Introduction: It has recently been discovered that patients with renal insufficiency who receive large doses of gadolinium-based contrast agents may be at risk of a rare but serious disorder known as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). This has spurred a search for alternatives to conventional first-pass gadolinium-enhanced MRA. Among the methods proposed for non-contrast peripheral MRA are ECG-gated techniques that exploit the pulsatility of arterial blood flow. A flow-sensitive sequence such as FSE [1,2] or diffusion-prepared SSFP [3] is used to acquire two 3D image sets, one in systole when the flow is fast, and one in diastole when the flow is slow. Because of flow-related dephasing, the arteries appear dark on the systolic images, but brighter on the diastolic images, so that subtraction of the systolic images from the diastolic images yields a bright-blood angiogram of the arteries. The need for cardiac gating, however, results in a much longer acquisition time than is required for conventional contrast-enhanced MRA, viz. 2 – 4 minutes per station for non-contrast MRA, depending on heart rate and parameter choices, as compared to 10 – 20 seconds for contrast-enhanced MRA. Long acquisition times increase the probability of subject motion, which compromises the suppression of background tissue in the difference images. Hence there is an interest in finding ways to accelerate the acquisition. Following work by Blaimer and Griswold [4,5] we investigate whether the inherent sparsity of the difference images can be exploited to achieve higher acceleration factors without loss of image quality. To take advantage of the sparsity, subtraction must be performed on the raw data sets before calculation of the GRAPPA weights rather than on the final magnitude images. Methods: Non-contrast MRA of the calves was conducted on a whole-body 1.5T Siemens Avanto system using a 3D ECG-gated FSE sequence and a peripheral phased array coil. Four healthy subjects (2 men, 2 women) spanning a wide range of ages (26, 35, 51 and 63 years) were included in the study. All provided informed consent. Diastolic and systolic data sets were collected as two measures of a single acquisition with different trigger delays. Diastolic images were acquired with the minimum trigger delay and systolic images with a trigger delay that coincided with peak flow in the popliteal arteries as determined by prior phase contrast imaging. The 3D FSE sequence used non-selective refocusing pulses with a constant flip angle of 100° and echo spacing of 2.82ms, integrated GRAPPA reconstruction with 24 reference lines, and 1–2 echo trains per partition depending on acceleration factor. Other parameters were: FOV=450mm, base resolution=320, slice thickness=1.5mm, phase/slice resolution=92%/75%, TE=79–132ms. Image reconstruction was performed twice for each acquisition, first using the standard reconstruction chain, and second with subtraction of the raw data sets prior to calculation of the GRAPPA kernel. Both reconstructions were performed online using the retrospective reconstruction feature. GRAPPA factors ranging from 2 to 6 were tested, and multiple acquisitions were performed with each to verify consistency and to control for run-to-run variations such as subject motion and heart rate irregularities. Images were presented in randomized order to a board-certified radiologist, who was blinded to the acquisition parameters and reconstruction algorithm. Vessel visualization was graded on a 4-point scale: good/partial/minimal/absent. Separate grades were assigned to large vessels (e.g. popliteal, peroneal and tibial arteries), small vessels (e.g. dorsalis pedis and plantar arteries) and fine branch vessels (e.g. geniculate arteries). Results: Figs. 1(a–c) show source images obtained using a GRAPPA factor of 2 and a MIP of the difference images. Note that the popliteal artery (arrows) appears dark in systole and brighter in diastole. Note also that the source images are not sparse (although their difference is). Figs. 1(d) and (e) are obtained from an acquisition with a GRAPPA factor of 6, using standard reconstruction (d) and raw data subtraction (e). Note the reduction of pseudo-noise and improved depiction of vessels in (e). A summary of the results for vessel visualization is given in Fig. 2. For large vessels, visualization with GRAPPA 6 and raw subtraction is similar to that for GRAPPA 2. For small and branch vessels, visualization for GRAPPA 6 is greatly improved using raw subtraction, but does not match that obtained with GRAPPA 2. Discussion: The inherent sparsity of the difference images in non-contrast MRA can be exploited to achieve higher acceleration factors by performing subtraction on the raw data prior to calculation of the GRAPPA weights rather than on the final magnitude images. Using this alternative reconstruction, visualization of large vessels was well preserved up to very high acceleration factors. However visualization of small vessels and fine branch vessels was compromised. This may be due to the leastsquares algorithm used in calculation of the GRAPPA kernel, which gives more weight to areas of higher signal. Acknowledgements: NIH HL092439, EB000447


The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of country of design image an country of manufacture image toward perceived quality of Nokia. This study gives an overview of the parties relating to the Nokia perceived quality in order to better understand how to maximize their potential to promote their products that are being marketed. To analyze the country of design and manufacture, four elements namely Perceived Technology Level, Image as advanced Country, Quality of Education, and Perceived Reputation. Meanwhile for analyzing perceived quality,also four indicator are used, namely Perceived benefit than perceived sacrifices, Product Durability, Perceived Reliability, and Product Feature. The samples in this study were 107 students at the University of Bakrie. To meet the standards of good research, test reliability and validity of the data obtained. and then Structured equation modeling is used to look for relationships between variables using AMOS Graphics. The test of H1 stated that Country of Design Image (X1) and Perceived quality (Y) is positively correlated and significant, seen from the regression weight of 0.911 and Probability of 0,01. The test of H2 stated that Country of Manufacture Image (X1) and Perceived quality (Y) is negatively correlated and not significant, seen from the regression weight of -0.113 and Probability of 0,01. This means that statistically Hypothesis 1 (H1) is not acceptable


The level of fine-grained and gross motor activity is one of important touchstone of motor development of preschool children before the opening of school attendance. DCD (Developmental Coordination Disorder) is neurological deficiency, what could be negative influence to school maturity of children. This motor skills disorder that affects four to six percent of all school-aged children. The ratio of boys to girls varies from 2:1 to 7:1, depending on the group studied. There are two suitable diagnostic instruments with Czech standard (OTDP a MABC – 2). Motor skills disorders can be one of factor for postponement of school attendance. Although there is currently no cure for DCD, early intervention and treatment may help to reduce the emotional, physical and social consequences that are often associated with this disorder. There is question, if motor skills disorders are connected with, motor development and postponement of school attendance. We have to be sure, if children with motor skills disorders have more often postponement of school attendance than children without disorders.


In this letter, a novel dual-band coupler made of only three coupled microstrip–slotline (CMSL) sections is proposed to achieve a tight coupling with a high band ratio in a small size. A desired dual-band operation can be obtained by proper design of the coupling levels of the CMSL sections. Explicit design equations of the proposed coupler were derived by the method of even- and odd-mode excitations, and the characteristics of the CMSL were studied. For demonstration, a 3-dB dual-band CMSL coupler operating at 1 and 3 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. The proposed coupler has the advantages of small size, tight coupling, and high isolation.


To improve the seismic capacity of prestressed concrete (PC) continuous girder bridges with corrugated steel webs (CSWs), suitable damping control measures can be used to effectively reduce the seismic response of the bridge. Based on the semi-active control theory, the semi-active control system of a three-span PC continuous girder bridge with CSWs is designed, and the semi-active control system program of the three-span PC continuous girder bridge with CSWs is compiled by MATLAB. The time–history curves of damper energy consumption of active optimal control algorithm and three different semi-active control algorithms are compared and analyzed, as are the time–history curves of main girder displacement, acceleration, and pier internal force with or without semi-active control. The study shows that the rational determination of the weight matrix coefficient can make the active control achieve a better vibration absorption effect and economy. The semi-active control algorithm of Hrovat has the best vibration absorption effect, which is closest to that of the active optimal control algorithm. Under the state of semi-active control, the average vibration absorption rate of displacement and acceleration of the main girder with CSWs are 71% and 20%, respectively. The time–history curve of bending moment and shear force in the pier bottom is similar, and the average vibration absorption rate of bending moment and shear force at the bottom of pier #2 is 70%. At the same time, the average vibration absorption rate of bending moment and shear force at the bottom of pier #3 is between 42% and 48%. The semi-active control measure has a good vibration absorption effect on the overall seismic response of the PC continuous girder bridges with CSWs. This study provides a certain reference for the seismic reduction and isolation design of composite structure bridge with CSWs.


In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of obesity by a computational framework integrating randomized controlled trials published in China and abroad. Specifically, clinical trial documents published on CNKI, VIP, Wanfang, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from 2007-2017 were downloaded and analyzed using Stata 15.1 system. As a result, a total of 13 articles were imported and 1052 patients were included. The analyses showed that the overall effect of an acupuncture group and a control group was not significant with P > 0.01. However, the curative effect of the acupuncture group was better than that of the diet and exercise instruction group with P < 0.01; the curative effect of the acupuncture group was better than that of the oral Chinese and western medicine group with P < 0.01. In conclusion, acupuncture as a complementary alternative therapy is recommended for the treatment of obesity.


The paper argues that Sufi discourse, with its long established literary tradition, offers insights that could address the disciplinary challenges facing literature in general, and comparative literature in particular, in the present cultural scenarios of unpredictability and uncertainty. The argument proceeds first by an inquiry into the nature and the possible causes of the "crisis" in which the discipline finds itself and then employs the Sufi discourse of Rumi to suggest an accommodative strategy for the academic practice of literature at the present time. The disciplinary identity of literature, this paper argues, was from its liberal humanist inception doomed to crisis. This was because the "Arnoldian consensus" under which the discipline first established itself, saw literature somewhat as a surrogate religion, but at the same time the critical practice that regulated the disciplinary dynamics remained highly analytical, rational, in ways that were "philosophical" (despite the untenable denials of the likes of Leavis). The present crisis in comparative literature could be seen as a continuation of the crisis that beset the earlier disciplinary identity of literature. Comparative literature did play its part in the fall of the liberal humanist paradigm, but one could say that it did not significantly detach itself from the Euro-centricity that governed the earlier institutional practice. Rumi provides us with an opportunity, an opportunity that is made available by the nature of the discipline itself, to see criticism not simply as a "philosophical" activity that seeks to comprehend and neutralize the un-boundedness of the creative. Rumi rejects any feeling of security, closure and completeness that is afforded by a criticism that hasn't been able to go beyond mimesis. Such a critical acumen Rumi wants us to let go of and "clutch at madness": "I have tried far-thinking intellect; henceforth I will make myself mad." The critical activity in Rumi is rather governed by the epistemology of imân (faith) which prioritizes a certain "hermeneutics of faith" over a "hermeneutics of suspicion" (Deconstruction or Lacanian psychoanalysis, for instance). In a cultural context where one needs to possess a certain Keatsian Negative Capability, of being "in doubts, uncertainties and mysteries without any irritable reaching after fact or reason," Rumi's "hermeneutics of faith" may become one way in which we can approach literature.


AbstractThe following sections are included:IntroductionThe Japan Airlines CrisisNew Corporate Rehabilitation Law and the New Scheme for Bankruptcy ProceedingsAvoiding Cash ShortagesBackground of Bankruptcy ProceedingsReorganization PlanStakeholder BurdensShareholdersBanks and financial institutionsPassengers and local airportsEmployeesSuppliersGovernment-affiliated organizationsAmoeba ManagementConcluding RemarksEnd NoteReferences


The present invention provides a method of using a mobile device in an interactive environment to manage the download and display of video programming, the interactive environment includes a first radio access network (210), and a transmission rate than the first network (210) faster second radio access network (220). Encoding the plurality of layers of a video program (310) a layer obtained by downloading the first or second network (210 or 220). The downloaded video program (310) corresponding to a playback rate of the display quality. Since the excess portion of the display rate is less than the download rate generated downloaded video program (320) will be a buffer. When the buffered excess portions exceeds a threshold value (325), the number of layers being downloaded and the playback rate of the video program displayed increases (330), to improve the display quality.


This paper deals with robotic micro-assembly of silicon micro-objects whose sizes are tens of micrometers. This production means is one of a more promising approach to realize 3D and/or hybrid microsystems. Current works in robotic micro-assembly are focused on the assembly of micro-objects on a large substrate. We are focusing in the study of micro-parts assembly to build microscopic subsystems usable in larger products. This approach requires specific functionalities like a dasiamicro-visepsila required to block the first object during assembly. Original strategies are proposed and applied on an experimental robotic structure composed of micropositioning stages, videomicroscopes, piezogripper, and silicon end-effectors. Some experimental teleoperated micro-assemblies has validated the proposed methods and the reliability of the principles. Future works will be focused on micro-assembly automation.


Background: Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) is a contagious, airborne infection that develops when M. tuberculosis infect the lungs. PTB is totally curable infection. However, an early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment is needed to get the desired outcomes. Despite availability of treatment, stigmatization and negative emotions resulting from the illness could hamper the psychological well-being of patients which may eventually result in poor compliance, work absenteeism thus effecting economic productivity and prosperity.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted over a period of one year. A total of 231 category II DOTS patients were recruited for the study. Quality of Life (QOL) was assessed after 3 months of the intensive phase. For QOL WHO based QOLBREF was used.
Results: In the present study patients scored lowest in the psychological domain (7.82 ± 1.86) followed by physical (8.21 ± 1.98).
Conclusion: HRQOL is significantly reduced in patients with PTB.


A relativistic quantum mechanics (RQM) on the light-front (LF) is derived from quantum field theory (QFT) through the use of a unitary transformation. Cluster separability of the derived RQM is proved by solving the so-called decoupling equation for the disconnected parts of the unitary transformation relating the Poincaré generators of RQM to the ones of QFT. For processes involving baryon-like number conservation (NN → NN, Nd → Nd, etc.), we show that the two theories, RQM and QFT, are equivalent.


Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia, such as aggression or agitation are very frequent in Alzheimer's disease with most guidelines recommending memantine as first‐line pharmacological treatment. Here, the authors describe a patient who developed bradycardia when prescribed memantine and the subsequent changes required to her medication management to avoid further cardiac adverse reactions.


Purpose To evaluate the efficiency of autologous serum eyedrops in the treatment of severe dry eye (DE) and persistent epithelial defects (PED).


Abstract Phase change materials (PCMs) are widely being used in thermal energy storage systems for solar engineering, building materials, heat pumps, spacecraft, and in textile field especially smart and technical textiles. There are large numbers of organic and inorganic PCMs that possess a wide range of melting and solidifying temperature which attracts researcher's attention for their applications in different fields. This review paper summarizes the investigation and analysis of the available organic and inorganic PCMs, different encapsulating techniques, characterization techniques, incorporation into fiber and pad application on textiles with practical applications in the field of smart textiles.


The infrared spectrum of a molecular ion provides a unique signature for that species, gives information on its structure, and is amenable to remote sensing. It also serves as a comparison standard for refining ab initio calculations. Experiments in this laboratory trap molecular ions in dilute solid solution in neon at 4.2 K in sufficient concentration for observation of their infrared spectra between 450 and 4000 cm!1. Discharge-excited neon atoms produce cations by photoionization and/or Penning ionization of the parent molecule. The resulting electrons are captured by other molecules, yielding anions which provide for overall charge neutrality of the deposit. Recent observations of ions produced from C2H4 and BF3 will be discussed. Because of their relatively large possibility of having low-lying excited electronic states, small, symmetric molecular cations are especially vulnerable to breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Some phenomena which can result from this breakdown will be discusse...


With the development of state's agricultural tax policy adjustment and the urbanization,public debt of towns and villages accumulated over the years has become more apparent in Jiangsu.In recent years,Jiangsu township debt presents the features such as expanded scale,new style debt increasing and debt relationship complicated etc.The debt problems are mainly due to the unreasonable taxation system as well as the cadre's performance evaluation mechanism.From now on,we should take measures such as reforming the assignment system among governments at all levels,developing economy and increasing income to solve the problem.


The effects of fishing on growth in a spiny lobster, Jasus edwardsii, were explored by using a no-take marine reserve as a control for these effects. We analysed data from lobster tag–recapture studies outside the reserve from 1975 until the present and tag–recapture from inside the reserve during a recent 8-year study. We explored whether recent and historical data showed similar growth and, using catch per unit effort (CPUE) data from research potting and commercial returns, whether growth rates in this lobster species were affected by population density. Despite the confounded nature of the data, recent growth rates appeared to be lower than in earlier years, growth appeared weakly density-dependent, and the reserve appeared to have a positive effect on lobster growth. The strongest effect was the time period, but the density-dependent and reserve effects appeared real. The reserve effect suggests a negative effect of handling of sublegal-sized lobsters on growth.


Twenty-four masonry prisms, including both grouted and hollow specimens, were tested to investigate the strain gradient effect on masonry compressive strength. Results showed that a reduction in load capacity as a result of an increase in eccentricity is more significant for grouted prisms than for their hollow counterparts. At a relatively large eccentricity to thickness ratio, e/t, hollow prisms attained a higher ultimate load than grouted prisms. Compressive stresses calculated at the extreme fibre using linear elastic analysis showed that the strain gradient effect increases with an increase in the eccentricity for grouted prisms, whereas the increase is marginal for hollow prisms. Coefficients for the equivalent stress distribution block, based on experimental stress–strain curves, were obtained for prisms under eccentric loading. An evaluation of the rectangular stress block used in both the American design code and Canadian design standard showed that the rectangular stress block provides an adequa...


Notifications are a centerpiece of current mobile devices. With PCs, smartphones, smartwatches, smart glasses, and smart TVs the number of devices that display notifications currently increases. Users receive notifications on multiple devices at the same time which further aggravate the disruptive nature of notifications. In particular, displaying notifications is a main use case for smartwatches. While a body of work studied notifications on other devices, this paper investigates notifications on smartwatches. We conducted an online survey to assess users' expectations for notifications on different devices. We contrast the results with an in-situ study where we ask participants to rate individual notifications shown on a smartwatch. The results reveal that the importance of notifications depends not only on the type of app that creates them but also on the type of smart device that shows them. We conclude that a holistic notification service that manages the distribution of notifications is needed.


It is my intention to discuss one question only, and not all the problems which are connected with the group of documents published as 'The Adler Papyri' by Mr. E. N. Adler together with his collaborators, the late Professor F. Ll. Griffith, Dr. F. M. Heichelheim and Mr. J. G. Tait in 1939. This question is: Are there any traces of Jewish religious influence to be found in the Adler Archive, as has been suggested by the editors?


Exploration risk concerning hydrogeothermal wells is defined as the risk of not achieving a geothermal reservoir by one (or more) well(s) in sufficient quantity or quality. The term quality in the definition can in general be interpreted as fluid composition (fluid chemistry). Component parts (gas, salinity, oil, etc.) can appear in the fluid, which, if they exceed certain limiting values, hinder or complicate the thermal utilization. The term quantity is defined by the (thermal) power which can be achieved by one well (or more wells). Therefore, the essential parameters regarding the quantity for the exploration risk are flow rate Q and aquifer temperature T. Both parameters are decoupled und independently measurable. The flow rate Q will be determined by production tests, the temperature T can be measured by wireline measurements.


Phase diagram of both high temperature superconductors and low temperature superconductors are studied within the Ginzburg–Landau approach. Due to enhanced thermal fluctuation strength, disorder effects are relatively small in high Tc superconductors and consequently can be studied analytically. The vortex glass transition line is different and well separated from both the melting line and from the so-called second peak lines. On contrary, in low temperature superconductors, the disorder effect is dominant, as the thermal fluctuation strength is very small. Peak effect appears due to cross over of the collective pinning region to stronger pinning region. The location of the peak effect is obtained. The disorder and thermal fluctuation effects on structure phase transition are also studied. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Objective
To investigate the oxidative stress and cytoskeleton protein carbonylation in rat brains after different severities of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Methods
Fluid percussion percussion device was used to establish the mild, severe and sham-operated Sprague-Dawley rat models (n=15); 24 h after that, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH), and Western blotting was employed to detect the cytoskeletal proteins (β- actin, β- tublin and glial fibrillary acidic [GFAP]) carbonylation levels; phosphorylated tau (p- tau) protein expressions were examined by Western blotting.

Results
The expression levels of MDA in mild TBI group and severe TBI group were (389.62±29.95) μmol/g and (642.50±37.56) μmol/g, respectively, which was significantly increased as compared with the MDA level ([233.94±25.08] μmol/g) in sham-operated group (P<0.05). The expression level of GSH in mild TBI group and severe TBI group was (352.10±37.75) μmol/g and (153.27 ±43.49) μmol/g, respectively, which was significantly decreased as compared with the GSH level ([492.48±41.43] μmol/g) in sham-operated group (P<0.05). The β- actin, β- tublin and GFAP proteincarbonylation levels (0.099±0.104, 0.194±0.114 and 0.643±0.037; 0.142±0.017, 0.290±0.029 and 0.902±0.021) and p- tau level (0.289±0.014 and 0.373±0.012) in mild TBI group and severe TBI group were significantly higher than those in sham- operated group (0.068 ± 0.017, 0.108 ± 0.016 and 0.673 ± 0.032; 0.185±0.009;P<0.05).

Conclusions
The oxidative stress and carbonylation of cytoskeleton proteins are significantly increased after TBI, and the expression levels are correlated with the severity of TBI. The carbonylation of cytoskeleton protein aggravates the axonal injury after TBI.

Key words:
Traumatic brain injury; Oxidative stress; Cytoskeletal protein; Carbonylation


The utility model relates to an automobile air-conditioning control system capable of automatically controlling the air speed of an air blower. The utility model aims to provide a reasonable air-conditioning control method and solves the problem that the conventional system adopted in the prior art is not beneficial to automatic calibration of the air speed. The system comprises a temperature collection module, an air blower and a central processing module, wherein the temperature collection module is used for collecting the actual temperature in the compartment, the water temperature of an engine and the temperature of an evaporator; the central processing module is connected with the temperature collection module and the air blower; and the central processing module controls the air speed of the air blower according to the difference value between the actual temperature in the compartment and a set temperature, as well as at least one of the following parameters, namely the water temperature of the engine and the temperature of the evaporator. The automobile air-conditioning control system capable of automatically controlling the air speed of the air blower, provided by the utility model, associates the temperature difference between the actual temperature in the compartment and the set temperature, as well as the water temperature of the engine or the temperature of the evaporator with the air speed of the air blower, thus, the control method is simple and reasonable, the air speed of the air blower can be controlled more stably and further the environment in the automobile can be more comfortable.


Endoscopic balloon dilation is an efficacious and safe alternative to surgery as treatment of short intestinal strictures in Crohn's disease (CD). Factors predicting outcome of the procedure are not well described.


A densitometric model was developed to estimate absolute blood flows in vessels from a DSA sequence. It is derived from the image intensity to contrast agent (CA) relationship and from the mass conservation law. We showed that the flow rate through a vascular cross section is determined from time summation (Phi) of densitometric areas within a single ROI. It also depends on the mass and the attenuation coefficient (mu) of CA and on acquisition conditions. After estimating the apparent value of (mu) , experiments with vessel phantoms were performed on DSA systems to validate this model. The effect of the distance between the injection site and the region of measurement, the magnification factor, the tubing cross-section area, the injected mass of iodine, and the flow rate of injected CA was tested and analyzed. The accuracy and the reproducibility of water flow rate measurements by this method were estimated and the deviations explained. Finally, we show how such experiments can be used to quantify a stenosis from a whole DSA image sequence. Area narrowing is equal to the ratio of the integrate terms (Phi) for reference and stenotic segments. Relative flows at a vessel bifurcation can also be estimated by applying the model to each segment.


Abstract Dual chambered, salt bridge microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with aerated catholyte (MFCAC), phosphate catholyte (MFCPC) were designed. The efficiency of catholytes on bioelectricity production and substrate removal were evaluated by employing food-processing wastewater as anolyte. Experimental results proved that MFCAC was better than MFCPCM by producing a maximum power density of 123.8 mW/m2, current density of 54.3 mA/m2, power yield of 110 mW/kg and COD removal of 98.9%.


The independence of student learning in recent years was discussed in several articles. Through the development of an independent attitude in learning, students can diagnose learning difficulties and find the right solution to solve them. This study was aimed at finding out how the influence of learning independence on students' accounting learning outcomes. The type of research used is ex-post facto quantitative research. The population of the research is all students of class XI of Public Middle School in the city of Yogyakarta, with a total of 156 students. The instruments used were questionnaires and multiple-choice questions (MCQs). Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were measured using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) through the Lisrel 8.80 application, while the validity and reliability of MCQs were measured using Rasch approach through the Quest application. Several questionnaires in the form of questionnaires and documentation were used on the testing instrument. The number of instruments for learning independence was 19 statements. The closed statement form used a Likert scale consisting of five alternative answers. The number of MCQs is 18 questions. There were 18 valid statements found after going through the calculation of validation, reliability, difficulty level of the question, and distinguishing power. Simple regression was used for the data analysis technique. The results of the study show that the learning independence variable has a significant and positive influence. It can be seen from the learning independence variable, which has a value of 2.187 and a significance value smaller than 0.05 (0.030 <0.05).


Figure 1 Classification of chromatograms are based on the relative abundance of all the peaks in the mixture. Chromatography is an extremely versatile technique for the analytical laboratory. The chromatographic patterns generated by modern instruments are used in a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative analyses. The techniques are robust enough (and we have assembled experience enough) to allow a rapid development of chromatographic methods and move this experience into routine use in an analytical laboratory, quality control laboratory, or even an in-line process setting.


Aquatic biota frequently accumulate organic contaminants and maintain steady state tissue concentrations that are as much as 105 times higher than those in the surrounding water. Although many researchers have studied the accumulation of genotoxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by aquatic biota, few researchers have used bioassays to investigate the accumulation of genotoxins. In several previous studies we used the SOS Chromotest to investigate the genotoxicity of industrial effluent extracts, sediment extracts, and bivalve tissue extracts. In this study we use the SOS Chromotest to investigate the accumulation of organic genotoxins by macroinvertebrates and fish in the St. Lawrence and Saguenay rivers (Quebec, Canada). Tissue concentrations of genotoxins (expressed as μg benzo[a]pyrene genotoxic equivalents) reveal bioconcentration factors in the 102 to 103 range. Concentrations are partially determined by lipid content (r2 = 0.22). Lipid‐normalized values indicate that genotoxin concentrations in invertebrate tissues are significantly higher than those in fish. Fish values indicate that tissue concentrations are biodiminished, with fish at higher trophic levels having lower tissue burdens of genotoxins. The biodiminution pattern observed corresponds exceptionally well with trophic position assignments made by other authors. More contaminated sites yielded less contaminated specimens. This may be due to the induction of phase I and phase II detoxification enzymes that is likely to occur at high levels of exposure. Although the results do not support PAHs as the putative genotoxins, the results do indicate that the accumulated genotoxins have similar properties. Tissue to sediment ratios of genotoxins are similar to those observed for genotoxic PAHs, and far lower than those of more persistent organochlorines. Although we did not investigate genotoxic effects, we might expect the most dramatic effects in fish that consume contaminated macroinvertebrates.


The invention relates to a traditional Chinese medicine composition for treating eczema and dermatitis. The composition comprises the following active components in parts by weight: 1-30 parts of radix sophorae flavescentis, 1-30 parts of golden cypress, 1-30 parts of fructus cnidii, 1-15 parts of lithospermum and 1-15 parts of nightshade. According to the composition, material traditional Chinese medicine herbs are selected according to the traditional Chinese medicine theories; components with irritation to skin are not added; no side effect happens when the component is rubbed in large area on the body of a patent, is continuously used for months or is applied to children; the defects that the conventional traditional Chinese medicine external preparations have colors, medicine favors, greasiness, cloth contamination and the like are overcome.


Objective To establish a measure of testing for Chlamydia trachomatis within the Liverpool Women's Hospital with a view to optimising both testing and management of infection. Design Prospective observational study to review the outcome of Chlamydia testing and subsequent management of patients between September 1997 - September 1998. Results It was observed that opportunities for detecting infection were missed and testing was undertaken predominantly for diagnostic purposes. Recommendation Consideration be given to a centralised system for overview of positive results linking with audit/education to reduce sequelae of Chlamydia within gynaecology.


This brief report indicates the accomplishments in family planning of the Automobile Group Corporation in northeastern Changchun, China. This industry has 130,000 staff and workers. The State Family Planning Commission of the Jilin Provincial Government and the Changchun City Government gave an award to this company for having the most advanced unit in family planning provision. This corporation was successful in creating population awareness and strong leadership among its executives for practicing family planning. Administrative workers signed contracts for human reproduction and production of automobiles. The family planning policy was strictly followed on a day-to-day basis. The company offered IEC, contraceptives, and benefits to acceptors. The company provides about 3.5 million yuan per year for family planning activities and strives to improve its services. Women workers now receive reproductive health services. The facility includes a hospital, a family planning clinic, and a maternal and child health clinic and is fully equipped with modern medical instruments for diagnosing gynecological conditions. The quality control management system for producing automobiles is applied to family planning management and applied research on marriage and childbirth. There is 100% acceptance of the one-child certificate. Over 90% of workers delayed marriage and childbirth. During the 1970s and 1980s, about 30,000 births were averted.


Measurement of serum triiodothyronine concentration is generally regarded as a valuable tool in the diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction. This importance has provided the impetus for the significant improvement in assay methodology that has occurred in the last two decades. The advent of monospecific antiserum and the discovery of blocking agents to the T3 binding serum proteins has enabled the development of procedurally simple radioimmunoassays (1,2). This microplate enzyme immunoassay methodology provides the technician with optimum sensitivity while requiring few technical manipulations. In this method, serum reference, patient specimen, or control is first added to a microplate well. Enzyme-T3 conjugate is added, then the reactants are mixed. A competition reaction results between the enzyme conjugate and the native triiodothyronine for a limited number of antibody combining sites immobilized on the well. After the completion of the required incubation period, the antibody bound enzymetriiodothyronine conjugate is separated from the unbound enzyme-triiodothyronine conjugate by aspiration or decantation. The activity of the enzyme present on the surface of the well is quantitated by reaction with a suitable substrate to produce color. The employment of several serum references of known triiodothyronine concentration permits construction of a graph of activity and concentration. From comparison to the dose response curve, an unknown specimen's activity can be correlated with triiodothyronine concentration.


There exists a large variation in laboratory sound transmission loss (STL) results and calculated STL-based ratings. Multiple research studies have found that this laboratory variation is consistent over multiple test series and assemblies, but more especially for steel-framed assembly designs. A previous research study presented at the Acoustical Society of America illustrated and quantified the STL difference for various steel mil thicknesses from 15-mil nonstructural to 97-mil structural. This research study is the second phase of this steel-framed STL research study and it investigates stud spacing and steel material- and shape-characteristics. The effect that each of these properties has on the STL of steel-framed partitions will be illustrated and discussed.


An increasingly difficult task found by most computer users is searching for specific documents. Traditional document organization forms are more and more ineffective, due to the growing amount of information that even a common user now has to deal with on a daily basis. Additionally, most of those organization schemes are based on artificially imposed conventions, such as the need to classify every document into a hierarchy: the file system. This leads to undue cognitive loads both when storing and retrieving documents. Furthermore, little support exists for non-textual documents. It is urgent to develop new document retrieval mechanisms that reflect the ways in which users naturally remember and refer to their documents, by taking advantage of a wealth of autobiographic information related to those documents. Our research has shown that narrative-based interfaces can be a natural and effective alternative to facilitate document retrieval. A set of interviews allowed us to identify what shape document-describing stories take, and what contents to expect in those stories. Based on those results, two low-fidelity prototypes were produced and evaluated. The most promising one, dubbed Quill, was then implemented. It includes a knowledge-based infrastructure, used to understand the stories captured by the interface. A crucial question remained unanswered: are stories sufficiently accurate? With the prototype's help, we collected thirty stories whose contents were then compared to the documents they portrayed, allowing us to conclude that, for the most part, document-describing stories are trustworthy enough to allow the retrieval of documents (81%-91% of all information is correct). We also confirmed that stories told to the computer are similar to those told to human interviewers.


The purpose of this study was to examine the teacher's teaching style and students' attitude towards the business studies subject. The samples were 189 upper six students who took business studies subject. This study used the survey method. Descriptive and inferential statistics used were Pearson correlations. The study found that the personal model teaching style was the preferred teaching style. Students' attitude towards the business studies subject was at a moderate level. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between teachers' teaching style and students' attitude toward business studies subject. The results of Pearson's correlation test found that two types of teaching styles that were formal authority and delegator style had a significant relationship with the sub-constructs of attitude namely enjoyment.


A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Physics, School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal


Hystogenesis of ganglion vagus nerve and cranialis cervical ganglion of the dog were analysed. The morphological maturation of the nervious hutches vegitas ganglions of the dog occurs move intensive before four-month age. For definition of a degree maturity of nervous cells was used carion-plasma the relation. It is established, that the most intensive maturing neuron of the ganglion vagus nerve and cranialis cervicales ganglion of the dog were found in early postnatal ontogenesis from a birth till 4 months. neyrocitios in proximalis ganglion ripen earlier, than in cranialis cervical. The contents of neuroblasts in vegitas ganglions of mature animal is saving at a rate of 1-2 % and is a reserve for filling the natural decrease of nervous cells and for forming the new nervious relationships.


The primary aim in the design of suspension systems using controlled d.c. electromagnets is to achieve an appropriate stability margin. When such a system is employed for suspension of passenger-carrying vehicles, however, a number of characteristics associated with vehicle dynamics will have to be considered in addition to the stability requirements. Some of these are suspension stiffness, damping and dynamic response and disturbance stability. A unified procedure to formulate the class of feedback control laws required for a single-magnet suspension system to obtain appropriate stability and ride characteristics corresponding to low-speed (up to 70 k.p.h.) urban transportation systems is presented in this paper.


A novel three-stage framework for object tracking under stationary background conditions is proposed in this paper. The first stage uses an attention based method to extract motion information. The second stage then applies a region growing and matching technique to motion vectors to obtain motion segmentation. Finally the moving objects are tracked based on the displacements of region centroids. The method is tested on various real-world video data and empirical results show that the proposed approach can track moving objects and extract motion information from non-rigid objects such as moving people without prior knowledge of the objectpsilas size or shape.


Anisotropic conductive film (ACF) which consists of an adhesive epoxy matrix and randomly distributed conductive particles are widely used as the connection material for electronic devices with high I/O counts. However, for the semiconductor industry the reliability of the ACF is still a major concern due to a lack of experimental reliability data. This paper reports the investigations into the moisture-induced failures in Flip-Chip-on-Flex interconnections with Anisotropic Conductive Films (ACFs). Both experimental and modeling methods were applied. In the experiments, the contact resistance was used as a quality indicator and was measured continuously during the accelerated tests (autoclave tests). The temperature, relative humidity and the pressure were set at 121°C, 100%RH, and 2atm respectively. The contact resistance of the ACF joints increased during the tests and nearly 25% of the joints were found to be open after 168 hours' testing time. Visible conduction gaps between the adhesive and substrate pads were observed. Cracks at the adhesive/flex interface were also found. For a better understanding of the experimental results, 3-D Finite Element (FE) models were built and a macro-micro modeling method was used to determine the moisture diffusion and moisture-induced stresses inside the ACF joints. Modeling results are consistent with the findings in the experimental work.


To study the genetic toxicity of manganese on reproductive cells of male mice via injecting manganese chloride i p in mice.The dominant lethal test of manganese chloride at 50 mg/kg level showed that the average stillbirth number and the mutagenic index were significantly higher than those of negative control(P0 05),and the incidence of premature separation in autosomes and sex chromosomes was also more significant than negative control group at the dose of 50 mg/kg(P0 05)by analysing the aberration of testis chromosomes.The study suggests that manganese has the mutagenicity on reproductive cells of male mice.


The brand is an outcome of 20th century's information civilization age.In company war having no nitric smoke,the culture heads for the center from the edge,the brand becomes the core of the business enterprise competitive ability.China is a big country in the world,however its economic development is still in a relative backward level,and in the future development,how to position in the international economic stage depends on the industrial developing level of our nation to a great extent,and also on the attention of each trade and each region to the brand culture.This paper analyzes on the present situation of the brand of Chinese enterprises,and puts forward some measures for carrying out the bran strategy and treating well the relationship between the nationality of the brand and the internationalized brand management.


In 1972 Lang joined the Department of Mathematics of Yale University, where he remained a faculty member until his retirement. The move to Yale coincided with a change of direction in Lang's research, a change which reflected a broader trend in number theory as a whole: Whereas the theory of automorphic forms had previously been the exclusive domain of specialists, by the early seventies modular forms and the Langlands program were playing a central role in the thinking of number theorists of a variety of stripes. In Lang's case these influences were particularly apparent in the work with Kubert on modular units and in the work with Trotter on Frobenius distributions.


To search the literature for evidence for examining the effect of MCH Handbooks to promote and improve health outcomes of the Maternal and Child Health care in developing countries. Pub Med, EMBASE, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched. Study quality and the risk of bias were evaluated using the Cochrane Handbook. A random effects meta-analysis was performed. The qualitative findings were also presented in a tabular form. The search resulted in 359 studies and 30 articles were included for full text screening and only seven were included in the meta-analysis. The estimated Risk Ratio (RR) for knowledge, practice and attitude of mothers on Maternal and Child Health Care were better among MCH Handbook users than non-MCH Handbook users. When comparing non-MCH handbook users to MCH handbook users for women's knowledge of antenatal care visits, RR was 0.81 (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.78-0.84) and for knowledge of danger signs RR was 0.51, 95% CI 0.45-0.59. Practice-related variables such as birth weight measured within 48hrs found RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.79-0.82. For delivery at health facility the RR when comparing non-MCH handbook users to MCH handbook users was 0.82, 95% CI 0.62-1.08 Finally, attitude-related variables such as positive changes in attitude on pregnancy care calculated RR 0.33, 95% CI 0.14-0.81 when comparing non-MCH handbook users to MCH handbook users. The positive impacts of the MCH Handbook on knowledge, practice, and attitude-related variables suggest that the MCH Handbook is an effective tool to promote the maternal and child health care. In addition, MCH Handbook may offer an alternative tool for educating mothers for better maternal and child health care. There is a need for additional research to explore gaps identified in the current literature.


We examine four approaches for dealing with the logical omniscience problem and their potential applicability: the syntactic approach, awareness, algorithmic knowledge, and impossible possible worlds. Although in some settings these approaches are equi-expressive and can capture all epistemic states, in other settings of interest they are not. In particular, adding probabilities to the language allows for finer distinctions between different approaches.


2.1 Gamma-spectrometric well-logging Because of the gamma-radiation of natural isotope K40, radiometric geophysics is one of the few geophysical methods that can be used for direct detection of a certain element (Fig. 1). The gamma spectrometric well-logging and bore-hole gamma spectrometer were proposed and developed by us in 1963 which has been updated 5 times up to the 1980s. The 5 updates are: 205-shallow, 205-deep, NC-75, NC-76 and JHW-1. The gamma spectrometer well logging method and bore hole gamma spectrometers has been successfully applied in 6 provinces: the most effective results were obtained in Yunnan, Sichuan and Hubei provinces. Ischelite and glaserite (with 16.8% of KCl) were found by gamma-spectrometric well-logging in 1972. A bore-hole radioactivity-spectra interactive interpretation software system (HRSIS) was developed in 1995.


In this paper, a novel PFC AC/DC converter is presented to be appropriate for AC PDP's power driving system The conventional PFC AC/DC converter has independent power stages and controllers for their switching respectively, which should have increased price, size on manufacturing and decreased Its efficiency as well So this advanced Single-Stage Power Factor Corrector is presented and verified through spice simulation.


1. Mahinderpal Singh , Meenakshi Garg "Mixed DWT-DCT Approched Based Image Compression Technique" International Journal Of Engineering And Computer Science ISSN:2319-7242 Volume 3 Issue 11 November, 2014 Page No. 9008-9111. 2. K. Ayyappa Swamy , C. Somasundar Reddy, K. Durga Sreenivas , Image Compression Using Hybrid DCT-DWT Transform, Volume 5, Issue 5, May 2015 ISSN: 2277 128X 3. Varinderjit Kaur*, Anamika Pathania, Er.Kiran Bala, "A Review Paper On Advance Digital


Abstract A new method of performing an artificial star test (AST) for crowded field stellar CCD photometry is proposed. This AST method is superior in the cases when it is necessary to account for varying photometric quality across the study field, arising due to crowding variations. For this purpose, the color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of AST stars with statistically reliable error estimates, as well as completeness maps, can be generated at a required spatial resolution.


During 1972–1986 142 children were treated. Most of them were infants (73%). Prodromal symptoms lasted 1-16 days and usually involved the gastrointestinal tract. Severe gastrointestinal symptoms had poor prognostic significance. Convulsions, coma and hypertension which did not resolve after correction of hypervolemia were also features of poor prognosis. Laboratory findings at onset such as hyperkaliemia exceeding 7 mmol/L and acidosis with bicarbonate levels below 12 mmol/L were associated with a worse prognosis. 80% of children required peritoneal dialysis. Delay in the starting of dialysis after 5th day of anuria was a further poor prognostic factor. The total mortality rate reached 25.4%. This high mortality rate was due to the severe clinical course, to the late diagnosis and delay in dialysis treatment. The greatest risk of death existed in the first 3 weeks from onset. They were followed up from several months to 14 years. Twelve children developed chronic renal failure (11,3%). Discriminant analysis revealed the following factors to be associated with the development of chronic renal failure: delay indialysis, onset of disease in spring/summer months, older age, duration of acute renal failure, older age, duration of hemolysis and peak level of creatinine.


The current on-duty invention system overemphasizes the interests of the unit to which the originator belongs and seriously ignores the interests of the originator.This system is not sufficient to answer the needs of the current situation and thus restricts the development and prosperity of invention.Based on the analysis of existing conditions of the protection of the originator's rights and interests,this paper points out the deficiency of the system and finally puts forward some relevant solutions.


We consider a case study of a leader election protocol and verify it using the tool Augur, which is based on unfolding techniques for graph transformation systems. We first investigate a finite-state variant of the leader election protocol and show how to verify it using McMillanstyle unfoldings, avoiding an exponential explosion of the state space. Then, in a next step, we consider a parametric version based on attributed graph transformation. This variant is verified via approximated unfoldings in combination with counterexample-guided abstraction refinement.


: An object is chiral when its symmetry group contains no indirect isometry. It can be difficult to classify isometries as direct or indirect, except in the Euclidean case. We classify them with the help of outer semidirect products of isometry groups, in particular in the case of an affine space defined over a finite-dimensional real quadratic space. We also classify as direct or indirect the isometries of the real Lorentz-Minkowski spacetime and those of the classical spacetime defined by the Newton-Cartan theory.


The work was supported by National Institutes of Health grant R29NS32300-05 and by a National Tuberous Sclerosis Association Senior Investigator Award (97-4) to H.N.


All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is Poitras's first portrait of a female subject. In it for the first time she models forms of feminist attention to another woman, a woman artist, speaking and listening to her. Through openness to Goldin's susceptibility, experimentation, pleasure, and suffering, Poitras addresses trauma and its relation to activism. In their collaboration, Goldin brings the visual sublime as well as overt sensuality into Poitras's purview, releasing the eros and pathos that have always been part of her work. In turn, Poitras makes possible, and essential, a full portrait of Nan Goldin as activist.


Energy dispersive x-ray diffraction (EDXRD) is a promising technique in security screening. The study focuses on the collimators optimization to achieve the highest system sensitivity under certain spatial and angular resolution requirements. The effects of system parameters on the resolution have been studied using an efficient and simple simulation method. The angular resolution requirements play the major limiting role when the length of the collimator is small, while the spatial resolution limit the sensitivity and the angular resolution requirements are automatically satisfied with the increasing of the collimator's length. Several other suggestions on the EDXRD system designs are also proposed.


Objective To study the correlation between casual blood pressure(CBP) and 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure(24h ABP) in seamen with hypertension or normal BP. Methods Standard mercury sphygmomanometer was used to take the sitting blood pressure from left arm for three times and the mean values of this CBP which consist of systolic blood pressure(SBP),diastolic blood pressure(DBP) and mean arterial pressure(MAP) were calculated. The 24h ABP, the mean blood pressure in the daytime (dABP) and the mean blood pressure in the nighttime(nABP) were obtained by a 24 hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring device. Results In the hypertension group, all the mean values of CBP including SBP、DBP and MAP were significantly higher than those of dABP and 24h ABP( P 0 01). The differences in the means of SBP,DBP and MAP between CBP and dABP were 13.2,10.0 and 11.6 mmHg respectively in the hypertension group, and they were significantly higher than those in the normal BP group. High blood pressure was diagnosed by two different methods: the one (CBP method) was that the blood pressure of CBP should ≥140/90 mmHg, the other (BP load method) was that the blood pressure loads should satisfy the predefined criteria of dSBP or dDBP12% and(or) nSBP or nDBP15%. The consistency of these two diagnostic methods was 95%, and the specificity, the sensitivity and the incidence of white coat hypertension(WCH) of the BP load method were 99%, 84% and 16% respectively. When the dABP method(≥135/85 mmHg) was used instead of BP load method, then the consistency was 76%, and the specificity, the sensitivity and the incidence of WCH of the dABP method were 84%,54% and 45.6% respectively. Conclusions The consistency with CBP method, and the specificity and sensitivity of diagnosis with BP load method were all superior to those with dABP method. It was suggested that the BP load method might be more reliable in clinical practice.


Retinal image segmentation plays an important role in monitoring and diagnosing retinal diseases. It is considered as one of the most challenging tasks for computer graphics researchers. Many researchers used complex approach to obtain the segmentation of retinal images for medical diagnoses. However, the main goal of this study was to propose an alternative method for segmenting retinal image by employing two tools. ShaderMap and GIMP, the GNU Image Manipulation Program used in this paper for creating normal map that can improve the retinal image and give an alternative of those acquired from segmentation. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated on one high resolution retinal image datasets (REVIEW) and one low resolution image datasets (DRIVE). According to the pre-designed questionnaire, the proposed method improved the retinal image and GIMP gave better result compared to ShaderMap. However, when high resolution retinal image used there was no significant differences between both tools.


Using a self-assembly strategy based on both H-bonding and
ionic interactions, a molecular module composed of two cyclic amidinium
units and that bears two additional OH groups, thus possessing a total of
six H-bond donor sites, was used to engineer 2-D crystalline molecular
networks in the presence of carboxylate anions.


BACKGROUND
The adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector is a promising vector for ocular gene therapy. Surgical internal limiting membrane peeling before AAV vector administration is useful for efficient retinal transduction. However, no report has investigated localization of AAV vectors after administration into a post-vitrectomy eye. This study investigated the effects of vitrectomy surgery on intravitreal-injected AAV vector-mediated gene expression in the anterior segment and examined the presence of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) in serum before and after AAV vector administration.

METHODS
Of six eyes from three female cynomolgus monkeys, four were vitrectomized (Group VIT) and two were non-vitrectomized (Group IV). All eyes were injected with 50 μL of triple-mutated self-complementary AAV2 vector (1.9 × 1013 v.g./mL) encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP). NAbs in the serum were examined before administration and at 2 and 6 weeks after administration. GFP expression was analyzed at 19 weeks after administration.

RESULTS
Immunohistological analysis showed no GFP expression in the trabecular meshwork in any eye. The GFP genome copy in two slices of the anterior segment was 2.417 (vector genome copies/diploid genome) in Group VIT and 4.316 (vector genome copies/diploid genome) in group IV. The NAb titer was 1:15.9 (geometric mean) before administration, 1:310.7 at 2 weeks after administration, and 1:669.4 at 6 weeks after administration.

CONCLUSION
Previous vitrectomy surgery did not affect gene expression in the anterior segment after intravitreal injection of AAV vectors.


Foreword.- Introduction.- Part I: Institutions and Processes of the EU's External Relations.- 1 Is the EU Becoming a Global Power after the Treaty of Lisbon? - 2 EU Diplomacy: Measuring Success in Light of the Post-Lisbon Institutional Framework.- 3 Coordination of External Policies.- 4 The Enlarged EU in a Globalized World: A Comparative Analysis of Elite and Public Opinion Support for a Common European Foreign Policy.- 5 Reasons for the Current Failure of the European Union as an Internationatl Security Actor.- 6 From Regional Power to Global Power? The European Neighbourhood Policy after the Lisbon Treaty.- Part II: The EU: A Global Power: Theoretical Approaches for Measuring the EU's Power in Today's World.- 7 Theorizing the European Union's Global Authority: An Alternative Trichotomy.- 8 Towards a Structurally Integrative Approach to the Study of the EU's External Power: Introducing the Concept of "Transnational Power Over".- 9 Behind the Charter: The EU Ethical-Legal Identity in an International Order.- 10 From Harbinger to Role Model: The Influence of the Euro in Regional Monetary Cooperation.- 11 A Toolbox Approach to the EU's External Climate Governance.- 12 The Changing Context of Global Governance and the Normative Power of the European Union.- 13 Domestic Politics in EU External Economic Relations: US-EU Competition in Trade.- Index


Apathy is one of the most common neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Despite a large amount of research focusing on apathy as a syndrome in a variety of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia), no consensus has been reached regarding its nosological position as a syndrome in dementia. This paper provides an overview of the neuroepidemiology of apathy in dementia and the need for consensus to be reached regarding apathy as a syndrome in this context. Improved understanding of the syndrome of apathy in dementia will help advance treatment, develop intervention and clinical trials, and contribute to reducing the personal, emotional, financial and social burden associated with apathy and dementia.


SUMMER 2016 5 The AAAI Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence (IAAI) was founded in 1989 to showcase the successful application of artificial intelligence technology to real-world problems and its deployment into the hands of end users. Since then, we have seen examples of AI applied to domains as varied as medicine, education, manufacturing, transportation, user modeling, military operations, and citizen science. The 2015 conference continued the tradition with a selection of 6 deployed applications describing systems in use by their intended end users, 13 emerging applications describing works in progress, and three papers in a new category for challenge problems. In the first article, Activity Planning for a Lunar Orbital Mission, John Bresina describes a deployed application of current planning technology in the context of a NASA mission called LADEE (Lunar Atmospheric and Dust Environment Explorer). Bresina presents an approach taken to reduce the complexity of the activity-planning task in order to perform it effectively under the time pressures imposed by the mission requirements. One key aspect of this approach is the design of the activity-planning process based on principles of problem decomposition and planning abstraction levels. The second key aspect is the mixed-initiative system developed for this task, the LADEE activity scheduling system (LASS). The primary challenge for LASS was representing and managing the science constraints that were tied to key points in the spacecraft's orbit, given their dynamic nature due to the continually updated orbit determination solution. In our second article, Helping Novices Avoid the Hazards of Data: Leveraging Ontologies to Improve Model Generalization Automatically with Online Data Source, Sasin Janpuangtong and Dylan Shell describe an emerging application of an endto-end learning framework for large-scale data analytics that allows a novice to create models from data easily by helping structure the model-building process. By treating the whole modeling process interactively and exploiting high-level


Human society is vulnerable to COVID-19, and it has made daily life imbalanced in terms of the economy, mental health of people, and mortality. Indians are currently facing the brunt of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian government is taking all the necessary actions to defeat COVID-19. More than 130 million Indians will need to be vaccinated soon to defeat COVID-19. At present, all people aged 18 years or above can register for the vaccination and book a slot as per their convenience. The current study aimed to examine people's attitudes toward Corona vaccination and identify the motivating factors for registering and the reasons for not registering for the vaccination. The study was a primary cross-sectional study conducted in the Delhi-NCR region. The data collected through the structured questionnaire was analyzed through chi-square and descriptive statistics. The study found gender and age as the significant factors for registering for getting the vaccination. On the other hand, educational level and residential area were found to be the non-significant factors. The study determined the motivational factors and the reasons for registering or not registering for the vaccination. © 2021, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved.


A reliability assessment method based on evidential reasoning ER rule and semiquantitative information is proposed in this paper, where a new reliability assessment architecture including four aspects with both quantitative data and qualitative knowledge is established. The assessment architecture is more objective in describing complex dynamic cloud computing environment than that in traditional method. In addition, the ER rule which has good performance for multiple attribute decision making problem is employed to integrate different types of the attributes in assessment architecture, which can obtain more accurate assessment results. The assessment results of the case study in an actual cloud computing platform verify the effectiveness and the advantage of the proposed method.


Three short fluoroalkyl chain acrylate co-polymer emulsions of hexafluoro butyl acrylate copolymer PFA1,octafluoropenyl acrylate copolymer PFA2 and hexafluoro-n-butyl methacrylate copolymer PFA3 were applied on cotton fabric finishing,respectively.The performances of fabrics before and after finishing with different emulsion were compared.The result showed that the water repellency of fabric finished by PFA3 was excellent with the water repellency of 90 points and 130.5° of contact angle.The tensile strength of three emulsions finished fabrics increased,but the whiteness and crease recovery angle slightly decreased.The morphology structure of cotton fabrics before and after finishing was investigated by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and X-ray diffraction(XRD).


There's not enough competition The major culprit is product market regulation Can social objectives be achieved at lower cost? In the mid-nineteenth century, the United Kingdom I boasted the highest economic output per capita of any nation in the world, and its material standards of living were without equal. Ever since then, it has gradually lost ground. It now ranks bottom of the league of G7 countries, trailing the leader, the United States, by 30 percent [ILLUSTRATION FOR EXHIBIT 1 OMITTED]. To find out why, the McKinsey Global Institute conducted a detailed study of the United Kingdom's recent economic performance. As well as looking at the economy as a whole, we compared the productivity of UK companies with that of the world's top performers in six key product markets: automotive, food processing, food retailing, hotels, software, and telecommunications. In each case, we sought to uncover the reasons behind differences in performance. Our principal findings were that: * Despite the labor and capital market reforms of the past 20 years, output per capita in the market sector remains almost 40 percent behind that of the United States, and 20 percent behind that of West Germany. The root cause of this gap is low labor productivity [ILLUSTRATION FOR EXHIBIT 2 OMITTED]. The results of our productivity case studies confirm this overall trend [ILLUSTRATION FOR EXHIBIT 3 OMITTED]. * Contrary to conventional wisdom, the main causes of low labor productivity area lack of exposure to global best practices and low competitive intensity. The reasons often cited for poor performance, such as low capital investment and poor skills, are consequences of these factors. * Lack of exposure to global best practices and low competitive intensity are often the result of product market barriers such as trade restrictions, price constraints, and land use regulations. In some cases, these barriers constrain competition and so limit the pressure on management to adopt global best practices. In others, they prevent the implementation of best practices or render it uneconomic. * Many of these regulations have been put in place to promote legitimate social objectives, yet the economic cost of these objectives has been largely overlooked. Replacing them with more market-friendly alternatives could boost GDP growth by more than a full percentage point a year over the next ten years. Insufficient competition All the research carried out by the McKinsey Global Institute attests that the primary engine of productivity improvement is competition within an industry or product market. In the end, there is no substitute for the constant testing of managers by competition. Pressure from capital markets is not enough by itself. Sheltered from competition, as many UK companies are, businesses can make profits and satisfy their investors without achieving high rates of productivity, so they have no incentive to strive for productivity improvements. Consider the UK hotel industry, for instance, where planning restrictions and high construction costs have limited competitive intensity. Leading international operators have little incentive to invest here, since they are unlikely to generate attractive returns. As a result, weaker players have felt only limited pressure to exit the market; indeed, in many cases, they lack any opportunity to do so, since planning restrictions often prohibit alternative uses for hotel properties. Much of the country's hotel stock is old and unproductive: over 3,000 hotels are in listed buildings, and nearly 50 percent are more than 100 years old [ILLUSTRATION FOR EXHIBIT 4 OMITTED]. Another example can be found in the UK telecoms industry, which remains highly concentrated: in 1996, some 12 years after privatization, BT still accounted for about 85 percent of fixed-line telephone usage. This is at least partly because. …


. In the paper, with the aid of relaxed sharing hypothesis, we study the uniqueness of meromorphic (entire) functions whose derivatives share a finite set. The results in this paper will improve a number of theorems earlier obtained by Meng-Hu [11] and Meng [10]. Two examples have been exhibited by us to show that the conclusions in our results actually occur.


Editors' introduction Terrell Carver and James Farr Part I. Political and Biographical Context: 1. Rhineland radicals and '48ers Jurgen Herres 2. Marx, Engels and other socialisms David Leopold 3. The rhetoric of the Manifesto James Martin 4. The Manifesto in Marx and Engels's lifetimes Terrell Carver Part II. Political Reception: 5. Marxisms and the Manifesto after Engels Jules Townshend 6. The permanent revolution in and around the Manifesto Emanuele Saccarelli 7. The two revolutionary classes of the Manifesto Leo Panitch 8. Hunting for women and haunted by gender: the rhetorical limits of the Manifesto Joan C. Tronto Part III. Intellectual Legacy: 9. The Manifesto in political theory: anglophone translations and liberal receptions James Farr and Terence Ball 10. The spectre of the Manifesto stalks neoliberal globalisation: reconfiguring Marxist discourse(s) in the 1990s Manfred B. Steger 11. Decolonising the Manifesto: communism and the slave analogy Robbie Shilliam 12. The Manifesto in a late capitalist era: melancholy and melodrama Elisabeth Anker Part IV. The Text in English Translation.


The book, prepared in honor of the retirement of Professor J. Mazars, provides a wide overview of continuum damage modeling applied to cementitious materials. It starts from micro-nanoscale analyses, then follows on to continuum approaches and computational issues. The final part of the book presents industry-based case studies. The contents emphasize multiscale and coupled approaches toward the serviceability and the safety of concrete structures.


ABSTRACT:Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859) established himself as a unique writer of the Romantic period with his autobiographical Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821). However, in "Suspiria De Profundis" (1845), the sequel to Confessions, and related texts, he explores themes relevant to the Victorian period, such as religious doubt generated by the onset of modernity. De Quincey's explorations of doubt were deeply shaped by his use of opium. Through the collection "Letters of the Daughters of Thomas De Quincey to Francis Jacox," this discussion shows how addiction limited De Quincey's ability to be truthful with himself about how opium weakened his faith and deepened his doubt in a loving, benevolent God.


The specialization process of the cultural field and the emergence of various types of intellectual figure must be understood from the dynamics of each area of production of symbolic goods and their role in political and cultural geography, broadly construed. In this case, we analyzed the


HIV Vaccines
Synthetic nanoparticles have attracted widespread interest for vaccine design, but how the immune system generates a response to multimeric nanoparticles remains unclear. Tokatlian et al. studied immunity generated by HIV envelope antigens arranged in either multivalent nanoparticle forms or as single monomers (see the Perspective by Wilson). The nanoparticle HIV immunogens triggered greater antibody responses compared with the monomeric forms. Glycosylation appeared key for enhanced humoral immunity because it spurred binding to mannose-binding lectin, complement fixation, and antigen trafficking to follicular dendritic cells. The findings highlight how the innate immune system recognizes HIV nanoparticles and the importance of antigen glycosylation in the design of next-generation nano-based vaccines.

Science , this issue p. [649][1]; see also p. [584][2]

 [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aat9120
 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav9000


In this study, a minimum distance for collision avoidance is proposed to avoid collision with vehicles on the other lane when the host vehicle laterally moves while driving using vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication among surrounding vehicles. The existing collision-avoidance system recognizes other vehicles based on a sensor, and thus, a limitation exists in that blind spot in the recognition range exists. In addition, the collision-risk distance is calculated for collision avoidance. Previously, the lateral-movement time was calculated first; hence, the system is not exactly in real-time. Thus, to eliminate the blind spot of the vehicles on the other lane and avoid collisions, a minimum collision-avoidance distance (CAD) calculation method and a V2V communication have been adopted. By setting various relative velocities between the hosts and surrounding vehicles, a simulation scenario was conducted. When the host vehicle laterally moved, the lateral-collision risk could be estimated using the relative velocity and CAD.


Cohort studies are observational study designs where a group of individuals are followed prospectively in order to study the relationship between a specific exposure and outcomes of interest. When wanting to understand disease etiology, prospective study designs are preferable, since the temporal relationship assumption is satisfied: the exposure of interest is assessed, and then sometime in the future, the outcome of interest is assessed (Doll & Hill 1954). This Accidental Note is the third in a series on common epidemiological research designs, and describes the design features and what research questions and measures of the association between exposure and outcome can be used in cohort studies.


Over the years town twinning has attracted a considerable amount of attention, above all among border scholars but also researchers representing other academic disciplines. A landmark in the field of border studies consisted of a special issue of Geopolitics in 2001 devoted entirely to twin towns located across national borders. The issue signaled the growing interest in this form of cross-border collaboration, but it also revealed a pressing demand to further theorize border-transcending forms of twinning and to design a common research agenda.


Migrants are a significant and diverse population. Many migrants have no different health needs from native people, but multiple health harms can result from the process of migration itself as well as the underlying reasons for migration. There are a number of hurdles in improving the health of migrants and they are sometimes referred to as the 'mobile underserved populations'. This editorial discusses this diverse group of migrants in relation to the individuals' health but also as they impact on the healthcare services in host nations.


Plasma transport has been studied by a gas-puffing technique in several ohmic regimes in the T-10 tokamak. The diffusion coefficient and the pinch velocity were found not to depend on the integrated plasma parameters. In several T-10 regimes with wide density and temperature profiles the pinch velocity was close to the neoclassical value, and the diffusion coefficient behaved approximately in accordance with T-11 scaling. In the regime with peaked density and temperature profiles, the diffusion coefficient and the pinch velocity were substantially higher.


In this commentary, I develop the recent proposal to choose a uniform name globally for our specialty ("A call for a single international name for the specialty"), suggesting it is premature and we must first agree on the core, central features characterizing a specialist. The question is, what is our specialty? The scope and content vary significantly between and within countries. If we can agree on the nature and scope of the specialty, a one-word name may arise that people and countries could choose to use.


Women are an integral part of an Indian society. In order to understand the spirit of a civilized society it is necessary to study the history of its women folk. Indian society is patriarchal society and women have been treated as subordinate and ascribed lower status to their man counterpart. In ancient times women enjoyed a position of respect and reverence and his role as a daughter, as a wife, as a mother and above all as a house maker was well defined. A change in the status of women had occurred as a sequel to the advent of Muslims in India. The social laws and customs which came to be evolved in the changed set-up of things created in them a sense of inferiority complex. The position of women as girls' wives and widows were reduced to that of dependents and subordinates. The status of women in India has been subjected to a lot of changes over the past few millennia. Both Muslims and Hindus fell prey to the evil practices. Opportunity of receiving education was greatly restricted. After the advent of Muslims purdah was mainly confined to the rich and well to do class of both the communities. But the working class and peasant women were free from the bondage of purdah. Child marriage had become a feature of the social life. Dowry was an old custom and gradually it became rigorous. This system was prevalent more among the rich than the commoners. Divorce and remarriage were common amongst Muslims and were prohibited to Hindu women. The Hindu women had no choice to remarry; however, remarriage was common among the manial agricultural castes. Women were generally to marry through simple ritual of Chaddar-Pauna and Kareva. Sati was prevalent in almost all the parts of India. It had become a normal feature of the Hindu and Muslim society. Jauhar was popular among Hindus (especially Rajputs). However, Muslim women also adopted this custom when they found their honor in danger. Female infanticide was practiced in most parts of northern India. In some parts of India the devdasi was sexually


This paper describes and analyses Chinese involvement in Africa through a case study of aid and direct investment flows and stocks in Ivory Coast. Between the bilateral recognition in 1983 and the end of 2014, the relations between the two countries have developed. In the process, China has become one of the most important donors and investors in Ivory Coast, and the Chinese State a central, though nonexclusive, actor of the relationship. In Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, Chinese migrant residents invest privately.


This paper examines the views of a number of late scholastic moral theologians, with emphasis on Francisco Suárez, about the limits of the duty to refrain from those otherwise permissible actions which make it difficult for people to choose uprightly. In so doing, the paper singles out and analyses a number circumstantial factors capable of excusing ordinary agents for giving others an occasion of sin.


Spanning the decade from the mid-seventies, this selection explores the diverse directions New Zealand short fiction has taken since it left the realism of the farm in search of the surrealism of the modern city. This volume also reflects the emergence of women writers in recent years.


Geotechnical engineers are often required to either assess the lateral response of existing piles caused by adjacent surcharge loading such as settling approach embankment.Based on the theory of elastic foundation beam,a program which can be used to analyze the passive pile response to the surcharge loading is developed.The program can be used to calculate the soil pressure,the horizontal displacement,the bending moments of the passive pile in the term of the loads and soil information.If some horizontal displacements of the passive pile have been measured,the program can also be used to calculate the coefficient of sub-grade reaction m values and soil pressure on the passive pile,and then more accurate results can be calculated.With Comparison of the results from the program and the finite element analysis,it is found that both the program for the calculation and back analysis capabilities are feasible.


Seeking to provide an integrative account of Indonesian nurses' encounters with a culturally and socially distinctive work environment in Japan, this article provides a number of case studies, especially important among which are the diverse and conflicting interactions between these nurses' individual socio-cultural backgrounds as represented in their age, marital status, ethnicity, family values and relationship, work experience, self-motivation and expectation on the one hand, and the work culture as well as the institutional underpinnings of their work environment on the other. Probably the most enlightening finding of this study is that such encounters across differences can bring about "friction" — to use Anna Tsing's felicitous term [2005] — which has turned out to be both enabling and constraining in terms of Indonesian nurses' adjustment to unfamiliar cultural settings, and this in turn has proved to be sign cant in shaping their decision as to whether they should continue working in Japan or return to their home country.


Objective
To investigate the diagnostic value of echocardiographic left atrial dimensional index(LADi) for evaluating left atrial size.

Methods
One hundred and eleven subjects were divided into left atrial enlarged group(n=53) and left atrial normal group(n=58) by the left atrial volume index(LAVi) with cutoff value of 34 ml/m2. Left atrial antero-posterior diameter (D1),medial-later diameter (D2),superior-inferior diameter (D3) were measured,and the average value (D) was calculated. Left atrial dimensional index(LADi) were calculated as D divided by body surface area (BSA). Left atrial volume was measured using the biplane Simpson method,and LAVi was calculated. Based on LAVi as reference standards,inter-observer variability and diagnostic value of these parameters were analyzed.

Results
There were differences in the measured parameters between the two groups. In the left atrial enlarged group and normal group,LADi had good correlation with LAVi (left atrial enlargement group: r=0.87; normal control group: r=0.80). LADi had the best diagnostic accuracy,area under curve(AUC) was 0.95,and the cutoff value of LADi to diagnosing left atrial enlarged was 26.4 mm/m2. D,LADi and D1 showed good inter-observer agreement,intraclass correlation coefficient(ICC) was 0.94.

Conclusions
LADi may become a new method in evaluating left atrial size with its accuracy and efficiency.

Key words:
Echocardiography; Left atria; Left atril dimensional index


In order to find the optimum and concentration of bacteriostat and selective agents in the genetic transformation of Lespedeza bicolor when BADH was as a marker gene,resistance experiment was carried out with four chemicalsNaCl,betaine aldehyde chloride,PEG and cefotaxime(Cef)being added into the mediums.Different concentrations and combinations of different chemicals were added into the mediums in the stage of adventitious buds regeneration of cotyledonary node,shoot segment multiplying,and rooting.The results showed that NaCl and betaine aldehyde chloride can inhibit the tissue differentiation of L.bicolor,so can be used as selective agents.0.8g/L was the optimum concentration to completely inhibit the cotyledonary node and shoot segment multiplying,and 0.5g/L NaCl was the optimum concentration of inhibiting rooting.It was also found that with the concentration increase of betaine aldehyde chloride in the mediums,the adventitious buds regenerated from cotyledonary node decreased,and 1.5g/L was confirmed to be the optimum concentration.Moreover the mixture of 0.7g/L NaCl and 0.3g/L Betaine aldehyde chloride significantly inhibited shoot segment multiplying and rooting,so this mixture could be used as a selective agent.The Cef experiment showed that 200-300mg/L Cef in mediums did not inhibit significantly the regeneration of adventitious buds from cotyledonary node,and 100mg/L Cef had little effect on the shoot segment multiplying and rooting.


In this article, we propose a new model of dark matter. According to this new model, dark matter is a substance, that is a new physical element not constituted of classical particles, called dark substance and filling the Universe. Assuming some very simple physical properties to this dark substance, we theoretically justify the flat rotation curve of galaxies and the baryonic Tully-Fisher's law. Then we give a Physical Interpretation of the CMB Rest Frame (CRF). This new Interpretation of the CRF permits also a new interpretation of the Cosmological time. Moreover it is in agreement with the Standard Cosmological Model (SCM) on many points. For instance it assumes the validity of the Special and General Relativity. Then using these new interpretations of dark matter and of the CRF, we are led to propose a new model of Universe, flat and finite, that is not predicted by the SCM. Despite of this we will see that a first mathematical model of our Physical Interpretation of the CRF, that is based on the equations of the General Relativity as the SCM, leads to an observable Universe with the same theoretical astrophysical predictions as the SCM. We will see that a 2nd mathematical model, much simpler, has nonetheless theoretical astrophysical predictions that are in agreement with astronomical observations. We will then study the theoretical consequences of those 2 models.


This paper analyzes constitutional scopes and limits about Same-Sex marriage in the frame of Interamerican and European Human Rights Systems regarding the margin of state discretion, and how Mexican Supreme Court has adopted full recognition of that civil institution as a human right shifting on democratic principle. Perhaps, this national Supreme Court has been almost the only Court in the world that recognizes in its jurisprudence Same-Sex marriage based on equal protection clause. Therefore, it has proposed several theoretical consequences hardly to overcome. Besides that situation, it had also modified the scope of the constitutional democratic principles in Mexico.


CFD software FLUENT 6.2 was used to simulate propane/air premixed combustion in packed bed with user-defined scalars and user-defined functions. The two-dimensional stabilized model and simple reaction mechanism were adopted. It is concluded that,because of the wall viscosity and wall heat loss,the flame of combustion in porous medium presents an obvious 2D structure. Consequently,it is important to consider the effects of wall in designing actual porous burners.


Abstract Junglerice has become a major weed in Tennessee cotton and soybean fields. Glyphosate has been relied on to control these accessions over the past two decades, but in recent years cotton and soybean producers have reported junglerice escapes after glyphosate + dicamba and/or clethodim applications. In the growing seasons of 2018 and 2019, a survey was conducted of weed escapes in dicamba-resistant (DR) crops. Junglerice was the most prevalent weed escape in these DR (Roundup Ready Xtend®) cotton and soybean fields in both years of the study. In 2018 and 2019, junglerice was found 76% and 64% of the time in DR cotton and soybean fields, respectively. Progeny from junglerice seeds collected during this survey was screened for glyphosate and clethodim resistance. Seventy percent of the junglerice accessions tested had an effective relative resistance factor to glyphosate of 3.1 to 8.5. In all, 13% of the junglerice accessions could no longer be effectively controlled with glyphosate. This research also showed that all sampled accessions could still be controlled with clethodim in a greenhouse environment, but less control was observed in the field. These data also suggest that another cause for the poor junglerice control is dicamba antagonism of glyphosate and clethodim activity. Nomenclature: Clethodim; dicamba; glyphosate; junglerice [Echinochloa colona (L.) Link]; cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.); soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]


As part of ENABLE's strategic response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic the project has developed a series of manuals for use in building the capacity of nongovernmental organizations faith-based groups and communities. This curriculum was developed to provide staff of nongovernmental organizations and the community at large a deeper understanding of the dynamics and effects of the disease and to sensitize them to the current issues and challenges that people living with HIV/AIDS face. The curriculum covers: Modes of transmission; Prevention including proper condom use and universal precautions; Cultural and social factors that contribute to the spread of the epidemic; The immune system and disease progression; Strategies for healthy living and coping with HIV/AIDS. The curriculum was designed to assist trainers in delivering a four-day workshop. (See the sample schedule at the end of this section on page VI.) The curriculum is divided into seven chapters. The introduction of each chapter provides background information for the trainers about the topics covered. In addition the activities in this manual can be used to address awareness creation and information education and communication about HIV/AIDS with the larger community. Activities can be used with various groups such as women youth workplace/union groups etc. It is not necessary to be confined to the four-day format—you may want to use activities in regular weekly or monthly meetings on an on-going basis. (excerpt)


The authors present the results of a computer simulation study on the performance of 16-ary differentially encoded quadrature-amplitude-modulation (16-ary DEQAM) through nonlinear satellite channels, in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) and adjacent-channel-interference (ACI). It is assumed that the satellite transponder is linear, and each of the Earth stations uses a newly developed solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) for high power amplification. The results are compared with those of a 16-ary DEQAM system employing a conventional travelling wave tube amplifier (TWTA). Results indicate that 16-ary DEQAM transmission for mobile satellite systems employing SSPA's is promising.


Acidities and bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of the N–H bond in two phenylsulfenylamides, PhSNHBz and PhSNH-t-Bu, and four phenylsulfenylanilides, 4-GC6H4NHSPh, where G  =  MeO, H, Br and CN, were measured in order to compare the effects of substituents on acidities and BDEs of N—H bonds with those of C—H bonds. The effects of PhS groups on acidities and BDEs in a series of C—H acids were found to be comparable to those on acidities and BDEs of PhS in a similar series of N—H acids. Comparisons were also made of the effects of changing the oxidation state of sulfur in the series PhS, PhSO and PhSO2 on the acidities and BDEs of adjacent N—H and C—H bonds in weak acids. Hammett-type plots of pKHA values for phenyl benzyl sulfones (4-GC6H4CH2SO2Ph) and phenylsulfenylanilides (4-GC6H4NHSPh) were linear vs σp− values. A linear plot was obtained and explained for a plot of BDE of the N—H bonds in remotely substituted phenylsulfonylanilides with σ+ values. Plots of BDEs vs Eox(A−) were also linear for 4-substituted phenylsulfenylanilides (4-GC6H4NHSPh), phenylsulfonylanilides (4-GC6H4NHSO2Ph) and phenyl benzyl sulfones (4-GC6H4CH2SO2Ph). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Almost simultaneously with the appearance of Volume II of Hennecke's edition of the German translation of the New Testament Apocrypha, an important contribution toward the critical study of the apocryphal correspondence of the CorinthiarIs and Paul the apostle, by Professor Adolf Harnack, was printed in the Proceedings of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, January 5, I905, pp. I-35. This correspondence was considered by many Christian writers of the early church as the principal part of the Acts of Paul. For a long time it was believed to be genuine in the Syriac and the Armenian churches, and even by some Latin theologians. Professor Harnack sets out (I) to restore approximately the original Greek text of this correspondence, and (2) to show the correctness of the testimony of the Coptic translator that it formed an integral part of the early Acts of Paul. The correspondence is preserved in five manuscripts, containing translations into Armenian, Latin, and Coptic of the lost Greek original. The Old Armenian translation was made during the first half of the fifth century. The Syriac text of Ephraem is preserved only in an Armenian rendering of his commentary on this apocryphal correspondence which in his canon is placed between II Corinthians and Galatians. In the two Latin manuscripts the correspondence is found in the one case after the Epistle to the Hebrews considered Pauline and preceding the pseudo-Pauline Epistle to the Laodiceans; in the other manuscript it is placed at the very end of the biblical books following the catholic epistles. These latter are preceded, in turn, by the epistles of Paul and the Apocalypse. The Coptic text is from a papyrus of the sixth century, but the first translation into Coptic from the Greek is probably much


L. (Liliales, Melanthiaceae) are efficiently protected against ants and spiders. Moreover, when their haemolymph was offered in a sugar solution, ants were still deterred. The chemical defence system of these larvae was investigated and the structures of the biologically active compounds determined by tandem mass spectrometry. Plant-derived alkaloids both in original and metabolized form were found in the larval haemolymph. INTRODUCTION Mass spectrometry has entered into many biological disciplines. One of the topics in which great progress has been made is secondary plant metabolites in shaping plant-herbivore interactions.