In the field of infectious diseases, the emergence of new pathogens or old diseases in newly recognized forms; changing virulence of pathogens; changing patterns of antimicrobial susceptibility; new diagnostic techniques, drugs or vaccines; changing concepts of chemoprophylaxis; controversies about medical vs. surgical techniques; and the challenge of care of children with infectious diseases within new guidelines of managed care are recently identified areas of change. The increased resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to many commonly used antimicrobials and the increased proportion of beta-lactamase-producing nontypable Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis concern many practitioners. The decreased antibiotic susceptibility of S. pneumoniae is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. Optimal therapy for mild, moderate or severe pneumococcal disease is dependent on current local susceptibility patterns. Group A streptococci are uniformly susceptible to readily achieved concentrations of all penicillins and cephalosporins. However, recent clusters of cases of rheumatic fever, increased recognition of toxic shock syndrome and bacteremic and localized severe pneumococcal disease have increased concern about the changing ecology of the Streptococcus and the implications for therapy. Finally recognition that many children with acute bacterial otitis media have resolution of disease without use of antimicrobial agents has led to more rigorous study designs for evaluating new drugs. Criteria for choice of antimicrobial agents for acute otitis media in children are based on clinical efficacy determined from studies of sufficient sample size to show differences among the products evaluated, microbiologic efficacy with aspirates of middle ear fluid before therapy and subsequent evaluation based on clinical criteria or repeat aspiration of middle ear fluid to define sterilization by the drug, side effects and toxicity, administrative advantages, acceptability and costs of illness.


Using the theory and method of system analysis,a water resources supply and demand system dynamic model was built to simulate the changing trends of the balance of water resources supply and demand in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration from 2012 to 2030 under four scenarios(traditional development model,economic development model,water saving model and concerted development model).The simulation result suggested that:(1) the problem of water resources supply and demand is becoming increasingly conspicuous with growing population and rapidly developing economy;(2) by 2030,the water resources demand will be reaching a total of 105.1×108m3,and the supply of water resources is 5.4 × 108m3over the demand,while water resources supply be basically meeting the growing demands of economic and social development,and generated great comprehensive benefits under concerted development model.So the concerted development model will be the best solution to develop and use water resources in Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan urban agglomeration;(3) in order to realize the expectation aim,we should accelerate the construction of water conservancy projects,strengthen the management on water conservation,optimize economic structure,enhance our awareness of protection of water resources,moreover quicken the recycling of waste water and environmental improvement.In addition,raising the utilization ratio and the support capabilities of water resources are also important to the balance of water resources supply and demand.


Let 6 be the group generated by the R(x), and consider its elements S=R(ai)R(a2) ... R(aj), T = R(a,) 2R(a2)2 ... R(a) 2. By (3), every element of 6 can be put in the form S. By repeated application of (1), yS.zS=(yz)T. If the ai are chosen so that 1S=1, let y =1 and have S = T. Thus the subgroup a of 6, consisting of the S with 1S= 1, is a group of automorphisms of G. We use this "remark" several times; its value lies in the readily verified fact that the elements left invariant by a set of automorphisms of a loop form a subloop. Let H be the subloop of the theorem and H, the subset consisting of the z in H such that ab z = a bz. Equivalently, zS = z where S =R(ab)R(a-')R(b-1). By the remark, S induces an automorphism of H, so H, is a subloop of IT. Moreover H1 contains c, by hypothesis,


Background: Primary dysmenorrhea is a problem that often occurs in adolescents, the incidence of dysmenorrhea is high so it is necessary for adolescents to understand how to deal with dysmenorrhea pain problems independently.Objectives: This study aims to determine the impact of warm compresses in reducing dysmenorrhea in adolescentsMethods: Pre-experimental research design with one group pretest-posttest type, on 30 female students based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The application of warm compresses was carried out independently, previously given training on SOPs for warm compresses, paying attention to pain using the Verbal Descriptor Scale (VDS) instrument, data analysis using Wilcoxon with a significant level of 0.05.Results and Discussion: The results of the characteristic study found that respondents were at the age of 21 years, the median body mass index (BMI) was 22.2, some respondents had a menstrual period of 27.5 days with regular menstrual cycles and dysmenorrhea that occurred on the first day. The median score before intervention was 5.5 with an interquartile range (IQR) of 1.75 while the median after intervention was 0 with an IQR value of 2. The Wilcoxon test results found a significant reduction in pain before and before warm compresses with a level of 0.000 Conclusion: Compresses have a positive impact in reducing dysmenorrhea pain and can be an alternative to self-care that teenagers can do Keywords: dysmenorrhea; pain; warm compress


Bromosorbic acid was synthesized by using sorbic acid, bromine and sodium hydoxide as raw material. The method of synthesis was studied. The structures of intermediate and target products were determined. The mechanism of reaction can be considered as an additionelimination reaction.


21 MARSHALL CHIN AND NAOKO MURAMATSU distinguish between the application of quality measures for accountability and for quality improvement purposes.While there are many examples of quality measures that have resulted in quality improvement, it may be difficult to develop quality measures that are linked to accountability. I will briefly outline three reasons for this difficulty and will then suggest some ways in which quality assessment could be applied to develop better health policies.


Abstract Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) show high accuracy in pattern recognition solving problem but have high computational complexity, which leads to slow data processing. To increase the speed of CNN, we propose a hardware implementation method with calculations in the residue number system with moduli of a special type $${{2}^{\alpha }}$$ and $${{2}^{\alpha }} - 1$$ . A hardware simulation of the proposed method on Field-Programmable Gate Array for LeNet-5 CNN is trained with the MNIST, FMNIST, and CIFAR-10 image databases. It has shown that the proposed approach can increase the clock frequency and performance of the device by 11–12%, compared with the traditional approach based on the positional number system.


Objective Minimally invasive surgical intervention has become a preferred procedure for urinary stones.This article is to investigate the complications of ultrasound-guided percutaneous nephrolithotomy(PCNL) with holmium laser lithotripsy and the EMS-Ⅲ system in the treatment of urinary stones.Methods We retrospectively analyzed 917 cases of PCNL performed with holmium laser lithotripsy and the EMS-Ⅲ system,compared the complications between the holmium laser and EMS groups,and explored the preventive measures of the complications.Results The rates of necessitated blood transfusion were 5.9% and 8.7% in the holmium laser and the EMS group,respectively;the incidences of systemic inflammatory response syndrome(SIRS) were 11.6% and 5.6%;and the rates of stone retention were 23.6% and 19.8%.Some rare and serious complications included bleeding which needed surgical intervention,septic shock,air embolism,renal fistula into the inferior vena cava,respiratory arrest and prolonged tracheal intubation.Conclusion As a popular means of managing urinary stones,PCNL may invite serious complications,and its safety needs to be further improved.


Expansive soils damage thousands of buildings, many miles of highway each year. How and why these types of clays expand is explained. How geotechnical engineers in Colorado, Texas and Mississippi are preventing or curing the problems is explained, in case histories and in general guidelines. The technical problems—how to prevent the expansion, or prevent it from causing major damage—is by now well understood by engineers. Today the greater problem is making sure that building officials and developers are familiar with the problem, and act on that knowledge. Sometimes ignorance, or need to compete with other homebuilders whose developments are not on expansive soils, leads homebuilders to avoid spending the money necessary. The result is that the homeowner pays for it, in future years, in the form of a cracked house. For this reason last April ASCE ran a conference—designed for the nonengineer public including building officials and developers—in Denver. Nearly 400 attended.


Realizing the method for enabling selective separation of the metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes and semiconductor carbon nanotubes from the carbon nanotubes in a bundle shape, it makes it possible to obtain a metallic single-walled carbon nanotube with high purity separated in this way. At the same time and utilizing the difference between metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes and metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes and semiconductor carbon nanotubes to the amine based on the difference in electrical characteristics of a semiconductor carbon nanotube interaction, the amine is an important factor in the SWNTs separated by that, the one for dispersing the metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes from carbon nanotubes of the bundle shape (loosen), thus separating the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in a non-dispersed state of the semiconductor carbon nanotubes by centrifugation. Carbon nanotube, a metal, a semiconductor, a separate


The utility model discloses a residual heat recovering and utilizing device of a steam-jet vacuum pump, which comprises a heat exchange device, a circulating pump and a water storage box, wherein the water storage box, the circulating pump and the heat exchange device are connected in series through a pipeline to form a circulating loop. The utility model has reasonable design, simple structure and convenient installation and maintenance, which can be used in steam-jet vacuum pre-conditioner in a tobacco manufacturing system, recoveries and utilizes residual heat in the steam-jet vacuum pump, heats water in a boiler, or heats domestic water, and can be widely used to recover and utilize residual heat in steam or other heat sources which include the steam-jet vacuum pump, saves energy sources, and protects environment.


The paper presents the self-adaptive fuzzy PID control method for TCSC impedance control based on the theories of fuzzy control and PID control,combining the characteristics and principles of the TCSC operation.This method avoids the shortcomings of conventional PID controllers by the fuzzy adjustment of PID parameters in a dynamic process.It has good robustness and can make the control quality be improved.


Methods and apparatus for performing accommodation training under clinical conditions are provided in accor dance with the teachings of the present invention. An infrared optometer is employed to measure a patient's accommodation and outputs therefrom are employed to generate tone information and viewable patient infor mation indicative of the state of focus in a rapid manner. A patient is trained at an empirical rate determined by the viewable information until a predetermined profi ciency in the voluntary control of accommodation is achieved. Thereafter, stimuli to accommodation, the accommodation convergence reflex and blur cue infor mation are selectively introduced to generalize the vol untary control of accommodation achieved to a con ventional environment so that the same may serve to reduce various visual acuity problems in a patient being trained.


And a base (3) engaging-fastener (1) including a snap head (2) and a solid core (4) and the curved flexible wingdeul (5, 6, 9, 10). Each wing (5, 6, 9, 10) has a convex surface bounded by the core 4, the vertical edge surface 16 and the transverse edge surface (7). Each transverse edge surface 16, when the observer looking at the convex surface 15 is seen, towards the outside, and has a V- shape that a pointed end, which is located at said curved surface (25). The core is at least three said wingdeul (5, 6, 10) (4) regularly spaced around the hub to. Each wing (5, 6, 10) is defined by a position between the shoulder and the longitudinal edge surface 16 and the shoulder and, a hub (4) by means of less thick than the corner web. Each wing (5, 6, 10) is adapted to being bent by elastic deformation towards the convex surface 15 of the wing (5, 6, 10) adjacent.


Objective To observe the antipyretic-analgesic effects of aqueous extract from dried ginger.Methods The antripyretic effects were observed by the rat febrile models,which were induced by injecting dry yeast subcutaneously.The analgesic effects were observed with acetic acid inducing writhing model and light radiant heat inducing tail-flick latency in mice.Results Compared with the model group,the body temperature of the febrile rats decreased significantly after rats being given aqueous extract from dried ginger(1.5g/kg) 2 hours and 4 hours late,so did those after rats being given aqueous extract from dried ginger(3g/kg) 1 hour later.The antipyretic effect of aqueous extract from dried ginger(3g/kg) was weakened after rats being given the medicine 2 to 4 hours later.The number of writhing rats decreased markedly after mice being treated with aqueous extract from dried ginger(3g/kg).Moreover,the tail-flick latency induced by radiant heat was extended evidently.Conclusion The aqueous extract from dried ginger has notable antipyretic-analgesic effects.


According to biological immune danger theory, a condition monitoring algorithm based on immune danger theory was presented. In the algorithm, the whole diagnosis feature space is divided into danger feature space, normal feature space and abnormal feature space. The algorithm consists of primary testing module, APC testing module and self-adapting testing module. The algorithm can make judgment according to whether existing danger signals. So the algorithm can reduce false rate and adjust databases online. The algorithm was applied to axle driving of Farm machinery condition monitoring. Compared with testing result of advanced negative selection algorithm which based on self-nonself recognition, the testing result has a lower false rate.


Agricultural exports have undoubtedly played a crucial role in boosting Nigerian economic growth and other sub-Saharan countries. It has been contributing to foreign-exchange earnings in Nigeria and is used to promote other capital projects. Agriculture has been the main contributor to the Nigerian external sector before the discovery of oil. This study evaluates the linkage between selected agricultural commodity export and Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between 2009 and 2018. The work is quantitative, it adopts a descriptive research design where data on Sesame Seed Export (SSX), Cashew Export (CAX), Cocoa Beans Export (CBX), Exchange Rate (ER), Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF), Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP) and Agricultural Commodity Export (AGEX) were sourced from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin and the United Nations' Commercial Trade Statistics. It employed descriptive statistics, the Ordinary Least Square method of Regression analysis and the Granger Causality test with the aid of Econometric Views (EVIEWS) software version 10.0. The findings revealed that there is no Granger causality between Agricultural Commodity Exports and Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product. It also found that Sesame Seeds Export has a significant effect on Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product within the period under study and Raw Cocoa Beans Export has a significant effect on Nigeria's Gross Domestic Product. It also revealed that there is no relationship between Agricultural Commodity Export and Gross Fixed Capital Formation in Nigeria. The study, therefore, recommends that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture should support the participation of the private sector in the agricultural industry to increase total output, and also look beyond the production for national use to increase the exportation of the produce.


The report is the third on the status of dry flue gas desulfurization (FGD) processes in the U.S. It reviews current and recently completed research, development, and commercial activities. Dry FGD systems covered include: (1) spray dryers with a fabric filter or an electrostatic precipitator (ESP), (2) dry injection of alkaline material into flue gas, combined with particulate collection in an ESP or a fabric filter, and (3) combustion of coal/alkali fuel mixtures. Spray drying remains the only commercially applied FGD process. With two new utility and two new industrial spray drying system sales since the last report, dry FGD has been selected for 3600 MW of utility generating capacity and about 600,000 acfm of industrial coal-fired flue gas. All new systems use a lime sorbent and a fabric filter for particulate collection. No new commercial systems have begun operation since the Fall of 1980, but the first utility system was scheduled to start up in the Spring of 1981. Pilot-scale demonstration programs which have been recently completed and several continuing programs are discussed. Significant work on dry FGD waste disposal has begun under both government and industry sponsorship and is addressed in the report.


Aimed at the problem that in normal air pressure controllers air channel's caliber is so small that it takes a long time to regulate the pressure in pressure control of large container.Separated double-air channels with several grades air channels in air inflation and air deflation and the fuzzy-PID control method is adopted.Design model of fuzzy-PID controller is presented in detail.Fast response and high control precision are confirmed by comparison with the design of single-air channel in experiments.


Letter from Bob Bullock to Joseph P. Luce discussing his inability to attend the 50th Anniversary Women Airforce Service Pilots Celebration.


We propose a separable representation of the nuclear part of the proton-proton interaction in angular-momentum states l = 0, 1, and 2. This representation yields an accurate fit to all experimental data currently accepted for elastic proton-proton scattering. The form factors of the separable potentials are represented by simple functions in momentum space (and also in configuration space). This makes it possible to treat the Coulomb distortion of the nuclear interaction exactly and to derive the corresponding proton-proton transition matrix in closed analytic form. Our model thus provides an adequate and convenient starting point for rigorous calculations on few-body systems with charges.


This article introduces practitioners and researchers to the topic of missing data in the context of differential item functioning (DIF), reviews the current literature on the issue, discusses implications of the review, and offers suggestions for future research. A total of nine studies were reviewed. All of these studies determined what effect particular missing data techniques would have on the results of certain DIF detection procedures under various conditions. The most important finding of this review involved the use of zero imputation as a missing data technique. The review shows that zero imputation can lead to inflated Type I errors, especially in cases where the examinees ability level has not been taken into consideration.


The propagation of nonlinear water waves under complex wave conditions is the key issue of hydrodynamics both in coastal and ocean engineering, which is significant in the prediction of strongly nonlinear phenomena regarding wave–structure interactions. In the present study, the meshless generalized finite difference method (GFDM) together with the second-order Runge–Kutta method (RKM2) is employed to construct a fully three-dimensional (3D) meshless numerical wave flume (NWF). Three numerical examples, i.e., the propagation of freak waves, irregular waves and focused waves, are implemented to verify the accuracy and stability of the developed 3D GFDM model. The results show that the present numerical model possesses good performance in the simulation of nonlinear water waves and suggest that the 3D "RKM2-GFDM" meshless scheme can be adopted to further simulate more complex nonlinear problems regarding wave–structure interactions in ocean engineering.


The detailed cost and schedule for E889 is contained in a formal Conceptual Design Report (CDR) being submitted by Brookhaven National Laboratory to DOE as a line-item request for a new construction start in FY97. The schedule is based on this construction start but assumes a reasonable amount of R&D funds ($4M) in FY96 to do detailed studies of critical items necessary for the construction start in FY97. The present s c hedule (Fig. 1) shows that, with the requested funding proole, the new neutrino beam and the detector tanks at 3km and 24km would be operational in FY99, and the full contingent of 4 detectors operational about 1 year later. If the experiment w ere not constrained by the FY97 construction start, the schedule could be advanced by approximately 6 months. Similarly, if R&D funding is not available in FY96, then the schedule will slip by about 6 months. The cost estimate summarized here was developed using the Work Breakdown Schedule (WBS) structure shown in Fig. 2. The project was divided into 4 distinct and logically separate pieces. WBS 1.1 contains all civil construction associated with the construction of the new neutrino beamline and the preparation of all the detector sites together with the installation of the detector tanks and the ancillary support buildings. These estimates were developed by the BNL Plant Engineering Division which routinely handles such projects at the laboratory. WBS 1.2 contains all technical work related to extracting the proton beam from the AGS, transporting it to the neutrino target, focussing the produced mesons with a magnetic horn system and the electronics for monitoring the beam system. These estimates were developed by the AGS department which has built many external beam lines and constructed and operated a similar neutrino line in the past. WBS 1.3 contains the active elements (photomultiplier tubes) in the detector system, the associated electronics and DAQ systems necessary for the experiment. These estimates were developed by the physicists in the collaboration based on previous experience in other large water Cherenkov systems such a s Kamiokande, LSND and SNO. WBS 1.4 contains all the EDIA for each of the aforementioned subsystems and the overall project management and QA functions. Full documentation is available for all estimates in the CDR. The base cost for all conventional construction, detector systems, particle beam systems, and project support necessary for the complete experiment is $46.5M in FY …


We would like to comment on an article by Gamper & Shapiro (2007) recently published in The Journal of Physiology entitled Target-specific PIP2 signalling: How might it work? In this paper, they contend that, 'there is wide agreement that the Gq/11-coupled muscarinic modulation of both N-type Ca2+ and M-type K+ channels is mediated by receptor-induced depletion of PIP2'. We disagree with Gamper and Shapiro's portrayal of widespread acceptance of this model for Ca2+ channel modulation by Gq-coupled receptors. In this paradigm, loss of PIP2 association with Ca2+ channels is necessary and sufficient for current inhibition (Wu et al. 2002; Gamper et al. 2004; Michailidis et al. 2007). Activation of phospholipase C (PLC) by Gq-coupled receptors substantially lowers free PIP2 levels in the plasma membrane. As a consequence, when constitutively bound PIP2 dissociates and diffuses away from the channel rather than rebinding, channel activity is inhibited (Gamper et al. 2004). No other signalling events, e.g. kinases, phosphatases or additional lipases, participate in channel inhibition. This hypothesis arose from a similar model for M-current modulation by M1Rs, first proposed by Suh & Hille (2002) and later embraced by several labs examining Ca2+ current modulation by Gq-coupled receptors (Wu et al. 2002; Gamper et al. 2004; Robbins et al. 2006).

We have offered an alternative hypothesis to Gamper et al. (2004) as to the signal cascade that confers Ca2+ current inhibition. Studies in our lab indicate that in addition to PLC, group IVa phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) activity is required in order to observe modulation of L- and N-type Ca2+ currents. Our conclusion is based on the following specific findings. (1) Arachidonic acid (AA) mimics the actions of M1R agonists in inhibiting channel activity (Liu & Rittenhouse, 2000, 2003b; Barrett et al. 2001; Liu et al. 2001, 2006). (2) The presence of bovine serum albumin (BSA), either in the pipette or in the bath solution, minimizes L- and N-current inhibition by Oxo-M (Liu & Rittenhouse, 2003b; Liu et al. 2006). Moreover, AA rather than a metabolite, mediates N-current modulation since blocking AA's metabolism has no effect on exogenous AA or Oxo-M's ability to inhibit current (Barrett et al. 2001; Liu et al. 2001; Liu & Rittenhouse, 2003b). (3) Antagonizing PLA2 with oleyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (OPC) minimizes inhibition of both L- and N-currents (Liu & Rittenhouse, 2003a, b; Liu et al. 2004, 2006). Our OPC data contrast findings from Gamper et al. (2004) who reported no effect of OPC on N-current inhibition by Oxo-M. Similarly, Bannister et al. (2002) found that the PLA2 antagonist quinacrine had no effect on M1R inhibition of recombinant L-current (CaV1.2). However, both studies failed to provide controls demonstrating that the PLA2 antagonist was effectively blocking the enzyme, so that the respective conclusions appear premature. (4) Using antibodies as functional antagonists, we found that dialysing cells with antibodies to cPLA2, but not to sPLA2 or non-immunized antibody minimized L-current inhibition (Liu & Rittenhouse, 2003a; Liu et al. 2004, 2006). (5) Using a genetic approach we found that neurons from mice deficient in cPLA2 (cPLA2−\−) exhibited minimal L-current inhibition by Oxo-M (Liu et al. 2006). No significant differences in control current amplitude or magnitude of current inhibition by AA was observed between cPLA2+/+versus cPLA2−/− neurons, indicating normal channel activity in cPLA2−/− neurons. Moreover, M-current inhibition by Oxo-M remained normal, indicating no change in M1R, Gq, or PLC functioning in cPLA2−/− neurons. However, cPLA2−/− neurons exhibited decreased fatty acid release following exposure to Oxo-M compared to wild-type neurons, consistent with a requirement for cPLA2-dependent increases in free fatty acid levels in order to observe L- and N-current inhibition. (6) Using BSA as an AA scavenger to limit free fatty acid levels antagonized L- and N-current inhibition (Liu & Rittenhouse, 2003b; Liu et al. 2006). Taken together our findings indicate that lipid products downstream of PIP2 are required for Ca2+ current modulation, whereas M-current inhibition appears to occur with PIP2 breakdown by PLC. Most critically, the studies with cPLA2−/− neurons document that PLC activity alone is insufficient to mediate Ca2+ current inhibition.

How to reconcile our previous findings that a fatty acid (probably AA) mediates Ca2+ current inhibition by M1R signalling with the PIP2 model remains unresolved (Liu & Rittenhouse, 2003b; Liu et al. 2004, 2006; Michailidis et al. 2007). Resolution will come with additional controls and experiments. For example the PIP2 analogue DiC8-PIP2 appears to minimize Ca2+ current inhibition; however, this analogue of PIP2 does not contain the normal fatty acid chains associated with PIP2, e.g. AA and stearic acid. It is possible that diC8-PIP2 acts as a substrate competitor with other phospholipids for cPLA2 decreasing the AA liberated and minimizing Ca2+ channel inhibition. Similarly, whether application of exogenous phospholipids swells membranes to such an extent that M1R signalling no longer functions needs to be tested and resolved. Most critical is the need to distinguish between questions that test how PIP2 functions as a regulator of channel activity versus its role in Ca2+ channel modulation by specific Gq-coupled receptors. For example, dephosphorylating PIP2 may cause PIP2 to dissociate from Ca2+ channels and lower activity; however, during muscarinic signalling, this mechanism may play no role in decreasing current amplitude. In recent work palmitoylated charged peptides, that sequester PIP2, were dialysed into neurons, decreasing both M- and N-current amplitudes. However, low concentrations of peptide, which only minimally decreased basal current amplitude, disrupted M- but not N-current modulation by M1Rs (Robbins et al. 2006). The different results underscore the notion that specific experiments testing roles in modulation as well as regulation are needed in order to properly define the function of PIP2 in ion channel regulation. Thus experiments outlined by Gamper & Shapiro (2007) that test how plasma membrane PIP2 levels are regulated contribute to our understanding of PIP2's functioning, but not necessarily its role in modulating Ca2+ channel activity. Thus, we strongly encourage caution when using these experiments as evidence that a simple dissociation of PIP2 from Ca2+ channels explains how M1Rs inhibit Ca2+ channel activity. Our model provides additional levels of control allowing more independent regulation of specific ion channel activity by M1R signalling.


As one of the physical-based fatigue crack growth evaluation models, the small time scale model has been widely utilized for fatigue crack growth analysis. There are several material parameters involved in the small time scale model, such as: the Young's modulus, the yielding stress and the intrinsic threshold value et al. There are large uncertainties associated with these parameters in real engineering applications. However, the research of uncertainty caused by the material parameters for small time scale model has been rarely reported. In this paper, a sensitivity study is proposed to quantify the uncertainties caused by these material parameters (the Young's modulus, the yielding stress and the intrinsic threshold value). It indicates that the change of the material parameters has effect on the fatigue crack growth.


Distributional Similarity (DS) techniques have been widely used in corpus based thesaurus and taxonomy construction, language modelling, etc. However the application of DS across two corpora is a fairly novel concept, which leads to the identification of co-occurrences of words between corpora. In this paper we have used DS measures to study vocabulary differences (idiolect) of individuals in an interdisciplinary research environment. We have compared the performance of three DS measures including our extension to an established method. Our results show that distributional similarity can be successfully used in identifying vocabulary differences between individuals.


Remarks by Pascal Bergeret, General Directorate for Education and Research of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries, Rural Affairs and Spatial Management, France


BACKGROUND:High-resolution three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has demonstrated its ability to predict fine trigeminal neurovascular anatomy. OBJECTIVE:To address the predictive value of 3-Tesla (3T) MRI in detecting and assessing features of neurovascular compression (NVC), particularly regarding the degree of compression exerted on the root, in patients who underwent microvascular decompression (MVD) for classic primary trigeminal neuralgia. METHODS:This prospective study includes 40 consecutive patients who underwent MVD for classic primary trigeminal neuralgia. All patients underwent a preoperative 3T MRI with 3D T2-weighted driven equilibrium (DRIVE), 3D time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), and 3D T1-weighted gadolinium-enhanced sequences in combination. Evaluations were performed by 2 independent observers and compared with the operative findings. RESULTS:For prediction of NVC, image analysis corresponded with surgical findings in 39 cases. Of the 3 patients in whom image analysis did not show NVC, 2 did not have NVC at the time of intraoperative observation. MRI sensitivity was 97.4% (37/38), and specificity was 100% (2/2). The kappa coefficients (κ) for predicting the offending vessel, its location, and the site of compression were 0.882, 0.813, and 0.942, respectively. Image analysis correctly defined the severity of the compression in 31 of the 37 cases. The κ coefficients predicting the degree of compression were 0.813, 0.833, and 0.852, respectively, for Grades 1 (simple contact), 2 (distortion), and 3 (marked indentation). CONCLUSION:3T MRI using 3D T2-weighted DRIVE in combination with 3D TOF-MRA and 3D T1-weighted gadolinium-enhanced sequences proved to be reliable in detecting NVC and in predicting the degree of root compression, the outcome being correlated with the latter.


Visual, video, pressure, and conductance techniques were used to study time-varying disturbances in cocurrent flow in packed beds with vertical and horizontal columns. It is found that the trickle-pulse transition, as defined in previous studies, corresponds to conditions where traveling disturbances finaly become measurable, not the conditions at which infinitesimal disturbances begin to grow. Observations demonstrate that even if the liquid and gas are uniformly distributed initially, segregated, vertical flowing regions with higher or lower than average liquid holdup form after a short distance. Horizontal packed bed experiments, designed to study how regions of differing liquid holdup interact, indicate that the first type of disturbance is infiltration of gas into the liquid region. A simple model suggests that infiltration occurs if the pressure drop exceeds a value necessary to push gas through liquid-filled pores. Once infiltration is significant enough to form a third "bubbly" phase, traveling wave instabilities form and grow into pulses if sufficient column length is available. A three-layer Kelving-Helmholtz stability model is used to interpret the growth of disturbances in horizontal flows. Video obeservations of small-scale events in the bed failed to detect significant correlations between different regions. Thus it should be possible to describe flow behaviour in these systems with volum-averaged equations, as long as the presence of segregated regions is considered. Column diameter or thickness significantly affects the frequency of disturbances.


It has been proposed that the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic resulted from the zoonotic transmission of a coronavirus (CoV) from bats to humans. However, the origin of ACE2 utilization for cell entry by SARS-CoV has remained unclear. Demogines et al. (p. 6350 – 6353) show that signatures of rapid evolution, indicative of viral antagonism, in the ACE2 receptor of bats overlap closely with the SARS-CoV interaction interface on the human ACE2 receptor. This work suggests that ACE2 utilization preceded the emergence of SARS-CoV-like viruses in bats. It also represents one of the first cases in which analysis of rapid evolution has been used to test a viral emergence hypothesis.


Onion (Allium cepa L.) is one of the oldest known and an important vegetable crop grown in India. Productivity of onion is affected by many biotic and abiotic stresses. Among the biotic stresses diseases play an important role and among them, purple blotch caused by Alternaria porri is one of the most destructive disease. The study was conducted to check the efficacy of different fungicides and bio-agents under field condition. The results revealed that among the chemicals Difenconazole 25 EC (Score) @ 0.1 % was found effective in reducing the disease with a per cent disease reduction over control of (62.23) was onpar with (Tebuconazole + Trifloxystrobin) @ 0.05 % (60.51). Among the bio-agents tested Trichoderma harzianum was found effective with the per cent disease reduction over control of (54.47) followed by treatment with a combination of Trichoderma harzianum and Pseudomonas flouroscens (41.91).


Abstract In this work an analytical formulation for solving partial differential equations is proposed. The method dispenses the use of Lie groups to produce maps between exact solutions, and generates nonlocal symmetries admitted by differential equations. The method is applied in water pollution problems, furnishing exact solutions for the advection-diffusion equation which describes the propagation of bacteria and chemicals in water bodies with arbitrary contours.


Alterations of the intensity of electron-magnetic-resonance spectra of Fe3+ ions in different configurations in MgO single crystals are measured as a function of iron content, quench rates, and anneal temperatures. In addition to the well-known spectra of dissolved Fe3+, three spectra, not previously described, are attributed to clusters of two Fe3+ ions in Mg2+ sites and a magnesium vacancy and to two types of ferrimagnetic precipitates. The variation of spectral intensities of Fe3+ in the various configurations leads to the following conclusions: cooling rates provided by quenching in air, liquid nitrogen, or water are not fast enough to quench in the high-temperature (800 to 1600°C) distribution of Fe3+. The Fe3+ ion is sufficiently mobile at temperatures as low as 350°C to aggregate. This mobility is much higher than that predicted by extrapolation of the high-temperature diffusivity. The present measurements, together with other results, also show that the 285-nm charge-transfer band of Fe3+ in MgO is proportional to the total Fe3+ concentration regardless of its distribution.


Forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria Hubner) is a major defoliator of hardwoods throughout North America, including aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.). M. disstria has been a major concern in many parts of Canada for the last two decades, but until recently in British Columbia it was considered an aesthetic concern only. However, with the increasing interest in the cultivation of hardwoods for fibre, and more recently for fuel, this insect could become a major concern in hardwood management. Records of past M. disstria outbreaks in British Columbia were summarized. The locations and intensity of six outbreaks were overlaid on biogeoclimatic units to determine which biogeoclimatic zones have experienced repeated outbreaks of M. disstria. Between 1944 and 2003, M. disstria outbreaks have become larger in extent and longer in duration. Analysis indicated that aspen stands in the Boreal White and Black Spruce (BWBS), Sub- Boreal Spruce (SBS) and Interior Cedar-Hemlock (ICH) biogeoclimatic zones have b...


This study investigates teachers' assessment practices across teaching levels and content areas, as well as teachers' self-perceived assessment skills as a function of teaching experience and measurement training. Data from 297 teachers on the Assessment Practices Inventory were analyzed in a MANOVA design. As grade level increases, teachers rely more on objective tests in classroom assessment and show an increased concern for assessment quality (p < .001). Across content areas, teachers' involvement in assessment activities reflects the nature and importance of the subjects they teach (p < .001). Regardless of teaching experience, teachers with measurement training report a higher level of self-perceived assessment skills in using performance measures; in standardized testing, test revision, and instructional improvement; as well as in communicating assessment results (p < .05) than those without measurement training. The implications of the results for measurement training are also discussed.


A comparative 1H and 13C nmr study of allylic derivatives of the IV-A group elements, of the type R3ECH2CH=CH—CH31E, Z and R3ECH(CH3)CH=CH2, 2, was performed (R = —C6H5, —CH3, E = C, Si, Ge, Sn, Pb...


We study quasiconvex quadratic forms on n × m matrices which correspond to nonnegative biquadratic forms in ( n, m ) variables. We disprove a conjecture stated by Harutyunyan– Milton (Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 70(11), 2017) as well as Harutyunyan–Hovsepyan (Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 244, 2022) that extremality in the cone of quasiconvex quadratic forms on 3 × 3 matrices can follow only from the extremality of the determinant of its acoustic tensor, using previous work by Buckley–ˇSivic (Linear Algebra Appl. 598, 2020). Our main result is to establish a conjecture of Harutyunyan–Milton (Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 70(11), 2017) that weak extremal quasiconvex quadratics on 3 × 3 matrices are strong extremal. Our main technical ingredient is a generalization of the work of Kunert–Scheiderer on extreme nonnegative ternary sextics (Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 370(6), 2018). Specifically, we show that a nonnegative ternary sextic, which is not a square, is extremal if and only if its variety (over the complex numbers) is a rational curve and all its singularities are real.


Weather and climate extremes are part of the natural variability. However, the frequency and intensity of precipitation extremes have increased in the globe following the global warming. Extreme precipitation impacts such as landslides and flooding with implications to vulnerability and adaptation are discussed for two regions of the state of S?o Paulo: the Metropolitan Region of Campinas and the Metropolitan Region of the Baixada Santista, located in southeastern South America. Simulations and projections obtained from four integrations of the Regional Eta model are analyzed to investigate the model behavior during the period of 1961-1990 and the projections within the period of 2011-2100. Uncertainties are discussed based on the standard deviation among the model spread. The projections show precipitation increase in the Metropolitan Region of Campinas during DJF for the near and distant future, while there are more uncertainties in the other seasons. In the Metropolitan Region of Baixada Santista, the precipitation increase is projected to all seasons, except JJA, when there is higher uncertainty. Daily rainfall indices suggest an increase of precipitation during the rainy days, but a reduction in the number of rainy days in both locations. The projections show a reduction of light rains and an increase of heavy rains at both regions. The model identifies the South Atlantic Convergence Zone and frontal systems as precipitation patterns associated with extremes in the two locations. The results can be useful for adaptation actions, since the regions are highly populated and have high vulnerabilities.


(NCT04058028). Methods In this adaptive, phase 2, placebo-controlled, doseranging study, subjects (N~300, age 18–75 years) will be randomized to receive placebo or 1 of 3 doses of AMG 570 Q2W for 52 weeks, followed by 16 weeks of safety followup. The primary objective is to evaluate efficacy of AMG 570 compared with placebo at week 24 using the SLE Responder Index (SRI-4). Key secondary endpoints include SRI-4 at week 52 with oral corticosteroid (OCS) reduction ( 10 mg/day at baseline to £7.5 mg/day in weeks 44–52) and SRI4 and Lupus Low Disease Activity State at week 52. Subjects will undergo 2 screening visits to fulfill criteria for active SLE and demonstrate adherence to prior SLE treatment including OCS, immunosuppressants, and/or immunomodulators. Blood screening tests will confirm detectable serum drug levels of baseline SOC medications. RAR aims to allocate more subjects to more efficacious doses while maintaining the placebo allocation constant; the randomization ratio could be adapted after interim analyses based on clinical efficacy. The trial includes interim analyses for futility using the Bayesian approach. Results Study ongoing. Conclusion This study will provide safety and efficacy data for AMG 570 compared with placebo, and its adaptive trial design aims to optimize development of a novel therapy for SLE patients with inadequate response to current SOC. Acknowledgments Amgen Inc. sponsored this study.


The necessity of social networks analysis of the endowment insurance for the peasants who live outskirts of cities without land was discussed,and the effect of social networks reform on the living and production of the peasants who live outskirts of cities without land was revealed,furthermore,taking the case of Xiqing District of Tianjin,the corresponding countermeasures were put forward for enhancing the construction of endowment insurance weak network for the peasants who loss land.


A new type of linear compressor is presented,in which the stator's iron core of linear motor is composed of silicon steel sheet formed by involute shape.The problem of flux leakage of LG linear compressor has been largely reduced. Structural design of new type linear compressor and FEM analysis for the linear motor is carried out in the paper.Electric-magnetic FEM analysis and thermodynamics calculation are integrated by using APDL in ANSYS.


Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the female urethra and the striated urinary sphincter, the rhabdosphincter (RS), by means of dynamic transurethral sonography and sonographic 3‐dimensional (3D) reconstructions. Methods. In 15 female patients with urinary stress incontinence (mean age, 67.5 years) and 5 continent women (mean age, 48.3 years), morphologic characteristics and function of the RS and urethra were examined with a 10‐MHz transurethral ultrasound transducer. With the help of a mechanical pullback system, the transducer was slowly retracted to scan the whole urethra and the RS from the bladder neck to the urethral orifice. Subsequently, 3D reconstructions of the urethra using an integrated computer system were performed. The RS as well as the length of the urethra were investigated under contracted and noncontracted conditions to measure contractility of the RS and dynamic changes of the lower urinary tract. Results. Partial or complete loss of RS function was detected in patients with stress incontinence. The findings on sonography were found to correlate well with the grade of incontinence. Furthermore, under contraction of the RS, a median increase in urethral length was observed. In incontinent patients, the increase in the urethral length was statistically significantly less (P = .04), which was related to the reduced contractility of the RS. Conclusions. Dynamic transurethral sonography with subsequent 3D reconstructions allows for assessment of function and morphologic characteristics of the RS and urethra. Normal contraction of the RS results in an elongation of the urethra.


Minute snails found in streams of the Darling Range, Western Australia, are described here as a new species, Glacidorbis occidentalis. Glacidorbis has a southern distribution, occurring in south-eastern Australia, Tasmania, and southern Chile. Its presence in south-western Australia is consistent with theories proposing a common Gondwanic origin for much of this region's freshwater fauna and that of south-eastern Australia.


During the assembly of Supplemental Figure 7 and Figure 8, six luciferase images of individual leaves were inadvertently duplicated. These images served to illustrate the strength of interactions between FT andTFL1 proteins and theirmutant variantswithGRFandTCP proteins, asmeasured qualitatively in split luciferase assays and in support of independent, quantitative yeast-two-hybrid experiments. The authors went back to the original photographs, and prepared a corrected version that contains the correct images for the six duplicated leaves. Figure 8 shows a subset of the leaves shown in Supplemental Figure 7; corrections for both figures are shownbelow.


The life-cycle cost concept is an economic approach which consists of computing the total cost of an item of equipment, a system or a plant all through its life from its design to its destruction of dismantling by summing up the cost of acquisition, use and maintenance. This paper shows an example of the application of this concept to the electrical locomotive, which are items of equipment used for at least forty years. Thanks to the life-cycle cost concept the electrical locomotives are compared to diesel locomotives and two generations of electrical locomotives are considered. The paper concludes by showing the direction of present research and experiments to optimize the life-cycle cost of the locomotives, universally the low cost of maintenance. Wide resources of technique and organization are combined to obtain this result.


This is a reply to the mixed review of my book published in the 'Journal of Libertarian Studies' in 2000. My 1997 book is still in print and still, unfortunately, completely relevant to today's problems.


Project selection for first-year design courses can be complicated by the limited skill level of students in their first semester of an engineering program and the scalability required for multiple sections and large classes. Additionally, the project must address the course's learning objectives and provide a sense of authenticity to help students understand the role of engineers in society. Afirst-year design course can be seen by students as the 'introduction to engineering,' enabling them to decide whether to pursue engineering as a profession or not. In addition to the already taxing demands imposed on a project for a first-year design course, students at the University of Prince Edward Island completed a design project encompassing two engineering courses andcontributed to a scientific research study on bat conservation. Partnering with researchers in the Atlantic Veterinary College, students designed, built, and installed bat houses equipped with sensors to remotely collect temperature, humidity, and the presence of individual bats within the colony. Constructing 21 bat houses promoted conservation efforts of bats across the province and taught students the critical role of engineers in a sustainable society. This paper presents a discussion on project selection for first-year design courses, how the learning objectiveswere met for two first-year design courses during a pandemic, and describe the community partner's role\ throughout the design project.


A novel galactoside derivative (1) incorporating p-nitroaniline (p-NA) as chromophore has been synthesized and used as a cascaded chromogenic enzyme substrate for the detection of β-D-galactosidase, which was characterized using UV, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS spectra. A plausible mechanism for the release of p-NPA from the enzyme substrate 1 was proposed.


Blockchain has been widely recognized as the trust machine underpinning the Internet of Things(IoT). However, the poor performance of the existing mainstream platforms renders this expectation unattainable. New technologies like DAG and Hashgraph emerge as promising candidates to address the pressing issues, but their abilities in decentralized consensus are still in question. We propose a 3D-DAG model to address the trilemma of decentralization, scalability and security. Experiment results show that, by adopting the separation of concerns(SOC) architectural principle and a software defined chain(SDC) approach, 3D-DAG can meet challenging requirements expected by IoT applications.


The ability of cocaine and morphine to influence Natural Killer (NK) cell activity in mice was examined. A dose-related inhibition in cytolytic activity was found when BALB/c mice were treated with the drugs. On the other hand, an acute intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of cocaine (2 mg/kg) induces a very rapid (24 h) inhibition of natural cytotoxicity, with a return to normal within 72 h after treatment. By contrast, a single i.p. dose of morphine (5 mg/kg) showed a more protracted immunologic consequence (within 96 h) and a more delayed recovery (over 120 h) after suspension of the treatment. These results show that, in a dose-related manner and a different drug related reversibility, cocaine and morphine cause an inhibition on cellular cytotoxic response.


Protecting the main and in-field pipelines from corrosion is one of the most important tasks facing the oil industry. Aims and Objectives Develop a program for predicting the indices of the oil dynamic system in terms of the time series and apply it to predict the water permeability and adhesion strength of the gas pipelines. Metods To construct the γ-dimensional dynamic model of gas pipeline functioning, the technique is used to reconstruct the attractor of the system from the one-dimensional «projection» of the phase trajectory by means of the influence of the phase space in the reduced space of dimension m <n . The choice of the dimension of the embedding space is made taking into account the false nearest neighbours and false neighbours in the folds of the attractor. Results It has been established that the use of the material BNI + FF + BK for coating the gas pipeline compared to bulk materials (BNI) gives advantages in terms of water permeability and adhesion strength approximately 7 times, and the material NANOBNY + FFO + BK - by water permeability 22 times and adhesion strength - in 17. The practical value of the results obtained is that the developed software product can be used to analyze and predict the behavior of both pipeline systems and various dynamic systems.


Screening for protein interaction partners of ion channels helps to elucidate signaling cascades to cellular targets and processes for a better understanding of the origin of diseases. Most important are the cytosolic segments of membrane-bound voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels or from ion channel regulators, which may connect to specific signaling complexes. So far, not much is known about those interactions. Molecular chaperones are proteins, which support the biosynthesis of proteins during maturation without being part of the final protein complex or which support the degradation of targeted proteins within the cellular protein quality control.


This diploma work focuses on external communication in the environment of social ser-vices. The aim of this work is to design an external communication plan for Naděje Civic Association in Otrokovice providing social services. The theoretical part of this work gives the introduction to the issues of marketing communications in public services, specializing on external communication. The theoretical part sets the criteria for the research part and defines methods of measurement. The practical part analyses current efficiency level of external communication in Naděje Civic Association. This part uses several methods for measuring; and the outcome is the SWOT analysis which sums up the conclusions of com-ponent analyses. The aim of the project part of the work is to create a plan of external communication for Naděje Civic Association, Otrokovice.


Porosity in the oceanic crust is one of the most important factors influencing measured seismic velocities. Porosity is particularly important in the uppermost young crust, where rapid variations in velocities with depth and crustal age are observed. Knowledge of the concentration and aspect ratios of inferred crack populations can be improved considerably if estimates of Poisson's ratio are available from observations of compressional and shear seismic velocities υp and υs. In this paper I present a joint seismic waveform inversion for υp and υs; velocities are found while maximizing or minimizing Poisson's ratio using a hypothesis-testing mechanism. I apply this method to ocean bottom hydrophone data in 140 Ma Atlantic crust; the resulting solution corridor agrees with laboratory measurements without the low Poisson's ratio anomalies at depths of 0.8–1.5 km found by Spudich and Orcutt (1980) and Au and Clowes (1984) on younger (<15 Ma) Pacific crust. Compiling other published υp and υs solutions, an age-dependent pattern emerges: none of the solutions for crust older than 60 Ma display the Poisson's ratio anomaly. I propose a simple crustal evolution model, using thin and thick cracks, to explain these observations: thin cracks preferentially close at shallow depths in the crust, producing the localized Poisson's ratio anomaly. Sealing of all cracks by hydrothermal deposits as the crust ages restores the seismic velocities to consistency with laboratory measurements. This model is consistent with similar models of crack populations and their evolution from shallow measurements.


Objectives: Evaluate the contralateral ear (CLE) audiometric findings in patients with middle ear cholesteatoma. (2) Correlate the audiometric thresholds to videotoscopic findings. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Videotoscopies and audiometries of 300 patients with cholesteatoma at a tertiary hospital were analyzed. The CLE videotoscopy, bone conduction, air conduction, and air-bone gap pure tone average (PTA) were analyzed. Results: The mean patient age was 32.35 ± 19.26 years, and 52.2% were female. The CLE was abnormal in 60.8% of cases: 5.6% had perforation, 39.9% had moderate or severe retraction, and 15.6% had cholesteatoma. The CLE bone conduction PTA was 16.75 ± 16.1 dB, the air conduction PTA was 47.1 ± 22.8 dB, and the air-bone gap PTA was 32.2 ± 18.7 dB. The CLE prevalence of severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss was 1.7%. Severe hearing impairment did not occur in patients with a normal CLE, whereas it did occur in 2.7% of patients with an abnormal CLE (P = .02). Bone conduction PTA was similar between normal and abnormal CLE (P = .82), but the air conduction and air-bone gap PTA were higher in abnormal CLE (P < .001 and P < .001, respectively). Conclusions: In patients with cholesteatoma, the CLE had a high prevalence of abnormalities and hearing impairment. Severe and profound sensorineural hearing loss was only observed in abnormal CLE. The air bone gap and air conduction PTA were also higher in the abnormal CLE.


The invention relates to a control device (8) for an electrical machine (6, 7) of a brake (4, 5) of a motor vehicle (1) and a method for operating the control device (8), wherein the control device (8) (an electric line acted 9, 10) of the electric machine (6, 7) with a test signal (13) and a resulting line voltage (15, 15 ') on the line (9, detected 10) and based on the line voltage (15, 15') has a recognizes intact line connection to the electric machine (6, 7) out. The invention provides that at the machine end of the conduit (9, 10) an identifier circuit (16, 17) is provided, which has a predetermined impedance (Z1, Z2), wherein by the impedance (Z1, Z2) has a predetermined characteristic of the line voltage (15, 15 ') is set to a characteristic value, and the control device (8) the characteristic value determined and verified upon detection of intact line connection in response to the determined characteristic value, that the electrical machine (6, 7) has a predetermined machine type.


In recent years, foreign capitals have already become a source o f strength that can't be ignored during national economic development, but some new problems emerge at the same time. Anhui province lies in East China which is a relatively fast developed area, meanwhile, it borders upon Midwest provinces that have been developing relatively slow, so it's a special province. We intend to analyze the problems existing in utilizing the foreign capitals and related reasons in Anhui Province, and to put forward the corresponding suggestions on p olicies in this paper.


The Movement Disorder Society‐Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS‐UPDRS) is a commonly used tool to measure progression in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Longitudinal changes in MDS‐UPDRS scores in patients with de novo PD have not been established. The objective of this study was to determine progression rates of MDS‐UPDRS scores in de novo PD.


The transport properties of metallophthalocyanine thin films are important ingredients in many technological applications. Ohmic conductance of thin film (15 nm to 90 nm) Co-phthalocyanine (CoPc) capacitive devices has been investigated in the temperature range of 40 K to 300 K. For Pd and V electrodes, the electrode-film (E-F) interface and metallic micro-shorts contribute substantially to the conductance with decrease in CoPc layer thickness. A quantitative model which describes E-F interface, CoPc roughness, micro-shorts, and the exponential temperature and thickness dependence of conductance was developed. Parameters obtained from this model are in good quantitative agreement with independent measurements. The model predicts a 15-20 nm lower limit for capacitive device thickness, below which the conduction is mainly controlled by shorts. In this regime, small changes in mean CoPc thickness result in drastic variation in device conductance.


Breast cancer is a malignant tumor highly occurred in females, while the modified radical mastectomy and breast conserving resection are the common schemes involved in the treatment of breast cancer. According to the statistics[1], 41.6% breast cancer patients are performed with modified radical mastectomy, among which 70%-80% patients require radiotherapy after operation. Radiotherapy is an important adjuvant therapy for patients with highly risk recurrence factors, and plays a vital role in enhancing the total survival rate, and reducing the local recurrence rate and distant metastasis rate[2,3]. The traditional tangent field conventional radiotherapy and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy are the common radiotherapy methods in the clinic, but each has its own advantage and disadvantage[4]. The study is aimed to explore the efficacy and safety of conventional radiotherapy of chest wall and clavicular field and three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy in patients after modified radical mastectomy in order to search a more favorable therapeutic scheme.


IPv6 is widely deployed in recent years, but IPv6 protocols still have many security threats, especially the traffic hijack in LAN (Local Area Network). In this paper we implement an IPv6 traffic hijack test system to help user aware the security risks, and then design a defense tool using DNSSEC to avoid traffic hijack attack.


In this paper, features extracted from modulation spectrogram are used to classify the phonemes in Gujarati language. Modulation spectrogram which is a 2-dimensional (i.e., 2-D) feature vector, is then reduced to a smaller feature dimension by using the proposed feature extraction method. Gujarati database was manually segmented in 31 phoneme classes. These phonemes are then classified using support vector machine (SVM) classifier. Classification accuracy of phoneme classification is 94.5 % as opposed to classification with the state-of-the-art feature set Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC), which yields 92.74 % classification accuracy. Classification accuracy for broad phoneme classes, viz., vowel, stops, nasals, semivowels, affricates and fricatives is also determined. Phoneme classification in their respective classes is 95.03 % correct with the proposed feature set. Fusion of MFCC with the proposed feature set is performing even better, giving phoneme classification accuracy of 95.7%. With the fusion of features phoneme classification in sonorant and obstruent classes is found to be 97.01 % accurate.


Environmental changes may have an impact on life conditions of the fish, e.g. food supply for the fish. The prevailing envi ronmental conditions apply evenly to all age groups of one stock. Small fish have high growth rates, whereas large fish grow with low rates. But, it can be shown on the basis of the von Bertalanffy-growth model that it is sufficient to know only the growth rate of one single age group to compute the growth rates of all other age groups. The growth rate of a reference fish GRF (e.g. a fish with a body mass of 1 kg) was introduced as a reference growth describing the current food condition of all age groups of the stock. As an example a time series of the reference-growth rate of the northern cod stock (NAFO, 3K) was computed for the time span 1979 to 1999. For the northern cod stock it can be observed that environmental conditions caused growth rates below the long-term mean for seven years in a row. After a prolonged hunger period the fish stock collapsed in 1992 also by the impact of fisheries - and this was probably not a coincidence. Now, with the reference-growth rate GRF a simple and handy parameter was found to summarize the influence of the environmental conditions on growth and other derived models and therefore makes it easier to compute the influence of environmental changes within stock assessment.


The incorporation of persons of Muslim Middle Eastern origin into the United States of America has attracted heightened interest since the September 11, 2001. The author uses U.S. Census Bureau data to examine the increase in migrants from the Middle East as a share of currently growing total immigration into the United States and their consequent distribution, comparative educational attainment and socio-economic status within their adopted country of residence. The author perceives evidence for a further increase in the numbers of persons of Middle Eastern origin in the United States and of their share of total immigration into the United States in the near future. While noting inequity of treating migrant applicants of Middle Eastern origin differently to migrants of other ethnicities, he suggests that it would be more ethical to effect a reduction in immigration across the board combined with a more rigorous pursuit of illegal Middle Eastern immigrants in particular. Key Words: Middle Easterner; immigration, Census Bureau, INS, education, socioeconomic status, populations, America, Christian, Muslim, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afhganistan, Turkey, Levant, Arab peninsula, Arab North Africa. In the aftermath of September 11, 2002, there has been heightened interest in the Middle Eastern immigrant population living in the United States. Their integration and incorporation into American society has come to be seen as increasingly important. Based on an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies of justreleased data from the Census Bureau, this article is one of the first to examine the socio-demographic characteristics of Middle Eastern immigrants in a systematic way. For the purposes of this study, the Middle East is defined as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Turkey, the Levant, the Arabian peninsula, and Arab North Africa.2 Among the report's findings: Middle Easterners are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in America. While the size of the overall immigrant population (legal and illegal) has tripled since 1970, the number of immigrants from the Middle East has grown more than seven-fold, from fewer than 200,000 in 1970 to nearly 1.5 million in 2000. The INS last estimated that 150,000, or about 10 percent, of Middle Eastern immigrants are illegal aliens. Preliminary Census Bureau estimates show a similar number. Assuming no change in U.S. immigration policy, 1.1 million new immigrants (legal and illegal) from the Middle East are projected to settle in the United Stares by 2010, and the total Middle Eastern immigrant population will grow to about 2.5 million. These figures do not include the 570,000 U.S.-born children (under age 18) who have at least one parent born in the Middle East, a number expected to grow to 950,000 by 2010. The religious composition of Middle Eastern immigrants has changed dramatically over the past thirty years. In 1970, an estimated 15 percent (29,000) of immigrants from the region were Muslim; the rest were mostly Christians from Lebanon or Christian ethnic minorities such as Armenians fleeing predominately Muslim countries. By 2000, an estimated 73 percent (1.1 million) of all Middle Eastern immigrants were Muslim. Interest in coming to America remains very strong in the Middle East even after September 11. In October 2001, the Department of State received approximately 1.5 million applications from the Middle East (not including Pakistan) for the visa lottery, a program which awards 50,000 green cards each year to randomly selected applicants. Middle Eastern immigrants are one of the most educated immigrant groups in America. In 2000, 49 percent had at least a bachelor's degree, compared to 28 percent of natives. There is little evidence of discrimination in the job market against the group. Median earnings in 2000 for Middle Eastern men were $39,000, slightly higher than the $38,000 average for native workers. …


We report a case of B‐cell post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder in a 57‐year‐old female 19 years postrenal transplant patient who presented with multiple, progressive, painful ulcerated necrotic papules and nodules over the left leg. Histopathological examination showed diffuse infiltration of the dermis by large atypical B‐lymphoid cells, with a negative in situ hybridization test for Epstein–Barr virus. Gastrointestinal involvement was evident by the presence of atypical lymphoid cells in the peritoneal fluid. She only had partial response to localized radiotherapy and intravenous rituximab and died 4 months later of septicaemia. Unusual features highlighted in this case include the very late onset of disease 19 years post‐transplant, Epstein–Barr virus negativity and the aggressive course of disease that did not respond to the reduction of immunosuppression, localized electron beam therapy and intravenous rituximab.


Purpose: Paraffinoma is a granulomatous reaction to paraffin or oily substances. We report delayed diagnosis of paraffinoma that was misdiagnosed as chalazion. Case summary: A 49-year-old male presented with masses, swelling, and erythema in the right lower eyelid, masses and swelling in the right upper eyelid, and intermittent conjunctival injection that had appeared 3 months ago. The patient admitted having received paraffin injection to the right lateral canthal area and nasal bridge for cosmetic purposes by non-medical personnel 17 years prior to presentation. The mass showed partial response to intralesional triamcinolone injection but did not respond to systemic steroid. Conclusions: Paraffinoma can present diagnostic confusion given its protracted latency period and discordance of injection area and mass location. Detailed history taking is required and the possibility of paraffinoma should be considered for mass lesions of the eyelid. J Korean Ophthalmol Soc 2015;56(12):1965-1968


BLACK, FISCHER. 1980. The Tax Consequences of Long-Run Pension Policy. Financial Analysts Journal 36: 21–28 BREALY, RICHARD A., AND STEWART C. MYERS. 2002. Principles of Corporate Finance. 7th ed. McGraw Hill. COPELAND, THOMAS E., AND J. FRED WESTON. 1988. Financial Theory and Corporate Policy. 3rd ed. Addison Wesley. MILLER, MERTON H. 1977. Debt and Taxes. The Journal of Finance 32: 261–75. MODIGLIANI, FRANCO, AND MERTON H. MILLER. 1958. The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment. American Economic Review 48: 261–97. ROSS, STEPHEN A., RANDY WESTERFIELD, AND BRADFORD D. JORDAN. 1997. Fundamentals of Corporate Finance. Irwin Professional Publishing. TEPPER, IRWIN. 1981. Taxation and Corporate Pension Policy. Journal of Finance 36: 1–13. TREYNOR, JACK (WALTER BAGEHOT, PSEUD.). 1972. Risk in Corporate Pension Funds. Financial Analysts Journal 28: 80– 84.


An integrative bi-coil high-speed solenoid valve with high technique additive was developed by adding an accelerating start coil and controlling control circuit to the direct-acting solenoid valve.Experimental study shows that the fastest response time is 2.8 ms for opening and 2 ms for closing.Dispensing with exterior controlling circuit,the solenoid valve presents distinct superiority in response and structure.Numerical simulation shows the accelerating coil makes the starting current to rise promptly and the magnetic field saturate.When the status of the valve is in maintaining mode,magnetic field in solenoid is still keeping saturated,which indicates the maintaining current is much higher than release current and the energy consumption of valve can be reduced further more.


Global warming is one of the world's most pressing issues. The study of its effects on the polar ice caps and other arctic environments, however, can be hindered by the often dangerous and difficult to navigate terrain found there. Multi-terrain autonomous vehicles can assist researchers by providing a mobile platform on which to collect data in these harsh environments while avoiding any risk to human life and speeding up the research process. The mechanical design and ultimate efficacy of these autonomous robotic vehicles depends largely on the specific missions they are deployed for, but terrain conditions can vary wildly geographically as well as seasonally, making mission planning for these unmanned vehicles more difficult. This paper proposes the use of various UNet-based neural network architectures to generate digital elevation maps from satellite images, and explores and compares their efficacy on a single set of training and validation datasets generated from satellite imagery. These digital elevation maps generated by the model could be used by researchers not only to track the change in arctic topography over time, but to quickly provide autonomous exploratory research rovers with the topographical information necessary to decide on optimal paths during the mission. This paper analyzes different model architectures and training schemes: a traditional UNet, a traditional UNet with data augmentation, a UNet with a single active skip-layer vision transformer (ViT), and a UNet with multiple active skip-layer ViT. Each model was trained on a dataset of satellite images and corresponding digital elevation maps of Ellesmere Island, Canada. Utilizing ViTs did not demonstrate a significant improvement in UNet performance, though this could change with longer training. This paper proposes opportunities to improve performance for these neural networks, as well as next steps for further research, including improving the diversity of images in the dataset, generating a testing dataset from a completely different geographic location, and allowing the models more time to train.


The upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) has been used to map the cluster A2065 at z = 0.0726. We report the discovery of a remnant radio galaxy at the peripheral cluster region. The spatially resolved radio emission from the remnant radio galaxy shows an elongated, bar-shaped structure, whose size is ≈52″ × 110″ (≃72 × 152 kpc2). Our study with multiwavelength GMRT data and Chandra data shows that across the remnant radio galaxy there is a hint of a surface-brightness edge in the hot X-ray gas. We detect tentative flattening of the radio spectral index as the old plasma at the near end of the surface-brightness edge is reinvigorated by the passage of a possible shock front and shows the expected change in radio emission characteristics. We suggest that the remnant radio galaxy has been seeded by the lobes of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) hosted by the WISEA J152228.01+274141.3 source, demonstrating the connection between AGNs and remnant radio sources. Although the number of known remnant radio sources is beginning to increase, we emphasize the need for better data to understand the physics and nature of poorly understood remnant radio sources.


Abstract Holstein heifers (22 mo) were trained to suckle from a nipple pail through prolonged withdrawal of water from their rations. After 2 to 3 wk the suckling habit was firmly established, and most of the heifers would accept readily the nipple. Bypass of liquid was confirmed by rapid and large increases in blood glucose in trained heifers after suckling a test solution of 500 g glucose, whereas there was little rise in heifers with glucose placed directly into the rumen. When heifers suckled slowly, bypass was less efficient as evidenced by flat tolerance curves for glucose. In heifers that suckled readily, mean blood glucose was over 30 mg/100 ml higher at 2 than at 0 h after suckling. In a reversal trial, six heifers in early lactation suckled 17% (or 321 g) of their protein intake as whole milk or received a like quantity of casein mixed in their concentrate. Milk yields and protein content of milk were raised slightly by suckling, but milk protein production was increased significantly. Efficiency of conversion of suckled protein to milk protein was estimated between 35 and 63%.


COVID-19 is a disease that has affected millions of people worldwide and made a significant impact on health, social life, and economy. One of the strategies to prevent the spread of this virus is through self-isolation. Although this strategy is efficient to prevent a drastic spread of the disease, there are some consequences related to this measure, including social, psychological, and economic impacts. In this review, the author proposes the possibility that this measure could increase the global prevalence of obesity. This might be due to a reduction in total physical activity because of limitations in outdoor activities, increased binge eating because of psychological stress or boredom, and tendency to eat ultra-processed foods and beverages because of limitations in shopping ability. Obesity itself is reported to be one of the risk factors for the severity of COVID-19 infection. Reports from United Kingdom and the United States of America revealed that those with higher body mass index had a higher risk to be treated at an intensive care unit. Therefore, prevention of a significant weight gain might be important to reduce the risk of fatality due to COVID-19. While the global prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide, it might be important to address this issue at this point in time. Lastly, this review also provides some suggestions to ameliorate the weight gaining effect of self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.


In this paper, BICM-ID technique is combined with frequency domain decision feedback turbo equalization to improve the BER performance over multi-path fading channels, and the coefficients of the equalization filters, i.e., feedforward filter and feedback filter, are designed time invariant to reduce computational complexity. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has comparable performance with the time variant one with frequency domain equalization, and outperforms the algorithm with its equalizer operating in the time domain.


The paper discusses the reason why network convergence and service convergence have not been fully realized, and presents considerations on issues related to the key technologies of IP telecom network, such as network model, addressing mode, QoS, etc. Crucial points in building the telecom-level integrated service access network and premise network and realizing service convergence are also overviewed in the paper.


A new approach for designing antenna and feeder systems of meteorological radar which is inexpensive, fast scanning, dual polarization and phased array is proposed. This goal has been accomplished by a new technique, based on a special series and parallel feed network, to realize the scanning pattern with high gain and low side-lobe level. In this technique, the number of antenna elements, which can satisfy performances of radar, is significantly decreased to 2/3 of original scope. As a proof, a P-band tropospheric wind profiler radar, which has a 169¬element array and 13 feed networks with 30dB gain and - 30dB low side-lobe level, is presented. The simulation and measured results are presented, and performances are excellent.


Diastereomeric perihydro-1,3-oxazin-2-ones are useful intermediates to enantiomerically pure aminoalcohols: their absolute configuration is assigned from 1H NMR data and supported by MM2 calculations.


Using an acousto-optic modulator that froze beam positions on frames captured by an ordinary CCD camera, we were able to calibrate the Lissajous scanning pattern on a fiber-optic nonlinear endomicroscope quickly and precisely.


good. However, personal histories frequently have two drawbacks: they indicate the attitudes of individuals who may lack insight into the dynamics of their own personality, and therefore do not give the necessary material for adequate evaluation of their behavior and, secondly, as they are of human rather than scientific interest they appeal primarily to the lay public. Return to Life suffers from both of these drawbacks. There is no clear picture of the author; therefore there is insufficient basis for interpreting her particular reactions. The fact that the majority of the readers of this book undoubtedly will be laymen poses many problems. For example, fear in cancer has many components depending on personality and experience. We cannot anticipate what it is that a reader with a cancer symptom may be most fearful of—death, pain, mutilation, wasting away, and so forth. Without adequate professional interpretation of the facts and with only subjective data a reader's fear may be increased in such a way as to effect further denial of a cancer symptom. The vividness with which the author describes the excessive pain and distasteful discharge from X-ray treatment may cause a person to put off seeking diagnosis and/or accepting recommended treatment. The author's preoccupation with anticipating "a little death" from gas and ether prior to radium implantation may intensify the reader's greatest area of concern. One might hope that this book would be read by physicians. In it there are some remarks which most physicians would avoid. There is a feeling of surprise that Mrs. MacLeod's doctor telephoned her at her office to say that the "biopsy report showed malignancy." As an understanding of the total individual is deemed essential for a patient's optimum rehabilitation it is to be questioned whether or not treatment was as effective as possible when according to the author her doctor said, "I knew your illness and the treatment necessary, but I didn't really know the person I was treating." Return to Life offers material to suggest that some of the fear of the unknown in cancer may be eliminated if the physician in charge of each case assumes responsibility for interpreting diagnosis and treatment to the patient and his family according to their needs. In this way the public would be served best by scientific discussions of case material which would lead hopefully to more effective control of cancer.


We compare approaches for the automatic detection of pathological changes in brain MRI images that are visible to the naked eye. We analyse multi-stage approaches based on deep learning and threshold processing. A convolutional neural network was formed, a classifier was built based on the use of an ensemble of decision trees, and an algorithm was created for multi-stage image processing. Because of experimental studies, it was found that the most effective method for recognizing images of magnetic resonance imaging is an approach based on an ensemble of decision trees. With its help, 95 % of the images from the test sample were classified correctly. At the same time, using the convolutional neural network, it was possible to classify correctly all images containing the area of pathological changes. The data obtained can be used in practice for the diagnosis of brain diseases, for automating the processing of a large number of studies of magnetic resonance imaging.


This treatise aims at the explaining about current trend of marine tourism in Korea. Especially the blue tourism represents urban residents' taste to enjoy 3S(sun, sand, sea) by seaside resorts and to have cultural exchange between fishing village residents and urban residents. It is necessary to understand the blue tourism that fishing village residents and urban residents have to be two subjects and have to help each other. By the blue tourism, fishing village residents can get income and keep their identity, and urban residents can have enjoy holiday and pleasure recreation in marine area. To do so, the two subjects must have correct understanding about the blue tourism and must make efforts to develop programs which are enjoyed together. Therefore, the blue tourism in not only a form of general tourism but also a kind of movement to make fishing village more advanced, ecological residence. If it is possible to make fishing village such place by the blue tourism, we can expect to restore humanity and reconstruct community from the result.


The paper presents an improved model of Silicon Optical Electronic Integrated Circuit (SOIC). The objective is to improve our OEIC model i.e. OEIC Circuit with Two Metal Layer Silicon Waveguide and Low Power Photonic Receiver Circuit by increasing responsitivity by increasing the quantum efficiency without changing the basic approach. This can be done by using optically controlled silicon MESFET also called OPFET. We also introduced the transparent indium tin oxide gate which when combines with MESFET, acts as a pre-amplifier in OEIC. The optically controlled silicon MESFET is integrated here having improved responsitivity, low gate to source capacitance, less signal delay, reduced noise and increased quantum efficiency.


One of the major challenges for sustainable resource use lies in the renovation of the existing building stock. Less than 1% of the total building stock in North-West Europe is renewed each year, which means that most gain has to be achieved by renovation of the existing building stock in combination with changes in behaviour by residents, the end-users of the buildings. Commonly used methods to stimulate and support residents in making adjustments to their homes, are mostly monodirectional. Residents then are passive receivers of information and advice. Previous research shows that active involvement and multidirectional exchange leads to better results. In line with these findings, the study presented in this paper takes approaches that are used in the field of product development for and with end-users as a starting point. These approaches, such as co-design processes, creativity techniques and vision development to come to novel ideas, appear to have characteristics that are conducive to stimulate people to make changes towards sustainable renovation. The study explored if and in what way these approaches can complement the commonly applied methods. For this purpose, a number of sessions, called 'Livinggreen Labs', were organised. In the sessions several techniques were applied for a number of themes and with varying types of participants. The sessions were evaluated by the participants, as well as by the organisers. The findings suggest that the approach tested in this study can provide an attractive complementary way to sensitise people to the possibilities of sustainable renovation and sustainable lifestyles. The sessions showed high involvement of the participants. Peerlearning and exchanging perspectives between people with different backgrounds were highly appreciated. The approach seemed to be most useful for vision forming and participatory processes in local urban development programs as opposed to best practice knowledge transfer. In order to more purposefully compare these different methods in the future, the former might be called "emerging knowledge transfer". Because of the specific context of the project in which the study is executed, further investigation is required to assess whether and how the results apply in different contexts. Furthermore, detailed insight is to be developed in what ways the use of techniques from the design field, together with existing methods, yield the best longterm effects on sustainable renovation activities by residents, i.e., achieve real impact.


Pali scholars, who wanted the ancient forms of the word, where spelling is often different from pronunciation, and the modernists, who wanted a purely phonetic spelling. In the large majority of cases, the modernists succeeded in having their versions adopted. The nine thousand words included are far from being a complete compilation of the language; however, continuous amplification and revision are planned, so that in time a complete dictionary may be available. The pressure for immediate production of a standard guide precluded completion. In addition, the book was printed by the offset process from type which was too small and was not clear; it is exceedingly difficult to read even for those who know the language. The first edition of five hundred copies has already been exhausted, and a new edition with larger and clearer type is under preparation; it is expected within the next three or four months. Assistance was given in this project by UNESCO, USOM, the Asia Foundation, and the French Cultural Mission.


Background: Diabetic foot ulcers are one of the most severe and costly complications of diabetes. Foot ulcers result from a combination of multiple causes including peripheral neuropathy and peripheral arterial disease. Patients with diabetic foot ulcers frequently require amputation of the lower limb. Objective and problem: The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of diabetic foot ulcers patients in AL-Muthanna Government and to examine the effect of some risk factors on healing of the ulcer.Patients and methods: A cohort study was conducted on 50 patients from 18th of December, 2021 to 20th of April, 2022 at Al-Hussein teaching hospital, AL-Muthanna, Iraq.Results: A total of 50 patients with diabetic foot ulcers were included. The ulcers of 28% of the patients healed, whereas 16% persisted unhealed; 34% of the patients had a minor amputation, 22% had a major amputation and 1% had recurrent ulcers. The study showed statistically significant associations between diabetic foot ulcer healing and the following variables: patients' age, glycated HbA1c, duration of diabetes, complications of diabetes like peripheral neuropathy.Conclusions: Diabetic foot ulcer outcomes can be predicted by several factors, some of which are modifiable.


Smart clothing has become a hot spot of research in recent years. However,the study of its design mode is immature. Documentary analysis of several typical cases is performed in order to identify the key issues in the process of smart clothes development. General design approaches are discussed in terms of technology,fabric,texture and shape,as well as their inter-relationship. A general design process is put forward,which is adhering to user-centered concept,and an introduction of the evaluation system for functional garment is undertaken for it as five-level evaluation system. In the whole process of smart clothes designing,environmental pollution should be reduced,and recycling utilization should be increased so that smart clothes will be more environmental friendly. The tendency of smart clothing can be divided into two aspects: professional integration for the specific groups,and commercialization for the vast number of consumers. The design mode in China will turn to user-driven. At the same time,cross- disciplines and human factors will be concerned.


A 70‐year‐old circumcised male presented with a one year old non‐healing lesion on his penis. The lesion was generally asymptomatic except for occasional pain and burning sensation. The patient denied any unprotected high risk sexual exposure in the past. Examination revealed a solitary, non‐tender, non‐indurated superficial ulcer situated over the ventro‐lateral aspect of the penis measuring approximately 3 cm × 3 cm involving the coronal sulcus and extending on to the shaft [Figure 1].


We report here the construction of two metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), Zr6-Cu/Fe-1 and Zr6-Cu/Fe-2, by integrating earth-abundant cuprous photosensitizers (Cu-PSs) and Fe catalysts for photocataly...


Considering influence of long-term statics load and short-term dynamic load, we set up the mechanics model of put-in shelf, and calculate the intensity and rigidity of the ground base through the analyses of finite element method, which plays an important role in the safety design of shelf.


Current plans call for the first Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, TPF-C, to be a monolithic space telescope with a coronagraph for achieving high contrast. The coronagraph removes the diffracted starlight allowing the nearby planet to be detected. In this paper, we present a model of the planet measurement and noise statistics. We use this model to develop two planet detection algorithms, one based on matched filtering of the point-spread function (PSF) and one using Bayesian techniques. These models are used to formulate integration time estimates for a planet detection with desired small probabilities of false alarms and missed detections.


In order to probe into the approaches and effects of reducing the water content in saturated over-wet soils in moist and rainy areas,the water drainage effects of the vacuum preloading method and electro-osmosis method were compared via indoor model tests.The result indicates that the both methods can effectively reduce water contents in saturated over-wet soils and obtain the desired effects of drainage and consolidation,but there exists inhomogeneity in the spatial distribution of water-reducing content when they are used.When the vacuum preloading method is adopted,water contents in top and bottom soil layers do not change significantly,and consolidation effect is relatively homogenous.


A 98 cm long, naturalized crocodile had been CT‐scanned all along his length when laid on the radiological table. The apparatus was a 128 detector rows 's, Siemens somatom edge CT‐scan. Near one thousand (1000) frontal cross‐sections were obtained. They revealed the removal of all the skeleton inside the skin except the head where the osseous data could be detailed. The remnant body was filled with a common material thus the shape of the neck, trunk, tail and of the four limbs could be appreciated. Thirteen (13) external views had been reconstructed from the cross‐sections and were of good morphological value. The CT‐scan has proved to be an unvaluable method in every gross‐morphological anatomical study.


Intravenous infusion of apoptotic donor or third‐party leukocytes simultaneously with an allogeneic donor bone marrow (BM) graft favors engraftment across major histocompatibility barriers. While verifying that such apoptotic cell infusion might not also be associated with antibody (Ab)‐mediated allo‐immune responses, we found, rather strikingly, that apoptotic cell infusion could in fact successfully prevent a humoral allo‐immunization against a BM graft in mice. Indeed, among recipients having rejected their BM graft, prior apoptotic cell infusion was associated with a near absence of Ab‐mediated allo‐responses, while such an immunization was frequently observed in the absence of apoptotic cell infusion. This was also observed when infusing host apoptotic cells, thus showing that the prevention of immunization was linked to the apoptotic state of the cells rather than mediated by residual anti‐recipient activity. In vivo anti‐transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) treatment resulted in the loss of this apoptotic cell infusion‐associated protective effect on humoral allo‐responses. Further studies will determine whether apoptotic cell infusion, in addition to hematopoietic graft facilitation might also contribute to preventing deleterious Ab‐mediated allo‐responses in various transplantation settings.


Ethyl 4 bromo 2 butenoate,a medicine intermediate,was prepared using 2 butenoic acid as main raw material through esterification and bromination reactions.Structure of the product was identified by the data of NMR spectra.The yield of ethyl 4 bromo 2 butenoate was 70 5% and purity was 92%


Abstract A list of papers appeared in the worldwide literature in the period 1970-1987 is reported. The papers are classified according to a list of subjects which outlines the most significant aspects in the study of PCDD and PCDF formation.


Groundwater systems are complex, exhibiting significant heterogeneity across multiple scales, multiple interacting processes, and nonlinear behaviors. Groundwater systems are also open, often with poorly defined boundaries and time-dependent, uncertain boundary forcings (e.g., recharge). As a consequence, a groundwater model cannot be expected to precisely reflect the system it represents and the model results are uncertain quantities. The dominant language of uncertainty is probability and the majority of research in the treatment of uncertainty in groundwater modeling has been directed at developing and improving probabilistic methods for these models. One area of recent research has been methods for assessing the impact of model uncertainty in groundwater analyses. This line of research is part of a long-term trend of increasing appreciation for the importance of providing estimates of uncertainty in groundwater model outputs. The research was motivated by observations of nonuniqueness in model parameterizations, the sensitivity of groundwater model output to model structural choices, and a history of practice that established the importance of iterative improvement in the conceptual basis of groundwater models. Among the methods proposed for assessing model uncertainty, we discuss Bayesian model averaging, it's theoretical basis and research development. We outline critical arguments and discuss alternative approaches. Finally, wemore » briefly describe a regulatory application of groundwater modeling that used Bayesian model averaging concepts to resolve a key conceptual model uncertainty.« less