Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O thin films were prepared by the rf magnetron sputtering method using multi targets: Bi0.5Pb0.5Ox, CaCu0.75Ox and SrCu0.75Ox, The composition of the as-deposited film was (Bi+Pb):Sr:Ca:Cu=1.47:1.00:0.92:1.80. High Tc films (Tc≥100K) were synthesized by the 2-step annealing process; preannealing at 720°-820°C for short time (2h) and annealing at 850°C for 15h. The obtained films contained a small amount (≤50%) of the high Tc phase as determined by XRD, but showed a high Tc (≥100K). Long time preannealing increased the amount of the high Tc phase, but the temperature dependence of resistance showed the double step superconducting transition and no zero resistivity at temperature over 100K. The grain boundary insulator phase is probably responsibile for such behavior.


We study the current monetary and bailout policies in China and their effects on the Chinese banking system. China has recently bailed out two of the Big Four major state owned commercial banks, so they can become public for the first time. China's GDP has grown around 8.5% annually over the past two years, consumer price inflation hit 5.2% in September 2004, well above the deposit rate (1.98 per cent). The Central Bank of China raised interest rates on October 2004, the first raise in nine years. The move was designed to curb rising inflation and stop the overheating of the economy. We focus on these recent Chinese actions in a four-stage sequential game theoretical model. The players in our model are the government (i.e. monetary policy authorities) and the banks. We shows that banking crises can be driven by self-fulfilling expectations, but these two can alternatively be fundamentals-based. Our main conclusion is that when bailouts are expected unconditionally, banks have more incentives to give more loans and exert lower effort in monitoring their borrowers. The results teach us why every time the Chinese government's bailout policy has failed so far. Our recommendation is that unconditional bailouts will not be efficient.


Loading CoOx species onto BiVO4/WO3 photoanodes was effective to improve the oxidative HClO production from aqueous NaCl solution under simulated solar-light irradiation.


It was revealed in 2006 that Republican candidates employ a type of religious code in their political speeches. Their intention is to cue the support of religiously conservative voters without alienating other voters who may not share the same social issue agenda. The authors assess the efficacy of this GOP Code on the support of voters in specific religious traditions in an experimental setting. As expected, the code proves to be an effective cue for white evangelical Protestants but has no effect on mainline Protestants and Catholics. The form and function of the code expands our understanding of religious influence and broadens the spectrum of cues the electorate uses.


Our cover features the identification and characterization of a bacterial ligand for CD16. Identification of Escherichia coli proteins containing the mimotope obtained by the phage display experiments was carried out using an in-house database of 3D mimotopes of the E. coli proteome. The figure shows the interaction between WzxE (yellow) and CD16 (cyan, surface). Notice the overlap between green, red, and magenta showing that the WzxE peptide occupies the same binding site as IgG. The image is taken from Beppler et al., where the authors present WzxE as a novel ligand for CD16, providing new insights into the pathogenesis of E. coli infections and opening new avenues for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.


There are very few convenient methods for the preservation of viruses. The use of disinfectants is not permissible because of their deleterious effect upon viruses, while the commonly employed glycerol exerts only a feeble antiseptic action and, therefore, cannot be relied upon when freedom from bacterial contamination is important. The preservation of viruses through the process of drying in vacuo at low temperatures is an excellent method but it has the drawback of being somewhat cumbersome. It has been shown by Ginsburg and Kalinin, 1 Sonnenschein, 2 and others, that 10% solution of sodium chloride is effective in preserving complement for about 4 weeks. This action of sodium chloride upon complement, a substance of known instability, suggested to us that this salt may be a good agent for the preservation of viruses. We found that saturation of guinea pig complement with sodium chloride preserves it for at least one month, and that various bacteria of the Salmonella group, pneumococcus, meningococcus, gonococcus, Streptococcus hemolyticus and viridans, Staphylococcus aureus, B. influenzae and B. diphtheriae are killed in from a few days' to one month's time when kept in saturated solution of sodium chloride.


Kuroda's version of the Weyl-von Neumann theorem asserts that, given any norm ideal not contained in the trace class , every self-adjoint operator A admits the decomposition A=D+K, where D is a self-adjoint diagonal operator and . We extend this theorem to the setting of multiplication operators on compact metric spaces (X, d). We show that if μ is a regular Borel measure on X which has a σ-finite one-dimensional Hausdorff measure, then the family {Mf:f∈Lip(X)} of multiplication operators on T2(X, μ) can be simultaneously diagonalized modulo any . Because the condition in general cannot be dropped (Kato-Rosenblum theorem), this establishes a special relation between and the one-dimensional Hausdorff measure. The main result of the paper is that such a relation breaks down in Hausdorff dimensions p>1.


In the decades since alcoholism became widely recognized as a disease (Jellinek, 1960), evidence for alcohol-induced physical damage has accumulated both in quantity and in detail. Prominent amongst the affected organ systems at-risk is the brain, which responds to alcohol in a variety of ways. Free radicals formed during metabolism of alcohol damage the brain. Acetaldehyde, which is generated from ethanol, is highly reactive and toxic. This metabolite cross-links brain enzymes, reducing or eliminating the normal functions of those proteins. Neurotransmitter systems are altered not only through these mechanisms, but by adaptation to the neuromodulatory effects of ethanol itself (Heinz et al ., 2003). Furthermore, it is possible to visualize damage to different types of brain cells microscopically (Miguel-Hidalgo and Rajkowska, 2003) and, in particular, changes in the number and size of glia (Miguel-Hidalgo et al ., 2002). The alcohol-soaked brain shrinks heterogeneously. The damage involves both white (Rohlfing et al ., 2006) and grey matter: one of the most severely affected regions is the frontal cortex (Gazdzinski et al ., 2005) which, when damaged, leads to impaired cognitive capacity that may further compromise the individual's judgement and motivation to remain sober. The situation often appears dismal from the view of the patient and the provider of treatment, and patients are often discouraged by the physical and cognitive difficulties of achieving and maintaining sobriety. However, data acquired in recent years provide hope and, when presented appropriately, potentially offer renewed motivation for patients to get sober.

There is anecdotal support that patients are helped by knowing that there have been improvements in their brain volume, neurochemistry and cognition, and that even showing alcoholics the results from a separate, published group of …


Purpose— Genome-wide association studies have identified an increasing number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with prostate cancer risk. Some of these same genetic variants are also associated with serum PSA levels and lower urinary tract symptoms, raising the question whether the SNPs are truly biomarkers for prostate cancer or simply lead to detection bias. We therefore sought to determine whether the prostate cancer risk SNPs are more strongly associated with tumor volume or prostate volume. Materials and Methods— The genotypes of 38 validated prostate cancer risk SNPs were determined in 1,321 Caucasian men who underwent radical prostatectomy. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to compare the relationship between SNP frequency, total prostate volume and tumor volume. Results— On multivariate analysis, 2 SNPs on chromosome 8q24, rs16901979 (A) (p=0.01) and rs6983267 (G) (p=0.02), were significantly associated with increased tumor volume. In contrast, rs17632542 (T) (p=0.02), near the PSA gene on 19q13, was associated with significantly lower tumor volume, and rs10788160 (A) (p=0.01) on 10q26 was associated with a significantly larger prostate volume. Conclusions— Analyses of 38 prostate cancer risk SNPs demonstrates a significant association between several SNPs on chromosome 8q24 and increased tumor volume but not prostate volume, suggesting they are bona fide markers for prostate cancer susceptibility and possibly more aggressive disease. Meanwhile, other "prostate cancer risk SNPs" are associated with PSA levels and either increased prostate volume or decreased tumor volume, suggesting a detection bias due to their phenotypic influence.


News services are primarily used for obtaining and conveying the news. However, nowadays it is also important to be able to attract the attention of a recipient. Scientifi c objective: The purpose of the paper is to describe one of the features of the prosody process in the Polish language, which is used to express emotions, which has become part of the way of reading the news releases, which is related to concern for keeping the viewer's attention. Results and conclusions: This measure is a quantitative accent that appeared nowadays in reading the news, examples of which are presented in the paper. For comparison, examples of the news releases presented in the 1990s were also given, when this accent was not used. This is related to the changes that have taken place in the area of media communication aimed at expressing emotions, for which the quantitative accent can be used. Research methods: Analysis of the role of this accent consisted of watching about 200 news releases of contemporary television news services, indicating the location of accent's occurrence and describing how it was used by journalists reading the news. The observations made during the research can be used as part of the journalist's workshop, which must take care of individual prosodic measures, i.e. accenting (including the quantitative accent), a varied intonation line, dynamics, rhythm, tempo. The cognitive value: The skillful use of these elements contributes to a journalist building the image of a professional, as well as may increase the interest of recipients in the transmitted content. One of the elements of prosody used to express emotions is the quantitative accent referred to in this paper.


The invention discloses a seal joint of a deep low-temperature nonmetal pipeline for rapidly connecting nonmetal pipelines and metal pipelines which are used for transmitting deep low-temperature fluid, and keeping seal. The seal joint comprises a nut, a metal seal ring, a metal connecting stud, a metal inner stud and a nonmetal connecting pipeline; the seal structure comprises external seal and internal seal; at the room temperature, the radial force which is generated jointly by the nut, the metal seal ring, the connecting stud and the outer surface of the connecting pipeline deforms the conical metal seal ring so that the metal seal ring and the outer surface of the connecting pipeline contact tightly, thereby achieving the seal effect; when the temperature drops to deep low temperature, such as the temperature of liquid nitrogen (78K), because the heat expansion coefficient of the nonmetal material is greater than that of a metal material, the clearance fit between the nonmetal connecting pipeline and the metal pipeline which is inserted into a pipe at the room temperature is changed into tight fit, thereby achieving the aim of low temperature sealing. The seal joint has the following characteristics that the structure is simple, and can be connected and dismounted rapidly; the seal joint is suitable for a greater range from the room temperature to the deep low temperature, and the temperature fluctuation can not influence the seal effect; the seal effect is good under pressure; and the seal property can not be reduced when the seal joint is used repeatedly.


When one thinks of the abortion debate in bioethics, one thinks of the hoary old standoff between the sanctity of the life of the child and the rights of the woman over her own body. Jing-Bao Nie's work situates the woman at the center of what is often a heart-rending situation involving loss and grief for what might have been, a juncture in life at which, amid the maelstrom of community and cultural expectations and perceptions, no good options present themselves. That his documentation of this human drama takes place in the context of Chinese thought only serves to make his treatment of the topic and report of his extensive ethnographic research all the more challenging. One does not here find it at all easy to slip into Western stereotypes; instead, one is compelled to look at the stories against the backdrop of a society that is taking seriously the fact that they number one billion people. Nie's evident concern for the problem and for the struggles of his people of origin in attempting to cope with a set of cultural values deeply rooted in conceptions of lineage, family, and relatedness to one another shines through what he writes. In the process of exploring this multifaceted human phenomenon and the range of opinions and attitudes to which it gives rise, Nie also destroys the myth that a Chinese person is one of one billion nameless faces whose life choices can be adequately represented in abstracto rather than in actualitas. The staggering complexity of our being as members of the global human village with its varying contexts of life, strikes one forcefully as one contemplates the quintessentially Chinese paradox of humanity en masse and the individual lives and life stories that contribute to that overwhelming reality. This is a book full of real people struggling within constraints that touch them as individuals, but that also engage them in conceptions of the common good and of their place in the scheme of things. To grasp that overarching theme is to lift ethics from the narrow and procedural terms that are often dictated by individualistic conceptions of autonomy and rights and to remind us that our lives are articulated against a wider canvas than the one we often encounter. The book introduces us to a strange and almost visionary world created by Taoism, Chinese communism, historical reality, peasant life, Westernization, and urbanization. It traces a trajectory through the byways of living, loving, working, sexuality, and healthcare in the late twentieth century. It does not subtend simplistic moral stances of the goodness or badness of actions or even policies, although the inhumanity of coercive and rationally driven policy responses to contested areas of human life is insistently communicated. Despite this message, we are led towards the idea that we do have collective responsibilities, which it would be morally derelict to forget in the face of individual preferences. If I have a criticism of the book it is that some of its key messages are expressed almost surreptitiously: "Confucianism opposes taking economic and material development as the most important goal of the society and calls for establishing a people-centred governance or state, a polity of humanity (renzhang), a harmonious and righteous society" (Nie 2006, 215). The self effacing style is, however, an enduring and endearing characteristic of the author. This book refuses to be simplified or reduced to something it is not. Good for it and all power to the author's hand. I regard this book less as a piece of bioethics than as an ethically informed glimpse of the reality within which bioethics must find an articulate place that avoids


The task of automated creation of mobile versions of websites that do not have responsive design becomes more and more popular. The article presents a generalized net model for building mobile content. The model was successfully used in the Mobile Online app. It can be implemented in mobile browsers and software tools to generate real-time mobile web page design.


The present situation,development and main networking techniques of the Metro data network are described,the main problems and solutions of Metro data network for a new telecom company are analyzed.Initially,the Metro transmission and data network are built up by MSTP,and finally the Metro data network are separated and independently developed.In addition,it gives the fact that the converged Metro transmission and data network are built up by MSTP in a southern city,and later the network is gradually evolved into independent Metro MSTP transmission network,Metro NGN data network,and Metro NGN data network.


A pot experiment was conducted to clarify the Cd uptake and levels affecting yield loss according to the growth stages of rice plant. The cadmium was treated with several Cd compounds , , , and CdS at various concentrations of 0,5,10,25, and 50ppm in soils. The increasing rate of Cd compounds applied to soils increased the Cd content in plant as well as grains but the yield was decreased at high cadmium levels. Cd concentration in soil which could affect the yield decrease were 12.9ppm for ; 21.5ppm, ; 25.8ppm, ; 33.2ppm, ; and 97.6ppm, CdS respectively. Cd concentration in soil reaching at 1ppm of Cd content in brown rice were 13.8ppm from ; 14.4ppm, ; 16.9ppm, ; and 19.2ppm, , respectively. Cd content in brown rice could be expected with the Cd content in plant at panicle formation stage.


Objective To research the effect of astragalus injection on heart failure(HF)in the senile patients.Methods One handred geratic patients with HF was randomly devided into two groups,the control group received the traditional therapy, the therapentic group received astragalus injection on the basis of traditional therapy.Results The total effective rate in control group was 84%,the rate of the therapentic group was 96%.There is significant difference between two groups(P0.05).Conclusion The Astragalus injection can improve the cardiac function in sinile patients with HF.


The boundary region equations (BREs) are applied for the simulation of the nonlinear evolution of a spanwise periodic array of streaks in a flat plate boundary layer. The well-known BRE formulation is obtained from the complete Navier–Stokes equations in the high Reynolds number limit, and provides the correct asymptotic description of three-dimensional boundary layer streaks. In this paper, a fast and robust streamwise marching scheme is introduced to perform their numerical integration. Typical streak computations present in the literature correspond to linear streaks or to small-amplitude nonlinear streaks computed using direct numerical simulation (DNS) or the nonlinear parabolized stability equations (PSEs). We use the BREs to numerically compute high-amplitude streaks, a method which requires much lower computational effort than DNS and does not have the consistency and convergence problems of the PSE. It is found that the flow configuration changes substantially as the amplitude of the streaks grows and the nonlinear effects come into play. The transversal motion (in the wall normal-streamwise plane) becomes more important and strongly distorts the streamwise velocity profiles, which end up being quite different from those of the linear case. We analyze in detail the resulting flow patterns for the nonlinearly saturated streaks and compare them with available experimental results.


Kerry Brown lived in the Inner Mongolia region from 1994 to 1996. He completed a PhD at Leeds University in modern Chinese politics from 1998 to 2004, while working in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, first in London, and then Beijing. He is the author of The Purge of the Inner Mongolian People's Party in the Cultural Revolution in China 1967–1969 (Global Oriental, London, 2006) and Struggling Giant – China in the 21st Century (Anthem Press, London, 2007). This is a substantially modified version of the talk on the same subject which he gave to the Society on 8 November 2006. 2006 saw the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Great Cultural Revolution, launched by Chairman Mao Zedong in the People's Republic of China (PRC) in mid-1966. The anniversary was marked in the Hong Kong and international press, though, as for the last three ten-year anniversaries, there was little commemoration in the PRC itself, the country which was to be driven to the brink of civil war during the course of the "ten years of turbulence". The Cultural Revolution (CR) was to have a devastating and profound effect on the development of the PRC, an impact that has lasted to this day. It involved as many as 10 million casualties and injuries, country-wide mayhem, the closing down of China's schools and universities, and the devastation of China's cultural and historical heritage. It also shaped the outlook of the generation of Chinese who hold key positions today – including the current President, Hu Jintao, and Premier Wen Jiabao, both of whom lived through the CR, and participated in it to some extent. The CR began with an obscure literary argument in Beijing between the then Vice Mayor Wu Han and a Shanghai-based writer Yao Wenyuan. Wu Han had written a play, Hai Rui, Dismissed From Office, ostensibly about a Ming dynasty official from 500 years before who had been hounded from power because of a corrupt emperor. Yao, who was to gain fame as one of the members of the group later to become notorious as the Gang of Four, accused this work of being a veiled attack on Mao Zedong and his dismissal of the popular Defence Minister and war hero Peng Dehuai after the disaster of the Great Leap Forward seven years before. This literary spat was to escalate to the point that, by 1967, most of China's schools, its leadership structure, and many of its institutions had simply broken down. The President of China, Liu Shaoqi, was hounded from office for being a ISSN 0306-8374 print/ISSN 1477-1500 online/07/020173-15 # 2007 The Royal Society for Asian Affairs


Batch production is common in the chemical and process industries. This article demonstrates how EWMA charts should be modified to account for substantial batch-to-batch variation. A batch-correlation model is considered, and methods of estimation and hypothesis testing for the batch-correlation coefficient are developed. This discussion is most appealing for production processes in which items are processed in batches but are related within batch.


Objective: To assess the incidence, 5-year survival rate and identify the prognostic factors for survival in a cohort of patients with recurrent/ refractory epithelial ovarian cancer in Siriraj Hospital. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 140 patients with primary recurrent / refractory epithelial ovarian cancer who received their treatment at Siriraj Hospital between October 1998 and December 2006. Incidence, 5-year survival rate and potential prognostic factors for survival were identified. Statistical analysis was by SPSS for Windows version 11.5. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were computed and a multivariable proportional hazard model (Cox) was applied to assess the prognostic significance of the different covariates. Results: The incidence of recurrent/refractory epithelial ovarian cancer when compared to total new cases of epithelial ovarian cancer during a 1-year period was 33.62%. The 5-year survival rate for the cohort was 47%, whereas the median overall survival was 4.91 years and the median survival post recurrence was 2.5 years. Of these patients, 64/140 (45.7%) have died of disease. Seventeen factors were evaluated for prognostic significance for survival, on multivariate analysis, only the tumor free interval (TFI) (P = 0.016) and CA 125 at the time of recurrence or refractory (P = 0.02) retained prognostic significance. Conclusion: The incidence of recurrent/ refractory epithelial ovarian cancer when compared to total new cases of epithelial ovarian cancer is about one third. This cohort had a prolonged median overall survival and satisfied a 5-year survival rate. The significant prognostic factors for survival in a cohort of patients are the tumor free interval and CA 125 at time of recurrence or refractory.


Training a denoising autoencoder neural network requires access to truly clean data, a requirement which is often impractical. To remedy this, we introduce a method to train an autoencoder using only noisy data, having examples with and without the signal class of interest. The autoencoder learns a partitioned representation of signal and noise, learning to reconstruct each separately. We illustrate the method by denoising birdsong audio (available abundantly in uncontrolled noisy datasets) using a convolutional autoencoder.


A glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with a chemically reduced graphene oxide and chitosan (CRGO/CS) composite film was constructed and used to determine 5-fluorouracil using cyclic, staircase and square wave voltammetric techniques. The synthesized graphene oxide material was characterized by XRD, FTIR and UV spectroscopic techniques. The surface morphology of the CRGO/CS film was characterized using atomic force microscopy. The oxidation potential shifted negatively compared to GCE, indicating that the CRGO/CS modified electrode had obvious catalytic activity for the 5FU oxidation. The effects of pH, scan rate and excipients were studied. The sensor showed a good detection limit and it was successfully applied to determine 5FU in pharmaceutical and human biological samples.


What Clinicians Need to Know in Diagnosing and Treating Covid-19 In this audio interview conducted on March 3, 2020, the editors discuss the current state of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic testing in the Un...


Abstract : A new state of the art algorithm, ALPHA, for the simulation of the multi- phase, multidimensional, unsteady, compressible, viscous, non-reactive, interior ballistics flow in a gun tube behind an accelerating projectile is described. The paper contains discussions of the physical processes in a real gun environment, of the mathematical model of these phenomena, and of the numerical technique for solving the equations. The algorithm allows the inclusion of several submodels, such as, heat transfer and turbulence. This permits the determination of the effects of these submodels on the flow. Numerical results of an idealized, one-phase ballistic cycle are given. Some of the significant results include the existence of a concentrated region of high temperature near the juncture of the projectile base and tube wall, the increase of the displacement thickness by a factor of at least three over most of the tube's length when turbulence effects are included, and the degradation of the projectile velocity by approximately ten percent under an isothermal cold wall condition.


The high concentration of certain test substances in both urine and bile suggests that similarities exist between the biliary and renal tubular functions. Evidence from dogs with permanent duodenal fistulas indicates that the rate of elaboration of bile depends primarily on the rate of secretion of bile salts. The variations in flow and composition of hepatic bile seem to result from the addition of a fluid which is similar in some respects to pancreatic juice.


The investigation of fast processes of peptide and protein folding has received increasing attention in the last years, driven by the development of new experimental approaches that make it possible to go beyond the millisecond time resolution of standard stopped-flow or rapid mixing techniques. The new methods allow the direct observation of important first steps such as hydrophobic collapse or secondary structure formation during the transition from the disordered polypeptide to the functional protein. However, most of these techniques are limited to a very narrow range of proteins or have other experimental restrictions and shortcomings. This review, after an overview and discussion of previously employed methods, describes a novel fast optical trigger for protein folding. This optical trigger has the potential to be used in the study of a wide variety of proteins and peptides without any of the restrictions of previous approaches. In an initial application of this technique, α-helix folding in short peptides was investigated.


We investigate an optimal harvesting problem for age-structured species, in which elder individuals are more competitive than younger ones, and the population is modeled by a highly nonlinear integro-partial differential equation with a global feedback boundary condition. The existence of optimal strategies is established by means of compactness and maximizing sequences, and the maximum principle obtained via an adjoint system, tangent-normal cones and a new continuity result. In addition, some numerical experiments are presented to show the effects of the price function and younger's weight on the optimal profits.


We use a three scale expansion to calculate the intensity distribution of acoustic radiation propagating in a sound channel in the presence of random inhomogeneities. We develop equations which show how the coherence function varies along the characteristic rays (identical to the rays of geometrical acoustics in the parabolic approximation). Solving these equations we obtain an expression for the vertical intensity distribution resulting from an acoustic beam propagating in a random medium with a sound velocity profile. When the fluctuations of the medium are statistically homogeneous and isotropic, this expression is simplified for two limiting cases: weak scattering and strong scattering. We present an example of high‐frequency scattering in a random medium with a mean cubic profile. We calculate the intensity corrections in the vicinity of a caustic under typical ocean conditions. The results of the corrected intensity distribution are compared with the uncorrected intensity results obtained previously.


We examine how tropical zonal mean precipitation biases in current climate models relate to the atmospheric energy budget. Both hemispherically symmetric and antisymmetric tropical precipitation biases contribute to the well‐known double‐Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) bias; however, they have distinct signatures in the energy budget. Hemispherically symmetric biases in tropical precipitation are proportional to biases in the equatorial net energy input; hemispherically antisymmetric biases are proportional to the atmospheric energy transport across the equator. Both relations can be understood within the framework of recently developed theories. Atmospheric net energy input biases in the deep tropics shape both the symmetric and antisymmetric components of the double‐ITCZ bias. Potential causes of these energetic biases and their variation across climate models are discussed.


In its Sixth Report and Order issued in I952, the Federal Communications Commission made two decisions which have profoundly affected the structure of the television broadcasting industry.' First, the Commission rejected the proposal of the then-existing Dumont Television Network for a television system based on a relatively small number of powerful regional stations and opted, instead, for one in which there would be a large number of local stations. This decision required that the Commission allocate additional spectrum space to television since the limited amount of space in the Very High Frequency (VHF) band which had previously been assigned was inadequate to support the large number of stations contemplated. This space was found in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band and this led to the Commission's second major decision. It chose to assign both VHF and UHF stations to the same markets, a policy which has been called intermixture. The results of the Commission's decisions became apparent during the next few years. While the frequency allocation plan called for approximately I200 stations in the UHF band and although I2I such stations were in operation by I954, by I960 only 76 continued to operate.2 The difficulty was that UHF stations did not compete on an equal basis with VHF stations, both because many households did not own sets capable of UHF reception and because of the inferior transmission characteristics of UHF signals. In the early i96os, several plans were proposed to overcome the handicap that UHF stations faced.3 One proposal would have shifted all of television to the UHF band where there was sufficient space for all existing and prospective stations. Another would have created new allocations in the VHF band by means of 'short-spacing', reducing the required geographic separations between stations operating on the same or adjacent channels. A third plan was called deintermixture because it would have had all stations in the same market operating on either VHF or UHF. None of these plans was adopted, however, largely because of opposition from stations that would


Multifunctional magnetic microspheres have enormous potential in diverse fields. In this work, surface chiral-modified magnetic microspheres as chiral selectors, are prepared by polymerizing maleic anhydride-β-cyclodextrin (MAH-β-CD) for the enantioselective absorption of four enantiomers. The successful grafting of MAH-β-CD onto the surface of magnetic microspheres is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The prepared functional microspheres have a three-ply structure with an average particle size of 550 nm and a high saturation magnetization of 60 emu g−1. The amount of MAH-β-CD modified on the P(MBAAm)@Fe3O4 was about 149.1 mg g−1. The analysis results of specific rotation and capillary electrophoresis reveal that the MAH-β-CD-modified Fe3O4 microspheres show stronger complexation of (−)-enantiomers than (+)-enantiomers. In addition, the MAH-β-CD-modified Fe3O4 microspheres have stronger enantioselective absorption for double-ring chiral compounds. These chiral-functionalized magnetic microspheres are therefore expected to be an efficient and economical chiral separation method for use in further research.


Background: Obesity is risingly becoming a health care problem. After ineffective tries to lose weight with lifestyle-based conservative methods, the most effective obesity treatment will become bariatric surgery. Objective of this study aimed to assess the awareness of the general public about indications and complications of sleeve gastrectomy in Al'Qassim region, Saudi Arabia.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among the general population living in Al'Qassim region, Saudi Arabia. A validated Arabic/English questionnaires were distributed among the targeted individual using an online platform. Questionnaires included demographic data, general knowledge about gastric sleeve and the knowledge toward the indication and complication of sleeve gastrectomy. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 26.Results: Nearly all participants were aware of sleeve gastrectomy (99.1%). The prevalence of participants who knew the indications and complications of sleeve gastrectomy were 60.9% and 72.2%, respectively. Furthermore, approximately three quarters (70.3%) were confident that the most common indication of the gastric sleeve was an adult with BMI >40 kg/m2. Statistical tests revealed that the knowledge toward the indication and complication of sleeve gastrectomy were more common among those who have heard about BMI and those who knew the BMI range of obese person (p<0.05).Conclusions: Although, general population awareness toward the indication and complication of sleeve gastrectomy was moderate, however, their knowledge about the BMI seems to be lacking. Having better knowledge about BMI likely influenced their awareness of the indications and complications of gastric sleeve.


The invention discloses a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method for simultaneously detecting four bovine infectious disease RNA (Ribose Nucleic Acid) viruses by a single tube. The PCR method is used for detecting a bovine parainfluenza virus, a foot and mouth disease virus, a bovine diarrhea virus and a bovine reovirus. The PCR method is rapid in operation without one step. In addition, the invention also relates to a reagent related in the PCR method, which is used in a detection kit of the method and preparation and application of the detection kit.


The role of the Holy Spirit in the Church received a fundamental clarification during the II Vatican Council. In this study, the main renovated aspects are indicated, among which Paraclete's structuring role as a leader, together with Christ, in the sacramentum salutis. In this way, one can try to find a better solution to the question of the relationship between charisma and institution in the Church, which has frequently been the target of very different readings, which vevertheless are still capable of an enrichment. The presentation of the doctrine of Congar on the relationship between the Spirit and the Church, very different before and after the Council assembly, shows in an exemplary way the slowness of the reception and the ways found by a theologian who became interested in the subject "charisma-institution".


Cylindrical rods of multi‐crystalline electronic grade FZ silicon with a diameter of 142 mm were grown. Wafers of 100 mm × 100 mm sizes were prepared at different axial positions and characterized by µ‐PCD minority carrier life time mapping, residual stress polariscopy and structural etching. Some of these wafers were processed for solar cells. It could be shown that the grown multi‐crystalline FZ silicon, surprisingly, shows worse minority carrier lifetimes (between 12 and 19 microseconds) and less efficiency (13.6%) of the solar cells compared with 15.6% for conventional directionally solidified silicon, 17.0% for single‐crystalline FZ and 17.3% for single‐crystalline CZ silicon. This decrease can be correlated to the stress induced dislocation generation caused by the strongly inhomogeneous temperature gradient during the FZ crystallization. Alternatively, dislocation‐free single crystals with a quadratic cross section have been grown in the thermal field of a specially designed RF ‐ inductor without rotation. This facilitates an increased yield of the expensive material. As a consequence, multi‐crystalline FZ material does not seem to be suited as basic material for the solar cell production. However, electronic grade single‐crystalline FZ material with its high efficiency grown nearly square‐shaped with a standard size could become an attractive alternative to commercial PV growth methods. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Abstract : The response to international crises typically involves extensive interaction and coordinated activities among multinational coalitions of military and civilian organizations. This interaction is often complicated, however, by cultural differences among coalition partners, creating roadblocks to the successful execution of coalition operations. Because the U.S. military often takes the lead role in coalition operations, mission success often depends upon the ability of U.S. military personnel to effectively plan and coordinate with military and nonmilitary personnel from diverse cultures. Unfortunately, there are few information systems in place to support effective coalition planning and coordination, leaving these important missions vulnerable to embarrassing misunderstandings and costly errors. To facilitate close cooperation among coalition partners, the Decision Support Systems for Coalition Operations (DSSCO) research and development project is working on providing information management and planning support tools. DSSCO is taking a user-centered design approach in which the decision support tools are based on key factors that make coalition operations successful and on a thorough understanding of the cognitive processes used by experienced crisis action planners. These tools support information presentation, knowledge management, distributed cognition, and modeling and simulation. In this paper, the features and functions of these tools will be discussed, and plans for further development will be summarized.


FIELD: process engineering. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to photopolymer composition including matrix polymers, recording monomers and photo initiators and to its application for making of holographic media. Invention describes a photopolymer composition for production of holographic media. This composition includes matrix polymers, recording monomers and photo initiators. Note here that matrix polymers are composed of polyurethanes resulted from interaction of isocyanate component a) with component b) reacting with isocyanates, its molecule containing at least 1.5 groups reacting with isocyanates. Note here that recording monomers contain aromatic compounds of formula (I) wherein at least one of residues R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 is the formula residue (II) bonded via X with aromatic ring. Note also that A in formula (II) is linear or branched, if necessary, by hydrocarbon network containing oxygen. Other residues R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 , R 5 , R 6 , interpedently, are hydrogen atom or organic residue while R 7 is hydrogen atom or methyl. Invention discloses application of said photopolymer composition for creation of holographic media, particularly, axial holograms, off-axis holograms, focused image holograms, holograms recovered in white light, off-axis reflecting holograms, edge illuminating holograms and holographic stereogram. EFFECT: photopolymer composition with increased concentration of recording monomers to rule out negative effects and to create bright holograms. 10 cl, 6 ex, 1 tbl, 2 dwg


The intermolecular interaction parameter occuring in the thermodynamical approach of spin transition proposed by Slichter and Drickamer is analyzed at the microscopic level. Then, an orbital model is proposed, to estimate this microscopic interaction between two neighbouring spin transition molecules. It shows that there is a competition between the direct interaction between the two metal centers and the indirect interaction through the ligands


'Glenn' barley was planted May 5 at the Rosemount Agricultural Experiment Station, Rosemount, MN. Plots were 21 x 65 ft, randomized in complete blocks with 3 replications. Treatments were applied Jun 25 and Jul 8 using a tractor-drawn boom sprayer delivering 27 gal/acre at ca 100 psi. Each plot was sampled Jun 27 by sweeping 50 times with a standard insect net. Heavy colonization of the plots by armyworm occurred after the first sampling and allowed a second test. Plots were sampled Jul 10 by shaking plants over a 14 x 18 in tray placed at the base of the plants in 10 locations/plot. Yields were taken Aug 5 from a 55 inch combine-swath through each plot.


Some researchers have begun projects to model Japanese cultural heritage objects. Some of Japanese cultural heritage objects are large, but their shapes may be intricate. Thus, the measurement becomes difficult and the large data set must be handled. We propose a new geometric and photometric integration framework of range images of those objects. First, we propose a new method which integrates photometric attributes as well as 3D geometric information. Next, we have developed the following methods by two different approach to build the detailed models of cultural heritages: 1. Parallel computation using a PC cluster. 2. Merging by adaptive resolution according to the data.


The North Pacific Oscillation (NPO), which is characterized by a north‐south dipole‐like pattern of sea level pressure (SLP) in the North Pacific, is an atmospheric circulation that is a key to understanding tropical‐extratropical interactions in the Pacific. We show that the center of the southern lobe SLP in the NPO during boreal winter (December‐January‐February) is shifted to the east after the mid‐1990s compared to before the mid‐1990s. This leads to the change in the relationship between the NPO and El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The NPO is closely associated with the convective forcing in the tropical Pacific during boreal winter before the mid‐1990s. After the mid‐1990s, in contrast, the simultaneous relationship of the NPO and ENSO during boreal winter becomes weak. However, an eastward shift of the NPO's southern lobe SLP during boreal winter causes a close relationship with the ENSO in the winter of the following year through atmosphere‐ocean coupled processes after the mid‐1990s. These results indicate that atmospheric circulation in the North Pacific characterized by the NPO becomes more influential in the tropical Pacific with a lagged time after the mid‐1990s, likely due to the eastward shift in the NPO's structure. We also briefly discuss which processes cause an eastward shift in the NPO's southern lobe SLP.


Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is associated with high cardiovascular disease burden in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Vasohibin‐1, an endothelium‐derived angiogenesis inhibitor, is essential for endothelial cell survival, therefore it may be a promising marker of ED. We aimed to investigate whether vasohibin‐1 levels are associated with ED markers in HD patients.


The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center was the first supercomputing center to receive extramural funds from the National Institutes of Health to support the advanced computing needs of the biomedical research community. Since the initial grant in 1987, the PSC has had over a dozen different NIH and NSF grants supporting biomedical research. The core of the group's funding has been from the National Center for Research Resources for a Research Resource that has historically been centered on structural biology and sequence analysis, with the remaining grants spanning the spectrum from training grants for sequence analysis to research grants on neuroscience simulations. The group has an active research effort in addition to providing service, training and conducting collaborative research with the general biomedical community.


Without accurate location and guidance, the removal of foreign bodies in the oral and maxillofacial tissues is difficult. Meanwhile, real-time assessment of whether all foreign bodies are removed during surgery is the key to a successful operation. Because of the long preparation time and the lack of real-time data, the present technologies such as navigation, guide template technology could not meet the requirements of emergency surgery and assess foreign body removal in real-time. In this report, a case of ultrasound technology assisting in the removal of foreign bodies in the oral and maxillofacial soft tissues during emergency surgery is presented. In conclusion, ultrasound technology can assist in the removal of foreign bodies in the oral and maxillofacial soft tissues, especially suitable for emergency surgery. It can realize accurate preoperative diagnosis and measurement, precise intraoperative localization, real-time guidance, measurement, and evaluation of foreign bodies.


Objective To explore the role of NO in IL-12-induced resistance to Plasmodium berghei infection. Methods BALB/c mice were infected with 5×10 5 parasitized RBC each mouse and divided into four groups. Four groups of mice were treated with 0.03 μg/d of IL-12,5 mg/d of aminoguanidine,IL-12 plus aminoguanidine and PBS respectively. The course of parasitemia was determined on the days indicated and survival time was calculated until death for each group of mice. Mice sera were collected on day 5 post-infection and levels of NO in sera were detected. Results There were no significant differences in the levels of parasitemia between mice of IL-12 group and those of IL-12 plus aminoguanidine group,but significant decreases in survival rate were observed among mice of IL-12 plus aminoguanidine group compared with those of IL-12 group. However,the mice of IL-12 plus aminoguanidine group significantly delayed the peak of parasitemia and prolonged survival time in comparison with aminoguanidine and control groups. In addition,treatment of IL-12 alone resulted in profound increase in the serum level of NO,but when combination of IL-12 with aminoguanidine,led to marked decrease in the level of NO,which comparable with control. Conclusion The results demonstrated that aminoguanidine could abrogate IL-12-induced NO production and significantly decreased the survival rate of infected mice,but has no effect on parasitemia. Therefore,these results also provide strong evidence that IL-12-induced resistance against P. berghei occurs in part by a NO-dependent mechanism. However,the effect of NO may be other than antiparasite.


[18388-03-9] C7H15ClSi (MW 162.73)

InChI = 1S/C7H15ClSi/c1-7(5-8)6-9(2,3)4/h1,5-6H2,2-4H3

InChIKey = CQXWCEVXNRHUSQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N

(bifunctional electrophilic and nucleophilic reagent displaying reactions characteristic of both allylsilanes and allyl halides; useful for exomethylene annulation reactions)

Physical Data: bp 162–163 °C/768 mmHg; d 0.899 g cm−3; n 1.4540.

Solubility: insol water; miscible with organic solvents.

Form Supplied in: colorless liquid; commercially available.

Analysis of Reagent Purity: 1H NMR (CDCl3) δ 4.99 (s, 1H), 4.75 (s, 1H), 3.96 (s, 2H), 1.68 (s, 2H), 0.04 (s, 9H); 13C NMR (CDCl3) δ 143.0, 112.3, 49.9, 23.6, −1.5.1

Preparative Methods: from 3-chloro-2-methyl-1-propene,2 from (Iodomethyl)trimethylsilane,3 from 2-(hydroxymethyl)-3-trimethylsilyl-1-propene,4 from 3-chloro-2-(chloromethyl)-1-propene and Trichlorosilane,5 and from Methyl Chloroacetate.1, 6

Handling, Storage, and Precautions: flammable liquid (flash point 43 °C). Storage at 4 °C under N2 advised. Handle under N2. May be harmful by inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption. Vapor or mist is irritating to the eyes, mucous membranes, and upper respiratory tract. Causes skin irritation. Toxicological properties not thoroughly investigated. Use in a fume hood.


Objectives: Deciding the tumorcidal dose is very important in radiation therapy as it is limited by skin dose. The aims of this study were to investigate the impacts of using physical wedge filter, different source to surface distances (SSD) and field sizes (FS) on the dose at the depth of maximum dose (dmax) using 6 MV high-energy photon beams. Materials and methods: The measurements were made in Solid Water Phantom at different settings of SSD and FS for 6 MV high-energy photon beams using LiF: Mg; Ti TLD and FC65-G Ionization Chamber. Results: It was observed that when physical wedge was used at reference settings, the doses at dmax decreased significantly as compared with open fields. Moreover, these doses decreased proportionally with an increase in the wedge angle until 45°, after which the dose increased slightly. The doses at dmax were also inversely related to SSD while it had an extrusive relationship with field size. Conclusion: This study shows that for high energy photon beams the doses at dmax are affected by the use of wedge filter, SSD and FS as confirmed by two different detectors. Consequently, choosing the appropriate settings to achieve the desired dose at dmax should be considered in clinical use.


......................................................................................... iii Opsomming ..................................................................................... vi Acknowledgement of Financial Support ................................................. ix Acknowledgements ........................................................................... x Dedication ....................................................................................... xii List of Figures .................................................................................. xxi List of Tables ................................................................................... xxii List of Graphs .................................................................................. xxiii List of Abbreviations .......................................................................... xxiv Chapter One: Introduction, Motivation, and Aims of the Study .................... 1 1.


To answer the deferral question, you only need to go as far as the Internal Revenue Service Publication 225, Farmer's Tax Guide found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p225.pdf. Crop insurance proceeds must be included in gross farm income if they are the result of crop damage. Pub. 225 tells us, "They are usually included in the year the payments are received from the federal government as a result of destruction or damage to crops, or the inability to plant crops, because of drought, flood, or any other natural disaster."


This paper aims to show how the use of the medieval pattern of the measure of the real or the latitude of forms in Leibniz's Dynamics is essential to an understanding of the changes in perception at work in the substance. The singularity of a substance can then be read from the quantity of perfection.


This letter presents a planar, low-cost microwave ablation antenna operating at 2.45 GHz with the minimal cross-sectional area. The proposed antenna can produce local spherical ablation zones by double dipole structure, which is fed through substrate-integrated coaxial line (SICL) without a balun. The input impedance of the double dipole structure, which is in fact extensions of the outer and inner conductors of the SICL, is very low. SICL is mismatched with the double dipole structure when designed as the smallest cross-sectional area. Impedance matching is achieved through a microstrip line cascaded with SICL. A prototype of the antenna is fabricated and the measured results show good agreement with the simulations. An ablation experiment in the porcine liver tissue confirms the capability of the antenna with the minimal cross-sectional area in generating localized ablation zones. The proposed antenna can be manufactured through mature and cheap printed circuit board technology, serving as a promising commercial candidate for minimally invasive ablation.


Vitreous hemorrhage and tractional or combined tractional-rhegmatogenous retinal detachment are both indications for vitrectomy and associated techniques in the management of proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Early vitrectomy for vitreal hemorrhage in patients with type 1 diabetes is more likely to achieve a visual acuity of 10/20 or better than deferred vitrectomy. The most common indication for diabetic retinopathy is tractional retinal detachment. Surgery must be performed when the detachment involves or threatens the macula. Combined tractional-rhegmatogenous retinal detachment always requires surgery regardless of the macular status. Because the basic pathophysiology involves vitreoretinal adhesions via vascular epicenters, vitrectomy for proliferative diabetic retinopathy demands an assessment of posterior vitreous separation. Sectioning and delamination techniques are primarily used to treat proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Intravitreal injection of bevacizumab 2 days before surgery decreases the risk of hemorrhage. However, retinal traction and hence hemorrhage and retinal breaks can occur if surgery is deferred beyond that period. In cases of diffuse macular edema due to traction from a taut posterior hyaloid, pars plana virectomy with separation and removal of the posterior hyaloid is effective at causing regression of the macular edema. Some surgeons perform peeling of the internal limiting membrane to relieve residual traction. Indocyanine green is used to stain this membrane and facilitate its visualization.


In the last years several methods for design optimization of the synchronous reluctance motors were suggested in the literature. The main concern is to find the ideal rotor geometry for the best performance of the machine. To achieve this, finite element method analysis, a powerful tool widely used in the design and optimization of electrical machine, is used. The model of the machine is built up by using scripts. The automated parametric modeling enables the designer to perform changes in the geometry very quickly, thus considerably shortening the design and optimization time.


Theoretical and practical aspects of the treatment of back pain in the presence of sacroiliac joint dysfunction and pelvic instability are described, the importance of testing the muscles stabilizing the pelvis is emphasized. The features of rehabilitation treatment using PNF-therapy and work in an unstable support system are considered.


Abstract : A Crossed Field Amplifier (CFA) model for parametric oscillations was developed which fulfills the basic requirements, empirically defines, for their existence; namely, the model requires their presence, preferably in overdrive conditions. The model then defines a fixed frequency f sub o located at the lower edge of the bandgap of the periodic slow wave structure, and predicts the simultaneous existence of a very-low-frequency oscillation. The existence of this low frequency oscillation has been verified experimentally. The presented model further predicts the power gain is obtained at low frequencies (f sub 1) and frequencies close to the bandgap (f sub 2). This power is obtained from the pump signal, and thus apparently from the second harmonic of the drive signal. The mathematical fundamentals of the model proposed for the traveling wave tube in terms of the coupled-mode theory was established. As in the case of the CFA, waves with three different frequencies were considered, which means that 6 waves will have to be tracked, 3 in each direction. The boundary conditions must then apply at each of the many interfaces between the empty and filled waveguide sections. (Author)


Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) inhibitors were isolated from grape skin and identified as quercetin derivatives. Among the inhibitors isolated, quercetin-3-glucoside (Q3Glc) was the most potent. Kinetic analysis of the inhibitory activity toward PPO was carried out with authentic Q3Glc using catechol as substrate. The inhibition was reversible, the inhibitory mechanism obtained from Lineweaver-Burk plots indicated that Q3Glc is a competitive inhibitor, and the inhibitory constant (Ki) was 84.6 µM.


The farm-to-table movement and conversations about sustainability in the food industry have been ongoing for over a decade. The Ecology Center, established in 2008 in San Juan Capistrano, Californi...


This study aims at clean production of 2-ethylhexyl palmitate catalyzed by lipase Fermase CALB 10000 in a solvent-free system using ultrasound technology. The central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology with 4 factors at 3 levels consisting of acid to alcohol molar ratio (1:3-1:7), enzyme loading (3 %-7% (w/w)), ultrasound power (60 – 100 W) and duty cycle (30%-70 %) was used for optimization of the reaction. All the reactions were carried out at a fixed temperature of 60°C, 200 rpm and reaction time (120 min). The statistical software, Design-Expert 9.0, was used for regression analysis and graphical analysis of the responses obtained by running the set of designed experiments. The polynomial equation of quadratic order was employed to fit the experimental data. The operating conditions for optimum synthesis of 2-ethylhexyl palmitate were molar ratio of 1:5.5, 5.61 % (w/w) of the enzyme with ultrasound power 79.54 W and duty cycle 48.04 %, leading to a reaction conversion as high as 96.56% in 120 min. The operational stability of the enzyme was maintained at >70% conversion up to 5 cycles. Thus, ultrasound is a promising green technology for the lipase catalyzed synthesis of ethylhexyl esters.


The utility model provides a punching tool clamp for assembling a hard disc magnetic head. The punching tool clamp comprises a tool bottom plate, tool clamp bodies and a tool clamp head inclined clamping block mechanism matched with the tool clamp bodies. The head end of the tool bottom plate, the middle end of the tool bottom plate and the tail end of the tool bottom plate are provided with the tool clamp head inclined clamping block mechanism, a tool positioning shaft and a fan tail mechanism respectively. The two or more sets of tool clamp bodies which are arranged in parallel and at intervals are arranged on the tool bottom plate, positioning holes are formed in the tool clamp bodies, the tool positioning shaft is inserted into the positioning holes to fix the tool clamp bodies, the front end of each tool clamp body is inserted into the tool clamp head inclined clamping block mechanism, and the tail end of each tool clamp body is matched with the fan tail mechanism. The two tool clamp bodies are arranged through the tool positioning shaft, the two tool clamp bodies work simultaneously, and therefore the bottleneck problem caused by magnetic head assembling on a production line is solved, and work efficiency of the punching tool clamp is improved.


The mechanism and successful experiences of green power subscription market in domestic and foreign countries are described.The two green power subscription market models are analyzed,which is green power price and green certificate respectively.The actual market model and price mechanism for Jiangsu province are discussed.It is significant for development of renewable energy.


Catfish farms located in the south-eastern USA using brackish (3-5 g NaCI L - 1 ) well water experience sporadic fish kills sometimes with high mortality. An investigation of three catastrophic losses occurring in this region identified no involvement of infectious diseases or traditional water quality problems, including oxygen, ammonia or nitrite. The high mortality and time course of the problem was indicative of exposure to a toxin. Attempts by other workers to explain the cause of this unique syndrome (high chloride associated toxicosis of catfish, HCTC), suggested that the losses might be because of microcystin-producing blooms of Microcystis aeruginosa, but our investigations failed to support this conclusion. We found that (1) the liver histology of catfish experimentally exposed to pure microcystin-LR is very different from that of catfish sampled during outbreaks of HCTC; (2) measurements of microcystin-LR concentrations in the three cases were far lower than the concentration required to kill catfish by experimental immersion; (3) the HCTC toxin appears to have a short half-life, whereas microcystin-LR does not; (4) experimental gavage of catfish with massive amounts of microcystin-LR does not cause the acute mortality typical of HCTC; (5) outbreaks of HCTC appear to be associated with heavy blooms of Anacystis marina, a halophytic cyanobacteria, not with blooms of M aeruginosa.


The term "cloud computing" refers to a paradigm of distributed computing that allows software developers to automatically install programs throughout the process of allocating tasks and storing data. The term "cloud computing" refers to the practice of sharing a pool of virtual computer resources together with the capacity of the gadget, computing power, and processing capacity. In a cloud computing environment, one of the most important challenges is task scheduling and resource allocation. This problem is responsible for selecting the resources of cloud computing that are most suitable for user tasks while taking into account a number of constraints on user tasks. The NP-complete problem which is the task scheduling algorithm is an essential component of cloud computing and plays a vital role. The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of work scheduling and resource allocation algorithms in cloud computing environments, compare and assess a variety of traditional methods and optimization algorithms, and describe the benefits and drawbacks of each technique.


Aims : Planting healthy coconut seedlings will reduce cost of establishment and increase total yield of coconut fruits for high economic value. Therefore, two experiments were carried out in 2010/2011 and2011/2012 cropping seasons to evaluate the effects of different fertilizers on the soil fertility improvement, leaf chemical composition and growth performance of coconut (


This article introduces an optimization of optical network system using the residual power of doped-fiber amplifier (EDFA) and optimized dispersion management by fiber bragg grating. If transmitted signal speed is increased to 8 * 5 Gbps, the dispersion is caused due to several reasons and pulse becomes indistinguishable at the destination. Its purpose is to use DCF in network to design and analyze the dispersion compensation system and here FBG used as a post-dispersion compensator. The main purpose is to achieve a constant gain over the entire transmission spectrum of the 16 narrow gap channels to match the amplitude gain of the DWDM system. The method was simulated using Optisystem 16.1 software package to achieve the uniformity of EDFA gain by changing the EDFA pump source power and system CW power. The planner gain is 41±0.4 decibels in the wavelength range from 1548 to 1556 nm, the NF close to 7 dB, the flattened EDFA gain at fiber length close to 8m, the frequency interval between channels is 0.5nm and dispersion significantly managed.


Advanced RISC Machines(ARM)Embedded system implementing display function of Video Graphics Array(VGA)display interface,involved in construct of timing signal and image data digital-to-analog(D/A)converting.Through the research on S3C2410 Liquid Crystal Display(LCD)controller with ARM920T CPU core and high speed D/A converter,a design scheme of VGA display interface is presented.Method of digital image data D/A converting and output to VGA interface display is given,which include hardware design,construct VGA timing signal,control of video D/A converter.A system soft design of VGA display interface is introduced in the end.This method achieves the intention of ARM Embedded system implementing display function of VGA display interface,uses less system resource,plays in high performance and reliability,thus it can meet the demands of real-time display.


proteins of clinical and environmental isolates of V. cholerae 01 as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A band of 22-kDa protein was observed for all the environmental strains


These solutions represent a preliminary version of the Instructors' Solutions Manual (ISM). The book has a total of 350 problems, so it is possible and even likely that at this preliminary stage of preparing the ISM there are some omissions and errors in the draft solutions. It is also possible that an occasional problem in the book is now slightly different from an earlier version for which the solution here was generated. It is therefore important for an instructor to carefully review the solutions to problems of interest, and to modify them as needed. We will, from time to time, update these solutions with clarifications, elaborations, or corrections.


Abs to microbial capsules are critical for host defense against encapsulated pathogens, but very little is known about the effects of Ab binding on the capsule, apart from producing qualitative capsular reactions ("quellung" effects). A problem in studying Ab–capsule interactions is the lack of experimental methodology, given that capsules are fragile, highly hydrated structures. In this study, we pioneered the use of optical tweezers microscopy to study Ab–capsule interactions. Binding of protective mAbs to the capsule of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans impaired yeast budding by trapping newly emerging buds inside the parental capsule. This effect is due to profound mAb-mediated changes in capsular mechanical properties, demonstrated by a concentra-tion-dependent increase in capsule stiffness. This increase involved mAb-mediated cross-linking of capsular polysaccharide molecules. These results provide new insights into Ab-mediated immunity, while suggesting a new nonclassical mechanism of Ab function, which may apply to other encapsulated pathogens. Our findings add to the growing body of evidence that Abs have direct antimicrobial functions independent of other components of the immune system. The Journal of Immunology , 2013, 190: 000–000. Average hydrodynamic size values from PS solutions (1 mg ml 2 1 ) in the absence (control) or presence of mAb were obtained from 10 repeated measurements. Cross-linking studies were done by monitoring the changes in particle size distribution and autocorrelation function curves of a PS solution, before and after (20, 40, and 60 min) addition of mAb 18B7 (10 m g ml 2 1 ). The loss of light-scattering signal after 60 min of incubation was confirmed by three independent experiments. To study the effect of the different mAbs on the average hydrodynamic size, PS solutions (1 mg ml 2 1 ) containing 10 m g ml 2 1 of each mAb were incubated for 30 min at 37˚C and analyzed by DLS.


Commercially available haptic interfaces are suitable for many purposes. They are, however, lacking features needed in the use of teleoperation of mobile working machines like mining and container handling equipment. The differing requirements range from mechanics and electronics to user issues and control systems. Also the need for a device both commercially viable and suitable for several different mobile working machines was a requirement. This paper presents a haptic controller capable of utilizing a wide variety of haptic feedback on the drivers of teleoperated machines. A device, simple and robust in structure, provides the tools for operation of different machines, using a real-time simulator and augmented reality. A real-time simulator environment was used in all phases of design and research, from the initial concept testing up to the user tests, verifying the functionality of the system. The research provided further information for the purpose of making a commercial version of this haptic device.


Through SIDES 3.0, we are developing an ontology-based e-learning platform in medicine to make learning analytics transparent and explainable to end-users (learners and teachers). In this project, the educational content, the traces of students' activities and the correction of exams are linked and related to items of an official reference program in a unified data model. As a result, an integrated access to useful information is provided for student progress monitoring and equipped with a powerful query language allowing users to express their specific needs relating to data exploration and analysis.


The numerical simulation software UDEC is used to simulate the effect of upper liberation layer mining on roadway stability of fully mechanized caving face. According to the analysis of the vertical stress of liberated layer and the surface displacement of the tunnel,this paper got conclusions that the vertical stress of coal on the liberated layer can be divided into four areas,initial stress area, stress- increased area,stress- decreased area and stress recovery area after mining the liberation layer,besides,the effected of liberation layer mining on roadway decreases effectively. And the results are in good agreement with the field measurements.


Introduction. National wealth is a combination of natural, human, socio-economic, intellectual and other types of potential of the country, which is reflected in national accounts with the formation of relevant macroeconomic indicators. The study of nature and measurement of national wealth is an important subject of economic science. The understanding of the concept of wealth from the point of view of the economy changed depending on the social and economic development of society, the growth of its well-being and changes in values. A significant number of studies relate to the composition of national wealth, its evaluation and reflection in the system of national accounts. However, despite the fact that the category of wealth has been studied to a great extent by classical and contemporary scientists, the issue of accounting for this object is hardly raised. In this regard, in accounting, which is the main source of information for national accounts, these components are reflected to a limited extent (real estate, cultivated assets, intangible assets), or not reflected at all (residential buildings, land, rights to natural resources). Therefore, from the standpoint of accounting science, there is a need to form the theoretical foundations of wealth accounting. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to present a brief overview of conceptual approaches to understanding the essence of wealth, to present the definition of this category from the point of view of various authors - both domestic and foreign, to conduct a study of its economic nature, to clarify the theoretical foundations of wealth accounting. Materials and methods. The materials of the research are the works of domestic and foreign authors who conduct their scientific and practical research into the essence of wealth, issues of creation (formation), distribution, exchange and consumption of wealth. The methodological basis of the research is a systematic approach using the general scientific dialectical method: deduction and abstract-logical - to understand the essence of wealth as an economic category; analysis and synthesis - for a critical review of scientists' interpretations of the reflection of national wealth in the accounting system; logical generalization of results - for formulating conclusions. Results. The scientific article examines the economic essence of the category "wealth". The definition of this category from the point of view of various authors - both domestic and foreign - is given, and a study of its economic nature is carried out. The main characteristics that determine the peculiarities of the application of the "wealth" category are given, proceeding directly from the practical plane. The actual interpretation of the researched category, the economic essence, and the theoretical foundations of wealth accounting are formed. Discussion. In further scientific research, it is proposed to focus attention on defining the main approaches to the construction of wealth accounting methodology; outlining the problems of inconsistency in the methodology of monetary measurement of wealth in accounting and the system of national accounts. This will make it possible to fulfill the mission of the accounting institute in representing the national wealth in terms of sustainable development.


A 41-year-old female presented with a 3-month history of gradually worsening anterior knee pain, swelling and inability to flex the knee. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a large intra-articular cystic swelling anterior to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), extending into the Hoffa's infrapatellar fat pad. Following manipulation under anaesthesia and arthroscopic debridement of the cyst, the patient's symptoms were relieved with restoration of normal knee motion. ACL ganglion cysts are uncommon intra-articular pathological entities, which are usually asymptomatic and diagnosed incidentally by MRI. This is the first reported case of an ACL cyst being so large as to cause a mechanical block to knee flexion.


— The recital of Network-on-Chip (NoC) depends on the underlying routing techniques. There are a lot of requirements that has to be met. Such performance metrics are minimum latency, least power and maximum throughput. This paper deals with XY route, PROM routing, FTXY routing and DyAD routing on 5x5 2D torus topology. The simulation is performed on nirgam NoC simulator version 2.1 for constant bit rate traffic condition. The simulation results reveals the dominance of XY, PROM, FTXY and DyAD algorithms depicting the minimum values of overall average latency per channel (in clock cycles per flit) as 0.409836 overall average latency per channel (in clock cycles per packet) as 6.2535, average throughput as 16.68, and total network power as 35.6768 mw, achieved for FTXY routing algorithm.


Please cite this paper as: Melanocortin receptor type 2 (MC2R, ACTH receptor) expression in patients with alopecia areata. Experimental Dermatology 2010; 19: 1020–1022.


Learn to locate and cite academically-appropriate sources for completing your POLSC 101 assignments Do some background reading and create research questions to drive your research


It was proposed that the m continued association method of scaling meaningfulness would produce satiation effects in semantic differential ratings of m. Control and experimental Ss associated to and rated on semantic differential scales 6 levels of m. A 2 × 6 analysis of variance showed no satiation effects. Possible reasons for this are discussed.


Preface Introduction The Experiential Bind Psychodynamic Considerations Societal Reverberations Rehabilitation and Prevention Technology and Contemporary American Values: The Deeper Roots Concluding Thoughts Bibliography Index


The radon concentration and natural radioactivity i
n soil of Aramoko, Ekiti State, Nigeria have been d
etermined. The soil gas
radon measurement was performed in-situ with Rad7 r
adon monitor coupled with a soil gas probe. Natural
 radioactivity
measurement in soil samples was carried out using N
aI(Tl) gamma spectrometer. This study is aimed at d
etermining the
correlation between the radioactivity of the soil a
nd its radon concentration. It was found that the r
adon concentration of soil
gas in the study area ranged from 0.63BqL
-1
 to 35.04BqL
-1
 with an average value of 9.82±0.56BqL
-1
. The average activity
concentrations of
238
U,
232
Th and
40
K were found to be 22.62Bq/Kg, 34.74Bq/Kg and 316.7
2Bq/Kg, respectively. The average
radium equivalent and average absorbed dose rates a
t a height of 1m above the ground are 95.99±62 BqKg
-1
 and 45.18±27.28
nGyh
-1
 respectively. The mean external and internal hazar
d indices were also found to be 0.26 and 0.32 respe
ctively. All the
determined radiological indices values are within t
he recommended limits.


Ablation of solid surfaces irradiated with superimposed multiple shots of low fluence femtosecond (fs) laser pulses often results in the formation of periodic nanostructures on the target surface. We demonstrate that the self-organization process of nanostructuring can be regulated to fabricate a homogeneous nanograting on the target surface in air. A simple two-step ablation process was used to control the nanoscale energy deposition that should be developed through the excitation of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) during the fs laser-surface interaction. The results obtained for crystalline gallium nitride represent exactly the nature of a single spatial standing wave mode of SPPs of which periodically enhanced near-fields ablate the target surface to form the nanograting with a period of ∼200 nm. The calculated results for a model target reproduce well the observed nanograting period and explain the origin of its characteristic properties.


Abstract Global-scale land cover characterization has advanced from a spatial resolution of 1 × 1° in the mid-1990s to 30 × 30 m resolution to date. However, some mapping challenges exist persistently regardless of the increasing spatial resolution. Data fusion has been proved as an effective way of improving land cover characterization. Here we applied a machine learning-based data integration approach for improving global-scale forest cover characterization. The approach employed six coarse-resolution (250–1000 m) global land cover maps as input and various regional, higher-resolution land cover data-sets as reference to build regression tree models per continent. The average error of 10-fold cross validation of the regression tree models varied between 7.70 and 15.68% forest cover and the r2 varied between 0.76 and 0.94, indicating the robustness of the trained models. As a result of data fusion, the synthesized global forest cover map was more accurate than any input global product. We also showed that other major vegetative land cover types such as cropland, woodland, grassland, and wetland all exhibit similar magnitude of discrepancies as forest among existing land cover maps. Our developed method, because of its type- and scale-invariant feature, can be implemented for other land cover types for improving their global characterization. The ensemble approach can also be internalized for improving data quality when generating a global land cover product, where multiple versions can be produced and subsequently integrated.


Abstract : The report details investigations aimed at developing construction techniques for large area plastic dielectric electroluminescent crossed-grid displays using a non-linear resistance suppression layer. The solution to the problem of compatibility between the non-linear resistance material and the lamp material is reported. The report also describes the techniques developed to hermetically seal large area lamps. (Author)


Airports provide essential infrastructure to connect travelers and products to destinations across regions, nations, and the world. However, these connections were the focus of restrictions in the midst of a global pandemic because the same potential to provide access to people and products as a hub of long-distance travel can also serve as an opportunity to spread a virus. The objective of this paper is to explore the temporal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on flight operations at airports in the US, in addition to an examination of the differences among various classifications of airports. For commercial service and general aviation airports, the airports with the quickest and most substantial recoveries were in areas with populations of under 100,000 people [within 48.2 km (30 mi) of the airport]. Airports with higher and lower populations within 48.2 km experienced sharper declines in flights and slower recoveries. Local, state, and national airport infrastructure investments will need to consider these effects and changes in demand spurred by COVID-19 while monitoring the long-term sustainability of the changes. © 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.


Engineering analysis methods, such as the finite element method, are employed extensively to optimize complex engineering designs, but their success in conceptual product development is rather limited since numerous designs must be analyzed to cover the design space, and unfortunately, modern analysis methods can be tedious and time consuming in such scenarios. We propose here a novel analysis methodology for conceptual design wherein, given the simulation results and performance of one of the designs, one predicts upper and lower bounds on the performance of geometrically similar designs. The methodology rests on sound mathematical principles such as adjoint theory of boundary value problems, and is partly motivated by recent work on shape similarity exploitation in manufacturing wherein the cost of manufacturing a new part is estimated by retrieving the manufacturing costs of geometrically similar parts.© 2006 ASME


High-performance Q345B plate with a thickness ranging from 8 to 40mm has been successfully produced in a mass-scale with the newly commissioned 120 ton BOF at SISG, via the BOF-ladle furnace(LF)-continuous casting(CC)-2500 mill process route. This paper is focused on the Al-microalloying of the steel and the optimization of the LD-CC process to enhance the cleanliness of molten steel. The quality status of the continuously cast slabs are briefly described.


The term Procrastination describes a complex disturbance in the process of controlling action and is associated with low self-regulation capacities. Especially among students for whom 75 percent report being negatively impacted by the tendency. The study at hand tests the theory that meditation supports self-relational capacities among students, and therefore leads to a reduction in procrastination behavior. Eight semi structured interviews were conducted with students experienced in meditation (N=8, age= 20-25 years). The students were instructed to reflect on their meditation practice and its possible influence on their study habits, especially procrastination. Qualitative content analysis revealed the following main factors on the relationship between the effectiveness of meditation and procrastination: time-management, focus of attention, self-regulation, pressure to perform, selfworth and acuteness of thoughts. Further, to investigate procrastination among the participants the Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TSP-D) was included. The quantitative results indicate, that the participating students, who are experienced in meditation show a very low score on procrastination. In conclusion, the study suggests that mediation is associated lessened procrastination with possible mechanisms of increased acuteness of thoughts, focus of attention and self-regulation. © 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk


Cancer of the larynx is one of the rarer malignant neoplasms encountered in man, comprising 1 to 4 per cent of the entire material. Experience in the treatment of this condition is therefore limited except for a few large cancer centers and several university hospitals renowned for their laryngological work. Time and significantly numerical material are necessary to evaluate any new therapeutic procedure. The era of effective radiation therapy for cancer in this country goes back only to the early thirties and, particularly in the case of the larynx, shortly after Pancoast, Tucker, and others proclaimed the ineffectiveness of irradiation in this disease. They were perfectly right in their assertions before the days of protracted fractionated treatment as evolved by Coutard. In the thirties and early forties, however, there was almost universal acceptance of Coutard's principles and I believe that radiotherapy was given an extensive trial in cancer of the larynx during the decade 1930 to 1940. In more rece...


The joke operates on several levels. ''The other way around'' presumably means that under communism, man exploits man; and that sounds exactly the same as what was said about capitalism. Second, though, it's not as though we can't hear a difference between the first ''man exploits man'' and the second; one has the sense it's different men in the two cases. Third, though, that difference overlays a deeper similarity; one group exploiting another makes for a lot of the same unpleasantness as the other group exploiting the first. Now consider the sentence, or sentence-fragment, that may be. It too can be read in two ways. On the one reading, it indicates that a certain state of affairs, φ let's call it, is not ruled out. On the other reading, it also indicates that φ is not ruled out. This is a distinction? Just as in the exploitation joke, it's hard to see what difference there could be between φ's not being ruled out and, well, φ's not being ruled out. But, and this is the second point of analogy, it's not as though we can't hear a difference between different utterances of ''Such and such is not ruled out''. Compare ''Sabotage is not ruled out,'' said by an FAA investigator after


In this study, an experimental study to investigate the load transfer behavior of the CFT column to steel beam connection was carried out. The load transfer mechanism and the effect of the load transfer length were examined, and the results were also compared with finite element analysis results. Finally, the results are to be used for the basic reference of the design guideline for the CFT column connection.


A realistic recommendation for resource adapter interface (RAI), complete with a path for evolving to more comprehensive incarnations, is emerging from an industry supported working group. The RAI working group was formed in July 2005. The group of industry experts convened to attain consensus on what RAI is, to review existing candidate standards, and possibly to recommend one or more candidates for requirement in DoD procurement policy. The RAI topic has always been a controversial one that tests the metal of many existing standards, products and implementations. In achieving an industry consensus, barriers arise from vestments and mindsets surrounding existing products, standards, and ideas. The RAI working group moved forward and passed these obstacles by defining a set of terminology, goals and requirements that ensured consistent meaning in discussions. The recommendation that is materializing promotes a technology and standard that accomplishes two objectives. First it will provide a means of providing an RAI that can be realized with existing technologies. Secondly it will enable a path to providing maximized test application portability by recommending a standard that provides the evolutionary path to a maximized RAI. To achieve this, the working group is soliciting standards committees to embrace and incorporate RAI requirements. These new requirements will facilitate the maximized test application portability when future product developments embrace the complete standard. Recently published research findings that discuss what has hindered industry from achieving a maximized RAI are presented. The paper will discuss three abstractions that apply to RAI and which one has been selected in the recommendation and why. Various software technologies applicable to RAI implementation are also discussed. The paper also discusses the consensus definition for RAI, some history, applicability, and shortfall associated with some of the major existing products, paradigms and implementations. Finally, the paper will provide insights into the future vision for what RAI can be moving forward.


Abstract Recently, there are many researches on active safety system of intelligent vehicle. To reduce the probability of collision caused by driver's inattention and mistakes, the active safety system gives warning or controls the vehicle toward avoiding collision. For the purpose, it is necessary to recognize and analyze circumstances around. In this paper, we will treat the problem about collision risk assessment. In general, it is difficult to calculate the collision risk before it happens. To consider the uncertainty of the situation, Monte Carlo simulation can be employed. However it takes long computation time and is not suitable for practice. In this paper, we apply neural networks to solve this problem. It efficiently computes the unseen data by training the results of Monte Carlo simulation. Furthermore, we propose the features affects the performance of the assessment. The proposed algorithm is verified by applications in various crash scenarios.Key Words : Collision Risk Assessment, Monte Calro Simulation, Neural Networks, Time-to-Collision(TTC)


Developmental data on the velvetbean caterpillar (VRC), collected in both controlled-environment and field settings, allowed the computation of parameters depicting the temperature-dependent development of VBC. These parameters were associated with a previously derived poikilothermic developmental model and were derived to allow computation of the distribution of stage-specific emergence times for the VBC, given any particular temperature regime. These evaluations elucidate several problems (e.g., mortality) associated with attempts to validate single processes (e.g., development) in complex field environments.


This paper addresses the problem of time delay estimation (TDE) in spatially correlated noises. Two cases are considered: (i) TDE of non-Gaussian signal in spatially correlated Gaussian noises; and (ii) TDE of Gaussian signal in spatially correlated non-Gaussian noises. For the first case, a new approach based upon the use of higher order statistics of the measurements is proposed; for the second case, a hybrid approach by using higher and second order statistics of the measurements is suggested. Simulation examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of these approaches.


JAMES E. DUBLIN followed a long, desultory path through chemical engineering, literature and languages, philosophy, and personnel management mto clinical psychology, receiving his PhD in 1969 from the University of Kentucky. He likes to string things together but dislikes hyphenating words. The result is that when asked for a descriptive label, he often says something like H umanPersonExpenenttalExtstenttalGestaltPSychotherapist. A member of several professional organizations, he identifies most strongly with two, The Association tor Humanistic Psychology and The Amencan Academy of Psychotherapists. He is in the practice group of J. P. Kmg & Associates and on the staff of Saint Albans, a private psychiatric hospital. He lives with Linda, John, Lisa, and Bart, about three minutes by Honda from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in which he is also given to driving sports cars, hikmg, writing poetry, and simply looking, in about that order.


. A sufficient condition is derived for the existence of a strictly stationary solution of the general multiple bilinear time series equations (without assuming subdiagonality). The condition is shown to reduce to the condition of Stensholt and Tjostheim in the special case which they consider. Under this condition a solution is constructed which is shown to be casual in the sense we define, strictly stationary and ergodic. It is moreover the unique causal solution and the unique stationary solution of the defining equations. In the special case when the defining equations contain no non-linear terms, i.e. the multiple autoregressive moving-average (ARMA) model. the condition given here reduces to the well-known sufficient condition for the existence of a casual stationary solution.


Objective To observe the inhibitory effect of 17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate combined 137Cs radiation in leukemia L1210 cells.Methods The animal model of leukemia(L1210) was prepared by tumor cell inoculation.All animal divided into six groups,control group,group treated only with radiation,17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate high-level group,17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate mid-level group,17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate low-level group and group combined E838 and radiation.Mice with leukemia(L1210) followed intraperitoneal injection of 17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate once a day for 7 days.Tumor inhibition rate,the number of bone marrow nucleated cells,thymus index and spleen index were detected at the fifth day after the last administration and compare the difference in different groups.Results Tumor in every groups treated with 17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate significant smaller than the control.17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate combined radation has great inhibition effect in tumor-bearing mice(L1210).Conclusion 17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate has significant inhibition effect in leukemia(L1210) and could protect the immune organs in mice.17act-D-homo ethynylestradiol-3-acetate combined radiation could enhance the anti-tumor therapy.


Abstract The purpose of this study was to utilize a personal computer and associated equipment to facilitate making a pitot traverse of a ventilation duct. The procedure enables one individual to manipulate a pitot tube and to communicate with the computer from the traverse location. The computer receives measurement data, instructs the individual regarding probe position, makes calculations for velocities and volume flow rate, and records measurement data. Velocity pressure from the probe is measured using a pressure transducer connected to a personal computer via an analog/digital data conversion board. Communication between the individual and the computer during the traverse is made by means of a push-button switch. Input data includes traverse location, duct diameter, air temperature and barometric pressure, user name, date, and additional optional notations related to the traverse. A traverse at a given location can be repeated without leaving the traverse position. Output data is displayed on the mo...


A new theoretical technique for understanding, analyzing and developing optical systems is presented. The approach is statistical in nature, where information about an object under investigation is discovered, by examining deviations from a known reference statistical distribution. A Fourier optics framework and a scalar description of the propagation of monochromatic light is initially assumed. An object (belonging to a known class of objects) is illuminated with a speckle field and the intensity of the resulting scattered optical field is detected at a series of spatial locations by point square law detectors. A new speckle field is generated (with a new diffuser) and the object is again illuminated and the intensities are again measured and noted. By making a large number of these statistical measurements - an ensemble averaging process (which in general can be a temporal or a spatial averaging process) - it is possible to determine the statistical relationship between the intensities detected in different locations with a known statistical certainty. It is shown how this physical property of the optical system can be used to identify different classes of objects (discrete objects or objects that vary continuously as a function of several physical parameters) with a specific statistical certainty. The derived statistical relationship is a fourth order statistical process and is related to the mutual intensity of scattered light. A connection between the integration time of the intensity detectors and temporal coherence and hence temporal bandwidth of a quasi-monochromatic light source is discussed. We extend these results to multiple wavelengths and polarizations of light. We briefly discuss how the results may be extended to non-paraxial optical systems.