About 80% of the World's population depends on the traditional medicines for various ailments. The yield of steam distillation of Hedychium coronarium essential oils and its physicochemical constants were determined. The GC-MS analysis of nature grown and in vitro grown plant samples were carried out using GC-MS-QP 2010 Plus model with methanol as solvent. Several oil components were identified based upon comparison of their mass spectral data with those of reference compounds published in literature or stored in a computer library. The oil was found to contain monoterpenes, sesqueterpenes and diterpenes. The major components of the oil were 2-methoxy-4vinylphenol (15.86%), .beta.-d-glucopyranoside, methyl (53.06%), hexadecanoic acid (7.11%), stigmast-5-en-3-ol, (3.beta.)- (12.71%), 2hydroxy-gamma-butyrolactone (9.42%), 2-oxabicyclo[2.2.2]octan-6ol, 1,3,3-trimethyl- (2.91%).


The purpose of this investigation was to test the hypothesis that generality, across models and across situations, is characteristic of imitative behavior in young children. Imitative responses of 94 preschool-aged Ss were obtained from a doll play interview consisting of 51 two-choice problem situations. Measures derived from the interview included frequencies of like-sex, opposite-sex, parent, and peer imitation. Major findings were: (a) same-sex imitation was moderately generalized across situations in the doll play interview; (b) opposite-sex imitation was not generalized across situations; (c) when nonimitation was a response choice, a moderate correlation existed between imitation of sameand opposite-sex models and between imitation of parent and peer models.


The company expects the employees to give the best performance to attain the company's objective. The employees must adapt with the company's objective, so that the employees' performance may give advantages or may be appropriate and support the company to attain its goal. Human factor is a main capital that is necessary to take into consideration by the businessmen and the company's management, and in view of human being has complex and very complicated spirit to be understood since it is different from engine and other work equipments. The research to be conducted with direct survey to the company is to know the influence of self-efficacy and ability to understand the occupation against employees' performance that takes place in such company. This research will be conducted by applying descriptive research plan. Data obtained from the results of questionnaire distribution is given scores and analyzed by applying statistical test. Data Analysis method which is then applied in this research is correlative and regressive method, namely with simple correlation to determine whether there is relation or not of each variable, simple regression to determine contribution trend of each variable. The employee's performance is influenced by inter alia: self-efficacy and ability to understand the occupation. The higher self-efficacy then the higher performance being produced by the employees is. The higher the employee's ability in understanding his/her occupation, then the higher performance being produced by the employee is. Self-efficacy provides positive influence significantly against employees' performance. Ability to understand the occupation also gives positive contribution significantly to employees' performance


This paper deals with teaching approach in Mechanical and Electronic Engineering.It is suggest that curriculum provision should be set and students should strengthen courses of electricity and computer application and automatization,that practice action should be strengthen and mechanical-electronic integration experiment systems should be build,that graduation designs should be had market in mind and design theme should be chosen from scientific research item and production application to have students get strict engineering practice training and scientific research training.


Services of general interest in the field of public transport are governed by an extensive system of laws, created by the European Union and national authorities. This is done on the basis of the division of competences between the Union and the Member States, pursuant to Article 4 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It is therefore possible, on the one hand, for the Union to make a positive contribution to the development of services of general interest in the field of public transport by creating uniform standards; and, on the other, for the diversity of traditions, structures and situations in the individual Member States to be preserved through the law‑making activities of the national authorities. Using the example of Poland, it may be stated that the legal system relating to the provision of services of general interest in the field of public transport consists of regulations ranging from treaty provisions, through Article 36 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and EU rules, to statutory regulations and local laws.


In marketing, it is important to see how competitive a university is. Among public universities (PTN) and private universities (PTS), it shows a very competitive situation recently. To overcome this problem, it requires shaping up the institution image and trust for increasing the positive word of mouth among students. This study aims to determine the effect of the institution image, trust both partially and simultaneously on the positive word of mouth by the students of private universities in Surabaya with their accreditation levels of A, B and C. The sample consists of students from six colleges with accreditation ratings A, B, and C totaling 125 students. Accidental sampling technique was done using a sampling technique of multiple regression analysis with SPSS version 17. It shows, for the college with accredita- tion category C, the image of the institution both partially and simulta neously has significant positive effect on the positive word of mouth. For the college accreditation category B, the image of the institution and trust simultaneously has significant positive effect on the positive word of mouth and, finally, trust in accreditation category A has signi ficant positive effect on the positive word of mouth and the institution image and trust simultaneously have significant positive effect on the positive word of mouth. DOI :  https://doi.org/10.21632/irjbs.7.1.69-78 Keywords: Institution Image, Trust, Positive Word of Mouth, Accreditation


Congenital anomalies of the spine combine formation and segmentation failures, resulting into asymmetrical and altered growth and kyphotic or kyphoscoliotic deformations that progressing during all the life with the following neurological disturbances. There is no consensus today on the main indications for the surgical treatment. Objective: To study the volume ratios of the spinal canal and its contents in patients with congenital kyphosis (CK) before surgery and to compare the findings with the clinical neurological manifestations. Methods: A retrospective analysis of medical records, the results of computer (CT) and magnetresonance tomography (MRI) of 15 patients (3 to 20 years) with the CK who received surgical treatment. All the patients were taken about the clinical, radiological, electroneuromyographic (EMG) examination and MRI. Results: vertebromedular (VMC) conflict based on MRI data diagnosed in all patients: I degree — in 6, II — in 8, IV — at 1. As a result of electroneuromyographic studies in patient with an IV degree of VMC revealed severe axonal damage of peroneal and tibial nerves. In the group with grade II VMC in 3 patients decreased motor potential and the conduction of the tibial nerve, and 4 has a violation of conduction and synchronization of motor neurons. Such disorders also detected in 4 of 10 patients with VMC degree I and II, but without evidence of neurological deficit. Conclusion: all patients with CK had failures and VMC varying degrees independently of clinical manifestations of spinal cord compression.Using ENMG in patients with I and II degree of VMC, it is identified violation of motoneuron function and decreased motor conduction in peripheral nerves even without motor and sensory disorders. Indicator of VMC may be informative for predicting the neurological complications, so that all patients with CK CT and MRI studies are indicated.


The TRV amplitude factors of 4kVA and 300kVA transformers under transformer limited fault conditions were measured. The measured factors were 1.4 and were lower than the IEC standard. The frequency response of the transformer impedance was investigated using a frequency response analysis (FRA). FRA measurement graphs showed that the short-circuit inductance value of test transformers gradually decreases along with frequency. From this result, a frequency dependent transformer model was constructed. Simulated frequency response of transformer impedance was in good agreement with measured values. Simulated amplitude factor using frequency-dependent transformer model was 1.5 and is good agreement with measured values.


Abundances of light elements in dwarf stars of different ages are important constraints for stellar yields, Galactic chemical evolution and exoplanet chemical composition studies. We have measured C and N abundances and $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C ratios for a sample of 63 solar twins spanning a wide range in age, based on spectral synthesis of a comprehensive list of CH\,A-X and CN\,B-X features using HARPS spectra. The analysis of 55 thin disc solar twins confirms the dependences of [C/Fe] and [N/Fe] on [Fe/H]. [N/Fe] is investigated as a function of [Fe/H] and age for the first time for these stars. Our derived correlation [C/Fe]-age agrees with works for solar-type stars and solar twins, but the [N/Fe]-age correlation does not. The relations [C,N/Fe]-[Fe/H] and [C,N/Fe]-age for the solar twins lay under-solar. $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C is found correlated with [Fe/H] and seems to have decreased along the evolution of the local thin disc. Predictions from chemical evolution models for the solar vicinity corroborate the relations [C,N/Fe]-[Fe/H], $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C-age and [N/O]-[O/H], but do not for the $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C-[Fe/H] and [C/O]-[O/H] relations. The N/O ratio in the Sun is placed at the high end of the homogeneous distribution of solar twins, which suggests uniformity in the N-O budget for the formation of icy planetesimals, watery super-earths and giant planets. C and N had different nucleosynthetic origins along the thin disc evolution, as shown by the relations of [C/N], [C/O] and [N/O] against [O/H] and age. [C/N] and [C/O] are particularly observed increasing in time for solar twins younger than the Sun.


Proof of Proposition 1. With a slight abuse of notation, let us denote by D d the set of multivariate stochastic processes such that the aggregate demand equals d. Accordingly, Problem (5) can be decomposed as follows: ρ(y) = max d∈P max D∈D d max z∈F R(z, D) − R(y, D) = max d∈P max z∈F max D∈D d R(z, D) + max D∈D d −R(y, D). Let ξ j be the realized sales under a booking policy z when the demand is equal to d. Because the perfect hindsight booking limits z are chosen after observing the demand realization, one can assume without loss of generality that they are partitioned, For any d ∈ P, different demand arrival processes D ∈ D d are associated with different sales ξ, but the sales will always satisfy (A-1). Let us denote by ξ(D) the realized sales under the demand process D. Hence, for any d ∈ P, max D∈D d R(z, D) = R(z, D *) = r ξ(D *) ≤ max ξ:(A−1)holds r ξ. On the other hand, for any sales vector ξ, there always exists a demand arrival process that gives rise to those sales. Let us denote by D d (ξ) the set of demand processes that lead to the sales ξ. Hence, for any d ∈ P, max ξ:(A−1)holds r ξ = r ξ * = R(z, D) ∀D ∈ D d (ξ *) ≤ max D∈D d R(z, D).


When measuring aircraft noise, variations of up to 12 dB occur for identical aircraft types flying the same procedure directly over the same microphone position. It is assumed that these variations are the combined effect of variations at the source and in the atmospheric propagation, both not accounted for in standard noise calculations. This paper presents experimental results of the variation in noise levels due to a varying atmosphere. In 2010, an experiment was started to study the atmospheric effects on vertical propagation. A sound source was installed up in a weather-measurement-tower. This setup simultaneously recorded the atmospheric conditions and the variation in sound attenuation over an extended period of time. More than a year later, all measurement results were collected and multiple linear regression analysis was applied with the intention of deriving weather dependent correction factors to improve aircraft noise predictions methods. However, the result of the regression analysis shows that the obtained relations are weak and a significant part of the excess transmission loss remains unexplained. The main question, which part of the 12 dB can be attributed to variations in atmospheric conditions, could therefore not be answered.


Professor WANG Pengqin thinks of acute facial paralysis disease in main and collateral channels,the qi block is the mechanism of this disease is the key.The human body is different,the pathogen susceptibility is also different,in the clinical facial paralysis is divided into cold,heat,deficiency and hyperactivity of liver Yang in four types of syndrome differentiation and treatment of.Facial paralysis treated with acupuncture and TCM timing is critical,course of the disease within two weeks,it is facial paralysis treatment gold period,earlier intervention,the better the effect of.


This study was planned to assess the role of glycosylated hemoglobin as a diagnostic marker to diagnose and treat diabetes at earliest in acute myocardial infarction. It is meant to improve the prognosis in patients of acute myocardial infarction. Studies also assess any correlation between diabetic status and dietary pattern. This is hospital based cross-sectional study. 100 patients with acute myocardial infarction admitted to coronary care units, during October 2013 to September 2014 were studied .Patients during admission blood glucose >140mg/dl with no past history of diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Serum blood glucose and HbA1c were estimated at admission. History and examination carried out. Detailed history about their dietary pattern was taken. These patients were followed up after 15 days to assess their blood glucose. Their diabetic status was confirmed as per WHO criteria. Data were analyzed using SPSS-20 software. Out of 100 patients, 84 patients had value of HbA1c in the diabetic range (�6.5%) and 16 patients had HbA1c in the non diabetic range (<6.5%). On follow up, out of 84 patients, 75 patients (89.28%) were confirmed to be diabetic according to the WHO criteria. Statistically study found highly significant (p<0.0001). Out of 100 patients, 34 cases were non vegetarians and 66 cases were vegetarian. In non vegetarians' 94.1% were found with increased HbA1c level. Statistically this was found significant (p<0.05). HbA1c estimation is useful tool and accurate interpretation of hyperglycemia following AMI. HbA1c estimation at the time of admission clearly differentiates stress hyperglycemia from hyperglycemia of undiagnosed diabetes mellitus. HbA1c is a more sensitive and specific diagnostic marker than blood glucose for diabetes mellitus in patients with MI and non vegetarian dietary pattern was found associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease.


We report a case of a 15 - year - old girl who under-went the left lower lobectomy for a complex type of pulmonary arteriovenous fistula, which caused a huge right - to - left shunt in the pulmonary circulation. During the operation with one - lung ventilation anesthesia, the right heart failure in company with severe hypoxemia or malignant ventricular arrhythmias, might be induced as the result of the sudden reduction of shunt flow. Furthermore, possible pulmonary edema due to ischemic reperfusion - like injury might be possible to develop by fluid overload, after the normal pulmonary perfusion restarted. FloTrac/ Vigilleo System TM can provide useful hemodynamic parameters such as arterial pressure - based cardiac output and stroke volume variation based on the concept of fluid responsiveness. In our case, this system was successfully applied to achieve optimal cardiac preload for organ perfusion without transfusion and to prevent the right heart failure and pulmonary edema.


Abstract In past research the Southern Oscillation index has often been used as an indicator of the tropical Pacific climate, notably for El Nino and La Nina event occurrences. This study identifies calendar monthly teleconnection signals in central and eastern North American precipitation associated with an alternative tropical Pacific indicator, sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) patterns. Using an approximate 1° resolution set of monthly precipitation totals for 1950–92, the work identifies monthly teleconnection relationships and their intraseasonal evolution. This builds upon previous studies that were limited to seasonal timescales. Here, a unique two-way statistical analysis is used to delineate linear SSTA–precipitation teleconnection patterns. First, a principal component analysis (PCA) is performed on a monthly tropical Pacific SSTA dataset for 1950–92 to identify the coherent modes of variability. The principal component (PC) score time series representing the most significant modes of SSTA...


This paper proposes a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and radial basis function neural network (RBFNN)-based method for modeling the dynamic voltage-current (v- i)characteristics of the ac electric arc furnace (EAF). The objective of the study is to develop a complete model of the EAF including different operation stages, and the model can be used as a harmonics and flicker source in its connected power system for the power-quality penetration or mitigation study, where the developed model can be embedded in the power system implemented by a commonly seen simulation tool, such as Matlab/Simulink. In the study, a combination of the DWT and the sequential RBFNN with parameters initialization algorithm is proposed to build the EAF v- i characteristics with enhanced lookup tables for different operation stages, where the field measurements of the EAF voltage and current are used to train the RBFNN for modeling the EAF load. Simulation results obtained by using the proposed model are compared with different measured data. It shows that the solution procedure accurately models the EAF dynamic v- i behavior. The proposed method also can be applied to model other highly nonlinear loads to assess the effectiveness of compensation devices or to perform relative penetration studies.


Determining the relevant costs for short-term decision-making is an important part of every cost/managerial accounting textbook. One of the decisions is the "keep or drop" decision—i.e., should a company keep or drop an existing product line or department in the short term? This article points out that keep-or-drop decisions are usually long-term decisions. As a result, it suggests that only a segmented activity-based costing (ABC) income statement should be used for determining if a product line or department should be kept or dropped. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Analysis of growth data of Sangamneri goats reared under field conditions for a period of 5 years revealed that the least squares means of body weights at 3, 6 and 9 months of age were 9.02±0.08, 14.09±0.10 and 17.77±0.13 kg respectively. The least squares means for heart girth, body length and height at withers at 3, 6 and 9 months of age were 47.69±0.18, 55.35±1.18, 59.06±0.21cm; 42.63±0.17, 49.30±0.17, 53.40±0.23 cm and 48.13±0.20, 56.01±0.21, 60.34±0.21 cm, respectively. Cluster of villages and sex had significant (P<0.01) effect on body weights and height at withers at 3, 6 and 9 months, on body length at 3 and 9 months and on heart girth at 3 and 6 month of age. Year and season of birth showed significant (P<0.05) effect on body weights at 9 and 6 months of age. Year of birth had significant (P<0.05) effect on body length at 6 months and on height at withers at 6 and 9 months of age. Sex had significant (P<0.01) effect on height at withers at 3 and 6 months of age.


Objective— The purpose of this study was to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the immediate changes in functional connectivity (FC) between brain regions that process and modulate the pain experience following 3 different types of manual therapies (MT) and to identify reductions in experimentally induced myalgia and changes in local and remote pressure pain sensitivity. Methods— Twenty-four participants (17 females, mean age ± SD = 21.6 ± 4.2 years), who completed an exercise-injury protocol to induce low back pain, were randomized into 3 groups: chiropractic spinal manipulation (n=6), spinal mobilization (n=8) or therapeutic touch (n=10). The primary outcome was the immediate change in FC as measured on fMRI between the following brain regions: somatosensory cortex, secondary somatosensory cortex, thalamus, anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, anterior and poster insula, and periaqueductal grey. Secondary outcomes were immediate changes in pain intensity measured with a 101-point numeric rating scale, and pain sensitivity, measured with a hand-held dynamometer. Repeated measures ANOVA models and correlation analyses were conducted to examine treatment effects and the relationship between within-person changes across outcome measures. Results— Changes in FC were found between several brain regions that were common to all 3 manual therapy interventions. Treatment-dependent changes in FC were also observed between several brain regions. Improvement was seen in pain intensity following all interventions ( p <0.05) with no difference between groups ( p >0.05). There were no observed changes in pain sensitivity, or an association between primary and secondary outcome measures. Conclusion— These results suggest that manual therapies (chiropractic spinal manipulation, spinal mobilization, and therapeutic touch) have an immediate effect on the FC between brain regions involved in processing and modulating the pain experience. This suggests that neurophysiological changes following MT may be an underlying mechanism of pain relief.


We studied the retardation of actinides (neptunium, uranium, and plutonium) by sorption as a function of radionuclide concentration in water from Well J-13 and of tuffs from Yucca Mountain. Three major tuff types were examined: devitrified, vitric, and zeolitic. To identify the sorbing minerals in the tuffs, we conducted batch sorption experiments with pure mineral separates. These experiments were performed with water from Well J-13 (a sodium bicarbonate groundwater) under oxidizing conditions in the pH range from 7 to 8.5. The results indicate that all actinides studied sorb strongly to synthetic hematite and also that Np(V) and U(VI) do not sorb appreciably to devitrified or vitric tuffs, albite, or quartz. The sorption of neptunium onto clinoptilolite-rich tuffs and pure clinoptilolite can be fitted with a sorption distribution coefficient in the concentration range from 1 X 10{sup -7} to 3 X 10{sup -5} M. The sorption of uranium onto clinoptilolite-rich tuffs and pure clinoptilolite is not linear in the concentration range from 8 X 10{sup -8} to 1 X 10{sup -4} M, and it can be fitted with nonlinear isotherm models (such as the Langmuir or the Freundlich Isotherms). The sorption of neptunium and uranium onto clinoptilolite in J-13 well water increases with decreasing pH in the range from 7 to 8.5. The sorption of plutonium (initially in the Pu(V) oxidation state) onto tuffs and pure mineral separates in J-13 well water at pH 7 is significant. Plutonium sorption decreases as a function of tuff type in the order: zeolitic > vitric > devitrified; and as a function of mineralogy in the order: hematite > clinoptilolite > albite > quartz.


Modern machine learning demands a large amount of training data. Weak supervision is a promising approach to meet this demand. It aggregates multiple labeling functions (LFs)—noisy, user-provided labeling heuristics—to rapidly and cheaply curate probabilistic labels for large-scale unlabeled data. However, standard assumptions in weak supervision—such as user-specified class balance, similar accuracy of an LF in classifying different classes, and full knowledge of LF dependency at inference time—might be undesirable in practice. In response, we present Firebolt, a new weak supervision framework that seeks to operate under weaker assumptions. In particular, Firebolt learns the class balance and class-specific accuracy of LFs jointly from unlabeled data. It carries out inference in an efficient and interpretable manner. We analyze the parameter estimation error of Firebolt and characterize its impact on downstream model performance. Furthermore, we show that on five publicly available datasets, Firebolt outperforms a state-of-the-art weak supervision method by up to 5.8 points in AUC. We also provide a case study in the production setting of a tech company, where a Firebolt-supervised model outperforms the existing weakly-supervised production model by 1.3 points in AUC and speeds up label model training and inference from one hour to three minutes.


The invention provides a node management method in a CDN network. The method comprises: in all CDN nodes, a source node providing a service is determined to be a target source node; a tree topological structure of order n is formed with the target source node as a root node and all the CDN nodes as descendant nodes of the root node, wherein the target source node is at the first order, and n is a positive integer; a layered address is assigned to each node in the tree topological structure for determining the position of the corresponding node in the tree topological structure; and a node address is generated according to the layered address and an IP address of the CDN node corresponding to each node. Correspondingly, the invention also provides a node management system. Through generating the tree topological structure of order n for a specific service and assigning the layered address to each node for determining the position of the corresponding node in the tree topological structure, the method reduces the operation load of a scheduling center and accelerates responses to user visit requests.


In the present article "truth" and memory are juxtaposed in the analysis of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) (1995-2001). In the South African case, "truth" was the product of the process of new citizenship and nation-building. The South African experience is a way to rethink similar experiences in Latin America.


Many real-life applications today are discrete-valued in nature, and no algorithm has been confirmed to offer solutions to all optimization problems. There is a need for more improved discrete valued algorithms to offer solutions to real life discretevalued complex optimization problems. A discrete multi-valued search space cockroach swarm optimization algorithm is proposed in this paper which is designed to provide solutions to optimization problems with any discrete range value. The proposed algorithm model was tested with different discrete value ranges using standard benchmarks to prove its performance. The results obtained show that the proposed algorithm would be efficient in solving optimization problems with any discrete value.


This paper describes a newly developed undergraduate educational module on the Thermodynamic Analysis of Petroleum and Bio-based Fuels in Internal Combustion Engines, created as part of an AIChE Grand Energy Challenge Award. The module is designed to introduce undergraduate Chemical Engineering students to the topic of liquid transportation fuels generated from renewable and petroleum based resources from a thermodynamics prospective. Furthermore, the module introduces students to the typical types of internal combustion engines and the thermodynamic principles behind them; provides an overview of the most common petroleum and biobased liquid transportation fuels; and introduces the concept of life cycle assessment as it applies to liquid transportation fuels. Background The Grand Energy Challenge is a program launched by the AIChE Center for Energy Initiatives to develop educational materials for equipping chemical engineering graduates with the tools needed to tackle the challenge of providing society with clean, affordable and sustainable energy sources. The Grand Energy Challenge Award is a competitive grant given to faculty to develop innovative educational modules focusing on energy. The first Grand Energy Challenge Award was specifically directed towards developing materials for the chemical engineering thermodynamics course (Keith, et al., 2011). The module developed by the authors for the Grand Energy Challenge focuses on the thermodynamic properties of both petroleum derived and biomass derived liquid transportation fuels. Liquid fuels are by far the preferred fuel for transportation. Solid phase fuels, like coal, are less convenient; and gas phase fuels present a safety risk due to storage at elevated pressures. Because of these and other factors, liquid fuels – whether biobased or petroleum based are the most common choice as a transportation fuel and thus were chosen as the basis for the module. In addition to coverage of liquid fuels and their properties, thermodynamic cycles of internal combustion engines, life cycle assessment of biobased and petroleum based fuels, and the solar equivalency of liquid fuels is also presented. Educational materials that introduce students to concepts of energy generation and usage are important. The National Science Board has recently called the transformation of the U.S. fossil fuel-based energy economy to a sustainable energy economy a critical grand challenge facing the country (NSB, 2009). Furthermore, the US Department of Energy has called for replacing 30% of the nation's fossil-based fuels by 2030 (U.S. DOE 2008). Additionally, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) (Public Law, 2007) mandates the production of 36 billion gallons per year of biofuels by 2022, of which 21 billion must come from feedstock other than corn starch and at least 16 billion gallons must come from P ge 25180.2 lignocelluloses (Regalbuto, 2009). Therefore, an understanding of the properties of both biobased and petroleum based fuels as well as understanding their benefits and drawbacks as transportation fuels are important for future engineering graduates. Module Objectives The module is intended as a supplement for the traditional Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics course offered as part of the core curriculum at most universities. The objectives of the module are for students, upon completion of the module, to be able to: • Perform thermodynamic efficiency analyses on conventional and alternative fuel sources in Otto and Diesel cycle engines, • Critically evaluate the comparative efficiency of biomass derived fuels compared with conventional fuels, • Compare on a solar energy basis the produced value of biomass fuels compared with fossil fuels and other alternative fuels, • Perform a life-cycle assessment on biomass derived fuels on an economic basis. Module Materials In addition to a complete set of PowerPoint lecture slides with detailed instructor notes, the module includes set of test/homework problems with solutions, solved in class-example problems and a pre-/post-test to assess students understanding of the module material. Also included with the module is a self-guided student inquiry activity that utilizes an interactive spreadsheet application that simulates the performance of Diesel cycle and Otto cycle engines with a variety of petroleum based and biobased liquid fuels under a range of engine operating conditions. The simulator allows students to select an appropriate fuel based on engine selection, change the compression ratio, enter a cylinder volume, select an expansion ratio (for Diesel engines), and even compress the gas mixture entering the cylinder with a turbocharger. Additionally, students can also select a real production vehicle and choose operational parameters to correspond to that vehicle. Lecture Slides The lecture slides begin with and overview of liquid fuels and their use as the primary energy source for transportation. As it turns out, however, not all liquid fuels are created equal. Different fuels have different energy content per unit volume due to both differences in density and energy content on a molecular basis. The calculation of higher heating value is incorporated into the module to illustrate this concept. Next, the concept of thermodynamic cycles is introduced. Most internal combustion engines used for transportation operate on either the Diesel or Otto cycle. These cycles are covered in detail in the module and cycle efficiency and turbo charging is discussed. The effect of engine configuration on fuel economy is also presented. Figure 1. Solar basis of petroleum based and biobased liquid fuels P ge 25180.3


Few of these patients have been managed conservatively[1] but this puts the patient at risk of meningitis and long duration of hospital stay. Patients have been placed in semi-Fowler position in an attempt to drain the CSF away from the fistula. However, surgery is the main stay of treatment. Aim of the surgery is to obliterate the CSF fistula by craniotomy and dural defect repair. Herniated brain matter is usually gliosed and removed by suction to define the dural margin. Dural defect margin is repaired by direct suturing or pericranial graft and glue. Large bony defect must be repaired by titanium mesh or bone cement. This supports the orbital dura and pericranial graft and thus prevents their prolapse into the orbit. Orbital margin and supraorbital ridge must be realigned for cosmetic reason.


photographs of Yosemite, the work of Bierstadt, Watkins, and Muybridge? The buildings at Yosemite get very litde attention, and the even more striking buildings at Yellowstone--certainly an important bridge between that park and Timberline lodge--are entirely absent. And although Creese mentions the Cloud Cap Inn on Mt. Hood as an important precursor of the lodge, the inn is not shown at all. But it is enough perhaps that this method of fusing landscape and building has been well introduced in this book, so that whatever lacunae there may be, others may have the pleasure of filling. Leland M. Roth is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97405.


An injectable calcium phosphate (CaP) bone cement has been widely used for musculoskeletal and bone disorder due to its biocompatible and osteoconductive properties. In this study, CaP was successfully synthesized from crab shells by a wet chemical route. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microspheres which have been produced through a double emulsion technique were incorporated into the CaP mixture for the purpose of bone cement solidification. The ratio of both compounds, CaP and PLGA, were set at 8:2. The CaP and PLGA/CaP bone cement were analyzed by ATR-FTIR, FESEM-EDX and contact angle analyses. The bone cement was composed of CaP and PLGA where the micro-powders of CaP were agglomerated on the PLGA microspheres. Addition of the PLGA has increased the hydrophilicity of the bone cement which will be beneficial for materials degradation and bone integration.


A series of In-doped β-Zn4Sb3-based materials with nominal compositions of Zn4Sb3-xInx (0−0.08, Δx=0.02) by substituting Sb with In were designed in the paper. The single-phase In-doped β-Zn4Sb3-based bulk materials with no cracks were prepared by the combination of vacuum melting, furnace cooling and spark plasma sintering techniques. The electrical and thermal transport properties of Zn4Sb3-xInx in the temperature range of 300−700 K indicate that the In substitution for Sb in Zn4Sb3 compound brought the remarkable enhancement in car- rier concentration and electrical conductivity, the almost complete vanishing of instinct excitation under high tem- perature, and the significant reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity. The lattice thermal conductivity for x=0.04 and 0.08 samples is very low and only about 0.21 W/(m·K) at 700 K. All In-doped β-Zn4Sb3-based bulk materials had higher ZT values as compared to undoped β-Zn4Sb3 bulk material. A large ZT value of 1.13 has been achieved for Zn4Sb2.94In0.06 at 700 K that increased by 69%.


We have previously identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6871626 in IL12B, rs103294 in LILRA3, rs17133698 in DUSP22, rs2322599 in PTK2B, and rs1713450 in KLHL33 as non-HLA susceptibility loci in Takayasu arteritis (TAK) [1, 2]. However, the association of these SNPs with clinical features has scarcely investigated.In this study, we aimed to examine how these SNPs contribute to clinical features and vascular damage in TAK.We enrolled 99 TAK patients who were enrolled in our previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) [2]. To assess vascular damage, Takayasu Arteritis Damage Score (TADS) and Vasculitis Damage Index (VDI) were measured at the last visit before November 2020. As for organ damages, the presence or absence of aortic regurgitation (AR), hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular event, visual loss, end-stage renal failure, and inflammatory bowel disease were evaluated. Treatment profiles including immunosuppressive drugs and vascular interventions were also reviewed.The incidence of AR was positively associated with the risk allele of IL12B rs6871626 (p=0.0052; odds ratio (OR) 2.45, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27-4.73), and so was the proportion of patients who underwent aortic valve replacement (p=0.023; OR 3.64, 95% CI 1.08-12.24) (table 1). The incidence of hypertension was associated with the risk allele of IL12B rs6871626 (p=0.049; OR 1.82, 95% CI 0.99-3.36) and PTK2B rs2322599 (p=0.044; OR 2.52, 95% CI 0.97-6.54) (table 1). The proportion of biologic users tended to be higher in the risk genotypes of IL12B rs6871626 (p=0.15; OR1.80, 95% CI 0.79-3.99). Regarding vascular damage, there was positive correlation between TADS and the risk allele of IL12B rs6871626 (p=0.0035; β= 1.35) (Figure 1). Moreover, VDI was also positively correlated with the allele (p=0.0054; β= 0.96) (Figure 1). No other clinicogenetic associations were observed between five SNPs and vasculitis-associated damages.Table 1.The association of the five SNPs with aortic regurgitation and hypertensionAortic regurgitationHypertensionOR (95% CI)p valueOR (95% CI)p valueIL12B rs68716262.45 (1.27-4.73)0.0052*1.82 (0.99-3.36)0.049*PTK2B rs23225991.21 (0.51-2.86)0.672.51 (0.97-6.54)0.044*LILRA3 rs1032941.16 (0.52-2.61)0.711.20 (0.55-1.64)0.64DUSP22 rs171336980.56 (0.28-1.13)0.0900.87 (0.46-1.63)0.66KLHL33 rs17134500.89 (0.42-1.91)0.771.48 (0.68-3.22)0.31SNP, single nucleotide polymorphism; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence intervalIn the present study, IL12B rs6871626 was closely correlated with vascular damage. We also found association between PTK2B rs2322599 and hypertension. There was no significant relevance between vascular damage and LILRA3 rs103294, DUSP22 rs17133698, or KLHL33 rs1713450.[1]Terao C et al. Am J Hum Genet. 2013;93(2):289-97.[2]Terao C et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(51):13045-50.Keiichiro Kadoba: None declared, Ryu Watanabe Speakers bureau: I have received speaker's fee from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Pfizer, Sanofi, AbbVie, Asahi Kasei, Eisai, Eli Lilly, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Janssen., Takeshi Iwasaki: None declared, Koji Kitagori Grant/research support from: KK has received research grants from GlaxoSmithKline., Syuji Akizuki: None declared, Kosaku Murakami Speakers bureau: I have received speaking fees from Eisai Co. Ltd, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Pfizer Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, UCB Japan Co. Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Astellas Pharma Inc., Ran Nakashima: None declared, Motomu Hashimoto Speakers bureau: I have received a research grant and/or speaker fee from Bristol-Myers, Eisai, Ely Lilly, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma., Grant/research support from: I have received a research grant and/or speaker fee from Bristol-Myers, Eisai, Ely Lilly, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma., Masao Tanaka Speakers bureau: I have received research grants and/or speaker fees from AbbVie GK, Asahi Kasei Pharma Corporation, Astellas Pharma Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Co., Ltd., Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., UCB Japan Co., Ltd., Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Novartis Pharma K.K., Taisho Pharma Co., Ltd, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited., Koichiro Ohmura Speakers bureau: I have received speaker's fee from Abbvie, Actelion, Asahikasei Pharma, Astellas, AYUMI, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chugai, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eisai, Eli Lilly, GSK, Janssen, JB, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Nippon Kayaku, Nippon Shinyaku, Novartis, Sanofi and Takeda., Grant/research support from: I have received research grants from GlaxoSmithKline., Akio Morinobu Speakers bureau: I have received speaking fees from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Grant/research support from: I have received research grants from Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Chikashi Terao: None declared, Hajime Yoshifuji Speakers bureau: I have received lecture fees from Chugai., Consultant of: I have been an advisory board for a clinical trial conducted by Janssen.


Abstract. In this paper the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes system for incompressible fluid coupled with a parabolic equation through the Neumann type boundary condition for the second component of the velocity is considered. Navier-Stokes equations are defined on a given time dependent domain. We prove the existence of a weak solution for this system. In addition, we prove the continuous dependence of solutions on the data for a regularized version of this system. For a special case of this regularized system also a problem with an unknown interface is solved. The problem under consideration is an approximation of the fluid-structure interaction problem proposed by A. Quarteroni in [19]. We conjecture that our approach is useful also for the numerical treatment of the problem and at the end we shortly present our numerical experiments. Mathematics Subject Classification. 35Q30, 65M20, 74F10, 76D03


Background: Low back pain is the most undesirable phase of women. Every pregnant woman would suffer from low back pain with mild or severe intensity. Various methods and forms of treatment have been practised to relive low back pain during child bearing phase without causing any harm to the developing foetus. This study has focussed on yoga to relieve the pain and disabilities due to low back pain in primi gravida women. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of yoga postures in reducing the low back pain and disability due to low back pain in second trimester of prima gravidas. Method: Primi gravida women with low back pain were randomised to 2 groups, group-1 and group-2. The study was conducted for 8weeks and included 70 patients with 35 in group-1 and 30 in group-2. There were 5 drop outs. The selection criteria were based on patients suffering from low back pain which was further restricting their normal daily activities. The pain was assessed with VAS score of 0-10 with mean of 5.6 and 6.2 respectively in experimental and con trol group respectively before the treatment and disabilities were assessed with MODI with mean score 52% and 57 % respectively before treatment. The Group-1 was treated with yoga postures and group-2 by gynaecologists' advice with acetaminophen, external topical gel and moist heat modalities. Results: The study concluded that there was significant reduction of pain on VAS score (p<0.001) and reduced disabil ities on MODI (p<0.001) in both the groups. The statistical analysis showed there was significance within the interven tional group and also within control group. Whereas the analysis done between the groups showed high significance of the interventional group having better recovery than the control group at the end of 8 weeks.


Based on the density functional theory (DFT), a theoretical determination method is applied to find structural and electronic properties of potassium-doped picene. In a unit cell of K 2 picene observed experimentally, the atomic positions and the electronic state are determined within a generalized-gradient approximation of DFT using the plane-wave expansion method. Some metastable structures of K 2 picene are found in the optimization simulations. Notable properties of a structure with AB stacking, which is the lowest in the energy than others, are 1) appearance of electron doped molecular bands with the band width of 0.1–0.4 eV, 2) gap formation with a gap of 0.04–0.1 eV at the Fermi energy, and 3) narrow conduction bands with the band width of ∼0.1 eV. In all meta-stable structures determined in this study, these characteristics are commonly found. Assuming further electron doping in the conduction bands of K 2 picene, electron–correlation effects may appear as the pair-hopping processes between doped ...


An inadequate streamflow supply in Saginaw Bay, Michigan, affects the irrigation development in the region. Linear programming (LP) models are developed in this paper to help irrigation planners determine optimal irrigation scenarios. To incorporate the spatial variations of the soil and climate into the optimization models, soil associations are used as the basic analysis unit for estimating crop yields, irrigation requirements, and expected economic returns. The yields and irrigation requirements of corn, drybeans, and soybeans are simulated by the CERES-MAIZE, BEANGRO, and SOYGRO models at each of the twelve soil associations in the study area over the period of 1951–1980. The yield and irrigation requirement of sugarbeets are simulated by the YIELD model for all the soils in the study area over the period of 1956–1987. The crop prices, simulated crop yields and irrigation requirements, and variable costs are used to compute the expected gross margins and other coefficients in the LP models. The optimization results provide irrigation scenarios that are linked to specific soil associations, which are more useful to decision makers for identifying and targeting individual soils for irrigation development than are the spatially lumped optimal solutions. This study demonstrates that through integration of GIS and simulation models, spatial variations of the climate, soil, and water resources can be better represented in the optimization models to produce more realistic irrigation scenarios.


Past researchers claimed that women and men are different in their speech from one another. The aim of this case study is to uncover the differences in linguistic features in the speech of men and women. The differences in the speech used by men and women are mainly marked by their choice in language forms, topics of conversation, etc. Some of the distinct features in the speech of men are they talk more than women, ask less questions and converse mainly on competitive matters, teasing, sports, aggression and doing things. Women focus on family, home, self, feelings and affiliation with others. However, findings by past researchers about which gender is more polite are rather contradicting. The present study replicates some of the major findings by yesteryear researchers. It is found that women use more polite forms of address than men, ask more questions and use more humours than men. Notably, men used slightly more of fillers, hedges and affirmatives than women. However, both genders are direct in their speech. It is also found that men's conversations focus on the topic of doing things i.e. works of entrepreneurs whereas women centre on the topics of home, self, feelings and affiliation with others. Analyzing the linguistic forms used, women appear more polite than men as they prefer using their ethnic group terms of address when addressing and referring to one another. Indeed, this study provides some insight and understanding about the differences in men and women's linguistics features in the Malaysian context which is made up of multi-racial society and rich in its varied cultures, customs, traditions, beliefs and religions.


Polystyrene-supported ruthenium complex 8 is a robust
pro-catalyst for olefin metathesis that can be used in non-degassed
solvents and recycled without added stabilisers.


This paper offers theoretical and empirical insights about the strategies and characteristics of foreign banks operating in an emerging market, which suffered radical transformations in its business landscape during the 1990's and the early 2000s. The results demonstrate foreign banks from countries with stronger commercial ties to the focal emerging market, a higher degree of internalization, and more aggressive lending practices (in the focal market) outperformed and or outlasted foreign banks with weaker commercial ties, lower degrees of internalization, and less aggressive lending practices.


The flightless click-beetle Neodima yutangi sp. nov. is described and illustrated from Beichuan County, Northern Sichuan Province, China. Habitus and important diagnostic characters of the new species are illustrated. An updated distribution map of the genus and key to Neodima species are provided. The distribution, habitat and some notable morphological characters of the genus are discussed.


Twenty patients (aged 20 to 71 years, thirteen of them females), presented recurrent and refractory nodal reentry tachycardia (NRT) and were submitted to surgical treatment. The preoperative electrophysiological studies demonstrated classical NRT. All the patients had ventricular-atrial interval of less than 40 milliseconds, and the atrial retrograde depolarization started in the anterior portion of the A-V node. Additionaly, the patients presented retrograde atrial capture phenomenon, suggesting participation of atrio-nodal or atrio-Hisian anomalous pathways. The intraoperative mapping performed during ventricular pacing demonstrate retrograde atrial depolarization starting at the posterior area of the A-V node. The surgical procedure consisted in dissection of the posterior portion of the A-V node with a similar technique used in ablation of postero-septal anomalous pathways, taking care to preserve the Todaro tendon. No intra-nor-postoperative complications were observed. The programmed stimulation performed around the 15th postoperative day was unable to induce NRT. Five to 36 months after the procedure, the patients are asymptomatic with normal A-V conduction and without use of antiarrhythmic drugs. Notwithstanding the small number of cases and the ralatively short follow-up, the surgical procedure appears efficient to control NRT, while preserving intact A-V conduction.


In this paper self-adjustment pruning algorithm is presented to make arbitrary feed-forward neural networks sparse. To adapt to the complex and flexible architecture of arbitrary feed-forward neural network, partial order and topology order are introduced. Based on the exemplar vector, discrete degree and similarity degree are presented. In order to search redundant neurons and connections, the criterions of redundant neurons and connections are brought up. In order to keep up the original input-output behavior it is required to modify the remaining weights and threshold locally, and create new connections sometimes. The change to the related weights and thresholds can be obtained by constructing and solving a system of linear equations. Experimental results show this algorithm is very effective and feasible. The proposed algorithm is not only faster than general sparse algorithm but also can keep up the original performance and improve the generalization. So it is not required to retrain the neural network after pruning.


It is shown that the homeomorphism groups of the (generalized) Sierpinski carpet and the universal Menger continua are not zero-dimensional. These results were corollaries to a 1966 theorem of Brechner. New proofs were needed because we also show that Brechner's proof is inadequate. The method by which we obtain our results, the construction of closed imbeddings of complete Erdo″s space in the homeomorphism groups, is of independent interest. ©2005 American Mathematical Society.


Changes in Selected Blood Minerals, Vitamins and Thyroid Hormones in Barky Ewes during Late Pregnancy, Post-Partum and Early Lactation N. F. KHALED1* J. ILLEK2 1 Department of Nutrition & Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo university 1221 Giza, EGYPT 2 Department of Ruminant Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Science, Brno,


Informal sources of credit prevail in the rural areas of developing countries mostly cater farm households.  Hence, this study was conducted to analyze the determinants of rural credit access decision among small-scale rice farmers in Calintaan, Occidental Mindoro, Philippines using binary logistic regression. A total of 74 randomly selected farm household heads, who have direct supervision in rice farming activities, participated in the study. The results of the binary logistic regression indicated that gender, age and education were the significant determinants of rural credit decision. This research recommends other factors, working sectors and settings for future research.


Poly(biphenyl dianhydride-para-phenylene diamine) (BPDA-PDA), Upilex-S, and poly(pyromellitic dianhydride-oxydianiline) (PMDA-ODA), Kapton HN, polyimides (PIs), were exposed to 253.7 nm and broad band radiation centered at 300 nm UV radiation which photo-activated the polymer surfaces in the presence of oxygen at atmospheric pressure. XPS analysis showed an increase in the O/C ratio on the modified surfaces which appeared mostly as the carbonyl moiety, although, treated Upilex-S samples also displayed an increase in C–O–C groups. The O/C ratio saturated more quickly for Upilex-S than Kapton. Good practical adhesion of sputtered Cu to the treated surfaces occurred at short treatment times while extensive exposure resulted in cohesive failure within the substrates at shorter treatment times for Upilex-S than Kapton.


The serious issue of tall building is to ensure the fire-resistance of high strength concrete. The fire resistant finishing method is necessarily essential in order to satisfy the fire resistance time of 3 h required by the law. The fire resistant finishing method is installed by applying a fire resistant material as a method of shotcrete or a fire resistant board to high strength concrete surface. This method can reduce the temperature increase of the reinforcement embedded in high strength concrete at high temperature due to the installation thickness control. This study is interested in identifying the effectiveness of inorganic alumino-silicate compounds including the inorganic admixture such as fly ash and meta-kaolin as the fire resistant finishing materials through the analysis of fire resistance and components properties at high temperature. The study results show that the fire resistant finishing material composed of fly ash and meta-kaolin has the thermal stability of the slight decrease of compressive strength at high temperature. These thermal stability is caused by the ceramic binding capacity induced by alkali activation reaction by the reason of the thermal analysis result not showing the decomposition of calcium hydrate. Inorganic compounds composed of fly ash and meta-kaolin is evaluated to be very effective as the fire resistance material for finishing to protect the concrete substrate by the reason of those simplicity in both application and manufacture. The additional study about the adhesion in the interface with concrete substrate is necessary for the purpose of the practical application.


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Despite the success of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in treatment of CML, cures remain elusive, as primitive leukemia stem cells (LSC) are retained in patients achieving remission. Previous studies from our group have suggested that Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) inhibition may represent a novel approach for elimination of LSCs in chronic phase CML . SIRT1 was shown to be overexpressed in CML LSCs, and SIRT1 inhibition using shRNA or a small molecule SIRT1 inhibitor selectively eliminated CML LSCs by increasing p53 acetylation and activity ( Li et.al; Cancer Cell 2012 ). These studies were limited by possible off-target effects and limited duration of in vivo exposure. Here we used a genetic mouse model to definitively delineate the role of SIRT1 in CML development. A model for conditional SIRT1 deletion in hematopoietic stem cells was established by crossing homozygous SIRT1 exon-4 floxed (SIRT1fl/fl) mice with Mx1-Cre mice. To study the requirement of SIRT1 for development of CML, Mx1-cre SIRT1fl/fl mice were crossed with SCL-tTA/BCR-ABL mice, representing a tet-regulated inducible transgenic mouse model of CML, to generate SCL-tTA/BCR-ABL Mx1-Cre SIRT1fl/fl mice (BA Mx1-Cre SIRT1fl/fl). BA SIRT1fl/fl mice lacking Mx1-Cre were used as controls. The mice were maintained on doxycycline until CML induction. Cre mediated deletion of SIRT1 was induced by intraperitoneal pIpC injections (250µg/mouse) administered every other day for a total of 7 doses. SIRT1 knockdown was confirmed by PCR for excised exon-4 and by RT-Q-PCR. Bone marrow (BM) cells from either BA Mx1-Cre SIRT1fl/fl or controls (both CD45.2) were transplanted into irradiated (800 cGy) CD45.1 congenic recipients (2X106 cells/mouse). Cre-mediated deletion of SIRT1 was induced by pIpC injection starting at 4 weeks post-transplant, followed by withdrawal of tetracycline to induce BCR-ABL expression. Serial PB counts and phenotypic evaluation of cell types by flow cytometry (Fig 1 A-B) showed SIRT1 knockdown to have a profound effect on CML development. By 8 weeks after BCR-ABL induction, BA SIRT1fl/fl mice (n=10), showed significantly lower neutrophils (p=0.0003) and Gr-1/Mac-1 positive myeloid cells (p=0.0002) compared to control mice. Subsequently, control mice developed progressive neutrophilic leukocytosis and increasing morbidity from leukemia, whereas BA SIRT1fl/fl mice demonstrated significantly lower WBC counts, without evidence of progressive increase or morbidity (Fig 1 A). This cohort of mice continues to be followed for survival. Another cohort of BA Mx1-Cre SIRT1fl/fl mice was sacrificed at 8 weeks post pIpC injection and BCR-ABL induction to evaluate the effect of SIRT1 knockdown on stem and progenitor populations (n=6 each). SIRT1 deleted mice demonstrated significant reduction in spleen size, weight, cellularity, and myeloid infiltration (Fig 2 A-B), and in myeloid cell expansion in the BM compared to controls (p=0.002). Primitive lineage negative, Sca1 positive, c-Kit negative (LSK) cells and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (GMP) were significantly reduced in BM and spleen of BA SIRT1 deletedmice compared to control mice, whereas megakaryocyte-erythrocyte progenitors (MEP) were increased (Fig 3 A-B). Long term hematopoietic stem cells (LTHSC) in the BM are reduced following CML development. The percentage and number of LTHSC were significantly increased in SIRT1 deletedmice compared to control mice (Fig 3C-D). We also evaluated the effect of SIRT1 deletion on normal hematopoiesis by studying Mx1-Cre SIRT1fl/fl mice lacking BCR-ABL. SIRT1fl/fl mice without Mx1-Cre were studied as controls. Mx1-Cre SIRT1fl/fl and control mice were treated with pIpC to induce SIRT1 deletion. SIRT1deletedmice did not show significant alteration in blood counts, but demonstrated significantly higher LSK and LTHSC numbers in BM compared to control mice. Upon secondary transfer, recipients of BM from SIRT1deleted mice showed a modest increase in donor cell engraftment at 12 weeks compared to controls (90.8% (83.2-92.2%) vs 83.6% (75.8-86.7%); p=0.001). We conclude that genetic deletion of SIRT1 markedly inhibits all aspects of CML development in transgenic BCR-ABL mice, without impairing normal hematopoiesis. These observations demonstrate a critical role for SIRT1 in leukemia development, and support further evaluation of SIRT1 as a therapeutic target in CML.

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Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

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The rate of technology diffusion or dissemination is controlled by many factors that are defined by both the innovation and the user or adopter. The decision to adopt an innovation is based on the perception of the innovation by the adopter.


This article proposes the location of a power plant in the south western part of Turkey on the Mediterranean sea shore (Iskanderun area). The power plant will be connected with the Israeli grid, through a sub sea bundle of HVDC cables in Haifa Caesarea area, to be decided by IEC. This power plant's facilities belong to US Companies. The proposed location will solve several problems for Israel. This article briefly discusses the main features of this power project.


An appropriate employment of a first language (L1) in EFL/ESL classes requires a language teacher's constant decision-making process based on a careful analysis of teaching contexts such as institutional policies and students' needs. Using the notes from a peer-teaching journal, this paper will first analyze patterns in the students' L1 use observed at an initial stage of the semester. Then, it will describe approaches introduced in class to facilitate the target language (L2) use. The final section will report the influence of these approaches in the students' L1 use. INTRODUCTION The debate on incorporating a first language (L1) in EFL/ESL classrooms cannot be disregarded, particularly in monolingual contexts such as Japan where learners share the first language and cultural perspectives (Cole, 1998). A number of factors influence second language teachers' judgement on the appropriate and balanced use of the L1, such as institutional policies, and learners' needs and attitudes towards use of the L1. Language teachers first need to take institutional policies and goals into consideration when choosing approaches. For instance, many language schools adopt an English-only policy because an inappropriate use of L1 can take away learning opportunities and cause less exposure in L2 communication. As Ellis and Shintani (2014) note, excessive use of L1 can discourage learners' active attempts to predict meanings from contexts and other clues. Another factor to consider is students' needs with regard to L1 support. Although the English-only policy can be beneficial, language learners do have situations where they can take advantage of L1, especially at a beginning level. Employing L1 can facilitate language learning, allowing learners to gain a better understanding of target language features through comparative analysis (Cole, 1998). Using L1 in classrooms can also mitigate learners' frustrations and anxiety in language classes (Ellis & Shintani, 2014). Finally, language instructors need be aware of the gap between an English-only policy and learners' attitudes. For instance, some students are reluctant to communicate in L2 with peers who share the same L1 because they perceive the communication "unnatural" (Storch & Aldosari, 2010). Therefore, based on the critical analysis of teaching contexts, language teachers need to develop guidelines regarding use of the L1 to facilitate a learner's engagement in L2 communication (Ford, 2009). The theories above are applicable in my previous and current teaching experiences. Engaging my students in English communication has been one of the most challenging parts of my teaching at English Discussion Center (EDC) at Rikkyo university in Japan whereas it was not my major concern when I taught English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses in America, even though both institutions adopt English-only policies. In America, few students talked to me in Japanese because we did not share a first language, and they were more restrained in their L1 use, having made their own choices to study there. In contrast, in EDC, I feel that I am not providing the most effective language learning environment when my students rely too much on their L1 and even talk to the teacher in Japanese. Therefore, to gain a better understanding of ways to cope with this issue, this paper will explore a balanced L1 use in a monolingual class, and approaches to help learners engage in L2 communications. For this project, I selected a level III (TOEIC 360 – 380) compulsory discussion class with 8 freshmen (2 males and 6 females) majoring in Contemporary Psychology. One of the major course goals was for students to carry out two discussions (10 and 16 minutes) only in English without teacher intervention, using target phrases for academic discussions. I chose this class New Directions in Teaching and Learning English Discussion, Vol. 6, 2018 44 because the students' excessive use of L1 often interrupted their learning and my teaching, and I felt the need to take action. In the first lesson, although I talked to them in English, some students continued to constantly reply to me in Japanese. In the same lesson, they showed their disinterest in English when asked. Their previous teacher also warned me about their excessive Japanese use in the previous semester, though he added that they were not bad students. As my colleague had suggested, the students seemed energetic and motivated to improve themselves. They came to class on time even though it was the first period on Saturdays, and their quiz scores were usually high. After teaching a few classes, I thought if I took action, something might change in the class. DISCUSSION To understand what action to take, I kept a teaching journal for all 14 lessons with the aim of (1) developing a better understanding of the students' use of L1, (2) exploring appropriate approaches to facilitating their L2 use, and (3) documenting the students' reactions to these approaches. The journal kept was based on my class observations from week 1 and also recordings of the classes from week 4, and some entries were shared with my colleague online, where we exchanged comments and questions. Peer-journaling was chosen as a means of exploring approaches because it helps teachers see patterns in class, interpret them from different angles, plan alternative solutions, and see learners' development more clearly (Richards & Farrell, 2005). Students' initial performance Not knowing what approaches to introduce, I first examined if any patterns underlay the students' L1 use. Though every student utilized some Japanese, from my observations, I first learned that it was only three students, Hana, Hiroshi, and Mami (pseudonyms) whose Japanese use was problematic, in that its use was too frequent. They would go back to Japanese soon after I pointed out the L1 use, and often fell back on the L1 instead of making use of English communication skills introduced in class to help them cope with communication problems. Categorizing all the patterns of the Japanese use was impossible, but there seemed at least three major patterns in their L1 use; (1) the lack of English skills, (2) their desire to build a rapport with their peers, and (3) the lack of intention to use L2. It should be noted here that an instance of their L1 use does not necessarily stem from only one factor, but may be from a number of them. One major reason in a learner's Japanese use is the lack of English skills. As Sert (2005) reports, when learners lack language skills, they tend to use L1 for the purpose of "equivalence", "reiteration", and "floor holding" (p. 1). Hana's Japanese use illustrates "equivalence". She did not know the English word "predict" and codeswitched to Japanese, "yosoku suru". After obtaining the English equivalent, she formed a sentence with the word "predict" and repeatedly used the word in her later speech instead of the Japanese equivalent. This L1 use may have been avoided if she had known the English equivalent. "Reiteration", checking understanding of instructions in L1 (Sert, 2005), was another strategy often used by the students. Finally, the students also made use of L1 for the purpose of "floor holding". They often said, "matte" ("Wait"), or "nan te iu no" ("How do you say that?) to avoid awkward silence resulting from their lack of competence. Another possible reason behind learners' L1 use is their desire to establish a rapport with classmates. As Sert (2005) argues, some learners show intimacy and build a good relationship with their peers by using L1. The students often shared their personal stories and made jokes in Japanese to build a better relationship. In addition, they added Japanese phrases as bilinguals outside the classrooms, such as "Not in the prefecture, desho ("right?")" or "Okay, summarize, ne ("right")". If the classroom is perceived as a bilingual space, students may regard themselves as members in the same community and show intimacy, using similar codeswitching patterns as those used by Teaching Journal: Shoko Kita 45 bilinguals in non-classroom situations (Liebscher & Dailey-O'cain, 2005). The other potential explanation for the L1 use is a learner's insufficient attempts to actively engage in L2 communication, which I consider has the most room for improvement at an earlier stage and should be treated immediately with appropriate approaches. The class observations convinced me that some L1 use might have resulted from not only a student's limited language competence but also their lack of attempts. In regular classes, Hana used Japanese, "hai hai" (Can I start?)" to express her intention to join a discussion. Some Japanese reaction phrases were frequently observed, and questions were repeatedly asked of the teacher in Japanese as well. All the cases above could have been avoided with the target phrases presented in previous lessons. Of course, this could have resulted from the incomplete acquisition of the phrases. However, in lesson 5, my students demonstrated their ability to successfully carry out a discussion test for 16 minutes with nearly no Japanese. The techniques and phrases taught in class contributed to this successful discussion where the students showed their intention to find English equivalents. The only Japanese use observed in the test was self-talk or asking for English equivalents. This may imply that the frequent Japanese utterances observed in regular classes did not correspond to their language ability; it could instead have been a lack of attempts to engage in L2 communications. Among the aforementioned patterns, I focused on the third type of Japanese use stemming from the lack of active engagement, because allowing careless use of L1 can be detrimental to long-term improvement in fluency (Sert, 2005). As for the other two types of L1 use, I thought they did not require an immediate treatment because the L1 used as a support or rapport building can help crea


Power, speed and area are key design constraints in signal processing for computing applications as well as for handy electronic gadgets. Multiplier plays a significant role in energy efficient signal processing applications in digital systems. Product of large bit numbers occurs efficiently through binary multiplication. A low power and high speed Gate Diffusion Input (GDI) based Braun multiplier with improved row and column bypassing scheme is presented in this paper. From the simulated results, it is observed that, the GDI based Braun multiplier achieves energy savings more than 4% and up to 99% with CMOS and other methods and in the same way EDP savings more than 15% and up to 30% with CMOS and other methods by means of column and row bypassing techniques. From the layout, it is also analyzed that, GDI Braun multiplier is area efficient over CMOS and its other counter parts at the penalty of 9% more area in comparison with pass transistor logic (PTL) based column and row bypassing techniques.


The paper presents the phenomenon of thermal bridges caused by air infiltration. The problem of poor air tightness is very common in the former Eastern Bloc countries. The laboratory investigation was set up to recognize the impact of air infiltration on heat flux through the building envelope. The frame wall model insulated with loose mineral wool was investigated in non-isothermal climatic chamber. As a result of cold air infiltration, surfaces of gaps and areas adjacent to them were cooled, which is illustrated on temperature profiles. The forty minutes infiltration of 0C air resulted as a 3.5C cooling of gap area. The thermal simulation in Delphin confirmed the laboratory results.


Summary: Purpose: The hippocampus is one of the principal target areas for neurosteroidal action, and the major neuroen‐docrine conversion of progesterone appears to be 5α‐reduction and 3α‐hydroxysteroid oxidoreduction, leading to the potent neurosteroid 3α,5α‐tetrahydroxyprogesterone. To investigate whether the human hippocampus is equipped with the enzymes 5α‐reductase and 3α‐hydroxysteroid oxidoreductase (3α‐HSOR), we studied the expression of 5α‐reductase types 1 and 2 and 3α‐HSOR types 1 and 2 in the resected hippocampi of patients with medically intractable chronic temporal lobe epilepsy.


Developers of municipal infrastructures have focused so far mainly on the operation of infrastructure networks (e.g. roads) or facilities (e.g. district heating facilities) and their impacts on climate change. Only recently, the focus shifts to optimizing CO2 emissions embodied in building materials and caused by processes and transports related to construction, maintenance, overhaul and renewal of civil engineering works. The European standard EN 15643-5:2017 provides specific principles and requirements for the assessment of their environmental performance and a new standard for calculation methods will be published in 2022 including an assessment of embodied C02 emissions. But, how can this information be used to systematically reduce the carbon footprint for municipal infrastructures? In an ongoing research project, we want to answer this question and develop a management cycle for optimizing the carbon footprint of municipal infrastructures. In a first step, we used expert interviews with infrastructure operators, planers and builders focusing on roads to define use cases where information on embodied CO2 emissions is needed. In a second step, we studied construction projects (completed in the past) to analyze data availability at different stages of the planning process. Based on our preliminary results, a management cycle should include the following four use cases for using information on embodied CO2 emissions for decision support. First, it should be used for monitoring of infrastructure networks (as part of scope 3 accounting for operators). Second, it supports priority setting for renewal and overhaul planning when used to analyse representative project portfolios. And, it will help developing project specific benchmarks for optimization at early design stages as well as before public tender. In the next step of our project, we will adapt existing calculation methods in collaboration with operators of municipal road networks to meet information requirements in the identified use cases.


Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is commonly used biomaterials for tissue engineering due to inert and nontoxic properties. However, there is the main drawback of PDMS which it is hydrophobic in nature. To overcome this limitation, PDMS was crosslinked with polyethylene glycol (PEG) in order to enhance it hydrophilic property. In this study, the effect of allyl methacrylate (AMA) and PDMS-MA 1K as reactive diluents in the hydrogel fabrication was investigated. Firstly, PDMS-SiH and PDMS-MA that was synthesized and had been confirmed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). While for UV-crosslinked hydrogel, contact angle and swelling study were conducted. From the analysis, it was found that increasing in reactive diluents content increased the swelling with insignificant trend for contact angle result. Importantly, from this work the biocompatibility of produced PDMS-based hydrogel was enhanced with the addition of reactive diluents.


Objective: To investigate the relationship between arthroscopic diagnosis of the knee and the clinical results of arthroscopic debridement. Methods: Arthroscopic examinations and debridement were performed in 69 knee of 67 patients with Osteoarthritis(OA) of the knee between April 1997 and April 2001. All the patients were followed up for 0.5~4years. The results were evaluated comprehensively according to the degree of cartilage degenerative under Arthroscopic, X ray changes, clinical findings, and effects of debridement. Results: There was a positive correlation between arthroscopic evaluation and clinical findings. In contrast, there was not any correlation (50.5%) between X ray changes and arthroscopic findings. The relation between cartilage degenerative changes and theraputic efficacy showed that in two years the excellent theraputic rate was 100% in degreeⅠ, 76.4% in degree Ⅱ, and 51.7% in degree Ⅲ.However, in more than two years the excellent rate was 93.8% in degreeⅠ, 57.1% in degree Ⅱ,and 35% in degree Ⅲ. Conclusion:①Arthroscopic examination would make a more correct diagnosis of OA of the knee.②Arthroscopic debridement has a good clinical effect on OA of the knee


We outline specific features of numerical simulations of metamaterial wedges and interfaces. We study the effect of different positioning of a grid in the Yee method, which is necessary to obtain consistent convergence in modelling of interfaces with metamaterials characterized by negative dielectric permittivity and negative magnetic permeability. We demonstrate however that, in the framework of the continuous‐medium approximation, wave scattering on the wedge may result in a resonant excitation of waves with infinitely large spatial frequencies, leading to non‐convergence of the simulation results that depend on the discretization step. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The paper presents general rules of utilization of database, called "significant ships list," for preliminary design of ship's propulsion and configuration of power plant. Knowledge collected in the database is related to new buildings classified according to type, displacement, shipping class etc. It encompass general dimensions, characteristics of mobility ,propulsion's power and type of main engines and propulsors, electric power plant, boilers and main mechanisms of a power plant. In the paper is presented method of utilization of the significant ships list during design of a container ship with capacity of 1300 TEU and speed of 18 knots. The first step of propulsion and main engine's selection is determination of main dimensions, i.e. displacement, length, draft and breadth. That dimensions cannot be selected random way, due to hull's mobility, stability and durability constraints. The list of significant ships consisted of 30 units, and amongst them, 17 were selected and analyzed. Others were rejected because of significant difference from mean values what could be due to different class of the ships.


Many collections of structured documents are available on the web. The collection generally describes the characteristics of entities from a single type, where each page describes one entity. These documents are adequate knowledge sources for building ontologies. As they benefit from a strong and shared layout, they contain less well written text than plain text files but their architecture is very meaningful. Classical linguistic-based methods for identifying concepts and relations are no longer appropriate for analyzing them.The approach we propose in this paper exploits various properties of such documents, combining layout/formatting analysis and linguistic analysis, and using semantic annotation.


In this paper, we obtain some application of first-order differential subordination, superordination and sandwich-type results involving operator for certain normalized $p$-valent analytic functions. Further, properties of $p$-valent functions such as; $\lambda$-spirallike and $\lambda$-Robertson of complex order are considered.


Being a guitar teacher for a while , I saw the need to write this article that talks a little about th e scales that start flashing studies in the world of electric gui tar . These scales where they apply and may be base d on most soils known as Another Brick in the Wall Pink Floyd or Al ways for you , always for me Joe Satriani among oth ers . This is the Pentatonic scale followed closely Penta Blues s cale and do a smorgasbord joining them with the sta irs from the Greek mode . Anyway , these scales which I think th e most suitable for the early studies of the electr ic guitar , along with the techniques that make this world more engag ing and versatile arguably before the other instrum ents , but not belittling the other instruments that exist, there an intrinsic love for lovers of six strings for the beauty , is its versatility , is the timbre quality , the application , the appli cations are finally different for guitarists .


Th is work tries to discuss the way that a judge may draw some obstacles to the social pacifi cation with his way of conducting his actions as a magistrate. Th e assertive is analyzed in two diff erent ways, which are: a) the lack of reasoning of the given decision and b) the lack of concern in making himself clearly understood by the parts under his jurisdiction causing serious damage to the process relations. Th erefore, this paper will analyze the primary and secondary eff ects that those postures bring both to the Judiciary Power itself and to the social reality of the parts under jurisdiction. Th us, trying to stick to a practical-theoretical dimension, this work will use the theoretical-descriptive method to guide its development. Moreover, bibliographical references, jurisprudential texts and normative elements will be used.


Isolated limb perfusion (ILP) and infusion (ILI) are treatment modalities for unresectable melanoma in‐transit metastases and extremity soft tissue sarcomas (STS). We sought to characterize the national trend in their utilization in the context of novel melanoma therapies introduced in 2011.


This paper considers an application of continuous-discrete unscented Kalman filter or hybrid UKF to estimate state and friction for a position control system with Stribeck + viscous friction. Adaptive compensation of friction is integrated to the system. The coefficients of Stribeck curve are estimated online from joint state and parameter model by using hybrid UKF algorithm. To select sampling time appropriately for estimator, the stability and accuracy at low velocity of deterministic system are analysed. This paper finally presents the simulation results of a torque-controlled DC motor model to illustrate the performance of the position control system with PID controller using friction compensation since conventional PID controller are easily modified. The results show that the system with friction compensation exhibits a much better performance.


To improve the modeling of warm rain initiation, a two-moment bulk parameterization of the drop collection growth in warm clouds is developed by two steps: (i) its prototype is first derived based on the analytic solution of the stochastic collection equation (SCE) with the Golovin kernel, and (ii) the prototype is then revamped empirically to fit the numerical solution of SCE with the real hydrodynamic collection kernel, reaching the final version of the parameterization. Since the final version represents the self-collection of cloud drops explicitly, it replicates warm rain initiation well even when liquid water content (cloud-drop number concentration) is very low (high). It also replicates the autoconversion threshold and time delay of rain initiation via a small autoconversion rate.


Recent research has shown that most patients who experience the onset of a severe encephalopathy with seizures after pertussis vaccination have severe


This paper presents a nondestructive evaluation approach for system identification (SID) of real railway bridges using field vibration test results. First, a multi-phase SID scheme designed on the basis of eigenvalue sensitivity concept is presented. Next, the proposed multi-phase approach is evaluated from field vibration tests on a real railway bridge (Wondongcheon bridge) located in Yangsan, Korea. On the steel girder bridge, a few natural frequencies and mode shapes are experimentally measured under the ambient vibration condition. The corresponding modal parameters are numerically calculated from a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model established for the target bridge. Eigenvalue sensitivities are analyzed for potential model-updating parameters of the FE model. Then, structural subsystems are identified phase-by-phase using the proposed model-updating procedure. Based on model-updating results, a baseline model and a nondestructive evaluation of test bridge are identified.


PPC model based on RAGA was applied in 13 traits arrangement for 21 hybrid combinations, the value of projection function can be evaluated. The results indicated that 78a76 was the best among the hybrid combinations in harvest and quality characters, at the same time, it had high infirmness traits and good tolerance to storage. Various characters can give dual attention to mutually.


There are some basic stages in human life. These phases move a person from one phase to another, and partly change a person's life. As we all know, these stages start with birth, marriage ete. continues with and ends with death. These phases are called "transitionalperiods". Here, we will consider the "birth" phase, which is the first of these transitional periods in the Yerkesik region of Muğla.
 Man, in these new phases he has gone through, makes some practices in order to relax himself spiritually. Believing in something, or rather the need to believe, has always existed in human nature and will always exist. As a result of this, our customs, traditions and customs, which are applied from ancestor to grandchild, have been formed. Infact, almost all applications performed today; it is a trace from our ancestors, grandmothers, ancient Turks. Some of them continue in the some way and some of them have undergone some changes under the influence of today's conditions and have become a new practice. We are the carriers of culture that continues this trace.
 Birth related practices start with the baby falling into the mother's womb and even before conception. The purpose of these applications, which start from before birth and continue until after birth; the healthy survival of women and children, protection from evil spirits and maintaining this healthy life for a lifetime.


Abstract— A new low pressure mercury lamp was constructed and described in detail. The silica‐lamp surrounds the analytical vessel and has two water‐cooled circuits. The first one for cooling the mercury electrodes and the second one for cooling of the arc. The temperature dependence of the arc intensity was studied and discussed.


Hwa V, Oh Y, Rosenfeld RG. Insulin‐like growth factor binding proteins: a proposed superfamily. Acta Pzdiatr 1999; Suppl 428:37‐45. Stockholm. ISSN 0803‐5326


– In this research we extract knowledge from human resources data, accumulated in IT companies for the right selection of teams to work on software projects. We are looking for interesting and unknown dependencies and connections in the data, based on which managers can form more cohesive and professionally working project teams. The proposed approach to improve the selection of teams working on IT projects is based on association rule mining and can be used by IT managers to select the members of the teams. The approbation of the proposed approach is made using the software product RapidMiner.


In the article, the authors distinguish between "force majeure" and "force majeure" caused by an obstacle beyond hu-man control and having an objective character. Special attention is paid to the failure of the voltage of electric energy as an insurmountable circumstance. The correlation of the concept of "break in the supply of energy" with the concept of "voltage dips" is shown. It is proved that the voltage dips in the supply of electric energy are random and unpre-dictable events, the occurrence of which can not be completely avoided. On the basis of the conducted research the conclusion is made: the insurmountability of other uncontrollable circumstances is not an unconditional basis for the release of the power supply organization from responsibility. It is offered: to establish responsibility of the power supplying organization for failures (differences) of tension, in the presence of fault, by introduction of additions in point 2 of article 547 of the Civil code of the Russian Federation.


The problem of knowledge representation has been extensively addressed in the information systems field and there has been a wide range of suggestions for capturing semantics. A number of systems and methodologies have been proposed. Most seem to suffer from a variety of problems which make representation difficult, e.g. mixing of type and instances, too many and complex structures. Representation languages which permit a graphical form are becoming more widely accepted under the motivation of being able to see the data structures which exist. However the semantics are somewhat limited with, for example, few integrity constraints being represented. In this paper we show how a conceptual schema language with a graphical form can be extended to permit a wider class of semantics to be represented.


scholars whose work engages the same body of writing. Daniel Mark Fogel's 1984 essay "henryJAMESjoyce: The Succession of the Masters," for example, considers the very important influence of the pre-modernist Henry James on Joyce's own concepts of art and form.1 This essay and more recent examples of Joycean scholarship are not discussed in De Marco's text. In short, while his book takes up a topic rich in scholarly potential and while he presents his information in lucid, well-organized prose, the insights prove neither very deep nor original. The book will provide a valuable introductory resource and perhaps even a starting point for additional work in the area, but those who know Joyce's work and the surrounding scholarship will continue to yearn for more.


Abstract The authors present a novel biological nonliving epineurial nerve coaptation training model, which allows cost-efficient practicing on organic mammal nerves and offers an objective performance control on the basis of successful suturing and respecting the 3R model. Anatomic dissection of 40 rat cadavers was performed. Four residents without prior microneurosurgical experience were included. Each trainee performed 20 epineurial nerve coaptations. The number of successful sutures served as qualitative variable and operation time as a quantitative variable for efficiency control. The rate for successful sutures was 51.9% in the first half of trials and improved to 94.4% in the second half. Whereas, the trainees needed a mean time of 34 minutes for the first 10 coaptations, the last 10 coaptations were performed within 24.5 minutes. The authors' presented model is an easily accessible, low-cost microneurosurgical simulation model, allowing a realistic and instructive performance of epineurial nerve coaptation. Because cadaveric nerves are used, an approval of the local ethics committee is not needed. Furthermore, anatomic knowledge about the topography related to the harvest of the sciatic nerve of rats is provided in this study.


This paper reports on the measurement of the large-scale anisotropy in the distribution of cosmic-ray arrival directions using the data collected by the air shower detector ARGO-YBJ from 2008 January to 2009 December, during the minimum of solar activity between cycles 23 and 24. In this period, more than 2 × 1011 showers were recorded with energies between ∼1 and 30 TeV. The observed two-dimensional distribution of cosmic rays is characterized by two wide regions of excess and deficit, respectively, both of relative intensity ∼10−3 with respect to a uniform flux, superimposed on smaller size structures. The harmonic analysis shows that the large-scale cosmic-ray relative intensity as a function of R.A. can be described by the first and second terms of a Fouries series. The high event statistics allow the study of the energy dependence of the anistropy, showing that the amplitude increases with energy, with a maximum intensity at ∼10 TeV, and then decreases while the phase slowly shifts toward lower values of R.A. with increasing energy. The ARGO-YBJ data provide accurate observations over more than a decade of energy around this feature of the anisotropy spectrum.


Abstract Poster session 1, September 21, 2022, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Objectives Host defense peptides (HDP) are produced by a diversity of beetles. The aims of this work were (1) to find new promising peptides from the Coleoptera family Scarabaeidae with potential biomedical applications, (2) to modify physicochemical and structural characteristics of one of the most promissory peptides in order to improve its antimicrobial properties, and (3) to evaluate the in vitro activity of the HDPs against reference strains of pathogenic Candida and Cryptococcus yeasts. Materials and Methods From the Scarabaeidae family transcriptome, 14 promising HDPs were identified. Subsequently, we designed 19 new sequences from Act8 peptide modifying the net charge, hydrophobic angle, and the general composition of amino acids, among other properties, in order to improve the HDPs antifungal activity. The in vitro antifungal susceptibility of the 33 HDPs against C. albicans SC5314, C. krusei, ATCC 6558, C. parapsilosis ATCC 22019, C. glabrata ATCC 2001, C. tropicalis ATCC 750, C. neoformans H99, and C. gattii H0058-I-2029 isolates were evaluated by broth microdilution, with a concentration ranging from 0.19 to 50 μg/ml. Results All 14 peptides identified showed in vitro activity against C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, and C. glabrata. One peptide showed in vitro activity against C. albicans, 6 against C. tropicalis, 11 against C. neoformans and 13 against C. gattii. As well the 19 modified peptides showed in vitro activity against C. krusei, C. parapsilosis, C. tropicalis, C. neoformans, and C. gattii. A total of 15 modified peptides showed in vitro activity against C. albicans, and 3 against C. glabrata. MIC ranges per species and per peptide are shown in Table 1. Conclusions The HDPs herein analyzed showed a significant in vitro antifungal activity against six Candida and two Cryptococcus pathogenic species. Our findings encourage further work with in vivo experimental models in order to better understand the action mechanisms of these antimicrobial peptides. HDPs from different species are becoming a promising therapeutic alternative in the control of fungal infections.


Introduction of an effective wave elevation function, the simplest time-dependent hyperbolic mild-slope equation has been presented and an effective numerical model for the water wave propagation has been established combined with different boundary conditions in this paper. Through computing the effective wave elevation and transforming into the real transient wave motion, then related wave heights are computed. Because the truncation errors of the presented model only induced by the dissipation terms, but those of Lin's model (2004) contributed by the convection terms, dissipation terms and source terms, the error analysis shows that calculation stability of this model is enhanced obviously compared with Lin's one. The tests show that this model succeeds to the merit in Lin's one and the computer program simpler, computational time shorter because of calculation stability enhanced efficiently and computer memory decreased obviously. The presented model has the capability of simulating exactly the location of transient wave front by the speed of wave propagation in the first test, which is important for the real-time prediction of the arrival time of water waves generated in the deep sea. The model is validated against experimental data for combined wave refraction and diffraction over submerged circular shoal on a flat bottom in the second test. Good agreements are gained. The model can be applied to the theory research and engineering applications about the wave propagation in the coastal waters.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


5) ABSTRACT 'Protection of the society" (POS) is a joint project between the Directorate for Civil Defence and Emergency Planning and the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. The purpose of the project is to design and :valuate cost-effective civil emergency efforts. In order to get an overview of the society's need for protection, jesign of relevant wartime and peacetime scenarios and use of risk analysis have been major activities during the project. I'his report gives an introduction to Civil Emergency Planning and the use of Cost Effectiveness Analysis and Cost Benefit Analysis, their areas of application, advantages and limitations. The paper then discusses the relevance of socio-economic profitability as a unit of measure for the problems faced in designing a cost-effective :ivil emergency planning. Furthermore it presents a general methodological approach in cost-benefidcostzffectiveness analysis of Civil Emergency Planning.


Currently, in the design criteria for the high speed railway bridges, the maximum distance between bridge expansion joint is limited to 80m using a continuous welded rail, in order to limit the additional stress in the rail due to the rail-bridge interaction. In the past study on the resonance effect of HSR train, it is known that the reduction of resonance and dynamic responses of bridge deck occurs at the specific expansion length of 28.05m and 46.75m. In this study, the stability of track structure on the HSR bridges with expansion length of 90m has checked by finite element method. And the track behavior including rail stresses and relative displacements are compared to the current state of track structures on the bridge system with 80m long expansion length.