The effect on micellar structure of changing the solvent from H/sub 2/O to D/sub 2/O for alkyltrimethylammonium bromide (C/sub n/TAB; C/sub n/TAB triple bond C/sub n/H/sub 2n+1/N(CH/sub 3/)/sub 3/Br, with n = 12, 14, and 16) has been examined. The energetics of micellization have been determined by measuring critical micelle concentrations by using surface tensiometry. The micellar structure has been elucidated through the use of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). It was found that there is a solvent isotope effect that is small for C/sub 12/TAB but increases with n. This effect is manifested mainly by an increase in aggregation number and is attributed to solvent-hydrocarbon interactions of the dissolved monomers. The fractional charge of the micelle is not altered by the isotopic composition of the solvent. C/sub n/TAB micelles are found to be drier than are micelles formed by the corresponding sodium alkyl sulfates, and this results in a larger solvent effect for the quaternary ammonium bromides.


Ayoubi JM, Fanchin R, Lesourd F et al. 2003. Rupture of a uterine horn after laparoscopic salpingectomy. A case report. Journal of Reproductive Medicine 48:290–292. Harris WJ. 1992. Uterine dehiscence following laparoscopic myomectomy. Obstetrics and Gynecology 80:545–546. Hofmeyr GJ, Say L, Gulmezoglu AM. 2005. WHO systematic review of maternal mortality and morbidity: the prevalence of uterine rupture. British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 112:1221– 1228. Inovay J, Marton T, Urbancsek J et al. 1999. Spontaneous bilateral cornual uterine dehiscence early in the second trimester after bilateral laparoscopic salpingectomy and in-vitro fertilization: case report. Human Reproduction 14:2471–2473. Nkemayim DC, Hammadeh ME, Hippach M et al. 2000. Uterine rupture in pregnancy subsequent to previous laparoscopic electromyolysis. Case report and review of the literature. Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics 264:154–156. Parker WH, Einarsson J, Istre O et al. 2010. Risk factors for uterine rupture after laparoscopic myomectomy. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology 17:551–554. Su CF, Tsai HJ, Chen GD et al. 2008. Uterine rupture at scar of prior laparoscopic cornuostomy after vaginal delivery of a full-term healthy infant. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research 34:688–691. Tischner I, Tan TL, Uchil D. et al. 2010. Prelabor uterine rupture after laparoscopic repair of uterine perforation. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology 17:265–267. Van de Putte I, Campo R, Gordts S et al. 1999. Uterine rupture following laparoscopic resection of rectovaginal endometriosis: a new risk factor? British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 106:608–609. Villa G, Mabrouk M, Guerrini M et al. 2008. Uterine rupture in a primigravida with adenomyosis recently subjected to laparoscopic resection of rectovaginal endometriosis: case report. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology 15:360–361. Wada S, Kudo M, Minakami H. 2006. Spontaneous uterine rupture of a twin pregnancy after a laparoscopic adenomyomectomy: a case report. Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology 13:166–168.


October 2019 1 Nicolas d'Ostrevy, MD Lucie Cassagnes, MD Aurélie Chalard, MD Louis Boyer, MD, PhD Lionel Camilleri, MD Virginie Fouilloux, MD, PhD A 68-year-old patient was admitted for a left-hand pure motor deficit. Past medical history included high blood pressure, a left temporal epilepsy (well controlled with phenobarbital) noted at 18 years. He had family risk factors (father and uncle had acute myocardial infarctions) and was treated with low-dose aspirin, β-blocker, statin, and angiotensin-converting inhibitor. He showed complete motor deficit of the left upper limb (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score 1). Work-up included ECG (normal with regular sinus rhythm), echocardiography (normal ventricular function, no valvulopathy, thrombus, or patent foramen ovale), and imaging examinations. The cerebral computed tomography (CT) scan did not show any ischemic stroke but the cerebral magnetic resonance imaging performed on the third day revealed recent ischemic emboli in the right hemisphere. On angio-CT scan examination, the supra-aortic trunks were found to be normal, except images as shown in Figures 1 through 4, with an intraarterial lacuna labeled as an endo-aortic chord. Movie 1 show the native transverse CT scan, Movie 2 corresponds to the volume rendering with the intra aortic chord.


This paper deals with the recognition of spelled names over the telephone. It introduces an efficient way of handling the spelling grammar, that is the lexicon of the allowed spelled names. The proposed approach is based on a forward-backward algorithm. The constraints on the sequences of letters are derived from the lexicon and are used by the A* algorithm in the backward pass. This forward-backward approach is compared to a 2-pass approach, which relies on a discrete HMM based retrieval procedure. The rejection of incorrect data is also investigated, based on the comparison of a lexicon constrained solution with an unconstrained decoding. The approaches are compared on field data collected from a vocal directory service. Results are presented for the recognition of valid spelled names and for the rejection of incorrect data (non-spelling and noise tokens and spellings not in the lexicon). The results show the efficiency of the proposed forward-backward procedure.


This study makes use of a pre-test/post-test design (with a control group) to test the effect of an interdisciplinary energy course on student attitudes and values related to energy issues. The interdisciplinary energy course was co-taught by engineering, political science, economics, and oceanography professors at the United States Naval Academy during the fall of 2015. The study finds that students in the interdisciplinary energy course experienced significant changes in their energy attitudes on half the categories tested, while students in the control group did not experience similar changes. The changes were greatest among female students, politically moderate students, and engineering students. The findings suggest that interdisciplinary instruction can have a powerful impact on student values, but that the impact works through existing demographic and ideological factors.


We have designed and implemented a system that analyzes images of air sensors taken on cell phones and extracts indoor air pollution information by comparing the sensor to a calibrated color chart. This system will be deployed with Project Surya, a pilot project of the UN Environmental Program that aims to replace traditional cooking methods with clean cooking technology in several rural Indian villages. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the cooking technology at reducing indoor pollution, several hundred homes will receive a special air sensor that changes brightness based on the concentration of air pollution. Our system is capable of automatically getting data from multiple sensors each day by analyzing photographs of them. In order to operate in the presence of noise and inconsistent lighting conditions, our system employs a median sensor, finds the light intensity gradient across images, and calibrates the images if possible. We used a GVF active contour segmentation algorithm that can segment the two objects in the images (the sensor and the color chart) followed by a mode brightness matching algorithm to match the sensor and color chart. We tested our system by comparing results of manual analysis of seven different sensors to results obtained using our system. In these tests, our system was shown to match the sensor to a color on the chart with a maximum discrepancy of 1 bar on the color chart from the average result of manual analysis, with an average deviance of .406 of a bar.


Ordering reduces the nuclear, electronic, and lattice specific heats. The change in nuclear specific heat supports the hypothesis that this term in the specific heat arises from the interaction of nuclear electric quadrupole moments with electric field gradients in the disordered lattice. The small (3.5%) change in the electronic specific heat suggests little change in the Fermi surface on ordering. The change in the lattice specific heat is greater than expected from elastic constant measurements on ordered and disordered Cu3Au.


Food production in 2050 will be sufficient, globally, but many of the poor will remain food insecure. The primary cause of food insecurity will continue to be poverty, rather than inadequate food production. Thus, policies and investments that increase the incomes of the poor will remain the best ways to extend food security to all. Investments that promote growth in sustainable agriculture and provide non-farm employment opportunities in rural areas of lower income countries will be most helpful. There will be sufficient water, globally, to achieve food production goals and sustain rural and urban livelihoods, if we allocate and manage the resource wisely. Yet, water shortages will constrain agricultural production and limit incomes and livelihood opportunities in many areas. Policies and investments are needed to extend and ensure access to water for household use and agricultural production. Challenges requiring the attention of policy makers and investors include increasing urbanization and increasing demands for land and water resources. Policy makers must ensure that farmers retain access to the water they need for producing food and sustaining livelihoods, and they must create greater opportunities for women in agriculture. They must also motivate investments in new technologies that will enhance crop and livestock production, particularly for smallholders, and encourage the private sector to invest in activities that create employment opportunities in rural areas.


The U.S. Public Health Service recently recommended that all women of child-hearing age consume 0.4 mg of folic acid daily to reduce the risk of neural tube birth defects. In this article, Dr. Herbert examines why daily folate intake of higher than a total of 0.4 mg, including both supplemental and dietary intakes, may be contraindicated.


Though critics writing on Dubliners (1914) speak of its theme of paralysis and quote Joyce's remark that he wished to write "a chapter of the moral history" of Irelandl (as though he had devised both theme and intent solely from his own genius2), few have examined the work of his predecessor in the short story, George Moore, who shared with Joyce similar attitudes towards art, religion, and Ireland and who envisioned symbolic labyrinths similar to Joyce's, Often overlooked^ Moore's The Untilled Field (190 3) provided the groundwork for Dubliners by presenting what Brendan Kennelly has described as "essentially a scrutiny of spiritual inertia just as Dubliners is an exposition of various kinds of paralysis."^ In theme and image, Moore forged a vision of Ireland that anticipated Joyce's in a variety of ways and provided an alternative to the romantic idealism of the Celtic revival. How Moore accomplished this is the subject of this essay.


Considered a widespread gamebird found across the northern Afrotropical region, the Stone Partridge Ptilopachus petrosus is used in magical rituals and for traditional medicine in Africa. Although considered to be a species of Least Concern by the IUCN, loss of their habitat and hunting has caused them to be locally threatened. The aim of this ethno-ornithological study was to assess the utilization of Stone Partridge through surveys conducted in traditional communities. Some 384 people across 13 ethnic groups in Benin Republic were interviewed. Standardised ethnozoological indices were used to evaluate the importance of Stone Partridge as a source of food and a socio-cultural aspect in Benin per ethnic groups, gender and age class. Some 91.15% of respondents cited food as the major use category of Stone Partridge, followed by traditional medicinal and magical ritual. Responses varied by ethnic group and gender, but not age. Respondents reported that hunting is a major threat, leading to population declines. Stone Partridge plays an important role in rural communities in the study area, but a national conservation management strategy is lacking for this and other gamebird species.


ABSTRACT Smallholder mixed farming systems of the Central Kenya Highlands rely upon organic inputs, particularly manure, to maintain soil nutrient levels and stabilize crop yields. However, nutrient losses during collection, composting and application of manure can be substantial. The effects of simple methods for combining cattle faeces, urine and rejected maize stover forage on the conservation of nutrients during storage and composting and on maize productivity over two seasons after field application of manure were investigated. The methods were; (1) faeces (F) + urine (U) + feed refusals (FR) mixed in a deep-litter system by a steer (method S), (2) F + U + FR, (3) F + FR, (4) F + U, all collected and mixed manually, and (5) F (faeces only). F + FR effectively conserved the N in the faeces and feed refusals. With S and F + U + FR, after 60 days collection and 84 days composting, the additional N from urine was completely lost and only 5.5–5.6 g N kg−1 steer initial liveweight (LWi) was obtained compared with 6.5 g N kg−1 LWi for F + FR. With F + FR, 4.7 g N kg−1 LW, from urine was also potentially available for direct return to the soil, resulting in a 11.2 g N kg−1 LWi return to the soil. Composted F and F + U manures had lower N concentrations than F + FR. They also had higher C:N ratios than F + FR and F + U + FR, though they did not differ significantly from S. All of the experimental manures, applied at a rate to give 75 kg N ha−1, significantly improved maize grain and stover yield in the first season compared with an unfertilized control. With the experimental manures, the greatest yield (F + FR, 4336 kg ha−1) was significantly higher than the lowest yield (F + U, 2916 kg ha−1). With the best manure collection strategy, F + FR, the manure from one steer (mean liveweight 212 kg) was worth an extra 356 kg of maize grain and 295 kg of stover above the control level from 0.1 ha of land over the two seasons. The best collection method gave up to twice as much additional grain as the worst strategy. Livestock make an important contribution to intensive smallholder farming through their contribution to soil fertility. This research has shown that crop yield increases gained by adopting simple techniques for better care of manure during collection and storage can be substantial and extend over at least two seasons.


The case study presented in the paper shows how a simple prototype can be used to verify, before production, that a system will perform at an acceptable level under realistic conditions. The study involves the first implementation of American Management System's Federal Financial System (FFS), a financial accounting application, in a customer information control system (CICS) DB2 environment running on a large IBM mainframe.


This study is one of the world's largest analyses of the increased neuropsychiatric morbidity among non-heterosexual individuals. Not only did we elaborate on earlier research by finding increased rates of distress/depression, AD/HD and obsessive compulsive disorder, we also showed that while this could partly be explained by the minority stress hypothesis, there also appears to be some familial factors connecting non-heterosexuality to increased mental illness.


Protein kinase C (PKC) represents a large family of phosphatidylserine (PS)‐dependent serine/threonine protein kinases. At least six PKC isoforms (α, δ, ε, η, µ, and ζ) are expressed in epidermis. PKC is a major intracellular receptor for 12‐O‐tetradecanoylphorbol‐13‐acetate (TPA) and is also activated by a variety of stress factors including ultraviolet radiation (UVR). PKC isozymes (α, δ, ε, and η), exhibit specificities to the development of skin cancer. PKCε, a calcium‐insensitive PKC isoform, is linked to the development of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) elicited either by the 7,12‐Dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA)‐TPA protocol or by repeated exposures to UVR. PKCε overexpressing transgenic mice, when treated either with TPA or exposed to UVR, elicit similar responses such as inhibition of apoptosis, promotion of cell survival, and development of SCC. PKCε overexpression increases Stat3 activation after either TPA treatment or UVR exposure. Both PKCε and signal transducers and activators of transcription‐3 (Stat3) are implicated in the development of SCC. However, the link between PKCε and Stat3 remains elusive. We found that PKCε interacts with Stat3. PKCε interaction with Stat3 was dependent upon UVR treatment. In reciprocal immunoprecipitation/blotting experiments, Stat3 coimmunoprecipitated with PKCε. Colocalization of PKCε with Stat3 was confirmed by double immunofluorescence staining. PKCε interaction with Stat3 was PKCε isoform specific and was not observed with other protein kinases. As observed in vitro with immunocomplex kinase assay with immunopurified PKCε and Stat3, PKCε phosphorylated Stat3 at the serine 727 residue. PKCε depletion prevented Stat3Ser727 phosphorylation, Stat3 DNA binding, and transcriptional activity. The results presented indicate that PKCε mediates Stat3 activation. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In this paper,the multi-objective optimization model for production planning is constructed and solved by GENOCOP algorithms.In order to simulate the uncertain demand,Monte Carlo method is introduced,and the relations among some different productions are sufficiently considerd.


Ultrasonic and acoustic emission (AE) nondestructive evaluation (NDE) characteriza tions of flawed (undercure of adhesive and excessive mold release on the adherends prior to bonding) and unflawed (proper cure of adhesive) adhesively bonded fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) specimens are conducted. Single lap-joint specimens are considered. The specimens consist of sheet molding compound (SMC) composite adherends bonded together with a urethane adhesive.


study that was sanctioned by an Institutional Review Board or an ethics committee. It remains inappropriate to use biventricular pacing as part of routine clinical care until such time as a randomized study shows a favorable risk—benefit ratio. It would be inappropriate to perform a procedure that involved three experimental components (biventricular pacing, superior-approach transseptal catheterization, and chronic LV endocavitary pacing) as part of routine clinical care. Second, extending the use of biventricular pacing to an endocardial approach seems to be particularly imprudent. As the accompanying editorial suggests, data available to date suggests that the long-term use of left ventricular leads results in a high rate of systemic embolization.^ Third, the authors suggest that it has been established that biventricular pacing provides benefit to patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. The level of evidence that this is the case is currently relatively weak. At this time, there are only the results of nonrandomized trials. There are at least two important sources of bias in these studies. First, in these trials, every patient has a pacemaker implanted. This introduces the possibility of substantial placebo effect. Second, every patient is enrolled into a clinical study and followed closely. This could provide a beneficial effect to patients with heart failure by improving the follow-up in subtle ways. One of the hazards of reports like this article is that the technology will become self-perpetuating before adequate data are available to establish benefit. This is especially the case in the treatment of diseases like congestive heart failure, where the patient's condition compels the physician to violate one of the tenets of medicine: "Don't just do something doctor, stand there."


Abstract : This study identifies global, environmental, socio-political, technological and military trends that may shape the USAF in the next 100 years. It employs the futures study tools of Environmental Scanning, Trend Analysis, Cross-Impact Analysis, a Delphi Poll, a State of the Futures Index (SOFI), a Coates Futures Diagram and Scenarios. The Scenarios present a Worst Case, Best Case and Most Likely Case of the world and their influence on the USAF at the beginning of the 22nd century. The most important trends potentially affecting one or more of these Scenarios are the preeminence of the cyber domain, the increasing importance of the high ground of space, fossil-fuel depletion and the pervasiveness and fusion of genetics, robotics, information technology and nanotechnology to bring about unparalleled machine and human performance. The study concluded that the most important USAF mission at turn of the century will be cyber-warfare, followed by information operations, space control, space force enhancement, surveillance and reconnaissance. The study provides nine recommendations focused on guiding the USAF toward the Best Case Future.


Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) is a very fast, accurate, and reliable technique to measure diffusion coefficients. This technique however, has been limited to measurements in the infinite dilution region, i.e., in the region of negligible amount of solvent in the polymer. We have extended the scope of inverse gas chromatography to measure diffusion coefficients at finite concentrations of the solvent. This involves doping the carrier gas with a solvent of interest to achieve finite concentrations of solvent in the carrier gas and hence in the polymer. The carrier gas is passed through a saturator maintained at constant temperature to achieve this purpose. Diffusion coefficients for polyvinyl acetate–toluene, and polystyrene–toluene systems were determined at finite concentrations. The results were compared with the traditional gravimetric sorption and piezoelectric sorption measurements reported in the literature. The data are in excellent agreement with the values reported, correlate well with the Vrentas–Duda free volume theory, and can also be predicted from infinitely dilute data using the free volume theory. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35: 1279–1290, 1997


Let π : X → C be a minimal elliptic surface over an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero and Yi = π (Pi) the singular fibers. Put U = X − ∪iYi. Then we give a upper bound for the rank of the dlog image of K2(U) in the (de Rham) cohomology group. This is based on a detailed study of K2 of Tate curve over Zp((q)). As an application we get indecomposable parts of K1(X) in special examples.


The invention discloses an environment-friendly and highly-flame-retardant foam material for a goods shelf and a preparation method of the foam material. The foam material is prepared from isocyanate and a composite according to the mass ratio of 1:1.9. The composite is prepared from, by mass, 15-18 parts of polyester, 13-18 parts of polyether 4113, 15-20 parts of polyether 450, 10-20 parts of polyether 403, 2.5-3.0 parts of silicone oil 8807, 55-65 parts of glass fibers, 1.2-1.8 parts of a catalyst DMP-30, 1.3-1.7 parts of an equilibrium catalyst HP-12, 1.1-1.5 parts of a catalyst HP-54, 3-4.5 parts of water and 36-38 parts of fire retardant DMMP. By the adoption of the materials and the method, the prepared foam material is high in flame retardation and not prone to combustion with fire, and therefore fire safety and personal safety are ensured; besides, the goods shelf made of the material is especially high in strength, high in density and capable of meeting the demand for storage of goods of different weights; due to the fact that all the raw materials used for the foam material are environmentally friendly and are matched reasonably, the foam material may not release toxic substances harmful for the human body and meets the environmental protection requirement.


Non-allergic rhinitis with eosinophilia syndrome (NARES) is a chronic inflammatory rhinopathy characterized by nasal obstruction, rhinorrhea, sneezing and/or an itchy nose. Although eosinophilic nasal cytology is common in NARES patients, identifying the condition is challenging due to a lack of consensus on the diagnostic processes and the role of nasal cytology in clinical practice. Patients may undergo several allergy tests with negative or inconclusive results and are eventually diagnosed with idiopathic/aspecific rhinitis. Treatment options may include intranasal corticosteroids, intranasal antihistamines or a combination of both types of medication. This case report describes a patient with NARES who was unresponsive to conventional therapies and experienced significant improvement after treatment with Mepolizumab, a drug approved for severe asthma with hypereosinophilia, hypereosinophilic syndrome (HES), chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA). Mepolizumab was administered once a month at a dose of 100 mg subcutaneously. The patient experienced a complete remission of symptoms a year after starting the off-label treatment. Blood counts remained stable and no adverse effects were observed. Mepolizumab appears to be a potential therapeutic alternative in patients with NARES who are unresponsive to conventional therapies.


The accurate evaluation of wind loads on high-rise buildings represents a key point in their design process. Traditionally, atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel tests, conceived in order to be representative of the wind conditions expected on site, are used for this purpose. Recently, owing to the increase in computational power, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) techniques have gained interest as a complementary tool to wind tunnel testing. Unfortunately, wind flow around bluff bodies is often very complex and substantial research efforts are still needed in order to assess the accuracy and reliability of CFD results. In this paper, Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are performed aimed at evaluating the wind loads on an isolated high-rise building. In order to assess the capabilities of LES for adoption as a design tool, the results are analysed in terms of both pressure distributions and internal forces on the structural elements. It is found that the accuracy of LES in reproducing the fluctuating pressure field is not necessarily maintained when internal forces are taken into account. Nevertheless, the design values predicted by LES can be still considered satisfactory, in particular when maximum and minimum values over different angles of attack are considered.


This article considers the largely neglected topic of greenfield shipyards and modernization in British shipbuilding from 1900 to 1977. Post-1945, the end of the long-seller's market for shipbuilders in 1958 ushered in a sustained period of intense international competition just as spatially limited British shipbuilding firms had begun, rather late in the day, to modernize their yards in an attempt to compete with more capital intensive-orientated and less spatially constrained shipyards in Japan and Sweden, and later, South Korea. Government then played an increasing role in modernizing the industry through grants and loans during the 1960s and early 1970s, but the industry continued to struggle, particularly three large firms engaged in VLCC construction before and after the OPEC oil price hikes in 1973-74 and thereafter to nationalization of the industry in 1977.


Osteoporosis sickness is one kind of body-wide metabolic disease,the disease incidence rate is rising year by year,the clinical multi-use medicine treats.Two phosphine acid salts medicine took in the osteoporosis treatment medicine studies comprehensively,the curative effect most accurate variety,on clinical applies more and more broadly.This article has made the outline to two phosphine acid salts osteoporosis sickness treatment medicine research situation,introduced its situations and so on chemical constitution and classification,function mechanism,medicine generation of dynamics,commonly used variety.


The hemolytic, agglutinating, and coating antibody activities of the serum of rabbits immunized with rat erythrocytes could be separated at least partially by DEAE and CM cellulose chromatographic fractionation of ΓG globulins. The serologic activities of serums from different animals did not separate identically by these methods, and serums obtained from animals immunized for only two weeks displayed more chromatographic heterogeneity in regard to these properties than did serums obtained after four weeks of immunization.


The purpose of this study was to describe, interpret, and analyze the educational experiences and factors contributing to the decision to persist for adult, female, part-time students currently enrolled at a community college in the Midwest. This study sought to expand the research on student retention by describing the perspectives of adult female students. It used the guiding framework of feminist standpoint theory to describe, interpret, and analyze the educational experiences of the adult female participants.


Significance Common features have been observed in the genome sequences of bacterial pathogens that infect few hosts. These "host adaptations" include the acquisition of pathogenicity islands of multiple genes involved in disease, losses of whole genes, and even single mutations that affect gene function. Within Salmonella enterica is a natural model system of four pathogens that are each other's closest relatives, including a host-generalist, two host-specialists, and one with strong host associations. With whole-genome sequences, we aimed to improve our understanding of the number, nature, and order of these host adaptation events, shedding light on how human and animal pathogens arose in the past, and potentially allowing us to predict how emerging pathogens will evolve in the future. Many bacterial pathogens are specialized, infecting one or few hosts, and this is often associated with more acute disease presentation. Specific genomes show markers of this specialization, which often reflect a balance between gene acquisition and functional gene loss. Within Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica, a single lineage exists that includes human and animal pathogens adapted to cause infection in different hosts, including S. enterica serovar Enteritidis (multiple hosts), S. Gallinarum (birds), and S. Dublin (cattle). This provides an excellent evolutionary context in which differences between these pathogen genomes can be related to host range. Genome sequences were obtained from ∼60 isolates selected to represent the known diversity of this lineage. Examination and comparison of the clades within the phylogeny of this lineage revealed signs of host restriction as well as evolutionary events that mark a path to host generalism. We have identified the nature and order of events for both evolutionary trajectories. The impact of functional gene loss was predicted based upon position within metabolic pathways and confirmed with phenotyping assays. The structure of S. Enteritidis is more complex than previously known, as a second clade of S. Enteritidis was revealed that is distinct from those commonly seen to cause disease in humans or animals, and that is more closely related to S. Gallinarum. Isolates from this second clade were tested in a chick model of infection and exhibited a reduced colonization phenotype, which we postulate represents an intermediate stage in pathogen–host adaptation.


Although researchers have begun making significant inroads into understanding the genetic and biological basis for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and other neurodevelopmental disorders, it's been estimated that environmental factors could account for just over half the risk of developing ASDs.1 In this issue of EHP, researchers have used data from 1,767 women in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II to study exposure to particulate matter (PM) as one potential environmental risk factor for ASDs.2

In one of the first reports of a relationship between air pollution and ASDs, investigators in California found associations between estimated exposures to airborne heavy metals and other pollutants and risk of ASDs.3 Later studies using the same exposure models as the California study reported links between multiple hazardous air pollutants and ASDs in North Carolina and West Virginia,4 and a U.S.-wide study had similar findings.5 Other work considered how close pregnant women lived to freeways,6 or used monitor-based estimates of air pollutants7,8,9 or models of traffic-related exposures to study links with ASD risk.

In this study, higher exposures to PM2.5 air pollution during the third trimester of pregnancy were associated with increased risk of having a child with an autism spectrum disorder.

"All these studies seemed to be circling around different aspects of air pollution but showing similar signals," says Marc Weisskopf, an epidemiologist at Harvard and senior author of the current study. "We wanted to look at this in a U.S.-wide population with better models and with more precision."

The current study included 245 mothers of children with ASDs and 1,522 controls. The researchers used each mother's mailing address from before, during, and after pregnancy to estimate her exposure to airborne coarse and fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5, respectively). Spatiotemporal models took into account data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air Quality System and other monitors along with geographic predictors such as proximity to major roads to estimate exposures on a monthly basis at the nurses' residences.10,11,12

The coarser fraction of PM showed no clear relationship with ASD risk. However, the researchers estimated 50% higher odds of having a child with an ASD in women in the highest quartile of estimated PM2.5 exposure throughout pregnancy, compared with women in the lowest quartile, after controlling for child sex, month and year of birth, maternal and paternal age at birth, and median census tract income. In particular, the researchers found that the association between ASDs and exposure to PM2.5 was strongest during the third trimester of pregnancy.2

"This study provides some really nice continuing evidence of the potential relationship between air pollution and autism across the entire United States," says Heather Volk, an epidemiologist at the University of Southern California, who was not involved in the study.

Previous work in animal models has suggested a possible mechanism for how air pollution exposure may increase ASD risk. Mice exposed to concentrated ambient ultrafine PM showed ventriculomegaly, altered neurochemistry, and activation of glial cells in the brain.13 These responses, which occurred preferentially in male mice, signal an inflammatory response. Weisskopf says that an inflammatory response in the mother or developing fetus is currently a leading hypothesis for how PM may increase ASD risk.

But any environmental risk, researchers say, almost certainly interacts with genetic factors that either increase or decrease ASD risk. "In a complex disease like autism, it's not going to be just genes or just environment," Volk says.


The absorption of subpicosecond ([approx]100 fs) high-intensity ([ital I][approx]10[sup 20]--10[sup 21] W/cm[sup 2]) laser pulses normally incident on solid density targets is examined by particle simulations, which include electron scattering. For targets which are overdense by factors exceeding 100, electrons accelerated by the ponderomotive force of the laser couple their energy electrostatically to the ions and the absorption efficiency into the ions scales as [ital I][sup 1/2]. For example, absorption in a carbon target is only a few percent, but a large fraction of the absorbed energy is transferred to the ions.


Under the new historical conditions,it is significant to put moral education in the front in higher quality education.That putting moral education in the front in higher quality education is not only determined by the educational features and missions,but also by the objective demands of the environments home and abroad to quality education.It is the demand of reinforcing our national cohesion and prospering our nation.It is also the demand of undergraduates' development for existence.


This thesis investigated the interaction between steady state hypoxia and passive hyperthermia on human ventilation and the influence of the PETCO2 on this interaction. On one of two days males twice breathed 12% oxygen for 20 min while either normothermic or hyperthermic with PETCO2 clamped -1 mm Hg above resting (iHVR). On the other day the same tests were performed except P&02 was uncontrolled (pHVR). Hyperthermia increased euoxic ventilation compared to normothermia (plO.OO1). During iHVR ventilation increased more during hyperthermia than normothermia (p=0.002), but not during pHVR (p=0.98). Heart rates at conclusion of pHVR compared to iHVR were greater for normothermia (p=0.05) and hyperthermia (p=0.004). Therefore during pHVR the decreasing P&02 levels blunt the ventilatory response to hypoxia more than hyperthermia augments it as seen during iHVR. Also pHVR increases cardiovascular responses to hypoxia more than iHVR. An end tidal forcing system was developed to control PETC02. (147 words)


Understanding thermal and wind environmental characteristics in hilly city including Yato and proposing planning guidelines to mitigate urban warming effect is important for sustainable urban environment in Yokohama. In this study, observed data and numerical calculation by Multi-Scale Simulator for the Geoenvironment are used and present urban climate of hilly city is analyzed. Furthermore, potential natural climate, in which building effect is removed and all present urbanized area is naturalized, is calculated by MSSG and potential climatic environments in hilly city are analyzed. Finally, planning guidelines for each topography in hilly city is proposed by using the results.


Context. Radio continuum (RC) emission in galaxies allows us to measure star formation rates (SFRs) unaffected by extinction due to dust, of which the low-frequency part is uncontaminated from thermal (free–free) emission.
Aims. We calibrate the conversion from the spatially resolved 140 MHz RC emission to the SFR surface density (ΣSFR) at 1 kpc scale. Radio spectral indices give us, by means of spectral ageing, a handle on the transport of cosmic rays using the electrons as a proxy for GeV nuclei.
Methods. We used recent observations of three galaxies (NGC 3184, 4736, and 5055) from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), and archival LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) data of NGC 5194. Maps were created with the facet calibration technique and converted to radio ΣSFR maps using the Condon relation. We compared these maps with hybrid ΣSFR maps from a combination of GALEX far-ultraviolet and Spitzer 24 μm data using plots tracing the relation at the highest angular resolution allowed by our data at 1.2 × 1.2 kpc2 resolution.
Results. The RC emission is smoothed with respect to the hybrid ΣSFR owing to the transport of cosmic-ray electrons (CREs) away from star formation sites. This results in a sublinear relation (ΣSFR)RC ∝ [(ΣSFR)hyb]a, where a = 0.59 ± 0.13 (140 MHz) and a = 0.75 ± 0.10 (1365 MHz). Both relations have a scatter of σ = 0.3 dex. If we restrict ourselves to areas of young CREs (α >  −0.65; Iν ∝ να), the relation becomes almost linear at both frequencies with a ≈ 0.9 and a reduced scatter of σ = 0.2 dex. We then simulate the effect of CRE transport by convolving the hybrid ΣSFR maps with a Gaussian kernel until the RC–SFR relation is linearised; CRE transport lengths are l = 1–5 kpc. Solving the CRE diffusion equation, assuming dominance of the synchrotron and inverse-Compton losses, we find diffusion coefficients of D = (0.13–1.5)  × 1028 cm2 s−1 at 1 GeV.
Conclusions. A RC–SFR relation at 1.4 GHz can be exploited to measure SFRs at redshift z ≈ 10 using 140 MHz observations.


456 R the article in this issue from Lee et al. on proximal interphalangeal joint flexion contracture release1 has given me a feeling of exoneration—if a surgeon as skilled and experienced as the senior author has also struggled to prevent the surgically "released" (i.e., further traumatized) proximal interphalangeal volar plate from scarring back to its preoperative state, I am in good company. Personally, I cannot recall ever performing a conventional stepwise release without at least some—and occasionally complete—postoperative relapse. I have therefore largely abandoned this procedure in favor of the Digit Widget (Hand Biomechanics Lab, Sacramento, Calif.), with which I have seen much better outcomes. However, the Digit Widget adds cost, encumbers patients for several months, and risks infection; thus, an alternative not reliant on a percutaneous contraption would be appreciated. To that end, the authors have shared their innovative strategy to quiesce the pull of myofibroblasts by interposing a small flap of neighboring fat across the defect in the volar plate. Although I admire the elegance of this technique, I do not understand the biology. How can a random flap with a length-to-width ratio of as high as 5, positioned between avascular joint and tendon surfaces and subjected to the tension and compression of aggressive range-of-motion exercises, possibly remain viable, let alone impart a positive influence on the healing process of the volar plate? In addition, is it not surprising that a flap robust enough to survive and mitigate secondary contracture would not also create an obstruction to full flexion? Nevertheless, a positive effect was observed. If the biology is suspect, we must then ask whether the science could be flawed. Unfortunately, I think the answer is yes. A primary cause—really, an imperative—for scientific skepticism is the study's power. With only 10 patients in the flap group, this study is powered to detect a delta—the difference in correction between the two groups—of 21 degrees.2 The observed delta was 16 degrees, for which we would need at least 23 patients in each group to achieve a power of 0.8.2 Knowing that these cases are infrequent, it is natural to forgive this weakness. However, inadequate power is a not infrequent problem in the plastic surgery literature. An underpowered study like this can still be valuable, and its results can still be "true," but especially when p values are marginally significant, as in this study, we readers must take these results with a large grain of scientific salt. Of equal concern is the allocation of patients. The groups are clearly not equal: all of the crushing, degloving, amputation, and infection cases were in the control group, and all of the trigger and most of the cutting/laceration cases were in the flap group. The control group also underwent more associated procedures (skin flap advancement, scar excision, tenolysis, neurolysis, and pulley reconstruction), although this p value just missed statistical significance at 0.067. (Note that the key p value of this study—the difference in degrees of correction—was negligibly better at 0.055; that we might ascribe significance to the latter but disregard the former is a good reminder of the sometimes absurd arbitrariness of medical science.) What is not negligible was the difference in pain scores, which were clearly worse for the control group; the question is whether the flap ameliorated the pain of volar plate release, or whether the control group had more pain because they sustained worse injuries and underwent more extensive procedures. Follow-up may be another limitation of this study. As I rued earlier, after volar plate release, the


An experiment was carried out in the Cloth Canopy, Agricultural Research Station, College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, during the agricultural season 2018-2019, to study the effect of the seaweed extract spray (0, 2 and 4 m.L-1) on vegetative and flowering growth of two Narcissus species. Local white flowers (Narcissus tazetta) and the imported yellow flowers (N. eastertide). A factorial experiment with Randomized Completely Block Design (R.C.B.D) were used, with three replicates, the averages were compared using Least Significant Difference (L.S.D). When the plants reached treated at the emergence completion, leaves were sprayed to wetness full, with three times, the process was repeated every 15 days. The results showed that the white variety was significantly higher as well as plants treated with 4 m.L-1 extract showed significant superiority in all studied traits, the interaction between the white variety and spraying with seaweed extract concentration of 4 m.L-1 had a significant on the number of leaves5.00 leaf plant-1, leaf area 818 cm2, fresh and dry weights (30.16 and 15.70 g) of the vegetative total, flower stem length 45.55 cm, vase life 17.29 day.  while the interaction between the yellow species and spraying with seaweed extract concentration of 4 m.L-1 had a significant on fresh and dry weight of the flowers (16.80 and 1.73 g).


An automatic defect testing system is dealt with in this article. It includes two parts, defect feature extraction, and defect classification and sizing. Defect feature extraction is carried out by adaptive filter deconvolution. The time delay between two consecutive taps of the adaptive filter is one half cycle of the ultrasonic echo to be processed. Wideband ultrasonic defect echoes of center frequency 1.2 MHz generally have 2-4 cycles and 100-200 data points for a 50 MHz sampling rate. After deconvolution, data are reduced to 4-8 points, and the frequency bandwidth is greatly extended. As a result, the defect features stand out. The deconvolved defect echoes are presented to an artificial neural network (ANN) for automatic defect classification and sizing. Two application examples are given in this article, exact classification and reasonable sizing accuracy have been achieved.


To understand the ecological function of heterotrophic bacterial community in water column of large freshwater lakes in the permafrost zone, we investigated the structure and function of bacterial community in Lake Khuvsgul, Mongolia. Species composition of overall bacterial community was analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S rRNA gene fragments, and bacteria that can be cultured at 10oC were isolated and characterized. Based on the depth profile of environmental parameters, thermocline and chemocline were recognized at the 5~10 m zone of the water column. The stratified DGGE profile indicated that the discontinuity of water properties might influence the structure of bacterial community: band profiles in the 0~5 m zone were diverse with large change by depth, but the profile was relatively stable at the 10 m zone, with predominance of the band identified as Acidovorax facilis. Bacterial cultures were screened for protease, cellulase, amylase and lipase activity, and 23 isolates were selected for high activity of the hydrolytic enzymes. The isolates were identified based on their 16S rRNA gene sequences. In the surface water (zero meter depth), Acidovorax defluvii and Sphingobacterium faecium with high cellulase activity were present. Flavobacterium succinicans, Mycoplana bullata and A. facilis were stably predominant isolates at 2 m, 5 m, and 10 m depths, respectively. F. succinicans isolates showed high protease activity while M. bullata isolates showed moderate levels of protease and celluase activity. A. facilis isolates showed either cellulase or lipase activity, exclusively to each other. According to the profile of growth rates of the isolates in the temperature range of , the surface-zone (0~5 m) isolates were facultative psychrophiles while isolates from 10 m depth were typical mesophiles. This stratification is believed to be due to stratified availability of organic materials to the bacterial decomposers. In the water column below the chemoline, the environment is extremely oligotrophic so that the trait of rapid growth in low temperature might not be demanded by deep-lake decomposers. The stratified distribution of community composition and decomposer activity in Lake Khuvsgul implies that ecological functions of bacterial community in lakes of cold region are sharply divided by water column stratification.


Most synthetic factor Xa (FXa) and thrombin inhibitors examined in pharmacokinetic studies and phase II/III clinical trials have had predictable pharmacokinetics and have been found to be effective and safe without the need for laboratory monitoring [1]. However, assessment of the degree of antithrombotic effect may be beneficial in certain patients, such as those with renal or liver impairment, or in emergency situations, although precisely how such assessments should be carried out is an open issue. Current pharmacodynamic markers for these agents include well-established clotting assays that measure prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), more sensitive methods that measure diluted PT (DPT), and specific enzyme assays for FXa inhibition and thrombin generation [1]. Changes in these markers correlate with the plasma concentration of the investigated inhibitor; however, their accuracy in predicting systemic exposure to inhibitors is unsatisfactory, owing to poor sensitivity or non-standardized procedures. Darexaban (YM150) is a novel, potent, oral direct FXa inhibitor that prevents the prothrombin activation induced by free and clot-associated FXa, prothrombinase, and whole blood clots [2]. After oral administration, darexaban is rapidly and almost entirely metabolized to darexaban glucuronide. Although darexaban and darexaban glucuronide are equipotent, darexaban glucuronide is the main active moiety in humans in vivo [3]. Consistent with this, a high correlation between darexaban glucuronide plasma concentration and PT prolongation has been observed, and relatively low doses of darexaban (20 mg twice-daily) result in a four-fold PT prolongation, indicating that PT is highly responsive to changes in darexaban glucuronide plasma concentrations [3]. Here, we compared the effects of darexaban on PT with those of other direct FXa inhibitors, using several thromboplastin reagents. We also examined the relationship between PT prolongation and FXa inhibition for each inhibitor. Human plasma was spiked with a 1/100 volume of vehicle, darexaban, darexaban glucuronide, rivaroxaban or apixaban to achieve different final concentrations, selected on the basis of reported clinical exposure concentrations during the treatment of venous thrombosis: approximately 0.3–3 lmol L (trough to peak concentrations) for darexaban glucuronide, and 0.03– 0.3 lmol L for rivaroxaban and apixaban [3–5]. The chromogenic assay for FXa activity in plasma was performed as described previously, with minor modifications [6]. PT was measured with three commercially available thromboplastin reagents, according to each manufacturer s protocol. The PT ratio (PTR) was calculated as the PT for the inhibitor-spiked plasma divided by the PT for the vehicle-spiked plasma. The local international sensitivity index values were determined to be 1.12, 0.91 and 0.84 for HemosIL PT-fibrinogen HS PLUS, PT-fibrinogen recombinant, andRecombiPlasTin, respectively. For theDPT test, thromboplastin reagents were diluted 16-fold as compared with conventional PT test quantities with 50 mmol L calcium chloride solution. All sample handling and FXa inhibitor-spiked plasma to vehicle-spiked plasma ratio calculations were otherwise similar to those applied in the conventional PT tests. Data are expressed as the mean ± standard error of the mean of four independent assays. ED50 values were calculated with a sigmoid-Emax model for the inhibition of FXa activity. Darexaban, darexaban glucuronide, rivaroxaban and apixaban inhibited FXa activity in human plasma in a concentration-dependent fashion, with typical Hill-shaped concentration–FXa curves, but different potencies (EC50 values and 95% confidence intervals: 3.4 [3.1–3.7], 1.1 [1.0–1.2], 0.12 [0.11–0.13], and 0.15 [0.14–0.15] lmol L, respectively). At clinical exposure concentrations, all tested FXa inhibitors prolonged the PT obtained when mixed with commercial thromboplastins (Fig. 1A). Furthermore, darexaban and its human metabolite darexaban glucuronide produced higher PTR values than rivaroxaban or apixaban, regardless of the thromboplastin reagent used. The relationship between PTR and FXa inhibition is shown in Fig. 1B. Interestingly, darexCorrespondence: Toshiyuki Funatsu, Applied Pharmacology Research Laboratories, Drug Discovery Research, Astellas Pharma Inc., 21 Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki, Japan. Tel.: +81 3 5916 5329; fax: +81 3 5916 5606. E-mail: email@example.com


Abstract Jiří Jan Zeman (1886-1934), a landowner from Sedlec (now Ústí nad Labem region), was buried in an Egyptianizing grave at the cemetery in Klapý. The gravestone was inscribed by an ancient Egyptian inscription containing the tomb owner's biographical data which was with certainty composed by František Lexa.


A kind of liquid-based and electrically-controlled optical imaging apparatus is provided,which is a cylindrical chamber holding three liquid layers.A kind of insulating liquid is sandwiched between two layers of conducting liquids.A layer of transparent electrode and a layer of insulating layer are coated inside the chamber in turn.Two different external voltages can be applied between the electrode and two layers of conducting liquids,which respectively control two liquid interfaces in the chamber.These two voltages can be matched appropriately to change the focal length and keep the image plane of the apparatus stable simultaneously.Taking the infinite object as an example and based on the Gauss Optics Theory,detailed calculations concerning the relationship between the voltages and the focal length of the apparatus are given.The relevant simulation result that the zoom ratio of the apparatus can be 1∶1.5 shows that such an apparatus is a viable variable focal length optical imaging system.


A turbine airfoil for a gas turbine engine is disposed between (a) positive and negative pressure sidewalls spaced between the leading and trailing edges and (b) positive and negative pressure sidewalls. A first cavity adapted to be supplied with cooling air from a source in the engine and connected to at least one film cooling hole in communication with the outer surface of the airfoil, and (c) positive pressure And at least one film cooling hole disposed between the suction side walls, adapted to be supplied with cooling air from a source in the engine and communicated only with the suction side walls of the airfoil. Two cavities and (d) a metering structure adapted to substantially limit the flow of air into the second cavity. [Selection] Figure 3


The same pattern of pessimism which is visible in Iris Origo's 'Leopardi: A Study in Solitude', 'Baudeliare' by Martin Turnell and Paul Valery and 'The Civilized Mind' by Norman Suckling is examined.


In this thesis we explore two distinct topics: a unique model of one dimensional chemistry and the development of the generalised local density approximation. The specific one dimensional system we study is one in which three dimensional particles, both electrons and nuclei, have been strictly confined to move on a line. This means we retain the Coulomb interaction of the three dimensional particles. This is problematic, the singularity of this interaction is exceptionally strong in one dimension and requires special techniques be used to circumvent it. In our study we employ the Dirichlet boundary conditions, which require the wavefunction to vanish whenever two particles touch. This brings some severe consequences including, most controversially, that the nuclei are impenetrable to the electrons. However it does permit finite binding energies of electrons to nuclei and has a number of unique features which make it an interesting system to study for insight into electron behaviour. Here we explore the mechanics of chemistry within this model. We construct an unusual periodic table for one dimensional elements and explore the mechanisms by which they bind into molecules. Ultimately, we are able to develop a set of simple rules with which one can easily predict the outcome of a reaction in this unique model. The generalised local density approximation is a new method for constructing density functional approximations. The local density approximation, the most simplistic of all density functionals, is built off the properties of the infinite uniform electron gas and as result replicates them exactly. It is also possible to construct finite uniform electron gases and, contrary to expectations, the regular local density approximation is unable to model these finite gases correctly. The generalised local density approximation incorporates these finite gases into its construction. We account for their differences from the infinite gases by introducing a new parameter which measures the proximity of electrons at a point in space. We can then construct a correlation functional for one dimensional systems using a method which closely resembles that used for previous local density approximations.


Throughout the world, human population experiment with alcohol, result into short- and long-term consequences including increased risk of accidental injuries, risky sexual behavior and lower education attainment. Due to polymorphism in the gene whose product enzymes are responsible for alcohol metabolism, serious health consequences including liver cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma can occur. Enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, CYP450 and catalase are alcohol metabolizing enzymes. Polymorphism in any one or all of the enzymes will result in defective alcohol metabolism and acetaldehyde accumulation cause serious health problems. This article mainly focuses on the consequences of alcohol consumption at genetic level that ultimately affect alcohol metabolism resulting in various health disorders.


As a result of increased use of prolonged endotracheal intubation, complications of intubation are now being seen more often. Stenosis of the airway may develop at the level of the glottic or subglottic larynx, or in the trachea. Discussions of management do not always distinguish clearly between laryngeal stenosis and tracheal stenosis. Yet, these are two separate entities. Discussions of laryngeal stenosis usually deal with subglottic stenosis, with less emphasis on obstruction at the glottic level.


The media can render yeoman's services. It can report HIV cases hidden in the remote parts of the country and expose the kind of medical services provided by the hospitals and health centers. More importantly, it can give a human face to the issue of HIV/AIDS. However, experts are critical of media coverage of HIV/AIDS. This paper is a commentary on the role of print media in Assam with respect to its coverage of HIV/AIDS news based on the framing analysis technique of the news headlines of four prominent newspapers of the state for a period of one year.


The implementation of the differentiation strategy needs to increase the effective supply of differentiated commodity rather than the supply of differentiated commodity.In order to achieve more effective supply of differentiated commodity with the same amount of input,relationships between genuine differentiation and false differentiation,between dominant differentiation and recessive differentiation,between long - term differentiation and short - term differentiation, between high - end market differentiation and low - end market differentiation,and between differentiation business strategy and government's macro - management must be effectively handled.


Cluster galaxies exhibit substantially lower star formation rates than field galaxies today, but it is conceivable that clusters were sites of more active star formation in the early universe. Herein, we present an interpretation of the star formation history (SFH) of group/cluster galaxies based on the large-scale cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, Horizon-AGN. We find that massive galaxies in general have small values of e-folding timescales of star formation decay (i.e., "mass quenching") regardless of their environment, while low-mass galaxies exhibit prominent environmental dependence. In massive host halos (i.e., clusters), the e-folding timescales of low-mass galaxies are further decreased if they reside in such halos for a longer period of time. This "environmental quenching" trend is consistent with the theoretical expectation from ram pressure stripping. Furthermore, we define a "transition epoch" as where cluster galaxies become less star-forming than field galaxies. The transition epoch of group/cluster galaxies varies according to their stellar and host-cluster halo masses. Low-mass galaxies in massive clusters show the earliest transition epoch of ∼7.6 Gyr ago in lookback time. However, this decreases to ∼5.2 Gyr for massive galaxies in low-mass clusters. Based on our findings, we can describe a cluster galaxy's SFH with regard to the cluster halo-to-stellar mass ratio.


We consider the following inhomogeneous problems \[ \begin{cases} \epsilon^{2}\mbox{div}(a(x)\nabla u(x))+f(x,u)=0 & \text{ in }\Omega,\\ \frac{\partial u}{\partial \nu}=0 & \text{ on }\partial \Omega,\\ \end{cases} \] where $\Omega$ is a smooth and bounded domain in general dimensional space $\mathbb {R}^{N}$, $\epsilon >0$ is a small parameter and function $a$ is positive. We respectively obtain the locations of interior transition layers of the solutions of the above transition problems that are $L^{1}$-local minimizer and global minimizer of the associated energy functional.


Game is a promising tool to help students in understanding physics concept. It can motivate and provide the opportunities for students to become independent in learning. In order to fulfil these functions, games should be carefully designed. Thus, the objective of this paper is to present how games are designed to increase students' motivation in learning physics based on several literature reviews. The results showed that there are several ways to increase students' motivation in learning physics and to achieve that, game dimensions are needed to be considered when designing a game. This literature review may have useful to assist teachers and contribute in improving the design of games.


WC-10 wt.% Si3N4 composites toughened with ultrafine porous boron nitride nanofiber (0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15 wt.%) were prepared for the first time by spark plasma sintering. Compared with the WC-Si3N4 composite sintered in the same condition, the obtained WC-10 wt.% Si3N4 composites with ultrafine porous boron nitride were found to possess better hardness and fracture toughness. In addition, the Si3N4 phase in the UPBNNF toughened composites did not exhibit traditional catastrophic fracture as indicated in most investigations. In this study, the phenomena are discussed, and a probable mechanism is elucidated. It is deduced that the approach could be extended to materials with a feature of internal liquid phase during the sintering process and could improve hardness and fracture toughness.


Existing literature on eyewitness testimony indicates that there is a wide range of variables which interfere with the reliability of eyewitness identifications (e.g., eyewitness' age, target presence in the lineup, presence of misleading information and the entity that delivers it, lineup type). The present study focused on the efficency of simultaneous versus sequential lineups in children eyewitness testimonies in the case of target absent lineups, with the insertion of misleading information. The effect of children's age was also investigated. Hence, 55 children of two different age groups (4-5 years-old and 8-10 yearsold), divided into two lineup type conditions, viewed four videos of fake CCTV footage that depicted minor thefts. After a brief interference task, the children were asked to identify the suspect seen in the video, if they believed that he was amongst lineup members. Answers were registered according to the lineup member chosen, and could be of four different types: correct (no lineup member was chosen), dummy (the filler with the misinformation described features was chosen), pseudo-target (the filler with highest resemblance to the suspect in the video was chosen) and other (any of the other four lineup members was chosen). Results showed that younger children identify more frequently the dummy in the lineups than older children, evidencing a greater suggestibility. Additionally, results showed that participants identified significantly more "other" lineup members in the sequential lineup than in the simultaneous one, possibly because of not being able to exclude these members from their choice as easily as in the simultaneous lineup, which permits a relative judgment. This study has the potential to aid forensic investigations envolving child eyewitnesses, in an effort to understand and improve testimony and lineup methodology.


We have shown in previous work that directional airgun far-field signatures can be derived from measurements made near to the guns through an inversion process, as an alternative to the commonly used iterative method. This approach has the advantage of being more accurate at low frequencies, since it more correctly handles the motion of the air bubble as it moves away from the gun. In this paper we extend our approach to obtain shot-by-shot estimates of the array depth and sea-surface reflectivity as part of the signature estimation. Our method follows from the somewhat unexpected observation that the near-field data can contain a strong ghost component, such that there is a noticeable sensitivity of derived signatures to the depth and reflectivity parameters used for their computation. We use the estimated array depth and reflectivity values to construct directional far-field signatures containing a shot-varying estimate of the sea-surface ghost, and demonstrate shot-by-shot source de-ghosting via their use for directional designature. Our results show that, compared to modelled signatures, our near-field derived signatures contain a more accurate representation of the bubble and ghost components of the signature, leading to an improved treatment of wavelet phase and amplitude at low frequencies.


Recently developed methods of optimization-based determination of Jiles-Atherton model enable practical application of this model for technical purposes. However, uncertainty of determination of these parameters was not investigated before. This paper presents the results of investigation on assessment of uncertainty of determination of parameters of Jiles-Atherton model for high permeability Mn-Zn ferrite as well as for 3H13martensitic steel. It was indicated, that uncertainty of determination of parameters varies for different parameters and may exceed 100%. This information should be considered during solid state physics – oriented analyses based on the Jiles-Atherton model. Słowa kluczowe: model Jilesa-Athertona, stal martenzytyczna, ferryt manganowo-cynkowy.


This paper examines the political economy of transforming indigenous technology in Nigeria through suitable engineering and technological development. The existing state of position of the indigenous technology with respect to its problems as it affects socio-economic growth, good governance and technological advancement were looked into. After in-depth evaluation, it was mirrored that there were some obstacles in the transformation of the nation's indigenous technology to meet global standards. Therefore, this paper proposes the 3-I (imitation, improvement and innovation) technological advancement model as the way forward to start spiral process model of technological innovation that will aid the transformation of the indigenous technology to stimulate political-economic and technological advancement of the country. Economic growth will go side by side with technological advancement and national social security but the government is an indispensable entity in the developmental process.


This paper thoroughly analyzes the legal character of the space over the buildings of the land users in China and comes to a viewpoint that the legal rights owned by the land users is a kind of air rights. And the air rights include the legal rights of owning the space over the buildings and the legal rights of utilizing the space over the buildings. The nation and the collective is the owner of the space over buildings and the land users own the legal rights of using the space under the top of the submitted height of the buildings.


In this paper we prove that if $I $ is a subset of measure 0 in a $C^2-$smooth generic submanifold $M$ of $ \C^n$, then its complement in $M$ is non-plurithin at each point of $M$ in $\C^n$. This result improves a previous result of A. Edigarian and J. Wiegerinck, who considered the case where $I$ is pluripolar set contained in a $C^1-$smooth generic submanifold $M \subset \C^n$. The proof of our result is essentially different.


This study compares delayed and younger childbearers in the US during the transition to parenthood using a longitudinal design. It examines changes in the marital adjustment self-esteem and sex-role attributions that occur for both partners from the last trimester of pregnancy until their child is 12 months old. Based upon previous research and theorizing about the phenomenon of delayed childbearing it was predicted that delayed childbearing women when compared to younger childbearers would score higher in masculinity prior to giving birth and would experience less decline in marital adjustment and a greater increase in femininity across the transition to parenthood. The study failed to find any indication that delayed childbearers are a distinct group in terms of personal and family variables. There were neither initial differences between delayed and younger childbearers in any of several personal and family variables despite clear differences in demographic characteristics. Earlier quite positive assessments of delayed childbearers may have been unduly optimistic because of the use of special subgroups of delayed childbearers (e.g. women in middle management or in professional careers) and an over emphasis upon their personal assets (e.g. higher education higher income). Interestingly the transition to parenthood was quite similar for men and women on the dependent measures used. In this sample there was no difference in the proportion of women in each group who worked or who returned to work after childbirth.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an increase in mathematical reasoning abilities and to describe the mathematical reasoning abilities of students through the Reciprocal Teaching learning model assisted with "smart card" teaching aids on prism and pyramid material class VIII Public Middle School 1 Pandaan 2017/2018 Academic Year. The research method used in this study, which is a mixed method with an experimental mixed method design design, was to wrap a basic mixed method design into a further strategy, namely by adding processes into the experimental procedure. The results showed that based on the results of quantitative data analysis, it was concluded that there was an increase between mathematical reasoning abilities before and after using the Reciprocal Teaching learning model with the help of "smart card" teaching aids on class VIII prism and pyramid material in Pandaan 1 Public Middle School. From some of the data analysis shows that mathematical reasoning ability increases after the application of the Reciprocal Teaching learning model with the help of "smart card" teaching aids.


The current circumstances of trade unions are subject to extensive debate. As a contribution to these debates, three sets of issues are ad dressed : how unions organize and operate in relation to members, how unions reposition and rebuild themselves against changing forms of ownership and different managerial practices, and how unions attempt to face the challenges of multinational capital. Unions have sought to renew and revitalize themselves by changing organizational practices or changing aims and ambitions, as well as by recomposing past rela tionships, especially between unions and state bodies. These themes are addressed via three case studies chosen to exemplify particular aspects of union organization and activity. The study concludes with a comparative evaluation of the three cases in terms of the principles of union renewal.


The article analyzes the hermeneutical bases of all ethical decisions. Moral norms require an understanding of the circumstances, since good ethical judgments can only be made on that basis. While for Peter Singer, the tools for that understanding are rational, Mauricio Beuchot expands them through intuition and subtlety. The paper discusses whether Singer's claims are substantiated in his works.


This article illustrates the current tense doctor-patient relationship due to the trust crisis in the market economy, and explains the factors that cause the trust crisis. How to establish the mutual trust relationship between doctors and patients? We think that enhancing medical ethics education among medical staff, defining clearly the roles of doctor and patient in medical treatment, strengthening suppression on deliberate medical troubles, and developing confidence in others by the correct guidance of the medium are the effective ways to decrease the medical disputes and build a harmonious doctor-patient relationship.


Just one of the ten methyl groups of deca-B-methyl-1,12-dicarba-closo-dodecarborane(12) (1) is selectively functionalized in a reaction sequence in which photolysis of a nitrite of 1 is the key step. Reduction of the resulting aldoxime with LiAlH4 generates, by way of the first Beckmann rearrangement of a boron-substituted oxime, the methylamino alcohol 2.


Hadronic matrix elements of proton decay are essential ingredients to bridge the grand unification theory to low energy observables like proton lifetime. In this paper we non-perturbatively calculate the matrix elements, relevant for the process of a nucleon decaying into a pseudoscalar meson and an anti-lepton through generic baryon number violating four-fermi operators. Lattice QCD with 2+1 flavor dynamical domain-wall fermions with the direct method, which is direct measurement of matrix element from three-point function without using chiral perturbation theory, are used for this study to have good control over the error due to lattice discretization effects, operator renormalization, and chiral extrapolation. The relevant form factors for possible transition process from an initial proton or neutron to a final pion or kaon induced by all types of three quark operators are obtained through three-point functions of (nucleon)-(three-quark operator)-(meson) with physical kinematics. In this study all the relevant systematic uncertainties of the form factors are taken into account for the first time, and the total error is found to be the range 30%–40% for π and 20%–40% for K final states.


Two‐dimensional (2‐D) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis can detect thousands of polypeptides, separating them by apparent molecular weight (Mr) and isoelectric point (pI). Thus it provides a more realistic and global view of cellular genetic expression than any other technique. This technique has been useful for finding sets of key proteins of biological significance. However, a typical experiment with more than a few gels often results in an unwieldy data management problem. In this paper, the GELLAB‐II system is discussed with respect to how data reduction and exploratory data analysis can be aided by computer data management and statistical search techniques. By encoding the gel patterns in a "three‐dimensional" (3‐D) database, an exploratory data analysis can be carried out in an environment that might be called a "spread sheet for 2‐D gel protein data". From such databases, complex parametric network models of protein expression during events such as differentiation might be constructed. For this, 2‐D gel databases must be able to include data from other domains external to the gel itself. Because of the increasing complexity of such databases, new tools are required to help manage this complexity. Two such tools, object‐oriented databases and expert‐system rule‐based analysis, are discussed in this context. Comparisons are made between GELLAB and other 2‐D gel databases analysis systems to illustrate some of the analysis paradigms common to these systems and where this technology may be heading.


We document the evolution of product innovation and features in the mobile telephone handset market. We distinguish between two types of product innovation: vertical and horizontal innovation. Using data on mobile telephone handsets from 1990 to 2003, we study the emergence of a dominant design in vertical and horizontal innovations and find that, while vertical product characteristics converged to some extent, no dominant design emerged. For horizontal product characteristics, some horizontal innovations remained differentiated, whereas others were adopted in all new handset models, thus forming a dominant design in horizontal product features. We explain this pattern using the concept of dominant design and results from the theoretical literature on the incentives for horizontal and vertical differentiation.


This article deals with the hypothesis test for the extremely heavy-tailed distributions with infinite mean or variance by using a truncated sample mean. We obtain three necessary and sufficient conditions under which the asymptotic distribution of the truncated test statistics converges to normal, neither normal nor stable or converges to −∞ or the combination of stable distributions, respectively. The numerical simulation illustrates an application of the theoretical results above in the hypothesis testing.


A number of metal-rich white dwarfs (WDs) are known to host compact, dense particle disks, which are thought to be responsible for metal pollution of these stars. In many such systems, the inner radii of disks inferred from their spectra are so close to the WD that particles directly exposed to starlight must be heated above 1500 K and are expected to be unstable against sublimation. To reconcile this expectation with observations, we explore particle sublimation in H-poor debris disks around WDs. We show that because of the high metal vapor pressure the characteristic sublimation temperature in these disks is 300–400 K higher than in their protoplanetary analogs, allowing particles to survive at higher temperatures. We then look at the structure of the inner edges of debris disks and show that they should generically feature superheated inner rims directly exposed to starlight with temperatures reaching 2500–3500 K. Particles migrating through the rim toward the WD (and rapidly sublimating) shield the disk behind them from strong stellar heating, making the survival of solids possible close to the WD. Our model agrees well with observations of WD+disk systems provided that disk particles are composed of Si-rich material such as olivine, and have sizes in the range ∼0.03–30 cm.


Gastric trichobezoar presents a compact mass of undigested hair inside a ventricular cavity. "Bezoar" is the name of Arab origin and denotes an antidote, which was the result of a belief that animal stomach stone had a healing feature (Shorter 2005). Forming of a trichobezoar is a rare medical condition. In literature, the majority of presented cases are ones of female adolescents (Jain et al. 2011), there are just a few case reports of preadolescents. Forming of a trichobezoar is usually a result of hair swallowing (trichophagia). In one third of the patients with trichophagia, its result is forming of a trichobesoar (Salaam et al. 2005). Trichophagia as part of pica disorder, can be a reflection of severe neglect and lack of parental supervision (Rose et al. 2000). Depending on the different authors, it is estimated that 5-20% of people with trichophagia also have a compulsive need for pulling out their own hair (trichotillomania) (Grant & Odlaug 2005). Trichotillomania is a psychiatric impulse control disorder (Colomb et al. 2011), and according to DSM-5 classification falls within spectrum of obsessive compulsive disorders (American Psychiatric Association 2013). Trichotillomania is usually connected to hair pulling, but eyebrow, eyelashes and pubic region hair pulling can also be present (Gaw owska-Sawosz 2016). Different authors mention other psychiatric conditions connected to forming of a trichobesoar: mental retardation, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and anorexia nervosa (Cohen et al. 1995). Trichobezoar can easily be diagnosed by endoscopic examination or computed tomography (CT), and the therapy almost always requires surgical removal (Mewa Kinoo & Singh 2012). The diagnosis of trichobesoar represents an etiologic and therapeutic challenge, and requires a multidisciplinary approach (Santos et al. 2012). Therapy and prevention also involve the participation of several consultants, paediatrician, surgeon, child psychiatrist, Clinic's social worker and the Community Social Service. The aim of the case report is to show the importance of multidisciplinary medical approach and role of child psychiatrists in the therapy of trichotilomania, prevention of trichobezoar, as well as in the occurrence of relapses. CASE REPORT


This special report examines the results of a validation research survey conducted to assess ASRT members' opinions regarding future educational requirements for radiologic technologists as well as satisfaction with their own educational training. Results of the survey were compared to recommendations made by participants of the profession's first Educational Consensus Conference to measure the level of agreement. Comparison showed a strong degree of agreement in most areas.


The BMA's General Practitioners Committee (GPC) must raise a formal complaint with NHS England over a bribery and fraud report it published earlier this year,1 which suggested that the NHS could be losing £88m (€102m; $113m) a year because of economic crime in general practice.

The motion, which was passed unanimously at the annual LMC England conference 2019 held in London on 22 November, condemned the report, which it said had implied "widespread fraud" in …


Materials and methods: The samples of this study constituted of TMA wires welded in a T-joint configuration. The TMA wires procured were 0.018 inch, 0.032 inch round wires and 0.016 × 0.025 inch and 0.019 inch × 0.025 inch rectangular wires, four samples of each size of wire were made for each level of power setting of the welder: Level I, level II, level III and level IV. The welded specimens were tested to failure in a torsional loading mode thought to be representative of the T-joint failure observed clinically. A torque gauge with a range of 0 to 30(×) gm/mm was used, angular deflections were read directly from a 3600 protractor built into the equipment.


Background. The Rasch model prescribes procedures to ensure that a scale constructed from multiple items conforms to fundamental requirements of interval scales of measurement. Objective. To test the Rasch properties of the domains of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument–abbreviated version (WHOQOL-BREF) in depressed patients from primary care settings. Design. Cross-sectional, cross-national study. Setting. Primary care. Patients. The sample consisted of 1193 patients having a confirmed diagnosis of depression from 6 countries (Australia, Brazil, Israel, Russia, Spain, and the United States) involved in the Longitudinal Investigation of Depression Outcomes (LIDO) study. Measurements. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) diagnosed depression, whereas the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) assessed severity of depression. The WHOQOL-BREF measured generic quality of life (QOL). Results. Three of the 4 WHOQOL-BREF domains (physical, psychological, and environment) conform to the Rasch model expectations, following adjustments required mainly because of individual item misfit or differential item functioning (DIF) due to age or country. The social domain showed relatively poor psychometric properties, as observed in previous studies. Conclusions. The Rasch analysis demonstrated that, with some modifications, all domains of the WHOQOL-BREF, except for the social domain, provide an interval scale measure of generic subjective QOL in the context of depressed primary care patients in 6 countries worldwide.


In this work, we study the problem of constructing interactive protocols that are robust to noise, a problem that was originally considered in the seminal works of Schulman (FOCS '92, STOC '93), and has recently regained popularity. Robust interactive communication is the interactive analogue of error correcting codes: Given an interactive protocol which is designed to run on an error-free channel, construct a protocol that evaluates the same function (or, more generally, simulates the execution of the original protocol) over a noisy channel. As in (non-interactive) error correcting codes, the noise can be either stochastic, i.e. drawn from some distribution, or adversarial, i.e. arbitrary subject only to a global bound on the number of errors. We show how to efficiently simulate any interactive protocol in the presence of constant-rate adversarial noise, while incurring only a constant blow-up in the communication complexity (CC). Our simulator is randomized, and succeeds in simulating the original protocol with probability at least 1 - 2-Ω(CC).


The purpose of the article is to reveal a variety of genres and styles, in which musical interpretations of Ukrainian classical poets' texts appear. The methodology. Due to the specific features of the research, the combination of musicology and literary methods should be involved, as well as general scientific methods. So that, the musical analysis and the observation of stage production take place in direct connection with the features of the literal works and in general sociocultural context. Comparative method has been used to identify the characteristic features of such interpretations in different eras and in the works of different artists. The facts were summarised and structured with the use of the analytical method. Scientific novelty of the work lies in the presenting of the genre-style diversity of musical interpretations of the poetry of Ukrainian classics. Features of most musical works of the modern performers are described for the first time. Conclusions. The poetry of Ukrainian classics has a prominent feature – internal musicality, which up till now makes composers and singers turn to it and create their own new interpretations. This feature helps poetry to appear in the great variety of musical genres: from vocal, for example, song, romance or ballade, to genres that are bound with dance or theatre art, such as musical, mono-play, opera, or ballet. Traditionally, musical interpretations of the poetry were related to classical music. However, musicians' attitude to the interpretation of the poetry of Ukrainian classics totally changed in the end of the XX century. After Ukraine reached its Independence, such interpretations have done the «break-out» and widened their stylistic paradigm to the great diversity – from academic acoustics to rock, rap core and many other different styles. To present these features, the musical compositions of the duo «Telniuk Sisters», bands «Komu Vnyz», «Plach Yeremii», «Haidamaky», and «Tartak» were used in the research. The article also illustrates the interpretations of the literary heritage of the classics in ballet art, as a vivid example of the fact that not only vocal works are born from the interaction of words and music.
Key words: musical interpretations of the poetry of the classics, synthesis of literature and music, Ukrainian classic poets, Ukrainian pop performers, vocal music, ballet art.


Between Sovereignty and Integration: German Foreign Policy and National Identity after 1989, Jonathan P.G. Bach (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999). 226 pp.. cloth (ISBN: 0-3122-1922-9), $59.95.

Where the World Ended: Re-Unification and Identity in the German Borderland. Daphne Berdahl (Berkeley. Calif.: University of California Press, 1999). 314 pp., cloth (ISBN: 0-5202-1476-5), $45.00: paper (ISBN: 0-5202-1477-3), $16.95.

Uses of the Other: "The East" in European Identity Formation, Iver B. Neumann (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1999). 248 pp., cloth (ISBN: 0-8166-3082-8). $49.95; paper (ISBN: 0-8166-3083-6), $19.95.

Book reviewed in this article:

Jonathan P.G. Bach, Between Sovereignty and Integration: German Foreign Policy and National Identity after 1989

Daphne Berdahl, Where the World Ended: Re-Unification and Identity in the German Border-land

Iver B. Neumann, Uses of the Other: "The East" in European Identity Formation


This paper presents the fabricationof SOI micro-accelerometer by using the sacrificial process. The structure ofthe SOI micro-accelerometer is designed and analyzed by the finite element modeling.As for the fabrication issue, the problem of electrode metal layer to standagainst HF etching is first studied. Second, to prevent the over-etching of theBOX layer during structure releasing process, the etching rate of the BOX layeris carefully investigated and an optimal etching duration is obtained. Third,the adhesion phenomenon between comb fingers during releasing process isstudied and optimized finger geometry is proposed to solve such problem.Devices based on the sacrificial process is carried out successfully, themeasurement results show that the sensitivity of the accelerometer is about 35mV/g, with a maximal measurement error of 12mg, and a maximal nonlinear error of0.41% within 50g.


Marital quality in remarriages remains an important construct worthy of scientific inquiry—especially considering the rate at which remarriages end in divorce. The purpose of this critical review was to focus on the factors that affect marital quality within the remarried dyad specifically. Special emphasis was placed on the identification of how well authors defined their construct of interest and applied and used an appropriate operational definition, their procedural method, and their findings.


In this paper, TZS88 aluminum alloy mechanical properties of three months of natural aging is tested, the microstructure and the strengthening mechanism is studied by the application of optical metallographic microscope and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that TZS88 aluminum reinforced mainly caused by solid solution strengthening, aging strengthening and dispersion strengthening, and as such its tensile strength, hardness and elongation in the natural aging have reached ZQSn6-6-3 bronze level, the microstructure are compounds which included α(Al) solid solution matrix + Sn + s, θ, T, ε etc.


The development of wind energy is in full swing now,and the competition of wind power equipment manufac-turing enterprises is increasingly intense.Although the wind power equipment manufacturing enterprises of China devel-op rapidly and the market share of wind power grows rapidly,there exist significant gaps in the share of foreign markets,the number of patents and research strength compared with the world's leading wind power equipment manufacturing enterprises.By comparative study,this paper focuses on the development status of wind power equipment manufacturing enterprises at home and abroad,analysis the key issues of domestic enterprises and sum up the experience from the lead-ing wind power business,so as to promote the sustainable development of domestic enterprises.


The effects of heating rates on the cyclization and oxidation reactions of polyacrylonitrile/itaconic acid copolymer fibers under oxidative(air) and non-oxidative(argon) atmospheres were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC).The interaction between the two reactions and their mechanisms are analyzed.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) was used to study the induction period of cyclization reaction.The results show that ther induction period is existed before the cyclization reaction initiated.The higher the heating rate,the longer the reduction period.With slow heating rate,the diffusion of oxygen facilitates that a part of oxidation is taken place with the cyclization reactions simultaneously.At the beginning of pre-oxidation process,oxygen can initiate the cyclization reaction and shorten the reduction period.However at the late stage,oxygen retards the cyclization reaction,but the retardant role is weakens with increasing of heating rate.


Testing of large single point diamond turned mirrors and mirror systems requires the use of rapid, quantitative, optical interferometric measurements in the visible and IR ranges. Developments in this area and applications of these developments are discussed.


In this paper a model for tube and fin coils working as evaporators or condensers is presented, including dehumidification process of humid air. A comparison between calculated and measured results for the outdoor-coil of an Air-to Water 20 kW Heat Pump is included. The flow through the coil is considered to be steady. The refrigerant flow inside the tubes is considered to be 1D. The basis of the numerical scheme is to decouple the calculation of the fluid flows from each other, by assuming that the tube temperature field is known at the fluid iteration. Then, temperature and pressure fields for both fluid flows are found from the integration of the conservation equations. This calculation is performed through an explicit finite difference discretisation technique, following the flow path. Once the temperature fields for both fluids are calculated, then the conservation equation for the tubes, including longitudinal conduction, are integrated through an implicit scheme involving the temperature of the wall cell. Then, a new iteration starts till convergence throughout the HE is obtained.


[Objective] To explore the pathway of DNA of Bifidobacterium adolescence activating macrophages in view of MAPK family, PKC family and NF-kB. [Methods] The contents of ERK1/2, JNK, p38, PKC α, PKC β Ⅰ, PKC β IⅡ, PKC γ, PKCeand PKC ζ of mouse peritoneal macrophages were detected quantitatively by using laser confocal microscope. The positive cell density of NK-kB of macrophages was detected by employing immunocytochemistry method. [Results] The average fluorescent strength of ERK1/2, PKC α and PKC β Ⅱ produced by mouse peritoneal macrophages in Bifidobacterium DNA injection group was markedly higher than that in control group (P<0.01). The average fluorescent strength of JNK, p38, PKC β Ⅰ, PKC γ, PKC e and PKC ζ did not have significant differences between the two groups(P>0.05). The positive cell density of NK-kB of macrophages in Bifidobacterium DNA injection group was markedly higher than that in control group(P<0.01). [Conclusion] DNA of bifidobacteriua adolescence could activate macrophages by promoting the activity of ERK1/2, PKC α, PKC β Ⅱ and NF-kB.


This paper presents the notch effect in low cycle fatigue of Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel under multiaxial loading. Tension- torsion multiaxial low cycle fatigue tests were performed using three types of circumferential notched specimens of the steel and crack initiation, failure and propagation lives were experimentally obtained. Two proportional and nine nonproportional strain waveforms were used in low cycle fatigue tests. The superposition of torsion loading on tension loading reduced the three lives but they little decreased with elastic stress concentration factor. The three lives in nonproportional loading were smaller than those in proportional loading but showed smaller reduction with elastic stress concentration factor. Local strains at the notch root were estimated by finite element analyses and Neuber's rule. Mises strain range and maximum principal strain range conservatively estimated the crack initiation lives of the notched specimens.


. The problem of existence and asymptotic behaviour of solutions of the quasi- linear and quadratic singularly perturbed Neumann's problem as a small parameter at the highest derivative tends to zero is studied.


Democracy is seen today as being in erosion or crisis both in the Global North and South. This article puts forward the concept of 'dependent democracy' in order to explain that much of the lack of success of democracy in the South in guaranteeing political participation and economic inclusion and wellbeing for the majority of the population is due to a specific tendency of democracy there. Adapting some insights from the more economics focused Dependency theory towards a more contemporary point of view from political sociology and international political sociology, dependent democracy is understood as a democracy that exists in a subaltern position within the hierarchical, post-imperial and neo-imperial global capitalist order. Dependent democracies thus tend to be less 'democracies' and more 'oligarchies' within a form of government in the South that can be understood as existing in a global pyramid of semi-peripheries, middle peripheries and outer peripheries.


Objective: To investigate whether the hypoxic condition influences on the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) mRNA in the cultured human trophoblast. Methods: Trophoblasts were isolated from the normal placenta in early pregnancy (6-10 weeks in gestation). Isolated trophoblasts were cultured under normoxic (5% , 95% humid air in incubator) and hypoxic (MERCK, 1% , 99% ) conditions for 24, 48 and 72 hours, respectively. Total RNA was extracted from the cultured trophoblasts in each culture condition. The expressions of VEGF and bFGF mRNA were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern blot analysis. Results: The expression of mRNA was significantly increased in the hypoxic condition compared to the normoxic condition and control after 24 hours (p mRNA was also significantly increased in the hypoxic condition compared to the normoxic condition and control after 48 hours (p and mRNA. The expression of bFGF mRNA was significantly increased in the hypoxic condition compared to the normoxic condition and control at 24 hours and 48 hours (p