Using a technique called 'Data Surface Mining' (DSM), data previously published in the business press were further analysed to characterise the similarities and differences between the Goods and Services Sectors; a summary of the results of these analyses is presented here. In addition, the issues of technology management especially relevant to the Services Sector are presented. These issues are of critical importance in light of the fact that the Services Sector represents more than 80% (GDP and/or employment) of the US economy and is of increasing importance in the global economy.


Service delivery models used to educate handicapped students have been influenced by a variety of factors. Requirements in Public Law 94-142 to educate students in the least restrictive environment, research examining the efficacy of special education programs (Dunn, 1968; Goldstein, Moss, & Jordan, 1965; Sindelar & Deno, 1978), research into the effects of labeling (Hobbs, 1975; Reger, 1979), and criticisms of current identification practices (Ysseldyke, 1979, 1983) have encouraged schools to educate handicapped students in environments other than self-contained settings. The direction toward educating handicapped students in the least restrictive environment has had the greatest impact upon individuals identified as mildly handicapped. This includes students in the categories of behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, and mild mental retardation, as well as students referred to as slow learners, underachievers, or educationally handicapped (Deshler, Schumaker, Alley, Warner, & Clark, 1982; Madden & Slavin, 1983). To educate mildly handicapped students in the least restrictive environment, special education efforts historically have attempted to provide direct academic interventions in resource room settings to improve students' academic skill achievement and thus allow the students to function effectively in the regular classroom. One important assumption in this model is that mildly handicapped students can be appropriately educated largely in regular education settings, and one means of achieving this goal is to improve the cooperation between regular and special education teachers. Although educators have achieved no consensus, research and professional opinion have supported efforts to provide appropriate education programs for mildly handicapped students within the regular classroom setting (Bickel & Bickel, 1986; Wang & Birch, 1984). The utilization of sound instructional practices is thought to meet the needs of a large number of special education students while allowing them to remain in the regular classroom (Heller, Holtzman, & Messick, 1982). Placing handicapped students in regular classes, however, has placed increased instructional and management demands on regular classroom teachers (Gerber, 1986). Therefore, to educate handicapped students in the least restrictive environment, regular educators must receive supporting and collaborative services from special educators.


Today, there is a need for a new type of understanding beyond analytical thinking, in order to experience and understand space. Such understanding can be named as a transvergent kind. This new type of understanding emerges as a result of a balance between comprehension, sensation and bodily perception. To reach for such an understanding, there is a need to exhibit performance through a trans-human effort. An effort that detaches oneself from disciplinary boundaries, allowing a more flexible and innovative perception of the world...


Tracing over a century of British immigration controls, broad support for them from the public & left institutions and some of the autonomous struggles developed against both popular & state racism.


Abstract : Several materials undergo transitions from a semiconducting to a metallic state at a critical temperature. Previous theoretical attempts to understand such transitions have been generally qualitative and have not been able to account for all the specific experimental results. In this work, an explanation of semiconductor-to-metal transitions is presented using a band model. It is shown thermodynamically that the energy gap of a semiconductor closes down significantly with the number of excited carriers if the gap has a large pressure coefficient, as is found in several of these materials. This shrinkage of the energy gap is due to explicit variation of the crystalline volume. There may also be a constant volume carrier concentration dependence of the gap, which cannot be evaluated thermodynamically. The experimental results dealing with the crystals which exhibit semiconductor-to-metal transitions are presented, and the predictions of the theory are tested. Very good agreement is obtained.


Reservoir geochemistry is a recently developed sub-field of petroleum geochemistry and focuses on Chemical properties of formation fluids (petroleum and water). Fluids in reservoirs are often compositionally heterogeneous. These heterogeneities are inherited during field filling. On the other hand, oils within a continuous reservoir have similar compositions. These observations offer us the basis of reservoir geochemistry. Reservoir eochemistry has a lot of important and practical applications such as reconstruction of petroleum migration pathway and reservoir filling history, evaluation of reservoir continuity, and allocation of commingled production.


Sanation technologies are technologies that are leading to regeneration and revitalization of objective environment component (soil, water, air) at a level approaching to natural situation. The aim of works is elimination of hygienic and eco-toxic risks resulting from existence of contamination ground or underground water [1]. Fruitfulness of sanation depends on different factories: – type, concentration, distribution, physical status of pollution; – chemical and physical properties, biodegradation, toxicants, mobility, radioactivity, explosiveness of pollution; – geological properties, particularly type of earth and their hydrogeology properties [2]; – an area and period of the contamination creation; – a physical status (buildings and others building objects, stones, surface water and etc.), required time for solution of sanation [3].


The main objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the value of surgical approach in the treatment of children with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). Material and method: The study was conducted in the period from January 2006 to December 2014, and included children with symptomatic VUR, who were surgically treated. A total of 72 children were treated, of whom 56 were females and 16 were males, aged between 2 and 16 years. They were treated with IV and V grade reflux ureters. Thirty-two of the unilateral refluxes were left-sided, 18 right-sided and 22 both-sided. VUR was diagnosed with Voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). Cohen technique was performed in 64 (90%) patients, Politano-Lead better technique in 4 (5%) patients and Lich-Gregoir technique in 4 (5%) patients. Results: Out of the 72 treated patients, 69 had a postoperative negative finding of VUR on the performed VCUG, indicating a high 95% success rate. In three girls, persistent postoperative reflux was found in postoperative VCUG. In the first patient persistent VUR was unilateral, of  V grade. In the second patient, a third-degree VUR was found and the third patient was diagnosed with II grade VUR. Postoperatively, non-febrile UTIs (urinary tract infections) were diagnosed in 23 patients (20 female children and 3 male children) out of 72 patients in total. One female child was hospitalized with febrile UTI and 8 patients or 10% developed febrile UTI within one year of the operative treatment. Conclusion: Open surgery, despite excellent results, is used for more complicated cases, VUR grade IV – V or in previously failed cases, and it does not appear to provide definitive correction of VUR in all patients and does not prevent certain low incidence of UTI postoperatively. Non-febrile UTIs can occur several years after a surgical correction. Endoscopic treatment is an alternative treatment for VUR


The equivalence and differences between the single wideband DS CDMA and multicarrier DS CDMA (MC-CDMA) transmissions are shown in this paper through a matched filter bound analysis. It is shown that by combining the three matched filter outputs in the three band MC-CDMA case, the output statistic is the same as output for each bit in the single wideband case for an arbitrary delay profile. Even though their performances are equivalent in most practical cases, it is shown that single wideband CDMA can more effectively use time diversity from interleaving especially when infinite interleaving can be achieved.


Abstract The effects of γ-cyclodextrin as a mobile phase additive on the retention characteristics of fourteen metabolites of benzo[a]pyrene were investigated with reversed-phase liquid chromatography. It was possible to separate dihydrodiols, diones, and monohydroxyl-benzo[a]pyrenes as individual classes of metabolites. Also, with γ-cyclodextrin in the mobile phase, monohydroxyl-benzo[a]pyrene isomers that were very difficult to separate were readily separated. For example, 6-hydroxyl-benzo- [a]pyrene was separated from 12-hydroxyl-benzo[a]pyrene and 9-hydroxyl-benzo[a]pyrene was separated from 2-hydroxyl-benzo- [a]pyrene. The four tetrols were readily separated with shorter retention times using 4.0 mM of γ-cyclodextrin in a methanol-water (55:45) mobile phase. Overall, the results showed that γ-cyclodextrin was more effective in separating the metabolites than was β-cyclodextrin.


The data presented in this paper describe trends in treated problem alcohol use in Ireland and the analysis is based on data reported to the National Drug Treatment Reporting System (NDTRS). In this paper, treated problem alcohol use is described in relation to person, place and time. This paper will assist policy makers, service planners and public health practitioners to develop appropriate responses to problem alcohol use in the future.


Background. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most common causes of hospital morbidity and mortality, but has been poorly studied in the South African context. Objective. To evaluate the incidence and outcome of VAP in the intensive care units (ICUs) of two major centres in the Durban metropolitan area. Methods. The study was conducted over a period of 6 months with all intubated and mechanically ventilated patients who were screened on admission to ICU. A questionnaire was prepared to note patients' age, gender, date and time of intubation or reintubation. Patients were monitored from date of admission to the date of discharge from ICU or death. A diagnosis of VAP was made on a clinical pulmonary infection score (CPIS) of ≥6. Results. Of 32 patients evaluated, eight patients (25%) were diagnosed with VAP. Median duration of ventilation in the VAP group was 249 hours v. 65.5 hours in the non-VAP group ( p =0.0002). We found no statistically significant association between age or gender with the development of VAP ( p =0.28 and p =0.59, respectively). The most common organism isolated was Acinetobacter baumannii , followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Three of the eight (37.5%) patients diagnosed with VAP died in the ICU. Conclusion. VAP is common in critically ill patients, possibly associated with poor outcome. These results highlight the need for strict adherence to evidence-based preventive measures.


Water footprint, Water scarcity, Water consumption, Crop production, Iraq We assessed the blue and green water consumption for cultivating barley in the Thi-Qar province, Iraq. CROPWAT 8.0 model was used to compute the total crop water use for both crops based on the meteorological data such as rainfall, maximum and minimum temperature, wind speed, sunshine and humidity as well as the soil and crop characteristics. The Penmann-Monteith method has been applied to calculate the evapotranspiration rate. The results showed that the ranges of blue water consumption for barley for10 years were between 761 m3/ton – 2,275 m3/ton. Whereas the green water footprint for the same years was ranged from 47 m3/ton – 1,235 m3/ ton. The results of this study can provide valuable information about water consumption and water availability in the Thi-Qar Province and serve as a guideline to solve or reduce water scarcity problem, thus help the relevant authorities to adopt new water strategies for Thi-Qar Province, Iraq.


Counter Propagation Neural Network (CPN) is a hybrid neural network because it makes use of the advantages of supervised and unsupervised training methodologies. CPN has a reputation for high accuracy and short training time. In this paper, a variant of CPN, namely preprocessed Counter Propagation Neural Network is proposed. We propose that if some preprocessing can be introduced to assign weights instead of random weight assignment during CPN training, it will result in good classification accuracy, very short training time and simple model complexity. The preprocessed CPN has promising applicability in a number of domains, among which textile defect classification is a prominent one. Textile sector is the most prospective export sector in Bangladesh. We demonstrate the utility and capability of our preprocessed CPN classifier in automated textile defect classification in the context of Bangladesh. We have found very good results. 


This paper aims to bring and discuss some poetic productions of Generino dos Santos (1849-1877) from the perspective of the positivist philosophy proposed by Auguste Comte, that this poet was a confessing follower. However, embedded in the immense philosophical and political work that Comte leaves behind for a whole civilization was its aesthetics, or: Aptitude Esthetique du Positivisme. By these thoughts of the French philosopher, I will discuss some poems of that poet. For this, I consider a production shared between eclectic and plural: the first, summarily, would be the submission of poetic writing to the literary diversity of that period, without the literary actually assuming the primacy, without it being the conductor of this incorporation of the themes' diversity, of vocabularies and even of concepts (philosophical and scientific). By plurality, on the contrary, I mean precisely the submission of this diversity of non-literary elements to the literary, so that every extra-literary element, when brought to the literary plane, functions differently than it does when it is in its original context.


The paper speaks to the panel's topic by proposing a conceptual and methodological framework for analysing centralizing and decentralizing trends in federations. Although de/centralization trends are crucial for understanding how federal systems operate, no systematic and comparative investigation of the phenomenon over time has been conducted so far. Our paper seeks to address this gap by proposing a conceptual and methodological framework for doing so. In its first substantive section, the paper defines static de/centralization as the distribution of power between the general and the constituent orders of government of a federation at any given point in time, where power is understood as the ability of a constituent unit to take binding decisions on public policy unconstrained by the general government or other constituent units. Such autonomy is conceptualised as having two principal dimensions – policy and financial – each of which can be disaggregated into subdimensions. For our project, we have identified twenty policy areas and three financial areas for investigation. On the basis of this conceptualization, the paper proposes a measuring scheme able to capture static de/centralisation in each sub-dimension at a given time point. In its second part, the paper puts forward a conceptualization of de/centralization from a dynamic perspective, defined as changes in the distribution of powers between the general and the constituent orders of government over time. Two main forms of dynamic de/centralization are identified, the second of which can be further divided into five sub-categories. These are: (1) constitutional change; (2) non-constitutional change—consisting of framework legislation, fiscal instruments, court orders, centrally-instigated horizontal co-operation, and failure to act. We also identify two cognate phenomena of de/centralization – hetero/homogenization and relative growth – which can affect significantly the evolution of federations. The paper concludes by discussing how we have operationalized the framework.


The Skyrme model is a classical field theory modelling the strong interaction between atomic nuclei. It has to be quantized in order to compare it to nuclear physics. When the Skyrme model is semi-classically quantized it is important to take the Finkelstein–Rubinstein constraints into account. Recently, a simple formula has been derived to calculate the constraints for Skyrmions which are well approximated by rational maps. However, if a pion mass term is included in the model, Skyrmions of sufficiently large baryon number are no longer well approximated by the rational map ansatz. This paper addresses the question how to calculate Finkelstein–Rubinstein constraints for Skyrme configurations which are only known numerically.


In this paper the appearance of SiC and SiO /SUB -x/ precipitates is correlated with the thermal history and the carbon and oxygen content. Oxygen precipitation seems to play a distinct role in the formation of denuded zones along high-energy incoherent grain boundaries. EBIC studies on zones of this kind show unusual electrical behaviour that will be investigated further.


During the period September-December 2004, material was collected from an oak forest in the Šumarice Park (Kragujevac). The abundance and diversity of soil arthropods were monitored, as well as factors that influence their variability. Separated from the material were members of Arachnida (Aranea, Acari, and Pseudoscorpiones), Myriapoda (Diplopoda and Chilopoda), and Insecta, including both: Apterygota (Protura, Diplura, and Collembola) and Pterygota (adults of Formicidae and Forficulidae; adults and larvae of Curculionidae, Carabidae, and Staphylinidae; larvae of Elateridae and Chironomidae; and larvae of other Diptera).


Labor education is an important part of Suchomlinski's education thoughts,but also the core of all of his education activities and education theory system.He based the requirement of the socialist revolution and construction in the Soviet Union,combined with his labor education practice of years,put forward the unique labor education thought: He stressed the universality and long-term labor education;advocated the combination of physical labor and mental labor;focused on creating a good labor education environment;promoted labor practice the important role of the labor education.To actively explore Suchomlinski labor education ideology can not only better help us understand his education ideas,and to today's China labor education has important theoretical and practical significance.


The present invention relates to a method for preventing the lateral vibration of the tower of the wind power installation, said wind power installation having at least two features capable of adjusting the angle of attack of the rotor blades. The method includes the column head on the basis of the yaw moment and pitch moment information onto determining (341, 342) for adjusting the amount of the adjustment of the angle of attack for the step. Here, if the basic amount of the adjustment of the angle of attack adjustment up, the resulting reaction torque, which counteracts the torque counteracting pitching moment and yaw moment in the absence of lateral vibration excitation of the tower.


Superhydrophobic surfaces are widely adopted for reducing the flow resistance in microfluidic channels. The structures on the superhydrophobic surfaces may consist of longitudinal grooves, transverse grooves, posts, holes, etc. In this paper their effective slip performances are systematically studied and compared in detail through numerical simulations. The numerical results show that channel wall confinement effects have a positive influence on the effective slip length for square posts and longitudinal grooves, and a negative influence for square holes and transverse grooves. Square posts, holes, and transverse grooves all exhibit deteriorating effective slip performances at higher Reynolds numbers, while the effective slip performance of longitudinal grooves remains independent of the Reynolds number. For small pattern width to channel height ratios and at low Reynolds numbers, for low shear-free fractions, the effective slip length of square posts is equivalent of that of transverse grooves, and both...


The monograph describes the actual Czech contract law in the
frame of International encyclopaedia of law in the standard
structure of IEL


We report on the experimental observation and numerical simulation of the nonlinear dynamic of period-doubling in spatiotemporal mode-locked lasers composed of full-multimode fibers. It is found that the dynamics of different transverse modes are different. © 2020 The Author(s)


This piece is argues that the issue of national development requires a continuous analysis and examination, through the employment of divers areas of study to help create possible path ways for its realization. It studies the relationship between African philosophy and development, taking into cognizance the relationship between theory and practice. It understands philosophy as originating from the human person's search for theoretical and practical solutions to the problems of life. It therefore argues that African Philosophy is a fundamental factor in the search for national development as it can contribute towards mental decolonization, critique of culture and ideologies, building rationality, definition of ethico-political values, conscientization and technological transformation.


The growth of Hg1-xCdxTe (MCT) epilayers by isothermal vapor phase epitaxy (ISOVPE) on (100) CdTe/GaAs substrates, with various thicknesses of CdTe layers, is reported. Subsequent to ISOVPE growth of MCT layer, we observed the formation of triangular voids at the interface between CdTe and GaAs, which strongly depends on the thickness of the CdTe substrate layers. The problem of void formation and Ga outdiffusion can be overcome by using a sufficiently thick CdTe layer. Although the crystallinity of CdTe layers grown on GaAs by hot wall epitaxy (HWE) is strongly related to thickness, the quality of MCT epilayers is better than that of the substrate layer and is independent of the quality of CdTe layers. This result is attributed to the growth mechanism of ISOVPE being different from other epitaxial methods.


Climate change may have major influences on surface runoff, which would consequently result in important implications for terrestrial ecosystems and human well‐being. At global scale there is limited understanding of these issues with respect to the warming targets stipulated in the Paris Agreement. Here we use a well‐established hydrological model (Variable Infiltration Capacity [VIC]) forced with a representative ensemble of latest climate projections from four global circulation models (GCMs) to estimate potential future changes in runoff and Terrestrial Ecosystem Water Retention (TEWR), as well as changes in extreme runoff and their impacts on population, and overall gross domestic product (GDP) worldwide. Results suggest that annual runoff generally would have larger increases, while annual TEWR generally would have larger decreases under the 2.0°C warming scenario as opposed to 1.5°C warming scenario. Global mean warming of 2°C versus 1.5°C would lead to more distinct spatial patterns in runoff change, with a general shift of the runoff distribution towards more extreme low runoff in Mexico, western United States, Western Europe, southeastern China, West Siberian Plain and more extreme high runoff in Alaska, northern Canada, and large parts of Asia. More people and GDP would be exposed to extreme low runoff decrease, extreme high runoff increase, extreme low runoff decrease as well as extreme high runoff increase under a higher warming scenario. This study differentiates hydrological impacts between the two warming scenarios and illustrates higher runoff, lower TEWR, larger potential drought and flood hazards and adverse impacts on population and GDP under 2°C than 1.5°C.


Background: Syphilis is contagious and one of the oldest sexually transmitted infections, with great public health consequences. This study aimed to comparatively describe the five–year (2013-2017) regional epidemiology of syphilis infection using pregnant women in the Sentinel Survey and apparently healthy blood donors as proxy for the general population at the four sentinel sites in the Volta Region of Ghana. Method: We analysed retrospectively data from 17,744 prospective blood donors aged between 18 to 58 years and 7,805 pregnant women in a Sentinel Survey who fell within the 15 and 49 years age bracket at Hohoe, Ho, Tongu and Krachi-West sentinel sites in the Volta Region. Data extracted included age, gender, date of blood donation and Treponena pallidum chromatographic immunoassay results from the blood banks of the four study sites. Published reports of Sentinel Surveys conducted at the four sentinel sites from the years 2013-2017 were retrieved. Results: The cumulative five-year prevalence of syphilis infections among the pregnant women in the Sentinel Survey and prospective blood donors was 0.38% and 2.38% respectively. Site-specific prevalence for population-base/Sentinel survey was 4.6%/0.4%, 2.0%/0.2%, 1.3%/0.8 and 1.2%/0.2 for Hohoe, Ho, Krachi-West and Tongu respectively. New Syphilis infection rate was 0.31% in the sentinel survey and 2.22% in the general population. Significant gender disparity in syphilis infection exist with male preponderance. Conclusion: The regional prevalence of syphilis infection in the Sentinel Survey is lower compared to the general population. Therefore, the use of pregnant women as proxy for population estimate could lead to underestimation of the burden in the study jurisdiction.


The purpose of the study was a clinical electrometric assessment of the quality of the marginal fit of the composite material to the hard tissues of the tooth, depending on the type and amount of adhesive used the influence of the adhesive, namely: the mechanism of its action and quantity, on the quality of restoration of the hard tissues of the tooth lost by the carious process in the composite material over time.Material and methods. In clinical conditions, 140 fillings were examined, the placement of which was carried out only in cavities of classes 1 and 2, with the area affected by the carious process of hard tooth tissues from 30 to 50 mm2. For this, composite material ESTET X and adhesive systems were used: one-component XP BOND and self-etching XENO V in different volumes (6.6 and 17.7 mg). To assess the marginal fit of the filling material to the hard tissues of the tooth, the multifunctional electro-diagnostic device EST-DENT (Geosoft, Russia) was used. The principle of operation of the device is based on measuring the strength of the current flowing through the hard tissues of the tooth under the influence of a low-voltage source of electrical power. Results. The quality of the marginal fit of composite fillings to the hard tissues of the tooth, which is the main factor determining the durability of their functioning, largely depends on the amount of adhesive used, its mechanism of action, the area and depth of the carious lesion of dentin. Over time, there is a change in the structure obtained as a result of the mechanical and chemical interaction of the adhesive system and hard tissues of the tooth (primarily the hybrid layer), in the direction of decreasing its density and breaking integrity. This in turn increases the amount of electric current passing through it.Conclusions. An analysis of the obtained clinical data shows that when restoring hard tissues of teeth lost over large areas and located close to the pulp cavity of the coronal part of the tooth, it is necessary to take into account the effect of dentinal fluid on the quality and durability of the restoration. The use in these cases of adhesive systems in an amount of not less than 17.7 mg (a drop from dispenser), careful preparation of the affected tooth tissues, rational design of the formed cavity, strict adherence to the manufacturer's recommendations on the time of use of the adhesive. can significantly reduce the risk of unsatisfactory treatment results.


PURPOSE: A learning diagnostic device, a learning management system thereof, and an operation method thereof are provided to update received learning plan information to a storage part. CONSTITUTION: An electrode part(1120) detects an electroencephalogram. A brain wave processing & calculating part(1130) process the electroencephalogram and generates information regarding learning concentration rate and concentration holding time. A storage part(1140) receives and stores learning strategy information and stores the information regarding the learning concentration rate and concentration holding time. A transceiver(1180) transmits the information regarding the learning concentration rate and concentration holding time to an external device and receives learning strategy information from the external device.


This report demonstrates the fabrication and performance of a novel, transient, stable breath sensor based on black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite. BPQDs were utilized as the conduction medium, while the PVA provides a flexible substrate that disintegrates in water. The device presents an innovative solution to black phosphorous (BP) degradation in which the copper (Cu) contacts are placed within the filler of the composite, ruling out the effects of surface degradation in the evaluation of the device performance. Stability studies at the end of eight weeks have been included wherein a negligible change in device performance to breath is observed. The sensor demonstrates chemiresistive properties with a change in resistance of ~100% to exhaled breath. The fabricated device was successful in identifying different breath patterns by monitoring the amplitude and the frequency of the device's current change upon exposure to breath. The fabricated device achieves complete transience in ~10 min when immersed in water. The study opens up possibilities for applications in the fields of biosensors, military, and consumer electronics.


This Current research has the purpose of presenting a detailed structure of the different existing systems for the management of materials in the retail sector in Colombia, depending on the commercial activity.
An investigation of the state of art is carried out, which must be taken into account for an adequate handling of the materials, the concepts that are revealed in this chapter are: Storage of merchandise, the distribution channels that we find in the chain of Supply, the functions of a warehouse, general inventory model; These are basic knowledge that business owners must not get over costs in their processes. It presents a classification of the different types of warehouses and the normativity to realize the planes of the corridors.
Storage in companies is usually done with shelves, the procedure basically consists of placing the products on the shelves according to the method used to keep inventories, a structure of the systems for the management of materials is made depending on the nature of the company , A detailed description of each of the equipment and its respective images is elaborated to give a greater clarity to the reader.
In addition, it makes a matrix of the most representative suppliers of the country, in which the availability of equipment for the handling of materials against existing suppliers in Colombia that offer such systems is evaluated, in addition a short description of each one is elaborated with their respective contact details such as, the address, telephone, web page and city, in order to provide better information from each Colombian supplier


A large number of novel semiclassical and quantum optical effects and phenomena (e.g., coherent population trapping, electromagnetically induced transparency, spontaneous emission inhibition and la...


extent to which one simply needs to know it. From there, European Human Rights and Family Law proceeds with seven substantive chapters on particular aspects of family law as they might be addressed from a human rights perspective. Chapter 4 looks at marriage, and specifically rights under Articles 8, 12 and 14. As is perhaps unsurprising, the focus here is on transgendered persons and same-sex marriage, though there are other, less obvious possibilities which could have been addressed, like the limitations on domestic restrictions on the right to marry, or even what marriage means at all. Does the French pacte civil de solidarité (PACS) fall within Article 12? Is there any relevance in the fact that UK law translates a same-sex PACS couple into civil partners if the union is registered in the UK, but that an opposite-sex PACS couple has no relationship recognised by the UK? Chapter 5 addresses parenthood and the rights of parents in respect of their family life, and Chapter 6 looks at children's rights. As the authors note, there are few cases in the ECtHR which address children's rights entirely separately from adults' rights, since '[f]ew children will have the stamina, money, or time to bring a case to the ECtHR' (p. 221). However, that does not mean that there is not much to say on the issue, and the authors set out to show how the courts 'could develop an approach more focused on children's rights' (p. 241). In Chapter 7, the authors turn to private law children's cases, addressing contact with non-resident parents, relationships with grandparents, disputes over religious upbringing and over relocation. Chapter 8 then looks at public law from a human rights perspective. Here, the authors start with the right to be protected from abuse, which creates a number of both positive and negative obligations on the state. The authors also cover procedural requirements, the process of taking a child into care, the obligations to promote contact and reunion with the child's family once a child has been taken into state care, and issues around adoption in child protection cases. Domestic violence is the topic of Chapter 9, which looks briefly at the present UK law before turning to focus in detail on the possible impact of the ECHR. Finally, in Chapter 10 the authors turn to an issue to which '[r]elatively little attention has been paid by family lawyers' (p. 396), namely the possible effects of the HRA on the financial aspects of family law. The chapter addresses ancillary relief, child support, and the property rights of unmarried cohabitants. The book closes with a short chapter of concluding thoughts, where Choudhry and Herring reiterate the importance of human rights, and look forward to future possibilities, such as the possible implementation of a British Bill of Rights. The issues involved here are complex, and the book, to some extent inevitably, involves dense material which requires the reader's full attention. Indeed, in part because of this underlying complexity, the book is not an easy read, and may be too difficult for some students to absorb in its entirety. However, it is not clear that the authors would intend such a use for their book, and the issues are neatly separated out so as to enable readers to pick particular issues and obtain a detailed discussion of them. Although there has been much written on the subject of human rights in UK law in recent years – not least by Choudhry and Herring themselves – this book shows that there is still more to be said. As John Eekelaar puts it in his foreword to European Human Rights and Family Law, a detailed examination of human rights is a good way to assist in 'dispelling the kind of myths and misunderstandings which build up an impetus of derision about "rights"' (p. v), and this book contributes to this important task.


Problem. For diseases of the thyroid gland, it is advisable to use hormone replacement therapy. However, numerous consequences of an overdose of L‑thyroxine drugs are known. The use of a preventive complex based on minerals, vitamins and quercetin can be an alternative to replacement therapy for correcting the consequences of disorders of the musculoskeletal system in thyroid diseases.
Goal. The purpose of the work is an experimental study of the osteoprotective effectiveness of a complex of vitamins and minerals in rats with hypothyroidism.
Method. In the experiment, 36 rats were used, which were divided into three groups: 12 intact, 12 animals that were simulated with hypothyroidism, and 12 rats that, against the background of hypothyroidism, were administered a preventive complex daily. The experiment on modeling hypothyroidism and its prevention lasted 4 months. Mandibles, lumbar vertebrae and femurs of rats of both sexes were isolated. Morphometric parameters were studied in vertebrae and femurs: density, content of mineral and organic components of bone tissue. The degree of atrophy of the alveolar process was determined in the jaws of the animals.
Main results. Modeling hypothyroidism in rats caused a significant decrease in femoral bone density in males by 2.2% and in females by 1.7%, had no effect on lumbar vertebral density, and significantly increased alveolar process atrophy in males by 22.2% and in females by 15. 8%. The decrease in the density of the femur bone was due to a decrease in the content of the mineral component of bone tissue by 4.5–7.2%. The use of a preventive complex containing vitamins, minerals and quercetin led to an increase in the density of femurs to the level of healthy animals, increased the density of the lumbar vertebrae by 2.2–3.1%, and reduced atrophy of the alveolar process of the jaws in females by 21.5% and in males by 31.4%. Deterioration of the quality of bone tissue in thyroid insufficiency, as well as the osteotropic effectiveness of the prophylactic complex in conditions of hypothyroidism, were more pronounced in males.
Conclusions. The conducted studies showed the development of dystrophic processes in the jaws and femurs of rats against the background of a deficiency of thyroid hormones and the positive effect of a complex of vitamins and minerals, which effectively stopped the atrophy of the alveolar process of the jaws and the decrease in the density of the femurs, and also increased the density of the lumbar vertebrae of rats with hypothyroidism.


The invention relates to the technology of embedded browsers, solves the problem that the existing embedded browser cannot open a link on a page through voice control, and provides a voice-control webpage browsing method for the embedded browser. According to the technical scheme, the method includes the steps that a user inputs a webpage address needed to be viewed; the embedded browser analyzes the webpage, constructs a data structure, obtains link names and corresponding Nodes in the webpage when loading the page, and then stores the link names serving as keywords and the corresponding Nodes to the data structure; a voice engine analyzes the voice information input by the user to obtain character strings and sends the character strings to the embedded browser; and the embedded browser selects the corresponding Node of a required link name according to the received character strings, triggers a mouse click event, and opens the link address. The webpage browsing method has the advantages of being suitable for the embedded browser and facilitating users.


In the present study,the BVDV1-3156 virus was used as material to sequence the complete genome of bovine viral diarrhea virus to provide direct information about the genomic structure and its possible relationships to the biological functions,and to provide aid for the development of new BVDV vaccines.Six pairs of primers were designed according to the sequence of BVDV1 virus prototype strain Oregon C24V.The cDNA fragments of BVDV1-3156 strain were amplified from infected MDBK cells using RT-PCR.Positive clones were screened by using PCR method with the products checked by enzyme digestion.Sequence analysis showed that the complete genome of BVDV1-3156 was composed of 12 302 nucleotides in length(GenBank accession No.JN704144),which included three regions:a 382 nt 5′-untranslated region(UTR),a 11 694 nt single large open reading frame encoding a polyprotein,and a 224 nt 3′-UTR.Phylogenetic analysis showed that the BVDV1-3156 strain was classified as BVDV type 1b.Blast revealed that the strain shared the highest similarity with VEDEVAC(90.9%) and low similarity to other strains of BVDV1.


Abstract This article engages with the contemporary crisis of American identity and how the narratives of the Trump presidency are visually negotiated in the digital world. The Marvel Comics character Captain America has accompanied American identity constructions, crises, and discourses on US foreign policy for almost 80 years. Thus, it is no surprise that Captain America is again popular at a time of increased national crisis, made ever more present as a core character in the major feature film productions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the digital space, Captain America occupies a crucial political position as an easily identifiable visual carrier of identities and values that correspond with the public's concerns. This article interrogates how the circulation of visual narratives of Captain America on Twitter and other digital platforms contributes to a broader discourse about the essence of American identity, values and true 'Americanness' against the backdrop of a fragmented and polarised nation. While (Captain) America's search for the truthful narrative remains futile, understanding this futility can help to discover the discursive reasons for the contemporary crisis.


The air pollution associated with the various stages in the process of manufacturing cottonseed oil was measured. It was found that in certain cases, the concentrations of unsaturated hydrocarbons exceeded maximum permissible concentrations by up to a factor of 23.


LSO is known to exhibit afterglow for approximately 24 h following exposure to intense room light. We find that LSO also exhibits afterglow following activation by gamma rays in normal scintillation counting. This scintillation afterglow is characterized by an exponential decay time constant of 50 min and an absolute light yield, relative to the fast scintillation component, of 1.7. Unless special attention is paid to the afterglow signal in designing the data acquisition electronics used with LSO, the gamma ray energy resolution of the spectroscopy system can he ruined by baseline shifts occurring during the acquisition of an energy spectrum. With proper provisions to handle these predictable baseline shifts, LSO is a promising new scintillator for fast counting gamma ray spectroscopy.


An easy and efficient method to obtain Schiff bases of [2-(2-substituted-phenyl)-3-(4-{1-[2-(1Htetrazol-5-yl)-biphenyl-4-ylmethyl])-1H benzoimidaz ol-2-yl}-phenyl)thiazolidin-4-one] using different aromatic aldehydes. Reaction mixture of S chiff base (0.01 mol) and mercaptoacetic acid (0.05 mol) dissolved in dioxane (50 ml), anhyd rous zinc chloride (0.008 mol) was added and refluxed for 12 hrs. The reaction mixture was c ooled, filtered, washed with 10 % w/v sodium bicarbonate solution. After reactions with compound s sodium azide (1.50 g, 13.43 mmol), and Et3N·HCl (4.2 g, 16.31 mmol) in NH4Cl (30 mL) is st irred at 40◦C for 8 hours [A-O]. The compounds obtained were identified by spectral data and were subjected to a prediction of biological activities. All synthesis compounds scre en d for Angiotension (A II) Receptor Antagonist antihypertensive activity with biphenyl tetrazole Schiff bases Thiazoldine-4-one shows good activity compared with losartan.


Leishmaniasis is caused by an intracellular parasite . It is endemic in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Mediterranean region. Worldwide, 1.5 to 2 million new cases occur each year .The histological study of the liver tissue of white laboratory mice (Mus musculus) infected with L. major a parasite showed The presence of severe steatosis of hepatocytes Hepatocyte degeneration, And loss of the radial arrangement of hepatocytes, With heavy infiltration in inflammatory cells, especially phagocytes( Macrophage) with  Hyperplasia and congestion of the bile duct  .  As for histological sections of skin lesions taken from ear , Foot , tail ، were showed epidermal ulcerative , Accompanied by severe leaching of the dermis layer neutrophil ,polymorph lymphocytes ، with hemorrhage of the dermis, with necrosis of the epidermal cells of all skin lesions in the ear, foot and tail.


Objectives To carry ont pathogenic study for the rash and fever patients from the outbreak in Ziyuan County,and take analysis on viral antigenicity for the purpose of controlling the epidemic effectively.Methods Serum and throat swabs were collected for antibody testing and viral isolation.Viral neutralizing test(NT) was also taken to judge the antigenic differences between the isolated wild measles virus strain and vaccine strain Hu-191.Resluts Wild measles virus strain GuangXi/06/2 was isolated in Vero/SLAM cells.The Spearman'Correlation Coefficient(rs) between IgG titers and NT in the test of patients'serum versus GuangXi/06/2 was 0.850.And the rs between IgG titers and NT in the tests of vaccine serum versus GuangXi/06/2 and vaccine serum versus Hu-191 were 0.747 and 0.786 respectively.Correlations were not found in other tests.The GMT(1:9.7) of NT in patients'serum verus GuangXi/06/2 was significantly lower than the GMT(1:199.0) of NT in patients'serum verus Hu-191(P0.01).However,the GMT(1: 43.5) of NT in vaccine serum verus GuangXi/06/2 didn't show difference compared with the GMT(1: 71.8) of NT in vaccine serum verus Hu-191(P0.05).The Ratio of antigen between GuangXi/06/2 and Hu-191 was 3.52.Conclusions The testing between IgG and NT showed significant correlation.Patients' early serum showed lower neutralizing activity compared with vaccine serum to GuangXi/06/2.The antigenicity between GuangXi/06/2 and Hu-191 was obviously different.


It has been said of so-called old English traditions that on closer scrutiny they usually turn out to date back no further than Queen Victoria. Mutatis mutandis, the same observation can be made about the terminology and concepts of modern Russian history. Closer inves- tigation reveals that in a surprising number of instances they are the product of political polemics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and especially those involving the Marxists. They are not only neologisms, as historical terms and concepts often are, but neologisms devised for specific political purposes and never subjected by historians to critical appraisal.


This paper aims to deliver a comprehensive understanding on case study research and a framework called 'EBM-REP' for knowledge integration. Despite the merits like 'theory building on how and why basis', case study methodology discourages the researchers for its inability to establish theoretical territory. The proposed conceptualisation can be seen as an attempt towards deepening the understanding in case research on a 'systems' perspective' (Senge, 1994) by breaking a situation into salient components, analysing them and integrating the results to provide new insights.


Examination of atmospheric need unimpeded network and real-time data.In this paper,the current problems of atmospheric lab managing are analyzed and some measures are put forward,which will improve the planning,layout and management of other lab.


The finite element method was used for calculating the wave functions and energy levels of electrons in arbitrarily shaped two‐dimensional quantum‐confined structures. The calculated results indicate the possibility of quasi‐quantum wires by simply growing single quantum wells on corrugated substrates.


The outbreak of white spot disease has devastated the farmed prawn industry with several farms in South East Queensland forced to shut down. Farmers say it's a failed border protection system that's to blame for the multi-million dollar clean up.


In this paper a quasi-double precision MAC multiply-accumulation algorithm is proposed for the implementation of ISO/IEC 13818-3 audio decoder on 16 bit DSP and for other real-time high precision DSP systems. The number of instructions of this algorithm is about 3 times of single-precision MAC and the final accuracy of 24~25 bits can be achieved in the implementation of MPEG Layer III audio decoder. The kernel source code and the instruction count based on Motorola's DSP56824 are presented in this paper.


The name Value activation refers to the basic understanding of wood, where at present there are properties that are not fully exploited, but with help of a new sawing pattern could be fully utilize ...


To reduce sideswipes and collision accidents involving two- and four-wheeled vehicles under mixed traffic flow conditions, we previously created a smartphone application (app) that predicts acceleration and driving lane behaviors of two-wheeled vehicles. In this system, vehicles are detected from road images taken by a smartphone camera, and vehicles positions on the road are estimated by our projection conversion algorithm. However, regarding that app, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of the vanishing point calculations in the camera images. Accordingly, in order to reduce calculation costs, we created a method that integrates road segmentation and vehicle detection to create a new scheme for detecting road edges and the vanishing point, even on roads without lane lines. These improvements will help maintain the accuracy of vanishing point calculations while facilitating their high real-time characteristics.


Arguably, student retention has been the primary goal for higher education institutions for several decades. Certainly, it has been the focus of much research effort among higher education scholars. Unfortunately, efforts to improve retention seem to be ineffective; attrition rates have endured despite significant efforts to close them (ACT, 2004b; Braxton, Brier, & Steele, 2007; Terenzini, Cabrera, & Bernal, 2001). Notwithstanding the emphasis placed on student retention, decades of research, and countless institutional initiatives, slightly over half of students who begin a bachelor's degree program at a fouryear college or university will complete their degree at that same institution within six years (Berkner, He, & Cataldi, 2002). During the 1990s, while some colleges and universities certainly improved their retention of rates, in the aggregate student graduation rates changed little. Students enrolling in a four-year institution in the 1995–1996 academic year, for example, were no more likely to complete a baccalaureate degree five years later than were their counterparts who entered during the 1989–1990 academic year (Horn & Berger, 2004). A substantial empirical and prescriptive literature does exist to guide faculty members, campus administrators, and public policy makers in attempts to increase student persistence in higher education. With rare exception (e.g., Astin, 1993), these persistence studies possess the same major flaw as most higher education outcomes research; these studies fail to consider the wide variety of influences that shape student persistence, focusing instead on discrete conditions, interventions, and reforms (Terenzini & Reason, 2005). In 2005, Terenzini and Reason proposed a conceptual framework that takes into account the multiple and interrelated student, faculty, and institutional forces that influence college success. Although Terenzini and Reason originally proposed their framework to guide student outcomes research generally, they argued that it is applicable to specific outcomes like retention. I, therefore, use this framework to organize and synthesize the research on college student persistence. Writing a comprehensive review of research on student persistence is a Herculean task. The publications that feature persistence as a primary outcome measure are almost innumerable. Moreover, literature reviews of persistence research have been published periodically in the higher education literature. I use these existing reviews as the foundation for this article. Beside my own previous review (Reason, 2003), I draw heavily upon reviews by Tinto (2006-2007) and Pascarella and Terenzini (1991, 2005), as well as the many scholarly and empirical works by Braxton. I supplement these secondary sources by incorporating persistence research published more recently. By using Terenzini and Reason's framework to organize the following discussion, this review offers scholars and practitioners a


For partially submerged landslides, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic pressures, related to water level fluctuation and rainfall, are usually expressed in the form of porewater pressure, seepage force, and buoyancy. There are some connections among them, but it is very easy to confuse one force with another. This paper presents a modified mathematical expression for stability analysis of partially submerged landslide and builds the relationship between porewater pressures and buoyancy acting on the underwater zone of partially submerged landslide and the relationship among porewater pressures, seepage force, and buoyancy acting on partially submerged zone. The porewater pressures acting on the underwater slice are calculated using hydrostatic forces, and the porewater pressures acting on the partially submerged slice are estimated by an approximation of equipotential lines and flow lines under the steady state seepage condition. The resultant of the porewater pressures acting on the underwater slice equals the buoyancy, and that acting on the partially submerged slice is equivalent to the vector sum of seepage force and the buoyancy. The result shows there are two equivalent approaches for considering the effect of water on landslide stability in the limit equilibrium method. One is based on total unit weight and porewater pressures, and the other is in terms of the buoyant weight and the seepage force. The study provides a modified model for simplifying the complex boundary porewater pressures in limit equilibrium analysis for the stability of the partially submerged landslide.


8-Methoxycarbonyl substituted [6](1,4)naphthaleno- and [6](1,4)anthracenophanes were prepared by the thermal valence isomerization of the corresponding hemi-Dewar type valence isomers. The rates of their isomerization were remarkably faster than those of the Dewar isomer of [6]paracyclophanes.


Traditional health care system of India uses the vast resources of medicinal and aromatic plants in the protection of health, as drugs and fragrance materials. The growing interest in commercialisation of plant-based medicines has lead to over exploitation of the plants. This review provides an account of the present status of medicinal importance and biotechnological research in the five Dashamula tree species namely Aegle marmelos, Gmelina arborea, Oroxylum indicum, Premna integrifolia and Stereospermum suaveolens . In Dashamula tree species, where the roots are used in preparation of ayurvedic formulations, the destruction of plants are severe and planting of seedlings for these species is almost negligible. Clonal propagation throngh macro and micropropagation is practiced in a limited scale for Gmelina arborea and Aegle marmelos . Research activities are negligible in the species like Oroxylum indicum, Premna integrifolia and Stereospermum suaveolens . Research towards either genetically improving the species for higher production of the active components or increasing the production of the compounds under in vitro culture conditions is essential and it is practiced in several medicinal plant species. The application of in vitro culture for the propagation of Dashamula tree species will help in the sustainable availability of propagules and plant products.


Driven by dual demands in terms of theory and practice, the research interests in the domain of construction projects have been expanded from project management to project governance and construction business system. The logic of theory evolution could be summarized as an organic combination of the universality of main stream governance theory and its knowledge foundations and the particularity of the construction industry. It is suggested that generally speaking, the research level in the domain of project governance and construction business system is still at a preliminary stage, in spite of considerable results achieved at home and abroad; and that a multi-level and pluralistic development situation will be presented in the future.


The article derives from a study of inter-professional and collaborative medical problem solving, an activity in which moral issues are invariably implied, if not explicitly stated. Data come from fieldwork in the thoracic ward of a Norwegian hospital. Focus is on a regular inter-professional meeting called 'the thoracic meeting'. This meeting functions as an expert system characterised by socially distributed cognition. The work of the expert system is communicatively accomplished and moral dimensions appear as characteristics of the problem-solving talk. Three cases or sequences of talk from institutionalised collaborative medical problem-solving work are presented. Each of them displays moral aspects of medical practice. The first case concerns the question of in whose interest decisions are made. Are they made in the patient's best interest, the institution's best interest or in the professional practitioners' best interest? The second case regards the interaction order, which is seen as a normative or moral order that characterise sequences of collaborative problem-solving talk. It has to do with discursive dominance, discursive tactics and adherence to the norms of interaction order. The third case shows that turning medical problems into moral problems may be used as a discursive tactic to manage professional and institutional problems. The cases show the comprehensiveness of moral issues in medical problem solving in such expert systems as the thoracic meeting.


A FPGA-based(commercial on the shelfs,COTS)LCD display controller is designed,for the COTS could not meet the needs of LCD displays in special applications occasions currently.The controller receives 2 channels of DVI signals,having the complete function of OSD screen control,and it outputs LVDS signals needed by LCD TCON through a series of video processing.The basic working principles of each module and realization methods are described in detail.The functions of embedded detection,wide-range backlight controlling and low temperature heating integrated in FPGA are introduced as well.It is experimentally shownthat the design is a realization of " SOC" with stable and reliable working state.


Every politician, either a state or a party official, acquires the status of a political subject in political communication. In the case of party officials there is a double subjectivity, since the subjectivity of a political party, as a group, is in the background of the subjectivity of the officials who communicate and represent them in public. As far as state officials are concerned, there are three types of subjectivity: the first is the subjectivity of the state officials as individuals, the second is the subjectivity of the party through which they accomplish their party goals, and the third is the subjectivity of the state authority and them being their members (Slavujević, 2009). Thanks to its global popularity, Instagram, a social media platform, has oriented political subjects toward the concept of visual communication with citizens, as well as towards adjusting different forms of subjectivity to this social media. In this segment of the empirical research, the author analyzed the Instagram account of the president of the 12th convocation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. Ivica Dačić, as an official of the highest representative body and the holder of the constitutional and legislative power, but also the president of the Socialist Party of Serbia, the second strongest parliamentary party in the convocation of the Assembly constituted after the 2020 parliamentary elections. The content analysis method included a sample of a total of 100 posts on Instagram between July 23, when the account was activated and November 23, 2021. The main research questions are: 1) What type of subjectivity is the most represented on the profile?; 2) Do the posts contain emotional and humanizing segments or simplified photographs aimed at representing a political subject as "the people's man"? The findings of the research indicated that in his Instagram posts, the president of the Republican House of Representatives and the president of the Socialist Party of Serbia has expressed all three types of subjectivity in political communication. Among them, the most represented is the subjectivity of the state authority that he represents, followed by the subjectivity of the political party and finally, the personal subjectivity particularly containing an emotional and humanizing segment aimed at creating the image of "the people's man".


At the present stage of rapid formation of the digital space, the problems of e-commerce development are becoming relevant. The article aims at generalizing and systematizing the existing scientific approaches to the interpretation of the "e-commerce" concept, and substantiating the author's approach to defining the essence and content of this term. To achieve this goal, methods of analysis and synthesis, comparison, structural and logical generalization, and classification are used. It has been found out that most researchers identify e-commerce with such concepts as e-business, Internet business, IT business, e-marketing, e-trading, digital marketing, Internet-marketing, Internet-trading, Internet-commerce, e-retail, virtual trading, distance trading, electronic trading. Scientific approaches to formulating the term "e-commerce" can be systematized according to classification groups: part of e-business; type of economic activity; economic activity; commercial activity; type of electronic commercial activity; type of entrepreneurship; specific type of trade; marketing strategy; type of business process; electronic interaction of economic entities; type of trade through information and communication technologies; electronic commercial agreement; type of public relations for the sale of goods; a set of rules for the implementation of electronic relations for the purchase and sale of goods. Summing up the results of scientific research on the conceptual framework, the author interprets the term "e-commerce" as a component of e-business, the essence of which is to strengthen partnerships in buying and selling products using digital technologies and information systems; as an effective form of organizing logistics activities of enterprises by using information and communication technologies and systems; as a tool for promoting products in the market using digital technologies.


Abstract Recent attempts to include women in histories of geography have often drawn on the work of women travel writers in the British empire. Research to date has tended to focus on discourse theory, and the spatial context of the journey has been somewhat neglected. In their efforts to assert that travel writing is an essentially gendered form of representation, several theorists have failed to recognize the complexities in the varying responses to and depictions of overseas territories by women travellers. This paper emphasizes the importance of the regional context of the journey by analysing landscape descriptions in the narratives of Victorian women travellers in West Africa. It explores how women travel writers contributed to the popular geographies of West Africa in Victorian Britain and, more specifically, investigates the extent to which the images contained in their narratives were informed by, or challenged, Britain 's myth of the "Dark Continent " during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. It also analyses how the temporal context of the journey, the evolving nature of British imperial culture, and contemporaneous ideas about romanticism, "wilderness " and "sanctuary ", were important factors in the landscape descriptions of West Africa by women travellers.


Objective To explore the effect of early rehabilitation on activities of daily living and complication in patients with Cerebral hemorrhage after micro-invasive hematoma remove operation.Methods 80 cases of cerebral hemorrhage after micro-invasive hematoma removed operation were randomly divided into two groups: rehabilitative group(40cases) and control group(40cases).Patients in rehabilitative group were received early rehabilitation besides routine therapy of neurology;the control group was undertaken routine therapy of neurology.Daily living activities in two groups were valued after 3 months respectively.The complication occurrence of ankle spasticity,foot drop,talipes varus,pneumonia and dysphagia were also compared between two groups.Results The scores of activities of daily living in rehabilitative group were obviously better than those in control group.The occurrence rate of complications in the former was also much lower than that in the later,there are significant difference in two groups.Conclusions Early rehabilitation therapy after micro-invasive hematoma removed operation of cerebral hemorrhage can improve the activies of daily living(ADL) and reduce the incidence of complications.


We develop an efficiently improved knowledge-based neural network (KBNN) associated with optimization algorithms and finite element analysis (FEA) to accurately predict spring-back angles in metal sheet bending. The well-known V and U prevalent processes of bending are considered. The KBNN predictive results are based on the empirical model and artificial neural network (ANN) modeling. The empirical model is constructed from the FEA results using response surface method, while the multilayer perceptron is employed to create the ANN. The trained KBNN can accurately model the relationship between the spring-back angles and process parameters. The obtained results are validated against other existing methods showing a high accuracy.


FIELD: spatial light modulator, in particular, spatial light modulator with radially oriented active light modulation sectors for radial and angular light ray analysis, including Fourier transformation optical images, determining of characteristics of search, coordination or identification of image form content. SUBSTANCE: segmented radial spatial light modulator has active optical area, containing a set of extended radially active optical modulator sectors, positioned on different angular directions relatively to central axis. Aforementioned light modulator is used during separation and localization of parts of optical images of Fourier transformation from images for determining image characteristics by means of form for registration, preservation, extraction, search and comparison to other images for coordination or almost full coordination. Collateral images may be added to images for increasing optical strength in optical image of Fourier transformation without addition of new content of form and for successive comparison to characteristics of form of another image for identification of almost full coordination in addition to coordination. EFFECT: increased resolution of spatial f of image along each angular direction. 3 cl, 29 dwg


Background:Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) is a hematopoietic malignancy of the elderly with a heterogenous molecular pathophysiology. Whereas mutations in components of the RAS pathways are among the most common somatic mutations in CMML the JAK2 V617F mutation which is a typical finding in polycythemia vera and around 50% of patients with essential thrombocythemia and primary myelofibrosis, respectively, is by far less frequently detected in CMML but can be consistently found in a subgroup of patients in larger series. Due to the fact that JAK2 V617F-positive CMML is a rare disease the clinical, hematological and in vitro growth characteristics of this entity are poorly investigated. In the "Austrian Biodatabase for Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (ABCMML)" we retrospectively and prospectively collect clinical, biologic, and molecular information of patients with CMML from different centers in a real life setting. Aims:Our aim was to characterize the clinical, hematological, molecular and biologic features of CMML patients harboring a JAK2 V617F mutation. Methods:The diagnosis of CMML was established according to diagnostic criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of 2008 (Vardiman et al, Blood 2009). Clinical and hematological data were obtained from patients records. For molecular characterization we used next-generation sequencing with amplicon-based target enrichment of 39 CMML associated genes. Only mutations with an allele burden of >10% were considered positive in this analysis. Autonomous colony-forming units granulocyte/macrophage (CFU-GM) growth in the absence of exogenous cytokines was assessed using semisolid cultures as previously described (Geissler et al, J Exp Med 1996). Results:Up to now targeted NGS data are available in 116 patients and in vitro culture data in 75 patients respectively. We identified 13 CMML patients who had a JAK2 V617F mutation with an allele frequency >10%. Clinical, hematological, and biologic characteristics in these patients were compared with 103 patients who had NGS sequencing and were negative for the JAK2 V617F mutation. As shown in Table 1 JAK2 V617F-positive CMML patients had significantly higher WBC counts, higher hemoglobin values, higher platelet counts and more pronounced splenomegaly as compared to JAK2 V617F-negative patients. On the other hand the percentage on monocytes in peripheral blood and the numbers of CFU-GM growing in vitro without addition of exogenous growth factors were lower in CMML patients with the JAK2 V617F mutation as compared to patients without this mutation. The majority of JAK2 V617F-positive patients had additional mutations that can be also found in JAK2 V617F-negative patients, in particular mutations in genes of epigenetic regulation and RNA-splicing, respectively. As shown in Figure 1 there was a trend towards a better survival of patients with the JAK2 V617F mutation as compared to JAK2 V617F-negative patients (p=0.05). In a JAK2 V617F-positive CMML patient with splenomegaly, who was treated with the JAK1/2 inhibitor ruxolitinib off label, we were able to demonstrate the disappearance of constitutional symptoms and a durable spleen response lasting for over 56 months (Fig. 2). Conclusion:Out data show that CMML patients with the JAK2 V617F mutation have hematological, biologic and clinical characteristics different from JAK2 V617F-negative CMML patients. These findings suggest that JAK2 V617F-positive CMML patients should be regarded as a distinct subgroup which may benefit from specific targeted treatments. Disclosures Geissler:Novartis: Honoraria. Pfeilstocker:Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Burgstaller:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria. Zach:Novartis: Other: Honoraria for Advisory Board. Hormann:Novartis: Other: Honoraria for Advisory Board. Jager:Roche: Other: Personal fees, Research Funding. Sperr:Amgen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria. Kusec:Novartis: Other: Honoraria for lectures. Valent:Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Honoraria; Celegene: Honoraria, Research Funding.


BACKGROUND
Reconstruction of the distal lower extremity with poor arterial circulation is a challenge for reconstructive surgeons, especially when a microsurgical free tissue transfer is necessary. One may face the problem of having no suitable recipient artery to be used except the main one. To overcome this difficult situation, utilization of a Y-shaped vein graft (YVG) was developed.

METHODS
We report on 3 successful reconstructions of the lower extremities with free flaps using YVG to supply the arterial inflow and in which the distal circulation of the lower extremity was preserved at the same time. The therapeutic goals, design, surgical technique, and outcomes are clarified. The indications, advantages, and disadvantages are also discussed.

RESULTS
All 3 patients achieved successful reconstruction of the affected limbs with uneventful surgery. Special microsurgical skills are unnecessary in this method. It can provide an additional arterial source, which is useful and reliable for revascularizing various kinds of free tissue. Utmost care must be taken to examine the direction of flow during harvesting since only the drainout branches can serve as an ideal YVG.

CONCLUSION
We concluded that Y-shaped vein grafting is a good alternative technique to achieve free flap reconstruction of a distal lower extremity with simultaneous preservation of the distal circulation in selected difficult cases.


Recently, the American Heart Association (AHA) adopted a new and ambitious strategic goal: "by 2020, to improve the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20% while reducing deaths from cardiovascular disease by 20%."1 In the process, it defined a new concept, cardiovascular health, which comprises 7 components: 4 ideal health behaviors (nonsmoking, body mass index <25 kg/m2, physical activity at goal levels, and a diet consistent with current recommendations) together with 3 ideal health factors (untreated total cholesterol <200 mg/dL, untreated blood pressure <120/<80 mm Hg, and fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL). This new approach emphasizes prevention with a focus on achieving and sustaining desirable behaviors.

Articles see pp 987 and 996

At the time of the AHA report, the health benefits of each of the 7 individual components were well supported by available literature. A few studies had also defined the relationship of clusters of ideal levels of risk factors and behaviors and had assessed their relationship with health outcomes, quality of life, and cost.2–6 Specifically, Stamler defined low cardiovascular risk as a cluster of optimal levels of traditional cardiovascular risk factors,3 whereas Stampfer defined a cluster of ideal lifestyle behaviors.4 Yet, in 2010, when the AHA published its 2020 strategic goal, there was no available research on the new metric, cardiovascular health. In the current issue of Circulation , 2 articles address this gap and provide complementary data related to cardiovascular health or at least a forme fruste.

Liu et al7 assessed the relationship between adopting a healthy lifestyle during young adulthood and the prevalence of a low cardiovascular-risk profile in middle age. The research was conducted in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in (Young) Adults (CARDIA) cohort study, which enrolled young adults …


Summary:  In man and in mouse, B‐cell maturation occurs in steps, first in the bone marrow from hematopoietic precursors to immature/transitional B cells, then in the periphery from transitional to fully mature B cells. Each developmental step is tightly controlled by the expression and function of the B‐cell receptor (BCR) and by the ability to interact with the microenvironment. Mature B cells collaborate with T cells in the adaptive immune response, leading to the production of high‐affinity antibodies. This response is very accurate, but slow. Immediately after pathogen entry, however, antibodies already present in the serum reinforce the innate immune response and contribute to the first‐line defense against infection. Low‐affinity natural antibodies are produced by B‐1a B cells in the mouse and immunoglobulin M (IgM) memory cells in man. These antibodies represent an immediate protection against all microorganisms and the only one against encapsulated bacteria. B‐1a and IgM memory B cells may function as a link between the innate and adaptive immune response and thus perform a primordial B‐cell function.


The Olkiluoto site has been chosen as a repository site for the high-level nuclear waste in 2001. Investigations in the site have been ongoing since 1987. The basic idea in the crystalline nuclear waste site still is that the solid repository block surrounded by deformation zones can host a safe repository. It is impossible to say that neither the major ductile nor large-scale brittle deformation zones are stable, but it is possible to say that the tectonic processes have been active in a stable way for billions of years by reactivating the old features time after time and there are no signs of new large features formed in the vicinity of the site during the present time including postglacial period. Understanding the geological history, especially the ductile deformation and over thrusting, begins from the understanding of the lithological features, mainly rock types, in the island. Vice versa, the occurrence and location of the lithological features are interpreted according to ductile deformation. In addition, you cannot study only present brittle deformation but you need to understand also older ductile and lithological features to be able to understand why these brittle features are where they are and to be able to predict them.


Summary— Peroxisome proliferation induced by 2 hypolipidemic agents (clofibrate and ciprofibrate) was studied in rats by complementary approaches, ie cell fractionation, electron microscopy, marker enzyme activities, immunoblotting and nucleic acid hybridization techniques. Administration of clofibrates for 2 and 52 weeks in doses of 500 ppm and 50 ppm respectively, or ciprofibrate for 2,28 and 52 weeks in doses of 250, 25 and 25 ppm respectively, did not alter the behavior of the peroxisomes after induction as shown by ultracentrifugation profiles. The peroxisome mass was increased as shown by the purification procedure. Specific enzymes (catalase and mostly cyanide insensitive palmitoyl CoA oxidase) were induced. A mechanism of peroxisome biogenesis might have been initiated ie cytosolic factor, ligand‐receptor interaction and/or post‐translational modification of the import. Increase in marker enzyme activities showed that the peroxisomes are the most responsive organelles in comparison to lysosomes, mitochondria and smooth endoplasmic reticulum (except for cytochrome P‐450 LA ω‐hydroxylase). Peroxisomal integral membrane proteins appeared to be differently induced: some of them were virtually absent in untreated rat liver but were strongly expressed in treated liver. Induction was substained for 52 weeks, indicating that there was no compensatory mechanism.


Attack graphs can reveal the vulnerabilities and threats in enterprise network.The model for generating attack graphs was described in PDDL(planning domain definition language),and a novel planner was proposed to generate attack graphs.Furthermore,based on the monotonicity hypothesis,a new planner was designed.In the simulating test,the generation of attack graphs cost less than 10 minutes.The results prove that it can be widely used in large scale enterprise network.


Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate miRNA-33 and miRNA-155 expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMC) and carotid specimens of patients affected by Critical Carotid Artery Stenosis (CAS). Material and Methods: We selected 17 asymptomatic (CAS-A group) and 10 symptomatic (CAS-S group) patients with CAS. Ten patients with traditional cardiovascular risk factors (RF group), matched for age and sex, were used as control group. Results: A significant increase in miRNA-33 expression was observed both in peripheral blood and in carotid specimens of CAS-A patients (p 0.04) in comparison with CAS-S and RF, whereas no significant difference were found among the groups regarding miRNA-155 expression both in peripheral blood and in carotid specimens. Conclusions: This is to our knowledge the first report on miRNAs expression in human PBMCs from CAS patients. Results of this study suggest that miRNA-33 in involved in the process underling plaque formation and growth, but not in plaque instability and ischemic brain damage, whereas miRNA-155 is expressed during all the phases of atherosclerotic disease.


Vortec has successfully completed Phases 1 and 2 of a technology demonstration program for an ''Innovative Fossil Fuel Fired Vitrification Technology for Soil Remediation.'' The principal objective of the program is to demonstrate the ability of a Vortec Cyclone Melting System (CMS) to remediate DOE contaminated soils and other waste forms containing TM RCRA hazardous materials, low levels of radionuclides and TSCA (PCB) containing wastes. The demonstration program will verify the ability of this vitrification process to produce a chemically stable glass final waste form which passes both TCLP and PCT quality control requirements, while meeting all federal and state emission control regulations. The demonstration system is designed to process 36 ton/day of as-received drummed or bulk wastes. The processing capacity equates to approximately 160 barrels/day of waste materials containing 30% moisture at an average weight of 450 lbs./barrel.


The cast iron surface is strengthened with the electrode of WC-8Co cemented alloy using electro-spark deposition(ESD) technique.The microstructure and properties of the coating were investigated by X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy and Vickers hardness tester.The results show that ESD technique can produce dense coating on surface of cast iron with proper process parameters.The coating consists of Fe3W3C,Co3W3C,Fe7W6 and W2C phases,and large superfine carbide particles dispersedly distribute in the coating.The maximum hardness of the coating is 1512.1Hv,and its wear resistance is 2.3 times of the substrate.The wear mechanism includes abrasive and fatigue wear.Superfine hard phases which distribute dispersedly in coating are the main factors leading to high hardness and wear resistance of the coating.


The medicine still requires new, more advanced tools for better human body diagnoses. The great developments in electronics let to construct more and more sophisticated instruments for both human tissues examination and tests of human body functionality as well. The system described in the paper belongs to the last one and lets to check functionality of one of human body subsystems - the breathing system. It can measure dynamic changes of temperature and dew point temperature (humidity) of inspired and expired air. Some example results of dew point hygrometer and temperature measurements during respiration are presented. New factors describing condition and capability of human breathing system are proposed.


The adiabatic elastic constants of two garnets (spessartite-almandite and almandite), spinel (synthetic), rutile (synthetic), and olivine are reported. The stiffness constants Cpq were determined from the velocities of acoustic wave propagation in crystals. The velocities of wave propagation were measured by McSkimin's method. A frequency range of 6 to 12 Mc/s was used.


This study analyzes how the process of integrating ethnically-distinct enclaves into state organizations after conflict, specifically in the field security, affects stability and patterns of violence after institutional settlements. The primary argument I develop is that integrating existing local security networks as 'new entrants' into the official 'market of public goods' can bind potential spoilers to state institutions and disincentivize them from using violence. However as new entrants to the market, they are overshadowed by established state institutions. To gain a share of the market, they engage in 'capture' of local institutions by aligning with local political leaders, who can affect the regulations of local security and policing within distinct locales. In this sense local security capture, though often paradoxical to rule of law institutions, can not only facilitate policing of a distinct group, but enforce state institutions. Findings from three cases - Kosovo, Serbia, and North Macedonia - further illustrate that foreign peace actors are key in the process of facilitating capture by preventing the state from monopolizing security.


The general objective of this work was to identify the morphometric characteristics of granivorous birds that are closely related to their feeding guild. In order to achieve this objective, 50 individuals from 9 granivorous species were captured at three study sites on the campus of the National University of Trujillo during the months of February to May 2017. The captured birds were measured in eleven variables: (1) culmen exposed, (2) distance from nostrils to tip of spike, (3) length of spike at base of skull, (4) height of spike at nostrils, (5) At the level of the nostrils, (6) width of the buccal commissure, (7) length of the tarsus, (8) wing length, (9) tail length, (10) total length, and (11) weight. Banding and photographic records were made. A register of plant species producing abundant grains during the sampling was carried out. The data obtained were processed in the SPSS 24.0 program to determine the Principal Components (CP). The results showed that two CPs represented 65.19% of the total variance. The factors of greater weight in CP1 were total length, weight, wing length, exposed culmen and tail length. The factors of greater weight in the CP2 were the height of the peak at the height of the nostrils and the width of the peak at the level of the nostrils. It is concluded that the morphometric characteristics of birds that are more related to their food are those that determine the size of the bird and the shape of the bird's beak.


Purpose To investigate the distribution patterns of microlymphatic vessels and microvessels in colorectal carcinomas and their relationship with tumor metastasis and prognosis. Methods Immunohistochemical staining of Podoplanin and CD34 were used to detect microlymphatic density (MLD) and microvascular density (MVD) in 227 colorectal cancers. Results The MLD in the invasive front (19.64±7.21) was significantly higher than that in the central region (5.64±2.87) (P0.05). Similarly, the MVD in the invasive front (40.93±11.71) was much higher than that in the tumor center (21.07±8.38) (P0.05). Higher MLD in the invasive front was significantly correlated with tumor invasive depth, lymphatic/vascular invasion, lymphatic node metastasis and distant metastasis (P0.05). Higher MLD and MVD in the invasive front was associated with adverse prognosis of colorectal carcinoma (P0.05). However, both were not independent prognosticators in colorectal cancers. Conclusions Microlymphatic vessels and microvessels are predominantly distributed in the invasive front of colorectal carcinoma. High MLD and MVD at this region may be of significance in predicting poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancers.


Objectives To evaluate the correlation between transforming growth factor beta 1(TGF-β1)and left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH) in patients with hypertension LVH,and amendment of left ventricular mass index(LVMI) after treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor(ACEI) and angiotensin II receptor blockers(ARB).Methods Randomized controlled trials about TGF-β1 in patients with hypertension LVH were found by searching Medline and CNKI database.Two operants chosed suitable papers for this study.Correlation between TGF-β1 and LVH,amendment of LVMI after treated with ACEI and ARB were undertook a Meta analysis by RevMan4.3 software.Results Five papers were included in this study.Meta analysis indicated serum concentration of TGF-β1 was positively correlated with LVMI in patients with hypertension LVH,and when left ventricle function was improved by treating with ACEI and ARB,serum concentration of TGF-β1 also decreased(SMD=2.64,95% CI 2.15-3.14,P0.0001).No malignant major adverse cardiac event appeared during follow-up.Conclusions Serum concentration of TGF-β1 was positively correlated with LVMI in patients with hypertension LVH,and it may become an index to evaluate hypertension LVH.


The utility model discloses a four-pipe ground source heat pump heat recovery air conditioning system which comprises a refrigerating loop, a heat supply loop, a ground source auxiliary loop and a soil heat balance control loop which are independent from each other. The refrigerating loop and the heat supply loop are connected with the ground source auxiliary loop through a heat exchanger, and the soil heat balance control loop is connected with the ground source auxiliary loop. The four circuits of the air conditioning system are independent from each other so that the condition of refrigerant mixing is avoided and the air conditioning system has good thermal comfortableness, can achieve the refrigerating and heat supply functions simultaneously and meets different heat use requirements.


In this paper stress and strain for two rotating thin wall cylinder fitted together with initial interference and overlap are computed. Also stress value for variation of initial interference is calculated. At first problem is considered without rotation and next angular velocity increased from 0 to 50000 rev/min and stress in each stage is calculated. The important point is that when stress become very small in magnitude the angular velocity is critical and two cylinders will separate. The critical speed i.e. speed of separation is calculated in each step. Keywords—Thin walled cylinder, high angular velocity, two fitted thin walled


Since the first identification of a vasoconstrictor activity present in endothelial cell supernatants (1) and the subsequent isolation of endothelin (ET)-1 in 1988 (2), there has been tremendous interest in the biology of endothelins. In addition to ET-1, further studies have demonstrated the existence of two other endothelins, ET-2 and ET-3, which differ from ET-1 with two and six amino acid residues, respectively (3). The family of endothelins has been an object of intensive research for scientists from many disciplines. The majority of research has focused on the cardiovascular system (for review see References 4 and 5), but there has also been a significant accumulation of data indicating the mediator role of endothelins in a variety of lung disorders (for further review see References 6 and 7). However, despite intense investigation and the identification of ET-1 expression under a number of pathologic conditions related to the lungs, such as pulmonary vascular disease, asthma, and pulmonary fibrosis, a direct link between ET-1 activity and a disease state has been elusive. This Perspective will focus on aspects of endothelin biology that pertain to the pulmonary system. Endothelins are synthesized from precursors known as preproendothelins (ppET), comprising 212 amino acid residues. The large precursors undergo an intermediate cleavage by endopeptidases to form the 38-amino-acid biologically inactive proendothelins, also called big endothelins. Endothelin-converting enzymes are membrane-bound metalloendopeptidases that further cleave proendothelins. The biologically active endothelins are 21-amino-acid peptides, with two disulfide bridges joining cysteins in positions 1-15 and 3-11 in the N-terminal half, and a cluster of hydrophobic amino acid residues at the C-terminal end of the structure. The structure of the N-terminal domain determines the affinity to the receptor, while the C-terminal domain contains the binding site of the peptide to the receptor (for review see Reference 8). Most tissues contain more ET-1 than ET-2 or ET-3, with the highest levels of ET-1 found in lung. ET-1 is secreted by endothelial cells (2, 9), epithelial cells (10, 11), alveolar macrophages (12, 13), polymorphonuclear leukocytes (14), and fibroblasts (15). Release of endothelins is regulated at the level of gene expression and peptide synthesis because cells do not store endothelins. The expression of the gene is induced by a variety of factors including thrombin, angiotensin II, adrenalin, cytokines, and growth factors. The calcium-dependent protein kinase C (PKC) is involved in this stimulation, and the expression of ET-1 is reduced in the presence of PKC inhibitors. The most potent physiologic factor in regulating ET-1 production and release from endothelial cells seems to be blood flow. An increase in blood flow elicits vasodilatation via activation of the shear stress receptors of endothelial cells that, in turn, produce and release nitric oxide and decrease the production and release of ET-1. The multitude of stimuli that influence the release of ET-1 have made the precise biologic significance of ET-1 elusive. Approximately 80% of the synthesized amount of ET-1 is secreted into the basolateral compartment toward the surrounding smoothmuscle cells and interstitium where it acts in an autocrine and paracrine manner. The concentration detected in vascular tissue is approximately 100 times higher than that in plasma, with the vast majority receptor bound and only minute amounts remaining in a free form. ET-1 has a halflife of approximately 4 to 7 min in the blood because of quick binding to tissues and rapid metabolization by a specific endothelin-degrading enzyme (for further references see Reference 8). Two endothelin-specific receptors have been cloned in humans: some selective for isoforms ET-1 and ET-2 (ET A ) (16), the other nonisoform selective (ET B ) (17). Homology between these receptors is 60%, and both have two subtypes. The affinity of the three isopeptides for the ET A receptor can be described as ET-1 . ET-2 .. ET-3. In humans, the ET-1 affinity for this receptor is 1,000-fold higher compared to ET-3 (18). ET B receptors have similar affinity to all isoforms, as the receptor recognizes the identical C-terminal end. Both receptors are associated with vasoconstriction when localized on smooth-muscle cells, whereas ET B mediates vasodilatation when commonly localized on endothelium. The third receptor (ET C ) is isolated in Xenopus laevis and has the highest affinity to ET-3 (19). Pulmonary fibrosis is a common outcome of interstitial lung diseases, which form an etiologically heterogeneous group of diffuse inflammatory disorders affecting the pulmonary parenchyma (for review see Reference 20). Despite a myriad of potential mechanisms of lung injury, a common pathway is injury to the structures of the alveolar wall. In response to lung injury, there is an influx of inflammatory cells, release of mediators, recruitment of mesenchymal cells, and turnover of the extracellular matrix (ECM). ( Received in original form May 19, 2000 )


This paper introduces the Outlook on Agriculture Special Issue on biomimicry and nature-based solutions. It provides a selective overview that will help frame and situate the collection, with a particular focus on agriculture and food production. The relationship between agriculture and nature is a central concern, and particularly how this relationship is framed by those promoting the idea that to overcome the multiple challenges it faces, agriculture must (re)turn to nature. The significance of different understandings of 'nature-based solutions', and the relative importance of biomimicry, are explored.


Background/Objectives: In the current work, a new zone based and energy-efficient cooperative routing protocol is presented by equally distributes the load of network among all nodes by establishing zones; separation of zones depends on the directions that address some of the requirements of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Methods/Statistical Analysis: Based on the analysis, cooperative communication improves the reliability and can be made the network topology more energy-efficient and stable. Reduction in the Transmission Time (TT) from source to destination by using Cluster Coordinates (CCOs) in inter-cluster and relay nodes in intra-cluster communication helps to prolong the network lifetime. The primary problem with existing solutions is the location of the Base Station (BS) increases transmission load upon Cluster Head (CH) which is nearby to the BS, so cluster depletes energy earlier as compared to others. Findings: The performance of proposed protocol is tested for dead nodes, alive nodes and packet send to BS. In homogeneous scenario, the results reveal that proposed Zone based Cooperative Routing Protocol (ZCRP) performs better in terms of energyefficiency and stability as compared to Chain based Cooperative Routing Protocol (CBCCP), Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) and Stable Electron Protocol (SEP). Application/Improvements: Based on the performance of ZCRP, this can be beneficial for those real time applications where data delivered on time is essential like Border surveillance, healthcare systems and many others.


Fujita-Ban, Hansch substituent constants, topological descriptors and conformational dependent descriptors were explored for quantification of anti-tubercular activity of N-hydroxythiosemicarbazone analogs. All the approaches gave statistically sound model which accounts for more than 88% of the explain variance against anti-tubercular activity except Fujita-Ban (∼75%). Fujita-Ban & Hansch approaches having certain limitation, however, another approache showed their significant role in explaining activity of the modified scaffolds. QSAR study of N-Hydroxythiosemicarbazone analogs furnished some important structural insights i.e., the R position is more prone for improving inhibitory activity and the R1 position play a decisive role in the ionic interaction of the ligand with macromolecules. On the basis of findings, N-hydroxythiosemicarbazones interaction model with macromolecule of M. Tuberculosis has been proposed. These interactions might be helpful in further development of potent anti-tubercular agents.


Effects of additive, electrolyte temperature, current density and duty ratio on hardness, thickness and corrosion resistance of pulse hard anodic oxidation films on aluminum alloys were studied, and the optimal process conditions were determined by means of orthogonal experiments. The results showed that the hardness and growth rate of hard anodic oxidation films increased under new process, and the oxidation temperature was also increased to 30 ℃. The hardness of oxidation film was 516 HV and the thickness was 0.034 2 mm under optimal process conditions. In addition, dropping corrosion test displayed that the corrosion resistance of hard anodic oxidation films was excellent.