In the model compression, to achieve the optimal pruning effect, weighted pruning or filter pruning was used to prune the network in traditional methods, in fact, the network can continue to be compressed. Therefore, a hybrid pruning method of convolution kernel weight pruning and filter pruning are proposed in this paper. First of all, the weight pruning is carried out for the convolutional neural network model, this paper adopts the method of dynamic convolution kernel for weight pruning, and the fluctuation value of each time normalized value in network update process is taken as the pruning criterion for the weight of the convolutional kernel. Because the weight pruning of the convolution kernel is dynamic, the floating-point operation (FLOP) is significantly reduced, and the parameter scale does not decrease significantly. Then, the model was pruning by convolution kernel ℓ1-norm [1] method, which is not only effectively reduce the parameter scale, but also no extra calculations are introduced. In the case of a small loss of network accuracy, the hybrid pruning of the convolution kernel can maximize the compression of the model to meet the conditions for deployment in mobile edge devices, and has significant improvements in floating-point operations and parameter compression. Therefore, mixed pruning in this paper can effectively make up for the shortage of single pruning method. Through VGG-16, ResNet and other networks, it has been proved in practice that the convolution kernel hybrid pruning method proposed in this paper can effectively reduce the model size and maintain a high level of accuracy.


Abstract Cu–30Zn plates were friction stir processed at a rotational speed of 1120 rpm and a traverse speed of 50 mm/min. Two kinds of samples were produced. The first sample was friction stir processed without using a secondary phase. In the case of the second sample, Al2O3 particles were incorporated into the Cu–30Zn plates to produce a surface nanocomposite. In the absence of Al2O3 particles, the produced sample showed the typical microstructures of friction stir processed brass alloys. However, in the presence of Al2O3 particles, the SZ showed a bimodal grain structure, and Zn oxide particles were formed. The high heat input condition of FSP caused the evaporation and scape of Zn from the CuZn matrix. The evaporated Zn reacted with oxygen of the air entrapped between the Al2O3 particles, which formed in-situ and encapsulated Zn oxide particles. This phenomenon has not been yet reported in the literature.


Abstract Few data are available on the influence of daily life activities on pain in patients with low back pain (LBP). Therefore, on their first visit to a clinic for musculoskeletal disorders and manual medicine, 100 patients were asked by means of a questionnaire which activities of daily life caused them pain. This questionnaire was used prior to routine anamnesis (history, subjective examination) and physical examination and separate from a clinical diagnosis. An exclusion was made for patients with acute LBP, i.e. pain for less than 6 weeks. Four physicians each asked 25 unselected and undetermined LBP patients. From the total patient group 85% experienced pain on sitting, 78% on a partly bent position, 73% on standing, 70% on standing up out of sitting, 66% on sauntering, 60% on total forward bending, 47% on lying down, 23% on walking and 15% experienced pain on cycling. These results show that total forward bending provokes less pain than a partly bent forward position. An even larger contrast exists when comparing static sitting with dynamic sitting, such as during cycling. Static activities, even lying down, are more pain provoking than dynamic activities. Data on which daily life activities provoke pain may play an essential role in the further elucidation of non-specific low back pain.


The article is devoted an analysis and methods of evaluation of motive forces of higher education's development. Underline, that they affect an inertia, which allows to optimize a management an educational sphere. It is indicated that globalization of the education shows up as integration or internationalization, informatization and commerce. Each of the indicated processes is characterized own parameters, that determines different methods of calculate of their level. As basic data statistical indexes and ratings indicators are used. The analysis of criteria and indicators of the most known world ratings is conducted. They characterize international cooperation in the field of higher education. The most informing sign of integration, which can be certain numeral, is academic mobility. This index reflects in a numeral form efficiency of the educational system, its advantages and failings, differs availability and authenticity. The statistical indexes for the evaluation of informatization's level is required by the uses of the generalized integral values which characterize quality of education. The variety of ratings criteria and indicators, determining the level of commerce, allows comprehensively to compare higher schools of different countries. The method of calculation of level of higher education's competitiveness is offered. A total score is presented by an evaluation cartoonist, which reflects the ratings indexes of competitiveness. For the account of different factors, influencing on a competitiveness, used and value of risks which allow more correctly provide comparison of the educational systems


In modern digital systems, on-chip interconnects have become the system bottleneck, limiting the performance of high-speed clock distributions and data communications in terms of speed and power dissipation. An inverse signaling analysis is developed to optimize the driving signal waveforms for lossy interconnects. By specifying the performance parameters, i.e., the signal swing and edge rate of the interconnect output signal, the corresponding input signals can be derived analytically. The result can be used to guide and optimize the design of interconnect preemphasis drivers. Numerical examples are shown for both lossy RC and RLC distributed lines. Analysis shows that optimized driving voltage and current can increase the interconnect bandwidth without voltage overshoot at the output. The significance of an interconnect inductance is also evaluated with this technique.


This work concentrates on scanning micro-Raman studies of nanopatterned singlelayer graphene. Graphene as a material is ideally suited to both electronics and spintronics, however, for both applications nanopatterning is necessary. For graphene spintronics, pure zigzag edges are additionally required. It is therefore necessary to study the influence of nanopatterning and to verify attemps at creating pure zigzag edges.
To adress the first issue, the work at hand comprises a Raman study of a series of samples of singlelayer graphene patterned with square antidot lattices. We have found this nanopatterned graphene to be p-type doped with the doping concentration tentatively depending on the number of antidots per square unit.
An attempt at creating pure zigzag edges has been made via an anisotropic etching process applied to sqare antidot lattices on singlelayer graphene. This thesis shows a step-by-step Raman evalutaion of the etching process and verifies via inter-valley scattering that it indeed results in predominantly zizag edges.


A special knowledge center model created by the author about 20 years ago and published at the PICMET'01 (2001) conference, among others, was based on the following definition: "knowledge is when one can effectively use the information and theoretical knowledge at his disposal to solve practical problems". As it is written in the concept of the Japanese Society 5.0 program, currently we are in the Information Society, where information is the key factor. However, creation of knowledge from information is still accomplished by humans. Yet in the fifth stage of human society, this will be done by machines, by AI. Accordingly, we need to turn not just our higher education system, but our whole knowledge management approach, which teaches to transfer information to knowledge, into the development of effective and secure collaboration ability with AI. We assume that in the future, university students, but others, will be increasingly involved in the "deep learning" processes that were originally developed for the teaching of robots. This paper summarizes the theoretical and methodological findings that underpin the construction of a new knowledge management model based on secure human & AI collaboration, and that avoids the dangers of technological singularity.


We have developed compact 10-Gb/s optical transceiver and receiver modules for a WDM sub- Tb/s ATM switch system. Each module has a cooling part whose structure is based on a high-performance heat transfer device and micro-fans. Instead of conventional radiation fin, a high-performance device is used to conduct heat from heat sources, such as a laser, to the fin inside the duct on the end of the module, where it is radiated by push-pull micro-fans. Because the conventional cooling structure based on straight fin occupies a larger volume, it is not suitable for high-density arrangement. Our cooling system achieved a heat resistance value of 1.8 °C/W, which was sufficient to stabilize the operation of the laser unit. This cooling structure enables a compact structure to handle high-density heat generation. The power dissipations of the TX and RX are 9.65 and 22.5 W, respectively. The TX and RX modules are the same size: 80 x 120 x 20 mm. Measurements show that these optical modules can operate stably without any additional cooling systems even in the switching unit.


Goat milk has increasing importance in daily food consumption of individuals. This study aims to determine the factors that have influence on goat milk consumption. The research was conducted based on a face to face consumer survey which was applied in the two cities of the south-east part of Turkey, Adana and Mersin. The sample size of the survey was determined as 518 consumers depend on convenience sampling in case of unlimited population size. In this regard, a multivariate probit model was designed to test the intentions for goat milk consumption and purchase. The result of the study shows that place of purchase, bottle type, odour, brand, cheese consumption and homeland are the related factors with goat milk consumption and purchase activities. These results could be useful for understanding consumer attitude towards goat milk and to identify commercial targets and production strategies in future.


Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can enhance fertilization, it is the factor that can most affect the efficiency of AMF. The objective was to study the influence of AMF, Glomus etunicatum , the initial growth of seedlings of sabia ( Mimosa caesalpiniaefolia Benth .) dosed phosphorus as substrate soil of low fertility. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse at the  Universidade Federal do Piaui in the months of September to November 2011. The experimental design was completely randomized in factorial scheme 3x4 with three conditions of soil (natural soil, autoclaved and autoclaved inoculated with AMF) and four P rates (0, 60, 120 and 240 mg dm-3 P) with 4 replicates. The parameters evaluated were length of shoots (CA), stem diameter (AD), the length of the shoot stem diameter (AC / DC) and leaf number (NF). The AMF inoculation promoted significance for AC, DC and NC. The dose of 60 mg dm-3 promotes growth for AC, DC and NC. It is concluded that inoculation with Glomus etunicatum promotes an increase in the initial growth of seedlings of thrush and the dose of 60 mg P dm-3 is sufficient to meet the initial growth of seedlings of sabia.


THE name of Djuna Barnes is not unknown to those readers who followed, with any care, the stream of pamphlets, books, magazines and anthologies that poured forth to en lighten America in the feverish days of literary expatriation. Miss Barnes, it is true, must always have remained a somewhat enigmatic figure even to the most attentive reader. Born in New York State, she spent most of her time abroad in England and France; and the glimpses one catches of her in the memoirs of the period are brief and unrevealing. She appears in The Dial from time to time with a drawing or a poem; she crops up now and again in some anthology of advance-guard writers?the usual agglomeration of people who are later to become famous, or to sink into the melancholy oblivion of frustrated promise. Before the publication of Nightwood} indeed, one might have been in clined to place her name in the latter group. For, while she has a book of short stories and an earlier novel to her credit, neither of them prepares one for the maturity of achievement so con spicuous in every line of her latest work. Of the fantastical quality of her imagination, of the gift for imagery which, as T. S. Eliot has said, gives one a sense of horror and doom akin to Elizabethan tragedy; of the epigrammatic in cisiveness of her phrasing and her penchant, also akin to the *Part I appeared in the April, 1945, issue of The Sewanee Review. It was origi nally planned to publish this essay in two parts; considerations of space have com pelled us to publish it in three.?Editor.


A new model which can leads Universitas Airlangga to manage a recruitment
and development process of lecturers is needed. This is a respond to a problem which
is facing faculties and departments in Universitas Airlangga. The existence of adjunct
lecturers is a strategy of faculties and departments to develop a qualified and fit
lecturers for faculties and departments. But, that strategy is hampered by a
government regulation of lecturers' open recruitment procedure and centralized
decision making. This research also identified that there are many and different
problems in managing recruitment and development of a lecturers in Universitas
Airlangga despite of government regulation. Those problems are identified by
interviewing stakeholders in process of recruitment and development of lecturers in
Universitas Airlangga. Despite of interview method, this research also collects
documents those are related to process of recruitment and development of lecturers.
The documents and interview transcripts are analyzed by classified data in to
three section. Those sections are planning a new lecturers; developing a lecturer; and
evaluating a lecturers' performance. Those sections are derived from internship and
apprenticeship concepts. Those concepts are sources of a model that is result of this
research. The findings shows that there are differences in strategy recruiting and
developing new lecturer among faculties and departments in Universitas Airlangga.
But, one for sure that faculties and departments has been developing a scheme of
regenerating lecturer by recruit their best candidates to be adjunct lecturer first
before participating in recruitment of lecturer held by government. This research also
delivered a model based on internship and apprenticeship concepts for recruiting and
developing lecturer in Universitas Airlangga. That model is a recommendation of
strategy for Universitas Airlangga to cope with obstacles in recruiting and developing
lecturer.


Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of specular microscopy as an alternative diagnostic tool for cytomegalovirus (CMV) corneal endotheliitis. Design: A retrospective study. Methods: One hundred and four patients with clinical manifestations of infectious corneal endotheliitis, iridocyclitis, and retinitis were included in this study. The presence of CMV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was confirmed by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Viral load was measured using real-time PCR. Corneal endothelium was observed by specular microscopy. The medical records and clinical manifestations of the patients were retrospectively reviewed and linked with the PCR results. Results: Seventeen of 104 cases were CMV endotheliitis and/or iridocyclitis and had no history of intraocular surgery or corneal transplantation. There was a negative correlation between viral load and corneal endothelial cell counts. In 14 of 17 cases, owl's eye cells were observed by specular microscopy. The corneal endothelial cell counts were significantly reduced in the cases in which owl's eye cells were observed. Conclusions: In CMV endotheliitis, owl's eye cells were observed by specular microscopy with high probability (82%). Corneal endothelial cells significantly decreased when owl's eye cells were observed by specular microscopy. Specular microscopy represents a useful noninvasive auxiliary tool for diagnosing and monitoring CMV corneal endotheliitis.


Even with much advance in modern medicine, cancer is still a primary cause for human diseased-induced death. However, thanks to the improvement of fabrication technology, especially optical engineering, it has been moved to single cell level research by biophotonic devices. More and more multi-function automatically integrated lab-on-chips are being made, which will enlarge and deepen our knowledge about former unclearness of cells, leading to new visions and ways to fight against cancer. It is here presented one opto-fluidic microchip design for the study of cell deformability and migratory ability.


A series of aryl 1-propenyl ethers (ArPE) were prepared by the isomerization of the corresponding allyl aryl ethers (AArE) and used for photoinduced cationic polymerization studies. Attempted polymerization reactions using diaryliodonium salts as photoinitiators generally resulted in low yields of oligomers. Further studies revealed that these compounds have much lower reactivity in cationic vinyl polymerization as compared to their alkyl analogues. Moreover, side reactions resulting from chain transfer due to Friedel-Crafts alkylations take place and compete with vinyl polymerization. These side reactions are responsible for the low molecular weights observed in the cationic photopolymerization of aryl 1-propenyl ether monomers.


The authors present detailed results showing the variation of a quantity characterizing the crosspolarization for different feed positions, substrate thickness, and relative permittivity. The results are given both when the excitation is at the resonant frequency of the TM/sub 01/ mode and when the excitation is at the resonant frequency of the TM/sub 10/ mode.<<ETX>>


The spread of pandemic Covid-19 has drastically disrupted every aspects of human life including education. It came as havoc for developing countries like India. It has compelled the human society to maintain social distancing and made people mandatory to sit indoor. It has significantly disrupted the education sector which is a critical determinant of economic future of a country. Many educational institutions around the world have closed their campuses and moved for online teaching-learning mode. In India, about 32 crore learners stopped to move schools/colleges and all educational activities brought to an end. The outbreak of Covid-19 has worked as a catalyst for the educational institutions to grow with digital technologies, which has never happened before. The educational institutions have managed to ensure the continuity of educational activities with digital technologies during the pandemic and are expecting the same trend to continue. This paper highlights some measures taken by Govt. of India to provide seamless education in the country during the pandemic Covid-19. Various challenges and opportunities created by Covid-19 on education are discussed. Some of the post Covid-19 trends which may allow imagining the new ways of teaching learning in India are outlined. Some fruitful suggestions are also pointed to carry out educational activities during the pandemic situation.


The utility model discloses a double-cylinder hydraulic security valve, which is applicable to oil gas wellhead devices with various specifications and types. The double-cylinder hydraulic security valve provided by the utility model consists of a valve (1), a connection flange (2), a spring (3), an outer sleeve (4), a hydraulic piston (5) and an oil cylinder (6); a set of a pneumatic auxiliary device (9) is connected at the upper part of the oil cylinder (6); the pneumatic auxiliary device (9) adopts air as an air source; when the security valve is at a normally opened state, a pneumatic piston (11) compresses the air at constant pressure, and stores energy in an air cylinder (10); when the security valve is switched off, the hydraulic piston (5) is pushed to move upwards by resilience force of the spring (3) and the energy stored in the air cylinder (10), so that the security valve is rapidly switched off; and if the spring (3) is broken due to a long period of compression fatigue, the security valve is switched on and off by injecting the air through a liquid injection opening (A) and a liquid injection opening (B) on the air cylinder.


As most people are counting the number of days until the new year, some of us are counting sheep. In celebration of the countdown to 2020, we wanted to ...


FIELD: oil and gas industry. SUBSTANCE: invention is related to a method of well production optimisation. Intervals are selected in a deviated offshoot and drill-stem testing and borehole treatment is deployed. Then each interval is isolated in order to perform the required testing. The obtained testing data are evaluated in order to define respective recovery measures, which are implemented later by means of the drill-stem testing and borehole treatment. EFFECT: provision of testing and treatment for the plenty of intervals in a horizontal hole during one running to the borehole. 11 cl, 6 dwg


This paper presents the effect of surface roughness in line contact under isothermal soft mixed lubrication with non-Newtonian based on Power law viscosity model. The time independent modified Reynolds equation, elasticity equation and the load capacity of asperities equation were numerically solved using finite different method, Newton-Raphson method and multigrid multilevel methods to obtain the film pressure profiles, film thickness profiles and contact pressure in the contact regions. The simulation results showed that the the amplitude of surface roughness has a significant effects on the film pressure, film thickness and surface contact pressure in the contact region. The minimum gap between surface, friction coefficient and asperity load increase when the amplitude of surface roughness increases. For increasing surface velocity, the minimum gap between surface increases but asperity load decreases.


Objective To explore the effects of endoscopic third ventricuiostomy in treatment of chronic complicated hydrocephalus. Method The clinical data of 15 cases of chronic complicated hydroephalus with endoscopic third ventriculostomy were analyzed retrospectively. Results Satisfying post -operative results were obtained in 15 cases. No complications occurred. One patient suffered recurrent hydrocephalus after first operation and underwent second third ventriculostomy. During operation orificium fistuloe was closed and patient recurred well after operation. Conclusions Endoscopic third ventriculostomy is reliable and effective in treatment of chronic complicated hydrocephalus.

Key words:
Endoscopes;  Hydrocephalus;  Third ventricle


This thesis focuses on chemical transformations of H-phosphonate and H-phosphonothioate and can be divided in two parts. The first part, is devoted to the development of the palladium-catalyzed P-C ...


The article illustrates the necessity and feasibility of cultivating university students' comprehensive quality, and the functions of library. It also illustrates how to cultivate their comprehensive quality through library.


Objective: Typically, intersections that carry more traffic will have more crashes; however, these crashes might not be severe. On the other hand, low-volume intersections might have lower number of crashes; however, can be more severe than their high-volume counterparts. Since the geometric and traffic characteristics of signalized and stop-controlled intersections are different, the significant factors affecting crash severity at both intersection types will be also different. This paper identifies and compares those significant factors affecting crash severity at high- and low-volume signalized and stop-controlled intersections in Alabama using five-year crash data from 2010 to 2014. A cut-off value of 1,000 vehicles/day was used to classify intersections as high-volume vs. low-volume. Method: A random forest model was used to rank variable importance and a binary logit model was applied to identify the significant factors at both high- and low-volume signalized and stop-controlled intersections. Four discrete models (high-volume signalized, low-volume signalized, high-volume stop-controlled, and low-volume stop-controlled) were developed. Roadway, traffic, vehicle, driver, and environmental characteristics were used as independent variables in the models. Results: In all four models, crashes in rural areas showed higher severity compared to urban areas and right-turning maneuver showed relatively lesser severity. Rear-end crashes showed lower severity compared to side impacts at high- and low-volume stop-controlled and high-volume signalized intersections. Head-on crashes, driving under influence (DUI) of alcohol/drugs, and increase in driver age showed higher severity at high- and low-volume signalized intersections. Motorcycles were associated with higher severity at high- and low-volume signalized intersections, as well as high-volume stop-controlled intersections. Conclusions: Most of the factors with the highest ranking from the random forest model were found significant in the binary logit models. Strategies to alleviate crash severity at different intersections are suggested. Practical Applications: Since the left-turning vehicle maneuver showed higher severity likelihood at high-volume signalized intersections, providing enough sight distance and protected left turn phase (with no permitted phase) in busy intersections is suggested. Also, education programs should be designed disseminating the dangerous effect of DUI on crash severity while crossing signalized intersections.


Taking the intermittent transmission chain as the research object,the virtual prototype of the system was established.Applying Orthogonal Experiment(OE) method,and selecting the input shaft speed and other four parameters etc.OE parameters,taking the chain attachment acceleration values as vibration indicator to proceed dynamics simulation.


The process monitoring techniques play an essential role to improve the overall performance of processes. The control chart is an essential monitoring tool used to detect changes in the process parameters. The Shewhart charts are famous for detecting larger shifts, while exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) and cumulative sum (CUSUM) control charts are famous for detecting small‐to‐moderate shifts. The separate control schemes are required for the quick identification of the changes in the process parameters because sometimes testing is too expensive or time taking and a practitioner may not afford any kind of defects or loss. With this motivation, the dynamic feature of this article is to introduce an efficient sequential probability ratio test (SPRT) decision‐based Tukey CUSUM design. The performance of the proposal is judged by using several run lengths (RLs) performance measures such as average, median, standard deviation, and percentile RLs. Based on the comparative analysis, it is revealed that the proposed chart offers more sensitivity towards the changes in process location than its competitor's charts for several probability models. The study proposal may find applications in packaging, manufacturing, decision‐making, finance and economics modeling, image processing and automation. A case study from steel rods manufacturing is included to demonstrate the application of the proposed design.


In visible light communications (VLC) systems based on baseband intensity modulation (IM), the modulating signals are designed for a single-purpose to either support single-user access using single-carrier pulsed modulation such as On-Off keying (OOK) or multi-user access mainly using the multi-carrier orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In VLC based sensing, transmitted sinusoidal beacons are considered to identify the different light sources. A key challenge is that such systems are not capable of supporting simultaneous bit streaming and sensing to high-end devices already equipped with chip sets compatible with OFDM and resource limited low-end devices for Internet-of-Things (IoT). In this paper, we present a novel design of a modulating waveform to effectively tackle this issue. The proposed waveform allows high-end and low-end devices to receive the same baseband signal, extract the useful part and process without any interference. We provide a detailed presentation of the design, explanation of the demodulation schemes and performance evaluation. We validated the performance through simulation results showing bit-error rate (BER) curves using multi-carrier OFDM for high-end devices. The bit-error performance is maintained at different dimming levels while offering a parallel data stream using single-carrier modulation for low-end devices and a stream of sinusoidal beacons needed for the sensing mission.


This book has been written by 26 contributors who are presently or have been affiliated with the Center for Immunology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Approximately the first half of the book is devoted to basic aspects of immunology, and the second half is devoted to the application of these concepts and to clinical diseases. Unfortunately, the text suffers from that difficulty present in any multi-authored book: there is great variation in the quality of the individual chapters. Generally, the first half of the book, which has chapters dealing with the basic principles of immunology, is far better than the latter half dealing with the applications of immunology and with immunologic diseases. From the standpoint of the physician, the chapters on immunosuppression and autoimmune diseases are particularly disappointing in their brevity and superficiality, while the chapters on bacterial, mycotic, viral, and parasitic diseases are unduly long.


ABSTRACT In 1711 the opera L'Anagilda was performed in the private theatre of Francesco Maria Ruspoli, an important Roman patron of the Arcadian Academy. L'Anagilda's librettist (Girolamo Gigli) and composer (Antonio Caldara) were both associated with this society, but the opera contrasts with the basic goal of Arcadian aesthetics – namely, to reform literature and opera by imitating the structure of ancient Greek tragedy and the stylistic purity of Italian renaissance poets. Rather, Gigli and Caldara created an opera infused with comedy, interspersed with fantastic intermezzos and formulated according to a genre not endorsed by Arcadian literary critics, the mock heroic. This article explores topics related to one central question: why would Gigli and Caldara openly flout the literary precepts of Arcadia? Gigli was a career satirist whose works eventually caused him to be exiled from his native Siena, all of Tuscany and the Papal States, and to be expelled from three major literary academies, the Intronati, the Cruscanti and the Arcadians. Since he continually criticized the organizations to which he belonged for their narrow-mindedness, prejudice and hypocrisy, I contend that L'Anagilda represents a critique of Arcadia. Yet in the process, Gigli also shows the Arcadians that there is more than one path to verisimilitude and the imitation of classical models. Despite the mock-heroic characteristics of the libretto, Gigli adheres to some Arcadian structural requirements, and Caldara's score heightens the characterizations and the overall verisimilitude of the opera.


The synthesis of several 3-arylidene-2-pyrrolidinones (V) by aldol condensation between aromatic aldehydes and N-acetyl-2-pyrrolidinone is reported. The UV-spectra of structures of type V compounds are discussed and compared with those of the corresponding α -arylidene-γ-butyrolactones.


The recognition sequence and cleavage site for restriction endonuclease SsrI have been determined, the latter being 5'-GTT decreases AAC-3'. The enzyme was isolated from Staphylococcus saprophyticus strain and may be used in DNA investigation instead of its isoshizomer HpaI.


Bird songs may advertise aspects of cognition because song learning and learning speed in cognitive tasks are both affected by early-life environments. However, such relationships remain ambiguous in the literature. Here, I discuss 2 lines of research that may help to demystify links between song learning and cognition. First, learning strategies should be considered when assessing performance to ensure that individual differences in learning ability are not masked by individual differences in learning strategies. Second, song characteristics should be associated with social behavior because songs have a social purpose and, consequently, should be strongly related at functional and neural levels. Finally, if song learning and cognitive abilities are correlated because they develop concurrently and/or share or compete for the same resources, I discuss ways glucocorticoids may link early-life stress, song learning and cognitive ability, focusing particularly on oxidative stress as a potential mechanism.


Monochromatic high-energy X-rays (37 keV) focused into a microbeam (3.8 × 1.3 μm2) with a Kirkpatrick-Baez mirror allows us for the first time to reveal the striking sub-cellular distribution and the chemical form of cadmium in the cadmium hyperaccumulating plant, Arabidopsis halleri ssp. gemmifera, by detecting the Cd Kα line. Micro X-ray fluorescence analysis (μ-XRF) and micro X-ray absorption near-edge structure analysis (μ-XANES) were used for the nondestructive analysis of the Cd distribution and chemical form of Cd at a cellular level in the plant in order to investigate the Cd accumulation mechanism. It was clearly observed by two-dimensional μ-XRF imaging that Cd was highly accumulated in a part of the trichomes, epidermal hairs existing on the surface of the leaves. The bases of the trichomes contained Cd, Zn and Mn at high concentrations and their distribution patterns were similar to each other. These elements were located near the surface of the trichome in the form of a ring. The μ-XANES analysis revealed that the majority of the Cd exists in the divalent state and bound to the O and/or N ligands. This study has demonstrated the potential of the Cd K-edge μ-XANES spectroscopy, which was applied here for the first time to plant samples.


ONE MIGHT SUGGEST THAT THE RECENT scientific report to the federal cabinet nominating northern cod for protection under the new Species at Risk Act ends the first chapter of Canadian history. Cod were one of the primary resources that attracted European settlers to the shores of the New World, and cod were at the heart of the fledgling Canadian industrial economy right through the 19th-century. In Atlantic Canada, cod and the fishery in general formed the backbone of the rural economy up until the last ten years of the 20th-century. It is not surprising, then, that Richard Cashin, the founder and a long-time leader of the Newfoundland fishermen's union, called the demise of the northern cod "a disaster of biblical proportions". Whether intended or not, Cashin's wording is apt since the biblical disasters, be it the great flood or the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, were never due strictly to natural causes. They were, according the biblical authors, a result of human failings. Similarly, as Marian Binkley, in Set Adrift: Fishing Families (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2002), Rosemary E. Ommer, ed., in The Resilient Outport: Ecology, Economy, and Society in Rural Newfoundland (St. John's, ISER Books, 2002) and Reginald Byron, ed., in Retrenchment and Regeneration in Rural Newfoundland (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2003) clearly demonstrate, the collapse of the cod was not caused by natural factors such as environmental change as some have argued; it was the result of overfishing – overfishing primarily by Canadians. What is not well known among Canadians is that the closure of the cod and other groundfisheries in 1993, which put 30,000 people out of work in Newfoundland, and thousands more in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Quebec, was but one part of a more comprehensive devastation of rural communities in Atlantic Canada.1 Not only had the fish stocks drastically declined, but there was both a corresponding loss in income and employment and a government restructuring of the fisheries that further accelerated the loss of fishing opportunities. This restructuring appeared necessary in order to restore the health of the fishing industry. To quote the most recent federal government fisheries policy document: "Despite having weathered a difficult period of adjustment and restructuring, the fisheries continue to be an important contributor to employment, income and economic opportunity". The document goes on to state that "despite the collapse of groundfish stocks, the industry has experienced good overall economic performance"; the value of landings and exports, for instance, increased by 50 per cent during the 1990s. This optimistic assessment of the Atlantic fisheries indicates, from the federal government's perspective, that the objectives of the restructuring exercise have been fulfilled and that it is now possible to achieve the government's vision of "biologically sustainable fisheries that are self-reliant, viable, and capable of contributing to the


Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell proliferation caused by a loss of control of cell cycle growth and division. Many chemotherapeutics have been developed to induce apoptosis or inhibit cancer cell growth. Previous studies have evidenced the efficacy of organometallic compounds, notably cisplatin and its derivatives, in inhibiting tumor growth. Further studies have been conducted with other metal elements to assess their potential as anti‐cancer drugs. One in particular is vanadium, which has been shown to elicit effects via multiple biochemical pathways. We previously synthesized novel vanadium complexes with variable functional groups and found that they were able to inhibit growth in breast (MCF‐7) and colon (HT‐29) cancer cell lines to varying degrees. Here, we hypothesized that these complexes were inducing apoptosis via caspase 3/7‐mediated pathways and inducing cell death by an increase in reactive oxygen species generation.


With much of our health beginning at development, proper growth is essential to give us the best start at life. This thesis has focused on the development of the kidneys and lungs. Both lung immaturity and impaired nephron formation contribute significantly to the high mortality rates associated with preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction. Medical advancements have included oxygen supplementation and corticosteroids, however they cause damage to the developing lung and are associated with increased risk of long-term adverse health outcomes. In the kidney, increasing evidence supports the link between the in utero environment, nephron endowment and the risk of renal disorders. Understanding the mechanisms that govern normal organogenesis will facilitate the development of novel therapies aimed at enhancing organ maturation. Colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) is a haemopoietic growth factor and the primary regulator of macrophage differentiation, proliferation and survival. Traditionally CSF-1 is recognised for its functions in immune regulation, however a greater appreciation of macrophage heterogeneity indicates that CSF-1 signalling also contributes significantly to non-immune processes such as development and tissue regeneration. The essential role of CSF-1 in organogenesis is highlighted by the extensive developmental abnormalities associated with CSF-1 deficiency. In previous studies, the addition of CSF-1 to embryonic lung and kidney explants resulted in increased branching and nephron formation. Furthermore, results of a preliminary study also indicated that CSF-1 treatment enhances nephron endowment and alveolar formation in vivo. Recognising the potential clinical benefits, we have been diligent in securing the intellectual property for CSF-1 as a modality for enhanced organ maturation and growth (US Patent 8,153,584). As such, this thesis has formed the basis of the preclinical development program investigating the applicability of CSF-1 as a therapy for promoting kidney and lung development. This thesis has utilised the neonatal mouse as a developmental model. Mice are born at a stage where earlier aspects of organ development are still ongoing, thereby providing a technically accessible organogenic window to investigate enhancement with CSF-1. In the four subsequent studies, CSF-1 and the promotion of nephrogenesis and alveolar formation has been systematically addressed. Firstly, a thorough characterisation of CSF-1R location and trophic macrophages in postnatal development of the mouse was performed. CSF-1 was then administered to neonatal mice to investigate whether increasing CSF-1 would enhance development of the kidneys and lungs. In the third study, the alveologenic capabilities of CSF-1 were trialled in the clinically relevant neonatal hyperoxia model; which mimics the disruption of alveolar formation in preterm infants caused by oxygen supplementation. Clinical applicability was also the focus of the forth study which investigated assays to translate the in vitro promotion of nephrogenesis from an embryonic murine to human setting for potential use in fetal obstructive uropathy. The results of this thesis have strengthened understanding of macrophages in the developing kidney and lung, and taken significant steps in the development of a CSF-1 therapy for the promotion of organogenesis. In particular, a correlation between macrophages and key periods of development in both organs is demonstrated, and this study is the first to report the role of M2 macrophages in alveolar development. Administration of CSF-1 to neonates had a beneficial effect in increasing body weight and kidney growth, with results strengthening the link between CSF-1 and the IGF-1 growth axis as a mechanism of trophic action. We have also demonstrated promising safety data for CSF-1 use in clinically relevant settings of developmental inflammation, although efficacy was limited with regard to the rescue of alveolar perturbation. Furthermore, the establishment of an in utero fetal tissue collection method and organ culture assay has relevance for future testing of nephrogenic agents. Overall, this thesis provides the foundation for ongoing preclinical testing of CSF-1, and highlights the relevance of CSF-1 as a potential clinical intervention for promoting organ development in premature infants and ureteral-obstructed fetuses.


Table 1. Iraq Crude Oil Exports – May 2017Table 2. Iraq Crude Oil Exports – June 2017Table 3. Iraq Crude Oil Exports – July 2017


60 CASE REPORT A58-year-old female with history of recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding presented with three days of melena. The patient underwent colonoscopy in 2007 at an outside institution for hematochezia and Hemoglobin of 6.7 mg/dL. Gross blood was seen from the terminal ileum to the rectum, but no lesions were visualized. An upper endoscopy was performed in 2008, revealing gastritis. In 2009, the patient presented to our institution with occult blood in stool and underwent capsule endoscopy. A polypoid mass with ulcer was seen in the mid small bowel (Figure 1-Polypoid mass; Figure 2-Ulcer in ileum), but the patient was lost to follow up. She returned in 2010 with recurrent gastrointestinal bleed. Retrograde double balloon enteroscopy revealed three sessile 6–8 mm submucosal nodules in the distal, mid, and proximal ileum (Figure 3-Submucosal nodules), a flat 1 cm ulcer in the mid ileum (Figure 4), and an umbilicated 1.5 cm polyp with central ulceration in the proximal ileum. Biopsies of all lesions revealed carcinoid tumor (Figure 5-H and E stain; Figure 6Chromogranin immunostain). Preoperatively, a CT scan of the abdomen revealed focal thickening of a short segment of small bowel and lymphadenopathy (Figure 7). An Octreotide scan revealed abnormal uptake in the pelvic mesentery at 24 hours (Figure 8). The serum chromogranin A level was normal. The patient subsequently underwent surgery with resection of 100 cm of the small intestine, appendix, and surrounding lymph nodes. Six separate carcinoid tumors, all invading the muscularis propria, were identified. Three out of the twenty-two lymph nodes were found to be positive for disease. The resection margins were negative. The overall incidence of carcinoid tumors in the United States is estimated to be 1–2/100,000 but the true incidence may be even higher, as tumors are indolent.1 Diarrhea and flushing are the hallmarks of carcinoid syndrome2, however only 5–7% of small bowel carcinoids present with carcinoid syndrome.1 The Diagnosis of Multifocal Small Bowel Carcinoid with Double Balloon Enteroscopy A CASE REPORT


Reliable and valid measures of children's and adole scents' social emotional competence (SEC) are necessary to develop in order to assess their social emotional development and provide appropriate intervention in child and adolescent development. A pool of 25 items was created for the Social Emotional Competence Questionnaire (SECQ) that represented five dimensions of SEC: self-awareness, social awareness, self-mana gement, relationship management and responsible decision-making. A series of four studies are reported relating to the development and validation of the measure. Confirmatory factor analyses of the responses of 44 4 fourth-graders showed an acceptable fit of the model. The model was replicat ed with another 356 secondary school students. Additional studies revea led good internal consistency. The significant correlations among the five SEC components and academic performance provided evidence for the predictive validity of the instrument. With multiple samples, these results sh owed that the scale holds promise as a reliable, valid measure of SEC.


Blockchain-based cryptocurrencies received a lot of attention recently for their applications in many domains. IoT domain is one of such applications, which can utilize cryptocurrencies for micropayments without compromising their payment privacy. However, long confirmation times of transactions and relatively high fees hinder the adoption of cryptoccurency based micro-payments. The payment channel networks is one of the proposed solutions to address these issue where nodes establish payment channels among themselves without writing on blockchain. IoT devices can benefit from such payment networks as long as they are capable of sustaining their overhead. Payment channel networks pose unique characteristics as far as the routing problem is concerned. Specifically, they should stay balanced to have a sustainable network for maintaining payments for longer times, which is crucial for IoT devices once they are deployed. In this paper, we present a payment channel network design that aims to keep the channels balanced by using a common weight policy across the network. We additionally propose using multi-point connections to nodes for each IoT device for unbalanced payment scenarios. The experiment results show that we can keep the channels in the network more equally balanced compared to the minimal fee approach. In addition, multiple connections from IoT devices to nodes increase the success ratio significantly.


In this paper, we present a flexible and efficient ternary parallelization approach for the multilevel fast multipole algorithm (MLFMA) for the solution of extremely large 3-D scattering problems with over 10 billion unknowns. In the ternary parallelization approach, a binary clustering tree of all the message passing interface (MPI) processes is built first. Then, the MLFMA tree is categorized into plane wave partitioning, hierarchical-structure partitioning, and box partitioning (BP) levels via a top–down approach to match the process clustering tree. Compared with the bottom–up approach, interprocess communications in the far interaction are reduced. An inner-group transition level is designed for switching partitions on the intermediate level between the hierarchical-structure partitioning and BP levels. The ternary strategy can realize as high parallel efficiency as the hierarchical partitioning strategy while maintaining flexibility in selecting the total number of processes. An auxiliary-tree-based parallel mesh refinement technique and a hybrid octree storage strategy are designed to facilitate the realization of fast full-wave simulation on a scale of over 10 billion unknowns with the ternary MLFMA. The accuracy of the solutions is validated by comparing the radar cross sections (RCSs) of a sphere of diameter 3042 wavelengths with 10 773 415 728 unknowns via the MLFMA and the Mie series, which is the largest number of unknowns to be computed via full wave numerical methods to date. Furthermore, the solutions for complicated objects, namely a ship and an aircraft model, both of which have maximum lengths that exceed 10 000 wavelengths and over 10 billion unknowns, are presented.


[Abstract] Objective To observe the changes in opioid induced hyperalgesia (OIH) after subcutaneous administration of dexmedetomidine, and explore the corresponding mechanism. Methods A hundred and thirty male SD rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (26 each): saline group (NS group), 5 times of subcutaneous injection of saline 1ml; fentanyl group (F group), subcutaneous injection of saline once, and 4 times injection of fentanyl 60 μ g/kg; dexmedetomidine + fentanyl mixture group (DF1, DF2 and DF3 group), hypodermic dexmedetomidine once with 12.5 μ g/kg, 25 μ g/kg and 50 μ g/kg, respectively, and then 4 times injection of fentanyl 60 μ g/kg, with an interval of 15min. Rats in each group were undergone the tests of tail flick threshold (TFT) and paw withdrawal latency (PWL) 30 minutes before injection and 2, 3, 4h and 1 to 5 days after injection. Twenty rats were randomly sacrificed from each group one day after drug administration to obtain the inflated spinal lumbar region. Eight samples were used to determine the expression of alpha-2A adrenergic-receptor ( α 2A -AR) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) by Western blotting, 4 were measured the expression of substance P by ELISA, and 8 were used to observe the expression of astrocytes and microglia markers glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and Iba-1 by immunofluorescence. Results The behavioral results showed that the TFT and PWL were higher at 2h to 4h after injection in F group and DF groups than in NS group, but were lower at 1 to 3 days in F group and DF1 group than in NS group, the most significant difference appeared in the 1st day and returned to the NS level at the 4th day, while no statistical difference existed when compared between NS group with DF2 and DF3 groups at 1 to 5 days. Western blotting showed that compared with NS group, the expression of α 2A -AR decreased and iNOS increased in F and DF1 groups;compared with F group, the expression of α 2A -AR increased and iNOS decreased in DF2 and DF3 groups; ELISA results showed that compared with the F group, the expression of substance P decreased in the three DF groups; immunofluorescence showed that the number of GFAP and Iba-1 positive cells were higher in F group than in NS and three DF groups. Conclusion Dexmedetomidine can reduce fentanyl-induced hyperalgesia by promoting α 2A -AR expression, inhibiting the activation of astrocytes and microglia, thus reducing the expression of iNOS and substance P.


Entrepreneurship is a teachable issue, and certain educational approaches can affect learners' entrepreneurial performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of education with science, technology, engineering,...


This study was conducted to enhance graft-take ratio and quality of grafted tomato seedlings by controlling temperature and humidity during the healing and acclimatization processes. Three temperature levels (20℃, 23℃, and 26℃) were carried out to determine optimum temperature on four rootstocks. In addition, twelve combinations of three relative humidity levels (70%, 80%, and 90%) and four temperature levels (17℃, 20℃, 23℃, and 26℃) were set up to evaluate the effect of relative humidity and temperature on the graft-take ratio of grafted seedlings. In the other hand, five relative humidity periods (H0, H1, H2, H3, and H4: 90% relative humidity for first 0, 1, 2, 3 and 10 days and afterwards relative humidity was reduced to 70%, respectively) were examined effect of relative humidity periods on the graft-take and quality of grafted seedlings. The higher graft-take ratios (84.0~87.4%) were showed at 23℃ compared to 20℃ and 26℃ in all rootstocks. Graft-take ratios decreased and number of diseased plants increased at high temperature. The graft-take ratios increased with increasing relative humidity in all temperature levels on the 3 rd and 7 th day after grafting. However, increasing relative humidity significantly increased percent of diseased plants. The graft-take ratio reduced at (26℃) and (17℃) temperature under all relative humidity conditions. The graft-take ratio increased with increasing period of 90% relative humidity. Maximum graft-take ratios were observed in H2 and H3 treatments. Graft-take ratio decreased with increasing 90% relative humidity for 10 days (H4). Diseased plants had not been found in H0, H1, H2, and H3 treatments. Seedling quality was improved through increasing fresh and dry weight of root, compactness, and root morphology of tomato seedlings in H2 and H3 treatments. Therefore, high relative humidity (90%) for first 2 or 3 days and afterwards reduced low relative humidity (70%) at 23℃ condition during healing and acclimatization promoted the graft-take and quality of grafted tomato seedlings.


The authors describe the formation of medicopreventive aid for patients with osteoporosis in Ivanovo region from its beginning the organization of osteoporosis prevention unit in 2004. Statistic data uроn epidemiological alterations of this disease in the region are adduced. The contingent structure of patients who are consulted bу osteoporosis specialists is analyzed. Selective screening osteodensitometric examination technique in order to reveal the patients with osteoporosis is approved. The results of this approval are presented. Two forms of therapeutic training of patients are compared namely the school for patients with osteoporosis (with advanced program) and routine information for patients about their disease while doctor consultation.


For the period 1996{2009, combined data set of tropospheric NO2 measurements by satellite instruments GOME, SCIAMACHY and OMI has been analyzed to derive possible trend over the city of St. Petersburg in Russia. The time series of the monthly NO2 columns for these 14 years have been tted with a linear function superposed on an annual seasonal cycle. Resulting trend estimate provides a linear growth of 4% per year, which generally correlates with an independent assessments done by NOx inventory studies. KEYWORDS: Atmospheric nitrogen dioxide; satellite remote sensing; tropospheric pollution. Citation: Ionov, D. V. (2010), Tropospheric NO2 trend over St. Petersburg (Russia) as measured from space, Russ. J. Earth. Sci., 11, ES4004, doi:10.2205/2010ES000437.


Researchers in transactional memory (TM) have proposed open-nested transactions for increasing concurrency. The idea is to ignore "low-level" memory operations of the open-nested transaction when detecting conflicts for its parent transaction, and instead perform abstract concurrency control for the "high-level" operation that nested transaction represents. Unfortunately, because the TM runtime is unaware of the different levels of memory, an unconstrained use of open-nested commits can lead to anomalous program behavior.
 We propose ownership-aware transactional memory (OATM) which explicitly incorporates the notion of modules into the TM system, and requires that transactions and data be associated with specific transactional modules or Xmodules. When a transaction in the OATM commits, the TM system uses this information about Xmodules and commits a piece of data differently depending on whether the current Xmodule owns the data or not. We call this commit mechanism ownership-aware commit, and it is a hybrid between an open-nested and closed-nested commit. Moreover, we give a set of precise constraints on interactions and sharing of data among the Xmodules based on familiar notions of abstractions. We prove that OATM has has clean memory-level semantics and can guarantee serializability by modules, which is an adaptation of multilevel serializability from databases to TM. Finally, we prove that if transactions in the process of aborting obey restrictions on their memory footprint, the OATM is free from semantic deadlock.


Facing up with the global wave of low-carbon economy,as a great one of the developing countries,China has both the responsibility and obligation to further enhance the level of energy-saving and emission reduction.As one of the main constituents of modern power equipment,internal combustion engine transforms energy into the industrial output.Its important political,economic and military status should not be overlooked.The energy-saving and emission reduction work for internal combustion engine industry is not only related to China's commitment to reduce CO2 emissions per unit of GDP by 40% to 45% from 2005 to 2020,but also is related to the country's right of national development.As a pioneer and innovator in the research field of automotive engines in China,Wuxi Fuel Injection Equipment Institute of FAW has a bounden duty in raising the level of energy-saving emission reduction of China's internal combustion engine industry.Over the years,the research and development work of WFIERI,which are based on the actual situation in China,both met the market demand with economy-emission technologies,and kept up with development trends of international advanced technology.It was the first one to grasp electronically controlled common rail technology,which is a core technology in relevant field.And it has made a positive contribution for China internal combustion engine industry.In this paper,it came up with a lively practice of the Institute as a case,and gave a clear analysis in easy-to-read language of the gasoline engine,diesel engine technical characteristics and the key technological development trends.And on this basis,it explored the technical route for China's diesel engine emission standards for Euro 4 and above.In 2009,China's automobile production and sales both hit historically high level with over 13 million vehicles,becoming the largest in the word.China faces a major opportunity to become a competitive country instead of a big one concerning automobile.As long as we endure the loneliness,work hard,and learn from advanced foreign experiences,proceed from China's actual conditions,we will be able to get on a road of scientific development,and stand firm among the competitors in the world.


The paper probes into the power jump serve technique from six skill links according to the practice experience of 10 players of the 8.1 volleyball team. It provides scientific training guidance for improving power jump serve technique.


ABSTRACT Multifocal motor neuropathy is characterized by progressive, asymmetric weakness of the limbs with persistent conduction blocks (CB). Sensory loss is very rare and it also rarely presents with cranial nerve involvement and hyperreflexia. Here we described a 32-year-old woman with progressive weakness of hand muscles associated with weakness of orbicularis oculi muscles and fasciculations of tongue. The electrophysiological examination revealed persistent conduction blocks in both of the ulnar, right median and left posterior tibial nerves together with F-waves with abnormal persistence. These findings and the persistency of conduction blocks along with a response to IVIG made it likely that the diagnosis was multifocal motor neuropathy. The case seemed to be worth reporting because of her unusual clinical findings.


A linear analysis is used to compare the static torque produced by a mutually coupled variable reluctance motor to that produced by a conventional SRM (switched reluctance motor). A similar analysis has also been completed to compare the static torque of a variable reluctance motor with anisotropic rotor to that produced by an SRM. The motors were compared on the basis of fixed source voltage and current. It is shown that for motors with a similar number of poles and phases, the maximum improvement in static torque of the mutually coupled motor over that of the SRM is 200% while the maximum improvement in static torque of the anisotropic motor is 222% over that of the SRM. However, end turn length differences and saturation tend to reduce the benefits from these designs. Effects associated with end turn length due to aspect ratio pole, and phase combinations have also been studied. It is shown that the greatest benefit from the alternative variable reluctance structures occurs for low diameter to length ratio and a small number of poles and phases.<<ETX>>


Ten time series of solar granulation filtergrams at high spatial resolution and various durations, i. e. from 20 min to several hours, (one data set is from numerical simulations) are used to investigate the relation between vorticity and divergence at mesogranular scales. Velocity fields at various scales were generated by local correlation tracking (LCT) and from these divergence and vorticity were computed. In all data sets we find a strong preference of stronger vortices at downflowing regions, i.e. where the divergence is negative. This holds especially for scales larger than granular sizes and for longer lifetimes.


It relates to methods and apparatus using partial reconstruction of peripheral devices implemented on a programmable circuit generally to embodiments of the present invention. In particular, to programmable circuitry includes a physical interface to a programmable input-output circuit (IO) periphery. Programmable circuitry further comprises a peripheral portion IO reconfigurable programmable circuit (PR) module configured to implement the physical interface is operable for instance during the PR module unit and a sequencer module operable PR during the second instance of the command to the controller unit translating physical interface.


Specifies end-to-end encryption and authentication of data with the help of
 OpenPGP, announcement, discovery and retrieval of public keys and a
 mechanism to synchronize secret keys over multiple
 devices.


The main objective of aircraft aerodynamics is to enhance the aerodynamic characteristics and maneuverability of the aircraft. This enhancement includes the reduction in drag and stall phenomenon. The airfoil which contains dimples will have comparatively less drag than the plain airfoil. Introducing dimples on the aircraft wing will create turbulence by creating vortices which delays the boundary layer separation resulting in decrease of pressure drag and also increase in the angle of stall. In addition, wake reduction leads to reduction in acoustic emission. The overall objective of this paper is to improve the aircraft maneuverability by delaying the flow separation point at stall and thereby reducing the drag by applying the dimple effect over the aircraft wing. This project includes both computational and experimental analysis of dimple effect on aircraft wing, using NACA 0018 airfoil. Dimple shapes of Semi-sphere, hexagon, cylinder, square are selected for the analysis; airfoil is tested under the inlet velocity of 30m/s and 60m/s at different angle of attack (5 ̊, 10 ̊, 15 ̊, 20 ̊, and 25 ̊). This analysis favors the dimple effect by increasing L/D ratio and thereby providing the maximum aerodynamic efficiency, which provides the enhanced performance for the aircraft. Keywords—Airfoil, Boundary layer, Dimple effect, Flow separation, Stall reduction.


Forty tractor owners representing 15 000 ha (37,200 ac) from Lancaster County, Nebraska, were interviewed during "on-farm" visits to identify intended engine oil service intervals, tractor maintenance, and record keeping practices. In addition, information was collected concerning the type, brand, and amounts of oils and lubricants used, and the purchase location of oils, filters, and tractor replacement parts. The average intended service interval was very close to the manufacturer's recommended interval; however, the record keeping practices showed that improvements are needed. Parts and lubricants are primarily purchased from dealers and oil suppliers, respectively.


A fan assembly for creating an air flow, the fan assembly comprising a base mounted in the air outlet (14) (12). The base (12) includes a base (38, 40) and the body (42), with respect to the base body (38, 40) inclined. Each of the base portion having an outer surface (38, 40) and the body (42), which is shaped such that, when the body (42) in the inactive position inclined outer surface (102, 160) is substantially flush with the engagement portion .


With the whole process of English learning as a research perspective, the relationship among adult English learners' social situation, motivation, learning strategies and learning effects based on self-determined motivation theory and language learning strategy theory is explored in the study. The findings are obtained through empirical analysis, and the teaching feedback, through which some suggestions are put forward, including constructing autonomy-supportive social situation in order to improve the effect of distance English teaching, improving learning motivation by solving the practical problem, perfecting the corresponding teaching strategies and realizing the learning effectiveness [1].


We present a novel method for fabricating microlens mold arrays. The mold array is fabricated using focused-ion-beam milling (FIBM) on a substrate of bulk SI. The 2-D profiles and surface roughnesses of the fabricated molds are measured using a laser interferometer. Finally, the mold array is used for hot embossed molding. The surface roughnesses of the mold and the replica are 2.5 and 8 nm, respectively. We define surface roughness as the arithmetic mean of the absolute departure of the roughness profile from the mean line. A profile of the replica is acceptable for practical use. The measured size of the replica corresponds well with that of designed array.


There have been extensive investigations on the role of immune responses in viral therapy. In addition to direct cytolytic effects on cancer cells, viral therapy may facilitate release of danger signals, activation of innate inflammatory reactions, and induction of antitumor immunity. These effects are often optimized through expression of immune activating transgenes via a variety of viral therapies. However, we must be aware of the fact that the immune system will also counteract the viral therapy by directing adaptive immune responses to viral antigen epitopes, thereby leading to premature clearance of therapeutic viruses before they mediate antitumor effects,1 which will become more significant after repeat viral treatments. Furthermore, many viruses are able to suppress both innate and adaptive immunity through molecular mimicry and competitive inhibition, including viral proteins that act as immunomodulatory decoys and signaling pathway inhibitors,2 and may even actively induce recruitment of immunosuppressive cells into the tumor microenvironment.3,4 Each virus may have different impacts on the immune system, and therefore, it is important to delineate specific mechanisms of immune-modulation caused by the virus of investigation. In this issue of Neuro-Oncology, Mitchell et al evaluate antitumor immune responses induced by treatment with 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) in Toca 511–expressing gliomas in the flanks of syngeneic mice.5 Toca 511 is a tumor-selectively replicating retroviral vector encoding a yeast enzyme that converts 5-FC, an antifungal prodrug, into 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), a classic anticancer drug. Using flow cytometric analyses of subcutaneous tumors, the authors characterized the kinetics of immune cell infiltrates in relation to the treatment course. One of the most prominent changes they have observed is the reduction of tumor-associated macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and tumorassociated monocytes over the course. It is also noteworthy that CD4+ T cells polarized away from T helper (Th)2, Th17, and CD8+ T cells showed an increase of interferon (IFN)-γ–producing populations. Mice that demonstrated complete response to the treatment mounted protective immunity against tumor rechallenge and could confer this immunity by adoptive transfer of T cells. These results are encouraging, as the viruses used contained no additional immune activating transgenes. Few gene therapy studies have evaluated the time course of immune infiltrate changes in as much detail as is done in the current study. However, the study was conducted primarily using the subcutaneous Tu-2449 tumor model. It has been well described that there are remarkable differences of the microenvironment between subcutaneous and intracranial tumors, and the same cell line inoculated in the subcutaneous versus intracranial space demonstrates entirely different pathological features and responses to CD4+ or CD8+ T cell–mediated immunity.6 Because the model cell line (ie, Tu-2449) is a glioma line and Toca 511 is being developed for treatment of glioma, it is highly desirable that detailed and well-designed analyses are to be conducted with intracranial models. There are many published studies evaluating immune cell infiltrates in mouse intracranial glioma models, so it should be feasible to do so. However, it is reassuring that the adoptive transfer experiment in this study did employ T cells isolated from the spleens of mice that had been previously cured of intracranial gliomas by Toca 511/5-FC; adoptive transfer of these T cells conferred the ability to reject established intracranial gliomas in treatmentnaïve recipient mice, while T-depleted splenocytes did not confer such protective immunity. In this regard, a companion paper jointly first-authored by Hiraoka and Inagaki et al in this issue provides further complementary data by evaluating Toca 511 in orthotopic brain tumor models using both human glioma xenografts and syngeneic murine gliomas, employing in vivo bioluminescence imaging to monitor tumor responses in individual animals over time.7 Complete response with long-term survival, as well as 882 Neuro-Oncology


In this study, experimental design was employed in order to investigate the effects of operating condition on supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis and essential oils from Amomum krevanh Pierre. The factors investigated for astaxanthin were operating temperature (40-80 C), the operating pressure (300-500 bar), and the extraction time (1-4 hours). The results showed that the main effect of operating pressure, the main effect of extraction time, and the interaction effect between operating temperature and operating pressure were significant factors for the astaxanthin yields. From the response surface model of the experimental data, an optimal condition for astaxanthin content was found to be at the temperature of 90 C, the pressure of 640 bar, and the extraction time of 2.9 hours. This condition yields the highest amount of astaxanthin extract of 22.66 mg/g dry algae. The factors investigated for essential oil were operating temperature (30-70 C), the operating pressure (90-260 bar), and the extraction time (20-70 min).


This paper provides an axiomatic formalization of a theory of foundational relations between three categories of entities: individuals, universals, and collections. We deal with a variety of relations between entities in these categories, including the is-a relation among universals and the part-of relation among individuals as well as cross-category relations such as instance-of, member-of, and partition-of. We show that an adequate understanding of the formal properties of such relations - in partic- ular their behavior with respect to time - is critical for formal ontology. We provide examples to support this thesis from the domain of biomedicine.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the molecular basis for an individual suspected as AwB subtype through DNA sequencing.

METHODS
ABO serology was carried out with the standard tube method. To identify the ABO gene haplotype, the amplicons of exon 7 were cloned and sequenced.

RESULTS
Serological results showed that the forward typing was AwB and the reverse typing was B. Sequencing analysis revealed that the sample has contained an O01 allele in addition with c.297A>G, c.657C>T, c.796C>A, c.803G>C, c.930G>A variants as compared with the A101 allele.

CONCLUSION
Through sequencing analysis, the sample with an AwB subtype by serological testing was identified as a novel B(A) phenotype, which was unreported previously.


The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chartered the Eclipse Special Certification Review Team (SCR Team) to evaluate specific issues of compliance regarding the type certification of the Eclipse Aviation (Eclipse) Eclipse 500 in accordance with paragraph 27e(1) of FAA Order 81 10.4C, Type Certification. This review was conducted at the direction of the Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, based on a number of concerns raised by employees since the issuance of the type certificate (TC) through a union grievance filed October 2006 and whistleblower reports to the Office of Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The SCR Team was tasked to review and evaluate certain areas of type certification and continued operational safety information to determine if the type design complies with the requirements of part 23 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR).


We survey the recent advances in the simulation of classical and quantum systems by the method of molecular dynamics. 15 refs.


We generalize Cohen, Gómez-Rodríguez, and Satta's (2011) parser to a family of non-projective transition-based dependency parsers allowing polynomial-time exact inference. This includes novel parsers with better coverage than Cohen et al. (2011), and even a variant that reduces time complexity to O(n^6), improving over the known bounds in exact inference for non-projective transition-based parsing. We hope that this piece of theoretical work inspires design of novel transition systems with better coverage and better run-time guarantees.


While solving the problem of variable time delay,the traditional robot teleoperation based on event bring on a disadvantage of "moving and waiting",and the design of a controller strictly based on event is difficult.The predict simulation module and the time reference were introduced to the system architecture,and a new supervisor model was proposed in this paper.The supervisor simplify the design of robot controller whiling ensuring the system stability and the predict simulation module continue the teleoperation.


Soil salinity predictions derived from Ikonos and Landsat satellite images are compared with field-collected soil salinity data for a study area in Colorado's lower Arkansas River Basin. The accuracy of the predictions is compared and issues of price, resolution, and coverage area are considered. Stepwise regression is used to select the combination of bands in the satellite images that best correlate with the field data. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model is used to predict soil salinity using the combination of bands that resulted from the stepwise regression. The residuals for the OLS model are checked for whether they are roughly normal and approximately independently distributed with a mean of 0 and whether there is some constant vari- ance or not. If the residuals do not meet these conditions it means that there is some kind of autocorrelation among them. The SAR model is used to remove some of the autocorrelation among the residuals. If the SAR model does not give satisfactory re- sults, then a modified kriging model is used. The residuals of the OLS model which proved to have autocorrelation can be interpolated using kriging. The final predicted surface results from combining the surface produced from the OLS model with the surface produced by the kriged residuals. The results of this methodology to predict soil salinity from remote sensing data while taking into account the importance of re- siduals are promising.


An optical-antenna nanoLED is coupled into an InP waveguide. Optical emission measurements of Yagi-Uda antennas show a 5x increase in forward coupled light, giving 70% waveguide coupling efficiency and directional emission.


The Obama administration and Congress are nowfilling in the details of a long-anticipated plan forreorganizing and restructuring financial regulation.It is no exaggeration to say that the proposal willcreate what are essentially government-sponsoredenterprises (GSEs) like Fannie Mae and FreddieMac in every sector of the financial economy. The principal elements of the administration'splan are these: • Establishing a federal agency as the systemicregulator of the financial system• Giving that agency the authority to desig-nate "systemically important" financial insti-tutions and establish a special regulatorystructure for these firms • Providing a mechanism for the governmentto take control of financial institutions whenand if it decides that their failure will create"systemic risk" To be sure, there are differences between theimplicit government backing that Fannie and Fred-die exploited and a designation as a "systemicallyimportant" firm, but in competitive terms, these dif-ferences are minor.Designation as a systemicallyimportant firm is, in effect, a certification by thegovernment that a firm is too big to fail—its failure,in theory, will create systemic risk—and this statuswill be seen in the markets as lowering its risk as a borrower. Lower risk will translate into lower


The objective of the study was to ascertain antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and cytokine gene regulation activity of Holarrhena antidysenterica (HA) in dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (DNBS) induced inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in rats. Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 6 groups, Group I (normal), Group II (50% ethanol intracolonically on 11th day), Group III (Model). Group IV to VI were given standard drug 5-amino salicylic acid (5-ASA) (100mg/kg) and hydromethanolic extract of Holarrhena antidysenterica (MEHA) 450 mg/kg and MEHA 600 mg/kg respectively for 18 days once p.o. Colitis was induced with DNBS (180mg/kg in 50% ethanol) intracolonically in animals of Group III-VI on 11th day. Body weight, food & water intake and stool consistency of each group was noted. On 18th day, blood was collected for cortisol estimation. Colon length and weight was measured. Cytokine gene expression studies of colon in group I, II, III, IV and VI was done using Real Time RT-PCR. Colon histopathology, Disease Activity Index (DAI) and Colon Mucosal Disease index (CMDI) parameters were studied. Nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were estimated in colon homogenate. DNBS model control showed significant reduction in body weight, water and food intake, SOD, colon length and significant increase in stool consistency, colon weight, MDA, MPO, NO, CMDI, DAI, cortisol, IL-4, IL-6, IL-12 and IFN-gamma cytokines gene expression. Pretreatment with 5-ASA (100mg/kg) and MEHA (450 and 600 mg/kg) significantly reversed the above. MEHA reduced severity of IBD induced by DNBS through its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and gene modulatory activity.


The main problem of this research is to reveal how the major character solves the problems based on the structural elements and analyze the novel using psychology of religion theory. In analyzing The Shack novel, the researcher uses qualitative method and psychology of religion theory. The objective of this study is to understand the nature of happiness experienced by Mackanzie in The Shack novel published in 2007 by William Paul Young. The source of data is The Shack novel and the secondary data are from the other sources related with the analysis such as the
author's biography, literary books, pshychologys books, and psychology of religion theory especially by William James. The methods of collecting data are researching in the library and the internet. The technique used in analyzing
the data is descriptive analysis. The result shows that the problem of major character caused by internal conflict about religious experience can make his life better than before.


The perceived air quality (PAQ) in indoor environments is presently assessed with trained judges in the unit the unit decipol or other units [1]. This method is rather time-consuming, expensive and always requires trained judges. In the presented work various rooms with different odor qualities are investigated in an office building with two electronic noses as well as the human nose. For the used experimental setup in the investigated building it can be concluded that the electronic nose can be used.


[Objective] To clone and identify Marek's disease virus(MDV) serum gene.[Method] MDV genomic DNA was extracted from lymphoid tissues of the diseased chickens with latent MDV infection.The MDV L-meq gene was amplified by gradient PCR,inserted into pMD18-T vector and sequenced.The sequence was analyzed using DNAman software.[Result] The obtained sequence had 100% similarity with the published sequence of L-meq gene,showing successful amplification of target gene.[Conclusion] The paper provides new ideas and new methods for prevention and treatment of Marek's disease in chickens.


Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is characterised by progressive changes of the lung architecture causing cough and dyspnoea and ultimately leading to lung failure and death. Today, for the first time, two drugs that may reduce the inexorable progression of the disease are available, suggesting that treatment with specific drugs for IPF should be started as soon as diagnosis is made. This applies to any disease and particularly to IPF, which is marked by a 5-year survival comparable or even worse than many cancers. However, despite common sense and even worse, in spite of scientific data coming from clinical trials, post hoc analysis, long-term safety studies and real-life experiences, the question of when to start and when to stop treatment with antifibrotics is still debated. In IPF, particularly when the disease is diagnosed at an early stage, "wait and watch" behaviour is not rare to observe. This is largely due to the lack of awareness of both patients and clinicians regarding the progression of the disease and its prognosis. Another important issue is when treatment should be stopped. In general, there are two main reasons to stop a therapy: unbearable side-effects and/or lack of efficacy. According to current (although preliminary) evidence, antifibrotic drugs should not be discontinued except for safety issues. Today, for the first time, we can use two effective drugs able to reduce the inexorable progression of IPF http://ow.ly/MCS930eOp2b


This book develops a new approach to understanding our claims about what is metaphysically necessary or possible: modal normativism. While claims about what is metaphysically necessary or possible have long played a central role in metaphysics and other areas of philosophy, such claims are traditionally thought of as aiming to describe a special kind of modal fact or property, or perhaps facts about other possible worlds. But that assumption leads to difficult ontological, epistemological, and methodological puzzles. Should we accept that there are modal facts or properties, or other possible worlds? If so, what could these things be? How could we come to know what the modal facts or properties are? How can we resolve philosophical debates about what is necessary or possible? The normativist rejects the assumption that modal claims aim to describe modal features or possible worlds, arguing instead that they serve as useful ways of conveying, reasoning with, and renegotiating semantic rules and their consequences. By dropping the descriptivist assumption, the normativist is able to unravel the notorious ontological problems of modality, and provide a clear and plausible story about how we can come to know what is metaphysically necessary or possible. Most importantly, this approach helps demystify philosophical methodology. For we are able to see that resolving metaphysical modal questions does not require a special form of philosophical insight or intuition. Instead, it requires nothing more mysterious than empirical knowledge, conceptual mastery, and an ability to explicitly convey and renegotiate semantic rules.


The prime aims of the present work at formulating and preparing matrix tablets using Carbopol 974P to sustain the release of donepezil HCl. Tablets were prepared by direct compression method and evaluated for the effects of ingredients on the in-vitro release behavior. Gelatin, α-cellulose, sodium alginate, hydroxyapatite, and natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) were used as co-excipients to modulate the formulations. The prepared tablets of the 10 formulations were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), digital microscope and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. The drug release kinetics was analyzed using Zero-order, First-order, Hixson-Crowell and Peppas models. The result indicated that the drug release rates highly depended on the polymers and pH medium. In addition, it was obtained that the combination of Carbopol 974P and gelatin retarded the drug release. So, these matrix tablets can reduce the dose intake. Thus, these matrix tablets are a promising release of donepezil HCl.


This paper studies the suitability of classrooms for higher education. We propose a model to quantify the suitability, which allows measuring and optimizing the fit of classrooms for a given curriculum event. This model is unique, as there is no such model yet in literature that provides insight into the variables and interrelationships that are relevant when assessing classrooms and their allocation in the timetables. We also present a case study in which we apply the model to the timetable allocations at the University of Twente, for both assessing the suitability of its classrooms, and assessing to what extent its timetables take the classroom suitability into account. We compared the measurements of the suitability to the perceptions that both teachers and the support services have towards the allocations of suitability, as a reference of the extent to which the measurements are recognizable in practice. There are two main contributions of the research in this paper. First, we make the suitability of classrooms for education quantifiable and measurable, enabling the allocation of suitability to be transparent, to improve it and to optimize it as a performance indicator of the timetables. Second, this research goes beyond the current dominant way of timetabling which tries to fit class sizes to room capacities, by introducing the maximization of value adding as a new way for optimizing the allocation of classroom-based education. The research in this paper describes a method with which the suitability of classrooms can be made measurable. By using this method, insight will be gained into the performance of timetables on the aspect of suitability.


This article focuses on the peristaltic flow of carbon nanoparticle-suspended nanofluids under the influence of electroosmosis. The flow is considered inside a vertical tube with ciliated boundary walls. This study holds great importance because it represents the flow inside the esophagus of the human body. Nanoparticles are inserted in blood for diagnosing diseases like cancer and are also useful in angiography, angioplasty, etc. A comparative study is conducted for single-walled carbon nanotubes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. We used the analytical method to obtain exact solutions of the velocity, temperature, and pressure profiles. The results have been presented graphically. Streamlines are also plotted to visualize the difference with SWCNT and MWCNT. We found that the use of CNT in the base fluid significantly enhances the thermal conductivity and helps increase the velocity of the fluid.


In response to the inequality of the current system, the author of this article proposes a coherent redistribution system that reduces both poverty and inequality. Using the microsimulation tool developed by Landais, Piketty, and Saez,1 several scenarios for instituting a basic income are presented with great precision,2 giving us a clear picture of the winners and losers under these redistribution policies.


In the context of the increasing demand in high-speed data link for scientific, planetary exploration and earth observation missions, the Italian Space Agency (ASI), involving Thales Alenia Space as prime, the Polytechnic of Turin and other Italian partners, is developing a program for feasibility demonstration of optical communication system with the goal of a prototype flight mission in the next future. We have designed and analyzed a ground level bidirectional Free Space Optical Communication (FSOC) Breadboard at 2.5Gbit/s working at 1550nm as an emulator of slant path link. The breadboard is full-working and we tested it back-toback, at 500m and 2.3km during one month. The distances were chosen in order to get an equivalent slant path cumulative turbulence in a ground level link. The measurements campaign was done during the day and the night time and under several weather conditions, from sunny, rainy or windy. So we could work under very different turbulence conditions from weak to strong turbulence. We measured the scintillation both, on-axis and off-axis by introducing known misalignments at the terminals, transmission losses at both path lengths and BER at both receivers. We present simulations results considering slant and ground level links, where we took into account the atmospheric effects; scintillation, beam spread, beam wander and fade probability, and comparing them with the ground level experimental results, we find a good agreement between them. Finally we discuss the results obtained in the experimentation and in the flight mission simulations in order to apply our experimental results in the next project phases.


Total quality management (TQM) today emerges as one of the most important elements in strategic management with the importance of quality costs increasing as a measure to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of quality activities. This paper reviews different quality cost models currently in practice, compares both the strengths and the weaknesses of each model, and highlights their application in different areas.


This article studies the creation of an iconography of the beata Mariana
de Jesus Paredes y Flores (1618-1645), from Quito, during the 17th and 18th
centuries. Using her hagiographies and the pictorial works that illustrated them
during the selected period, it seeks to detect the synergies between the textual and
the visual elements that allowed the construction of an iconography of Mariana
infused with both edifying and patriotic overtones. Intended for Mariana's canonization,
this iconography would circulate and spread in both sides of the Atlantic


The invention discloses an alarm shielding configuration method which adopts an alarm system of an optical network main control device, wherein a table is established; an alarm number, a slot position number on the main control device, an optical signal interface number corresponding to a wire clamp on a slot position, an optical network node authorization number in a passive optical fiber network and a port number on an optical node are sequentially used as lines of the table; and the alarm number of an alarm which needs to be shielded and the slot position number, the optical signal interface number, the optical network node authorization number and the port number which are used for generating the alarm which needs to be shielded are filled into the table in a line mode. The technical scheme adopted by the invention has the beneficial effects that rules are flexible; the rule structure is easy to set and is easy to store; and the alarm shielding configuration method is beneficial for issuing and reading configuration.


The aim of the article is to present how the legal categories can determine the use of natural language in the legal discourse. It is, at the same time, an example of how we can employ the tools of cultural linguistics in Legal Linguistics. The author analyzes nominal syntax structures expressing normative subject in the Spanish Civil Code and then she indicates the factors which might determine the use of the article. At the beginning she presents the traditional point of view and concludes that it is not able to explain effectively the selection of articles in the legal text, because it does not take into consideration the structure and properties of the legal norm, especially its abstract and general character. That is why she proposes to make an analysis based on the assumptions of the cultural linguistics, especially the concept of worldview, and of the grammar on semantic base, according to the proposition of J. Wilk-Racieska, which allows for the introduction of same elements of the theory of law into the philological description, and, consequently, make it more efficient.


To effectively respond to the risk and to catch the development chance from the environmental changes,an enterprise should reasonably survey its current situation of marketing strategy under the free trade condition.Faced with the multiple block of foreign dumping,anti-dumping and protection measurement etc.,the Chinese enterprise should be clear about the fact that to meet and create consumer demand is the basic orientation for its marketing strategy,to regulate the price competition is the foundation for its sound progress,and to conduct the non-price competiton by means of continious marketing innovation is helpful for the formation of a competitive and corporative co-existing situation so as to realize a sound cycle of business development.


The energy-saving renovation of existing buildings has been attracted sufficient attention to reduce fossil fuels and mitigate global warming in Europe. The shallow geothermal for building cooling and heating, as an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective alternative, has been widely explored to promote energy efficiency of existing buildings. However, few studies conduct the comprehensive overview on the applications, developments, and existing issues of shallow geothermal promoting energy efficiency of existing buildings (SGPEEEB) in Europe. The objective of this paper is to review the current application status and future trends of SGPEEEB in Europe. First, the common utilization forms and classifications of used shallow geothermal technologies are introduced to further clarify the investigated subject. Then, the research and application status of SGPEEEB has also analyzed and discussed. At last, this study proposes the future trends and comments of SGPEEEB in Europe.


Novel dinuclear pyridine-1-imine Rh(III) complexes [Cp*Rh(μ2-Cl){μ2-NHNC5H4(4-Me)}2RhCp*]Cl[PF6]2 (3) and [Cp*Rh(μ2-Cl){μ2-NHNC5H3(2-CH2)(6-Me)}RhCl-Cp*][PF6](4) were synthesized by the reaction of [Cp*RhCl2]2 with [NH2NC5H4(4-Me)][PF6] and [NH2NC5H3(2,6-Me2)][PF6], repectively, in the presence of a base. The formation of 4 involves C(sp3)-H bond activation at the benzylic position of a pyridine-1-imine ligand.


The pharmaceutical industry has been criticised for a lack of innovation associated with the drug discovery and development process, for example when compared with the computer or music industries. In fact, bringing a new medicine to the market requires, on average, the screening of up to 10 000 molecules, an expense in the range of $500 million-$2 billion and roughly 10-15 years of research. Such a situation not only has a direct impact on the health and life expectancy of every single human being on the planet, but also indicates that alternative strategies for drug development should be investigated.
In this thesis, studies of direct formulation-membrane interactions, both in a high throughput (HT) manner and at a nanometre scale, were initially identified as an important approach that could offer advantages for in vitro-in vivo correlations of in-man drug behaviours. Subsequently, supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) of physiologically-relevant lipid compositions were indicated as experimental models of preference for pre-clinical drug development. For that reason, the characterisation and assessment of physicochemical and behavioural properties of the model SLBs at a nanometre scale, as well as development of an SLB microarray for HT applications were the focus of this research. Here, the optimisation and characterisation of model lipid films was performed using atomic force microscopy (AFM), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Additionally, the AFM-investigated assessment of the interactions between model SLBs and formulation components (e.g. Pluronics®, siRNA, DNA polyplexes) enabled both the correlation of in vitro observations with literature-reported in vivo performances of the components of interest and the development of hypotheses with regards a number of phenomena in biology. Furthermore, the development of a SLB microarray prototype suitable for HT applications is reported.
Directly, this research improves: the understanding of SLB behaviours and experimental investigation at a nanometre scale of the mechanisms of interactions between membranes and: Pluronics®, nucleic acids and their complexes, as well as the technology of SLB microarray development. Indirectly, this research contributes towards the progress in a number of research areas within pharmaceutical sciences, potentially resulting in new scientific disciplines, such as immunolipidomics or nanopharmacology.