On Friday and Saturday o f next week Mask and Dagger, New Hamp shire's dramatic society, will present " Grumpy," its first play of the year, at the Community House. The play is a melodramatic comedy by T. W. Percival and Stanley Hodges. It was produced in Glasgow, Scotland, and played for four years in England and America. It was first brought here by Cyril Maude, the originator o f the part, and it has also been done in the movies with Theodore Roberts as the leading player. The plot o f the play is concerned with the theft o f a valuable diamond by a society crook, and much o f the interest is derived from the battle o f wits between the crook and the old criminal lawyer fo r its recovery. The play abounds in dramatic and humorous situations, centering around the irritable, bad tempered, storming, but lovable character, Andrew Bullivant. Melville Taylor takes this stellar part and will be supported by a cast including Catherine Grady, Valmore Balfour, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Pascoe, A . L. Gaskins, H ar old MacDonald, Gladys Harris, Eleanor Hunter, and several others. The staging o f the production w ill be in charge o f Elroy Chase, Louis Viola, Glenroy Handy, and Joseph Horne. The coaching and general supervision o f the play is under the direction o f Professor W . G. Hennessy. Tickets for the play are on sale at the College Pharmacy. The price of admission w ill be 50 cents.


As nations undergo radical transformation in every quarter of the world, we have a greater need than ever before to re-examine the sources of strength and weakness in our political, social and economic institutions. This book explores fundamental questions of wealth and poverty, of freedom and responsibility, and traces our ideas about them to their sources in Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Judeo-Christian tradition. Novak shows how an understanding of these sources can liberate human potential for creativity, reinvigorate our institutions and lay the foundations for economic progress. Special attention is given to the roots of Latin America's problems of debt, capital flight, and poverty in its religious and philosophical outlook.


The crystallization process of the Fe 91 Zr 9 amorphous alloy has been followed by means of two experimental techniques, EXAFS and Mossbauer spectroscopy. X-ray absorption spectra on Fe K-edge and Mossbauer spectra of six samples with different degrees of crystallization have been measured at room temperature in order to obtain information about the structural changes that take place. From the beginning of the crystallization process it is clearly seen that a crystalline phase with a bcc-type structure appears. From the obtained data we can conclude that this phase is nearly pure bcc-Fe, with small amount of impurities in its structure.


Using data from the population-based West Midlands Regional Children's Tumour Registry, we examined the incidence of childhood leukaemia over a 35 year period. Between 1957 and 1991, 1421 cases of childhood leukaemia arose in the West Midlands Health Authority Region. In that period the age-standardised incidence rate increased significantly from 29 cases/million/year in 1957 to 46 in 1991 (p<O.OOl). Annual rates increased significantly prior to 1971 and thereafter remained constant.


In order to research the benthic algae within the coverage of offshore 50m wide of Gouqi Island,on the one hand we acquired echo samples around Gouqi Island by BioSoics DT-X.On the other hand,we predicted the benthic algae coverage by inverse distance weight(IDW) interpolation for non-sampled area.This method which combines echo sounding and interpolation is economic and high-efficient.The results of the study show that benthic algae around Gouqi Island are distributed patchily.Interpolation makes up for the shortcoming that echo sampling cannot cover to reveal the total resources in the entire research range.While,"Closer in Space,more Similar in Coverage Degree" is the specific character of IDW interpolation,this fits well with the patchily growing benthic algae to predict benthic algae resource.When given a perfect power exponent,the IDW interpolation can predict and assess the distribution of benthic algae effectively,in this research the most suitable power exponent is p=5.Now,the applications of Echo Sounding and Interpolation in assessing benthic algae resource are at the very beginning,even more,most of them are conducted in calm lakes and rivers and only a few similar studies have been done in the ocean environment.At the present stage,deeper research is much needed.This paper digs and develops the application characteristics while conducting Echo Sounding and Interpolation Method to assess the benthic algae resources in complicated ocean environment.


Currently, around 34 million people worldwide suffer from atrial fibrillation (AF), with the number projected to double by 2060. Despite the treatment of AF has been significantly improved during the recent years, AF is still associated with an increased risk of severe complications such as systemic thromboembolism, progression of heart failure, stroke, and myocardial infarction. Due to a high risk of disability and mortality, AF represent a major socioeconomic problem for the healthcare in most countries, also because of related financial costs. Obesity, most often represented by metabolic syndrome, is widely recognized as an epidemic of the XXI century. Here we review the features of AF development in patients with metabolic syndrome, suggesting novel avenues for the primary prevention of AF.


Objective To provide the theoretical basis for artificially breeding of bustard, the ultrastructures of the proventriculus and the gizzard of bustard were studied. Method The ultrathin sections were observed under transmission electron microscope. Results There were various size of vacuoles around nucleus and a lot of dark granules about 0\^2~0\^8?μm in diameter in the apical cytoplasm of the columnar epithelium of the mucosa. The epithelium of the inner cavity of papilla consisted of the columnar mucous cells with a dense flat nucleus were occupied with a lot of mucin granules. The proventricular glandular epithelium can be divided into two types based on the differences between the shape of nucleus and structural features of mitochondria. Many granules occupied the apical cytoplasm and a spherical or oval nucleus located in the basal region of the gizzard glandular cell. Two cell types can be differentiated on the basis of the structure of secretive granules, homogeneous and fibrous. The secretion of both types of cells participated in formation of the keratin lining. The ultrastructure of the lining varied from basal region of gizzard gland to the mucosal surface. Conclusion These results suggested that the bustard possess much stronger digestive capability.


Previous research and development trends in the application of computers to mental health care are briefly reviewed. The problem of clinician acceptance is noted. Predictions about future developments are stated. Present development is discussed in light of these predictions.


Aims: Various methods are used in the evaluation of spasticity, which is common in Cerebral Palsy (CP). However, studies
measuring upper extremity spasticity with Surface Electromyography (sEMG) were found to be insufficient in children with
CP. In this study, the comparison of Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) and sEMG measurements for bilateral upper extremity
spasticity in children with Hemiparetic CP was aimed.
Methods: 33 (11.03 ± 3.82 years, 11F-2M) patients with hemiparetic CP and 32 healthy controls (10.31± 2.88 years, 16F-16M) with a similar mean age were included in the study.
Results: Upper extremity spasticities of both sides of the cases were evaluated with MAS and SEMG. Affected side MAS results were found to be higher than the unaffected side (p<0.05). The mean sEMG value of the wrist flexors was lower on the affected side during voluntary contraction and higher during voluntary relaxation (p<0.05). In addition, the maximum percentage of voluntary contraction was measured higher on the affected side (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Spasticity, as assessed by sEMG and MAS, was increased on the affected side. MAS and sEMG give consistent
results. These results show us that the YEMG method can be used for spasticity measurements. It is considered that MAS would be a preferable method in evaluating spasticity owing to the fact that it is easy to use and it does not constitute extra costs.


Objective
To explore the relationship between sputum eosinophils count (EOS) and lung function, fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentration in children with bronchial asthma (asthma).

Methods
A total of 113 children with asthma in Hainan Women and Children′s Medical Center from October 2016 to December 2018 was retrospectively enrolled in the observation group.Meanwhile, 50 healthy children who had physical examination in Hainan Women and Children′s Medical Center in the same period were assigned into the control group.The induced sputum EOS, forced expiratory volume in one second as a percentage of expected value (FEV1%pred) and FeNO levels of two groups were detected and analyzed.

Results
The level of induced sputum EOS and FeNO in the observation group was significantly higher than that of in the control group (t=11.921, 17.081, both P<0.05). And the FEV1%pred of the observation group was much lower than that of in the control group (t=18.673, P<0.05). To further analyze the data of children with asthma, a positive correlation between FeNO and sputum EOS was observed (r=0.265, P=0.005), but there was no correlation between FEV1%pred and sputum EOS (r=0.158, P=0.093).

Conclusions
In children with asthma, there is a positive correlation between FeNO and sputum EOS, but no correlation between FEV1%pred and sputum EOS.

Key words:
Asthma; Child; Induced sputum eosinophils; Lung function; Fractional exhaled nitric oxide concentration


The present invention includes a plurality of forming the fluid flow by the bridge, or by forming a fluid supply and exhaust unit double-wall structure of the electrode support, the current distribution and gas distribution is more easily a tubular solid oxide fuel cells between the core and the outer wall of the electrode support relate to. The tubular solid oxide fuel cells, the electrode support of the inner core tube of the structure associated with the outer wall by a plurality of bridge and; A fluid flow portion and between the core and the outer wall of the electrode support is formed by a plurality of said bridges; An electrolyte layer coated on the outer surface of the electrode and the support; It characterized by comprising an electrode formed on the outer surface of the electrolyte layer. In addition, the tubular solid oxide fuel cell of the above-described double-wall structure, the interior of the core tube of the electrode support structure associated with the outer wall by a plurality of bridges; Fluid supply portion being bored through to the central core of the electrode and the support; Wherein the electrode support between the core and the outer wall is formed by a plurality of the bridge, a fluid discharge part in which the fluid supply from the fluid supply and discharge; An electrolyte layer coated on the outer surface of the electrode and the support; It characterized by comprising an electrode that is formed on the outer surface of the electrolyte layer. The tubular solid oxide fuel cell, a bridge


The purpose of this document is to gather together both fundamental information on copper and on the cleaning and operation of copper in RF gun structures. While incomplete, this is a living document and will be added to and updated as necessary.


This paper proposes Gswitch, a pattern-based algorithmic auto-tuning system that dynamically switches between optimization variants with negligible overhead. Its novelty lies in a small set of algorithmic patterns that allow for the configurable assembly of variants of the algorithm. The fast transition of Gswitch is based on a machine learning model trained using 644 real graphs. Moreover, Gswitch provides a simple programming interface that conceals low-level tuning details from the user. We evaluate Gswitch on typical graph algorithms (BFS, CC, PR, SSSP, and BC) using Nvidia Kepler and Pascal GPUs. The results show that Gswitch runs up to 10× faster than the best configuration of the state-of-the-art programmable GPU-based graph processing libraries on 10 representative graphs. Gswitch outperforms Gunrock on 92.4% cases of 644 graphs which is the largest dataset evaluation reported to date.


I n considering the relationship between marijuana use during pregnancy and the effects on human offspring, the investigator cannot help but be impressed by the paucity of objective information available. This lack of a body of scientific data is surprising for a number of reasons, among which is that marijuana has played a role in countless societies around the world for thousands of years' and, today, is not limited to a select (either in terms of numbers or in terms of reproductive risk) few women of reproductive age. The extent of marijuana use by pregnant women has been examined by several investigators. Boston City Hospital inner city respondents reported usage between 10% to 2O%.',s In a relatively low-risk population at the Yale-New Haven Hospital, 4 it was estimated that 10% of the women delivering used marijuana during pregnancy. Among another low-risk home delivery population in California, 13% reported use of marijuana during pregnancy5 and in the Seattle, Washington area the rate was 16%.6 In Ottawa, Canada, usage information was gathered from a middle-class sample' who volunteered to take part in a study described in detail later in this report. When interviewed during pregnancy and asked about prepregnancy habits, 80% of the women reported that in the year before pregnancy they did not use any marijuana, 12% used it irregularly, 3% smoked two to five joints per week, and 5% smoked on at least a daily basis. On recognition of pregnancy, usage declined significantly, but remained relatively constant during each of the trimesters, with 6%


Objective:Intractable heart failrue was treated with large dosage of milk vetch injection.Method:59 cases were randomly divided into two groups,that is 30 cases of the treatment group and 29 cases of the control group.Results:Two group's apparent rate and total effect rate are both very different( P 0.01).Conclusion:The effect of large dosage of milk vetch injection in treatment of intractable heart failure is satisfied.


Programs for prevention and early intervention in the management of mimosa, Mimosa pigra L., may be developed for a country, state, province, region, district, catchment or for an individual farm. In establishing a program, knowledge of the climatic regions suitable for mimosa, its favoured habitats, the vectors that enable spread, the long-term dormancy of seeds, growth rate, and reproductive pattern enables predictions to be made of the areas most at risk from invasion. Processes to prevent entry of mimosa, and preparedness for early intervention, can then be targeted at areas of high risk, whilst maintaining some vigilance in areas of lower risk. Preventing the movement of seed is imperative to avoid the development of new infestations. Stopping the large-scale movement of seed on floodwaters is difficult, but the transport of seed by people, vehicles, equipment, animals, fodder, soil and other vectors can be prevented. There needs to be a commitment to minimise contamination by mimosa seed in the first place, and vigilance to ensure that items are clean before transporting them to uninfested areas.


Stanton Glantz and colleagues analyzed previously secret tobacco industry documents and peer-reviewed published results of Philip Morris' Project MIX about research on cigarette additives, and show that this research on the use of cigarette additives cannot be taken at face value.


To advance the RBV we propose separation of necessary and additional conditions for the expression of SCA. We argue that there are only two necessary conditions, namely uncertainty and immobility and that all other conditions are additional. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


SYNOPSIS. A medium containing sodium and potassium chloride, phosphate buffer, glucose, calf serum, hemoglobin and lactalbumin hydrolysate permits some growth and differentiation of crithidiae into the metacyclic forms of Trypanosoma cruzi. The addition of ox liver infusion greatly enhances the growth promoting properties of this medium while making it very poor as far as differentiation is concerned. With dog heart infusion instead of ox liver, the medium is still good for growth but not much better for differentiation. If, however, the pH of the dog heart infusion medium is lowered from 7.2 to 6.7, it continues to be good for growth and becomes excellent for differentiation.

Other factors were studied that stimulate or repress the rate of differentiation, such as preincubation at certain levels of temperature and the size and age of inocula.


Fe2O3@OMC (ordered mesoporous carbon) is synthesized using Fe-MOFs (metal-organic frameworks). The Fe2O3@OMC pore size is mostly concentrated at approximately 2–4 nm. Compared to traditional OMC or carbonized Fe-MOFs, Fe2O3@OMC demonstrates a higher capacity (the capacity remains at 1176.6 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles under a current density of 0.1 A g−1) and a longer cycle life. The first cycle capacity of Fe2O3@OMC is ultrahigh at 2448.6 mAh g−1, and the reversible capacity is 1294.1 mAh g−1. Fe2O3@OMC maintains a good performance under current densities of 0.1 A g−1, 0.2 A g−1, 0.5 A g−1, 1 A g−1, 2 A g−1, and 5 A g−1, with electric capacities of 1100.8 mAh g−1, 1017.6 mAh g−1, 849.3 mAh g−1, 690.7 mAh g−1, 506.7 mAh g−1, and 272.1 mAh g−1, respectively. Thus, the material has good rate performance. Combining iron oxide and MOFs is helpful to improve the capacity performance.


An effective protocol for plant generation was developed from young stem segments of C.intermedia aseptic seeds.The results showed that the most suitable medium for inducing adventitious buds was MS+TDZ 0.1 mg/L+NAA 0.02 mg/L+sugar 30.0 g/L+agar 9 g/L,and the adventitious buds induction is up to 220% after 46 days cultivation.Regenerated buds grew strongly on MS+BA 0.2 mg/L+NAA 0.4 mg/L+sugar 30.0 g/L+agar 9 g/L.The rooting rate was 85% in the rooting medium 1/2MS+IAA 0.5 mg/L+sugar 30.0 g/L+agar 9 g/L after 40 days cultivation.The suitable proportion of transplanting medium(mixed turfy soil plus perlite)was 4∶1,and in which the transplanting survival rate of plantlets was 80%.


Values! Both citizens and professionals keep considering and discussing them now more than ever. The document "Library for Citizens. An Essential Part of the Finnish Know-how: The Way Forward for Public Libraries 2016– 20201" was produced by the Council of Public Libraries, a voluntary co-operation body of Finnish public libraries. Overall, the new strategy of Finnish Public Libraries reflects the ongoing changes in society by turning the challenges into opportunities in library practices, such as the new interest in reading, support for social integration, promoting innovation and providing a learning environment and a public working room. Openness is about the ability to provide access to all, in other words everyman's culture.


Abstract A method for analyzing the linear relationship field is presented. The empirical orthogonal function technique is utilized directly on the field of time cross-correlation coefficients between two meteorological fields, rather than on the time variation of a spatial meterological field itself, as in the usual approach. A set of eigenvectors and their corresponding amplitude coefficients is obtained for each eigenvalue. The eigenvector is dependent on the spatial characteristics of the first meteorological field and the amplitude coefficient on the spatial characteristics of the other meteorological field. Because the method maximizes areas of high linear relationship on each of the corresponding grids of the original fields' dominant modes, the areas of significant relationship can be isolated in terms of the explained mean-square correlation. The technique is illustrated on the zero-lag cross-correlation field between monthly mean Northern Hemisphere sea-level pressure and United States temperatu...


THE mere disappearance of lizards in winter has been called hibernation. If we assume that inherent in any definition of hibernation is some physiological change to aid in the animals' survival over the winter, then the question arises whether the term is properly applied to lizards. Their retreat may be merely a behavioral response for the selection of a favorable microclimate to enable them to survive the winter. The term "hibernation" will be used in its old loose sense in this paper, but an attempt will be made to determine whether the use of the term is correct according to the above definition. Potter and Glass (1931) made measurements of the 02 consumption and CO2


Abstract Green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus) held at 24–27 C hatched in 35–55 h at total lengths (TL) of 3.5 to 3.7 mm and swam up by 145 h when about 6 mm TL. The eyes were pigmented when the fish exceeded 4 mm TL, and the number of melanophores on the body increased thereafter. Melanophores on the head were present in the protolarvae (5.0–5.1 mm TL) and were important in separating green sunfish from other Lepomis spp. Pectoral fin buds were present at hatching and all fins were distinguishable by 16 days after fertilization; however, adult meristic counts were not present until 22 days after fertilization. Green sunfish had more preanal (13) and fewer postanal (15) myomeres than other larval Lepomis spp. Green sunfish had a supra-anal melanophore and a singly looped, S-shaped intestine common to most Lepomis spp.


Background Lupus is a heterogeneous autoimmune disease characterized by anti-RNA-binding protein autoantibodies and high circulating levels of interferon. The disease is more prevalent and more severe in African-Americans as compared to European-Americans. Objectives We aimed to explore how IFN-related gene expression pathways differ in patients according to their ancestry and anti-RBP profile. Methods Whole blood from 33 female SLE patients and 16 matched controls from EA and AA ancestral backgrounds was analyzed through Affymetrix gene expression arrays, and the data were further studied through Ingenuity Pathways Analysis for canonical pathway comparison. An independent replication cohort of more than 100 SLE patient samples and 30 controls was used to test the hypotheses generated by the microarray data, using qPCR to quantify gene expression. Results Both EA and AA patients with positive anti-RBP (RBP+) showed involvement of IFN-related canonical pathways including IFN Signaling (P = 5.8 x 10-11 and 1.3 x 10-7 respectively), and a number of pattern recognition receptor pathways. All of these pathways were also involved in EA patients with negative anti-RBP (RBP-) but they were completely absent in AA patients with RBP-. The microarray results were confirmed by a replication study through qPCR on 3 IFN-inducible genes, IFIT1, MX1 and PKR. Conclusions Our data show that IFN-induced gene expression is completely dependent on the presence of autoantibodies in AA SLE patients but not in EA patients. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared


The article presents the results of studying the influence of the parameters of a glow discharge in a non-self-sustaining mode on the degree of inhomogeneity of the generated plasma inside an elongated hollow cathode with a length of 300 mm and an inner diameter of a cavity of 25 mm, at a glow discharge voltage of up to 250 V and at a pressure of up to 1 Pa.


The vast majority of patients want to know more about their condition, the treatment and the prognosis. The fact that the second most searched for topics (after sex) on the Internet are medical supports this proposition. Some patients are inhibited from asking questions of their surgeon by a combination of factors that may include fear of wasting the doctor's time, fear of appearing ignorant or ill informed, and simply not thinking of questions at the time that they have the opportunity to ask them. Some ask their GP as an alternative to asking the specialist.


Spherical microphone arrays are a powerful tool for sound field analysis. In previous work, we have shown that sparse recovery can be used to arbitrarily increase the resolution of the sound field recorded by a spherical microphone array. Because these super-resolution techniques rely on the assumption that the sound field results from a few dominant plane waves, they are not robust to the presence of noise or reverberation. In this paper we propose a simple method to separate the sound field into a directional component and a diffuse component prior to applying sparse recovery techniques. Simulations show that this pre-processing could dramatically improve the results of sparse recovery in noisy or reverberant environments.


The international arms trade constitutes an important factor that shapes global security system. For many countries, greater international control over export sales is essential to strengthen international stability. The article identifies and analizes main control and regulation instruments in international arms trade: arms embargoes imposed by the UN Security Council; the UN Register of Conventional Arms; informal regimes through the example Wassenaar Arrangement; regional regimes through the example of the European Union regulations; national regulations on arms export. It also describes international efforts to create legally-binding arms trade regime with global scope. Their main goal is a treaty that requires strong national laws against the selling and brokering of illegal arms deals.


Ethanol production in Brazil started in the early 1930s due to laws created by the Brazilian government. However, ethanol production only increased significantly with the National Program of Ethanol implementation in 1975. This program was another action taken by the Brazilian government aiming to provide conditions for the development of the ethanol industry in the country. With the program, it was possible to achieve significant progress; however, it finished in the mid-1980s. Currently, ethanol is produced on a large scale by more than 300 sugarcane mills all over the country. In 2016, the Brazilian government provided another incentive for ethanol production by creating the RenovaBio Program, which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Besides the environmental aspect, Brazil's ethanol industry needs to develop to supply future biofuel demand. According to the forecast provided in this paper, and considering technical, economic, and environmental aspects regarding the Brazilian ethanol industry, the current and only feedstock used is likely to be insufficient. Thus, the ethanol produced from corn would be an attractive secondary feedstock to complement sugarcane ethanol as the primary feedstock.


compared their ratings of 0-10 (0[no symptom, 10[high symptom) of pain, pressure, discomfort and urgency and their correlations, to discover group differences between IC/BPS and OAB patients. RESULTS: Among IC/BPS patients, their mean numeric ratings of pain, pressure, or discomfort were almost identical (6.2 2.3, 6.0 2.1 and 6.6 2.5 respectively). In addition, the three-way correlations between pain, pressure, or discomfort were very strong (all >0.77). The correlation between pain and discomfort ratings was extremely high at 0.95, suggesting that IC/BPS patients interpreted pain and discomfort as similar concepts and rated their intensity nearly identical. Among OAB patients, the correlations between pain and urgency (0.21) and between pressure and urgency (0.26) were very weak. The correlation between discomfort and urgency was moderate (0.45). OAB patients could distinguish urinary urgency from pain and pressure, but urgency and discomfort symptoms were less clear. CONCLUSIONS: IC/BPS patients interpreted bladder pain, pressure, or discomfort as the similar concepts and rated their intensity similarly. The concurrent use of three descriptors pain, pressure, or discomfort is reductant among IC/BPS. Bladder pain separated OAB from IC/BPS better than pressure or discomfort. OAB patients can distinguish urinary urgency from pain and pressure, but this is less clear cut between urgency and discomfort.


In situ monitoring of mass change was performed during electrochemical growth and redox cycling of a conducting polymer(polypyrrole) on a quartz crystal microbalance. For the polypyrrole films grown with large polymeric anions(poly(4-styrenesulfonate) and polyvinylsulfonate), mostly cations and solvent molecules were inserted and removed to compensate charge in polypyrrole. The films formed with medium-sized anions (tosylate) showed both apparent anion and cation motion during the redox process. The films prepared in the presence of small anions (ClO 4 − and BF 4 − ) showed mostly anion motion, but apparent cation motion also became significant for higher oxidation and/or reduction state


We report on monolithically integrated 50×50 digital silicon photonic switches with MEMS actuation, sub-microsecond switching time, low optical insertion loss (<;9.6dB), high extinction ratio (50dB), broadband operation (1400-1700nm), and compact footprint (7.6×7.6mm2).


Abstract : Measurements at room temperature of the mobility and longitudinal diffusion coefficient have been made for low energy mass-identified potassium ions and positive and negative oxygen ions in oxygen gas in a drift tube mass spectrometer. The zero-field reduced mobilities of K(+) and O2(+) were found to be 2.68 plus or minus 0.11 and 2.24 plus or minus 0.09 sq cm/V sec, respectively. O(-), O2(-), and O3(-) were determined to have zero-field reduced mobilities. The zero-field reduced mobility of O4(+) was determined to be close to that of O2(+) and the mobility of O4(-) was shown to be similar to that for O2(-). The longitudinal diffusion coefficients were measured for O2(+), K(+), O(-), and O2(-) in O2. The longitudinal diffusion coefficients of all investigated ionic species at low E/N were at least within 16 per cent of the values predicted from the mobilities by the Einstein Relation. At higher E/N the coefficients increased, in some cases quite rapidly, as E/N was increased. (Author)


The clinical benefits of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA‐ECMO) for profound cardiogenic shock are well known. However, peripheral VA‐ECMO increases the left ventricular afterload, thus compromising myocardial recovery. Recent studies have revealed the benefit of left ventricular unloading using various methods applied at different times. The EARLY‐UNLOAD trial compares the clinical outcomes of early left ventricular unloading and conventional approach after VA‐ECMO.


We describe an inductive procedure for automatically parsing syllable sequences in speech annotations into Time Groups (TGs) based on deceleration and acceleration measures, rather than predefined units from the prosodic hierarchy. The effect of different minimal duration difference thresholds (MDDTs) on the size and relation of these TGs to different grammatical units, e.g. `word', `phrase', `sentence', is examined. The relative syllable isochrony in TGs is also determined with the nPVI measure. We found several non-trivial effects, demonstrating the plausibility of the methodology: (a) a stepwise, non-continuous relation between MDDT increases and number of induced TGs; (b) correspondence of induced TGs to sizes and ranks of grammatical units; (c) better correspondence with shorter phrasal units in the acceleration condition and longer discourse units in the deceleration condition; (d) comparability of relative isochrony using syllabic nPVI with the vocalic nPVI results from previous studies.


In this article, a new method for predicting efficiency maps of electric motor drives is proposed using deep learning (DL). Since many operating points need to be simulated using finite-element (FE) analysis to estimate the efficiency map of a single motor drive topology with certain geometry dimensions and materials, incorporating the whole efficiency map into the design optimization process is an overwhelmingly time-consuming task and may be impossible, depending on the availability of computational resources. Therefore, two DL network architectures are employed in this work to quickly and accurately predict efficiency maps. In the first architecture, the two important stages of efficiency map calculations, i.e., the flux linkage maps and the torque–speed envelopes, are replaced by a combination of recurrent and feedforward neural networks to account for geometric and operating point variations. For the second architecture, an end-to-end DL model was trained to predict the same efficiency maps. The output of the proposed methods has a good match with that of the FE solution, indicating a high prediction accuracy as well as low run-time useful for design and optimization problems.


Supply chain network design decisions are among the strategic decisions of supply chain management which play significant role on the efficient performance of the supply chain. However, there are two challenging factors which may have great impact on the supply chain performance. These factors are on the one hand disruptions and their attendant damages and on the other hand uncertain nature of business-as-usual parameters. Therefore, the supply chain being designed should be reliable against disruptions as well as should be robust under business-as-usual uncertainty. This paper proposes a new robust fuzzy-probabilistic programming model for designing a reliable multi-period supply chain network which can cope with the two challenging factors, simultaneously. At first, in order to design a reliable model, by taking into account two types of facilities, that are fail able and non-fail able against probabilistic disruptions, a hard worst case approach is employed. Then to deal with business-as-usual uncertainty a robust fuzzy programming is developed. Flexible constraints of customers and determining the optimum level of satisfying these constraints is also considered in the model. Furthermore, to incorporate the concept of reliability in the problem and to cover the important features of real life supply chains, uncertain partial disruption and constraints of expected delivery time of customers are taken into account in the model. Finally, an industrial case study related to a manufacturer engaged in the healthcare system of Iran is applied to demonstrate the effectiveness and the applicability of the developed model.


The present study describes the development of a new rapid, efficient and reproducible RP-HPLC method using gradient mobile phase for the analysis of Codeine phosphate, Chlorpheniramine maleate and Sodium benzoate preservative in
combination in cough syrup that offers certain advantages in its simplicity and time saving and applicable in routine analysis. It also describes the development of validation work as per ICH Q2B guidelines recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States.A new method of analysis is developed for identification and quantification of Codeine phosphate, Chlorpheniramine maleate drugs and Sodium benzoate preservative by RP-HPLC method. The sample preparation is simple and the analysis
time is short. The analytical procedure is validated as per ICH Q2B guidelines and shown to be accurate, precise and specific. This method represents a fast analytical procedure for the simultaneous quantitation of Codeine phosphate, Chlorpheniramine maleate and Sodium benzoate. The method is amenable to the routine analysis of large numbers of samples with good precision and accuracy.


The present study describes the result of the application of a novel optical flow visualization method called background-oriented schlieren (BOS) for understanding the evolution of shockwaves generated by cylindrical explosives, in particular, a pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) pellet with mass of 0.501g, diameter of 7.63mm, and length of 7.53 mm. The experiment was performed to demonstrate the advantages of BOS for the visualization of shockwaves inside a heavily sealed chamber without any installed optics including schlieren mirrors. In this case, the chamber used was a cocoon-shaped steel wall of approximately 5m in diameter, 10m in height, and 0.525m in wall thickness. From outside the chamber through an observation window, a propagating shockwave was recorded by a high-speed video camera capable of capturing 50,000 frames per second, and visualized by BOS with random-dot pattern as a background. Numerical analysis with the commercial-hydro code ANSYS AUTODYN was performed to validate the diffraction angle reconstructed by BOS. The histories of propagated shockwaves of radii up to approximately 0.5m revealed that the strong jet of the detonation-product gas discharged along the length-axis of the explosive drove the distorted shockwave, even at 30 times of the explosive's length. The value of the diffraction angle behind the shock front agreed well between experimental and numerical analysis. The present study has successfully shown that BOS is a suitable method for visualizing explosion related fluid phenomena inside a sealed chamber.


The article refers to different moments of the development of the Cuban economic model, the background of the reform of 2010 and its systematization. The changes that took place, the measures, norms and principles that support them, which can be of interest for teaching purposes as well as for research. The centrality of the enterprise system in the implementation and its display.The reorganization of labor and the forms of non-state employment. The role of self-employment in the reorganization of labor and the need to consider in the juridical area the rights and duties of those employed by others among enterprises of production and service and the self-employed workers. The non-agricultural cooperatives as a form of social production. Key Words: economic model, enterprise improvement, enterprise system, non-agricultural cooperatives, self-employment work.


Author(s): CHARLES T. DRISCOLL, GREGORY B. LAWRENCE, ARTHUR J. BULGER, THOMAS J. BUTLER, CHRISTOPHER S. CRONAN, CHRISTOPHER EAGAR, KATHLEEN F. LAMBERT, GENE E. LIKENS, JOHN L. STODDARD, and KATHLEEN C. WEATHERS Source: BioScience, Vol. 52, No. 1 (January 2002), p. 6 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Institute of Biological Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1641/00063568%282002%29052%5B0006%3ARFDAC%5D2.0.CO%3B2 . Accessed: 10/12/2013 12:32


To compare effects and cost‐effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) and watchful waiting in women with pelvic organ prolapse.


The undergraduate laboratory sequence in mechanical engineering (ME) at Mississippi State University (MSU) begins with ME 3701—Experimental Orientation, a one-hour laboratory focusing on engineering measurements, instrumentation, and modern data acquisition (DAQ) systems. Instruction and student projects in ME at MSU concerning modern DAQ systems have changed considerably in past five years. One driving force in changing the DAQ instruction is the departmental requirement of student laptop ownership. Modern DAQ systems are currently introduced using National Instruments, Inc., PCMCIA data acquisition cards and DAQ signal accessories hosted by the students' laptops. Using the students' laptops with department owned PCMCIA DAQ cards has eliminated the need for large DAQ laboratories, has increased handson DAQ instruction, and has allowed expanded use of DAQ systems in ME 3701 and the other undergraduate laboratories. With the experience gained in the undergraduate laboratories, current graduate students are using their own laptops and the PCMCIA cards (on a check-out basis) to perform research. The history of DAQ instruction in ME at MSU, the current DAQ instructional methods, and benefits of the current ME 3701 pedagogy to the other ME laboratories and graduate instruction are detailed.


This study examined branch diameter, number of whorls, and number of branches in the lower 2 m of the stems of white spruce growing in pure stands and in mixture with a range of densities of trembling aspen. Data were collected from two study sites located north of Big River Saskatchewan, which were regenerated following clearcutting in 1992 and thinned in 1996 to five aspen densities and two spruce densities. Results show significant decreases in spruce diameter at breast height (DBH), height, live crown ratio, maximum branch diameter in the lower 2 m, average branch diameter in the whorl closest to 1 m, and increases in tree slenderness with increases in aspen density. Increasing spruce density reduced the number of live branches and number of live branch whorls in the lower 2 m. Maximum branch diameter in the whorl closest to 1 m was influenced by both aspen and spruce density, with a significant interaction term resulting from effects of intraspecific competition being evident for aspen densities of 1500 stems ha−1 or lower. DBH and slenderness explained more than 49% of the variation in spruce crown width, maximum branch diameter in the lower 2 m, maximum live branch diameter in the whorl closest to 1 m, and average live branch diameter in the whorl closest to 1 m. DBH explained more variation in crown width and branch diameter than slenderness. This study demonstrates that growing spruce in mixture with aspen can lead to reductions in branch size and that early thinning to low aspen densities could lead to increases in size of knots and associated reductions in wood quality, particularly when spruce densities are low.


Recent figures show the number of drink drivers involved in accidents has risen in the UK for the first time in a decade. In 2015, 3,450 drivers failed a breath test after an accident, up from 3,227 in 2014. 1 Figures from the Department of Transport reveal 1,380 people were killed or seriously injured in alcohol related accidents during 2015 – up five per cent on the previous year. According to the latest figures from the Institute of Alcohol Studies, every year drink driving causes 240 deaths and more than 8,000 casualties in the UK. 60% of those who are killed or injured are people other than the driver, such as passengers, pedestrians and cyclists.The cost to the country has been estimated at £800 million a year. 2


The salt-fog test is one kind of environmental performance test,which test the anti-corrosive performance of metal materials or other products in a simulated salt-fog environment which is controlled by salt-fog test equipment.Therefore,its goal is to inspect the salt-fog corrosion resistance of metal materials or other products,and its test results can be a reference for product quality judging.Whether the test result is correct and reasonable or not is the key points for evaluating salt-fog corrosion resistance of metal materials or other products.This article has presented the surface processing impact on the environmental suitability of magnesium alloy processed by chemical oxidation etc.through salt-fog test,which was important.The authors put forward some proposal and improvement method.


Temperature carbonaceous solid fuel of the present invention and the method of fast pyrolysis cracking several technical field relates to thermochemical biomass. The solid carbonaceous fuel into the pyrolysis furnace and the fuel and the oxidant enter additional, pyrolytic carbon to give an output with the output pyrolysis; carbonaceous solid biomass fuels, the fuel is only applied when the input start pyrolysis furnace, and successively hot oxidant vent pyrolysis reaction provides necessary heat; with the proviso that: a pyrolysis furnace temperature of 450 ℃ ~ 550 ℃, output pyrolysis outlet temperature above 450 ℃, the solution was warmed to achieve; biomass and an average residence in the furnace to the circumferential flip above 600S, 120S over an average residence pyrolysis, to achieve fast pyrolysis of biomass pyrolysis and cracking times; vent pressure of the pyrolysis furnace by the use of heat output in the range of adjustment 0.1MPa ~ 5.0MPa. Processing required for pyrolysis gasification of biomass. Using fast pyrolysis in the temperature, the material processing to meet several requirements cracking technology entrained flow gasification of biomass.


This paper studies health investment on the Chinese urban households from quantitative point of view.The results show that health investment on the Chinese urban households is positively related to the family disposable income and age through establishing multiple linear regression models,influence force of age is more than influence force of income;household is inclined to self-insurance,and bank deposit is primary self-insurance tool.To this kind status of health investment,some advice is provided in order to help households adopt rational health investment.


A frequency multiplier circuit using a resonant tunneling diode (RTD) as a load of a HFET is developed. Based on 3D-monolithic integration on a semi-insulating InP-substrate, a demonstrator is realised generating odd higher harmonics with high efficiency. The multiplier is highly compact and combines amplification of the fundamental frequency in the HFET with the high switching performance of the RTD. The Microwave Design System is used to evaluate its ultra high frequency potential predicting 0.115 times the voltage amplitude of the fundamental input signal for the third harmonic at 100 GHz. Optimization of the circuit design and the RTD-layer structure on top of the HFET with respect to the peak and valley parameters will increase the efficiency.


Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has reached epidemic proportions and is a major threat to global public health. In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) allows the noninvasive study of tissuemetabolism and hasmade major contributions to our understanding of the etiology of insulin resistance and T2D. Moreover, MRS has proved extremely useful in the evaluation of the effects of life-style interventions and drug therapies on tissue metabolism and function. In this article, we review MRS studies of glucose transport and phosphorylation, glycogen synthesis, lipid metabolism, energy metabolism, and ion homeostasis in skeletal muscle and heart in the setting of obesity and T2D. Studies of obesity and T2D both in humans and in animal models are included. The main findings can be summarized as follows. In obesity, both skeletal muscle and the heart are faced with lipid overload. In skeletal muscle, this leads to lipid-induced insulin resistance and mitochondrial dysfunction, which can be alleviated by lowering muscle lipid content. In the heart, lipid accumulation in obesity and T2D is associated with impairments in cardiac energetics and function.


A simple design procedure is utilized for achieving circular photonic crystal fibers with ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion. This procedure only requires four parameters (three air-hole diameters and one concentric spacing). The influence of the diameter of each air-hole ring on the circular PCF is investigated by simulations. The results show that the influence of air-hole size of each ring on the dispersion weakens from the inside ring to the outside. Based on the simulation results, an optimization procedure is utilized to control dispersion of the circular PCF. Through the reasonable set of concentric spacing and air-hole diameters of the inner three rings, a five-ring circular PCF with a flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.5 ps km − 1 nm − 1 within the wavelength range of 1.215–2.02 µm is achieved. A low confinement loss of 3.2 × 10 − 3 dB km − 1 at 1.55 µm wavelength is simultaneously obtained. The influence of manufacturing imperfections of parameters on dispersion is also discussed to verify the robustness of our design.


Influence maximization (IM) is the problem of finding a small subset of nodes (seed nodes) in a social network that could maximize the spread of influence. Despite the progress achieved by state-of-the-art greedy IM techniques, they suffer from two key limitations. Firstly, they are inefficient as they can take days to find seeds in very large real-world networks. Secondly, although extensive research in social psychology suggests that humans will readily conform to the wishes or beliefs of others, surprisingly, existing IM techniques are conformity-unaware. That is, they only utilize an individual's ability to influence another but ignores conformity (a person's inclination to be influenced) of the individuals.
 In this paper, we propose a novel conformity-aware cascade (c2) model which leverages on the interplay between influence and conformity in obtaining the influence probabilities of nodes from underlying data for estimating influence spreads. We propose a novel greedy algorithm called CINEMA that generates high quality seed set by exploiting this model. It first partitions the network into a set of non-overlapping subnetworks and for each of these subnetworks it computes the influence and conformity indices of nodes. Each subnetwork is then associated with a COG-sublist which stores the marginal gains of the nodes in the subnetwork in descending order. The node with maximum marginal gain in each COG-sublist is stored in a data structure called MAG-list. These structures are manipulated by CINEMA to efficiently find the seed set. A key feature of such partitioning-based strategy is that each node's influence computation and updates can be limited to the subnetwork it resides instead of the entire network. Our empirical study with real-world social networks demonstrates that CINEMA generates superior quality seed set compared to state-of-the-art IM approaches.


Based on the Qinhu channel ecological restoration project of the Guanlan River,the comprehensive improvement and sewage treatment of urban rivers is demonstrated.According to ecological management concepts including "pollution interception,water supplement,thorough treatment of sewage,afforestation and ecological reconstruction",the status of flood control,water quality and ecological landscape of the Qinhu channel are analyzed and comprehensive improvement measures are proposed.Practice shows that the management concepts and improvement measures adopted in the Qinhu channel ecological restoration project dramatically improve the water quality of the river and get a good ecological landscape.Remarkable achievement is obtained from the comprehensive management,which provides a good reference to similar projects.


Ultra-fine CeO_2 was prepared from cerium nitrate solution by precipitation method with ammonium bicarbonate.The influence of the preparing conditions on the primary particle size,aggregated particle size and aggregated degree of CeO_2 was studied.The results show that it needs high aging temperature and enough aging time for the colloidal precipitate of cerium carbonate to get the relatively small primary particle size of CeO_2 with good dispersion,otherwise large aggregate will form.As the molar ratio of NH_4HCO_4 to Ce(NO_3)_3 is about 3∶1 and the precipitation temperature is about 50℃,the prepared CeO_2 has small primary particle size and good dispersibility.Moderate increase of the feeding rate and the pH of initial solution is preferable to decrease the primary particle size and aggregation of CeO_2.


The presentation is an introduction to the basic concepts of preservation metadata. Digital preservation is a set of actions aimed at maintaining the accessibility of digital objects over the long term. It addresses the context of digital preservation, building on UNESCO's guidelines for the preservation of digital heritage (2003).
In a digital preservation system, the assignment of metadata to digital objects is one of the first measures to allow access to document management and long-term preservation. It then presents the information model OAIS (Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System). Managing the preservation of documents in electronic form is complicated by the rapid obsolescence of playback equipment and software, which are the greatest obstacles to digital preservation. Preservation metadata are "the information that a repository uses to carry out the digital preservation process." (PREMIS, 2008a). It continues with the digital preservation metadata: PREMIS (PREservation Metadata: Implementation Strategies), detailing the PREMIS data model (Objects, Events, Agents, Rights), describing each component and the relationships between them. It ends with the PREMIS data dictionary and briefly presents the evolution of PREMIS.


A remote manufacturing monitoring system based on sensors, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and network is designed for keeping track of information which industrial machines are evaluated with. Different sensors, such as, temperature transducer, pressure transducer, noise transducer, current sensor, revolution speed transducer, vibration frequency transducer and RFID tags, are employed in the system to collect information from the industrial machines. The lower-layer field data collection system is linked with the upper-layer monitoring and diagnosis application system via Zigbee, industry Ethernet and WiFi (Wireless Fidelity). The monitoring system is implemented on machine tools with a user friendly interface. The tests show that the system could check machine tool status efficiently. Both software and hardware implementation are demonstrated in this work.


Crossroads forged by the intersection of personal and professional values are often highly charged and contentious. As a result, public and institutional responses to legal precedents (i.e., Keeton v. Anderson-Wiley, 2010; Ward v. Wilbanks, 2010) continue to vary resulting in potential gaps in student counselors' understandings of ethical client referrals. For example, when asked about the Ward v. Wilbanks case (dismissal of a student from a training program because of her refusal to work with an LGBT client due to religious beliefs), surveyed student counselors and counselor educators reported confusion about ethical codes, heard mixed messages, and raised potential limitations to the American Counseling Association's (ACA) unequivocal stance on values-based referrals (Burkholder & Hall, 2014; Burkholder, Hall, & Burkholder, 2014). To increase clarity on the distinction between competence and values-based referrals, revisions to the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics included significant changes to codes related to client referrals, professional competence, and nonimposition of counselor personal values. In a study published in the wake of these revisions to the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics, Lloyd-Hazlett, Rubio, and Honderich (2017) interviewed 10 student counselors about their perceptions of ethical client referrals. Responses indicated differences in understandings of the construct of clinical competence, with some students viewing this as more fluid and others seeing competence as more fixed (Lloyd-Hazlett et al., 2017). In addition, students held varying understandings of how to navigate value differences with clients when they occur. It appears that confusion still exists among student counselors about how to navigate the referral process, especially as it relates to making decisions about when to refer. The purpose of the current content analysis study was to identify what student counselors perceive as critical areas of knowledge, points of confusion, and suggestions for training on ethical client referrals.


Higher vocational education should turn the focus on the connotation building and the comprehensive improvement of teaching quality.We must establish a scientific talents and quality outlook,update educational concepts,take the development road of combining studying with working.We should also continue to increase the teaching reform to strengthen college major construction,deepen the curriculum reform,construct diverse learning models,strengthen the practice teaching reform and the building of experimental training base,and build genuine higher vocational education.


Abstract The effects of the coherence between the states of a two-level atom on the phenomenon of collapses and revivals in an undamped binomial state of the electromagnetic field are investigated. It is found that the Rabi oscillations exhibit qualitatively different behaviour for different phases of coherence between the levels. This behaviour in the binomial state of the field is in contrast with that in a coherent state field, in which case the Rabi oscillations are qualitatively the same for all values of the coherence between the two atomic levels.


The breakdown which caused by icing of transmission lines has been one of the serious disasters of power system. Superhydrophobic surfaces (SHS) which can delay icing process and has extremely low ice adhesion strength had a promising application in anti-icing field. In this work, superhydrophobic anti-icing surfaces were prepared on aluminum alloy by a method combination of chemical etching and anodization. The morphology, chemical composition and wettability of the SHS were investigated by using corresponding methods. The anti-icing behavior in glaze were investigated. The robustness of SHS was evaluated by cyclic icing/deicing tests. The as-prepared SHS exhibited outstanding superhydrophobicity and anti-icing property. The freezing of water droplet was delayed effectively. In addition, the fabricated anti-icing surface retained mechanical robustness after a number of icing/deicing cycles. After 30 cycles of icing/deicing, the ice adhesion strength kept below 70 kPa and the contact angle still kept above 150°. This work provides some useful advises for the design and fabrication of anti-icing surface.


In this paper,we put forward a new way of calculatlng Fibonacci numbers and give the corresponding mathematlal expression.By using the method of mathematical inducing and strictly reasoning,we testlfy the precislon of the algorighm.When n is large,we only need to calculate about N/4 Fibonacci numbers in getting the nth Fibonacci number.Thus it greatly accelerates the speed in calculating Fibonacci numbers especially when n is very large.


Changes of luteinizing hormone(LH),follicle stimulating hormone(FSH),17β-estradiol and progesterone levels in Tianjin white(n=6)and Landrace sows(n=6)sera were detected by radioimmunoassay from 2 days before oestrous until 30 days post gestation.The results showed that the mean sera concentrations of LH,FSH and progesterone in Tianjin white sows were always higher than those in Landrace sows,respectively.Meanwhile,there were significant differences(P0.05) in LH level during the early gestation period,the FSH value post oestrus and its second peak during the perioestrus period,and the progesterone level on 4,9,12,16 days post gestation and its peak.The 17 β-estradiol level in Tianjin white sows was significantly higher than that in Landrace sows on one day before oestrus except other days.The results indicated that the 4 sera hormones profiles in 2 breed of sows were similar,but there were some significant differencs in their levels.


Sustaining support capability evaluation of weapon equipments is an important problem of equipment support in wartime which relates to many factors and has no uniform methods to use at present. The goal of this paper is to find a way to evaluate the equipment support capability through the discussion on the problems related, and to arouse more consideration in this study. Firstly the concepts of equipment sustaining support capability and equipment support effectiveness are brought forward and differentiated. Then the evaluation target and model of sustaining support capability of weapon equipments are studied .Finally an example is given for this focus according to a type of combat airplane to provide practical technical validation.


This study explores the knowledge management practices used by Malaysian hotels in exploiting their intellectual capital. It employs a case study approach, where interviews were conducted with human resource managers of seven hotels from various star rating categories. To analyze the data, within and cross-case analyses were performed. The findings supported the proposition that the development of intellectual capital in Malaysian hotel industry must correspond to the rating achieved by the hotel. The evidences indicate that structural capital and human capital are significant in managing knowledge in Malaysian hotel industry. Based on the findings, a typology of knowledge management practices and intellectual capital in accordance to the star rating given by the Malaysia Ministry of Tourism and Heritage were proposed.


This thesis is an annotated translation consisting of a translation and translator's arguments for choosing the equivalents of a number of translation units which are deemed to cause translation problems. The source text of this study is a comic book entitled Psychiatric Tales. The researcher used all contents of the comic book as research corpus. The translation methods applied in this study are communicative and semantic methods. In order to solve translation problems, the researcher applied several translation procedures. The annotation data were found to be related to several psychiatric nursing terms, metaphors, idioms, and onomatopoeias. This study shows that most of the translation units had to be translated using the communicative method even though the source text is a creative text. Moreover, the translator has taken account of the visual elements of the comic book and made use of informal language register. In conclusion, the translation of a comic book that contains psychiatric nursing terms and concepts requires particular attention because of the creative and informative nature of the text.


The switching of the power semiconductors in static converters is the main source of electromagnetic interferences (EMI). To meet with electromagnetic compatibility standards, it is necessary to reduce the level of the conducted emissions. This reduction can be achieved by different techniques including the EMI filters whose design is mainly based on the use of ring core inductors. This element is a key point for designing efficient EMI filters, requiring then accurate inductor high-frequency (HF) models. Therefore, this paper deals with the development of an HF behavioral model of inductors, based on electrical equivalent circuit, for an implementation in circuit simulation software. The aim is to provide a robust and adjustable model under small-signal operating conditions for frequencies up to 100 MHz. The proposed model considers the frequency-dependent properties of the magnetic core material and also includes the parameterization of the electrical equivalent circuit elements with the number of winding turns and dimension of the magnetic core. Simulations results using the obtained inductor model are validated by impedance measurements with two types of magnetic materials: ferrite and nanocrystalline.


This paper proposes a high efficiency dc-dc converter with high step-up gain for low PV voltage sources. The proposed converter converts the low dc voltage to a high dc voltage with a high-efficiency. The proposed converter uses the active-clamping circuit and voltage-doubler rectifier in order to achieve a high step-up ratio and soft-switching operation. The output diodes are turned off at zero-current, which can significantly reduce the switching power losses at high output voltage applications. The performance of the proposed converter is evaluated on a 260 W photovoltaic module integrated converter (PV-MIC) system. A high-efficiency of 97.5 % is achieved to generate 350V high output voltage from 36 V low PV module voltage.


An approximation algorithm is developed for calculating transient mean and variance of the queue size of a discrete queueing system with independent general arrivals and geometric output processes. The algorithm makes no assumption on the form of the distribution function of the arrival process and only the first three moments of the arrival process are required. Three numerical examples are presented.


This multi-authored volume presents the findings and conclusions drawn from a large-scale funded project exploring elite schools within various global settings including those in Hong Kong, India, ...


A new algorithm is presented which finds the optimal layouts of CMOS complex logic modules from the given Boolean logic expressions. The problem of minimizing the layout area of a static CMOS logic module is converted to the problem of determining the covering sets for each sublogic of the given Boolean logic expression and merging all covering sets in all possible ways to find the optimal solution being characterized by the minimum number of dual trails. The problem is known as NP-complete. Typical published algorithms are reviewed and the unsolved issues are discussed. The authors introduce the concepts of 18 canonical symbols, 18 canonical environments, merging cost between each canonical symbol and each canonical environment, dominant canonical symbol sets, complete set of merging sequences, and utilize the concepts to reduce the computing time by avoiding the unnecessary search. The algorithm always guarantees the optimal result.<<ETX>>


Vacuum assisted closure (VAC) a method and apparatus for introducing a wound treatment agent to the wound (12) undergoing treatment, the foam pad for substantially inserted into the wound site (11), the wound site generally and a wound drape for a foam pad to seal sealing (13) at. Foam pad is a state of a vacuum source in fluid communication to facilitate the discharge of the fluid. Furthermore, by known implantation or other techniques known to those skilled in the art, to promote wound healing, known basic fibroblast growth factor to a person skilled in the art (bFGF), foam pad is pre-treated by antimicrobial or other factors that.


Geometric relationships governing multiple images of points and lines and associated algorithms have been studied to a large extent separately in multiple-view geometry. The previous studies led to a characterization based on multilinear constraints, which have been extensively used for structure and motion recovery, feature matching and image transfer. In this paper we present a universal rank condition on the so-called multiple-view matrix M for arbitrarily combined point and line features across multiple views. The condition gives rise to a complete set of constraints among multiple images. All previously known multilinear constraints become simple instantiations of the new condition. In particular, the relationship between bilinear, trilinear and quadrilinear constraints can be clearly revealed from this new approach. The theory enables us to carry out global geometric analysis for multiple images, as well as systematically characterize all degenerate configurations, without breaking image sequence into pairwise or triple-wise sets of views. This global treatment allows us to utilize all incidence conditions governing all features in all images simultaneously for a consistent recovery of motion and structure from multiple views. In particular, a rank-based multiple-view factorization algorithm for motion and structure recovery is derived from the rank condition. Simulation results are presented to validate the multiple-view matrix based approach.


Abstract The Gibbs free energy (ΔG0(1)) of the reaction kaolinite ↔ dickite was generated from solubility measurements of natural kaolinite and dickite performed in acid solutions at temperatures ranging from 150° to 300 °C under vapor-saturated conditions. The ΔG0(1) values increase from -0.620 ± 0.150 to -0.218 ± 0.210 kcal/mol with increasing temperature from 150 to 300 °C. Regression of these data yields a value of -0.90 ± 0.10 kcal/mol for ΔG0(1) at 25 °C. The standard Gibbs free energy of formation (ΔG0f,298) of dickite deduced from ΔG0(1) and the ΔG0f,298 of kaolinite (Zotov et ah. in preparation) is -908.36 ± 0.40 kcal/mol. The results obtained in this study indicate that kaolinite is metastable relative to dickite at temperatures to at least 350 °C. It follows that the timing of observed kaolinite to dickite transformations in diagenetic and many hydrothermal systems is controlled by the kinetics of this reaction rather than thermodynamic equilibria.


Research into outer space has burgeoned in recent years, through the work of scholars in the social sciences, arts and humanities. Geographers have made a series of useful contributions to this emergent work, but scholarship remains fairly limited in comparison to other disciplinary fields. This forum explains the scholarly roots of these new geographies of outer space, considering why and how geographies of outer space could make further important contributions. The forum invites reflections from political, environmental, historical and cultural geographers to show how human geography can present future avenues to continued scholarship into outer space.


Rein Brouwer (ed.), The Future of Lived Religious Leadership. Amsterdam Studies in Theology and Religion series, Vol. 7 (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2018), 258 pages. ISBN: 9789086597741.


The only book presenting applications of the four most popular database management systems under UNIX. For computer professionals, or small business owners using or considering Unix, this book enables readers to produce a good system design from the start.


IN TWO years' time, the NI IS will be half a century old. One thing remains constant - nurses have always been committed to providing the highest standards of care. But other aspects of nursing have changed beyond recognition.


The content based Image Retrieval is the restoration of images with respect to the visual appearances like texture, shape and color.The methods, components and the algorithms adopted in this content based retrieval of images were commonly derived from the areas like pattern identification, signal progressing and the computer vision. Moreover the shape and the color features were abstracted in the course of wavelet transformation and color histogram. Thus the new content based retrieval is proposed in this research paper.In this paper the algorithms were required to propose with regards to the shape, shade and texture feature abstraction .The concept of discrete wavelet transform to be implemented in order to compute the Euclidian distance.The calculation of clusters was made with the help of the modified KMeans clustering technique. Thus the analysis is made in among the query image and the database image.The MATLAB software is implemented to execute the queries. The K-Means of abstraction is proposed by performing fragmentation and grid-means module, feature extraction and Knearest neighbor clustering algorithms to construct the content based image retrieval system.Thus the obtained result are made to compute and compared to all other algorithm for the retrieval of quality image features


This paper provides evidence that a country's pension system is an important determinant for the development of its capital markets. Employing a unique event list of 87 pension funding reforms in 57 countries between 1976 and 2007, we find that pension funding reforms lead to larger stock and corporate bond markets relative to the time before the reforms and relative to other countries without such reforms. This effect is particularly driven by an increase in the post-reform primary market issuing activity and cannot be explained by a simultaneous political move to more market-oriented reforms in these countries in general. We find that the effect is particularly significant in emerging markets with a priori less developed capital markets. Further evidence from a cross-sectional analysis suggests that the degree of pension funding is an important determinant of the cross-country variation in capital market development. It remains robust even after controlling for other important determinants of capital market development such as legal origin and trade openness.


Article history: Received on: 05/02/2013 Revised on: 21/02/2013 Accepted on: 01/03/2013 Available online: 30/03/2013 In this present study, the bark extracts of Averrhoa bilimbi were subjected to the thrombolytic activities were assessed by using human erythrocyte and the results were compared with standard streptokinase (SK). On the other hand, bark extracts of A. bilimbi revealed moderate antibacterial activity against some microorganisms used in the screening. Preliminary phytochemical investigation suggested the presence of flavonoids, saponins and alkaloids.


The first part of the article is dealing with the anthropological Starcevo finds from Vors-
Mariasszonysziget, while the results of the typological and biostatistical comparisons between the Early
Neolithic Starcevo and Koros populations are presented in the second part of the study.
Keywords:
Paleoanthropology
;
Starcevo Culture
;
Typological heterogeneity
.


Preservation of olfactory function during anterior skull base surgery has been previously described. However, its feasibility during oncological resection remains undefined. The aim of this study was to clarify the feasibility of preserving olfactory function in select patients undergoing oncological anterior skull base resection via endonasal endoscopic approach. This is a retrospective case series study. Postoperatively, all patients underwent a standardized smell identification test (Sensonics Inc., Haddon, NJ, USA). From January 2002 to December 2009, we attempted to preserve olfactory function in 9 patients who required an endoscopic resection involving the anterior skull base for treatment of various malignancies presenting unilateral extension. These included: esthesioneuroblastoma (n=6), squamous cell carcinoma (n=1), adenocarcinoma (n=1) and hemangiopericytoma (n=1). In 7 patients, resection included a unilateral endoscopic craniectomy with preservation of the contralateral middle and superior turbinates. Two patients underwent resection of the entire lateral nasal wall and the olfactory epithelium as the superior limit of tumor resection. Six patients received adjuvant radiotherapy. Postoperatively, olfaction was documented in 7 patients (3 normosmic, 4 microsmic). All patients are free of recurrence at the original site at a mean follow-up period of 55.7 months (range 21-101 months). One patient with an esthesioneuroblastoma developed a cervical lymph node recurrence four years after surgery. In selected cases, it is feasible to preserve olfactory function without apparent compromise of oncological outcomes. The success rate depends largely on the extent of the resection, which, in turn, is dictated, by the extent of the tumor.


Computational selective attention systems have mostly been developed as models of human attention, and they have been evaluated on that basis. Now, however, they are being used as front ends to object recognition systems, and in particular to appearance-based recognition systems. As such, they need to be evaluated by other criteria. A common goal for object recognition systms in invariance to 2D similarity transformations (i.e. in-plane translations, rotations, reflections and scales). This implies that attention systems used as front ends should also be invariant to similarity transforms. This paper evaluates the Neuromorphic Vision Toolkit (NVT), a well known and publicly available selective attention system, and finds it to be highly sensitive to 2D similarity transforms. Further investigation, however, suggests that this sensitivity is an artifact of the publicly available implementation, and not of the neuromorphic principles it is based on. Therefore we have developed a new system, called SAFE (Selective Attention as a Front End), that is conceptually similar to NVT. However, SAFE is largely invariant to 2D similarity transformations of the source image and selects scales as well as spatial locations for fixations, implementing a combined "zoom-spotlight" model of attention.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate on the Impact of customer Relationship marketing on the Growth of firms in Abia State , to achieve this, the researcher made use of a descriptive survey design. Out of the total population of the respondents, 80 respondents were chosen as the sample size. The study found out that customer relationship marketing impacts positively on the growth of firms in Abia state, and trust, commitment and effective communication are some of the dimensions of customer relationship marketing. The research thus concludes that for firms to ensure high level of customer relationship, they should imbibe by creating the ground for customers' trust, and ensure high commitment . The study, however, recommends that for firms to attain a certain level of growth, they should create trust, commitment and effective communication to avoid customer switching.


Purpose – Is labour's decline permanent, or is it merely a temporary weakening, as Beverley Silver suggests in her recent book, as the labour movement is unmade and remade in different locations and at different times? The article aims to examine this question in South Africa, one of the newly industrialised countries of the 1960s and 1970s, now largely bypassed by new manufacturing investment destined for countries such as India and China.Design/methodology/approach – The paper concentrates, through six case studies, on the growing non‐core and peripheral zones of work and examines the impact of the restructuring on labour.Findings – The evidence presented is ambiguous. While there have been significant innovative union organising experiments, it may be that the structural weakening of labour has been too great and that the new sources of power are too limited, to permit effective reorientation.Practical implications – It is concluded that significant progress will only be made if there is a concerted ef...


In response to the global climate change problem, the world community today is in search for an effective means of carbon mitigation. India is a major developing economy and the economic growth is driven by ever-increasing consumption of energy. Coal is the only fossil fuel that is available in abundance in India and contributes to the major share of the total primary energy supply (TPES) in the country. Owing to the large unmet demand for affordable energy, primarily driven by the need for infrastructure development and increasing incomes and aspirations of people, as well as the energy security concerns, India is expected to have continued dependence on coal. Coal is not only the backbone of the electric power generation, but many major industries like cement, iron and steel, bricks, fertilizers also consume large quantities of coal. India has very low carbon emissions (∼ 1.5 tCO2 per capita) as compared to the world average (4.7 tCO2 per capita) and the developed world (11.2 tCO2 per capita). Although the aggregate emissions of the country are increasing with the rising population and fossil energy use, India has a very little contribution to the historical GHG accumulation in the atmosphere linked to the climate change problem. However, a large fraction of the Indian society is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – due to its geographical location, large dependence on monsoon-based agriculture and limited technical, financial and institutional capacity. Today, India holds a large potential to offer cost-effective carbon mitigation to tackle the climate change problem. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of extraction of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from industrial and energy related sources, transport to storage locations and long-term isolation from the atmosphere. It is a technology that has been developed in recent times and is considered as a bridging technology as we move towards carbon-neutral energy sources in response to the growing concerns about climate change problem. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is being considered as a promising carbon mitigation technology, especially for large point sources such as coal power plants. Gasification of coal helps in better utilization of this resource offering multiple advantages such as pollution prevention, product flexibility (syngas and hydrogen) and higher efficiency (combined cycle). It also enables the capture of CO2 prior to the combustion, from the fuel gas mixture, at relatively lesser cost as compared to the post-combustion CO2 capture. CCS in gasification projects is considered as a promising technology for cost-effective carbon mitigation. Although many projects (power and non-power) have been announced internationally, very few large-scale projects have actually come up. This paper looks at the various aspects of CCS applications in gasification projects, including the technical feasibility and economic viability and discusses an Indian perspective. Impacts of including CCS in gasification projects (e.g. IGCC plants) have been assessed using a simulation tool. Integrated Environmental Control Model (IECM) – a modelling framework to simulate power plants – has been used to estimate the implications of adding CCS units in IGCC plants, on their performance and costs.


The vapour pressures of the separate isomers of permethrin have been determined over a range of temperatures by two laboratories using different versions of the gas saturation method. A statistical analysis of the sets of data from the two laboratories shows no significant differences for the cis isomers but a small difference in the 20°C extrapolated values for the trans isomer exists. However, this difference is discounted as arising from experimental error and the mean values of the estimated vapour pressures at 20°C are given as 2.5 μPa (cis) and 1.5 μPa (trans).


Climate change raises a number of issues of farmers. Even if growing spring garlic in Romania usually occurs in March, recent changes of temperature and moisture abundance on soil that occurred during February-March period compelled farmers to seek new periods and methods of garlic cultivation. For example, in the spring of 2012 garlic could not be grown before early April. The assessed results obtained by the cultivation of garlic on April 2, 7 and 12 showed us that the best results and yields were obtained on the crop originated from April 2, with a 7.75 t/ha garlic production as compared to 6.25 t/ha (garlic cultivated on April 7) and 4.75 t/ha (garlic cultivated on April 12). In addition the production quality was superior for the crops originating from April 2. The results obtained show clearly that it is necessary a permanent assessment of planting date according to climate change in order to have a satisfactory productivity in the new environment and better manage existing genetic resources.


A large amplitude oscillation in the vertical column abundance of atmospheric OH has been observed in ground-based spectroscopic absorption measurements from Fritz Peak Observatory, Colorado (105°W, 40°N) during and after the partial solar eclipse of May 30, 1984. An initial OH reduction during the eclipse was followed by an underdamped oscillation having a period of about one hour; the OH abundances returned to normal values two hours after the eclipse termination. This is believed to be the first observation of a "ringing" response of any atmospheric constituent to a solar eclipse.


A digital revolution is upon our penal system – the inevitability of digital transformation is set to shape the way justice is done and experienced. This article identifies some important considerations for digital transformation in prison settings. There are some small yet very promising initiatives in many jurisdictions, and in these early stages of introducing digital technologies for prisoners and staff to use there are still some fundamental barriers. Therefore getting it right within the secure landscape brings further challenges for services. This article argues for prison organizations to develop their digital provision that centres the end user at the heart of their transformation.


A model study evaluates sediment transport in a geomorphic channel proposed for restoration and flood damage reduction of an 11-km tidally influenced reach of the Napa River located in California. The model study employs the unsteady quasi-2D hydrodynamic and sediment transport model MIKE 11, the simplified marsh plain accretion model MARSH 98, and the Rouse equation to predict annual average morphological changes of the geomorphic channel. The adopted modeling approach allows for the simulation of salient sediment transport processes in a river estuary, including lateral and vertical sorting of sediments, and local flushing of fine cohesive and noncohesive sediments during flooding. Accretion rates, particularly within the marsh plain terrace of the multistage channel, are found to be within acceptable limits for project maintenance and ecosystem restoration purposes. This enhanced 1D modeling approach may offer a viable and cost-effective alternative compared to fully 2D and 3D models, with relatively l...


Motivation: Relative performance evaluation schemes or tournaments in short, are a prominent instrument in human resource management. The common feature of corporate tournaments is that employees can win some valuable prize in addition to their baseline salary if their performance is high relative to their peer workers. Intuitively, the relatively better performing employees may receive bonus payments, a promotion, or a tenured position, for example. While any performance dependent reward is a means to ensure high effort provision and commitment of employees to their job, tournaments are particularly attractive for corporations if the absolute individual performance of employees is unobservable or very costly to measure, since ordinal performance rankings are usually much easier to obtain. Then, tournaments can be an efficient means to solve moral hazard of employees.


Purpose – This paper describes the services offered in an information commons that primarily serves undergraduate students at a large research university. This paper provides background information on the implementation of a learning or information commons and describes the effect of the commons environment on reference services and environment and highlights the importance of a strong relationship between libraries and information technology providers in developing successful public services in an information commons.Design/methodology/approach – This article describes the transformation of an Undergraduate Library into the Information Commons and describes the implications for library services in a public services partnership.Findings – The information commons environment is one part of a library system that is evolving in response to and in anticipation of user needs.Practical implications – This paper documents a successful partnership in creating an information commons that primarily serves undergrad...


reform and hold in their hands the ultimate success and impact of reforms. However, they tend to have little faith in educational theories (Hargreaves, 1984), and teacher traditions and expectations can affect the ability of teachers to deal with change (Louden, 1991). Attitudes acquired by teachers during their training (Brady, 1996), and ownership, involvement, and a sense of meaning have important implications for successfully introducing curriculum innovations (Hargreaves, 1992). In 1993 the Victorian Department of Education (DoE) began the process of implementing a major statewide curriculum reform in response to a national curriculum framework. The national initiative had a number of implications for teachers; the first implication was that government schools around the nation would eventually be expected to change their curriculum structures to match the new framework. The second major implication was using a system of outcome statements as a basis for assessing student performance on the new curriculum. In Victoria this extended to using student results to assess school and system performance (McFarlane, 1994). Both issues had the potential to affect the way in which teaching and learning in the classroom was conducted, particularly given that there was not universal acceptance of the initiatives (Donnelly, 1993). The process of curriculum reform has been described by Fullan (1991) as one of conflict, uncertainty, and ambiguities. The way that teachers craft their own theories and actions to address these issues has a fundamental effect on the change process (Fullan, 1999). For example, teachers need to find their own balance between process and content when faced with pedagogical changes (Devaney & Sykes, 1988). School curriculum structures and cultures are often challenged by a variety of demands from school systems and schoolbased reform efforts, which lead to significant tensions (Dimmock, 1995). This article reports on some of the dilemmas faced by classroom teachers in an Australian high school as they implemented a mandated curriculum initiative. The resolution of these dilemmas as the school faced structural, cultural, and pedagogical adjustments is examined.


It is unclear why despite a comparable cardiometabolic risk profile, "metabolically benign" overweight/obese individuals show an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease compared to normal weight individuals.


In this research paper, the problem of optimization of a quadratic form over the convex hull generated by the corners of hypercube is attempted and solved. It is reasoned that under some conditions, the optimum occurs at the corners of hypercube. Results related to the computation of global optimum stable / anti-stable state are discussed. Efficient Algorithms for computation of min cut in undirected as well as directed graphs are discussed. Algorithm for computation of maximum cut in an undirected graph is discussed. It is hoped that the results shed light on resolving the P NP ≠ problem.


The reasons for the growth of government debt in the Russian Federation subjects are analyzed. The authors take notice of the correlation of budget funds misuse and the increasing debt in regions. Proposals for the development of the governmental audit in order to ensure compliance in budgetary funds are made.


The Tunlanhe Bridge, which is an accessory work of the Gujiao Electric Power Plant, one the major projects of Shanxi Province, possesses the features of the heavy load, and the short time limit, etc. Therefore, the corresponding design has been made according to the principles of the safety, economy and convenient construction and connecting with the application features of the electric power plant, satisfying the functional requirements in the application.


The road accidents in modern urban areas are increased to uncertain level and it is must to avoid the loss of human life due to accident. Traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of fatalities. Nowadays, numerous surveillance applications use multiple types of data and features benefiting from their uncorrelated contributions. Hence, the analysis, standardization and fusion of complex content, especially visual, have become a fundamental problem to enhance surveillance systems by increasing their accuracy, robustness and reliability. But it requires manual checking to detect for any abnormal activity which requires human intervention. Hence traffic accident detection system for automatically detecting, recording, and reporting traffic accidents is


T h e vast majority of cases of intussusception are successfully treated by operation. Of untreated cases, a small number may undergo spontaneous reduction. Sometimes perforation of the bowel results i n peritonitis, when the outcome is usually fatal. Very rarely spontaneous separation and expulsion of the sloughed segment of bowel occur, the continuity of the intestine being preserved by an auto-anastomosis. T h e purpose of the present paper is to review a collected series of 28 cases of spontaneous separation and healing of intussusception, in order to study the mechanism and the circumstances under which this phenomenon occurs, and to report a case which is believed to be unique in that it occurred as a complication of a n ileotransverse colostomy.


The interaction of [Os4H3(CO)12(NCMe)2][BF4](1) with [N(PPh3)2][X](X = NO2, Cl, Br, or l) affords the species [N(PPh3)2][Os4H(CO)12{µ3-NC(O)Me}](2)(X = NO2), [Os4H3(CO)12(µ-X)][X = Cl (6), Br (7), or l (8)], and [N(PPh3)2][Os4H2(CO)12X][X = Cl (9), Br (10), or l (11)] which were characterized by i.r. and 1H n.m.r. spectroscopy. The reaction of complex (1) with nitrite ion results in a novel interaction which involves oxygen transfer from the nitrite ion and conversion of a co-ordinated NCMe ligand into an amido group on the cluster surface. The anionic species (2) reacts with [M(PPh3)]+ to yield the neutral mixed-metal clusters [Os4H(CO)12{µ3NC(O)Me}{M(PPh3)}][M = Au (3) or Cu (4)] which have been structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffractometry. This shows that they possess a butterfly metal framework capped by the heterometallic fragment and µ3-bridged by the four-electron-donor amido group. Complexes (3) and (4) are isomorphous, monoclinic, with space group C2/c and Z= 8: (3), a= 25.681(7), b= 16.069(1), c= 18.265(2)A, and β= 90.90(1)°(4)a= 25.318(6), b= 15.964(5), c= 18.347(7)A, and β= 91.80(2)°. Spectroscopic data suggest that compounds (6) and (7) also possess a butterfly metal framework with a bridging, three-electron-donor, halide ligand, while the anionic species (11) possesses a tetrahedral arrangement of metal atoms with a terminally co-ordinated iodide ligand, as shown by X-ray diffractometry: monoclinic, space group P21/a, Z= 8, a= 16.841(2), b= 20.699(1), c= 29.249(3), and β= 90.91(2)°. Protonation of (11) yields the neutral species [Os4H3(CO)12(µ-l)], showing that facile reversible tetrahedral–butterfly interconversion is assisted by a change in co-ordination mode and electron donation of the l atom. The reaction of compound (11) with CF3SO3R (R = Me or Et) was monitored by 1H n.m.r. spectroscopy and the results explained in terms of the formation of alkyl iodide derivatives.


Drawing on analysis of the Family Resources Survey, this report highlights that foreign-born people are at a higher risk of poverty than UK-born people, across a range of characteristics.


Hypophosphatasia is an osseous dysplasia with highly variable clinical expression, ranging from a recessive lethal prenatal type to late onset dominant short stature with premature shedding of teeth. Lethal forms of hypophosphatasia include short limb dwarfism with lack of ossification, especially on the vertebral bodies, very slender ribs and clavicles, and bowed, short lower extremities, with a bifid aspect of the diaphyses. Alkaline phosphatase is abnormally low in liver, bone, kidney and plasma.


Monthly expenditure on electricity by most households in South Africa take beyond acceptable percentage of their income. In order to keep the household energy expenditure below the energy poverty threshold, a daily electricity optimization problem is formulated using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) method. The energy optimization scheduling was carried out by a device called the Daily Maximum Energy Scheduling (DMES) device proposed to be incorporated into smart meters of households. The DMES algorithm was tested with household data set and was shown to be capable of ensuring that households spend less than 10% of their income on electricity bill monthly. This technique therefore, would be beneficial to consumers (for better financial savings and planning), utility (for effective energy and financial savings, and energy network planning) and cleaner environments as proposed for smart grid. Also, number of households in the nation living below the energy expenditure-based poverty threshold would increase.


Miami — Bacitracin has been labeled a top cause of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in children. Notably, it is an ingredient in Neosporin (Pfizer) and a staple in first aid kits in schools, summer camps and just about every other child-centered environment. Yet private practitioners do not routinely test for this allergen.


Objective: To develop a mouse cell biosensor system for the high-throughput genotoxicity detection of chemicals, such as environmental pollutants. Method: We developed a novel reporter vector pGL4-GFP, wherein the firefly luciferase reporter gene in the pGL4.82 vector was replaced by the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene from the pAcGFP1-N1 vector. To construct the reporter pGL4-p53-GFP (p53 promoter linked to GFP), a fragment containing the p53 gene promoter was generated by amplifying a region from −481 to +180 of mouse genomic DNA isolated from mouse tail tissue. We developed a mouse cell biosensor system for the high-throughput genotoxicity detection of new drugs by stably integrating the reporter plasmid of pGL4-p53-GFP into the mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. Various genotoxic agents were used to treat this biosensor system. The resulting fluorescence was directly observed under a fluorescence microscope, and the GFP protein level was measured through Western blot analysis. Result: The biosensor system was treated with genotoxic agents, such as doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, and benzo(a)pyrene. The GFP protein expression was significantly increased in cells exposed to genotoxic agents but negatively responded to the non-genotoxic agent dimethyl sulfoxide, thereby proving the specificity and sensitivity of the biosensor system. Conclusion: This novel in vitro biosensor system can be especially useful in genotoxicity detection.