardial velocity curve obtained with Doppler myocardial imaging (DMI) in patients with advanced heart failure. Subjects and Methods:Doppler myocardial images at the apical 4 chamber and 2 chamber views were recorded in 28 patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <45%, and in 18 normal controls. Time intervals from the onset of the QRS complex to the peak systolic velocity were measured at the mid-portion between the basal and mid segments of 4 different ventricular walls (septal, lateral, inferior and anterior);their maximal differences (DIFF) and standard deviation (STD) were calculated and compared. Results:There were significant differences in the LVEF (30±8 vs. 63±4%, p<0.05) and QRS durations (117±35 vs. 92±9 msec, p<0.05) between the heart failure and control groups. The mean values of DIFF in the heart failure and control groups were 73±32 and 14±6 msec, respectively (p= 0.001). The DIFF and STD showed negative correlations with the LVEF (r=-0.773 with DIFF, r=-0.771 with STD, p<0.001) and positive correlations with the QRS duration (r=0.51 with DIFF, r=0.498 with STD, p<0.001). Fifteen of the patients with heart failure (54%) showed a QRS duration <110 msec;although their QRS duration was not significantly different from that of the normal controls (93±12 vs. 92±9 msec, p>0.05), but the DIFF, from the DMI, was significantly prolonged (61±35 vs. 14±6 msec, p=0.001). The QRS duration showed no significant correlation with the LVEF in the patients with a QRS duration <120 msec (r=-0.276, p= 0.103), but the DIFF showed a significant negative correlation in these patients (r=-0.769, p=0.001). Conclusion: The DIFF and STD, as measured by DMI, are useful in the quantification of ventricular asynchrony, and correlated with other indices known to reflect the left ventricular systolic function. (Korean Circulation J 2004;34(5):492-499)


The Stellar Observations Network Group, SONG, is a project which aims at building a network of eight identical telescopes distributed geographically around the globe to allow long-term, high-duty-cycle observations of stellar oscillations and to search for exoplanets via the microlensing technique. At each of the network nodes a 1 m telescope with a high-resolution spectrograph and two lucky-imaging cameras is placed. The instruments and telescope, for the prototype node, are currently being built and installation at Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain is foreseen for early 2011.


Neuroinflammation is the condition in which inflammation occurs in the central nervous system (CNS: brain and spinal cord), leading to the activation of microglia and astrocytes. Its role in several central pathologies is nowadays well-known, including neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) [1]. In fact, neuroinflammation has the role of restoring homeostasis in the CNS when an injury occurs. On the contrary, sustained inflammation is detrimental, and this typically occurs in and characterizes neurodegenerative diseases. The formation of protein aggregates distinctive to neurodegenerative diseases is one of the stimuli that exacerbate neuroinflammation [2]. Thus, searching for targets involved in the control of the neuroinflammatory condition in these still incurable diseases continuously attracts the scientific community's attention. In particular, several enzymes and receptors have been investigated for their role in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. In this thematic issue, promising targets and their ligands are discussed with strategies to develop entities able to control neuroinflammation. In particular, in this second part of the thematic issue, the discussed targets by eminent research groups are G protein-coupled receptors and the mitochondrial translocator protein TSPO. The first contribution, "A2A Adenosine Receptor Antagonists and their Potential in Neurological Disorders" by Lambertucci et al., highlights the neuroprotective effects mediated by the A2A adenosine receptor antagonists summarizing most relevant and promising compounds along with their preclinical and clinical studies in neuroinflammation related diseases [3]. The second contribution, titled "Interplay Between Endocannabinoid System and Neurodegeneration: Focus on Polypharmacology," by Seghetti et al. is focused on the most recent studies evaluating the role of cannabinoids in neurodegenerative diseases, especially on the potential for a multitarget strategy [4].


Voting is one of the cornerstones on which the democracy is based. The classic election process is still based on casting of marked ballot papers, which are then counted manually before announcing the results. This process has gone unchanged for thousands of years without major changes and is one of the last processes that is not yet in an electronic form. The authority leading such elections has a greater influence in the process, and the process is also more vulnerable to malicious entities that want to influence the election results. The goal of my Bachelor's thesis was to get to know the problems of electronic voting and to implement the solution of voting with the blockchain technology, which has many properties that can benefit such solution. An application must be implemented in a transparent manner and be easy to use so that that the process is simple for the voter and that it is trustworthy.


Cretaceous samples from Cameroon and Gabon yielded trochospiral, hyaline foraminifers which are referred to the new genus Parkiella (type species Buliminella gabonica de Klasz and Rerat 1962). The genus is characterized by a low trochospiral test with a distinctive "L" shaped aperture. Preservational characteristics preclude definitive assignment of this genus in a higher systematic category, but it is provisionally placed in the Turrilinidae Cushman 1927, based on presumed affinities to other genera.


Modern urban planning and transportation designing, often consider more about the urban development and automobile traffic, so walking and bicycle and other slow traffic system have not enough space in big cities, this paper mainly expounds the important role of slow traffic system in big cities, and based on the urban traffic sustainable development concept, discusses the strategy of the people-oriented urban slow traffic system planning in three aspects of public transportation, traffic calming and traffic safety. Specific measures of the strategies are given.