In this modern era, the universal requirement for compact handheld communication devices has increased rapidly. Devices with internal antennas have emerged to cater to this necessity of device miniaturization. One of the major factors is Antenna size that limits the production of efficient small devices. Over the past few years, various designs based on the Micro Strip Patch Antennas (MSPA) have come to the face for handheld wireless devices because these antennas can be embedded into the devices and have low-profile geometry. Basically, antenna performance can be degraded by lowering the antenna size. Therefore, the fundamental limits and parameter trade-offs involved in size reduction needs to be examined. In the handheld devices, antennas are positioned on a small ground plane. This paper represents the performance and systematic analysis of H shape Micro Strip Patch Antenna, by using FR4 dielectric substrate material, to operate in the frequency range of 0.6 GHz to 2 GHz. A systematic parametric analysis has been implemented using HFSS software to optimize the bandwidth of the proposed antenna. Finally, this paper objective is to maximize gain and to broaden the impedance bandwidth, which in therefore will improve the antenna performance.


Left atrial (LA) appendage closure (LAAC) is effective in patients with atrial fibrillation who are not candidates for long‐term anticoagulation. However, the impact of LAAC on LA function is unknown. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of LAAC on atrial function.


We run a controlled experiment to link managers of manufacturing firms in three African countries. The experiment features exogenous link formation, exogenous seeding of information and exogenous assignment to treatment and placebo. We study the impact of the experiment on firm business practices outside of the lab. We find that the experiment successfully created new variation in social networks. When we designed the experiment we specified two primary regression specifications to measure peer diffusion. We estimate both of these specifications on a range of outcomes and we find only limited evidence of diffusion. We find suggestive evidence of positive diffusion in activities that may be characterised as relatively low risk and low cost (such as having a bank account or having an overdraft facility). We also find suggestive evidence of negative diffusion in activities that present higher risks and higher costs (such as exporting and introducing new products).


The study of theinvestment decision process consists of economic perspectives derived from the relationship between the lifestyle, demographic variable and behavioral. Through thisexamination it has been analyzed that the behavioral variables and utility maximization are taken together for a complete study. This study incorporated this concept by taking 30 variables from diverse decision criteria including contemporary concerns. The findings suggest that an individual considers on the wealth maximization criteria on making their stock purchase.


The goal of this bachelor's thesis is to prepare the Doubravy Development Programme. The thesis includes a theoretical part as well as a practical part. The theoretical part focuses on the basic theoretical terms related to the creation of conceptual documents as well as on the development of municipalities. The practical part analyzes the current situation of the municipality; after that a SWOT analysis is performed and strategic goals and project catalogue are proposed.


The present invention relates to a collimator module, a radiation detector using the collimator module, and a radiological imaging apparatus using the collimator module. The collimator module includes a first collimator including a plurality of openings through which a radiation transmitting an object passes; and a second collimator including a plurality of openings through which a radiation transmitting the first collimator passes, wherein the second collimator is positioned under the first collimator. Here, the first collimator or the second collimator is designed to be able to relatively move compared to the second collimator or the first collimator. In this case, as the first collimator or the second collimator moves, the size of a region through which the radiation transmitting the object can pass can be adjusted.


Nanogels are sub-micron size,water-swellable cross-linked structures of hydrophilic polymers.They have the ability of absorbing large quantities of water,swelling quickly and biologic consistence.It has been widely studied and used in the delivery of bio-macromolecule medicines such as peptide,protein,nucleic acid,which could be easily degraded by bio-enzymes and have short biological half-life time.The "intelligent nanohydrogel" is a special kind of nanohydrogels.It could take reversible phase change according to the slight change of environments,and release the drug at a fixed time,location and quantity.The classification,preparation and application of intelligent nanohydrogel in drug delivery were reviewed in this article.


Spatiotemporal streams are prone to data quality issues such as missing, duplicated and delayed data—when data generating sensors malfunction, data transmissions experience problems, or when data are stored or processed improperly. However, many important real-time applications rely on the continuous availability of stream values, e.g., to monitor traffic flow, resource usage, weather phenomena, and so on. Other non real-time applications that support continuous or offline historical analytics also require high quality data to avoid producing misleading output such as false positives, erroneous conclusions, and decisions. In this article, we study the problem of smoothing streams produced by an overlay of sensors. We present nonparametric (data-driven, distribution free) statistical methods to provide an uninterrupted stream of high-quality spatiotemporal data to real-time applications, even when the raw stream suffers data quality issues, such as noise or missing values. Our novel family of robust methods computes smoothed values (SVs) that could be used as proxies for data of questionable quality. The methods make use of a partition of the monitored area into cells to compute SVs based on historical data and the deviation from normalcy in neighboring spatial cells in a way that outperforms standard regression or interpolation. Our methods use incremental computation for efficiency, and they differ in how the deviations are normalized, e.g., with respect to zeroth-order, first-order, and second-order moments. We use three real data sets to run a suite of experiments and empirically demonstrate the superiority of the method that uses normalization with respect to variability.


Hierarchical mobile IPv6 (HMIPv6) has been proposed to improve the performance capability of mobile IPv6 at handover. In HMIPv6, local entities named mobility anchor points (MAPs) are distributed throughout a network to localize the management of intra-domain mobility. In this paper, we propose a location management method for hierarchical mobile IPv6 using the mobile node's (MN) mobile history. In this method, when a MN performs a handover, the access router calculates the area-covered rate of each upper MAP from the MN's mobile history and selects the MAP that best manages the MN in accordance with its rate. Thus, the proposed method reduces both the number of binding updates to the home agent and the signaling traffic. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method by simulation.


8568 Background: Low dosage computer tomography (LDCT) has been widely adopted as a sensitive method to detect early-stage lung cancer; however, debate regarding its accuracy and overdiagnosis is still ongoing. An accurate non-invasive test is needed to identify malignant nodules and reduce unnecessary invasive procedures. Studies show that plasma proteins and LDCT imaging features may be used to discriminate malignant pulmonary nodules from benign ones. We aimed to develop a combinatorial approach integrating serum protein markers and imaging features to improve the classification of pulmonary nodules. Methods: This study established a prospective research cohort, which enrolled 608 patients of pulmonary nodules. Plasma samples were collected to measure protein levels using Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) technology. The imaging features of the pulmonary nodules were extracted using the python 'radiomics' package. Following feature extraction, a deep learning networks model was built using training cases. The model was then tested in the testing set to evaluate its accuracy and robustness. Results: From the study cohort, 184 benign (BN) and 184 malignant (MT) samples matched for sex and age were chosen to have a representative training set. The rest 240 samples (81 BN and 159 MT) were used as a testing set. Image features were extracted from 448 patients (119 BN and 153 MT in training; 57 BN and 119 MT in testing) with raw LDCT image available. In the testing set, the model trained using only protein levels had an AUC of 0.83 [0.782-0.877] (sensitivity = 71.1% [95% CI 63.6-77.6]; specificity = 82.7% [73.1-89.4]) when classifying plasma samples of lung cancers from those of benign nodules. In comparison, the imaging features-only model had an AUC of 0.874 [0.821-0.916] (sensitivity = 81.5 [73.6-87.5]; specificity = 73.7 [61.0-83.4]). The combinatorial model integrating both protein and imaging features had an AUC of 0.878 [0.830-0.921] (sensitivity = 83.2% [75.5-88.8]; specificity = 77.2% [64.8-86.2]). Notably, the combinatorial model was highly sensitive for early-stage lung cancer, achieving a sensitivity of 93.1% [78.0-98.1] when classifying stage-0 lung cancer cases(n = 29) and 94.8% [85.9-98.2] for stage-I cases (N = 58). Its sensitivity for stage II-IV (n = 7) and clinically diagnosed lung cancers cases (n = 25) were 100% [64.6-100] and 40.0% [23.4-59.3], respectively. Conclusions: This study aimed to construct a model to distinguish malignant pulmonary nodules from benign lung diseases using protein levels and LDCT imaging features. The resulted combinatorial model showed by utilizing both types of features, it was able to accurately differentiate benign and malignant pulmonary nodules, suggesting it may provide guidance for the clinical management of these nodules.


The present invention provides a process for producing particles comprising vanadium dioxide which have excellent thermochromic properties. The process for producing particles comprising vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) according to the present invention comprises: subjecting a liquid reaction mixture comprising a vanadium-containing compound and water to a hydrothermal reaction; and cooling the resultant reaction product at a cooling rate of 10-300 oC/sec immediately after the hydrothermal reaction. The particles have thermochromic properties.


Objective:To observe the effect of acute ischemic stroke cases treated by trans-catheter cerebral arterial thrombolytic therapy. Methods: Forty eight patients with acute cerebral infarction were divided into treated group (n=18)and control group(n=30)randomly. The control group was treated with urokinase 200,000 units/day intravenous for 7 days. Eighteen cases of treated group were performed DSA for whole brain vessels. After the offending vessels were identified,the lesion vessels were intubated super-selectively and underwent thrombolysis with urokinase. CSS and the curative effect were compared before treatment ,24h,3d and 14 d after treatment in all groups. Results: Neurological deficit scores of treated group before treatment and 14d after treatment were(22.0+9.0)score and(8.0±8.0)score in which the difference was very significan(tP0.01).Neurological deficit scores of control group before treatment and 14d after treatment were (20.0±10.0)score and(15.0±9.0)score. Neurological deficit scores were insignificant difference(P0.05)in every group before treatment, but very significant difference (P0.01) after treatment. The total effective rate of treated group was 88.9%,was 70% in control group in which the difference of two groups was very significant(P0.05). Conclusion: Compared to intravenous thrombolysis,the effect of acute ischemic stroke cases treated by trans-catheter cerebral arterial thrombolytic therapy are more exactly ,safe and simple.


This study proposes an infrared and visible image fusion method based on contrast saliency information guided, termed CSFusion. On the one hand, the gradual recovery network is devised to achieve self-refining processing and cross-stage integration of encoded features. Specifically, the network establishes one-to-one feature reuse between the encoder and the decoder, which can effectively facilitating the decoder integration and reconstruction of encoded features. Moreover, the introduction of the self-refine attention module (SRAM) effectively refines the encoded information of each branch and reduces the impact of redundant information on image reconstruction. On the other hand, the salient guided module (SGM) built with the edge-preserving filter can effectively output contrast saliency maps of the source images. Its synergistic operation with the objective function drives the fused image generated by the network to exhibit a better background texture while highlighting the content information of the source images. It is worth noting that the SGM as the auxiliary network is utilized only in the training stage. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, extensive experiments of qualitative and quantitative results prove the superiority and robustness of our method. Also, the performance on the object detection task further reveals its potential on high-level vision tasks.


In on-chip interconnection networks, performance optimization techniques can be often achieved in two opposite ways: by making control logic more complex inside switches, or by pushing design complexity to the switch boundaries. The implementation of virtual channel (VC) flow control is an important application domain of this design trade-off. The data path of VC switches typically exhibits replicated buffers. The underlying philosophy (i.e., resource replication) can be pushed to the limit, thus incuring an apparently high area cost, while simplifying the switch control path. On the other hand, unreplicated resources require complex control logic for the sake of their efficient sharing among virtual networks. Investigating this design tradeoff is especially important for asynchronous networks, where the synthesis of complex control circuits is a challenge. This paper is a first step toward a design space exploration of VC implementation techniques for transition-signalling bundled-data asynchronous NoCs, and contrasts a VC switch with replicated crossbars against a unified-crossbar architecture relying on multistage switch allocation.


A nonlinear theory of a noninversion laser of an open three-level system based on electromagnetically induced transparency is given. In this noninversion laser model, a nonselective pumping mechanism is used for obtaining lasing gain such that the population in the lower lasing level is always larger than a half of the total population no matter whether the driving field is on or off. In the lasing region, there is no direct pumping to the upper level. The conditions for the existence of a nontrivial and stable laser field are obtained. The dependence of the laser intensity on the intensity of the driving field and the ratio of the two decay rates from the upper level has been obtained, and the ways to obtain a large laser field have been studied.


In India, SEBI defines all these investors as FIIs. Developing countries like India are generally capital scarce. This is because of low levels of income in comparison to other developed countries, which in turn means savings and investments are also lower. So how do developing nations get out of such a situation? Simple! They borrow money. To analyze the relationship between institutional investment (i.e. FIIs and MFs investment) and stock returns the study proposes to use Simple Linear Regression and Semi Log Linear model. The foundation of time series analysis is Trend. The study has used monthly net investment data of FIIs and monthly return of BSE Sensex index is taken from SEBI website and Sensex index closing values is collected from Yahoo Finance database. The study period is from January 1998 to December 2012. Full period has been divided in to 15 sub periods to account for changes in trends in institutional investment flows i.e. January 1998-December 1998, up to January 2012-December 2012. It is also coincided with large changes in the market capitalization. The important result of this study is that the foreign investment is determined by stock market return. But foreign investment is not a major factor for the stock market boom in India the FII are increasingly dominant in the stock market. The domestic investors and domestic companies remain not so dominant. There is the fear of suddenly outflows of the foreign capital and this may be a trigger a third stock market scam as most regularity changes are being made only as a follow up of an adverse event.


A modified dispensing method for fabricating three-dimensional (3D) cell-laden alginate/collagen scaffolds is presented that utilizes aerosolized calcium chloride solutions for crosslinking. To evaluate the process, preosteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) mixed with 3.5 wt% alginate and 2 wt% collagen(pH 7.5) were fabricated into a 3D scaffold (15 x 15 x 1.2 mm3). The fabricated cell-laden structure was highly porous and had uniformly designed pore size and shape. The scaffold-embedded cells were 87% viable compared to the initial cell viability, and the cell distribution was homogeneous. This innovative cell dispensing technique is likely to be a promising fabrication tool for obtaining functional 3D scaffolds for tissue regeneration.


A distorted digital signal is restored using a reference signal derived by combining the rectified positive and the negative distorted digital signal cycles. The distorted signal is received at an input terminal. The positive and negative voltages are rectified and sampled by FET transistors gated by the output of a D-type flip- flop, which holds the signal output. Two capacitors, which store the sampled positive and negative voltages, are used to provide the reference voltages. The comparator outputs are held by the flip-flop for the respective period, and are synchronized with the original digital signal.


In the Spring Term of 1982, seconded to the Centre for Studies in Science and Mathematics Education at the University of Leeds, I was able to make a study7 of some sixth form students in schools in Bradford. The study complements the work reported by Giles Dickins and Michael Wood.s My objective was to compare the attitudes of girls and boys to their learning experience in mathematics, and, in particular, to attempt to find explanations for the relatively small number of girls who choose to study mathematics at 'A' level.


The main purpose of this research is to examine the effect of perceived tax understanding, tax penalties, trust in government and law, and nationalism towards taxpayer compliance in paying property tax. Using Slovin formula, 100 respondents were selected as representative sample from the tax payers in Banjar, Indonesia. Data were collected using closed questionnaire and analyzed by multiple linear regression. The results showed that the understanding of tax regulation, tax penalties, and nationalism had significantly positive effect. However, trust in goverment and the law did not significantly affect taxpayer compliance in paying property tax.


Mixed marriages have long been considered important indicators of social intergration of immigrants. In this paper, we study marital exogamy between immigrants and natives in 32 Italian provinces/municipalities using 2009 cross-sectional data. In particular, we study the diffusion of intermarriages in Italy focusing on the role of education. Literature shows that the educational gradient of intermarriages in Italy acts at two levels: the individual level and the group level. In order to estimate who is more likely to intermarry and, in particular, the role of education on the probability of intermarrying we have estimated some probit models. Our preliminary results shows that, as the level of education increases, the probability of being intermarried is higher and this resul holds also as we plit the sample by gender (with an higher gradient for women). Further developments of this work will focus on the role of contextual variables (basically referred to the structure of marriage market in the place of residence of foreigners) on th probability of being intermarried in order to test whether the higher or lower presence of other immigrants (and, in particular, of immigrants of the same nationality of individuals) may affect the probability of exogamic marriage.


d,l-15(R)-15-Methyl-PGF2α methyl ester 11-trimethylsilyl ether(II)wasprepared from selective monosilylation of d,l-15(R)-15-methyl-PGF2αmethyl ester(I) withtrimethylsilyldiethylamine in acetone. Oxidation of(II ) with Collin's reagent gave d,l-15(R)-15-methyl-PGE2 methyl ester 11-trimethylsilyl ether(III)which,without purification,was converted tod,l-15(R)-15-methyl-PGE2 methyl ester(IV)under mild acidic conditions.


Primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs) represent a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders characterized by poor or absent function in one or more components of the immune system, that result in chronic, recurrent and life-threatning infections if not promptly diagnosed and treated. Traditionally, PIDs are classified according to the component of the immune system that is primarily disrupted: innate or adaptive immunity, the latter comprising antibody deficiencies and combined immunodeficiencies. In the last 20 years, thanks to the progress in molecular technologies, a remarkable improvement of the knowledge in the field of PIDs, concerning both their etiopathogenesis mechanisms and clinical features, has been observed. Nowadays about 300 forms of well-characterized PIDs have been identified underliyng complex phenotype which encompass a wide spectrum of clinical features ranging from recurrent bacterial infections to other unusual manifestations, such as autoimmune disorder, cancer susceptibility, allergy and autoinflammation. Advances in next generation DNA sequencing (NGS) allowed new gene identification of several forms of PIDs of unknown cause making genetic identification of immunodeficiency syndromes more efficient. Only in the last two years, 34 new gene defects have been identified. In this context, my PhD program has been focused to the study of some Immunological disorders, in order to identify "Novel strategies in the approach to primary immunodeficiencies to discover new pathogenic mechanisms and complex clinical phenotype". Particularly, I followed a first project focused on the novel insight in the diagnosis and management of primary immunodeficiencies aimed at the characterization of novel aspect of the pathogenesis and treatment of already known immunodeficiency, diagnosed conventionally or through Next Generation Sequencing. In particular, I studied the role of Myd88 deficiency, identified through Targeted Next generation sequencing, in the pathogenesis of the immunological and clinical features observed in a patient who had an atypical presentation characterized by chronic Yersiniosis and granuolomatous lymphadenitis, in absence of pneumococcal infections. On this topic, I contributed to the description of the case and to the planning of the experiments aimed at demonstrating the defect of TLRs signaling and the rescue of the function after the tranfection of plamids containing WT Myd88 in the patient fibroblasts. I also followed another project aimed at defining the broad spectrum of clinical manifestations caused by STAT1 gain of function mutation and at defining the role of STAT1 gain of function mutation in the pathogenesis of the clinical manifestation caused by mutations in this gene other than chronic mucocutaneus candidiasis. Moreover, my research effort has been devoted to the definition of the role of T-independent B-cell immunity in susceptibility to infections from encapsulated bacteria in Hypoidrotic Ectodermal Dysplasia with immununodeficiency (HED-ID). I also participated to the description of skin and skin annexa abnormalities associated to PIDs, which represent alarm signs that should lead the clinician to consider a deeper immunological assessment. I gave a contribution to better define the functional role of FOXN1 transcription factor in the T-cell ontogeny. Eventually, I also studied rare genetic syndrome involving immune system paying a particular attention to SCID, hemophagocytic lymphoistiocitosis (HLH) and Di George Syndrome (DGS).


In this manuscript entitled "Deep Brain Stimulation for Epilepsy," Nagel and Najm do an excellent job in reviewing the large volume of research, both in animals and humans, on the use of electrical stimulation for the treatment of epilepsy, providing 97 excellent references. Important distinction is made between local control stimulation and remote control stimulation, as well as the concept of open loop stimulation vs. closed loop stimulation. The authors have appropriately included work of Irving Cooper, who became notable in Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery history for accidentally damaging the anterior choroidal artery during a pedunculotomy procedure, which lead to the realization that specific lesioning of deep brain structures such as basal ganglia and thalamus could alleviate tremor and other movement disorders. As the authors point out, Cooper also had initially hypothesized that chronic cerebellar stimulation capitalize on widespread Purkinje cell inhibitory output to control excitatory network responsible for seizure, and later postulated that the effects were instead linked to activation of the reticular formation and inhibition of the thalamus, thus supporting the overall concept that modulation of specific neural network systems would be able to treat epilepsy. This is an important point in that stimulation of areas of brain that is not directly involved in the seizure generation could abort seizures. With this in mind, the authors do a nice job of discussing neural networks such as the nigral control system, cortico-subthalamicnigral circuit, and thalamocortical network as they relate to deep brain stimulation (DBS) and epilepsy. Just as neurosurgical treatment of movement disorders have been moving away from surgical lesioning to functional electrical stimulation, neurosurgical treatment of epilepsy may also be moving toward electrical stimulation over resective surgery. Because DBS and lesioning surgery (e.g., pallidotomy, thalamotomy, and subthalamotomy) are effective in the same regions for movement disorder treatment, the stimulation-evoked silencing of pathologically hyperactive neurons was initially postulated as the primary mechanism (1–3). However, emerging evidence suggests that the effects of DBS are far more complex and that additional mechanisms may include activation of local fibers of passage and neuronal terminals that inhibit and/or excite efferent outputs, which in turn deplete or enhance neurotransmission at distal sites. These actions are consequently thought to normalize the activity of structures within the basal ganglia complex by an anti-oscillatory action. Given that seizures are electrical phenomenon, it makes intuitive sense that correctly delivered electrical stimulation would be able to abort abnormal oscillatory activity that is hallmark of seizures. In this regard, the authors point out the importance of thalamocortical network that is responsible for the spike wave discharge and guide the readers to work by Destexhe and Sejnowski (4). During normal thalamocortical oscillations such as spindle waves, the inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in thalamocortical cells elicited by activation of GABA-A receptors last approximately 100 msec. When GABA-A receptors are blocked, the duration of the IPSPs increased to approximately 300 msec due to activation of GABA-B receptors, and the oscillations are slowed from 7–14 Hz to 3–4 Hz. Because the intrinsic harmonics of the thalamocortical cells (which oscillate preferentially at ~3 Hz) match those of the thalamocortical–nucleus reticularis loop (which also oscillates preferentially at ~3 Hz), these 3to 4-Hz bursts became very strong and generates massive synchronized discharges at approximately 3–4 Hz. In this manner, normal thalamocortical oscillations can be "perverted" into absence seizure-like events. Findings such as this suggest that DBS of thalamus therefore may abolish seizures (5). Indeed, the authors highlight the results of Velasco et al., who have reported significant reduction in seizures in patients who had undergone DBS applied to the centromedian thalamic nuclei (6,7). Further, the authors also point out the important clinical trials currently underway called the SANTE (Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus for Epilepsy) is currently testing safety and efficacy of stimulation of the anterior thalamic nucleus in patients with partial onset epilepsy. In regards to closed loop stimulation, the authors discuss the neuropace trial, where the responsive neurostimulation system includes a programmable pulse generator/ electrographic monitor that sits atop the dura connected to either intracranial depth or strip electrodes. These are exciting developments in neuromodulation treatments for epilepsy, where delivery of electrical stimulation to the brain occurs only when needed. Overall, this review represents a Hurculean effort in describing the state of art in neuromodulation for epilepsy and the authors are to be congratulated. doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1403.2009.00244.x NEUROMODULATION: TECHNOLOGY AT THE NEURAL INTERFACE


Mobile networks are organized in an environment where the network nodes are presented with less security protection against attacks. Internet of things (IoT) is an interconnected device used to transmit data over the network without human interface. 5G technology slices the physical network into different virtual networks for distributing right slice of network depending on the usage. Security is a keystone for 5G to construct the network infrastructure platform. Many node authentication techniques have been introduced to preserve the privacy of transmitted data over 5G mobile networks. But, the authentication accuracy was not improved and time consumption was not minimized. In order to address these problems, IoT based Multi-Objective Principal Component Regressed Emphasis Boosting Node Authentication (IoT-MOPCREBNA) method is introduced for performing secured communication in 5G wireless networks. This in turn helps to improve the security level in 5G networks. Simulation is carried out on factors such as authentication accuracy, authentication time and security level with respect to number of mobile nodes and data packets.


The scaling of Schottky barrier (SB)-MOSFETs is investigated experimentally and by simulations for devices with minimum gate length as small as 20nm. The results reveal that the scaling of SB-MOSFETs with undoped silicide contacts and thus with fairly large SB has severe limitations. In contrast to normal MOSFETs, the smaller SB transistors provide lower currents due to the increasing overlap of the source/drain potential in the channel. Better scaling behavior can only be achieved for SB-MOSFETs with SB≤0.1eV. Boron and arsenic implantations into silicide (IIS) are used to lower the effective SB height (SBH). With the reduced effective SBH the experimental results demonstrate that the scaling of SB-MOSFETs behaves like conventional MOSFETs. The performance of nanowire devices is significantly improved due to the better electrostatics and the high hole mobilities on the (110) side walls.


Highly selective: The reduction of α-methyl-substituted nitroalkenes succeeds in a highly enantioselective fashion with an ene reductase from Gluconobacter oxydans. Under optimized reaction conditions the desired nitroalkanes are formed with enantiomeric excesses of up to 95% in these biotransformations.


As William James stated, and confirmed by several psychological studies, the act of smiling positively affects on our mental status -- we become happier when we laugh. In this paper, we propose a new digital appliance that naturally encourages the act of smiling in our daily lives. This system is designed mainly for people living alone, who may have difficulty realizing when they are in low spirits andor difficulty in making themselves smile. Our HappinessCounter combines visual smile recognition, user feedback, and network communication. We installed this system in a home with a single occupant, and the system had positive effects on the user's mood.


In the southwestern part of Sizuoka Prefecture, along the Pacific coast, lies the coastal plain of Totomi, consisting of alluvial coastal lowlands, and diluvial uplands which are called Makino-hara, Iwatahara, Mikataga-hara and so on. Mount Ogasa, a hill 260m high, is situated south of Kakegawa city located between Makino-hara and Iwata-hara. The area studied is the drainage area of the River Kiku, the flat hill-land of about 100m in height between Mount Ogasa and Makino-hara. The most part of this area consists of the alternation of pliocene sandstone and mudstone. The former is not yet consolidated, but the latter is consolidated sufficiently to hard rock. The author investigated the lithologic condititions of the formation of the small flat surfaces in this area. The results ara as follows: 1. The greater part of the small flat surfaces is the structural terrace related to the bedding planes of the sandstone. 2. The distribution of sfnall flat surfaces is chiefly restricted to places where the sandstone strata are thick (two times thicker than mudstone strata) in the area composed of alternations of the sandstone and the mudstone. Moreover, where the dip of the strata oxceeds 20 degrees, there or no small flat surfaces. It seems, therefore, that their formation and scale are determined not only by the the thickness of the strata but also by thir dip. 3. In the area studied, the sandstone is more resistant to weathering or erosion than the mudstone. This fact seems to be one of the important factors for the formation of the small flat surfaces or slope development. 4. In detail, degree or direction of slope of the small flat surfaces is different from place to place according to the condition of the rock, especially to the dip of strata, thickness rate of the sandstone to mudstone, and difference of resistance of these rocks to erosion or weathering. 5. The small flat surface formed on mudstone strata has a steeper slope than that on the sandstone. urthermore, the direction of slope of the surface is discordant with that of strata, and continuity of ;mall flat surfaces is interrupted by stream erosion.


Second-variation methods for computing optimal control exhibit more rapid convergence than first-variation methods but at the exponse of vastly increased computing effort. In this paper two second-order algorithms for determining optimal control are derived using the notion of differential dynamic programming, which is also used to re-derive the well known second-variation method. This unified treatment allows the differences between the three algorithms to be studied in detail. It is shown that the second-order algorithms are more accurate than the second-variation method and, moreover, that one of these algorithms is simpler to implement.


The behavior of the pseudo polarogram of Cd 2+ in NaF system has been studied,which showed that it agreed with the theory of the pseudo polarogram of a reversible redox reaction.The compositions and formation constants of cadmium fluoride complex ions are CdF +,CdF 2, β 1=2.95,β 2=3.44, respectively for cadmium at the concentration of 2×10 -7 mol/L,pH=8.The experimented results agreed with literature data.


Many real discrete optimization problems (DOPs) are $NP$-hard and contain a huge number of variables and/or constraints that make the models intractable for currently available solvers. Large DOPs can be solved due to their special tructure using decomposition approaches. An important example of decomposition approaches is tree decomposition with local decomposition algorithms using the special block matrix structure of constraints which can exploit sparsity in the interaction graph of a discrete optimization problem. In this paper, discrete optimization problems with a tree structural graph are solved by local decomposition algorithms. Local decomposition algorithms generate a family of related DO problems which have the same structure but differ in the right-hand sides. Due to this fact, postoptimality techniques in DO are applied.


The rapid advances in both the development and the use of parallel computing systems has led to the need for highly trained professionals with a knowledge of both the hardware and the software aspects of parallel and distributed computing. We present a course aimed at preparing students for the demands of the workplace by giving them hands-on experience working with parallel computers and software. Additionally, this course emphasizes the essential connections between Computer Science and other disciplines, such as Biology, Biochemistry, Physics and Astronomy, where the use of parallel computing is commonplace.


One kind Fe4-xMxN (M = Ni, Co) The method of the soft magnetic powder belongs to the field of new materials having excellent magnetic properties prepared. The method of the invention in FeNi, FeCo alloy powder as raw material, solid-gas reaction method in an atmosphere of NH3 and H2 nitride heating step method, to eliminate the residual stress generated during the preparation of the raw material powder at a high temperature, and multiphase present in the raw material powder to form a single γ-phase at a high temperature; and then nitrided at low temperature. Nitride obtained Fe4-xMxN (M = Ni, Co) three yuan iron nitrogen compound, wherein x in the range Fe4-xNixN of 0.01≤x≤3, Fe4-yCoyN in the range of y is 0.01≤y≤0.4. Dispersible products powder particles with an average diameter of 5 m, and has a high saturation magnetization and low coercive force.


Climate change, air pollution and especially short-rotation forestry are the main causes for increasing detrimental effects on forests. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to find effective counteractions to this damage so that forests will become resistant, grow sustainably, and are more economically effective and thus contribute optimally to the common welfare of all citizens. 'Continuous mixed forestry', in contrast to the normally used short-rotation or age-classed-forestry, is one suitable model to counteract climate change and air pollution in this way on both the local and national level. It is forestry without clear-cuts and biocides and with soft logging by continuous thinning and natural regeneration. The necessary change to this sustainable cultivation model is generally possible and necessary all over Europe and in other areas of the world. A very good chance for this type of forestry is available now within the framework of selling state-owned forests to private investors. This selling is planned by governments in some countries like the Great Britain and has been partly realised on a large scale in Germany. This article proposes selling the state-owned forests to a central, private national heritage foundation as a first step instead of transferring them with their traditional, mismanaged short rotation or age-classed forestry to private investors who would continue the state mismanagement. The task of the foundation would be to organise the 'citizen forest society' as a social-ethics based society that is privately owned by citizens and the foundation. This would generate ecological advantages for the forest and, moreover, long-lasting profits for citizens because the foundation would establish other organisations where the citizens become responsible owners of 'their' forest without any governmental or third-party influence. This proposal describes a solution to the demands of social-oriented ethics, which are primarily focused on the cooperation of responsible persons, represented by the private ownership of the forests, and directed by a responsible foundation.


ABSTRACT Integrated two-dimensional electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and hydrochemical surveys were used to investigate the groundwater alluvial aquifer in Kuala Langat, Malaysia. The study in the Langat basin considered the thickness of the aquifer, the depth of the bedrock, the regions influenced by seawater intrusion, and the monitoring of water levels. The resistivity imaging results show that the upper layer consists of clay, while the second layer is an aquifer whose thickness varies mostly in the range of 10–30 m, and in some cases extends to 40 m. The bedrock depth varies from 30 to 65 m. The chemical analyses were carried out on groundwater samples from nine boreholes collected between 2008 and 2012. The analyses indicate that the total dissolved solids (TDS) exceed 1000 mg L-1 near the coastal area and are often less than 500 mg L-1 further inland. The ERI and hydrochemical analyses reveal that groundwater in the study area, especially towards the coast, is a mixture of brackish and fresh waters. EDITOR D. Koutsoyiannis; ASSOCIATE EDITOR M.D. Fidelibus


Objective: Assess persistence with oral (fingolimod, dimethyl fumarate [DMF], teriflunomide) and injectable (interferons, glatiramer acetate [GA]) disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) among patients switching from interferon/GA. Background: Persistence, an indirect measure of treatment tolerability and effectiveness, may improve patient outcomes. Design/Methods: Patients switching from interferon to oral DMTs, GA or another interferon, or from GA to oral DMTs or interferons, between 09/22/2010 and 12/31/2013 were identified from the US PharMetrics Plus database. Patients aged ≥18 years at index date (date of treatment switch) with a multiple sclerosis diagnosis and continuous health plan enrolment in the 12-month pre-index and 24-month post-index periods were included. Persistence (mean number of consecutive days from index date to last supply of DMT, switch to another DMT or end of the study period [allowing for a ≥60-day gap], whichever occurred first) was assessed at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 months in this descriptive analysis. Results: In total, 2226 patients switched from interferon (n=653 to fingolimod, n=663 to DMF, n=108 to teriflunomide, n=513 to GA, n=289 to interferon); 1441 patients switched from GA (n=368 to fingolimod, n=531 to DMF, n=72 to teriflunomide, n=470 to interferon). When switching from interferon, 24-month persistence was highest among patients receiving fingolimod, then teriflunomide, DMF, GA and another interferon (persistent days [95% confidence interval]: 552 [533–572], 507 [454–561], 505 [484–527], 435 [411–459] and 403 [371–435] days, respectively). When switching from GA, 24-month persistence was highest among those switching to fingolimod, then teriflunomide, DMF and interferon (530 [503–556], 490 [424–557], 469 [445–494] and 385 [360–409] days, respectively). The pattern of persistence across DMTs over 3, 6, 9 and 12 months was consistent with that over 24 months. Conclusions: Persistence over 24 months was highest for patients switching from interferon/GA to fingolimod than to other DMTs. Study Supported by: Novartis Pharma AG Disclosure: Dr. Korn has received personal compensation for activities with QuintilesIMS. Dr. Medin has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis Pharma AG as an employee. Dr. Fang has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis Pharmaceuticals as an employee. Dr. Putzki has received personal compensation for activities with Novartis Pharma AG as an employee.


Aortic regurgitation hemodynamically amounts essentially to an aorticoventricular fistula. While it is not strictly accurate to classify this condition as one of the forms of arteriovenous fistula, the clinicopathological analogies implied in such a connotation may be very helpful in understanding the notoriously rather extreme variations in the clinical course of aortic insufficiency. Thus it may enable one to appreciate readily that a small to moderate-sized fistula might be compatible with a prolonged life of normal activity while a larger one would initiate a rapidly progressive "downhill" course. This would tend to explain the differing attitudes of cardiologists with respect to the disease. Some of them consider it to be a relatively benign lesion even in the face of progressive (and sometimes extreme) enlargement of the heart, while others are most disturbed by the mere finding of a basal diastolic murmur and a low diastolic blood pressure level, frequently in


As part of their responsibilities of leading the organisation, strategic leaders are responsible for leading change. This article investigated the application of the strategic leadership of change within the church context. A Straussian approach to the grounded theory method was used to generate a substantive grounded theory of organisational change and leadership, particularly focusing on the manifestation and management of organisation inertia in churches within South Africa that were transitioning from a programme based to a cell based church design. This article reported on one aspect of this study and focused on the patterns of leadership roles. It further distinguished between effective and ineffective leadership patterns that either enhanced or compromised the credibility of the leader and by implication, affected the success of the change intervention. The results of the study were discussed from the perspective of social capital theory, thereby contributing to understanding the role of strategic leaders in building social capital within the context of organisation change.


Administrative procedure and judicial exami ne procedure are the guarantee of a effective way to the complete un ity between legislation concerning with free trade entity and WTO trad e agreement.The present administrative procedure system of our country can not accord with WTO's demands.Therefore,the administrative procedure and judicial examine procedure are the first consideration in China's legislation amendment.


Previous scholarship by Marian Wilson Kimber and David Gramit has explored the ways in which later nineteenth-century English writers recast specific Great Composers in a suitably Victorian light. This paper adopts a more comparative approach in order to investigate, with reference to an array of important biographical texts, the extent of such reconstruction and appropriation across the life-writing on perhaps the three most obvious candidates. Reading in tandem the articles on Handel and Mendelssohn in the first edition of Grove's Dictionary (1878-1890), for instance, reveals that the rhetoric by which the naturalized composer was claimed for England was manifestly similar to that for an indisputably German subject; while the earliest Master Musicians biography of Handel (1901, by C. F. Abdy Williams) even situated its subject between Purcell and the English Musical Renaissance to justify the aridity of the country's musical scene in the intervening period through what the author perceived as Handel's inescapable influence. Given the absence of analogous English creative genius for much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, biographers apparently emphasized the country's recognition and support of such greatness in foreigners by way of instead promoting notions of a surrogate national tradition in which non-native composers could flourish.


The negotiation thesis offers a framework for understanding the participation decision making of tourists. Unlike previous studies that investigate the causal relationship between constraints and tourists' revisit intention, this study identified distinct segments of ski tourist based on the relative strength of constraints experienced and then investigated their decision-making process across a sample of 1,348 tourists of ski resorts. Chi-squared automated interaction detection analysis revealed that the decision-making process regarding intention to revisit a ski destination varies between highly versus less constrained ski tourists, indicating different relative strengths of interpersonal, intrapersonal, and structural constraints and different interactions among them when predicting revisit intention. On a practical basis, albeit the vast majority of participants were willing to repeat its visit, we offer customized per segment recommendations on increasing frequency of visitation and spending levels.


Carbonaceous chondrites, generally considered to be the most primitive surviving materials from the early solar system, form a distinctive group in terms of bulk Mg/Si, Ca/Si, and Al/Si ratios. The carbonaceous chondrites can be subdivided into five groups (CI, CM, CR, CO, and CV) based on a number of petrologic and chemical criteria. Petrographic observations indicate that most carbonaceous chondrites have been processed, either by thermal metamorphism in the case of CO and CV chondrites or by low-temperature aqueous alteration in the case of CI, CM, and CR chondrites. Thermal metamorphism resulted in Fe/Mg exchange between chondrules, olivine and pyroxene grains, and matrix, changes in the compositions of metal grains, and textural integration. Aqueous alteration probably produced hydrated phyllosilicate matrix phases and resulted in alteration of chondrules and replacement and vein filling by secondary carbonates and sulfates. The changes incurred during these processes appear to have been largely isochemical. However, if certain constituents behaved as open-system components, volatile elements or compounds may have been depleted during metamorphism, and isotopic patterns may have been changed during aqueous alteration. The recognition of two different types of postaccretional processes resulting in petrological modifications necessitates a reinterpretation of the classification system for carbonaceous chondrites.


Abstract Is a vibrant associational life necessarily antecedent to a strong civil society? Does associationism produce a more democratic and egalitarian political order? Using data from Nigeria, this paper interrogates a major problematic in the conceptualization of civil society. The contemporary reanimation of the idea of civil society in African scholarship has privileged the role of voluntary associations. This paper challenges and critically complicates that discourse by examining the origins, nature and activities of 'alternative' state-inspired 'civil society' organizations during the regime of General Sani Abacha (1993–1998). Until recently, these associations have been relatively neglected because, they negate both the wisdom about voluntary associations as democratic agents, and of civil society as a constantly positive force.


For aerial manipulators, steady flight must be guaranteed to perform safety interaction with the surrounding environment. This paper focuses on the development of a position control algorithm for an aerial manipulator system (AMS). The position control algorithm is based on the Immersion and Invariance (I&I) theory. The proposed controller maintains the position of the aerial manipulator at the desired point under external an internal disturbances. The control architecture uses the Visual-SLAM technique implemented using on-board sensors for AMS positioning. A series of outdoor experimental tests are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.


For many patients, dying from cancer has been an ever-present reality from the time they were diagnosed with incurable recurrent or metastatic cancer. Treatment may have delayed the inevitable, but there does come a point where aggressive management no longer improves the prognosis or can only prolong life that is of such a poor quality that it is not valued by the patient. It sometimes is easier to continue with treatment than to take the time with the patient to discuss the reasons why further treatment is not appropriate. For patients with advanced cancer and whose condition is deteriorating, a number of questions should be considered before initiating treatment aimed at prolonging life. Is this the final stage of a progressive deterioration or an acute event? Are the causes of this deterioration reversible? Are there any further oncological treatments that may improve the prognosis? What is the patient's perception of their quality of life? Is there a realistic chance of return to a quality of life that will be of value to the patient? Is the patient dying? The ICU is usually not appropriate for patients with advanced cancer. Treatment of correctable causes (e.g. obstructive uropathy, chest infection) may still not be in the patient's best interest if they recover only to face a period of further deterioration and distressing symptoms before they die. However, patients and their families must be included in discussions as to the level of further intervention and the reasons for stopping active treatment.


We demonstrate record microrings on GaNOI platform with small mode area and ultra-high Q (4×106) by optimizing the device design and fabrication process, corresponding to a propagation loss of 0.1 dB cm−1.


Step voltage of lightning can make serious human casualties. According to some doubt about the step voltage protective measures in IEC 62305-3 (2010), we get the calculation formula of step voltage through derivation, and verify the high soil resistivity around building foundation surface is likely to endanger human life. With the research of Lightning Real-time online Monitoring Project, calculate and examine the range of dangerous step voltage, which is helpful to the work of risk assessment and disaster survey.


We demonstrated the formation of oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) nanoparticles in the presence of polypropylenimine (PPI) dendrimers using total intensity light scattering (TILS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Based on the interesting observations during the ODN condensation, two competitive condensation mechanisms were proposed, which are very different from the condensation pathways of high molecular weight DNA polymers. Confocal microscopic analysis showed that the nanoparticles formed with G4 and G5 dendrimers could undergo facile cellular uptake in a breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, whereas particles formed with G1-G3 dendrimers lacked this ability. Nanoparticles formed with G1-G3 dendrimers showed significantly lower zeta potentials (5.2-6.5 mV) than those (12-18 mV) of particles formed with G4 and G5 dendrimers. These results indicate an important effect of both the size and surface charge density of the dendrimers on ODN nanoparticle formation and cellular transport. Finally, we report a novel condensing approach to reach a goal of high efficiency and low/nontoxic transport of high concentration DNAs to cancer cells by using low-generation PPI dendrimers with gold nanoparticles as labile catalyst.


Measurement of chiral purity is a necessary means of quality control for drug substances that exhibit chiral centers. This article describes a simple and practical approach to setting up system suitability and validation for chiral purity assays.


Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Government and Humanity / Ilana Feldman and Miriam Ticktin 1. When Humanity Sits in Judgment: Crimes against Humanity and the Conundrum of Race at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda / Richard A. Wilson 2. Children, Humanity, and the Infantilization of Peace / Liisa Malkki 3. Narrative, Humanity, and Patrimony in an Equatorial African Forest / Rebecca Hardin 4. Tracks on the Anthropological Machine: The Biographics of Animality, Natality, and Inhumanitas / Allen Feldman 5. "Medication is me now": Human Values and Political Life in the Wake of Global AIDS Treatment / Joao Biehl 6. Environment, Community, Government / Arun Agrawal 7. The Mortality Effect: Counting the Dead in the Cancer Trial / S. Lochlann Jain 8. Inequality of Lives, Hierarchies of Humanity: Moral Commitments and Ethical Dilemmas of Humanitarianism / Didier Fassin 9. The Politics of Experimentality / Adriana Petryna 10. Stealth Nature: Biomimesis and the Weaponization of Life / Charles Zerner Bibliography Contributors Index Contributors


The suitability of modified proportional navigation, or an equivalent zero effort miss formulation, for strategic intercepts during midcourse guidance, followed by a ballistic coast to the endgame, is addressed. The problem is formulated in terms of relative motion in a general, three-dimensional framework. The proposed guidance law commands thrust 1) along the line of sight unit direction and 2) along the zero effort miss component that is perpendicular to the line of sight. The latter term is scaled with a guidance gain. If the guidance law is to be suitable for longer range targeting applications with significant ballistic coasting after burnout, zero effort miss computations must account for the different gravitational accelerations experienced by each vehicle. Approximations for the true differential gravity effect, which relieve the burden for direct numerical propagation of the governing equations, are considered. Approximations considered are constant, linear, quadratic, and linearized inverse square models. Theoretical results are applied to a numerical engagement scenario, and the resulting performance is evaluated in terms of the miss distances determined from nonlinear simulation.


This article describes various fuzzy set theoretic tools and explores their effectiveness in representing/describing various uncertainties that might occur in an image recognition system and the ways these uncertainties can be managed in making a decision. Some examples of uncertainties that often develop in the process of recognizing a pattern are given in the next section. The Image Ambiguity and Uncertainty Measures Section provides a definition of image and describes various fuzzy set theoretic tools for measuring information on grayness ambiguity and spatial ambiguity in an image. Concepts of bound functions and spect sets charactering the flexible in membership functions are discussed in Their applications to formulate some low level vision operations (e.g., enhancement, segmentation, skeleton extraction, and edge detection), whose outputs are crucial and responsible for the overall performance of a vision system, are then presented. Some real-life applications (e.g., motion frame analysis, character recognition, remote sensing image analysis, content-based image retrieval, and brain MR image segmentation) of these methodologies and tools are then described. Finally, conclusions and discussion are provided.

1
Introduction

2
Uncertainties in a Recognition System and Relevance of Fuzzy Set Theory

3
Image Ambiguity and Uncertainty Measures

4
Grayness Ambiguity Measures

5
Flexibility in Membership Functions

6
Some Examples of Fuzzy Image Processing Operations

7
Some Applications

8
Conclusions and Discussion

9
Acknowledgment

Keywords:

pattern recognition;
machine learning;
fuzzy set theory;
ambigvity;
image processing;
vision system


: Strengthening labor education is crucial and long-term for the all-round development of individual students and the growth of the country since it holds a fundamental and overall important place in the entire national education system. In the current golden age of artificial intelligence (AI), the advent of new types of labor such as virtual labor, knowledge labor, and intelligent labor has led to profound changes in the meaning of labor and labor education, requiring workers to have high ability and literacy. On the one hand, labor outlook education must be enhanced, and labor spirit must be fostered, in order to overcome the challenges of labor education in the age of artificial intelligence, such as labor value deviation and physical weakness. On the other hand, the understanding of AI in education subjects should be improved and students' creative labor ability should be nurtured. Based on the advantages of traditional manual labor and public welfare labor education, labor education mediators should be actively explored, artificial intelligence technology should be developed and used to expand labor education channels, and labor education forms should be enriched and improved.


To encounter a giant whip scorpion for the first time can be an alarming experience! What seems like a miniature monster from a horror movie is really a fairly benign creature. While called a scorpion, this arachnid has neither the venom-filled stinger found in scorpions nor the venomous bite found in some spiders. This 4-page fact sheet was written by W.H. Kern Jr. and R.E. Mitchell and published by the UF Department of Entomology and Nematology, May 2011.
EENY493/IN890: Giant Whip Scorpion Mastigoproctus giganteus giganteus (Lucas, 1835) (Arachnida: Thelyphonida (=Uropygi): Thelyphonidae) (ufl.edu)


The smart metering is the emerged technology based on information and communication technologies and sensing networks for the data exchange and power transfer. It is based on the use of some methods and applications for the intelligence of the measurement. It requires a complex communication infrastructure to acquire the accurate values of the energy needs despite the expansion of the grid dimension. In this context, this work has dealt with two key objectives. The first objective has dealt with the use of dynamic prediction algorithms for the forecasting of the electrical load and Photovoltaic power generation according to the previous measurements of the same metrics and the forecasted solar radiation data. The second objective has dealt with the implementation of a smart metering system based on the integration of smart meters and wireless networks for the acquisition of the real-time measurements of the power generation and load consumption in order to analyze the accuracy of the predicted data of the first method versus the real-time measured data. By this way, prediction algorithms were implemented to forecast the load use and photovoltaic production and remote metering scheme devoted to the buildings of the Central School of Lille, was modeled to acquire the electrical data. The data loggers were used to facilitate the remote acquisition of real-time measurements and enabled the data collection from the smart meters. The real-time measurements were demonstrated and validated in PC VUE Tool and the mean absolute error percent (MAE %) between forecasted and real-measurements was calculated.


Flavonoids of Sophora japonica L.were extracted with ultrasound-assisted.The optimal technological conditions were determined by single-factor and orthogonal experiment.The inhibition of S.japonica L.extract on mushroom tyrosinase was studied by testing the enzyme activities under the influence of extract.The results showed that the optimum extraction conditions were as follows:S.japonica L.powder 2.0g,volume fraction 60% ethanol 40mL,extraction temperature 80℃,ultrasound power 300W and time 30min.The final flavonoids yield is(16.5±0.4)%.The concentration of S.japonica L.extract was 0.03 g/L,when the inhibition on tyrosinase(IC50) was 50%.It was about fiftienth more than that of arbutin(IC50=1.60g/L).The kinetics of inhibition on enzyme by S.japonica L.extract was the type of competitive inhibition.


A series of problems occurred in micro flocculation contacting filtration treatment of municipal wastewater are discussed in great details by means of experiments in situ. The causes are also studied based on a large amount of data. The solutions are advanced and have been put into practice with expected results.


Affiliations: Department of Biochemical Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, 890-0065, Japan; Department of Radiation Research, H115 Halper South Building, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010-3000, USA; Department of Food Science and Technology, Minami Kyushu University, Miyazaki 884-0003, Japan; and Gene Regulation Section, Basic Research Laboratory, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA.


Global FDI flows have been severely affected worldwide by the economic and financial crisis.The crisis has changed the FDI landscape:investments to developing and transition economies surged,while FDI flows to developed countries suffered from a large decline.This paper analyzes the driving factors of China's overseas direct investment from the theoretical and empirical aspect.China registered strong growth in FDI outflows and gained ground as an important source of FDI.This increase bucked the downward trend in global FDI as a whole.It is necessary to study the motives of China's foreign direct investment from a macroeconomic perspective.This paper demonstrates that there exists a long-term and stable relationship between the gross national product,export,import demand for mineral energy,foreign exchange reserves and China's foreign direct investment.The national policy has significant influence on China's overseas direct investment which increases with import demand for mineral energy and foreign exchange reserves.


The invention discloses a double-shaft excrement degrading treatment device with a solid-liquid separator. The treatment device comprises a box body, a stirrer, a heating apparatus, and the solid-liquid separator. The stirrer includes a deceleration motor and stirring shafts, and each stirring shaft is provided with stirring blades. The two mutually parallel stirring shafts are horizontally disposed in the box body at an interval. The deceleration motor drives the two stirring shafts to rotate in opposite directions through a chain. The solid-liquid separator is disposed above the box body. The heating apparatus includes a heating cable, which is attached to the outer wall of the box body, and heat preservation cotton is pasted outside the heating cable. A discharge port is disposed on a lateral side of the box body. The treatment device provided by the invention employs horizontal double-shaft stirring, reduces the height of a degradation box without reducing the volume of the degradation box. Meanwhile, double-shaft stirring is in favor of material dispersion and can enhance the mass transfer efficiency within the degradation box, thus being more conducive to degradation of excrement by microorganisms. At the same time, the solid-liquid separator is integrated over the degradation box, which can be directly used for excrement degradation.


2-(Diphenylphosphanyl)anilines (P∧NHR) eliminate methane upon reaction with [CoMe(PMe3)4] forming the complexes [Co(η2-P∧NR)(PMe3)3] (1: R = H; 2: R = Me) and [Co(η2-P∧NR)(PMe3)2] (3: R = Me). Reaction with HCl gives [CoCl(η1-P∧NHR)(PMe3)2] (4: R = H; 5: R = Me) and reaction with CO or olefin gives [Co(η2-P∧NR)(CO)(PMe3)2] (6: R = H; 7: R = Me) and [Co(η2-P∧NR)(olefin)(PMe3)2] (8: R = H, olefin = C2H4; 9: R = Me, olefin = C2H4; 10: R = Me, olefin = C3H6), respectively. No catalytic transformation of the olefins was observed. Oxidation by iodomethane yields a cobalt(II) compound [CoI(η2-P∧NR)(PMe3)2] (11: R = Me). By treating 2-(diphenylphosphanyl)aniline with [CoMe2(PMe3)3] a methylcobalt(II) complex [CoMe(η2-P∧NR)(PMe3)2] (12: R = H) is obtained, while an excess of the aniline produces [Co(η2-P∧NR)2] (13: R = H; 14: R = Me) or [Co(η2-P∧NR)2(PMe3)] (15: R = H; 16: R = Me). The methylcobalt(III) complexes mer-trans-[CoIMe2(η2-P∧NR)(PMe3)2] were obtained from LiP∧NR and [CoClMe2(PMe3)3]. Dynamic 31P NMR spectra and the structures of complexes 3, 6, 12, and 13 are discussed. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)


Along with the science and technology rapid development,the multimedia technology gradually entered the school teaching.It receives the general teachers'and students'welcome by its multitudinous merit.As a part of school teaching,sports teaching also needs to follow up the trend of the times,fully utilizes the modern multimedia technology(according to its discipline characteristic).This article researches on the application of multimedia CAI technology in the sports teaching,and analyzes problems that must be paid attention to apply multimedia CAI.


The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of agency factor and transaction cost to devidend payout ratio. The agency factors are insider ownership, institutional ownership, and shareholder dispersion. Whlie the transaction cost factors are firm growth and firms beta risk. The sample is 18 firms which is listing  in Indonesin Stock Exchange from 2003 to 2004. Data was analyzed with rank spearman correlation with cross sectional data. The result show that insider ownership and firm growth have negative correkation to dividend payout ratio. While institutional ownership and firm risk have no correlation to dividend payout ratio.


Introduction Maffucci's syndrome is rare, congenital, non hereditary mesodermal dysplasia clinically presents as enchondromas and hemangiomas. Maffucci syndrome was first described in 1881 and more than 200 cases are reported since then [1]. It has unknown etiology and no predilection for sex or race. Enchondromas are benign cartilaginous tumors most commonly seen in phalanges and long bones. Hemangiomas are most frequently located in the dermis and subcutaneous fat adjacent to areas of enchondromatosis. The development of lesions usually occurs in puberty. It is associated with secondary musculoskeletal deformities and rarely sarcomatous transformation. Complications are fracture, sarcomatous degeneration or chondrosarcomatous transformation. The risk of spontaneous fracture through area of advanced rarefaction in 25-30% and sarcomatous transformation is about 15-30%. Chondrosarcomatous transformation occurs in approximately 40-50% of enchondromas. We present a rare case of non monomelic synchronous developement of chondrosarcoma in a case of Maffucci syndrome. We have stressed on the importance of careful surveillance for malignant degeneration of both skeletal and non-skeletal lesions.


over 2,000 mammograms, Stewart et al. (1969) have reported from Cardiff that radiological examination of the breast had an overall accuracy of 93% for both benign and neoplastic conditions. In Table 1 the diagnostic accuracy of mammography and clinical examination has been compared in 144 cancers and 335 benign lesions, all proved histologically. Both mammographic and clinical diagnoses were recorded without the findings of the other being known. The accuracy of either mammography or clinical examination alone is approximately 90%, but when both methods are combined the accuracy is increased to 97%.


This interpretive study of change in a U.K.-based college focuses on the divergent understandings of senior managers and two distinct cohorts of their subordinates in a postmerger situation. The authors found that the senior managers told a narrative of epic change, whereas the two subordinate groups both authored recognizably tragic narratives. The research contribution this article makes is threefold. First, they argue that groups' narrations of their working lives both are influenced by psychological processes (such as categorization, self-enhancement, and uncertainty reduction) and draw on broadly available cultural resources (for example, literary genres). Second, they contend that change in organizations is, at least in part, constituted by alterations in people's understandings, encoded in narratives, and shared in conversations. Third, they suggest that group narratives are not merely exercises in sense making but may be hegemonic and have psychic prison effects.


The human tumor H. Ep. #3 maintained in rats could be transferred for 1-8 generations in treated guinea pigs. H. Ep. #3 grew in the subcutaneous and intramuscular sites in each host at the same time. The treatment with the combination of X-ray 250 r. and 80 mg/kg of cortisone turned out to be the optimal conditioning studied. The number of tumor takes averaged 95.7-100 per cent in the subcutaneous site in guinea pigs treated with optimal conditioning, but in the intramuscular site, the number of tumor takes was 65.2-93.8 per cent. Host mortality varied
from 4.2-37.5 per cent in the hosts treated with optimal conditioning. The subcutaneous tumor weights in hosts treated with optimal conditioning averaged 3.3 gm, and their intramuscular tumor weights averaged 5.6-6.2 gm.
Tumor weights in hosts treated with only cortisone averaged 1-2 gm in both subcutaneous and intramuscular sites. Histological findings. for the original tumors were found to be the same as that for the successful transplanted tumors in the guinea pigs. The malignancy of the tumor was evaluated by the criteria of anaplasia,
invasion, rapidity of growth, and ease of maintenance of transplants. There was no metastasis found in any organs.


This paper presents an analysis of the influence of the switched reluctance machine design parameters on its steady-state operation characteristics (phase inductance, phase current and mechanical output torque). The present analysis is carried out using computational simulation, based on the constructive parameters of a SRM designed by the authors. It is also suggested applications for incoming studies.


A statistical study of the morphology of Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt. cytotypes indicates that the most distinguishing macrovariation is present in leaf characters length and width with diploids having longer, narrower leaves, and the tetraploids and hexaploids having obovate or elliptic leaves. Leaves of hexaploids are statistically larger than the leaves of tetraploids. Fruit size is larger in diploids but not statistically different between tetraploids and hexaploids. The combination of longer, narrower leaves and relatively larger fruits may be used in the field with a reasonable degree of accuracy to indicate diploidy. Statistical tests included discriminant analysis, stepwise discriminant analysis with canonical correlation, and Duncan's multiple range test. Atriplex canescens (Pursh) Nutt. (fourwing saltbush) is distributed over western North America from the Pacific Coast to the western great plains and from central Mexico to southern Canada. It is morphologically variable and occupies a variety of edaphic and climatic situations. Some of the morphological variation may be a response to environmental factors, but most of the variation appears to be genetic (Stutz, 1978; Stutz and Sanderson, 1979). The chromosome number of A. canescens has been reported by various authors to include diploids (2N = 18), tetraploids (2N = 36), and hexaploids (2N = 54) (Bassett and Crompton, 1971; Stutz et al., 1975). Stutz and Sanderson (1979) reported the tetraploid to be the most widely distributed with diploids and hexaploids having limited distributions. In addition, a population of twelve-ploid A. canescens from southern California has been reported (Stutz and Sanderson, 1979). Studies on the distribution of the cytotypes of A. canescens in the Mesilla Valley and adjacent mesas of south-central New Mexico, as well as a broader area of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas have now been made (Dunford, 1984). The distribution is not random. The diploids are found primarily in the sandier soils of the mesas with the hexaploids being limited to the heavier clay soils of flood plains and run-off areas. Tetraploids are found in both situations. It is hypothesized that adaptations to soil differences may be responsible for the marked distinctions in distribution (Dunford, 1984). A morphologically distinct population of A. canescens growing in sand dunes located in central Utah has been reported (Stutz et al., 1975). The plants in this population are characterized by their overall gigas habit in leaves, fruits and overall appearance of the mature plants. Chromosome counts indicated these plants were diploid. The description of A. canescens by Wooten and Standley (1915) includes this statement: "There are two forms common in the southern part of the


In the last 30 years, the development of urban dairy industries has deeply changed the organization of dairy marketing in West Africa. To respond to the high increase of the urban demand, the dairy plants contributed to a fast increase in cheap dry milk imports. However, the domestic dairy production sector has been going through major changes in the past fifteen years. These changes question the industrial model, which is disconnected from the local production. Dairy production changes in West Africa are related to the development, in the late 1990s, of small-scale dairy processing units engaged in the collection of local milk. To respond to this new market outlet, smallholders (pastoral herders, agropastoral farmers) tend to convert to semi-intensive systems, based on feed supplementation of dairy cows. At the same time, a growing number of urban cowsheds and milk farms have developed near urban centers, often with more intensified production systems. To face the competition of imported dry milk, the new actors of the dairy subsector focus on specific market segments that promote the local origin of their products. These new collecting and processing chains are progressively leading to changes in dairy development policies. New trade regulations are emerging between State institutions and private actors. These regulations relate to questioning trade liberalization, to promoting low-input milk production systems, and to setting up participative quality management systems in the dairy marketing chains.


This article explores the influence of The Arabian Nights on John Barth's novella Dunyazadiad. This influence lies in The Arabian Nights labyrinth construction of the narrative events. By its experimental literary artifice, Dunyazadiad initiates the early phase of postmodern reactions to modernism's fictional modes and their apocalyptic vision regarding the death of fictional genres. Barth's conscious recapitulation of the twentieth century fictional genre manifests itself properly in the novella's frame-narrative, offering the solution that previous canonical works, especially The Arabian Nights, are the "treasure house" for avoiding the literary exhaustion prevalent in modern fiction. This study aims to scrutinize Barth's experimental parody of The Arabian Nights' frame-tale, narrator, characterizations, and denouement to critique the spirit of exhaustion dominating contemporary modern fictional genre. The theoretical analysis of Dunyazadiad focuses on two main narrative theories, namely Mikail Bakhtin's dialogic mode and Patricia Waugh's formulation of metafiction., This article argues for Barth's reliance on The


It was all the way back in January, the beginning of a new decade, a time when many people were re-examining their lifestyles, making resolutions, and generally recovering from the excesses of the festive season. And so I found it an interesting contrast, that at the same time that I read about the latest report from the parliamentary Health Select Committee, on alcohol, and the ongoing debates about the low cost of supermarket booze, I was also receiving emails from the student union at my medical school publicising £1 (€1; $1.60) tequila shots and their latest drinks deals to kick …


This study examined the relationships between clothing values, wearing behaviors and the attitudes toward underwear for female students. A survey of female middle and high school students was conducted. 584 questionnaires, collected from April to May, 2009, were analyzed using descriptive statistics, cross tabulation analysis, t-test, factor analysis, and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Economic and aesthetic value were found to be significantly higher than other clothing values amongst older students while students in coeducational schools regarded aesthetic properties of clothing as being more important (p<.05). Girl students' most pursued attitudes toward underwear was modesty. According to age of students and the type of school they attended there were significant differences in students' underwear wearing behaviors. A high level of correlation between clothing values and attitudes toward underwear was found. Aesthetic value out of the clothing values showed a high correlation with esthetics/sexual attractiveness out of the attitudes toward underwear. Aesthetics/sexual attractiveness out of the attitudes toward underwear was shown to be most influential on underwear wearing behaviors. There would be a necessity for emphasizing the wearing of girdle and slip.


Polymorphic metabolic enzymes and transport proteins can significantly modulate the pharmacokinetic parameters of medicinal products and therefore be a reason for the appearance of type A adverse reactions. The objective of this study was to test the adverse reactions to medicinal product substrates of the metabolic enzyme cytochrome P450 CYP2C9 and the transport P-glycoprotein (Pgp). Based on the retrospective and current collection of data on adverse drug reactions of the substrates CYP2C9 and Pgp, the role of polymorphism in the appearance of adverse reactions was estimated. All adverse reactions reported to the National database in the period 2005–2011 were analysed. Reports pertaining to drug substrates CYP2C9, CYP2C9 and Pgp, i.e. drugs with a substrate of the transport protein Pgp, were analysed if the drugs had a clearance via the said enzyme of greater than 10%, or if the clearance via CYP2C9 was between 5 and 10%, and there are drugs commonly used in combination with other drugs simultaneous, as is the case, for example, with acetylsalicylic acid. A group of 158 subjects with serious adverse reactions to drugs with a substrate of the metabolic enzyme CYP2C9 were selected from the adverse reactions database. The selected subjects experienced adverse reactions to drugs that were, for the most part, metabolised via the enzyme CYP2C9. These were primarily anticoagulants of the coumarin type, i.e. warfarin (n=30 subjects), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ibuprofen, indomethacin, diclofenac, pyroxicam (n=32), anti-epileptics phenytoin, phenobarbitone and valproic acid (n=44), fluvastatin (n=46), and oral anti-diabetics glyburide and glibenclamide (n=6). In addition to the group of subjects with adverse reactions, a second group was selected of subjects without adverse reactions (n=155) and who corresponded to the adverse reaction group in terms of gender, diseases and concomitant therapy. Genotypisation of CYP2C9*2*3 and ABCB1 2677G>T/A, 3435C>T was conducted.

An analysis of the National Adverse Reactions Database (kept by HALMED), and subsequent pharmacogenetic analysis established the following:
• Adverse reactions to drugs (excluding vaccines) appear in women in more than 60% of cases, which has also been shown for drugs with the substrate CYP2C9, substrate CYP2C9 &Pgp, and substrate Pgp.
• 60% of all reported adverse reactions in the database and adverse reactions to drug substrates were reported for adults (aged 17 to 69 years).
• 8% of all drugs are based on the substrates CYP2C9, CYP2C9&Pgp or only the transport protein Pgp, while 69% of all reaction reports pertain to these drugs.
• Adverse reactions from the entire group of drug substrates CYP2C9 have a statistically significant higher incidence of serious adverse reactions in comparison to other reports in the database (p<0.0004).
• Adverse reactions from the drug group nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that have drug substrate CYP2C9 had a statistically significant higher incidence of serious adverse reactions in comparison to other reports in the database (p<0.006).
• The higher the number of drug substrates CYP2C9 in simultaneous use, the greater the number of adverse reactions relating to gastrointestinal disorders, with a statistically significant high incidence of serious adverse reactions in comparison to other drugs in the database (p<0.006).
• Of the substrates that are partially metabolised via CYP2C9 and which simultaneously have the substrate Pgp, the highest number of reports was received for diazepam and alprazolam which, in relation to other reports in the database, have a statistically significantly higher incidence of serious adverse reactions that is expected for other drugs, and that this increases with the number of drugs with the active compound diazepam taken simultaneously (p<0.002).
• An analysis of the adverse reactions in terms of their severity also shows a statistically significant increase in the number of serious adverse reactions to warfarin (substrate CYP2C9 and PGP) in relation to other drugs in the database (p<0.00001).
• In the case of cyclosporin (substrate Pgp) in combination with fluvastatin (CYP2C9 and Pgp), the largest number of reports were regarding adverse reactions from the group of skeleto-muscular disorders. The increased number of serious adverse reactions in this combination in comparison to other drugs in the database is statistically significant (p<0.01).
• Amlodipin has the substrate Pgp and is a drug with the highest number of reported adverse reactions in the National database for tested substrates. In relation to the severity of reported adverse reactions for amlodipin, the adverse reactions reported for this drug in comparison to other drugs in the database are significantly lower in terms of the severity of adverse reactions (p<0.0001).
• The group of subjects receiving therapy with drugs containing the substrates of the metabolic enzyme CYP2C9 and who developed one of the serious adverse reactions characteristic for these drugs, in comparison to the subjects without adverse reactions, were more often carriers of mutated alleles that determine reduced enzyme function, i.e. they belonged to the intermediate or slow metabolic phenotype that represents a predisposition for accumulation of the drug in the body and the development of adverse reactions.
• In the homogeneously separated groups of subjects receiving therapy of warfarin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and anti-epileptics phenytoin, fenobarbiton or valproic acid, and who developed one of the serious adverse reactions, again these subjects were often intermediate and slow metabolic phenotypes in comparison to the group without adverse reactions receiving the same therapy.
• From the study, it can be concluded that the polymorphism of the metabolic enzymes CYP2C9*2 and *3 could be considered a pharmacogenetic predisposition for the appearance of serious adverse reactions to drugs that are primarily metabolised via the enzyme CYP2C9. That means that these adverse reactions could be predicted with the genotypisation of CYP2C9 prior to taking the drugs. The therapy for these patients should be adapted to the genotype, and the dose reduced according to the algorithms and recommendations. This is especially important for drugs with a narrow therapeutic index, such as warfarin and phenytoin.
• The study did not prove that polymorphisms of Pgp (ABCB1) could serve as a pharmacogenetic marker. Though in some variations of the gene ABCB1 a difference in the distribution of alleles and genotypes was observed between groups of subjects with adverse reactions in comparison to those without adverse reactions, the difference was not statistically significant, with the exception of warfarin and fluvastatin; however, this indicates that it would be worthwhile expanding the research to larger homogenous groups of subjects.
• The National Pharmacovigilance Centre could be a good starting point for pharmacogenetic studies, as data from different sources could be brought together in the assessment of causal relationships between medicine use and adverse reasons. Also, as the regulatory body changes the medicinal product documentation, i.e. Summary of Product Characteristics and Patient Instructions for Use, the Centre could therefore contribute to reducing the appearance of serious adverse reactions and enable the safest possible use of medicinal products and doses in long-term use.


Metal nanoparticles are highly oxidizable ; therefore, their stabilization by suitable passive surface layer is normally necessary. One of the major mechanisms behind metal toxicity has been attributed to oxidative stress. A growing amount of data provide evidence that metals are capable of interacting with nuclear proteins and DNA causing oxidative deterioration of biological macromolecules. The resulting oxidative stress may also affect levels and functions of numerous redox-sensitive receptors and genes (e.g. growth factor receptors and transcription factors) and/or to induce the cell death causing apoptosis (programmed cell death). Nanoparticles are widely used in consumer products and can reach the body through inhalation, ingestion, skin contact and injection. When nanoparticles are deposited in organs they can modify the physiochemical properties of living matter at the nanolevel thus causing adverse biological reactions. On the other hand, nanoparticles are also used in biomedicine for development of potential new drugs and in diagnostics. Therefore, the biomedical aspects of nanosciences should be studied together with research on toxicological and environmental side effects of nanoparticles.


A well representing feature set that has enough differentiating power plays an important role in classification. The existing techniques for feature set selection are mostly statistical. They only make decision between a feature inclusion or exclusion without taking into account the importance of human thinking and reasoning that surely effect the results of classification and prediction. In this paper, I propose a new method of feature selection and employed it via Fuzzy Set Theory (FST). The effectiveness of proposed method is evaluated in terms of improving the classifier's performance as compared to state of the art methods such as Gini Index, Information Gain, and Document Frequency. A case study is performed with widely known classifiers Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine and Random Forest in the context of classification of software design patterns. The promising results indicate the applicability of proposed method in context of automated systems of certain domains.


Purpose: To describe how nurses would respond in common clinical situations involving disagreement with physician colleagues during labor and birth. Study Design and Methods: An electronic survey, consisting of five clinical disagreement case scenarios along with two openended questions regarding how to promote effective interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, was administered via a secure Web site. Seven hundred four obstetric nurses in a mid-size metropolitan area were invited to participate via mail. One hundred thirty-three nurses responded. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of openended text responses. Results: Respondents were primarily aged ≥40, experienced in labor nursing, and held a BSN; 35% were members of the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses, 35% were certified in electronic fetal monitoring, and 33% were cer


This study investigates the pattern of prices for multiple partnerships sold in the secondary market. In the model, the partnership buyer prefers to purchase the units sequentially since sellers have varying desires to sell. The benefit of a sequential purchase strategy is partially offset by rational sellers who demand higher prices in earlier sales since the possibility of future sales reduces the sellers' eagerness to sell in earlier rounds. If this strategic component is sufficiently large, a pattern of decreasing prices should be observed. Using a panel dataset comprised of 52,679 transactions from eighteen real estate limited partnerships, and after controlling for performance characteristics, the study finds that prices decrease over time, thus indicating a significant strategic component in this market.


Inflorescence development and fruit set of 'Burford' holly was rapid at a day/night temperature of 26°/22°C and progressively slower at 22°/18° and 18°/14°. The number of flowers to set fruit, however, was increased at lower temperatures for both long photoperiod (LD = 9 hours + 3 hours dark interruption) and short photoperiod (SD = 9 hours). At 22°/18°, SD increased fruit set over LD. No significant temperature-photoperiod interaction was observed. A greater number of vegetative shoots developed as temperature increased and mean shoot length was correlated with the number of flowers to set fruit.


To begin with analyzing the special environment of ocean petroleum platform,discusses the features of air conditioning of ocean petroleum platform,and presents the properties of air conditioning of ocean petroleum platform.


The demands of higher vocational education and the stakeholders make vocational quality education an important part in the education of higher vocational colleges. To accomplish reforms in this area, higher vocational colleges need to collaborate with both the intramural(teachers students) and extramural strength(schools enterprises), especially paying close attention to the integration of campus resources to establish the value orientation of vocational quality education, the organization system, the working system, the resource system and the cultural system of vocational quality education. Based on these, the vocational quality education system can be blended into the talent cultivation pattern of higher vocational colleges and can be solidified and optimized by different means such as incorporating vocational quality education into talent cultivation program, utilizing extracurricular learning, applying knowledge to application, etc.


Aim. Following the discovery of a number of iconographically unique masonry petroglyphs depicting a red deer solar stag (i.e. bearing the sun between its antlers) in settlements of the Chamalal ethno‐linguistic group in the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region of the Tsumadinskiy district of Dagestan, the aim of the research has been: (1) to survey the region to ascertain whether other images of this nature existed and to understand the relationship of the corpus to other petroglyphs produced within the Avar‐Ando‐Dido metacultural zone and of neighbouring ethnic groups in the Caucasus; (2) to study the evolution and meaning to the community of the petroglyphic imagery and (3) to understand the mechanisms by which peoples of the Caucasus shared and adapted polytheistic belief systems arising from the deep past following their conversion to Christianity and Islam.Materials and Methods. Research activities involved field surveys of traditional buildings within the ethno‐linguistic enclaves of the upper Andiiskoe Koisu which might contain masonry petroglyphs and their photographic documentation. A thorough survey of the scientific literature impacting on this field in the Caucasus was undertaken in the libraries and institutions of Dagestan, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. This data added to the documentation of masonry petroglyphs already undertaken in the Gidatli communities of the upper Avarskoe Koisu region.Results. Field surveys resulted in the discovery of more petroglyphs of the solar stag iconography both within Chamalal territory and that of the neighbouring Tindals as well as other petroglyphs of interest in neighbouring republics of the North Caucasus. A socioecological assessment of local habitats which might have sustained both red deer and bezoar goat (the principal game animals since human presence in the region) indicated that the bezoar goat inhabited the territories of both groups but were now rarely found in Chamalal lands. While red deer did inhabit the forests of the Tindals, it appears that they never frequented those of the Chamalals, who must have travelled to hunt them in forests further to the south.Conclusion. The research confirmed the presence of a unique corpus of petroglyphic imagery attesting to beliefs in a solar stag which may date back to period of man's re‐inhabiting the upper Andiiskoe Koisu region in the early Holocene. Indigenous beliefs relating both to the red deer and the bezoar goat initially represented in rock face petroglyphs of the eastern Dagestan piedmonts and rock paintings of the mountainous regions were by the late Bronze Age represented on masonry blocks used in building in the Avar‐Ando‐Dido metacultural zone. As Christianity spread in Transcaucasia and the Great Caucasus Range, including north‐western Dagestan, indigenous images representing the solar stag were conflated with those of the popular Christian cult of the Miracle of Saint Eustace, resulting in the unique petroglyphs of the solar stag common to