Abstract In the present work, Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) based optimal re-configuration for balanced and unbalanced radial distribution networks using Affine Arithmetic (AA), with uncertainty in generation and load, is proposed to minimize the system losses. An expression for three phase real affine power loss is derived with partial deviations of real power loss in lines with respect to power injections in other buses and also with respect to power injections in other phases in case of unbalanced distribution systems. The major contribution of the present work is the application of AA based optimal network reconfiguration, to both balanced and unbalanced radial distribution networks with uncertainty. The proposed method is tested on IEEE 16, 33, 85 and 119 bus balanced distribution systems and an unbalanced 123 bus system with Distributed Generation (DG) connected at some buses. The optimal loss intervals obtained by the proposed method are compared with that obtained by Interval Arithmetic (IA) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations based methods. The simulation results show that proposed AA based analysis gives an optimal reconfiguration, for both balanced and unbalanced radial distribution systems with uncertainty as compared to existing IA based method.


Flip chip ball grid array (FCBGA) was developed to meet the requirements of more functionality, excellent electrical performance, high input/output (I/O) density and high speed in semiconductor device market. In the past experience, the frequent coming challenges were bump fatigue crack and low-k chip delamination caused by Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) mismatch between chip and substrate during the reliability tests. In order to elevate the resistance of bump crack and low-k delamination in FCBGA, selecting suitable bumping structure is the one of key solutions to ensure the FCBGA package success. The studies in this paper were employed finite element method (FEM) modeling and mainly covered the detail bumping structure analyses in terms of bump and low-k stresses. The bumping structures were considered with both single and dual passivation and polyimide layers to protect bumps from thermal stress destroy and they were mentioned to include four different structures in this paper, such as single passivation (single PSV), single passivation-polyimide (single PSV-PI), dual passivation (dual PSV) and dual passivation-polyimide (dual PSV-PI). Moreover, the geometry dimension combinations of copper pad size, passivation open, polyimide open and thickness were also discussed in this paper to identify the optimal dimension design with lower stress risk. Further, the under-bump metallization (UBM) sizes were also considered with different substrate solder mask opening (SMO) sizes to compare the bump stress level. In the conclusion of this stress analyses, the paper derived some bumping structure design guidelines. Dual passivation-polyimide performs the smallest bump and die surface stresses among the four different bumping structures. The optimal dimension combinations of polyimide opening and thickness, passivation opening and copper pad size were recommended to gain lower stress for bump and low-k. Finally the study also identified the optimum ratio as 1:1 between UBM and SMO sizes to acquire the minimum bump stress.


Laparoscopic techniques in general are being increasingly exploited in surgery. One recently introduced procedure is laparoscopic hernia repair, which potentially offers a shorter recovery time, a return to normal activity and a significant reduction in groin discomfort for patients. Unlike other laparoscopic procedures such as laparoscopic cholecystectomy and appendicectomy where the anatomy encountered by the surgeon through the laparoscope is essentially the same as that seen at open surgery, laparoscopic repair of an inguinal hernia requires a different anatomical approach and the development of a different technique for repair. The anatomy of the inguinal region as seen laparoscopically is unfamiliar to most surgeons. Consequently, so that the procedure is completed successfully without causing damage to anatomical structures or the potential for post-operative recurrence, a detailed anatomical knowledge is essential. In this paper, the intra-abdominal anatomy of the inguinal region is revisited with...


A LQ strong stabilization problem is proposed. For those systems where periodic control is warranted, techniques for designing optimal periodic strongly stabilizing controllers are presented. An example detailing the construction of an optimal periodic controller is provided.


This thesis assesses the diachronic development of the semantic field 'Death' in English, focusing on synonyms for death and die. It begins with a discussion of the structuralist approach to meaning, from which developed the theory that the vocabulary of a language is structured by semantic fields which cover the conceptual areas belonging to the speakers of that language. A vocabulary is also a system, comprised of elements which might be related in any of a variety of ways. A change in one of the elements will affect those elements most closely related to it. The types of change undergone by any section of the vocabulary are discussed, with particular reference to the operation of change in areas perceived to be taboo and, specifically, in the language surrounding the concept 'death'. Special attention is given to the ways in which metaphor has been utilised through time to discuss death, and particularly to the operation of euphemism and dysphemism, dominant forces in this area of the vocabulary. This thesis holds that language is not only a system with inbuilt strategies for change, but also a social phenomenon, conditioned by our perception of the world. It includes, therefore, a discussion of the history of perceptions of death in the west for the period in which English has been spoken, in order to assess the extent to which correlations can be found between changing perceptions of death and changes in the language with which it has been discussed.


Objective To discuss the MR dynamic enhanced and morphologic characteristics of ductal carcinoma in situ(DCIS) and its relations with nuclear grade.Materials and Methods The MR features of 30 cases with histologically proved DCIS were retrospectively reviewed.Results(1)Of the 30 DCIS lesions,29 were enhanced with diameters between 3 mm and 57 mm(mean value: 25.20 mm;media value: 23 mm).(2)20 lesions had non mass-like enhancement,6 showed masses and 3 showed foci.Among the non mass-like lesions,12 lesions were segmental distribution,3 were ductal distribution,1 was regional distribution,and 2 were multiple distribution.(3)Of the 30 lesions,15(25%) exhibited enhancement plateau curves and 7(23%) exhibited washout curves.7(23%) lesions exhibited moderate enhancement and 15(50%) exhibited fast enhancement.(4)There was significant relations between enhancement curves(P=0.017),early enhancement ratio(P=0.017),size(P=0.02)and the nuclear grades.Conclusion Breast DCIS have some MRI features,MR features combined with dynamic enhanced curves can be used to evaluate nuclear grade of DCIS.


Aiming at the precise,rules,no redundancy of the vector engineering drawings,this paper studies and experiments a watermarking embedding and recognition algorithm,embedding two kinds of watermarking information(hidden extend information and spatial shadow concussion based on length variation).This experiment made desired results,and watermarking has good robustness when maintain the vector engineering drawings precision and appropriate appearances.


Mabarung (competition) of performing art is a cultural heritage in North Bali and has highly contributed to the development of the Balinese art and culture. The tradition of mabarung of performing art which was created in Buleleng Regency constitutes the competitive arena of life in which every pebarung (the player who is involved) does his best to perform the best by optimally presenting the quality of his performance. Based on what was described above, it was necessary to reveal the tradition of mabarung of performing art in Buleleng Regency. The present study focused on the meaningfulness of the implied ideology of the mabarung of performing art in Buleleng Regency.  The result of the study showed that the cultural representation, which was actualized into the mabarung of performing art appeared from the ideas of the grass- root. The government interfered in the mabarung of performing art and a change took place; the mabarung of performing art which used to be freely performed was then performed as a festival/competition, causing the ideology it contained to change. The phenomenon of the mabarung of performing art reflected a self image; the players felt embarrassed if they lost 'majengah-jengahan', performed differently from others, and felt too proud of themselves 'ajum'. In relation to that, it could be identified that the cultural representation which created the tradition of mabarung of performing art in Buleleng Regency was inspired by the ideology of freedom and self existence.


Feedstuffs and mixed feeds used for poultry and pig nutrition in Colombia were analyzed for aflatoxins by using a liquid chromatographic technique with a limit of detection of 1 microgram/kg for each aflatoxin (B1, B2, G1, and G2). Samples of grain sorghum, maize, processed soybean, rice meal, cottonseed meal, and poultry and pig feeds, representative of Colombian production for the 1995-1996 harvest, were taken from feed-manufacturing plants in various cities. Aflatoxins were detected in 11 of 45 samples of sorghum, 4 of 33 samples of maize, 8 of 22 samples of rice meal, 15 of 17 samples of cottonseed meal, 1 of 12 samples of other feedstuffs, 12 of 30 samples of poultry feed, and 7 of 16 samples of pig feed. Aflatoxins were not detected in soybean. Only 9 of 58 positive samples contained total aflatoxin levels exceeding maximum tolerable limits in Colombia.


A model representing a system of coupled localized spins and mobile holes and relevant to superconducting copper oxides is analyzed by performing both exact diagonalizations on small systems and variational calculations. Ground-state expectation values, susceptibilities, optical conductivity and pairing correlations are calculated for systems with up to six unit cells arranged on a ring or representing a square lattice. With increasing spin--mobile-hole coupling, our results show a transition to a regime of mobile singlets and short-range magnetic correlations. On the square lattice, the interaction weakly enhances the d-wave pairing, but suppresses s-wave and extended s/sup */-wave correlations.


Nasopharyngeal masses in young males can be benign or malignant. As the treatment regimen for these masses differs considerably, it is crucial to differentiate benign from malignant masses for successful and adequate treatment of patients and also for minimizing morbidity from unnecessary interventions. We are presenting two case reports of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) mimicking juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (JNA). Both the cases were presumed as JNA and underwent excessive surgical intervention only to reveal NPC on final histopathology report. We wish to highlight the importance of complete clinical examination and preoperative imaging in differentiating an ideal management of nasopharyngeal masses.


A Doubly Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) or wind energy conversion, is a most popular generator in industry which relies on wind farms. The DFIG's variable structure properties and nonlinearities enable a controller design for this type of system to a difficult task. Required dynamic behavior is constructed by, verifying effectiveness of suggested system and enhancing closed loop system's functionality, a unique method is proposed in this paper. To maintain DC connection at constant, a proportional integral PI controller is used. For grid synchronization Artificial Neural Network (ANN) controller is employed. By the deployment of D-Q model, the reference current is generated for of $3\ \phi$ grid. The constant state power of the device at different wind speeds are considered to contribute to the ANN controllers' reliability. The $3\phi$ Voltage Source Inverter (VSI) intended for regulate the control flow of grid voltage. Obtained results are verified using MATLAB platform. Trial results clearly demonstrated that the suggested strategy surpassed the conventional methods in terms of effectiveness, dependability and minimal ripples with a minimized THD value of 1.1%.


The female labor force participation (FLFP) rate has been increasing in Nigeria, and the interaction of FLFP and fertility has been studied as households became impacted by dual income activities and child rearing. To this end a survey was carried out on FLFP and fertility in Lagos where migration has been on the upswing. The model utilized consisted of 2 simultaneous equations. Household fertility patterns and general fertility attitudes were examined. In a Turkish study of no significant relationship was found between children ever born (CEB) and current FLFP; fertility differentials depended on residence and education, not on employment. Role incompatibility arises from the degree of competition between performing work and caring for children in an urban-rural dichotomy. Women were categorized according to type of employment: civil service, self-employed business women, and housewives. 78% of housewives, 73% of business women, and 61% of civil servants agreed that childbearing was the most important activity. 95% of housewives, 78% of business women, and 64% of civil servants among women aged 15-21 wanted to have more children. Knowledge of birth control devices was as follows: 29% of housewives, 51% of business women, and 73% of civil servants. CEB was higher among housewives and business women (about 5 each) than among civil servants (3.8). Among civil servants and business women, part-time workers had 1/2 a child more than full-time workers. Those employed for less than half of their married life had a much higher CEB rate. Part-time civil servants also showed a considerably higher CEB. The higher the degree of work intensity, the lower the CEB both for civil servants and business women. implying the trading of fertility for work. The percentage of wife's years worked since marriage and percentage of hours of daily work also negatively impacted fertility among civil servants (5% and 20%, respectively) and business women (economic activities became incompatible with child rearing).


The author examines the complexity and humanity of perhaps one of the most agonizing of contemporary problems - that of terroist violence. He offers a contextualized account of the endemic conflict engaging Basque villagers both as protagonists and as spectators.


Typing notification of instant messaging APPs improves user experience during online chatting. However, frequent notification leads to high energy consumption of mobile devices. In this paper, we study the trade-off between the frequency of typing notifications for user experience and communication energy saving of mobile device. We propose adaptive typing notification mechanisms, which exploit user's typing pattern and the current network conditions to adjust notification intervals. Simulation results demonstrate the proposed schemes can significantly save energy while improving user experience.


In this paper, a comprehensive modeling and test study is presented for the dynamic behaviors of WL-CSP subjected to JEDEC drop impact. A direct non-linear transient implicit dynamic method is introduced with the non-linear dynamic material properties that include solder, the aluminum metal stacking under the UBM and the PCB copper pad. The packages mounted on PCB and under PCB are checked and discussed. The comparison of non-linear dynamic properties for solder, the aluminum metal pad under UBM and the copper pad on PCB is investigated. Then the results for dynamic properties with and without the damping effects are discussed. Then, the dynamic responses of WL-CSP for different polyimide side wall angle, thickness, different UBM geometry and different aluminum pad thickness are investigated and discussed. Finally, the drop test under JEDEC standard has been carried out. The drop test results showed that the corner joints of each corner located WL-CSP at PCB fail first as compared to the chips at other locations. The test results agree with the simulation for the failure modes and the locations.


Abstract The title complex has been prepared from Ga[GaBr4] and [2](1,4)naphthalino[2]paracyclophane in toluene as a solvent, and the crystal structure of this adduct determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure is composed of dimeric units Ga2[GaBr4]2 , which are crosslinked into sheets through Ga(I)-arene coordination. Both the benzene ring and the substituted ring of the naphthalene system are η6-bonded from the outer side of the cyclophane cage, each to an univalent metal. The benzene and the naphthalene form an interplane angle of 49.3°. The distance to the benzene ring (2.67 Å) is much shorter than the distance to the naphthalene (2.85 Å), suggesting a stronger complexation with the unperturbed π-system of the former. [2.2](l,4)Naphthalinophane forms no adduct with Ga[GaBr4], and with [2](l,5)naphthalino[2]paracyclophane secondary reactions are observed.


Imposition of low, but above freezing, temperatures resulted in a gradual increase in the cold hardiness of western red cedar seedlings. This was associated with a decrease in the maximum rates of photosynthetic CO2 fixation and O2 evolution, and changes in chlorophyll a fluorescence transients which indicated that photoinhibition had occurred. Maximum photosynthetic rates declined approximately 40% during cold hardening. The leaves changed colour from green to red-brown during the hardening process. The colour change was due to the synthesis of large amounts of the carotenoid rhodoxanthin. Lutein levels doubled, while chlorophyll declined slightly. Dehardening resulted in the rapid recovery of photosynthesis to control levels, the rapid disappearance of rhodoxanthin, and the return of lutein levels to control. It is suggested that rhodoxanthin accumulation at low temperature functions to decrease the light intensity reaching the photosynthetic apparatus. The combination of photoinhibition and rhodoxanthin synthesis probably serves to protect the photosynthetic capacity of the seedlings at low temperature.


Human colon organoids were maintained in culture medium alone or exposed to lipopolysaccharide with a combination of three pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and interferon-γ [LPS-cytokines]) to mimic the environment in the inflamed colon. Untreated organoids and those exposed to LPS-cytokines were concomitantly treated with a multimineral product that has previously been shown to improve barrier structure/function. The organoids were subjected to proteomic analysis to obtain a broad view of the protein changes induced by these interventions. In parallel, confocal fluorescence microscopy and trans-epithelial electrical resistance measurements were used to assess barrier structure/function. The LPS-cytokines altered expression of multiple proteins that influence innate immunity and promote inflammation. Most of these were unaffected by the multi-mineral intervention, though a subset of inflammation-related proteins including fibrinogen-β and -γ chains, phospholipase A2 and SPARC was down-regulated in the presence of the multi-mineral intervention; another subset of proteins with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant or antimicrobial activity was up-regulated by multi-mineral treatment. When used alone, the multi-mineral intervention strongly up-regulated proteins that contribute to barrier formation and tissue strength. Concomitant treatment with LPS-cytokines did not inhibit barrier formation in response to the multimineral intervention. Altogether, the findings suggest that mineral intervention may provide a novel approach to combating inflammation in the colon by improving barrier structure/function as well as by directly altering expression of pro-inflammatory proteins.


Vapor-liquid equilibria at 750 Torr were measured for acetaldehyde with methyl iodide. The NRTL equation was used to correlate the experimental results. There was no evidence of a binary azeotrope at high mole fractions of acetaldehyde


Abstract Although broadly utilized, computed tomography (CT) has been superseded by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the volumetric assessment of white matter (WM), grey matter (GM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the aging human brain. Nevertheless, many scenarios remain where MRI is unavailable or discouraged; furthermore, in developing countries, CT can often be the only accessible imaging method for assessing brain structure in older patients with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. Thus, there is merit in developing effective approaches for the estimation of brain volumetrics using CT. Here, MRI and CT scans were acquired from 10 older adults [mean (µ) ± standard deviation (σ) of age = 65 ± 7 yrs; 5 females]. To demarcate WM, GM and CSF from head CT, we developed a brain segmentation method based upon probabilistic, atlas-dependent classification. MRI-only segmentation was compared to CT-only segmentation; similarity was calculated through the Dice coefficient (DC). A normal distribution of DCs was found after contrasting the methods [µ ± σ across participants: 85.5% ± 4.6% (WM), 86.7% ± 5.6% (GM) and 91.3% ± 2.8% (CSF)], suggesting a satisfactory capacity of CT to assess brain volumetrics. Sensitivity was adequate: WM, GM and CSF volumes were estimated within ~5%, ~4% and ~3% of their MRI-based values. There was no indication of volume over- or under-estimation with CT [t (9) = 0.89, p > 0.80]. These results facilitate the integration of CT-based brain volumetrics with MRI, thereby offering a wider range of methods for quantifying macroscale brain changes in neurodegenerative diseases.


Abstract Radiolytic stability of pillar[5]arene-based diglycolamides (P5DGAs) against gamma irradiation up to 1000 kGy adsorbed dose was studied. The results reveal the increase of radiation damage degree on P5DGAs with dose. The radiolysis products of P5DGAs including the gaseous and solid products were fully characterized by 1H NMR, HR-ESI-MS, GC, and HPLC techniques. It was found that the main radiolytic gas products of P5DGAs under argon are H2, N2, CO and gaseous hydrocarbons. The solid degradation products contain phenolic hydroxyl groups and secondary amine groups. In addition, solvent extraction toward Eu(III) was performed with P5DGAs, in which about 50% decrease on extraction efficiency was observed for irradiated P5DGAs with dose of 1000 kGy in comparison with the non-irradiated one. A radiolytic degradation pathway was also proposed based on the above results. This is the first time to investigate the radiolytic stability of neat P5DGAs and P5DGAs in molecular diluent in detail and provides useful information for further application of P5DGAs in practical applications for spent fuel reprocessing.


Color management conditions concerning management of color accuracy in a printing apparatus (14) are set, and colorimetric values of color patches (36a through 36i) printed as color specimens by the printing apparatus (14) are acquired in association with a printing time of the color patches (32a through 32i). An execution period (RP) for a calibration process on the printing apparatus (14) is determined based on a plurality of colorimetric values, which are acquired at a plurality of printing times, and the color management conditions, which have been set.


Smart structural systems are defined as ones that demonstrate the ability to modify their characteristics and/or properties in order to respond favorably to unexpected severe loading conditions. The performance of such a task requires a set of additional components to be integrated within such systems. These components belong to three major categories, sensors, processors and actuators. It is wellknown that all structural systems entail some level of uncertainty, because of their extremely complex nature, lack of complete information, simplifications and modeling. Similarly, sensors, processors and actuators are expected to reflect a similar uncertain behavior. As it is imperative to be able to evaluate the impact of such components on the behavior of the system, it is as important to ensure, or at least evaluate, the reliability of such components. In this paper, a system model for reliability assessment of smart structural systems is outlined. The presented model is considered a necessary first step in the development of a reliability assessment algorithm for smart structural systems. The system model outlines the basic components of the system, in addition to, performance functions and inter-relations among individual components. A fault tree model is developed in order to aggregate the individual underlying component reliabilities into an overall system reliability measure. Identification of appropriate limit states for all underlying components are beyond the scope of this paper. However, it is the objective of this paper to set up the necessary framework for identifying such limit states. A sample model for a three-story single bay smart rigid frame, is developed in order to demonstrate the proposed framework.


The Mediterranean is the remnant of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Tethys ocean (about 250–35 million years ago), which bounded the ancient land masses that geologists call Laurasia and Gondwanna. As the African plate moved northward into the Eurasian plate and the mountain ranges that stretch along the southern rim of the Eurasian continent—the Alps, Dinarides, Carpathians, Taurus, Alborz, and others— were lifted up, the connections between the western part of this ocean and the Indian ocean, as well as those with the shallow sea (the Paratethys) that covered a basin reaching from north of the Alps to the area of the Aral sea, gradually narrowed and at last, about 11 million years ago, closed off. This left behind a string of inland seas, the Black, Caspian, and Aral to the east, and to the west an inland sea whose only (intermittent) connection to the world's oceans was through the narrow and relatively shallow straits of Gibraltar. What one normally understands as "the Mediterranean climate" with its relatively wet winters and dry summers does not go back to this very early date. It emerged between 7000 and 5000 years ago, around the middle of what geoscientists call the Holocene, the period since the end of the last ice age, when the Mediterranean reached its modern high stand and changes in the forest cover near its shores produced environments favorable to human agricultural and pastoral settlements (Robinson et al., 2006; Perez-Obiol et al., 2011). Nevertheless, the very early geological history is essential to understanding the broader framework within which this late-Holocene climate evolved. The shrinking of the shallow Paratethys changed the Eurasian climate from oceanic to continental conditions, with colder winters and hotter summers. At the same time, the slow closing of the connection to the Indian Ocean led to drier conditions in Anatolia, the Arabian peninsula, and North Africa. All of these set the fundamental conditions for fresh water flows into the emerging Mediterranean, just as the narrowing of the western straits set those for oceanic flows (Lionello, 2012: 18–47). They also set the conditions for the complex seasonal atmospheric flows. The mediterranean Climate


In this paper a new technique is introduced that enables the communication efficiency of CANopen networks to be increased above its current limit. In particular, significant improvements can be achieved in all those cases where the application master needs to poll whole groups of input devices or process data have to be sampled at different rates. The new mechanism does not require any modification to the hardware of CAN controllers, but only slight changes to the CANopen protocol stack. Thus, it can be implemented easily and inexpensively by simply upgrading the firmware of the existing devices.


An investigation study about environmental specialties is carried out in Shanxi University of Technology,which is aimed at developing innovative and practical talents.It explains the environmental professional practice teaching from experiment,production practice,curriculum design,graduation thesis and design etc.The article provides the methods of improving the teaching practice.


The Upper Triassic to Lower Cretaceous subsidence history of the Neuquen Basin has been investigated through a forward and reverse basin-modelling technique. Geometry of extension and ?-factor obtained in the backstripped model are not coincident with the forward model, suggesting a
complex and asymmetric subsidence pattern. The effect of a flexural load derived from the growth
of the Andean magmatic arc during the post-rift stage was added resulting in a more accurate picture of the post-rift stratigraphic evolution of the basin. We suggest that this type of subsidence history could be typical for the Mesozoic Andean marginal basins.


The composition profile and the chemical states of ZnO films deposited on InP(100) were investigated by complementary chemical characterization techniques (namely, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). To obtain oxygen-stoichiometric films, ZnO films were prepared on InP(100) by means of pulsed laser deposition using a two-stage oxygen-pressure procedure. Such a procedure, which consists in an initial growth stage where the growth of the first monolayers takes place at oxygen pressures as low as 10-5 mbar followed by a stationary growth stage at higher oxygen pressure (10-1 mbar), is revealed as suitable to keep the oxygen composition without deteriorating the crystalline quality of the ZnO films nor degrading the substrate surface. The influence of the oxygen pressure used during the stationary growth stage on the optical properties in the visible wavelength range of the deposited films is examined by specular reflectance spectroscopy....


Deployable-collapsable structures have many potential applications, ranging from emergency shelters and facilities, through relocatable semi-permanent structures, to space-station components. A new concept of self-stabilized/self-supported "clicking" structures – featuring stable, stress-free states in both deployed and collapsed forms – shows even greater promise. This article highlights the state-of-the-art in the field of deployable-collapsable structures and discusses their advantages and limitations. A unique concept of "clicking" structures is introduced, and its basic capabilities are presented and discussed. Finally future research needs are mapped out.


In this article, design modification of stator poles of conventional two-phase switched reluctance motor is proposed to achieve self-start in both directions of rotation. Stator poles are slanted in a particular direction at the pole tips. This creates a range of rotor positions where torque polarity is the same for both phases, so starting torque is available. A unique excitation scheme is also proposed to run the motor in a particular direction from any initial position. The sequence in which the two phases are excited and the duration of their first excitation decides the direction of continuous rotation. Washing machine is selected as a potential application of the proposed work. Design parameters such as input voltage, rated current, and torque-speed characteristics are investigated to suit top-load washing machines. Simulations are carried out in finite element analysis software. Relation between the slant angle of the stator pole tip and minimum starting torque is analyzed through parametric simulations. Experiments are performed on a prototype two-phase switched reluctance motor. An incremental encoder is used as a position sensor. The initial position is not known, but self-starting in both directions of rotation is achieved with the proposed excitation scheme.


Interspecies differences have limited the predictive utility of toxicology studies performed using animal species. A drug that could be a safe and effective treatment in humans could cause toxicity in animals, preventing it from being used in humans. We investigated whether the use of thymidine kinase (TK)–NOG mice with humanized livers could prevent this unfortunate outcome (i.e., "rescue" a drug for use in humans). A high dose of furosemide is known to cause severe liver toxicity in mice, but it is a safe and effective treatment in humans. We demonstrate that administration of a high dose of furosemide (200 mg/kg i.p.) causes extensive hepatotoxicity in control mice but not in humanized TK-NOG mice. This interspecies difference results from a higher rate of production of the toxicity-causing metabolite by mouse liver. Comparison of their survival curves indicated that the humanized mice were more resistant than control mice to the hepatotoxicity caused by high doses of furosemide. In this test case, humanized TK-NOG mouse studies indicate that humans could be safely treated with a high dose of furosemide.


Effect of temperature used for quenching at 890~1040 ℃ on undissolved carbides and mechanical properties of Ultrahigh-Strength steel has been investigated.The results have indicated that impact toughness of experimental steel reached peak value as content of undissolved MC-carbides is significantly decreased,and increase of lath martensite packets size did not lead to a marked decrease in strength and toughness of steel when austenitizing temperature increased to about 1010 ℃.


A critical issue in resin transfer molding (RTM) processes is air entrapment within the fiber preform during the mold filling stage, leading to undesirable material characteristics such as discontinuous properties and potential failure zones. An accurate prediction of local air entrapment locations during mold filling is an essential step toward determining processing conditions that lead to void-free filling. This study presents a numerical simulation of the infiltrating dual-scale resin flow through the fiber preform combined with the capillary effects within each fiber bundle applied to a commercially available plain weave fiber preform geometry. Air entrapment locations within the fiber preform and the resulting void quantity are predicted using the outcome of the numerical simulations. The numerical simulation results are used to understand the effects of the preform fiber bundle volume fraction and resin injection rate towards minimizing void entrapment and wasted resin during RTM processes.


Preface PART 1: TORTURE AND SEDUCTION 1. The birth of a word 2. God or the group? 3. The power of persuasion 4. Hoping to heal 5. 'I suggest, you persuade, he brainwashes' 6. Brainwashing and influence PART 2: THE TRAITOR IN YOUR SKULL 7. Our ever-changing brains 8. Webs and new worlds 9. Swept away 10. The power of stop-and-think 11. That freedom thing PART 3: FREEDOM AND CONTROL 12. Victims and predators 13. Mind factories 14. Science and nightmare 15. Taking a stand Notes References Further reading Glossary Index


1. Alzheimer's Disease: past, present and future themes 2. The neuropathology of Alzheimer's Disease 3. Molecular genetics of Alzheimer's Disease 4. The biology and molecular neuropathology of beta-amyloid protein 5. The molecular basis of tau protein pathology in Alzheimer's Disease and related neurodegenerative dementias 6. Apolipoprotein E as a risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease 7. The presenilin genes 8. Transgenic models of Alzheimer's Disease neuropathology 9. Cellular targets of amyloid beta peptide: potential roles in neuronal cell stress and toxicity 10. Reflections on Alzheimer's Disease as a specific neurotransmitter disorder 11. Clinical assessment of Alzheimer's Disease 12. Molecular and biological markers for the diagnosis and monitoring of the progression of Alzheimer's Disease 13. Alzheimer's Disease and neuroimaging 14. Current pharmacological approaches to treating Alzheimer's Disease 15. Current perspectives, future directions


In the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), speech-language pathologists (SLPs) help treat infants who have swallowing disorders, also known as dysphagia (American Speech-Language Hearing Association, n.d.). One common thickener used to assist infants during feedings is oatmeal cereal (Madhoun, Siler-Wurst, Sitaram, & Jadcheria, 2015 ; Eney, 2015). As infants in the NICU gradually progress with their ability to swallow more amounts of formula without aspiration, SLPs often keep the ratio of oatmeal per ounce (oz.) of formula equivalent as the amount of liquid per feeding session is increased (Madhoun, Siler-Wurst, Sitaram, & Jadcheria, 2015). This is done because it is thought that the thickness would be the same as prior feedings even though it is a larger amount. The following is an investigation of whether this practice is effective and if the same thickness level is truly maintained when altering the amount of liquid with the same ratio of oatmeal per fluid ounce. This concept was tested by measuring the viscosities of four different infant formula-oatmeal cereal mixtures each having 2 tablespoons (Tbsp.) of oatmeal per 1 oz. of liquid. These mixtures were 0.5 Tbsp. of oatmeal cereal mixed in 1 oz. of formula, 1 Tbsp. in 2 oz., 2 Tbsp. in 4 oz., 4 Tbsp. in 8 oz., and 8 Tbsp. in 16 oz. The viscosities were measured via a viscometer (Table 3; Graph 1) using the National Dysphagia Diet (Table 1) and the International Diet Standardisation Initiative flow test (Table 2) to determine the thickness level.


Abstract The oxyfunctionalization of n -alkanes (C6, C7, and C8) and cyclohexane over vanadium silicates (VS-2) with Si/V = 79, 122, and 161 in presence of aqueous H 2 O 2 yields corresponding alcohols and carbonyl compounds at 373 K. Unlike titanium silicates, VS-2 is able to activate the primary carbon atoms of n -alkanes, giving rise to primary alcohols and aldehydes in addition to secondary alcohols and ketones. The latter are, however, the preferred products of oxidation. The oxidative conversions and the H 2 O 2 selectivities decreased in the order, n C6 > n C7 > n C8 > cyclohexane, consistent with the decrease in the diffusivity of these alkanes in the zeolites. Solvents have considerable influence on the conversion, CH 3 CN being the most suitable. The formation of a radical-type intermediate has been confirmed by ESR spectral observations. A possible mechanism for the oxidation through a peroxo radical intermediate has been proposed.


Entropy production and Onsager symmetry in neoclassical transport processes of magnetically confined plasmas are studied in detail for general toroidal systems, including nonaxisymmetric configurations. It is found that the flux surface average of the entropy production defined from the linearized collision operator and the gyroangle‐averaged distribution function coincides with the sum of the inner products of the thermodynamic forces and the conjugate fluxes consisting of the Pfirsch–Schluter, banana‐plateau, nonaxisymmetric parts of the neoclassical radial fluxes and the parallel current. It is proved from the self‐adjointness of the linearized collision operator that the Onsager symmetry is robustly valid for the neoclassical transport equations in the cases of general toroidal plasmas consisting of electrons and multi‐species ions with arbitrary collision frequencies. It is shown that the Onsager symmetry holds whether or not the ambipolarity condition is used to reduce the number of the conjugate pa...


Wife of Yue Yanzi is one of the seventeen exemplary women in the Biographies of Women in Ancient China of Book of the Later Han. The significance of her model is to help nurture and develop her husband's talent that has left a story of good women with the core value of virtuous wife quality. From Tang legend,the artistic carriers of the spirit of virtuous wife quality started to emerge in novels. Firstly,the latter half of Li Wa Biography is full of the strong mainstream cultural tension of being a virtuous woman to encourage and assist her man to become successful and prosperous. Li Wa's continual persuading Xing Yangsheng and his eventual success has established the first type of good women in novel history. Secondly,the Ming novel Zhao Chun'er Revived Cao Village written in the style of script for telling story is the grassroot version of Li Wa legend. This piece of work faded the color of mystery and intensified the impression of realism that made it a low profile extension of Yue's wife's spirit. Thirdly,the Two Collections of the West Lake——Qiao Wa Assisted Her Husband to Success is an variant of Li Wa story. However,both the ideology and the approach that the heroine takes deviate from the track of virtuous wife quality and thus has lost the warmth as well as the healthy atmosphere invested in Li Wa and Zhao Chun'er stories. Fourthly,mode of quality of virtuous wife has not developed into a prosperous school. There is hardly any Yue's wife's reflection in Ming and Qing classics,and only fragments of quality of virtuous wife can be occasionally located in first or second class novels. Fifthly, Xue Baochai is not a stereotype of quality of virtuous wife. Although the author Cao Xueqin has labeled Xue Baochai the quality of virtuous wife,carefully examining the whole novel will clearly exclude her from Yue's wife's followers. This is not only because Xue Baochai is exceedingly rich in personality,but also because her perspective on man has reassuringly exhibited the orientation of pluralism.


We probe the high frequency emission of a carbon nanotube based Josephson junction and compare it to its dc Josephson current. The ac emission is probed by coupling the carbon nanotube to an on-chip detector (a superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction), via a coplanar waveguide resonator. The measurement of the photoassisted current of the detector gives direct access to the signal emitted by the carbon nanotube. We focus on the gate regions that exhibit Kondo features in the normal state and demonstrate that when the dc supercurrent is enhanced by the Kondo effect, the ac Josephson effect is strongly reduced. This result is compared to numerical renormalization group theory and is attributed to a transition between the singlet ground state and the doublet excited state which is enabled only when the junction is driven out-of-equilibrium by a voltage bias.


Elephant apple (Dillenia indica), a tropical, ornamental evergreen tree, is important for production of edible fruits as well as good quality timber. Its leaves, fruit and buds have long been used for medicinal purposes in India. During…


Coutts, F.J., Gehling, J.G. & García-Bellido, D.C., August 2016. How diverse were early animal communities? An example from Ediacara Conservation Park, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518 Fossils of the Ediacara biota record the earliest evidence of animal communities and, as such, provide an invaluable glimpse into the abiotic and biotic processes that helped shape the evolution of complex life on Earth. A diverse community of Ediacaran macro-organisms is preserved with high resolution in a fossil bed recently excavated from north Ediacara Conservation Park (NECP) in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Many of the commonly described Ediacaran taxa from the Flinders Ranges are represented on the bed surface and include: Parvancorina, Rugoconites, Spriggina, Dickinsonia, Tribrachidium, Kimberella, Charniodiscus and Yorgia, including two new taxa. Numerous additional fossil-bed fragments from the same locality were analysed that preserve a similar suite of taxa and shared sedimentology. On all surfaces, preserved microbial mat appeared complex, both in topography and in texture, and the unique combination of fine grainsize, high diversity and trace fossils provide insights into the palaeoecology of the ancient organisms that lived during the Ediacaran Period some 550 Ma. Several trace fossils are overlapped by body fossils, indicative of successive events, and complex organismal behaviour. The complexity of this fossil surface suggests that the primordial community was relatively mature and possibly at late-stage succession. Felicity J Coutts [email@example.com], School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000, South Australia, Australia. James G Gehling [firstname.lastname@example.com], South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia. Diego C. García-Bellido [email@example.com], South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.


The pandemic caused by COVID-19 deepened the economic and social discrepancies throughout the world, especially in developing countries that presented severe difficulties in controlling and combating the virus, such as Brazil. It resulted in an increasing number of people in situations of social vulnerability. The fashion industry has suffered harsh consequences due to the confrontation and combat of the coronavirus. This article describes how a sustainable fashion company guided by the Ecodesign strategy can offer more equity and social cohesion to women in vulnerable situations. Through this perspective, companies could collaborate to reintegrate these women into remote working activities, recovering their self-esteem and supporting local culture. This article aims to share the identified barriers and highlight recommendations for companies that seek to contribute socially with artisans in situations of social vulnerability. This research concludes by proposing design guidelines, resulting from the application of the Design Science method and oriented to services for sustainability to create or adapt services during and after the pandemic, aiming at a better balance between equity and social cohesion for local community groups.


Objective To evaluate the curative effect of cold phacoemulsification with fold intraocular lens implantation on cataract following previous trabeculectomy,and analyze the changes of refraction postoperatively.Methods Phacoemulsification with fold intraocular lens implantation was performed in 38 cases(38 eyes)with cataract following previous trabeculectomy(group 1)and 46 cases(54 eyes)with senile cataract(group 2).The refraction was examined by photokeratometer,morphology by corneal topography and eyesight by computer optometry uni,the changes of corneal refraction were examined at 1 day,7 days,14 days,30 days postoperatively,and the results of which were analyzed and compared in two groups.Results The eyesight at 1 day,7 days,14 days,30 days postoperatively in two groups were higher than that before surgery(P0.05,t=4.252).The astigmatism before and after surgery in group 1 were-0.11~-1.89 D,average(-0.86±0.38)D preoperatively and-0.12~-1.56 D,average(-0.68±0.35)D postoperatively;That in group 2 were-0.15~-1.96 D,average(-0.75±0.35)D preoperatively and-0.12~-1.45 D,average(-0.58±0.26)D postoperatively;There was no significant difference between two groups on astigmatism postoperatively(P0.05;X2=1.324).The changes of spherical equivalent refraction on(0.20±0.14)D from 1 week to 2 weeks was 90% in group 1 and 40% in group 2.Conclusion Patient regains sooner with cold phacoemulsificationon,and 1.6mm micro-incision surgery cause less developed astigmatism and eyesight improve faster than conventional 3mm phacoemulsification.As a conclusion,micro-incision surgery is a safe and practicable method.However,the treatment should be strengthened with anti-inflammatory treatment.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus for switching the page. The method comprising: creating a script by loading the page number of contiguous virtual pages, and displayed on the touch screen; acquisition contact locations of the virtual pages in the display; displaying in the touch screen according to the position of the contacts virtual pages turning processing. The apparatus comprising: a virtual page module configured to create a plurality of contiguous virtual pages by loading the page script, and displayed on the touch screen; acquisition means for acquiring a contact position of the virtual page is displayed; and a processing module , page turning processing for the virtual page displayed on the touchscreen according to the contact position. According to the present invention enables cross-browser platform.


In this paper, we consider the existence and multiplicity for second‐order nonlinear impulsive differential equations with Dirichlet boundary condition and a parameter. By using critical point theory, we give some new criteria to guarantee that the impulsive problem has at least one solution or infinitely many solutions, assuming that the impulsive functions satisfy the superlinear growth condition and the parameter inequality is reverse. Our results extend and improve some recent results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Recent advances in materials science and engineering have enabled the fabrication of structural materials with enhanced functionalities. One of those is self-sensing, where the material is engineered to transduce deformations into measurable or observable changes. Such self-sensing capability can be leveraged to automate the nondestructive evaluation process of structural components, also known as structural health monitoring. This back-to-basics paper provides a tutorial on self-sensing materials that can be used for nondestructive evaluation, with a particular focus on those based on resistance and capacitance measurement principles. The electromechanical principles used in fabricating self-sensing materials are reviewed for both resistanceand capacitance-based self-sensing materials. After, two example materials are discussed in more details, namely a self-sensing concrete based on electrical resistance, and a self-sensing carbon fiber reinforced polymer based on electrical capacitance. The article concludes with the example of a system-level application consisting of a masonry building equipped with smart bricks, with a focus on linking signal to damage discovery and condition assessment.


[Objective] The research aimed to provide the theoretical basis for scientific fertilization of Jujube soil in Yanan area of north Shaanxi Province. [Method]Soil microbes,soil nutrient and soil pH in different Jujube planting life orchards were measured and the correlation of the soil microbes,soil nutrient and soil pH was analyzed. [Result]The numbers of microbes in microbial groups differed on some level,which was shown as bacteria actinomycetes fungi,and the numbers of microbes in different Jujube planting life orchards differed on some level,which could be shown as medium-age orchard old-age orchard young orchard. The correlation analysis among the soil microbes,the soil nutrient and the soil pH made a conclusion that the soil microbes correlated with organic matter,available N,available P,available K,available Fe and available Mo positively. The correlation between the soil bacteria number and the soil organic matter and available N was significant at 0. 01 level,so the number of actinomycetes and the soil available K,and the correlation between the number of fungi and the soil organic matter and available K was significant at 0. 05 level. These three microorganism groups showed a negative correlation with pH.[Conclusion]Reducing the soil pH and increasing the soil nutrients could increase the number of soil microorganisms of Jujube orchards in Yanan area and improve the ecological environment of soil microbes.


PVD and electroplating methods are used to produce functional and decorative layers. While frequently only one of these methods is preferred to produce functional layers, both coating techniques are often viewed as rivalling in the decorative layer area featuring wear and corrosion resistant properties. The combination of both methods offers an interesting potential for development to meet the constantly rising technical requirements on surface quality.


In the practical application of wireless power transfer (WPT), the identification of the secondary coil and the analysis of the space magnetic field of the coil will affect the matching scheme of the coil, which will further affect the performance of energy transmission. At present, the establishment of the coil space magnetic field model mainly adopts the finite element method (FEM). The accuracy of the results is limited by the computer performance and the specific settings during calculation, which usually takes a long time. Additionally, it can only analyze and establish the space magnetic field of the coil with specific parameters. Especially when the coil structure and parameters change, it is difficult to quickly establish the spatial magnetic field. This paper presents a secondary side coil identification method of a wireless charging system based on the magnetic field cloud image characteristics. The image feature extraction algorithm is used to extract features of a certain height magnetic field cloud image of an unknown structure type coil obtained by FEM. Further, by matching with the characteristics of the magnetic field cloud image of the known coil, the identification of the unknown coil structure type is realized. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method is verified by an example. This algorithm is helpful to extract the characteristics of the coil space magnetic field, and can establish coil space magnetic field models with different structure types and different coil parameters combined with deep learning to guide the matching scheme of the primary and secondary coils, and realize efficient energy transmission.


BACKGROUND: Neuroinflammation is an important secondary injury mechanism that contributes to neurological impairments after traumatic brain injury (TBI). There is a robust evidence that neuroinflammation will diminish neurogenesis after TBI. Therefore, strategies to attenuate the inflammatory responses are potential to increase neurogenesis following TBI. Minocycline, a second-generation tetracycline antibiotic derivate, has potent anti-inflammatory effect by reducing microglial activation and suppressing some pro-inflammatory cytokines.
AIM: The aim of this study is to investigate if minocycline could enhance neurogenesis after TBI.
METHODS: Thirty Sprague Dawley rats were randomized into three treatments group, i.e., sham-operated controls, closed head injury (CHI), and CHI with minocycline. We used the modified Feeney's weight-drop model for making CHI. For the treatment group, we gave minocycline per oral (50 mg/kg) twice daily for the first 2 days followed by 25 mg/kg once daily for 3 consecutive days. Animals were sacrificed on day 5. To assess the proliferation capacity of neural stem cells (NSC), we performed immunohistochemistry staining with SOX2, brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), and NFR. Cell counts were carried out using light microscope with 1000 times magnification in 20 high-power fields.
RESULTS: SOX2, NF-E2-related factor 2 (NRF-2), and BDNF were upregulated in the CHI group compared to the sham-operated group (p < 0.05). NRF-2, BDNF, and SOX2 were upregulated also significantly in the CHI+ minocycline group compared to the sham-operated group and the CHI group (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Minocycline increased the proliferation capacity of NSC.


The death of Princess Charlotte the line of succession "A melancholy childhood" the Kensington system Victoria Regina the reign begins the coronation court scandals and political crises recovering control the royal wedding public roles and domestic tensions Albert's search for power the royal progress among the whigs and tories domestic life keeping a watch on the realm the Great Exhibition the Crimean War and the Indian mutiny affairs of the family the death of Albert.


Background: There is no consensus regarding the optimal timing of anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) and its clinical importance. Here, we compared the rate of the pre-reconstruction meniscus and cartilage injury, also the knee function, between the early ACLR (within six months of injury) and late ACLR (after six months of the injury). Methods: Retrospectively, 192 patients with an ACL tear who underwent ACLR within six months of injury (n=53) or after six months of injury (n=132) were included. Autograft bone patellar tendon bone was used as the graft choice. The rate of pre-reconstruction meniscal injury and chondral damage (Outerbridge classification) was compared between the two groups. The knee function, evaluated in the last follow-up using the Lysholm knee scale, was also compared. Results: The mean time from injury to surgery was 3.9±1.3 mo in the early group and 8.8±2.3 mo in the late group The pre-reconstruction meniscal injury was detected in 24 (45.3%) patients in the early ACLR group and 93 (66.9%) patients in the late ACLR group (P=0.006). Pre-reconstruction chondral damage was detected in six (11.3%) patients of the early ACLR group and 32 (23%) patients of the late ACLR group (P=0.049). The mean Lysholm knee scale was 86.7±6 (range 82-92) in the early ACLR group and 81.9±4.4 (range 80-84) in the late ACLR group (P<0.001). Conclusion: The higher rate of pre-reconstruction meniscal and chondral damage and lower functional score in the late ACLR group suggests avoiding ACLR delay more than six months after the injury. Level of Evidence: IV.


It presents a method for predicting the user input to the mobile terminal. Mobile terminal generates a raw user input data record containing the input to the mobile terminal (210). Context data record is added to the raw user input data record (220), both are stored (230). To identify a repeating pattern of user input, by another process, processing the records contained in the raw user input database (240). Identified pattern is stored in the recognized input pattern database (250). Next, the mobile terminal monitors the current input is compared with the repetitive patterns stored in the current input recognized input pattern database. When the current input and repeating pattern matches within the specified tolerance range, the mobile terminal is to allow to terminate the data input process in the mobile terminal, prompting the user (260, 280).


3 With the progress in digital broadcasting, products that make it possible to use internet services on television receivers, often referred to as "connected TVs" or "smart TVs", have appeared. Integrated Broadcast-Broadband (IBB) systems are also being standardized, Hybridcast, which is one of the IBB systems, began in Japan in 2013, and many TVs can now be connected to the internet. Smartphones are now also being widely used as mobile devices for connecting to the internet to obtain information and watch videos as well as for personal communication. As a result, there have been many attempts at creating various types of services that involve the interworking of TV receivers, which feature the simultaneous delivery of information to large numbers of people, and smartphones, which are used as personal devices in everyday activities. Here, we describe "device linking technology" that achieves the interworking between TV receivers and smartphones.


The Large Hadron Collider at CERN is the most modern proton-proton collider and data taking will start in 2009, with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The ATLAS detector, which is one of two multi-purpose detectors at the Large Hadron Collider, is able to detect a Standard Model Higgs boson if it exists. This is one of the main tasks of the ATLAS experiment. This thesis deals with a Standard Model Higgs boson produced in association with a W boson. The Monte Carlo study is based on physics events generated at the nominal centre-of-mass energy of the Large Hadron Collider of 14 TeV.
Large parts of this analysis have been done using the global Grid infrastructure of the Large Hadron Collider experiments. A mass range of the Higgs boson of mH = 130 - 190 GeV has been taken into account. In this mass range,
the Higgs boson dominantly decays into a pair of W bosons, leading to initially three W bosons: WH -> WWW. Two orthogonal analysis channels have been investigated in detailed studies of the background properties.
The first channel considers the leptonic decay of two W bosons, such that the leptons are of opposite charge. The third W boson then decays hadronically. The analysis is based on one-dimensional cuts, where the best cuts found are strict cuts on the transverse momenta of the leptons, a cut on the invariant mass of the jets, as well as a cut on the transverse jet momenta and the missing transverse
energy.
The second decay channel studied is dedicated to the leptonic decay of all three W bosons. Again, cuts on the transverse momenta of the leptons and the
jets have been proven to be efficient, as well as the use of the spatial correlation of the decay products of the Higgs boson. The invariant mass of the leptons with opposite sign has been emerged as a very efficient cut to reject dominant diboson background contributions.
The discovery reach of both channels separately as well as the combination has been calculated using Bayesian methods. The discovery reach is at maximum
for a mass range of mH = 150 - 170 GeV, with a peak for mH = 170 GeV at
5 sigma. All results are scaled to an integrated luminosity of L = 30 fb^-1, which corresponds to approximately three years of data-taking at the design luminosity of 10^33 cm^-2 s^-1. The associated WH production improves the discovery reach for a Standard Model Higgs boson at the ATLAS detector and would also be useful for precision measurements of the couplings of the Higgs boson.


ABSTRACT Extracellular vesicles (EVs) can modulate microenvironments by transferring biomolecules, including RNAs and proteins derived from releasing cells, to target cells. To understand the molecular mechanisms maintaining the neural stem cell (NSC) niche through EVs, a new transgenic (Tg) rat strain that can release human CD63-GFP-expressing EVs from the NSCs was established. Human CD63-GFP expression was controlled under the rat Sox2 promoter (Sox2/human CD63-GFP), and it was expressed in undifferentiated fetal brains. GFP signals were specifically observed in in vitro cultured NSCs obtained from embryonic brains of the Tg rats. We also demonstrated that embryonic NSC (eNSC)-derived EVs were labelled by human CD63-GFP. Furthermore, when we examined the transfer of EVs, eNSC-derived EVs were found to be incorporated into astrocytes and eNSCs, thus implying an EV-mediated communication between different cell types around NSCs. This new Sox2/human CD63-GFP Tg rat strain should provide resources to analyse the cell-to-cell communication via EVs in NSC microenvironments. Summary: We generated a new transgenic rat model expressing CD63-GFP driven by the Sox2 promoter, which enables the tracking and analysis of neural stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles.


It is difficult to enhance the blue or purple luminescence efficiency of organic light-emitting devices (shortened as OLEDs) for practice display applications. In this article, aluminum nano particles (Al-NPs) were inserted into the light-tight TmPyPb electron transporting layer (ETL) of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/TAPC/BCzVBi:BCPO/TmPyPb/Liq/Al OLEDs, in which BCzVBi can emit deep-blue fluorescent lights, with the attempts to overcome the above deficiency through the local surface plasmon polariton(LSPP) effects excited in Al-NPs at more higher resonance frequencies by the luminescence radiations from BCzVBi. The distances of Al-NPs away from BCzVBi:BCPO fluorescent layer were chosen as x=4, 8, 12 nm. The morphology observation by atom force microscope and scan electron microscope showed that the Al film with thickness of 1 nm deposited at room temperature by vacuum heat evaporate is composed of separated Al grains (therefore, called as Al-NPs) with sizes at a 10 nm scale. Inserting these Al-NPs into the TmPyPb ETL, both the current density and luminance at the same voltage decreased relative to reference devices(ones without Al-NPs, namely) due to the worsened carrier mobility. However, the decreases of current density and luminance both got better at x=8 nm. This may be attributed to that the fluorescence quenching strongly occurs at x < 8 nm, and on the other hand, the local surface plasmon polariton over weakens at x > 8 nm due to attenuated radiations from BCzVBi. At x=8 nm, the voltage (9 V) to obtain maximum luminance was the same as that for the reference devices, but the maximum luminance itself deceased from 4200 Cd· m-2 to 3500 Cd· m-2. However, the current density also decreased from 335.19 mA·cm-2 to 145.71 mA·cm-2. This conversely resulted in a promising great increase of current efficiency from 0.88 Cd·A-1 to 2.36 Cd·A-1. Subsequently, the external quantum efficiency(EQE) enhanced 170%, while the efficiency roll off ratio also reduced 61% with a decrease from 78% to 30.5%. At a high current density of 270 mA·cm-2, EQE enhanced 66.5%. The coupling between fluorescence excitation state and local surface plasmon polariton is determined by the overlapping of fluorescence emitting peak and plasmon resonance peak. As aluminum has a number density of free electron (18.1×1022 cm-3), much larger than that for the other normally used metals (such as gold and silver), its spectrum of local surface plasmon polariton can enough cover the fluorescence wavelength range of BCzVBi. These research results strongly imply that the luminescence efficiency of deep-blue OLEDs can be turn better by LSPP excited in Al-NPs at higher resonance frequencies.


Feature selection (FS) can increase the accuracy of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) prediction from multiple satellite data and identify important predictors, but the role of FS in AGB estimation has not received sufficient attention. Here, we aimed to quantify the degree to which FS can benefit forest AGB prediction. To this end, we extracted a series of features from Landsat, Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), and climatic and topographical information, and evaluated the performance of four state-of-the-art FS methods in selecting predictive features and improving the estimation accuracy with selected features. We then proposed an ensemble FS method that takes inro account the stability of an individual FS algorithm with respect to different training datasets used; the heterogeneity or diversity of different FS methods; the correlations between features and forest AGB; and the multicollinearity between the selected features. We further investigated the performance of the proposed stability-heterogeneity-correlation-based ensemble (SHCE) method for AGB estimation. The results showed that selected features by SHCE provided a more accurate prediction of forest AGB than existing state-of-the-art FS methods, with R2 = 0.66 ± 0.01, RMSE = 14.35 ± 0.12 Mg ha−1, MAE = 9.34 ± 0.09 Mg ha−1, and bias = 1.67 ± 0.11 Mg ha−1 at 90 m resolution. Boruta yielded comparable prediction accuracy of forest AGB, but could not identify the importance of features, which led to a slightly greater bias than the proposed SHCE method. SHCE not only ranked selected features by importance but provided feature subsets that enabled accurate AGB prediction. Moreover, SHCE provides a flexible framework to combine FS results, which will be crucial in many scenarios, particularly the wide-area mapping of land-surface parameters from various satellite datasets.


INTRODUCTION Spectral D-type asteroids are characterized by dark, redsloped, and featureless (FL) spectra in the visible and near-infrared wavelengths, and are thought to be composed of rocks rich in organic compounds. The Martian two satellites, Phobos and Deimos, resemble spectrally D-type asteroids, suggesting that their origins are by capture of asteroids formed in the heliocentric distance beyond the Mars' orbit, while we need to explain how they were captured and evolved into near-circular and equatorial orbits around the Mars [e.g. 1]. An alternative explanation is that the two satellites originated from accumulation in a disc of debris orbiting around the Mars that were ejected by a giant impact of a protoplanet [e.g. 2-4]. Although recent numerical simulations have reproduced the current orbits of Phobos and Deimos [3,4], it remains unclear how to explain the D-type spectra in the giant impact scenario. In addition, while Phobos possesses the red and blue units that are spectrally different in the visible and near infrared wavelengths, there is no information about the difference in composition between the two units [5,6]. This issue can be solved by determining what kind of materials the Martian satellites are composed of. To examine this issue, we focus on the Earth's Moon, rather than the Martian moons, because many of the FL spectra identified on the lunar surface resemble D-type spectra [7]. In this study, we demonstrate how the lunar FL spectra resemble D-type spectra, and then discuss a possibility that the spectral features of D-type bodies including Phobos and Deimos can be due to anorthosites affected by space weathering. COMPARISON BETWEEN LUNAR FL SPECTRA AND D-TYPE SPECTRA The global distribution of the lunar FL spectra has been revealed by data mining analysis based on the hyperspectral data obtained by the Spectral Profiler (SP) onboard the lunar mission SELENE/Kaguya [7]. Some of the lunar FL spectra are similar to those of D-type asteroids, Phobos, and Deimos. Fig. 1(a) shows an example of the lunar FL spectra, which is similar to a spectrum of the inner main-belt D-type asteroid [8], both in its featurelessness and spectral slope. For the lunar FL, the maximum absorption depths dmax within the range λ = 0.75– 3.0


Mutation testing is a white box testing technique, this technique can be automated at several steps of the mutation testing process. But the execution time is one of the limitations that researchers on mutation testing are interested in solving. In our project, we plan to develop a mutation testing framework for the Lustre language, which is popularly used for reactive systems. In our previous studies, we have proposed a set of mutation operators for Lustre programs, and an automatic mutation tool to generate first-order and higher-order mutants. However, the performance of the tool is a bit low when generating mutants for Lustre programs. In this paper, we focus on improving the mutant generation by implementing multi-threading technique. The experimentation shows that the approach saves execution time.


ABSTRACT China-U.S. trade imbalance is one of the most complex macroeconomic issues. Based on the data from 1992 to 2020, we combine a two-period consumption decision-making theory and use the SVAR model to explore the reason and mechanism of the China-U.S. trade imbalance. We find that the difference in comparative advantages of service trade is an important reason for the China-U.S. trade imbalance, and the difference in consumption rate is an important mechanism. Furthermore, we support these arguments with the stylized facts of China's bilateral trade imbalance with other G20 countries. These findings may be a more reasonable explanation for the long-term existence of the huge China-U.S. trade imbalance.


Factual background On 13 October 2000 the municipality council adopted decision No 187 "Concerning the Establishment of a Fund to Support Producers of Agriculture Products". The decision provided…


Over the past ten years, a subfield of GIScience has been recognized that addresses the linkage between human thought regarding geographical space, and the mechanisms for implementing these concepts in computational models. This research area has developed an identity through a series of successful international conferences and the establishment of a journal. It has also been complemented through community activities such as international standardization efforts and GIS interoperability. Historically, much of the advancement in computational methods has occurred at or close to the implementation level, as exemplified by attention to the development of spatial access methods. Significant progress has been made at the levels of spatial data models and spatial query languages, although we note the lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework comparable to the relational data model in database management systems. The difficult problems that need future research efforts are at the highly abstract level of cap...


The evolution of technology and the introduction of Web 2.0 not only have changed the way communication takes place on the Internet, but it also has impacted business conduct in most industries around the world. The financial sector is no exception. Malaysia's number one bank, Maybank has set a benchmark to Malaysia's banking scene in terms of its commitment to evolve in sync with the rapidly growing digital environment by gradually introducing digital platforms for its customers to perform banking transactions. At the same time, Maybank embraced social media as part of its communication strategy in engaging with its customers. However, engagement particularly via digital platforms is complicated due to its vast customers from a variety of backgrounds-namely the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y, Millennials, and Gen Z. Each of these generations experience digital differently as these consumers were born before, during or after the digital age. Hence for this research, the participants were categorized either as a Digital Immigrant or digital Native. This research utilized an in-depth interview to explore from both standpoints-the Digital Natives and digital Immigrants on Maybank's customers' perception on the more recent digital banking platforms and the use of social media for communication and promotion platforms utilized by Maybank. Overall, both Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants feel positive about the use of digital platforms for financial transactions, although there were some complications in making sense of the more recent applications introduced by the bank. These complications can be linked to the lack of information to explain the new application. From the findings, these customers have positive acceptance of information conveyed via social media platforms. However, both Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants recommended the necessity for mass media to be included in future communication campaigns for better reach and credibility.


To the Editor.— I read Dr Houston's discussion on high altitude sickness (236:2193, 1976) with a great deal of interest. It has always occurred to me whenever reading articles about high altitude sickness that the clue to the origin of this condition lies in its name—altitude (that is, diminished barometric pressure). Human beings living at sea level have their bodies shaped and compressed somewhat by sea level barometric pressure. However, when one ascends, the intracellular and extracellular volume expands slightly because there is less external pressure to maintain their former volumes. The resulting diminished pulse pressure in the renal arteries associated with the relative hypovolemia causes the juxtaglomerular apparatus to activate the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone mechanism, thereby causing fluid retention. Hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension and other hypoxic cellular changes in combination with fluid retention may be enough to cause increased vascular permeability, which in turn causes acute mountain sickness, high altitude pulmonary edema,


The paper deals with the calculation of the roller and ball bearing capacitances by analytical and finite element methods 2D and 3D. The central lubricant thickness and the contact Hertz'ian area are calculated using the EHD theory. Two equivalent circuits are tested for EDM current prediction in big induction motors, one which uses the measured bearing voltage and another, which uses the measured line-to-earth voltage. The results are compared with measurements. A method to evaluate the bearing resistance by measurements after breakdown is proposed.


The analysis of influence of temperature of natural gas in the pipeline on its volume by means of the equation of a condition of ideal gas is considered.


Uniform design and Least Square Support Vector Machines(LS-SVM) were applied to optimize design parameters of capacitance tomography sensors in this paper.Experiments were performed with uniform design:the spatial sensitivity distribution was taken as the performance parameter,and four key parameters:the radian of electrodes,the permittivity of insulating pipe material,the thickness of pipe wall and the distance between earthed screen and electrodes were used as experimental factors.LS-SVM was used to establish the regression model based on the experimental results.Then,a set of optimum parameters was obtained from the regression model by the factor rotation method.Simulation results indicate that the presented method in this paper can find a set of optimal parameters for capacitance tomography sensors efficiently and effectively.


Chipless deep hole machining by using plastic deformation created by friction heat not only saves materials, but also has high performance. The thermal analysis of friction heat deep hole forming is one of the key technology problems. Using LSDYNA software to build coupling model of cylindrical drill and spherical drill based on dynamic two sliding friction pair thermal structure, the temperature field and thermal stress field of the model was derived respectively. The temperature gradually decreases from the outside of contact surface to the center during the friction process, further more the spherical drill meets the requirements of deep hole forming due to the spherical drill centralized force. Friction creates heat and achieves a certain temperature which will provide the foundation for further studying deep hole machining process.


Bullying constitutes a significant threat to the mental, social and physical wellbeing of school children. As an old phenomenon and worldwide problem, it has defied several efforts to curb it. This study examined the effects of contingency management and cognitive self-instruction on bullying behaviour among secondary school students in Ogun state, Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of bullies in public secondaiy schools in Ogun state. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select three schools and purposive sampling was used to select the participants. The study adopted a3x2x2 pre-test and post test experimental research design consisting of two treatment groups and one control group. Adolescent Peer Relation Inventory (APRI) was the instrument used for data collection and a total number of one hundred and fourteen students participated. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to analyse the three hypotheses formulated at the 0.05 level of significance. Results revealed a significant effect of cognitive self-instruction, contingency management and control on bullying behaviour (F^sub 2^, 101 = 6.444: p 0.05) and age(F^sub (1,101)^ = 2.081; p > 0.05) individually did not affect bullying behaviour. Based on these findings, it was recommended that psychologists, counsellors, parents, teachers and social workers should use these treatment packages in controlling bullying behaviour among secondary schools students. Also .the government should sponsor seminars/workshops for school counsellors and educational psychologists on how to use cognitive self-instruction and contingency management techniques in controlling bullying behaviour.Keywords: Cognitive Self-Instruction, Contingency Management, home setting, religion affliation and Bullying behaviourViolence cuts across generations, it affects every segment of the society and it is particularly common among school-going adolescents. Peer victimization as an important aspect of school violence which makes the students to be fearful of school and inhibits their learning potentials. It is a serious problem for school age children and for which they receive limited adult help. (Ehindero, 2010)In Nigeria, peer victimization among students seems to have attracted little or no attention from researchers probably because it is not seen as a serious social or educational problem. Traditionally, there is the tendency to regard peer victimization as a normal part of childhood experience which Nigerian children must learn to tolerate as part of the process of growing up (Obidi, 1990). However, in recent times, there has been a growing concern for the increasing level of student unrest, sexual victimization, violence and cultism in Nigerian schools. The dimensions which these problems have assumed and the inherent danger which they portend for the educational development of the nation make it expedient for educational researchers to investigate the phenomenon of peer victimization, which many believe set a pattern for other anti-social behaviour. The manifestation of the bullying has been prominent in Nigerian schools especially in the secondaiy school in the form of harassment and intimidation. Schools are claimed to be the safe place for children. Despite these claims, recent school violence has contributed to the perception that few places are safe anymore. Peer victimization at school can have significant impact on the young people, affecting their mental health, academic achievement, and overall socialization and adaptation. (Agnes, Asagwara & Ibu, 2009) .Religious bullying treating people badly because of their religious background or beliefs, saying bad things about a religious background or belief, calling someone names or telling jokes based on his or her religious beliefs.Within the past few decades, aggressive behavior among students has been an important issue for both researchers and policy makers. …


Rapid, on‐site, quantitative assessments of dissolved polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were demonstrated for two field applications. The platform, a KinExA Inline Sensor (Sapidyne Instruments), employed the monoclonal anti‐PAH antibody, 7B2.3, which has specificity for 3‐ to 5‐ring PAHs. A spatial study was conducted near a dredging site where contaminated sediments were being removed, and a temporal study was performed during a rainfall event. Most importantly, the generation of near real‐time data guided management decisions in the field and determined proper sampling protocols for conventional analyses. The method was able to determine PAH concentrations as low as 0.3 µg/L, within 10 min of sample acquisition, and to assess 80+ samples (not including standards and blanks) in less than 3 d. These results were compared with a laboratory‐based gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method in which a wide array of PAHs, including alkylated homologs, were examined. This system shows great promise as a field instrument for the rapid monitoring of PAH pollution. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011; 30:1557–1563. © 2011 SETAC


Due to concern over climate change, there is an increasing desire to limit new carbon dioxide emissions and to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Specific efforts include taxing carbon emissions, capping carbon emissions and selling emissions allowances, and rewarding activities that avoid new carbon emissions or that capture and store carbon from the atmosphere. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a relatively new product that enables mass timber construction to replace traditional construction materials in mid-to-high-rise buildings. Wood materials offer substantial "carbon benefits" by storing carbon in the product and by avoiding the large amounts of new carbon emissions associated with the use of fossil carbon-intensive material options (e.g., concrete and steel). In this analysis, we propose that the carbon benefits of mass timber construction could be valued as a carbon offset, much in the same way that the carbon savings of building a wind farm or solar power plant are currently being marketed for avoiding fossil-fuel electricity generation, or how additional forest growth is being sold as carbon storage. Using a range of carbon prices, we calculate the potential carbon offset values of some mass timber construction projects located in the United States. The estimated total carbon benefit, including avoided emissions and carbon storage in wood materials from those mass timber construction projects, averaged 0.38 tCO 2 e/m 2 of floor space, representing carbon values for projects ranging into the millions of dollars. Future trends in carbon prices will greatly affect the practical implications of any carbon offset program for mass timber construction.


The present invention relates to derivatives of N-methyl-N - [(1S) -1-phenyl-2 - ((3S) -3-hydroxypyrrolidine-1-yl) ethyl] -2,2- diphenylacetamide with covalently bound acids and the salts, solvates and prodrugs thereof, which are derivatives as pharmaceuticals, the use of these derivatives for the manufacture of a medicament, the use of these derivatives for preparing a pharmaceutical composition, to a process for preparing said pharmaceutical compositions, to pharmaceutical compositions obtainable by this method, and a method of treating diseases comprising the administration of said pharmaceutical composition.


Background: Ghana reported the first COVID-19 cases on 12 March 2020. Response actions were rolled out along seven thematic pillars to limit the importation, detect and contain the virus, effectively manage cases, ensure effective coordination and maintain essential services. A whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach was adopted for the response. The government instituted restriction measures at various stages of the response to contain the pandemic or limit the impact of the pandemic on the health, social and economic wellbeing of the citizens. Four distinct transmission waves were recorded within the first 2 years of the pandemic. The study examined the key drivers of the major waves. Methods: A descriptive analysis of the pandemic from March 2020 to March 2022 was conducted using data reported through the countrys COVID-19 surveillance platforms. All RT-PCR confirmed cases reported from the 16 administrative regions over the two-year period were analysed. The effective reproduction number was computed using a model developed by Cori and colleagues. Results: A total of 160,761 cases with 99.1% (159,227) recoveries or discharges were reported as of 12 March 2022. The Greater Accra Region reported 56.3% of the confirmed cases. Within the period, 1,445 deaths (CFR= 0.9%) were reported. Approximately 2.3 million tests (76,774 per million population) tests were conducted with a cumulative test positivity rate of 6.8%. COVID-19 vaccination was enrolled a year after the first cases were reported and 21.3% of the target population was fully vaccinated as of 12 March 2022. Ghana recorded four major COVID-19 transmission waves characterized mainly by variants of concern and sub-optimal adherence to the public health and social measures. Conclusion: Scaling up and enhancing community acceptance of COVID-19 vaccination as well optimising the current surveillance and response systems are essential is sustaining the current gains and limiting the emergence of new variants of concern.


Three barriers identified in this response to Corcoran's article preclude a mandated right to effective treatment for persons with mental illness: current lack of any federally mandated right to treatment, deinstitionalization that reduced supervision, and refusing or discontinuing medication—options easily available to the outpatient. The latter two make determining effec tiveness especially difficult.


The study sought to investigate the effect of human resource management practices on the performance of employees in the energy Sector in Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine how recruitment and selection, training and development, reward and compensation and employee engagement affects the performance of employees in the energy sector in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population was a total of 644 employees selected from the respective headquarters of the various agencies within the energy sector in Kenya. The employees were drawn from various Nairobi head office of these agencies. The study applied stratified random sampling technique to select 240 respondents as the sample size for the study. Questionnaires were used as the main data collection instruments and a pilot study was conducted to pretest the questionnaire's reliability. In addition, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze the gathered data and the results were presented on tables, charts and graphs. The major findings of the study revealed that all the independent variables (recruitment and selection practices, HR training and development practices, reward and compensation and employee engagement) had a positive and significant influence on employees' performance among agencies in energy sector in Kenya. The study concluded that agencies in energy sector in Kenya adopted recruitment and selection practices, HR training and development practices, reward and compensation and finally employee engagements practices that enhanced the performance of their employees. The findings of this study revealed that recruitment and selection practices, HR training and development practices, reward and compensation practices and finally employees' engagement practices significantly influence employee performance. This study therefore recommends that state authorities such as Public Service Commission through relevant directorate should formulate policies to ensure that all state agencies and institutions have relevant human resources management practices that ensure high employee performance.


Primary synovial sarcoma (PSS) of the kidney is a rare entity. Since morphologic differentiation from other tumors like metastatic sarcoma, sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma, retroperitoneal liposarcoma may be difficult, other diagnostic modalities like immunohistochemistry, cytogenetic & advanced molecular analyses need to be employed. Despite its rarity & non specific presentation, pathologist and clinicians should consider synovial sarcoma in the differential diagnosis of renal masses for the proper management of patients, especially when histopathological examination shows malignant spindle cell neoplasm of kidney.


Atrial fibrillation (AF) continues to represent a global health challenge. Our ability to prolong our lives has inevitably led to an increase in the incidence of AF, with subsequent increase in AF-related hospitalisations. With at least 92% of the global population having access to a digital telecommunication medium, virtual wards could be the way forward for managing acute AF patients.

 We implemented a virtual ward for hospital patients presenting with fast AF or atrial flutter (AFL), aiming to provide remote hospital-level care.

 Patients presenting acutely with AF/AFL to the hospital were onboarded to the virtual ward and managed remotely at home, after being given access to a single-lead ECG device, a blood pressure monitor and pulse oximeter with instructions to record daily ECGs, blood pressure, oxygen saturations and to complete an online AF symptom questionnaire via a smartphone app. Data were uploaded to a digital platform for daily review by the clinical team. Admissions were either "step-up", where patients were onboarded to the virtual ward instead of hospitalisation, or "step-down" where early hospital discharge was facilitated through virtual ward support. Outcomes included hospitalisations avoided, bed-days saved and destination therapy plans (defined as electrical cardioversion, catheter ablation, or AV nodal ablation). Patients' satisfaction was assessed using the NHS Friends and Family test (FFT) and free-text narrative feedback.

 There were 118 virtual admissions between Jan 2022 – Jan 2023. Sixty-six (55%) of them avoided initial hospital admission as patients were directly enrolled to the virtual ward from outpatient settings. A further 61 re-admissions were appropriately prevented during virtual surveillance. Hence, avoiding a total of 127 unplanned hospitalisations, saving a median of 444 days (assuming a median hospital stay of 3.5 days per AF admission). The mean age on onboarding to the virtual ward was 66 ± 10 years. Mean HR at the time of onboarding and offboarding was 124 ± 22 and 84 ± 24 bpm respectively (P<0.0001; 95% CI= -47 to -34). A rhythm control strategy was pursued in 75% (n=88, P<0.0001), and 65% (n=75, P<0.0001) were referred for destination therapy. The FFT questionnaire yielded 100% positive responses among participants. Positive feedback themes focused on avoiding hospital stay and active participation in care plans, whilst the main negative comments addressed initial difficulty with technology and expressed the need for more instant communication. There were 5 unplanned discharges from the virtual ward requiring hospitalisation.

 Our preliminary outcomes demonstrate a promising foundation for a reproducible model of healthcare delivery that provides an alternative to the traditional in-patient care for patients with AF. Thus, reducing the huge associated economic burden on healthcare without compromising on patients' care or safety.AF virtual ward referral criteriaThe new Clinical Pathway


This work addresses the robust control of processes of the form G(s)=K·e−τ·s/(1+T·sλ) with 1<λ≤2. A new method for tuning fractional-order PI and PD controllers is developed. The stability is assessed based on the frequency domain tuning of the regulators to control such delayed fractional-order underdamped processes. In order to analyze the closed-loop stability and robustness, the new concept of Robust High-Frequency Condition is introduced. The analysis based on that demonstrates that each controller has a different region of feasible frequency specifications, and, in all cases, they depend on their fractional integral or derivative actions. Finally, an application example, the position control of a teleoperated manipulator with a flexible link, is presented. Simulations and experiments illustrate that the region of feasible frequency specifications defined at low and high frequencies allows us to obtain robust controllers that fulfill frequency requirements.


In February 1982 a wild mountain goat (Oreamnos amenicanus) near Newha!en, Washington, was observed to be weak and disoriented. Two days later it died and was submitted frozen to the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory. At necropsy, the 6-yr-old male goat weighed approximately 35 kg and was extremely emaciated. A fleshy mass, approximately 4 x 18 x 4 cm was attached to the broad base of the palate, slightly more on the left side than the right (Fig. 1). The mass was covered by intact epithelium and the cut surface glistened and oozed pale yellow fluid. Samples of the mass sank in 10% buffered formalin. Some distortion of cheek teeth, especially the lower arcades (Fig. 2) was associated with the mass. Histologically, sections of the mass were edged by intact, partially keratinized squamous epithelium. The majority of each sectional area was composed of loosely arranged sheets of small spindleshaped cells with abundant, eosinophi!ic fibril!ar cytoplasm (Fig. 3). The stromal component was also fibrillar, and eosinophilic. Vessels within the stroma were sparse, and varied from muscular arteries to capillaries. Inflammatory cells were conspicuously absent. The tissue changes were consistent with a well-differentiated fibroma. A representative paraffin-embedded block of the fibroma was deposited in the Registry of Comparative Pathology, Armed Forces Institute of


A simple foraging model is used to investigate patch selection of Leptopilina heterotoma, a parasitoid of Drosophila larvae, in the field. The model assumes that patches only vary with respect to host species present and encounter rates of parasitoids and hosts. It predicts that L. heterotoma should visit patches consisting of decaying stinkhorn mushrooms. This prediction is insensitive to values of model parameters and assumptions. However, field data show that L. heterotoma females rarely visit stinkhorn patches. This leads us to consider predation risk and interspecific competition on all patch types in the field. Predation was never observed, and generalist predators did not prey on our parasitoids. We hypothesise that L. heterotoma females avoid visiting stinkhorn patches because another, closely related, parasitoid species (Leptopilina clavipes) is often present on these patches. Subsequent experiments show that L. heterotoma females can recognise odours emanating from patches where adult L. clavipes females are present, and that they avoid visiting these patches. We show that L. clavipes is the superior competitor. Hence, by refraining to visit patches with L. clavipes, L. heterotoma females avoid strong interspecific competition. When interspecific competition is included in the model, predictions closely match field observations, indicating that avoidance of competition is an important factor for patch selection by L. heterotoma.