Purpose – The aim of the research is to provide a method to evaluate supply chain risks that stand in the way of the supply chain objectives.Design/methodology/approach – An analytical hierarchy process model is proposed to identify supply chain risk factors with a view to improving the objective of customer value. The two phases of the method are the prioritization of supply chain objectives; and the selection of risk indicators. A case study is also presented.Findings – The appreciation of the most critical supply chain risks comes from careful evaluations of the impacts and a consideration of the cause‐effect relationships. The involvement of key managers is essential. In the case study the two most divergent evaluations were from the logistics manager and the sales manager.Research limitations/implications – Further application in various companies and industry sectors would be helpful to compare different cases and findings.Practical implications – The model allows for flexibility in using (and the f...


The Lunar Cherenkov technique is a promising method for UHE neutrino and cosmic ray detection which aims to detect nanosecond radio pulses produced during particle interactions in the Lunar regolith. For low frequency experiments, such as NuMoon, the frequency dependent dispersive effect of the ionosphere is an important experimental concern as it reduces the pulse amplitude and subsequent chances of detection. We are continuing to investigate a new method to calibrate the dispersive effect of the ionosphere on lunar Cherenkov pulses via Faraday rotation measurements of the Moon's polarised emission combined with geomagnetic field models. We also extend this work to include radio imaging of the Lunar surface, which provides information on the physical and chemical properties of the lunar surface that may affect experimental strategies for the lunar Cherenkov technique.


Polyethylene glycol-400(PEG-400)grafted in silica(SiO 2)support as macromolecule ligand was synthesized, and the structure of the ligand was characterized by IR spectroscopy.The complex of silica-supported PEG-400 and molybdenum(Ⅵ)dioxo(2,4-pentanedione)[shortened form,SiO 2-PEG-Mo(Ⅵ)]was for the first time synthesized and characterized by infrared spectroscopy.The possible structure of the complex was discussed.As a catalyst, SiO 2-PEG-Mo(Ⅵ)complex was used in epoxidation process of cyclohexene,and its catalytic activity and selectivity was also investigated.Experimental results showed that the complex possessed excellent activity and selectivity for epoxidation of cyclohexene.A new analysis method of the amount of Mo in the catalyst and the analysis of epoxycyclohexane by gas chromatography were set up.For n(t-BuOOH) = 0.1 mol,n()∶n(t-BuOOH)=3.5∶1,the volume of solvent was about 10 ml, reaction temperature 80 ℃,reaction time 60 min,and the amount of SiO 2-PEG-Mo(Ⅵ)complex catalyst was 0.5 g.In this reaction condition, based on t-BuOOH,the yield of epoxycyclohexane was more than 99.2%,the purity of epoxycyclohexan was about 99.5% by GC analysis.The catalyst recycled for 3 times still possessed high catalytic activity and selectivity,and the yield of cyclohexene oxide approached 99% in the above-mentioned reaction condition.


This paper, based on the analysis of a lag in the theory of special power relation,the fuzzy law orientation of colleges,and the vague law relationship between colleges, faculties and students, is intended to find out the reasons for administrative redress bottle-neck of internal management disputes in colleges,and attempts to propose an assumption of consummating the theory of administrative redress, constructing the redress pattern into triangular balance of administrative appeal, reconsideration and litigation.


The superplastic properties of different semi-products out of Alloy 718 with microcrystalline (MC), submicrocrystalline (SMC) and nanocrystalline (NC) structures processed by severe plastic deformation and rolling have been studied. The alloy with SMC and NC structures can exhibit features of low temperature superplasticity. With decreasing the mean grain size of the Alloy 718 the temperature boundary of superplasticity becomes lower, the flow stress reduces and the ductility increases. The studies of the gauge portion of samples have shown that due to low temperature superplastic deformation there occur the following changes in the microstructure, namely, the density of dislocations decreases, non-equilibrium grain boundaries transforms to equilibrium ones and its mean grain size increases slightly. The boundaries of some grains have a banded contrast, which is apt to equilibrium high angle grain boundaries. The studies of the NC structure of Alloy 718 samples from superplastic deformation performed at different levels in various zones allowed revealing deformation bands indicating the occurrence of cooperative grain boundary sliding. The specific feature of the NC structure is a more uniform strain distribution and a less block size of cooperative grains as compared to SMC and MC structures. The comparative analysis of the structure and the mechanical properties of bulk and sheet Alloy 718 after superplastic deformation and heat treatment has been carried out. It has been shown that performance of standard heat treatment provides obtaining mechanical properties corresponding to standard requirements.


In this paper the impact of existing leakage current reduction techniques on Various D Flip Flop Circuits are analyzed and summarized. As Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) devices are scaled down to nanometer ranges, Complementary MOS (CMOS) circuit's total Power consumption has a new definition. Due to integration of millions of components and shrinking process technology, nowadays leakage power tends to play a major role in total power consumption. This fact has motivated a lot of researchers and technologists to choose leakage current minimization as their future work. This paper explores various D flip-flop topologies meant for different constraints such as speed, area and power. Proper selection of flip-flops is necessary in order to satisfy low power and high performance circuit. In this paper, different flip flop circuits are designed using 16nm Metal gate, High-K dielectric, Silicon on Insulator (SOI) Low Power Predictive Technology Model (PTM) file developed based on Berkeley Short Channel Insulated Gate MOSFET (BSIM) model equations. As the estimation of leakage at circuit level is of prime importance for VLSI engineers, this paper aims at implementation of both active and standby mode leakage power reduction techniques. Of the available techniques, six techniques are considered for the purpose of analysis namely Multi Threshold CMOS (MTCMOS), Super Cut-off CMOS (SCCMOS), Forced Transistor Stacking (FTS) and Sleepy Stack (SS). From the results, it is observed that MTCMOS and SCCMOS techniques produces lower power dissipation than the other techniques due to the ability of power gating. As there were no previous works reported related to comparison of power analysis of 16nm devices with the above leakage reduction techniques, in this paper a qualitative comparison is done with the help of TannerSPICE Circuit Simulation Tool. After a detailed analysis of the existing techniques, this paper concludes that same leakage reduction technique produce different power optimization levels for different architectures and employing a suitable technique for a particular architecture will be an effective way of reducing the leakage current and thereby static power.


Flunoxaprofen (FLX) is a chiral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that was withdrawn from clinical use because of concerns of potential hepatotoxicity. FLX undergoes highly stereoselective chiral inversion mediated through the FLX-S-acyl-CoA thioester (FLX-CoA) in favor of the (R)-(−)-isomer. Acyl-CoA thioester derivatives of acidic drugs are chemically reactive species that are known to transacylate protein nucleophiles and glutathione (GSH). In this study, we investigated the relationship between the stereoselective metabolism of (R)-(−)- and (S)-(+)-FLX to FLX-CoA and the subsequent transacylation of GSH forming FLX-S-acyl-glutathione (FLX-SG) in incubations with rat hepatocytes in suspension. Thus, when hepatocytes (2 million cells/ml) were treated with (R)-(−)- or (S)-(+)-FLX (100 μM), both FLX-CoA and FLX-SG were detected by sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry techniques. However, these derivatives were observed primarily from (R)-(−)-FLX incubation extracts, for which the formation rates of FLX-CoA and FLX-SG were rapid, reaching maximum concentrations of 42 and 2.8 nM, respectively, after 6 min of incubation. Incubations with (S)-(+)-FLX over 60 min displayed 8.1 and 2.7% as much FLX-CoA and FLX-SG area under the concentration versus time curves, respectively, compared with corresponding incubations with (R)-(−)-FLX. Coincubation of lauric acid (1000 μM) with (R)-(−)-FLX (10 μM) led to the complete inhibition of FLX-CoA formation and a 98% inhibition of FLX-SG formation. Reaction of authentic (R,S)-FLX-CoA (2 μM) with GSH (10 mM) in buffer (pH 7.4, 37°C) showed the quantitative formation of FLX-SG after 3 h of incubation. Together, these results demonstrate the stereoselective transacylation of GSH in hepatocyte incubations containing (R)-(−)-FLX, which is consistent with bioactivation by stereoselective (R)-FLX-CoA formation.


Objective To investigate the expression of microRNA (miR)-129 in prostate cancer and its effect on proliferation of PC-3 cells.Methods The expression of miR-129 in prostate cancerous and corresponding paracancerous tissues of 37 cases of prostate cancer was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Real-time PCR).Has-miR-129 mimic was transfected into PC-3 cells,then the expression of miR-129 in PC-3 cells 48 h after transfection was detected by Real-time PCR,and proliferations of PC-3 cells after subsequent cell culture for 0,24,48,and 72 h was detected respectively by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay.Results The expression of miR-129 in prostate cancer tissues (1.088 1 ± 0.578 5) was lower than that in corresponding paracancerous tissues (1.498 6 ± 0.782 8,P < 0.05).The expression level of miR-129 in PC-3 cells after transfection by has-miR-129 mimic was 435 times higher than in control groups (P <0.01).The absorbance value of transfection cells (0.714 7-±0.072 1) after 48 h cell culture was significantly lower than that of control cells (0.878 4 ± 0.057 3,P < 0.05).Conclusion There was low expression of miR-129 in prostate cancer tissues.Overexpression of miR-129 could inhibit proliferation of prostate cancer cells.

Key words:
Prostate cancer;  MicroRNA-129 ;  Proliferation


Gluten sensitivity, with or without classical celiac disease symptoms and intestinal pathology, has been suggested as a potentially treatable cause of sporadic cerebellar ataxia. Here, we investigated the prevalence of abnormally high serum immunoglobulin A (IgA) and IgG anti‐gliadin antibody titers and typical human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes in 50 patients presenting with cerebellar ataxia who were tested for molecularly characterized hereditary ataxias. A high prevalence of gluten sensitivity was found in patients with sporadic (7/26; 27%) and autosomal dominant (9/24; 37%) ataxias, including patients with known ataxia genotypes indicating a hitherto unrecognized association between hereditary ataxias and gluten sensitivity. Further studies are needed to determine whether gluten sensitivity contributes to cerebellar degeneration in patients with hereditary cerebellar ataxia. Patients with hereditary ataxia (including asymptomatic patients with known ataxia genotype) should be considered for screening for gluten sensitivity and gluten‐free diet trials. Ann Neurol 2001;49:540–543


Local coercivity variation of Co/Pd nanomultilayers has been investigated by measuring the polar Kerr hysteresis loops of the local areas of submicron size using a magneto-optic Kerr microscope system. Interestingly, the local coercivity distribution was very sensitive to an increase in the number of repeats: the (2 A Co/11 A Pd)10 sample showed a smooth variation of the local coercivity, while (2 A Co/11 A Pd)18 showed a large fluctuation. Based on the thermally activated relaxation model, we have found that this local coercivity variation had a crucial effect on the contrasting magnetization reversal behavior observed in those samples, wall-motion dominant for the former sample and nucleation dominant for the latter one.


Abstract Benzil was reacted with cyanoacetohydrazide under microwave irradiation to give 3-oxo-5,6-diphenyl-2,3-dihydropyridazine-4-carbonitrile 1 which used as starting material for the synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds. Chlorination of pyridazinone 1 with POCl3 afforded the chloro-pyridazine derivative 3, which then condensed with 2-aminothiazole or hydrazine hydrate to produce 3,4-diphenyl-5H-thiazolo[3′,2′:1,2]pyrimido[4,5-c]pyridazin-5-one 5 or 3-hydrazinyl-5,6-diphenylpyridazine-4-carbonitrile 6, respectively. New Schiff bases were obtained by condensation reactions of compound 6 with different aldehydes. On the other hand, compound 6 reacted with different carbon electrophiles naming acetyl acetone, diethyl malonate, and phenyl isothiocyanate producing new pyarazolo-pyridazine derivatives 11, 12, and 14, respectively. Chemical structures of all newly synthesized compounds were confirmed on the basis of spectral data and had been screened for antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Background and Study Aim: The purpose of this study was to describe anthropometric characteristics and body composition of basketball players from two competitive levels, elite and sub-elite as well as to make a comparison between them. Material and Methods: Fifty-seven male subjects were enrolled in this study, divided into three groups: fourteen elite basketball players, twelve sub-elite basketball players and thirty-one healthy sedentary subjects (subjects from general population). All subjects were assessed for anthropometric measures required for the calculation of body composition variables, using standardized procedures recommended by previous studies. Data was analyzed using SPSS and the descriptive statistics were expressed as a mean (SD) for each variable, while the ANOVA and the LSD Post Hoc tests were carried out to detect effects of each type of sport. Results: The results showed that a significant difference was found in variables height, weight, muscle mass, bone content and body fat, while a significant difference was not found for the remaining variable, body mass index. Conclusions: Therefore, these findings may give coaches from the region better working knowledge and thus provide knowledges for basketball experts which will help them to select talented players as best as possible.


The age–metallicity relation (AMR) is fundamental to study the formation and evolution of the disk. Observations have shown that this relation has a large scatter, which cannot be explained by observational errors only. That scatter is hence attributed to the effects of radial migration in which stars tracing different chemical evolution histories in the disk get mixed. However, the recent study of Nissen et al., using high-precision observational data of solar-type stars, found two relatively tight AMRs. One sequence of older and metal-richer stars probably traces the chemical enrichment history of the inner disk while the other sequence of younger and metal-poorer stars traces the chemical enrichment history of the outer disk. If uncertainties in age measurements increase, these sequences mix, explaining the scatter of the one relation observed in other studies. This work follows up on these results by analyzing an independent sample of red clump giants observed by APOGEE. Because ages for red giants are significantly more uncertain, the [C/N] ratios are considered as a proxy for age. This larger data set is used to investigate these relations at different Galactic radii, finding that these distinct sequences exist only in the solar neighborhood. The APOGEE data set is further used to explore different abundance and kinematical planes to shed light on the nature of these populations.


For the Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI), the construction of a new parking garage required detailed attention to construction factors that would maximize long-term durability and therefore greater economic feasibility for the project. In this endeavor, the parking consultants for the project selected post-tensioned bonded concrete for the structure. Instead of steel rebar, post-tensioning systems utilize seven-wire, grade 270 ksi strand systems. As opposed to the un-bonded system (monostrand) which transfers load to the concrete, bonded post-tensioning uses high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE) ducts house a number of strands in accordance with the amount of tension the member will undergo. The bonded system provides greater strength against progressive collapse and localized blast loading. Content with its fast paced two-year project, the BWI airport parking structure, with 73,000 cubic yards of bonded cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete, expects to have low maintenance cost and a greater amount of space to accommodate vehicles.


In recent years wireless networks have been used more widely and their monitoring reveals that there are still key weaknesses in implementing the 802.11 protocol that can be changed to improve efficiency and end-to-end performance. In these networks, where the medium is shared, management traffic is an essential element that among other functions allows to maintain connectivity and promote service quality. However, in the case where the networks have low mobility, the frequent transmissions of beacon frames by the access points causes overhead in the channels which can be characterized as unnecessary traffic, which increases linearly at each additional access point. In this work, we present a proposal to modify the 802.11 protocol to support the dynamic adjustment of the transmission interval between beacon frames in order to increase the efficiency of the network. The proposal is based on the observation of certain geographic movement patterns of stations that share the same channel, patterns that are not common on low mobility networks and may indicate if stations are going to associate or dissociate from an access point in the near future. The simulation results show that dynamic tuning can be effective and increase throughput in networks with low mobility stations.


Received:December 9, 2017, Revised:December 19, 2017, Accepted:December 20, 2017 Corresponding to:Sang Hoon Han http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4278-5198 Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 211 Eonju-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06273, Korea. E-mail:firstname.lastname@example.com Copyright c 2018 by The Korean College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved. This is a Open Access article, which permits unrestricted non-commerical use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Review Article pISSN: 2093-940X, eISSN: 2233-4718 Journal of Rheumatic Diseases Vol. 25, No. 2, April, 2018 https://doi.org/10.4078/jrd.2018.25.2.100


Objective:To explore the efficacy of B ultrasound on monitoring medicine abortion.Methods:B ultrasound was applied in monitoring the abortion procedure in 7 days before and after drugs used.B ultrasound was applied to monitor again,when the vaginal bleeding time was longer than 2 weeks.Results:Of 360 early pregnant women,348 cases accorded with the detective conditions by B ultrasound monitoring before drugs used,whom were continuely monitored after drugs used.It was found that the most longest diameter and the position in uterus of pregnant were related with the effect of medicine abortion.Conclusion:B ultrasound monitoring has diagnostic value and is a guidance in clinical practice.


In this research work we evaluate the growth and characteristics of Spirulina platensis that was grown in different conditions and mediums. Glass jar, poly bags and water tank were used in this work for the production of culture. Due to higher temperature, glass jar culture was found denser as compared to others. Glass jar culture produced more dry weight (1.0 g/L) than other (0.51 and 0.52 g/L). Percentage of protein level was found 56.4, 50.3 and 30.4 in water-tank, poly-bag and glass jar respectively. It was noticed that lesser volume culture increases its temperature faster than other, which is the reason for inhibiting the growth.


In this study, we proposed a new method for pedestrian safety named ObsSense that estimates the distance and relative velocity of both static and mobile roadside obstacles using probing signals emitted by an off-the-shelf smartphone carried by a pedestrian. Sound-based estimation of the movement properties of an obstacle has been actively studied in pervasive computing, and generally provides the distance from a smartphone user to an obstacle and the relative velocity of the obstacle. However, most prior studies have focused on estimating the properties of either static or mobile obstacles. Furthermore, they estimated either the distance to obstacles or their relative velocity. Nonetheless, both the distance and relative velocity of the oncoming obstacles are necessary to derive the timing of a possible collision. To address this issue, we proposed a new probing signal composed of sine waves and sine sweeps, designed to acquire information about both the distance and relative velocity of static and mobile obstacles. In addition, we proposed a neural network model that can jointly predict distance and relative velocity from reflected sounds of the probing signal captured by a smartphone. The proposed neural network was designed to consider the mobility status of obstacles, i.e., whether they are mobile or static, in order to select the most appropriate method to estimate their distance and relative velocity. In addition, our method uses the relationship between distance and velocity to increase the precision of its estimations. For example, the distance can be estimated by integrating the velocity-time curve. The performance of ObsSense was evaluated using real-world data, and the experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed probing signal and neural network architecture.


Most of the variation (99%) of Asian odd-broodline pink salmon Oncorhynchus gorbuscha, based on data at 32 variable (46 total) allozyme loci from 35 populations, occurred within populations. The remaining interpopulation variation was attributable to: (1) differences between northern (the northern Sea of Okhotsk, eastern Kamchatka Peninsula and western Kamchatka Peninsula) and southern (Hokkaido Island, Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island) populations; (2) differences between the southern areas; (3) low variation among populations within some areas. The pattern contrasted strongly with that observed for Asian even-broodline populations, which had a strong structure, possibly related to geographic and oceanographic influences. Isolation-by-distance analyses of each of the two broodlines showed a stronger relationship ( × 4.8) among even- than odd-broodline populations. Allele frequency differences between even- and odd-broodlines reflected the reproductive isolation of the broodlines. However, there were no fixed frequency differences which, considered with the differing population structures, suggests that migration-drift equilibrium has not yet obtained in one or both broodlines. The structural differences also suggest it is likely that the even- and odd-broodlines are of different ages and that one is derived from the other. Allozyme data do not provide a genealogical basis for identifying the ancestral lineage.


In conclusion, this book has few flaws and it will prove useful for students and teachers of Canadian government and politics. The author himself a limited objective to test the truth of the traditional view that the influence of regional ministers has declined over time and his conclusion: are sound. The impact of regional ministers on important cabinet decision: has diminished over the years, but today they are not without influence. One might contend that they should be called more properly 'provincial' ministers, as the evidence presented here indicates, but this would be to quibble. It is quite likely that 'the dour of regional ministers i found primarily on the margins. It is, however, still a good-sized margin, one that could conceivably expand in the future' (292). Certainly, when federal governments have more discretionary money to spend, opportunities for influence by regional ministers expand. Nor can one dismiss the author's conclusion that 'regional ministers are an important part of the equation i determining success or failure in protecting or promoting the province's interests within Ottawa circles and espedally within Cabinet' (299). Provincial e ectorates have always viewed representation in the federal cabinet as the surest guarantee that their interests will not be neglected by Ottawa, especially given the fact that the Senate did not fulfil this intended purpose. One might dispute the author's contention that a reformed Senate might bring the regions into 'a larger, shared sense of national identity' (300), but this would depend on many variables and would take a book, not a book review, to argue. PATKICK YBA Urdversity ofGuelph


With a complicated and precise mechanism, the plant regulates cell division to precede the development and differentiation process and respond to the intro and extro motigen factors. More than 10 years' study in plant molecular biology has revealed some of these factors involved in plant cell division control and their regulatory mechanism. A primary model of cell cycle control has been presented. This review briefly summarizes recent advance in this field.


In 42 cases of application of hypertonic saline solutions in ileus the author observed an improvement in the general condition of patients and a decrease in postoperative mortality from 50% to 11%. The author suggests that hypertonic saline solutions neutralize toxaemia observed in ileus.


Dear colleagues, The past 20 years have been witness to remarkable progress with respect to the treatment of pulmonary diseases. However, troubling realities exist despite better outcomes. The focus of this supplement is to review new treatment modalities in pulmonary medicine.


First published in 1957, this novel consists almosts entirely of dialogue. The central figure, Miles Mowbray, is one of Compton-Burnett's most successful characters.


Considerable effort has been invested by researchers to find a suitable base formation technique that is compatible wirh self aligned bipolar transistor m c m s . Ion implantation is plagued with channeling, particlllarly for low dose boron implants. This channeling, coupled With defect enhanced boron diffusion during post implant anneals, ultimately limits the vertical scaling of ion imphted BJTs. In narrow emitter devices, shadowing during implantation can make extrinsic base contact resistance more sensitive to emitter window over etch, exainsic base diffusion, and spacer width, resulting in a difficult control problem. Formation of base profiles by diffusion has been shown to be a desirable alternarve to ion implantation l. However, dif&xlties arise in the integration of a base diffusion source into a self aligned bipolar process. Previously reported base diffusion work has involved either the use of the sidewall spacer marerial, or the use of the emitter polysilicon as a diffusion source2. Difficulties with these diffusion methods including reduced control of base profiles, base link-up. and emitter junction depth result from unpredictable impurity diffusion and an inability to selectively remove the diffusion source following base diffusion3. The present paper describes a method of using selectively deposited and selectively removed "polycrystalline" SixGel-x as a diffusion source for the fabrication of narrow base self aligned BJTs. We present, for the first time, bipolar transistors built using this technique.


In this paper, a brief introduction is given to the semiconductor device history and its huge impact on human being. The most important achievements in this field are listed. The challenges, the industry faces as well as the future development trend are also expressed. Finally, the phenomenon of the semiconductor manufacturing center shifting from one country to another is described. The great opportunities and huge challenges to the Chinese semiconductor industry are discussed.


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of 130 people will die of an opioid overdose everyday (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). In response, the American Nurses Association (ANA) adopted a comprehensive stance regarding the opioid epidemic and addressed the registered nurse's (RN's) role as a qualified and well-positioned provider who can play a key role for patients battling substance use disorder (ANA, 2016). However, the ANA focuses on prevention, prescribing, and access to naloxone and does not directly address strategies for the RN in the inpatient, acute care setting (ANA, 2016; Painter, 2017). Sharma, Lamba, Cauderella, Guimond, and Bayoumi (2017) report that most inpatient settings do not have a clear definition of the nurse's role in the complex care of a person with substance abuse disorder or how to provide harm reduction education. Harm reduction is defined as a way of preventing disease and promoting health that "meets people where they are, rather than making judgments about where they should be in terms of their personal health and lifestyle" (North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, 2018). Harm reduction efforts for people with substance use disorder focus on minimizing the risks and harms associated with unsafe drug use, such as disease transmission, infection prevention and education, and death from overdose (North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, 2018). At present, the acute care nurse's primary focus is understandably on managing the acute complications of a patient's substance use, and harm reduction education is typically not


Group brainstorming is a commonly practiced technique to enhance creative outcomes. Cultural differences in knowledge and perspectives are valuable sources for diversity essential to creative outcomes, while cultural discrepancy in communication and language may impede idea sharing. My dissertation research aims to reconcile the tension between the benefits and obstacles of intercultural brainstorming. The design approach is to augment conversational brainstorming with language-retrieved pictures. Pictures may provide rich stimulation and mediate concepts in a relatively language-independent manner, which may complement the still imperfect machine translation, and make inter-cultural and multi-lingual idea sharing more feasible.


This paper analyzed phase congruence at 1D step edges, where rectangular waves with different duty cycles were considered. It found that phase congruence at a step edge varies with duty cycle where all phases of different frequency components were not necessary to converge to a specific angle. Based on this fact, local energy based phase congruence could be regarded as an averaged result over different Fourier components weighted by their amplitude. Since the amplitude of a natural image often falls off at a rate that is roughly inversely proportional to frequency, the model mainly depends on low frequency components, which will lower the edge location precision. In order to get edge detectors of higher spatial precision, proposed two new phase congruence models. To testify the new models, adopted 2D Log Gabor filters to extract local phase, and applied all three phase congruence models to images for edge detection. The experimental results show the new phase congruence models have higher edge localization precision than that of local energy model and can tell us more edge details in images.


Combining with engineering case,in order to accurately detects pile-side and pile-end resistance distribution condition,it carries on dynamic and statistic load test and high strain dynamic detection for the pile foundation,and analyzes and evaluates the detection results.In the end,it obtains that is feasible to use high strain dynamic detection of pile foundation to determine the foundation pile bearing capacity.


Given a discriminant form D of level N, there is a natural lifting which maps elliptic modular forms of level N to vector-valued modular forms for the Weil representation associated to D. We show that in some cases the zero component of a lifting of a newform f is just a scalar multiple of f. In order to do so, we split the lifting map into certain partial liftings corresponding to the prime powers exactly dividing N and then proceed to compute the zero components of these partial maps explicitly. As an application, we show that the L-function L𝒜(f, s) of a newform f and an ideal class 𝒜 as defined by Gross and Zagier can be written as a certain L-series of the lifting of f.


This work was supported by the FP7 Framework EU Research Project ABC (No. 287774). This paper only reflects the authors views and funding agencies are not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.


Exchange of notes constituting an agreement regarding a tax exemption regime for the acquisition of vehicles by the diplomatic and consular corps. Montevideo, 29 August 1991


The composite structure of the tropical cyclone (TC) environment in the South-West Indian Ocean is analysed using European Community medium-range weather data. Conditions suitable for the development of tropical cyclones are present between 5 and 15°S and between 40 and 100°E. Groups of westward-moving and poleward-recurving TCs are used to construct system-following composites from three days before maximum intensity to one day after. The synoptic fields surrounding the westward-moving composite TC remain steady, whereas the recurving composite environment supports rapid vortex growth. Interaction with a subtropical trough is prominent in the recurving TC. The results offer useful insights to weather interactions in the South-West Indian Ocean.


1. Introduction 2. Political Economy, Political Arithmetic and Political Medicine in the Thought of Sir William Petty 3. The Significance of John Locke's Medical Studies for the History of Economics 4. The Infinity of Human Desires and the Advantages of Trade: Nicholas Barbon and the Wants of the Mind 5. Exposure to Strangers and Superfluities: Mandeville's Regimen for Great Wealth and Foreign Treasure 6. From Prominent Physician to Major Economist: Some Reflections on Quesnay's Switch to Economics in the 1750s 7. From Physician to Analyst of Business Cycles: Joseph Clement Juglar (1819-1905) 8. Epilogue: Two Centuries of Physician-Economists


Article is dedicated to scientific and public activity of K.Е.M von Baer, to his contribution to the embryology, in the study of frozen soils, and also to the Caucasian expeditions of this scientist.


BACKGROUND
Keratinocyte cancers account for the most frequent oncological complication in organ transplant recipients. To date, many different risk factors have been reported, unless variability among the studies exist. We aimed to determine the incidence and risk factors for keratinocyte neoplasms in a cohort of kidney transplant and liver transplant recipients.

METHODS
A cohort of 338 patients were included in this retrospective study and followed-up from transplantation until the end of December 2021, with a 2-year minimum transplant time. Each skin cancer was collected in a specific database, together with all the demographic data and dermatological history and feature of patients.

RESULTS
In our cohort, liver transplant patients presented a higher keratinocyte cancer incidence compared to kidney transplant recipients. Regarding the risk factors for skin cancer in the entire group of patients, we observed a significant association with the detection of actinic keratosis and solar lentigo, and such relation was stronger when considering patients developing multiple skin cancers, in which fair skin types and occupational sun exposure were also associated. Furthermore, while actinic keratosis and a history of previous dialysis were significantly associated with the development of a least one squamous cell carcinoma, the presence of keratotic lesions and azathioprine intake resulted connected with the appearance of multiple squamous neoplasms.

CONCLUSIONS
We report here that, in our cohort, factors potentially leading to immune dysfunction were found to play a causative role in the development of the more aggressive histotype of keratinocyte tumors, and such association seemed more convincing in case of multiple squamous cell carcinomas.


The Pierre Auger Observatory is planned to be upgraded so that the ene rgy sp ctrum of cosmic rays can be studied down to 0.1 EeV and the muon component of shower s can be determined. The former will lead to a spectrum measured by one technique from 0.1 EeV to beyond 100 EeV while the latter will aid identification of the primary particles. These enhancements consist of three high elevation telescopes (HEAT) and an infilled area having both surface detectors and undergr ound muon counters (AMIGA). The surface array of the Auger Observatory will be enhanced over a 23.5 km area by 85 detector pairs laid out as a graded array of water-Cherenkov detectors and 30 m 2 buried muon scintillator counters. The spacings in the array will be 433 and 750 m. The muon detectors will co mprise highly segmented scintillators with optical fibres ending on multi-anode phototubes. The AMIGA complex will be centred 6.0 km away from the fluorescence detector installation at Coihueco and w ill be overlooked by the HEAT telescopes. We describe the design features of the AMIGA enhancemen t. The cosmic ray spectrum shows three features at higher energies: the second knee, the ankle, and the GZK-cut off, and in order to seamless study this region [1] Auger will be upgraded with HEAT (High Elevation Auger Telescopes, [2]) and AMIGA (Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array). These two enhancements will encompass the second knee ankle region where the transition from galactic to extra galactic cosmic rays is assumed to occur. The two main experimental requirements are good energy resolution in order to obtain the spectrum and primary type identification since the galactic (heavy primaries) to extra galactic (light primaries) source transition is directly linked to primary composition. In this note we concentrate on AMIGA. It will consist of 85 pair of water Cherenkov surface detectors (SD) and 30 m plastic scintillators buried∼ 3.0 m underground, placed in a graded infill of 433 and 750 m triangular grids (see Fig. 1) overlooked by the fluorescence detectors (FD) (including HEAT) placed at the Coihueco hill top. AMIGA graded infilled areas are bound by the two hexagons shown in the figure covering areas of 5.9 and 23.5 km . Figure 1: Layout of Auger enhancements. White and black lines show the six original and three enhanced telescopes FOVs, respectively. Grey, white and black dots indicate SDs plus buried muon counters placed 433, 750, and 1500 m apart, respectively. In this area a further enhancement of radio detection of extensive air showers will start its R&D phase [3]. Proceedings of the 30th International Cosmic Ray Conference Rogelio Caballero, Juan Carlos D'Olivo, Gustavo Medina-Tanco, Lukas Nellen, Federico A. Sánchez, José F. Valdés-Galicia (eds.) Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico, 2008 Vol. 5 (HE part 2), pages 1191–1194 ID 1307


Aiming at recovering carnitine from cheese whey by using loose reverse osmosis membranes, rejection characteristics of several components in the whey were examined by using model solutions. An electroneutral membrane was found to be most effective for the separation. The rejection of carnitine was above 0.95 independent of the pH of solutions, while monovalent metal ions showed low rejections of 0.1–0.3. On the other hand, the rejections of divalent metal ions decreased with increase of the pH, and reached a minimum of about 0.5. As a result, mono- and divalent metal ions could be removed simultaneously by adjusting the pH of the feed solutions. To clarify the effect of pH on the rejection, the permeate of MgCl2 aqueous solution was examined. The rejections of MgCl2 were greatly affected by the pH and showed the same tendency as the mixed solution. The effect of the pH on permeation of electrolyte was considered to be caused mainly by the adsorption of ions on the membrane.


The experimental programs carried out on the stands for the research of mechanical stress behaviour typically target the following objectives: to determine the behaviour of the pipes at internal pressure and / or other mechanical stresses (which may secondary occur as accidental loads during exploitation), to establish the processes and factors of in-service degradation and to determine the load carrying capacity of pipes and other components of pipelines systems with defects of different types and configurations. For this paper an experimental stand was designed and developed for the purpose of determining the behaviour of the pipes with different types of imperfections / defects. The experimental results were verified and validated using the finite element method.


Let X, X1, X2, …, be independent random variables with a common distribution function F(x) = P {X ≤ x}, x∈ℝ, and for each n∈ℕ, let X1, n ≤ … ≤ Xn, n denote the order statistics pertaining to the sample X1, …, Xn. We assume that 1–F(x) = x−1/cl(x), 0 < x < ∞, where l is some function slowly varying at infinity and c > 0 is any fixed number. The class of all such distribution functions will be denoted by .


The divisible load scheduling is a paradigm in the area of distributed computing. The traditional divisible load theory is based on the fact that, the communications and computations are obedient and do not cheat the algorithm. The literature of review shows that the divisible load model fail to achieve its optimal performance, if the processors do not report their true co mputation rates. The divisible load scheduling with uncertain communication rates has not been considered in the existing research. This problem lead us to propose a priority based divisible load scheduling method. The goal is to decrease the negative effects of communication rate cheating on the total finish time. The proposed method has bee n examined on several function approximation problems. It is found that the proposed method is extremely more efficient than either o f the other methods.


European contact with the Sokoto Caliphate dates back to the early nineteenth century, when the first explorers arrived to investigate the possibility of establishing commercial relations, and the first commercial treaty was signed by Britain and the Caliph Ali in 1851. By this treaty, however, the British obtained only such concessions as were approved by the shari'a, which is perhaps why they remained dissatisfied with its terms.1 Developments in Europe and the onset of the Scramble for Africa after the 1870s also required Britain to alter the nature of its relations with the Caliphate. Increasingly cut-throat competition between different European companies in the region convinced the British of the need to increase their own influence there, and at the Berlin West Africa Conference of 1884-1885 they acquired a measure of international recognition for their preponderant position in the Caliphate. However, the Caliphate could not be fully integrated into the international capitalist network without changing its fundamental legal system, the shari'a. How Britain was able to achieve this objective is the topic of this paper. Islam had been established in Hausaland since the fifteenth century, but only with the jihad of 1804 did it permeate the entire social life of the people. Before then syncretism, the mixture of Islam with traditional practices, had been the norm.2 Although the shari'a was recognised as the law of the realm in many of the Hausa kingdoms, as indeed was the institution of alkali Gudge),3 its invocation was selective and depended on the sarki (ruler) at any given time. The Maliki4 principle of masalih al-mursalah5 was abused as many un-Islamic practices were tolerated to such an extent that traditional values were given primacy over Islamic law. It was to transform this situation that Usman dan Fodio waged his jihad, through which he succeeded in establishing the supremacy of the shari'a and reorganising the administration of justice on Islamic lines. The Maliki books of the shari'a, introduced into Hausaland along with Islam, now had their validity reaffirmed and came into general use as legal commentaries. Among the most widely used were al-Mudawwana al-Kubra by 'Abd al-Salam b. Sa'id Sahnun al-Tanukh, al-Risala by 'Abd Allah b. Abu Zayd al-Qayrawan, and al1 Adeleye 1974: 334. Simply put, shari'a denotes the divinely ordained way of conducting the affairs of Muslims. It governs both spiritual and temporal aspects of life.


As reforms in access to and provision of US health care accelerate, medical education faces an era of both fine adjustments and radical change. Changes proposed at national level, as well as those to be implemented at state and local levels, will impact to some degree every component of the existing medical education system. How the proposed elements of this newly engineered system have begun and will continue to alter the education of health professionals will be the focus ofthe journal's 1994 medical education issue. We would especially like to see research papers addressing the educational preparation of those currently delivering and preparing to deliver primary care medical services in the United States. How do medical schools, residency programs, national organizations, federal agencies, and states define the appropriate education for those providing primary care services and how do they determine their scope of practice and assess their competence?


Terracotta statuettes were a popular ex-voto in Greek antiquity, varying in size and design. The use of a mold for terracotta figurines was introduced by Greek colonists in the 7th century B.C. to the indigenous people of Sicily. From that moment onwards there was an ongoing interaction between the cultic expressions of these different peoples, which reflected the changed social structures and the production and economic values of votive terracottas. This reciprocal interaction is visible in ...


W HEN GROVER CLEVELAND returned to the presidency in March 1893, he inherited from Benjamin Harrison a proposed treaty for the annexation of Hawaii. In January Queen Liliuokalani had surrendered in the face of a revolution engineered by a group of non-native, mostly American-descended businessmen, lawyers, and planters, who were aided in their coup by the landing of American troops and the hasty recognition of their provisional government by the American minister. Ignoring the Queen's protests, the Harrison administration had rather hurriedly negotiated the treaty with the provisionals, but the Senate had failed to approve the pact before the close of Harrison's term.' Subsequently, Cleveland withdrew the treaty from the Senate, dispatched Special Commissioner James H. Blount to Honolulu to investigate the revolution, and decided on the basis of Blount's report to reject annexation. He tried to restore the Queen to power and, after the failure of his restoration scheme, pursued a course of more or less normal relations with what became the Republic of Hawaii.


affinity chromatography. The nascentRNA was hybridized toan end-labeled HindlIl C probefragment (0.646 to0.86map unit), andthe hybrids were analyzed byS1mapping. Mostoftheproducts ofdigestion corresponded tounspliced transcripts with5'endsmapping atnucleotides 325,260,and195,whicharepositions ofthe5'endsof mature,cytoplasmic latemRNA species. Inaddition, twominorproducts diagnostic ofsplicing atthe acceptor junctions mapping atnucleotides 556and443were detected. Becausetheabundance ofthese products was notdiminished byrepurifying thenascent RNA through asecond roundofsulfhydrylcellulose chromatography, theseproducts didnotoriginate fromcontaminating non-nascent RNA. Moreover, the generation ofthese products was notaffected whenahigher salt concentration andlowertemperature were usedforS1digestion, conditions thatshould decrease artifactual cleavage byS1inA+U-richregions of colinear hybrids. Therefore, itislikely thatsome simian virus40RNA chains arespliced beforerelease fromthetemplate. Thebiosynthesis ofatranslatable mRNA inmammalian cells involves acomplex setofbiochemical modifications. Theprimary transcript iscapped atthe5'end,methylated, spliced, andpolyadenylated before transport tothecytoplasm. Simian virus 40(SV40) provides anexcellent model system withwhich tostudy these processing events, since all viral primary transcripts areextensively modified inthe nuclei ofinfected mammalian cells. Because thevirus codes fornoknownprocessing enzymes ofits own,itmustdepend entirely uponthehostcell machinery forallofitsRNA processing. Thus, itisnotonly asimple, well-defined system butalso onethat utilizes thesamesignals that operate inthe processing ofmammalian cell mRNA. LateinSV40lytic infection ofmonkeycells, twosize classes ofviral mRNA,16Sand19S, aretranscribed from thelate strand oftheviral genome. Thestructures ofthese twomRNAs,whichcodefortheviral capsid proteins, have beenstudied extensively (12, 14,30). Boththe16Sand19S mRNAs contain a 5'terminal leader sequence whichis spliced ontothetwodifferent coding regions. Theexact length ofthis leader segment appears tobequite variable, as 19SmRNA includes anumberofdistinct RNA species with leader segments whose5'endsmapoveradistance ofalmost 400nucleotides (Fig. 1).The16SRNAsarelikewise heterogeneous attheir 5'ends.Inaddition, some19SmRNA species contain nospliced-out sequences atall, whereas spliced species fall into twomajor categories: onegroupwith onlyasmall, 32-nucleotide intervening sequence removed andanother containing alarger splice of185nucleotides. Thestructures ofthese late viral mRNAssuggest that they couldbederived fromacommonunspliced precursor by differential splicing. We wereinterested inwhenandinwhat order thesplicing eventsrequired toformthemature19S and16SlatemRNAs occur.Splicing isclearly anuclear


Due to high incidence of kidney failure and ESRD cases, the need for better and more effective treatments increases to increase life span of patients and their quality of life. One of the useful treatment methods in patients with severe renal failure is kidney transplantation, which is performed in two ways: transplantation from a living donor and transplantation from a cadaveric donor. Considering that almost most patients with kidney failure who are candidates for kidney transplant surgery are young or middle-aged, one of the most important factors affecting their satisfaction with the course of treatment and quality of life is sexual ability and performance. All the patients who underwent kidney transplant from living donor or cadaveric donor from 5/22/2015to 5/22/2015in Sina Hospital constituted the statistical population of this study. Sampling in this study is simple sampling and the method used to collect the required data and information is questionnaire. Independent variables investigated in this study, which are related to kidney transplant as well as various parameters of sexual performance of the patients, were collected and recorded separately according to the approved model of IIEF-15 questionnaire in Iran for male patients. The data was statistically analyzed by SPSS software, version 16. Frequency and frequency percentage are used to describe the qualitative data, and mean and standard deviation are used to describe the quantitative data collected. Qualitative variables were analyzed using chi-square test and quantitative variables were analyzed using t-test. Based on the results obtained, sexual function of patients improved after transplantation from a living donor in both groups. Although in the comparison between the two groups, cadaveric donor patients show better conditions than living donor patients at all times in factors related to sexual performance, the difference between the two groups is not statistically significant in terms of variables related to sexual performance, except for desire.


We explore the success of various versions of the one-band t-J model in explaining the full spectral functions found in angle-resolved photoemission spectra for the prototypical, quasi two-dimensional, tetragonal, antiferromagnetic insulator $Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2$. After presenting arguments justifying our extraction of $A(k,\omega)$ from the experimental data, we rely on exact-diagonalization results from studies of a square 32-site lattice, the largest cluster for which such information is presently available, to perform this comparison. Our work leads us to believe that (i) a one-band model that includes hopping out to third-nearest neighbours, as well three-site, spin-dependent hopping, can indeed explain not only the dispersion relation, but also the quasiparticle lifetimes -- only in the neighbourhood of $k = (\pi/2,0)$ do we find disagreement; (ii) an energy-dependent broadening function, $\Gamma (E) = \Gamma_0 + A E$, is important in accounting for the incoherent contributions to the spectral functions.


Traffic and road transport has a strategic role in supporting the
development and national integration as part of efforts to promote the welfare of
the community. As part of the national transportation system, traffic and road
transport should be developed to realize the potential and role of security,
prosperity and order. To improve services in the field of security, safety, public
order and smooth traffic, Act No. 22 of 2009 to regulate and mandate the
existence of information and communication systems as traffic, road transport is
supported by an integrated subsystem built. In addition to the personal criminal
sanctions for traffic violations, of Law Number 22 Year 2009 also regulates the
administrative sanctions imposed for public transport providers. This study aims
to identify and assess the efforts of law enforcement against perpetrators of traffic
violations in the jurisdiction of Yogyakarta Police Department. The research is in
the writing of this law is empirical legal research, namely the study presented
primary data source was obtained directly from research in the field. From this
research it is known that still lack the level of awareness about the safety of
driving, it is shown by the increasing traffic violations. To be able to suppress the
offense is a good idea in giving sanction to be more assertive so that people will
create a deterrent to repeat violations again.


Objective To evaluate the role of prenatal ultrasonography in the diagnosis of fetal hypospadias ,and to analyse the rea-son of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis in prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of fetal hypospadias .Methods Prenatal ultrasound results about 13 cases of fetus with hypospadias confirmed by clinical examination or ultrasonography were retrospectively analyzed in order to summarize the reasons of missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis .Results One case was correctly diagnosed ,two cases misdiagnosed ,nine cases missed diagnosed and one case with unknown result in 13 cases of fetal hypospadias .Conclusion Prenatal ultrasonography has important clinical value in the diagnosis of fetal hypospadias .The missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis in prenatal ultrasound diagnosis of fetal hypospadias are affected by many factors .


The effects of dietary administration of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) on age-related biochemical changes of lipid metabolism and collagen in rats were studied. The following results were obtained:1) The depositions of PCB in the organs and tissues examined were highest in the white adipose tissue, and decreased in the order of liver, kidney, testis and brain. The depositions increased with age.2) The levels of triglyceride and cholesterol in serum and liver lipids increased with age. In groups of rats fed PCB, the liver cholesterol after 12 months of age and the serum cholesterol and β-lipoprotein in 18-month-old rats were significantly increased compared with the control group.3) The levels of lipid peroxide in serum and liver increased remarkably with age and upon PCB administration.4) The liberation of hydroxyproline during the thermal contraction of skin in rats decreased with age, but was not affected by PCB administration.


In India the average per capita electricity consumption for domestic utilities is from 1-1.5kWhrs, which means a small wind mill of 1 kWp is reasonably sufficient to cope up with every day need of a family. This paper has dealt with design, manufacturing and performance testing of aerodynamic rotor blade for 1kWp small wind machine. It is observed that the small wind mills available in this range are not indigenous and are designed for higher rated wind speeds. A new design methodology was established for indigenous development of small wind machine technology, which considers aerodynamic rotor blade design for rotor blade performance and finite element design practices for strength of rotor blades. This has facilitated to consider the cut in speed from 2m/s onwards, rated speed 11-14m/s and cut out speed of 25m/s. The FRP/ERP rotor blades having light weight and highest strength to weight ratio was selected and has fulfilled the conditions of low initial torque for lower cut in speeds. The power curves obtained by testing wind machines by IEC 61400-121 methods shows improved performance over market similar capacity wind machines.


To meet the development of informative process, drive educational modernization with informative process and put the teacher educational informative construction process of our country forward. Our education has a series of deep transform becouse of it. Along with computer network and long-range communication technology utilized extensively. It makes us have some thoughts on informationalized education construction under IT environment with a new angle of vision.


In the course of immunologic studies, and the injection into animals of freshly isolated strains of streptococci in the green-producing group, I have noted many examples of extreme specificity. Strains culturally and morphologically much alike often manifested widely different localizing and agglutinating properties. Moreover, marked changes in these properties occurred following cultivation on artificial mediums and many successive animal passages.1 These changes were sometimes so striking as to suggest that a single strain may cause different diseases, depending on peculiar acquired infecting power and other properties, thus supporting clinical and epidemiologic observations. During a mild outbreak of scarlet fever in Rochester in 1917, I noted at the time of infection in one family, a sequence of events which indicated that similar changes occur in the group of hemolytic streptococci. The two members of the family who first became ill developed hemolytic streptococcus infection of the throat, without rash; those next affected developed typical scarlet fever, while those affected last developed only the throat infection. Epidemics of scarlet fever rarely occur except when hemolytic streptococcus infections of tonsils and throat are prevalent. These and other observations impelled me to immunize two horses at the time of the epidemic, one with hemolytic streptococci from scarlet fever, the other with hemolytic streptococci from septic infection. The epidemic of scarlet fever had disappeared before immunization was complete; hence the serum of the horse immunized with the scarlatinal strains was not used in treatment. The serum from the other horse was used in the


The invention discloses a AD start component acting method applied to microcomputer protection for double-AD sampling, which is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: 1) comparing start AD sampled data with action AD sampled data, for each analog quantity, if a comparison result is abnormal, outputting an analog quantity AD abnormal signal of the path; 2) as for any protection logic, if the action AD action component of the protection logic acts on and each analog quantity required for the completion of the protection logic does not output AD abnormal signals, the start AD start component of the protection logic acts on. The method has the advantages of smaller storage space and short operation time. The start AD sampled data does not need storage for the completion of the start AD start component action logic, thereby the storage space is saved; and the start AD sampled data does not need to perform Fourier transform for the completion of the start AD start component action logic, therefore, the operation time is saved.


Recommendations are put forward for four missions to fill outstanding gaps of post-2000 GOS: a constellation of micro-satellites for atmospheric discontinuities by radio-occultation sounding, an advanced geostationary satellite for improved sounding and imagery, a dedicated mission for parameters needed to describe cloud and radiation interactions, and a dedicated mission for largescale ocean salinity and soil moisture.


The science consultant with "The X-Files" takes an official and entertaining look at the science behind this sci-fi phenomenon, revealing many scientific facts that are even more bizarre than fiction.


This paper presents a compact bandpass filter(BFP) based on stepped impedance resonator(SIR) with multilayer liquid crystal polymer(LCP) technology. This filter has been designed using broadside coupled with SIR. Adjusting the impedance ratio and length of SIR ,the resonant points are distributed evenly in the passband of filter. The filter is fabricated using multilayer liquid crystal polymer(LCP) process. The bandpass filter presents good electrical performances by utilizing that technology. It showed that filter(5.2-7.7GHz) insertion is less than 1dB and return loss is less than 21dB by using a full-wave analysis software HFSS.


The preparation, electrical, and thermal behaviors of copper-epoxy nanocomposites are described. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide - (CTAB-) stabilized copper (Cu) particles were synthesized via phase transfer technique. Isopropanol (IPA), sodium borohydride (NaBH4), and toluene solution of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) were used as transferring, reducing agent, and the organic phase, respectively. The UV-Vis absorbance spectra of all the sols prepared indicate that the presence of Cu particles with the particles transfer efficiency is ≥97%. The amount, size, and size distribution of particles in the organosol were dependent on the content of organic solute in the organosol. The composites were obtained upon drying the organosols and these were then subjected to further studies on the curing, thermal, and electrical characteristic. The presence of Cu fillers does not significantly affect the completeness of the composite curing process and only slightly reduce the thermal stability of the composites that is >300°C. The highest conductivity value of the composites obtained is 3.06 × 10-2 S cm-1.


Lambda phases of NbD/sub x/ (0.78 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.84), which exist below 220 K, have been studied by neutron and electron diffraction. The observed modulated structure can be described as a deuteron concentration wave in a slightly distorted bcc Nb matrix. The wave-vector is parallel to , and the wavelength varies from 16.0 A to 21.4 A, increasing with increasing concentration.


The influence of fatty acid composition and tocopherol on cholesterol oxidation in fish, flax, sunflower, and palm oil to which cholesterol was added were examined during storage and heating. The contents of cholesterol oxides in all oils increased (p < 0.05) during storage and heating. Total cholesterol oxides in fish oil were higher (p < 0.05) than that in vegetable oils. Addition of α-tocopherol to oils reduced the concentration of cholesterol oxides in fish oil (p < 0.05) but not in vegetable oils. Palm oil was the most stable oil. These results suggest a relationship between fatty acid composition and cholesterol oxidation, particularly with respect to the polyunsaturated fatty acid content. Keywords: Oil; cholesterol oxide; tocopherols


Drawing on the sociology of professions, this chapter examines how the integration of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) provided a space for hospital based nurses and midwives to enhance their occupational jurisdiction. In this regard CAM is implicated in the professional projects of the practitioners although the relationship is a complex one. Policy developments since the late 1980s had promoted the idea of the nurse/midwife as a 'Knowledgeable doer' - a practitioner with independence and responsibility. In this context, CAM provided a domain in which practitioners could not only exercise some autonomy but also reclaim feminised aspects of their practice which they feared had been lost. However, long-standing gendered power relations within health care, the uncertain status of CAM, changes in governance, and the relationship between femininity and professionalisation, together limited the success of their project.


Aim To explore the levels of neurotransmitter of sensory nerves and constrictor peptides of renin angiotensin system in renal vascular hyertensive rats, and the changes of these peptides after treatment with losartan or peridopril. Methods The 2 kidney, 1 cliped rats hypertensive model were used, and the plasma concentration of active peptides were determined by radioimmunoassay method. Results The plasma concentration of calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) was slightly raised in hypertensive rats, compared with sham operation group, and treatment with losartan or peridopril had markedly elevated plasma concentration of CGRP as well as angiotensin Ⅱ and rennin activity. Conclusions In the metaphase of renal vascular hypertension, the elevation of CGRP may be a compensation action due to increasing of blood pressure. Chronic treatment with losartan or peridopril not only affects the releasing of CGRP, but also activates the circular renin angiotensin system in renal vascular hypertension.


The main focus in most classical network optimization problems lies on performability. In these problems one usually does not consider the possibility that arcs or vertices may be removed from the given network due to failures or other reasons. However, many systems with an underlying network structure are not perfectly reliable and it is often of high interest to consider network models in settings where arcs and vertices may be removed. Unfortunately, relatively little is known about classical network optimization problems in a failure-prone setting. The thesis at hand deals with classical combinatorial optimization problems on networks in settings where arcs and vertices may be subject to removal. It contains results on four topics to be presented next. In all problems we consider, the arcs and vertcies that are removed, are all removed simultaneously. The first problem we consider, is the problem of estimating s-t reliabilities in acyclic digraphs. As long as the reliability to estimate is not too small, a crude Monte-Carlo approach can be used to obtain a good estimate with high probability. However, this method needs a tremendous amount of time to deliver good estimates for very small reliabilities. Small reliabilities often have to be estimated in models where one is interested in rare events with a high impact. We suggest a method allowing to estimate very small s-t reliabilities in large acyclic digraphs and present structural conditions on the input network under which the proposed algorithm is an FPRAS. The second problem that will be discussed is known as network flow


In this paper we describe the conventional design of ECG and EEG circuits and their software implementation using LabVIEW to carry out medical tests and provide patient-doctor interaction in case of physical absence of the doctor near the patient. In addition, an effort to develop an embedded prototype for abnormality identification is highlighted using LabVIEW. In this modern era, robots are performing an increasingly important role of enhancing patient safety in the hurried pace of clinics and hospitals where attention to details and reliability are essential. In recent years, robots are moving closer to patient care, compared to their previous role of providing services in the infrastructure of medicine. To develop a robotic prototyping based software programming which would be used for analyzing medical tests like Electrocardiography (ECG), Electroencephalography (EEG) and pulse rate measurement carrying out at a client location. The lack of availability of doctors near the patient and a lower patient to doctor ratio are serious problems faced in India and adversely affect the medical treatment to be provided to people. The doctor has no information about the patient's health condition when he is not physically present near the patient. The robotic system developed herein acts as a medium of communication between the patient and the doctor in case of physical absence of the doctor and also performs medical tests like ECG, EEG and pulse rate measurement when asked by the doctor to do so..


General Preface (D. Gabbay, P. Thagard and J. Woods) Contents Preface (Mohan Matthen and Christopher Stephens) List of Contributors I. Biography Darwin (Michael Ruse) Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (Robert A. Skipper, Jr) Haldane and the Emergence of Modern Evolutionary Theory (Sahotra. Sarkar) Sewall Wright (James F. Crow) Motoo Kimura (James F. Crow) II. Evolution Natural Selection (Christopher Stephens) Neutralism (Anya Plutynski) Levels of Selection (Robert A. Wilson) What is Evolvability (Kim Sterelny) Development: Three Grades of Ontogenetic Involvement (D.M. Walsh) Evolution and Normativity (Michael Bradie) Evolutionary Ethics (Catherine Wilson) III Genetics Genetic Analysis (Raphael Falk) The Development of Population Genetics (Margaret Morrison) Maximisation Principles in Evolutionary Biology (A.W.F. Edwards) Reductionism in Biology (Alex Rosenberg) Traits, Genes and Coding (Michael Wheeler) IV. Taxonomy Species, Taxonomy and Systematics (Marc Ereshefsky) Homology and Homoplasy (Brian Hall) Biological Conceptions of Race (Robin O. Andreasen) V. Special Topics Formalisations of Evolutionary Biology (Paul Thompson) Functions (Tim Lewens) Biological Approaches to Mental Representation (Karen Neander) Innateness (Andre Ariew) Artificial Life (Mark Bedau) Index


Recently, methods have been developed to remotely and rapid sensing soil electrical conductivity (EC) without disturbing using commercially available apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) sensors that are used extensively in precision agriculture. This study was carried out to to compare soil EC measurements from a contact and electrode-based sensor (VERIS 3100, both shallow (VERIS_sh) and deep (VERIS_dp) modes) and a noncontact, electromagnetic induction (EMI)-based sensor (Geonics EM38, both horizontal (EM38_h) and vertical (EM38_V) orientations). ECa data were collected on a 1 second interval in a data density of 830 to 1250 points per hectare. This study showed that while qualitatively similar, quantitatively differences were attributed to differences between the depth-weighted response functions for the four data types and the differences in sensing depth between the different sensors and data collection modes. In this research, the advantages of using EMI methods were found to be the ease of making measurements. In general, there was a big difference between EM38 and VERIS readings, however the VERIS_sh and VERIS_dp readings were somewhat equal. Highest correlations were generally found between EM38_h and EM38_v (r=0,712) however variation in VERIS 3100 readings was higher than EM38 readings. Very low correlations were found between VERIS_sh to EM38_h, VERIS_sh to EM38_v and VERIS_dp to EM38_v.


Common‐reflection surface is a method to describe the shape of seismic events, typically the slopes (dip) and curvature portions (traveltime). The most systematic approach to estimate the common‐reflection surface traveltime attributes is to employ a sequence of single‐variable search procedures, inheriting the advantage of a low computational cost, but also the disadvantage of a poor estimation quality. A search strategy where the common‐reflection surface attributes are globally estimated in a single stage may yield more accurate estimates. In this paper, we propose to use the bio‐inspired global optimization algorithm differential evolution to estimate all the two‐dimensional common‐offset common‐reflection surface attributes simultaneously. The differential evolution algorithm can provide accurate estimates for the common‐reflection surface traveltime attributes, with the benefit of having a small set of input parameters to be configured. We apply the differential evolution algorithm to estimate the two‐dimensional common‐reflection surface attributes in the synthetic Marmousi data set, contaminated by noise, and in a land field data with a small fold. By analysing the stacked and coherence sections, we could see that the differential evolution based common‐offset common‐reflection surface approach presented significant signal‐to‐noise ratio enhancement.


We formulate a pretrial negotiation problem as an infinite-horizon bargaining model with one-sided uncertainty and alternating offers, with the informed party having an outside option. The plaintiff has private information and also has an outside option of "going to court." The defendant moves first. We show that there exists a unique sequential equilibrium. In equilibrium, when the defendant makes an offer, all the plaintiffs whose net recovery from litigation is greater (smaller) than the offer, reject it (accept it) and go to court next period. Hence, along the equilibrium path, the game lasts at most two periods. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.


It is proved that the groups of order p~nq~m(m ≤2) are solvable groups by using Sylow theorem and given its structure.


Introduction. Translating fire-technical terms is a difficult task for a translator, since if the meaning of a word is conveyed incorrectly or inaccurately, the goal of translation - successful intercultural communication - cannot be achieved. The difficulty in achieving translation equivalence lies in linguistic lacuna of corresponding phenomena in Russia and abroad, as well as in the lack of knowledge in professional sphere due to the narrow focus of the field. In view of the need for interaction between Russia and foreign countries on fire safety issues, the problem of finding the right equivalences seems to be one of the most important.
Aim. The purpose of this article is a comparative analysis of fire-technical terms taken from authentic sources.
Methodology and research methods. The study was conducted by random sampling of terms from specialized texts. The authors relied on a comparative method to identify differences between the selected terms in two languages.
Results. The article analyzes the translation principles and transformations that are most often used when translating fire-technical texts. The conclusion of the expediency of applying this or that technique is made, and it is shown that the price that should be paid for a translation mistake is too high.
Scientific novelty. This work is intended to draw attention to lexical gaps formed in translation studies due to lack of knowledge in the sphere of fire-technical terms interlingual correspondence.
Practical significance. The study contributes to the development of efficient communication between professionals from different countries in the field of fire safety. The article may be of interest not only to translators, but also to technical experts, as it allows comparing instrumentarium used in different countries.


Response to Intervention (RTI) may create an opportunity for equitable approaches to special education evaluation, in part, through collaboration among general and special education teachers, who can combine their areas of expertise to better understand how to serve students' unique academic needs, particularly in underresourced schools serving diverse learners. Historically ineffective attempts to improve collaboration between general and special education, however, may pose challenges to effective RTI implementation. In this study, the author uses Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to examine how RTI implementation and the intersection of other context-specific conditions impact the way general and special educators work together at one public elementary school serving a large population of diverse learners. Findings indicate that, outside of referral meetings, RTI implementation was primarily a general education endeavor. The results hold implications for the way teacher education programs prepare general and special candidates to foster collaborative approaches to RTI in unique K-12 contexts.


Regarding the timing of supplementation, in France there is no recommendation for systematic iodine supplementation in all women planning a pregnancy. Our study targeted normal women seen in early pregnancy in a clinical setting, thus we had no access to women before pregnancy. A prospective randomized interventional study on supplementation before pregnancy was not feasible for us. Regarding smoking, which seems the main interest of Dinc et al. [1], we have the following comments. UIE in the first trimester was already lower in smokers; however, the numbers are small. We know well the interesting epidemiological paper by Vanderver et al. [6] reporting data of the NHANES mostly outside pregnancy. However, this is a very different study whose design does not really allow comparison with our study. The populations studied are different: US versus European (different policies of iodine prophylaxis), mostly outside pregnancy versus pregnant, unselected versus selected normal women in our case, etc. The effect of tobacco on thyroid function is very complex with some conflicting data. The NHANES concluded that iodine supplementation should be considered cautiously in US pregnant smokers, but mainly when UIE was >200 μg/l and particularly in cases of iodine excess. They stated that this was a 'new approach that needed further investigation'. Additional Dear Editor, We read with interest the comments and suggestions of Dinc et al. [1] regarding our paper [2] . The authors state that an iodine supplementation of 150 μg/day was not adequate in women included in our study. However, this dosage is the recommendation of experts from the ATA (150 μg/day supplementation [3] ) and the Endocrine Society (150–200 μg/day [4] ). Thus, the dosage we used in our study should be adequate. In addition, the initial urinary iodine excretion (UIE) of >100 μg/l (which reflects at equilibrium an average daily intake >150 μg/day [5] ) plus the 150-μg supplementation corresponding to a daily intake of around 300 μg is clearly above the minimum recommended 250 μg/day. Furthermore, UIE in our population showed that iodine deficiency was usually mild at the beginning; in the supplemented group in the third trimester, the median UIE reached 160 μg/l, suggesting iodine sufficiency. As in all studies, there is a wide range of values showing that some women remain with UIE below the theoretical 150-μg threshold. However, if UIE is the current reference tool for assessing iodine deficiency at the population level, it is not valid at the individual level, as it does not reflect a steady iodine status for a given woman [5] . Regarding the comment on kidney failure, this was not an issue in our population of healthy pregnant women. Received: April 9, 2013 Accepted: April 9, 2013 Published online: July 16, 2013


The invention relates to a method for increasing the user's convenience in an interactive voice interface system. The method according to the present invention includes the steps of building user-friendly increase information DB for storing information available to increase the user-friendliness to an interactive voice interface system drive, the event and thus to start the search of the enhancement information DB the usability If the step of setting the use conditions associated with the retrieved information, and an event for initiating a search of the enhancement information DB the user-friendly generation comprising the steps of: determining whether the searching the DB utilization conditions of the retrieved information associated with the event is satisfied, the If it is determined that the utilization conditions are satisfied and characterized in that it comprises the step of utilizing the retrieved information to the at least one process of the speech recognition, the input statement analyzed, communication processing, and generate print statement is performed in the system. Interactive voice interface systems, increased user-friendliness configuration information DB


Objective To investigate the change and significance of CCL18 level in serum of children with acute allergic asthma.Methods 52 children with acute allergic asthma were divided into 3 groups with severity,and the serum CCL18 level were measured respectively by ELISA.10 normal subjects as contro1.Results Serum CCL18 levels in moderate,severe group were significantly higher than that in control group(P0.01).Conclusion The level of serum CCL18 maybe related to the severity of asthma attack.CCL18 plays an important role in both pathogenesis and determination of asthma.


Acamprosate is an FDA‐approved medication for the treatment of alcoholism that is unfortunately only effective in certain patients. Although acamprosate is known to stabilize the hyper‐glutamatergic state in alcoholism, pharmacological mechanisms of action in brain tissue remains unknown. To investigate the mechanism of acamprosate efficacy, the authors employ a pharmacoproteomics approach using an animal model of alcoholism, type 1 equilibrative nucleoside transporter (ENT1) null mice. The results demonstrate that acamprosate treatment significantly decreased both ethanol drinking and preference in ENT1 null mice compared to that of wild‐type mice. Then, to elucidate acamprosate efficacy mechanism in ENT1 null mice, the authors utilize label‐free quantification proteomics comparing both genotype and acamprosate treatment effects in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). A total of 1040 protein expression changes are identified in the NAc among 3634 total proteins detected. The proteomics and Western blot result demonstrate that acamprosate treatment decreased EAAT expression implicating stabilization of the hyper‐glutamatergic condition in ENT1 null mice. Pathway analysis suggests that acamprosate treatment in ENT1 null mice seems to rescue glutamate toxicity through restoring of RTN4 and NF‐κB medicated neuroimmune signaling compared to wild‐type mice. Overall, pharmacoproteomics approaches suggest that neuroimmune restoration is a potential efficacy mechanism in the acamprosate treatment of certain sub‐populations of alcohol dependent subjects.


The purpose of this study was to analyze the kinetics variables of GRF by dtance type during forehand stroke. Eight high school tennis players, who have never been injured for last six months, in Busan were chosen for the study. They performed horizontal swing and vertical swing that it was done each five consecutive trial in the condition of square, semi-open and open stance. It was filmed by 6 video camera and used with 3-dimensional motion analyzer system and GRF system. The following kinetic variables were analyzed in relation to left leg and right leg GRF. The conclusion were as follow: 1. In square and semi-open stances, the horizontal ground reaction force was decreased at impact in left leg regardless of swing type, whereas open stance was increased at impact to the tiptoe in both legs. 2. In square and semi-open stances, the vertical ground reaction force was increased at impact in left leg regardless of swing types, whereas open stance was decreased at impact to vertical direction in both legs.


A numerical method based upon the finite element technique is described to determine the transformed wave field around artificial islands for regular unidirectional waves. The present work takes into account various aspects of wave transformation, including wave refraction, reflection, diffraction, shoaling and wave breaking, in a computer model which finally predicts the transformed wave heights and elevations at different locations. A modified version of the original two-dimensional mild slope equation, to include the energy dissipation from wave breaking has been used for this purpose along with criteria for the onset and cessation of wave breaking. Results are presented first for the cases where analytical solutions are available in order to check for accuracy and convergence of the present computer model. Since no previous results are available for the proper island geometries, the computer predictions are compared with measurements of the wave field around a model island in a laboratory' basin. In particular, the wave heights at specified points and the runup around the island are compared. The study indicates the need for including wave breaking in such an analysis and also suggests possible ways to calibrate certain features of the computer model for a better numerical prediction.


In MANETs, link failures are caused frequently due to node's mobility and use of unreliable wireless channels for data transmission. Multipath routing strategy can cope with the problem of the traffic overloads while balancing the network resource consumption. This article proposes an improved approach named DNDR (Dual Node-Disjoint Paths Routing) to enhance the network reliability and robustness. The scheme combines the characteristics of reversing AODV (R-AODV) strategy and On-Demand Node-Disjoint Multipath Routing protocol to determine available node-disjoint routes with minimum routing control overhead, meanwhile, it adds the backup routing strategy to make the process of data salvation more efficient in case of link failure. The results obtained through various simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in terms of route availability, control overhead and packet delivery ratio.


Objective: to determine levels of resilience among heart failure patients and its association with quality of life and depressive symptoms. Method: in this cross-sectional study involving 102 patients, data were collected from January to December 2019, by administering the following instruments: the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-Bref) questionnaire, the depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D), and the Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale. Pearson's Correlation Coefficient and Spearman's Correlation Coefficient tests were used to assess correlation among scale scores. Results: when associating the resilience scale with quality of life and depressive symptoms, the only significant association found was between the resilience scale and the HADS-D. Conclusion: in this study, the most resilient individuals were found not to have depressive symptoms. de Spearman y regresión logística múltiple. Resultados: el riesgo de violencia fue prevalente en ancianas con baja calidad de vida. Los ancianos con baja calidad de vida fueron 5,24 (IC = 3,04 - 9,05; p < 0,001) más propensos a estar en riesgo de violencia. Conclusión: se identificó una asociación estadísticamente significativa entre la calidad de vida y el riesgo de violencia entre los ancianos.


Two methods of improving the life and efficiency of the Pulsed Inductive Thruster (PIT) have been investigated. The first is a trade study of available switches to determine the best device to implement in the PIT design. The second is the design of a coil to improve coupling between the accelerator coil and the plasma. Experiments were done with both permanent and electromagnets to investigate the feasibility of implementing a modified Halbach array within the PIT to promote better plasma coupling and decrease the unused space within the thruster. This array proved to promote more complete coupling on the edges of the coil where it had been weak in previous studies. Numerical analysis was done to predict the performance of a PIT that utilized each suggested switch type. This model utilized the Alfven velocity to determine the critical mass and energy of these theoretical thrusters. Aerospace Engineering Thesis Defense Propellant Mass Scaling and Decoupling and Improved Plasma Coupling in a Pulsed Inductive Thruster Taylor Raines Advisor: Timothy Takahashi June 8, 2018; 1 PM; ERC 490 School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy


Background: Systemic corticosteroids, a mainstay of treatment for severe dermatosis, are associated with systemic complications. Adverse effects of corticosteroids to bone represent a significant adverse effect that, is poorly understood and poorly managed. Objectives: The purpose of this article is to educate dermatologists to the current understanding of the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment options available for bone complications of corticosteroids. Results: Virtually all patients chronically exposed to high-dose corticosteroid therapy lose bone mass and are at risk for osteoporotic fractures. In addition, osteonecrosis is an unpredictable complication of corticosteroid therapy that may occur with even low-dose corticosteroids. Conclusion: Optimal risk management of corticosteroid therapy includes understanding the risk factors associated with bone complications and improving communication with patients.


Modern economic conditions dictate new rules for companies to cooperate with other participants of the market, deal with governmental bodies as well as to collaborate with scientific organizations. Effective professional communication and training specialists to maintain proper information circulation within the company and business community reduce production costs and make a competitive advantage.


The flexibility matrix method for damage identification of truss structure is suggested in this paper. The first modal parameters obtained by dynamic measuring are needed only in this method. The finite\|element method is used to formulate the eigen\|equation of truss in flexibility matrix form. The flexibility of truss bars would be changed if the damage is occurred in any of these bars, then the physical parameters of the truss can be derived by expressing the changes of flexibility as the first\|order term in the Taylor series expansion of flexibility. Thus, the damaged rods of the truss and degree of the damage can be identified. The effectiveness of this approach is verified by a numerical example.


We read with great interest the recent prospective randomized study by Yin et al .,1 which suggested that the combination of perindopril or losartan with low-dose amiodarone is more effective than amiodarone alone for the prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence in patients with lone paroxysmal AF. The investigators proposed several underlying mechanisms by which the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) blockade with these agents might prevent AF recurrence, such as …


The PetSavers photo competition is now open! 'Melting moments' is this year's theme and you are invited to capture an image of your pet(s) at one of those special moments when they melt your heart.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) This short document contains answers to those Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and provides links to additional help, advice, guidance and support.


The traditional motivation methods were suitable for those organizations which were in need of employees' hand work, however because of the dynamic and complexity of current competitive environment, organizations requirement is increased for attitude and creativity force of employees. Therefore identifying new methods of motivation in employees with aim of maintaining and enforcing the competitive dominance is a necessity. Current research focuses on analyzing effective factors on employees' empowering and it introduces some solutions to improve this empowerment in defense industries organization. In turn, besides describing the solutions, the effective factors and dimensions, different empowerment ways will also be investigated. In this research authority submission, group making, independency, providing information and cooperative management in decision making will be assessed as the main empowerment methods which meanwhile, research results confirm what is stated above. On one hand, by performing gap analysis on these aspects, we analyze their status on concerned organization, more carefully. Finally, by utilizing achieved results some suggestions are made toward empowering the employees.


The phenomenon of natural convection in rectangular cavities of different aspect ratios is considered. The water is considered a base fluid associated with copper nanoparticles. The flow is induced only due to buoyancy force that arises by heating the right side of the cavity. The left side is set cold while the other walls are assumed to be at zero flux temperature. The governing equations of the present communication are simulated by the finite difference method. This study explores the impacts of Rayleigh number (Ra), Prandtl number (Pr), nanoparticles volume fraction ([Formula: see text]), and aspect ratio (A). Different combinations of these parameters are investigated. Compared to other parameters, Rayleigh number (10[Formula: see text]), aspect ratio ([Formula: see text]), and volume fraction of nanoparticles ([Formula: see text]), A is found more effective on the flow field and isotherms. Regression curves are determined for the mean Nusselt number (Nuavg) as a function of Ra for different cases. It is found that Nuavg more precisely fits the exponential function. Also, it is found that Nuavg decreases as the values of A increase. But, [Formula: see text], shows the opposite behavior. It is noticed that when the A of the cavity grows, so does the mean heat transfer Nu. With rising Ra, the local heat transfer NuL decreases and the heat transfer rises. In the case of the square cavity, the regression coefficient for Nuavg is found to be 0.3673 and 0.2514 for an exponential function.


We introduce a physically plausible mathematical model for a large class of BRDFs. The new model is as simple as the well‐known Phong model, but eliminates its disadvantages. It gives a good visual approximation for many practical materials: coated metals, plastics, ceramics, retro‐reflective paints, anisotropic and retro‐reflective materials, etc. Because of its illustrative properties it can be used easily in most commercial software and because of its low computational cost it is practical for virtual reality. The model is based on a special basic BRDF definition, which meets the requirements of reciprocity and of energy conservation. Then a class of BRDFs is constructed from this basic BRDF with different weight functions. The definition of such weight functions requires the user to specify the profile of the highlights, from which the weight function is obtained by derivation. It is also demonstrated how importance sampling can be used with the new BRDFs.


T-cell recognition of cancer neoantigens is important for effective immune checkpoint blockade therapy, and there is increasing interest in developing personalized tumor neoantigen vaccines. Previous studies utilizing RNA and synthetic long peptide neoantigen vaccines in preclinical and early-phase clinical studies have shown immune responses predominantly driven by MHC class II CD4+ T cells. Although it has been established that CD4+ T cells are able to recognize tumor neoantigens, the majority of naturally occurring tumor antigen-specific killer T cells identified in patients have been of CD8+ origin, indicating that additional immunization strategies aimed to stimulate neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cells may be useful. Here, we report the first preclinical study utilizing a synthetic DNA vaccine platform to target tumor neoantigens in mice. For this study, we identified neoepitopes by sequencing syngeneic mouse tumors, and designed optimized DNA plasmids encoding long strings of neoepitopes separated by highly efficient cleavage sites preserving epitope integrity. We tested the immunogenicity of 84 independent neoepitopes encoded into optimized DNA plasmids delivered by adaptive electroporation in mice in vivo. We observed that this approach generated robust T-cell immunity against a similar proportion of epitopes compared to other vaccine platforms (20/84, 24%). Strikingly, however, the synthetic neoantigen DNA vaccine platform generated a much larger proportion of CD8+ T-cell responses compared to the prior studies. Synthetic neoantigen DNA vaccines generated 75% CD8+ only or CD4/CD8+ T-cell responses, and 25% CD4+ only T-cell responses, showing a dramatic and important CD8+ T-cell bias. Inclusion of only high-affinity MHC class I ( Citation Format: Elizabeth K. Duperret, Alfredo Perales-Puchalt, Regina Stoltz, G.H. Hiranjith, Nitin Mandloi, James Barlow, Amitabha Chaudhuri, Niranjan Y. Sardesai, David B. Weiner. Synthetic DNA multi-neoantigen vaccine drives predominately MHC class I CD8+ T cell-mediated effector immunity impacting tumor challenge [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy; 2018 Nov 27-30; Miami Beach, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2020;8(4 Suppl):Abstract nr B67.