This paper presents a novel approach to the construction of the lowest order $H(\mathrm{curl})$ and $H(\mathrm{div})$ exponentially-fitted finite element spaces ${\mathcal{S}_{1^-}^{k}}~(k=1,2)$ on 3D simplicial mesh for corresponding convection-diffusion problems. It is noteworthy that this method not only facilitates the construction of the functions themselves but also provides corresponding discrete fluxes simultaneously. Utilizing this approach, we successfully establish a discrete convection-diffusion complex and employ a specialized weighted interpolation to establish a bridge between the continuous complex and the discrete complex, resulting in a coherent framework. Furthermore, we demonstrate the commutativity of the framework when the convection field is locally constant, along with the exactness of the discrete convection-diffusion complex. Consequently, these types of spaces can be directly employed to devise the corresponding discrete scheme through a Petrov-Galerkin method.


The high spectral resolution sounding suite instruments on EOS Aqua are expected to provide estimated atmospheric profiles with higher accuracy and better vertical resolution. To validate and test it's performance with it's orbital measurements, temperature profiles at 101 pressure levels, up to 0.005 hPa, with 1km vertical resolution at troposphere, were retrieved on different types of terrain with different spectral bands in the middle latitude area by using a three-layered feed-forward neural networks with back-propagation algorithm. Results show that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has a measurable impact on the retrieval accuracy which is corresponding to the spectral bands used in performing retrievals. A promising approach to the elimination of this effect is to apply additional predictors which are non-satellite observed (e.g. surface altitude).


Observations are fundamental in science as they has to include cognitive activities based on the perceived sensations. These activities have to be transformed to written or spoken language. In orde ...


This paper reviews a selection of international collaborative efforts in the production of information services and attempts to characterize modes of cooperation. Information systems specifically discussed include: international nuclear information system (INIS); Nuclear Science Abstract (NSA); EURATOM; AGRIS; AGRINDEX; Information Retrieval Limited (IRL); IFIS (International Food Information Service); Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS); MEDLARS; and TITUS. 3 methods of international information transfer are discussed: commercial transactions; negotiated (bilateral) barter arrangements; and contribution to internationally managed systems. Technical, economic, and professional objectives support the rationale for international cooperation. It is argued that economic and political considerations, as much as improved technology or information transfer, will determine the nature of collaboration in the future.


Summary form only given, as follows. We present a mapping of Twofish encryption on the MorphoSys reconfigurable computer (RC) system that supports a high degree of parallelism through the 64-PE RC array integrated into the hardware design. This algorithm was chosen as it represents a promising cipher and is one of the five finalists for the Advanced Encryption Standards (AES). With today's growing needs of security on the Internet, there is an ever increasing demand for real-time implementation of cryptographic algorithms. Performance analysis of the Twofish algorithm mapping is also provided.


The objective of this research was to investigate the impact of temperature-humidity Index (THI) on milk yield (MY) and fat percentage (FP) trend of Holstein dairy cattle in Mediterranean climate of Iran. Data included 348,868 and 302,851 test-day records, respectively for milk yield and fat percentage from 42,781 and 38,829 cows, respectively. Data were collected from 9 provinces located in the Mediterranean region of Iran between 2001 and 2016. The climate information from the nearest weather stations to each herd was used to calculate THI. Then the average of daily THI for 3 days before test date was considered as an environmental descriptor for milk production traits. Significance test using GLM procedure was applied to consider fixed effects in the model. Random regression model using Bayesian methodology was applied to estimate breeding values (EBV) across different combinations of days in milk (DIM) and THI via and subsequently, genetic trends for production traits were estimated along year of birth and THI values. The results showed that in addition to re-ranking of sires in different DIM, the different ranks were observed across different THI. In the other word, animals had different responses along THI and sires with higher EBVs for lower THI had lower EBVs for higher THI. Across THI, the re-ranking of sires for FP was more considerable than for MY. In other words, animal for FP were more sensitive in response to climate changes. For both traits, negative genetic trends were observed with increasing THI. In addition, in contrast with MY, a negative trend for FP was obtained based on year of birth. It could be concluded that THI has substantial effect on milk production traits and including this factor with applying random regression model could be useful to investigate heat tolerance of dairy cattle herds in Mediterranean climate.


We investigated short-term fin tissues cultivation of Pseudorasbora parva by explant technique,and studied its Ag-NORs,and C-banding patterns at the same time.Results are as follows: 1) Cells from the fin tissues of P.parva migrate out around tissues at 6th day through MEM medium,the most suitable one,and are fibroblast-like during cultivation;2) A pair of Ag-NORs is found on the end of No.23 chromosome short arm,and the NORs are polymorphic,while no Ag-NORs combination has happened in this fish;3) C-bands are located mainly in the terminal and centromere regions of chromosomes,and a few in the interstitial regions.In particular,most of the short arm on chromosome No.23 shows strong positive C-bands,which is corresponded with Ag-NORs region.


This study discussed about students' motivation in using google site as tool in teaching writing. This study used both quantitative and qualitative method. The instrument consist of observation, questionnaire and interview. After analyzing the findings and discussion in the preceding chapter, it can be concluded that utilizing Google Site as an online learning platform stimulates students' motivation in learning writing. The students demonstrated a significant degree of motivation when learning Descriptive Text through Google Site. They were enthusiastic about learning English and were supportive of using Google Site as an effective online learning medium. To motivate students, it is essential for teachers to employ diverse media, as evidenced by the results of this study, which show that using the Google Site application motivates students to learn English, as demonstrated by the dominant extrinsic motivation among the students.


After chronic problems of Turkish economy start to gradually disappear, the current account deficit problem attracts more and more attention. The current account deficit becomes the most important risk for the economy because it gets unsustainable last five year. It seems like the main reason of current account deficit problem of the Turkish economy is the lack of investment-saving balance. Savings-investment imbalance does not result from high-level of investment but from extraordinary low savings. For removing current account deficit, increasing national savings is crucial. For increasing the volume of savings, there are some critical elements such as raising income level, ensuring fairness in income distribution and reducing import dependency in the industry. The depth and effectiveness of financial market, per-capita income, taxation, real interest rates and demographical factors such as dependency rate, level of education and urbanization are discussed to affect the volume of saving rate. A solution based on new private pension system can cure the increasing saving rate problems in the Turkish economy


Brain function in severly malnourished children was assessed, using computer analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to photic driving at different frequencies during slow-wave sleep. Percentage power in the classical EEG broad-band domains was derived from temporo-occipital records. Ten malnourished infants (5 - 23 months), age and sex-matched with 10 healthy controls (CON), having no neurological involvement or previous malnutrition, were studied. The malnourished group was tested on admission (ADM) and on discharge (DIS) from hospital. A stronger mean peak response to photic driving for the narrow band spectra was observed for the malnourished group, but this difference did not attain a level of statistical significance. This observation indicates a reduced efficacy of inhibitory processes in the malnourished brain, a condition also observed in the brain of malnourished animals. Significant differences were, however, found in the alpha-1 band for the undriven EEG, and in the summed alpha/beta-1 power ratio while driving at 8 Hz, between the malnourished and control groups. ADM and DIS groups did not differ significantly in the trend towards reduction from ADM to DIS to CON. These findings indicate that, in malnutrition (1) EEG measures can index the deviation of brain function from normality, and (2) physical properties relating to brain function remain abnormal despite anthropometric catch-up (AU)


+Kinneberg, K RC; Drexler, J W; Dyment, N; Powell, H P; Shearn, J T; Butler, D L +University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH; The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH email@example.com INTRODUCTION: Using functional tissue engineering, our lab has produced tendon repair tissue which matches the normal patellar tendon force-displacement curve up to 32% of failure. However, this repair tissue does not match normal PT stiffness for more strenuous activities, which may reach 40% of failure. To improve the biomechanics of our MSC-collagen sponge tissue engineered constructs (TECs) and tissue engineered repairs, our lab incorporated the glycosaminoglycan chondroitin-6-sulfate (C6S) into a type I collagen sponge. When mechanically stimulated with 100 cycles/day, C6S incorporation increased TEC linear stiffness (p = 0.016). However, mRNA expression was orders of magnitude lower than our previous work using a commercially-derived collagen sponge (CD-COL; Kensey-Nash). As a result of this difference, we examined the structure of the different scaffold materials. While the CD-COL sponges were composed of thick reticulations of collagen with large pores and a wide pore size distribution, the COL-C6S sponges contained thin collagen reticulations and smaller, more homogeneous pores. Additionally, the average pore diameter within the CD-COL sponge was approximately three times that of COL-C6S. These results suggest that other factors, like pore size, may be important to control in scaffold materials. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of pore size and mechanical stimulation on in vitro linear stiffness and collagen type I mRNA expression for a COL-C6S TEC.


The invention is directed to a process for the preparation of thiocarboxylate silane comprising reacting an aqueous solution of a salt of a thiocarboxylic acid with a haloalkyl silane in the presence of a solid inorganic oxide-supported phase transfer catalyst. The invention is also directed to a process for the preparation of an aqueous solution of a salt of a thiocarboxylic acid which comprises reacting an aqueous solution of a sulfide and/or hydrosulfide with an acid halide in the presence of a said solid catalyst.


The electron impact ionization cross sections for excited states of Ne like Ar
8+ and Y 29+ ions are given by the detailed configuration calculation using a Distorted
Wave Born Exchange (DWBE) approximation. The results show that it is important to use the
detailed configuration calculation for highly charged and excited ions.


In the 1990s, with the identifi cation of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) and the risk of occupational transmission,
conservative biosafety measures in handling rodents potentially infected with hantavirus have been established for
researchers in the fi eld. Recently, with the advanced knowledge about the biology and etiology of HPS and based on
serological surveys for professionals who regularly handle rodents, it has been observed that the risk of contracting
the disease is exceedingly low. Groups of professionals in the fi eld of zoology and ecology, among others, began to
question the need for an adaptation of conservative protective measures previously published. In this context, taking
into account some unintended negative and undesirable consequences during fi eldwork with the overprescription of
preventative measures, in 2008, the American Society of Mammalogists provided revised guidelines for personnel
working with rodents potentially infected with viruses that cause HPS in humans, considering that the level of HPS
protection should be proportional to the level of risk exposure observed in many fi eld activities.


Title Why do some Irish drink so much? Authors(s) Delaney, Liam; Kapteyn, Arie; Smith, James P. Publication date 2008-04-17 Series UCD Geary Institute Discussion Paper Series; WP/10/2008; UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper Series; WP08/09 Publisher University College Dublin. Geary Institute Link to online version http://geary.ucd.ie/images/Publications/WorkingPapers/gearywp200810.pdf Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/592


The results are given of experiments on the cultivation of the yeast Candida tropicalis on light-oil fractions of coal-tar. It has been shown that a light fraction can serve as the sole source of carbon and energy. Surface active agents stimulate the growth of the yeast on the light-oil fractions of hard-coal tar.


An experiment was conducted at college of agriculture, Nagpur during 2006-07 on comparative study the different methods of composting by using wheat straw. The experiment was laid out by randomized block design in seven treatments and replicated thrice. The different methods of composting were significant effect on granule size, humic substances, recovery and economics of wheat straw compost at maturity. The significantly highest humic and fulvic acid were recorded in Nagpur method (3.28 and 23.21%) followed by MA method (3.02 and 23.19%) and lowest in local method (1.66 and 20.34%), at maturity of compost. The recovery of compost was maximum in aerobic composting methods i.e. Nadep (54.33%), MA (48.52%), Nagpur (48.24%) and Heap (46.72%) than anaerobic composting methods i.e. Trench (42.95%), Pit (41.46%) and Local (27.99%). On the basis of initial construction cost the economics worked out, the maximum gross and net monetary return were recorded in Nagpur and MA composting methods Nadep, Trench, Pit, Heap and Local methods of composting. Similarly, maximum benefit: cost ratio was recorded by Nagpur and Ma (1.60) compost methods over other methods of composting.


Student management is an arrangement or regulation of all activities related to students from entry to graduation. Student management aims to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of school services so that the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students develop through the channeling of aspirations, hopes and fulfillment of needs. One of the student management services is extracurricular activities, namely curricular activities carried out by students outside of class hours. This activity aims to develop and actualize the potential of students optimally, strengthen the personality of students to avoid negative influences, and prepare students to become citizens who are noble, democratic, respect human rights in order to create civil society. This research includes field research using a qualitative approach. In data collection. The author uses interview, observation, and documentary methods, and data analysis techniques use triangulation techniques, diligent and objective observation, and peer checking through discussion. The results showed: (1) Student Management at SMA A. Wahid Hasyim Tebuireng Jombang was carried out as much as possible to facilitate and serve students so that they could produce students who were in accordance with educational goals and in accordance with what was expected by their environment; 2. Developing the potential of students is carried out by providing space for potential development and facilities for students to develop hard-skills and soft-skills through extracurricular activities: 3. Extracurricular activities are integrated with the curriculum of the education unit and are managed specifically by the student affairs department in collaboration with curriculum field. Planning begins with mapping students' abilities and interests, recruiting new extracurricular members, compiling a program for one semester; implementation includes routine training, participation in competitions, and documentation of competition results; Supervision is carried out in the absence of members and trainers, monthly evaluations, reports and assessments every semester


Research entitled gloves as a symbol of cultural communication is to
review how the Madurese positioned sheath. Madura has a unique pattern of
cultural diversity, community Madura with all the shortcomings and strengths as a
text reading by people outside Madura itself, so that the Madurese birth stereotype
synonymous with rude behavior, bad-tempered, like carok, brash, and did not pay
attention ekstrovet how to dress. Not just revolve around mental and behavior,
more than that, how the surrounding culture in Madura. Madura island known for
its attention to ethnic or religious values are strong., Because a strong
understanding of religion as well. The study did not focus on themes such as
character and religious thought of the Madurese, but rather how the impact of
religious thought patterns and how to dress everyday of the Madurese. Talk the
clothing is so important to see the ideology behind it. In theories of fashion or the
fashion to say that traditional clothing is part of the process in which groups of
people construct reproduce positions of power and intentions, or clothing can be
formulated as a set of beliefs, values and ideas from users. If so, why the
Madurese culture positioned sheath as clothing, because of religious
understanding the background of the surrounding culture.
Research on social behavior is to use ethnographic methods, interviewing
techniques and see firsthand the cultural events that occurred in the Madurese.
How to wear a sarong and Madurese in any activity inherent in everyday society
gloves Madura. Observations the authors point out, that the tradition of wearing a
sarong is condensed in Madura, and even gloves were found not only in religious
rituals, in their daily life and society put on gloves. Everything is as it is based by
a strong understanding of the religion which the construction of boarding schools.
In addition, they wear sarung because the habit of boarding.


We look at complete minimal surfaces of finite total curvature in R^4. Similarly to the case of complex curves in C^2 we introduce their link at infinity; we derive the writhe number at infinity which gives a formula for the total normal curvature of the surface. The knowledge of the link at infinity can sometimes help us determine if a surface has self-intersection and we illustrate this idea by looking at genus zero surfaces of small total curvature.


Features of experimental design impose auxiliary hypotheses on experimenters. Hertwig & Ortmann rightly argue that the ways some variables are implemented in psychology cloud results, whereas the different implementations in economics provide for more robust results. However, not all design variables support this general conclusion. The repetition of trials may confuse results depending on what theory is being tested. We explore this in the case of simple bargaining games.


Fruit infection by Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Doidge 1920) Dye 1978 was monitored by scanning electron microscopy and by bacterial counts. Possible sites for bacterial penetration were through dead flowers and by proliferation of bacteria in the wart (small protuberance) area. Bacterial multiplication was observed in all warts of young, mature, and ripened fruits. Bacterial cells were bound to the fruit surface by fibrillar material. On the fruit surface, bacteria multiplied in small aggregates, submerged in slime. The slime consisted mainly of sucrose units. At later stages of disease development, the slime covered the entire fruit surface in young fruits. Typical scab symptoms appeared only in leaves of inoculated plants, whereas buds, flowers, and fruits of various sizes were symptomless, but later shed; shedding was strongest in young buds. In more mature and ripened fruits, bacterial numbers decreased and there was less shedding. Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria could be detected, ...


As a comprehensive agricultural association, modern Japan Agricultural Cooperatives are well-known around the globe. Various services are provided by it, such as sale, peddling, credit, insurance, farming instruction, welfare and so on. With more and more elderly people being employed in rural areas, Japan Agricultural Cooperatives began to carry out welfare services as well. Welfare services mainly consist of insurance service and volunteer activity for the elderly, which work well in the rural areas. Currently the number of labor force is shrinking and the number of elderly is on the rise in rural areas in China. To solve the problem of supporting the aged, China can draw on the experience of Welfare services for the elderly in Japan.


[Objective] It is difficult to calculate critical depth of arched section tunnel for its complex geometrical shape.The aim was to find a direct calculating formula for critical water depth to arched section tunnel.[Method] Using a mathematics transformation method and the theory of optimization and regression to deal with the basis equation of the critical depth in arched section tunnel,a new brief and exact direct formula was derived in this study.[Result] This method was simpler and more accurate than other approximate methods with a maximum error of less than 0.33% in the utility range(ratio of critical depth to arch radius of 1.13-1.85).[Conclusion] So,it will be useful in engineering practice and in course of compiling handbook of hydraulic structure design


Preface 1. Introduction 2. Solving linear programs 3. Duality through examples 4. Duality theory 5. Applications of duality 6. Solving integer programs 7. Nonlinear optimization Appendix A. Computational complexity References Index.


Objective To evaluate the role of urinary type Ⅳ collagen and urinary laminin LN(LN) in screening diabetic nephropathy.Methods The urinary levels of Ⅳ and LN were measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in 143 cases with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with the course over 5 years and in 103 normal controls (NC).The sensitivity and specificity of urinary Ⅳ and LN,UAlb/cre and urinary creatinine for diabetic nephropathy diagnosis were calculated and ROC curve was drawed.The area under curve of ROC of urinary Ⅳ and LN was compared with that of Alb/Cr in normal urinary albumin group of T2DM.Results The levels of Ⅳ and LN in group A(Alb/Cr30mg/g) and group B(Alb/Cr 30- 300 mg/g) were significantly higher than those in NC(P0.05).The upper limit for the nomal referance of Ⅳ and LN were 18.9 ng/mL and 130.33 ng/mL respectively.In A group,AUC_Ⅳ (0.749) was larger than AUC_(Alb/Cr).(0.698) when Alb of 16 mg/L was a cut point.Conclusions The level of urinary Ⅳ and LN is a useful marker in screening DN.The urinary Ⅳ18.9 ng/ml and/or LN130.33 ng/mL in T2DM course beyond 5 years may be an indicator for DN.


'Mabel' [1] is a retrospective narrative of encounters between a young, newly qualified GP (Peter Tate) and an elderly heart sink patient, Mabel. Many GPs could tell similar tales; of a house where one is advised not to sit down or of a patient who doesn't seem to want to change or improve their state, but how can we use such stories for teaching purposes? Story telling has always been part of medical teaching and practice. The use of narrative, particularly that of the patient, is in resurgence and increasingly recognised as important in teaching and learning. Shapiro and Gianakos [2] describe the use of narrative when teaching medical students as an attempt to humanise the patient and to take what may in the first instance be seen as alien, revolting or absurd and reframe that as ordinary and understandable. Teachers describe the use of reflection upon narrative as a way of helping younger professionals explore challenging issues. McDrury [3] describes an episode where a teacher felt they trod close to professional boundaries and discussion of the story helped resolve the situation. For those learning about reflection and professionalism, using personal stories, while inherently more powerful, can be very threatening and the emotional impact of the reflection can inhibit learning. Using 'safe' stories that the group can relate to allows the exploration of sensitive topics.


A method is proposed for preparing granulated ThO{sub 2} from its salt solutions by using cryogenics and solid-state conversion. It includes the following operations: dispersion of the starting solution in liquid N{sub 2}, preparation of cryogranules of the required size by imposing a certain vibrational frequency on the filler and charging the resulting drops in a DC field, solid-state conversion of the Th salts into the hydroxide by treating the cryogranules with cold NH{sub 3} solution and drying and calcining the hydroxide granules to prepare the granulated ThO{sub 2}. An experimental apparatus was used to determine the conditions and develop the optimal procedures for preparing the granulated ThO{sub 2}. The mechanisms of conversion of the Th(OH){sub 4} cryogranules into ThO{sub 2} was investigated by using thermal analysis.


This paper presents the steady state parametric analysis of the solid oxide fuel cell and micro gas turbine hybrid system based on the IPSEpro software. The characteristic of the novel hybrid system is that both the fuel entering the heat exchanger reformer (HER) and air entering the fuel cell are preheated by mixing with the anode exhaust and cathode exhaust respectively, and thus the normally used heat exchangers can be cut. The heat exchange reformer is introduced for methane reforming. The analysis of the effects of methane reforming degree and the fuel utilization on the hybrid system performance is performed. The efficiency of the hybrid system is up to 67.3% at the design point. The results show the novel hybrid system has great potential for the practical application.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


An improved variable-fidelity optimization algorithm for the simulation-driven design of microwave structures is presented. It exploits a set of electromagnetic-based models of increasing discretization density. These models are sequentially optimized with the optimum of the 'coarser' model being the initial design for the 'finer' one. The found optimum is further refined using a response surface approximation model constructed from the coarse-discretization simulation data. In this work, the computational efficiency of the variable-fidelity algorithm is enhanced by employing a novel algorithm for optimizing the coarse-discretization models. This allows reduction of the overall design time by up to 50% compared to the previous version. The presented technique is particularly suitable for problems where simulation-driven design is the only option, for example, ultra wideband and dielectric resonator antennas. Operation of the presented approach is demonstrated using two examples of antennas and a microstrip filter. In all cases, the optimal design is obtained at a low computational cost corresponding to a few high-fidelity simulations of the structure.


Image fusion has become crucial part of medical di agnosis. This paper gives introduction to image fusion methods based on wavelet transform. Fusion of CT scanned images and MRI images using multi resolution wavelet transform with necessary preproc essing of it is proposed. It also compares the perf ormance of the various types of wavelet basis families used an d the different fusion rules used to fuse the appro ximation and detail wavelet coefficients.


Blood is a body fluid that circulates through the body through a network of vessels to support the vital functions (e.g., nutrition, oxygenation, immunity) of all organs. Blood is a two-phase suspension: (1) the liquid plasma, an aqueous solution of organic molecules, proteins, and salt, and (2) solid corpuscles such as normal and abnormal cells, their microparticles, and aggregates. Normal blood consists of erythrocytes [red blood cells (RBCs)], leukocytes [white blood cells (WBCs)], and platelets. Blood may also carry a variety of abnormal cells (e.g., circulating tumor cells [CTCs], bacteria, leukemic cells), and viruses and, thus, disseminate a disease from one organ to another.

Owing to the overwhelming majority of RBCs, their red color, and their ability to absorb light at specific wavelengths, blood vessels and blood flow can be visualized and detected without labeling in a whole body. This advantage of blood has been extensively used to develop in vivo assays for diagnosis of blood vessels and blood flow using different modifications of optical (e.g., transmission and fluorescent microscopies; multiphoton microscopy) and laser-based (e.g., Doppler, laser speckle, and photoacoustic methods) techniques.

Laser speckle and Doppler effect based methods addressed to blood flow dynamics are based on measurements of the correlation and spectral characteristics of fluctuations of scattered light at the diffraction region of the focused Gaussian beam and their application to measurements of blood or lymph flow in a single vessel. On one hand, this scattering phenomenon is treated as inhomogeneous dynamic biospeckles or, with some conditions, speckled biospeckles by means of the interpretation of speckle fluctuations. On the other hand, the same phenomenon is discussed with relation to the spectral broadening of Doppler shifts by means of the interpretation of the Doppler effect. This means that there are different possible approaches that are used to interpret the above-mentioned scattering phenomenon. Therefore, to consider the relation of the Doppler effect and the speckle fluctuations is meaningful for understanding the phenomenon from different points of view. In this section, we briefly discuss the interrelation between the Doppler and speckle techniques for general cases of measurements of blood flows in a single vessel.


Abstract. To investigate the persistence of flea larvicidal activity in the immediate environment of cats treated with imidacloprid, eggs of the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis felis Bouché (Siphonaptera: Pulicidae), from untreated donor cats, were incubated on samples of fleece blanket taken from the floor of cages used by treated or untreated cats for a total of 10 or 20 6‐h periods over 2–4 weeks, respectively. Sufficient imidacloprid accumulated during these periods to reduce the emergence of adult fleas by 94.7–97.6% when the blankets were tested after 18 weeks' storage at room temperature. A typical laundry procedure (washing with detergent at 50°C and low temperature tumble drying) removed this biological activity. Unwashed control blankets did not support the flea life‐cycle as effectively as washed blankets or a sand substrate.


A design based on the Xilinx Virtex-6 FPGA embedded PCI Express Core is presented,which implement the DMA read and write initiatively launched by the PCI Express board for high-speed data transfer between PC and PCI Express board. The design has been debugged and verified on the Xilinx evaluation board ML605. With a DMA write memory speed up to 1 520 MB / s,the design can meet the requirements of high-speed storage system.


The rambling aesthetic style originating from Zong Baihua has been receiving attentiong of the academic field.While most of the studies focus on its connotations and implications,the cause of its formation is often disregarded.Through the presentation of Zong Baihua's life attitude and the exploration of three aspects of his On Shi Shuo Xin Yu and the Aesthtic Tendency of Jin Dynasty:the cut-in angle,the content in life and the expression fashion,the paper holds that Zong Baihua not only was an aesthete in life but also brought aethetism into his special study manner:taking his life attitude into academic studies,seeing art as the content of life and expaining the essence of art through life.


One of the critical steps in analytics for big data is creating a human annotated ground truth. Crowdsourcing has proven to be a scalable and costeffective approach to gathering ground truth data, but most annotation tasks are based on the assumption that for each annotated instance there is a single right answer. From this assumption it has always followed that ground truth quality can be measured in inter-annotator agreement, and unfortunately crowdsourcing typically results in high disagreement. We have been working on a different assumption, that disagreement is not noise but signal, and that in fact crowdsourcing can not only be cheaper and scalable, it can be higher quality. In this paper we present a framework for continuously gathering, analyzing and understanding large amounts of gold standard annotation disagreement data. We discuss the experimental results demonstrating that there is useful information in human disagreement on annotation tasks. Our results show .98 accuracy in detecting low quality crowdsource workers, and .87 F-measure at recognizing useful sentences for training relation extraction systems.


opposition party Frodebu (Front pour la ddmocratie au Burundi) decisively beat the former single party Uprona (Union pour le progres national) during the June-July 1993 presidential and parliamentary elections. Frodebu's leader, Melchior Ndadaye, was both the first democratically elected, and the first Hutu, president in the country's history. On 21 October, 1993, the Tutsi-dominated army staged a coup and killed a number of Frodebu leaders, including Ndadaye. Massive violence immediately erupted all over the country. Tutsi and even Hutu sympathizers of Uprona were killed, while both the army and local Tutsi attacked Hutu and Frodebu members. By the end of the year, about 50,000 people were dead, more or less as many Hutu as Tutsi.


Generation of higher harmonics with high average output power is necessary for numerous applications in industry and science. Particularly pulsed driven solid state lasers based on neodymium doped active media are powerful sources for highly efficient frequency conversation. In this paper, SHG in a MOPA system with fiber phase conjugate mirror is demonstrated. An average output power of 124 W is achieved at 540 nm.


The study presented herein documents procedures to assess uncertainty in shear wave velocity determined via SASW, and demonstrates use of these uncertainty estimates to guide the inversion process to provide a quality, realistic shear wave velocity profile. Based upon the analyses performed, the inversion protocol guided by uncertainty estimates is shown to successfully invert dispersion data. For the site example presented, the trend in shear wave velocities determined via the protocol is quite consistent with the material classification and standard penetration test results available for the site. It is shown that uncertainty in shear wave velocity is a function of the number of soil layers used in the inversion. As the number of layers increases, uncertainty in shear wave velocity also increases. The results also suggest that the layer resolution of SASW inversion on soil sites is approximately 0.3048 m (1 ft).


As the nonplayable characters (NPCs) of squad-based shooter computer games share a common goal, they should work together in teams and display cooperative behaviors that are tactically sound. Our research examines genetic programming (GP) as a technique to automatically develop effective squad behaviors for shooter games. GP has been used to evolve teams capable of defeating a single powerf.ul enemy agent in a number of environments without the use of any explicit team communication. This paper is an extension of our paper presented at the 2008 Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'08). Its aim is to explore the effects of shared perception on the evolution of effective squad behaviors. Thus, NPCs are given the ability to explicitly communicate their perceived information during evolution. The results show that the explicit communication of perceived information between team members enables an improvement in average team effectiveness.


A well-known ceramic material, hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), has a number of unique properties, including structural and porosity features, that make it suitable for a wide range of industrial applications. Hierarchical porosity and high specific surface area are desirable properties for adsorption processes such as water and air cleaning, hydrogen storage, and drug delivery. These characteristics could be controlled and optimized by synthesis procedures; however, this process requires an understanding of the factors and mechanisms of nanocrystalline h-BN porosity development and textural properties. In this study, we demonstrate that hierarchical porosity displays evidence of the consecutive h-BN synthesis steps and thermal decomposition of intermediants. In addition, evidence shows that h-BN nanosheets can be folded as a result of van der Waals force interactions at elevated temperatures, which is corroborated by a computational modeling. The biocompatibility of the prepared h-BN was also evaluated to...


Social critic O. E. Klapp (1962) made the observation that in America real heroes have been replaced by celebrities. Klapp described celebrities as persons who are not much better than average in ability. He berated the media for de-emphasizing the importance of intelligence and genuine achievements, and complained that "high places are crowded with second- and third-raters teaching that real quality is not needed for success" (p. 144). One can easily imagine that celebrities would appeal to those whose accomplishments, intellectual and otherwise, are modest. They would have little chance to become rich and famous in a world that favors people who are bright, creative, and willing to work long and hard in order to accomplish something of lasting value to society. On the other hand, those who have exceptional cognitive ability are perhaps better equipped to perceive the shallowness of many celebrities--more likely to interpret celebrities as not-so-talented pawns in a system that is designed to sell goods and services (see Gamson, 1992, on how celebrities are "manufactured"). Why get enthused about persons who are using their fame to try to sell you something you may not need? Secondly, bright persons might be more interested in ideas than in people. Indeed, the Davidson Institute for Talent Development describes gifted students as being able to "relate a broad range of ideas" and having a "constant need for mental stimulation" (n.d.). Thirdly, bright persons might be more likely to view themselves as just as talented and intelligent, if not more so, than many celebrities. One needs to look no further than the checkout counter at a supermarket to find tabloids that chronicle the latest not-so-smart antics of the famous. Why put someone on a pedestal that is no more talented or intelligent than you? Yet another possibility, perhaps overlapping with the third, is that intelligent persons find it more difficult to identify with many celebrities than less intelligent persons do. The fifth reason is that persons suffering from erotomania, a neurological disorder that negatively impacts cognitive ability, may be more likely to admire a favorite celebrity than those who do not (McCutcheon, Ashe, Houran, & Maltby, 2003). Erotomania is characterized by a "delusional belief that another person, usually of social prominence, has fallen in love with the patient" (Anderson, Camp, & Filley, 1998, p. 330). The patient believes that the celebrity first declared his or her love by signals, telepathy, or coded messages sent through the media (Anderson, et al.). Until relatively recently, the scientific study of those who greatly admire celebrities has been hindered by the lack of a reliable and valid measurement scale. The Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) was developed in order to fill this void (Maltby, Houran, Lange, Ashe, & McCutcheon, 2002; Maltby & McCutcheon, 2001; McCutcheon, Lange, & Houran, 2002). Consequently, a personality profile of the celebrity-worshipper has begun to emerge. For example, it appears as though celebrity worshippers, those who score high on the CAS, tend to report poorer psychological well-being than non-worshippers (Maltby, McCutcheon, Ashe, & Houran, 2001). Celebrity worshippers are persons who have a very strong attachment to one or more famous persons. See McCutcheon, Maltby, Houran, and Ashe (2004) for a review of this research. Researchers (McCutcheon, et al., 2002) found a correlation of -.40 between CAS scores and educational level with higher levels of academic attainment associated with a tendency not to worship celebrities. It has been shown that the number of years one has spent in school correlates about .60 with IQ scores (Ceci, 1991; Matarazzo & Herman, 1984). These findings suggest that people with low IQs may also have a tendency to worship celebrities. This led to the hypothesis that those who are more strongly attached to their favorite celebrity would be likely to score lower on measures of cognitive ability. …


South Africa has been described as a "rainbow nation" because its population comprises a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. The indigenous people of South Africa live according to customary law, whilst adherents of religious legal systems (such as Hindus, Muslims and Jews) live according to unrecognised religious customs and practices. The rest of the population (the so-called Western portion) is subject to the secular laws of the land.


Objective To understand the knowledge on diabetes mellitus (DM) among nursing workers Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among 131 nursing workers engaged in different specialties of different professional titles, with different educational background, and with different experience in nursing diabetics in the No 421 Navy Hospital of PLA Results The nurses at their posts, no matter what specialty they were engaged in, achieved higher scores than student nurses (P0 05) There was no difference in scores among nurses of different professional titles The nurses of department of internal medicine made a score of 30 29, higher than that of nurses of non clinical departments (28 30, P0 05), and nurses of department of surgery (28 18, P0 01) The main source of knowledge on DM among the respondents was textbooks, followed by periodicals and health education materials The rate of actively seeking knowledge was higher among the nurses of endocrinopathy department than among the nurses of other departments The nurses actively seeking knowledge achieved higher scores than those getting their knowledge only from textbooks The knowledge rates of importance of health education on DM, principles of dietary control, pattern of pharmacotherapy, risk factors of DM, death causes of DM, and importance of regular examination were rather high However, the knowledge rates of DM during pregnancy, oral antidiabetic agents, right position of subcutaneous injection of insulin, new diagnostic criteria of DM, and correct method of drawing mixed agents were rather low The correct answer rates on right position of insulin injection and right pattern of drawing insulin injection were higher among experienced nurses than among student nurses Conclusion The knowledge on DM, especially relevant new knowledge, is to be expanded among nurses, those engaged in endocrinpath department in particular


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between tourism, economic growth, inequality, and poverty reduction in the five countries of Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua). Design/methodology/approach – The study represents the first application of panel data modeling of poverty, economic growth and inequality as related to Central America. Unbalanced panel data are employed for the five Central America countries for the period 1980-2012. Findings – The findings reveal three results: the relationship between poverty, inequality and economic growth varies relatively very little for different measures of economic growth; the null hypothesis that economic growth and inequality does not matter is rejected at the 1 percent level, and the coefficients are highly significant and with the expected signs; tourism matters for poverty reduction in Central America. Originality/value – The paper represents the first application of panel data modeling povert...


The increasing number of space debris together with the growing rate of satellite launches is jeopardizing the fruitful exploitation of outer space and the sustainability of space activities. Space Debris Mitigation requirements are being implementing by national Governments, Space Agencies and space operators in order to limit the space debris risk as much as possible. An approach based on an independent and rapid decommissioning device able to remove quickly and safely satellites at end-of-mission appears to be the most promising solution for a large number of applications. 1 WHY ORBITAL SUSTAINABILITY The ESA Space Debris Office estimates that in space there about 750,000 objects larger then 1cm [7, 20] originated by human activities. Of these "space bullets" only 17,000 are traceable and catalogued, and only about 1250 are controllable active satellite: the remaining objects are wondering uncontrolled, at risk of colliding with operational satellites. This represents a critical threat to space exploitation: if the number of objects around our planet is not kept under control and eventually reduced, manned and unmanned missions will be increasingly difficult, requiring expensive protection and lifetime consuming collision avoidance manoeuver, severely impacting research and business space applications. Eventually, business as usual scenarios [7, 9, 19] show an increasing number of collisions that may generate a collision reaction within the next 200 years, transforming our orbital space into an inoperable environment with major fallout on human activities on Earth. While 50 years ago it seemed there was enough room for upcoming satellites, with time uncontrolled and abandoned satellites started exploding and crashing into each other. About 50% of all traceable objects [7, 9, 20] are generated by in-orbit explosions or collisions, with the result that, today, about 300 million junk objects [3, 7, 9, 20] fly at very high speed (up to 30'000 km/h) at risk of collision with other satellites; this without taking into account asteroids or other Near Earth Objects. Space debris poses a risk in two major ways [14]. First, it represents a navigation hazard for operational satellites: a collision between a piece of debris and a satellite risks to damage the latter and, in the worst case, to cause its loss (in 2009 an Iridium operational satellite was destroyed by defunct Russian satellite). Today satellite operators sacrifice propellant (thus satellite's life and potential revenues) to perform manoeuvres for avoiding impacts and assuring the satellite removal at end-of-life according to current debris mitigation guidelines. Also, although defunct satellites monitoring activities are now funded publicly, we can expect that this cost will be soon covered by respective satellites owners, especially in the case of commercial entities. The second major risk involves people on Earth: according to NASA, only in 2014 about 100 tons of junk fell on Earth. On average, one junk object per day falls on the Earth from Space and it is 1 http://tass.ru/en/non-political/778607


There is a great need for future powertrains in automotive and industrial applications to improve upon their efficiency and power density while reducing their dynamic vibration and noise initiation. It is accepted that planetary gear transmissions have several advantages in comparison to conventional transmissions, such as a high power density due to the power division using several planet gears (Ref. 1). This paper presents planetary gear transmissions, designed according to ISO 6336 (Ref. 3), optimized in terms of efficiency, weight and volume, and calculated using low-loss involute gears (Ref. 4) as well as the maximum feasible number of planets.


This updated addendum to "HCG Found in WHO Tetanus Vaccine in Kenya Raises Concern in the Developing World" (published October 28, 2017 by OALibJ) addresses arguments claiming to discredit it from John Broughall, a retired microbiologist, and from an unnamed person (or persons) going by the pseudonym "The Original Skeptical Raptor" (hereafter, "Raptor"). Our paper (Oller et al., 2017), hereinafter referred to as the "hCG-paper", judging from the Web of Science and PubMed databases, was the first peer-reviewed scholarly work showing the scope of the WHO anti-fertility program focusing on "less developed countries" from 1972 to the present: (1) It examined official policy statements from the UN's largest donor nation dating from 1975 about the perceived need for "far greater efforts at fertility control" especially in "less developed countries" (National Security Council, 1975, 2014). (2) It documented the stream of published research in that program directly or indirectly sponsored by the WHO. (3) It compared the stepped-up dosage schedule used by the WHO in the Kenya 2013-2015 vaccination campaign which was appropriate to their "birth-control" vaccine but radically different from any previously published schedule for ordinary tetanus vaccine. (4) It analyzed and documented the sources of laboratory data from accredited laboratories in Nairobi finding ?hCG in at least one-third of the samples of vaccine actually collected at the 2014 administration sites. (5) It revealed the convergence of all the foregoing sources of information supporting the charge of the Kenya Catholic Doctors Association leveled against the WHO (Kenya Catholic Doctors Association, 2014). In emails to OALibJ, Broughall claimed "ethical concerns" about the hCG-paper urging the publisher to retract it. Raptor said, "Open Access Library Journal . . . is a predatory journal" and the hCG-paper is a "pseudoscientific . . . outright lie" (The Original Skeptical Raptor, 2017).


: The Non-invasive remote physiological monitoring of soldiers on the battlefield has the potential to provide fast, accurate status assessments that are key to improving the survivability from critical injuries. The development of WPI's wearable wireless pulse oximeter, designed for field-based applications, allowed for the optimization of important hardware features such as physical size and power management. However, software-based digital signal processing (DSP) methods are also required to perform physiological assessments. This research evaluated DSP methods that were capable of providing arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) measurements derived from data acquired using a single optical sensor. In vivo experiments were conducted to evaluate the accuracies of the processing methods across ranges of physiological conditions


In order to improve the robustness and invisibility of watermark, a grayscale computing holographic image watermarking algorithm based on discrete cosine transform has been proposed. First, the watermark image is calculated to generate a hologram to improve the security of the watermark. The carrier image is divided into 4×4 blocks, and each block is separately subjected to discrete cosine transform, and the low-frequency coefficients of each block are extracted to form a new matrix.Then, the watermark image is subjected to discrete cosine transform, and embed it into the carrier image according to prescript embedding rules, thereby completing the embedding process of the watermark.The extraction process is the inverse of the embedding process. The obtained image is decomposed into 4×4 blocks, and each block is subjected to discrete cosine transform, and extracted according to the inverse law of the embedding.Through test, the experimental results of the method show that the proposed algorithm has strong robustness in image clipping, rotation, translation and Gaussian noise attack. It ensures that the watermark is hidden while resisting a certain degree of attack to meet the needs of copyright identification.


To investigate the possible role of thyroid hormones in fetal lung maturation, we treated pregnant rabbits with 3,5-dimethyl-3′-isopropylthyronine (DIMIT), a thyroxine analog which binds to nuclear receptors in fetal lung. On days 24 and 25 of gestation does received diluent or 0.05-1 mg/kg DIMIT im; fetuses were studied on day 26. We found no effect of DIMIT on viability, body weight, lung weight, lung wet/dry ratio, or fetal plasma cortisol levels. NADPH-cytochrome C reductase, a known T4 inducible enzyme, was increased 64% (p<0.01) in fetal liver with 1 mg/kg DIMIT. Mean±SE values for the rate of 3H-choline incorporation into lecithin (pmol/mg tissue/h) by minced fetal lung and activity of phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAPase, nmol/mg prot/min) in lung homogenate are shown below (*=p<0.001):Similar results were found for incorporation of 3H-glycerol.We conclude that DIMIT crosses the rabbit placenta and stimulates lecithin synthesis and PAPase activity in fetal lung. Since similar effects occur with glucocorticoid treatment, these two hormones may act in part by controlling the same enzyme.


A monolithic differential distributed amplifier using close-packed, shielded, meandered transmission lines and a delay-matched rotationally symmetric amplifier cell is implemented using a SiGe BiCMOS process with an f/sub T/ of 120 GHz. A broadband differential power gain of 7.5 dB is achieved with a bandwidth of 25 GHz, while consuming 30 mA from a 3.3 V supply. The amplifier can also be configured as a differential oscillator by connecting the input and output pads with wire bonds. This results in an oscillation frequency of 9.2 GHz with a phase noise of -103 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset and single-ended output power of -6 dBm.


Adopt the establishment of the system of protecting the lawful rights and interests of the parties not only,the public power to the intervention of the degree and intervention way,more related to a new accord with the 1000 family harmony of society.Our adoption law of the April 1,1999,today and have had ten DuoNian,after two times the franco-prussian education,in reality,however,there are still many people know very little about the illegal adoptions,,serious still constitute a crime.Such as adoption of children are trafficked,not only destroyed a healthy family,also disturbed social order,this and we now the government by law society,constructing the harmonious society,are antipathetic.This article from the real case analysis that today the problems and the causes of the formation of,how should solve.


Since the data generated by the CCD stereo camera of the Chang'E-1 satellite were firstly sent back to the Earth on Nov.20,2007,the camera has worked well up to now,and large quantities of photos of the lunar surface including the polar regions have been sent back to the Earth.In this paper,the stereo-imaging principle,specifications,scheme and design result of the camera are introduced.Because the MTF of camera reaches 0.48 and S/N is 235 in the laboratory,the photos generated by the camera of the Chang'E-1 satellite are more distinct and sharper,compared with those by other lunar mapping cameras with the equivalent resolution.The scientific data generated by the CCD stereo camera have been evaluated by the user according to the prior period data generated by the camera.The results prove that the camera works well,the data format is correct,the scientific data are effective,the quality of the photos is high,and the camera observes,collects and sends back data steadily.Finally,some new technologies used during manufacturing process are introduced.


Methods Gastric biopsies were obtained from 183 dyspeptic patients during endoscopy. PCR for H. pylori was carried out using the uceC gene for amplification, and PCR products were digested further for RFLP analysis using the enzyme MboI. Spouses of H. pylori-positive index cases were screened for the infection using serological testing; if found to be positive serologically, endoscopy and gastric biopsies were performed for genotypic study of the microorganism. For couples with indistinguishable H. pylori strain on RFLP with restriction endonuclease MboI, the process of RFLP was repeated with digestion of the PCR products using restriction endonuclease HhaI.


English language classrooms as real language settings provide ample linguistic data, be they produced by the teachers or the students, as there are some interactions in exchanging thoughts, feelings, or ideas. Speech acts theory indicates that in using the language, people not only create an isolated series of sentences, but also carry out actions by either doing something or making others do something. By using classroom observations conducted in twelve English language classrooms, this study seeks to describe types of sentence forms and kinds of strategies used by the teachers in giving order. The findings indicate that the teachers in the Department of English, Universitas Negeri Malang, who are in a position of authority over the students, do not always impose on their students in making them do what the teachers want them to do. Even though the interactions in the classrooms are not equal as the amount of teacher talk dominates the teaching and learning process, the students (as the hearer) are aware that they should adhere to the teachers' speech acts of ordering to be successful in their study.     Keywords: English language classrooms, speech acts theory, directives, sentence forms, speech acts strategies.


BACKGROUND
The Department of Trade and Industry set up a contract to examine miners and ex-miners claiming compensation for hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS). They had been exposed to hand-transmitted vibration. Over 100,000 have now been examined using sensorineural tests as part of that process.

AIMS
The purpose of this paper was to examine the internal consistency of the vibrotactile threshold test (VTT) and the thermal aesthesiometry test (TA).

METHODS
In 18 centres across the UK, nurses were trained to perform the measurement of VTT and TA in a controlled standardized manner. These tests were to aid the staging of the neurological component of the Stockholm Workshop Scales. The staging of this component was modified by dividing stage 2SN into 2SN (early) and 2SN (late). The test results and an automatic neurological staging were presented to the examining doctor following the clinical examination. The results of these sensorineural tests were held on a central database. The results and analysis of the first 57,000 tests are reported.

RESULTS
The correlations within the VTT and TA scores were consistent with reliable measures. However, these correlations were not of such strength as to allow reliance on the results of a single test when making an assessment of the severity of neurological damage.

CONCLUSIONS
Different end organs and nerve fibres should be tested when making an assessment of damage in the sensorineural component of HAVS. The correlations demonstrated for the VTT and TA suggest that they are of value in assessing these claimants and would be for other vibration exposed workers.


An experiment on a first year perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) seed crop, cv. "Grasslands Samson" was established at the FAR Arable Site, Chertsey, Canterbury in the 2009-10 season. Eight irrigation treatments were applied with an above ground trickle tape irrigation system. Treatments ranged from 0 to 310 mm for the untreated and fully irrigated treatments respectively. Maximum potential soil moisture deficit ranged from 45 to 281 mm. Untreated plots achieved 1997 kg/ha seed compared with 2500 kg/ha for the fully irrigated treatment, an increase of 1.6 kg of seed per mm of applied irrigation. Maximum seed yields were achieved from treatments where greater than 205 mm of irrigation were applied. Application rates lower than the measured evapotranspiration rate but greater than 205 mm allowed for efficient capture of rainfall, compared with the fully irrigated treatment where the majority of rainfall was lost to drainage. Any period of drought reduced seed yield regardless of timing. Reduction in seed yield was associated with a 22% change in thousand seed weight (2.02 versus 2.59 g). There was no difference among treatments in the number of reproductive tillers produced or the dry matter present at harvest.


We present algorithms to construct and perform computations in algebraic closures of finite fields. Inspired by algorithms for constructing irreducible polynomials, our approach for constructing closures consists of two phases; First, extension towers of prime power degree are built, and then they are glued together using composita techniques. To be able to move elements around in the closure we give efficient algorithms for computing isomorphisms and embeddings. In most cases, our algorithms which are based on polynomial arithmetic, rather than linear algebra, have quasi-linear complexity.


The quantifiers and connectives of English present difficulties to standard (Church-style) type theory in linguistics in that they can apply systematically to objects of different form. This paper sketches solutions to this problem with some extensions to the simply typed lambda calculus, including Damas-Milner types and System F or the polymorphic lambda calculus. The goal is to maintain the "proofs-as-readings" spirit of the logical grammar tradition while allowing flexible types for the logical terms. 1 Background and Outline Type theory in linguistics grew out of the categorial investigations of BarHillel [1], Lambek [15, 16, 17] and Curry [5]. Later, Montague's PTQ semantics [18] utilized a simple Church-style type system to accompany the simple applicative categorial grammar used to define the fragment of English under investigation. This unification and the rediscovery of Lambek's work led van Bentham [26, 27] and many others to develop the tradition of type-logical grammar. In this tradition (substructural) fragments of propositional intuitionistic logic are used to characterize both natural language (nl) syntax and as the type-theory accompanying lambda terms used to describe nl denotations. The easily defined (injective) functors from the associative syntactic calculus (often Lambek's L) to the type theory (often Lambek's associative syntactic calculus with permutations, LP, or the full positive propositional intuitionistic calculus J[→]) became the generalized format of Montague's rule-to-rule notion of compositionality. Also, implicitly or explicitly, type-logical grammar was inspired by the Curry-Howard-de Bruijn isomorphism between typed lambda terms and formulae of intuitionistic logic—the tradition characterized by the slogan "formulae as types, proofs as terms". Applied in the setting of nl semantics, and the above theories of LPand J[→], the isomorphism is relaxed to a correspondence [19, p.116]. Within the Montagovian tradition, Partee and Rooth [20] addressed the problem that the boolean connectives "and" and "or" in English induce the same basic intuition or reading irrespective of the types of arguments, e.g. Serge and Jane sing ≈ Serge sings and Jane sings (1) Serge sings and smokes ≈ Serge sings and Serge smokes (2)


Objective: This study aimed to analyze the role of Fufang Ejiaojiang in improving Taekwondo athletes' antioxidant capacity. Methods: A total of 90 Taekwondo athletes from Wonkwang University were randomized into Group A (GA, Fufang Ejiaojiang) and Group B (GB, placebo). Results: At 1 month and 2 months after medication, the levels of SOD, CAT, GSH-Px, -OH, MDA, T-AOC, WBC, HGB, HCT, relative VO2max, peak anaerobic power, average anaerobic power, back strength, grip strength, deep knee bend and bench press were higher and the levels of creatine kinase (CK) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) were lower in GA when compared to GB (P<0.05). Conclusion: For Taekwondo athletes, Fufang Ejiaojiang can significantly improve the antioxidant capacity, oxygen transport in blood, aerobic exercise ability and sports ability, as well as mitigate sports fatigue.


Under the concept of "united airway diseases," the airway is a single organ wherein upper and lower airway diseases are commonly comorbid. The upper and lower airways are lined with respiratory epithelium that plays a vital role in immune surveillance and modulation as the first line of defense to various infective pathogens, allergens, and physical insults. Recently, there is a common hypothesis emphasizing epithelium‐derived cytokines, namely IL‐25, IL‐33, and TSLP, as key regulatory factors that link in immune‐pathogenic mechanisms of allergic rhinitis (AR), chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), and asthma, mainly involving in type 2 inflammatory responses and linking innate and adaptive immunities. Herein, we review studies that elucidated the role of epithelium‐derived triple cytokines in both upper and lower airways with the purpose of expediting better clinical treatments and managements of AR, CRS, asthma, and other associated allergic diseases via applications of the modulators of these cytokines.


* Department of Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney, NSW 2006. Thanks to Bradon Ellem and John Shields for comments on earlier drafts of the report, and to the unionists who helped in providing background material for the report (Sharan Burrow, Troy Burton, Michael Crosby, Phil Morgans, Ted Murphy and Peta Weadon). 'Tnions Work' was the theme for the Australian Council of Trade Union's U(ACTU's) Triennial Congress 2000, held in Wollongong in the last week of July. It was a week in which change was in the air. This was the first Kelty-less Congress in twenty-five years. Jennie George was also absent after many trailblazing years of participation, including becoming the first woman ever elected to the ACTU Executive.' This Congress, then, was the first major forum in which the new secretary, Greg Combet, and president, Sharan Burrow, showed their collective stuff as the new leaders of the Australian union movement. It was also the first time in the peak body's history that equal representation was assured to female members of the Executive. For other reasons too, the Congress had a new feel, not least because it was the first Congress ever held outside a capital city. There was also more razzle-dazzle than at previous Congresses. This show was co-ordinated by the newly created Communications and Campaigns section of the ACTU. Snappy video presentations accompanied by (mostly) funky music introduced most of the sections, including an upbeat reggae introduction for the federal parliamentary Labor Party leader Kim Beazley. The Congress also unveiled the new ACTU logo, the kangaroo having finally given way to a logo consisting of the letters ACTU.2


Little is known about international faculty development and what works to bring about the desired globalization of our American college campuses. The files of the Council on International Educational Exchange's International Faculty Development Seminars are the source of valuable information about the effectiveness of the IFDS format. These data, collected over the ten-year history of the FEDS, are uneven: the questions were not written for the purposes of external research, and the responses do not always lend themselves to quantification. However, the files provide us with some rare information about who has been involved in international faculty development, who pays for these programs, and what the results have been in terms of enhancement of curriculum, research, and service. Since 1990, the IJDS have run 93 programs in 25 countries, enrolling 1,560 people from 613 colleges and universities. Particiants rate the seminars as extremely successful. Data indicate that a large majority of participants return to campus to create new courses, revise existing courses, get involved in new or enhanced research programs, and offer the campus and the community the benefits of their time abroad. It is recommended, however, that the IFDS staff the sending institutions, and the individual participants make more effort to specify the outcomes expected from these seminars. Also, more work must be done to enable more faculty to participate in structured overseas activities, and institutions must examine their own policies to see whether the policies further the goal of increased globalization, a goal that is part of so many campus mission statements and planning documents.


This study introduces a novel depth estimation method that can automatically generate plausible depth map from a single image with unstructured environment. Our goal is to extrapolate depth map with more correct, rich, and distinct depth order, which is both quantitatively accurate as well as visually pleasing. Based on the preexisting DepthTransfer algorithm, our approach primarily transfers depth information at the level of superpixels from the most photometrically similar retrieval images under the framework of non-parametric learning. Posteriorly, we propose to concurrently warp the corresponding superpixels in multi-scale levels, where we employ an improved SLIC technique to segment the RGBD images from coarse to fine. Then, modified Cross Bilateral Filter is leveraged to refine the final depth field. With respect to training and evaluation, we perform our experiment on the popular Make3D dataset and demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art in both efficacy and computational efficiency. Especially, the final results show that in qualitatively evaluation, our results are visually superior in realism and simultaneously more immersive.


This article examines an alternative to the battery operated electric vehicle in the form of an electric vehicle which receives its motive power from conductors buried in the pavement of a highway. Topics discussed are current research and demonstration activities, conductor burial, the vehicles involved, and research and demonstration schedule and costs.


The present study examined the performance of 337 college undergraduate students on the Group Embedded-figures Test. The present sample was significantly more field dependent than the preliminary normative group.


Objective To explore the effect of sodium fluoride(NaF) on the tumor markers of human embryonic bronchial epithelium (HEBE) cells.Methods HEBE cells were collected from the human abortive fetues.The cells were exposed to NaF of several concentrations for 36 h.After rinsed,the cells were incubated for 36 h again.The NaF toxicity to HEBE cells was detected using MTT method.The supernatant was collected and the lung tumor markers were detected using ELISA method.Results NaF was toxic to the HEBE cells,and the toxicity was increased with the NaF doses.There were few survival HEBE cells at 6 mmol/L NaF.The tumor markers in both of the control and experiment groups were very low,and no significant difference had been seen between them.Conclusion NaF may damage HEBE cells,but may not influence the tumor markers of HEBE cells.


A semigroup S is called collapsing if there exists a positive integer n such that for every subset of n elements in S, at least two distinct words of length n on these letters are equal in S. In particular, S is collapsing whenever it satisfies a law. Let U(A) denote the group of units of a unitary associative algebra A over a field k of characteristic zero. If A is generated by its nilpotent elements, then the following conditions are equivalent: U(A) is collapsing; U(A) satisfies some semigroup law; U(A) satisfies the Engel condition; U(A) is nilpotent; A is nilpotent when considered as a Lie algebra.


Direct solar radiation is considered to be one of the most prospective sources of energy. However, the large utilization of this form of energy is possible only if the effective technology for its storage can be developed with acceptable capital and running costs. Latent heat storage is one of the most efficient ways of storing thermal energy which provides much higher storage density, with a smaller temperature difference between storing and releasing heat. One of potential techniques of storing solar energy is the application of phase change materials (PCMs). There are large numbers of PCMs that melt and solidify at a wide range of temperatures, making them attractive in a number of applications. This paper reviews previous work on latent heat storage and provides an insight to recent efforts of usingPCMs in energy storage. This work summarizes the investigation and analysis of the available thermal energy storage systems incorporating PCMs and also looks at the state of artof thermal energy storage systems, utilizing PCM operating with small temperature differences, such as various Paraffin waxes, which are cheap and have moderate thermal energy storage density but low thermal conductivity and require large surface area.


Objective To explore the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in management of acute cholecystitis.Methods The clinical data of 85 patients,with acute cholecystitis,who accepted laparoscopic cholecystectomy were analyzed retrospectively.Results All the patients were cured,but 3 cases with incision infection,1 case with biliary fistula,and 9 cases were converted to open cholecystectomy.No major complication occurred.Conclusion Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in management of acute cholecystitis is safe and effective clinically.


Changes in DNA replication during S‐phase can give insights into mechanisms of cell growth, cell cycle kinetics, and cytotoxicity. A common method for detection of cell proliferation utilizes the incorporation of a thymidine analog during DNA synthesis. Incorporation of multiple analogs at different time points can further define cell cycle kinetics. Traditionally, the dual‐pulse method has been done by combining 5‐bromo‐2′‐deoxyuridine (BrdU) with iododeoxyuridine or chlorodeoxyuridine, with detection using multiple cross‐reacting BrdU antibodies. This unit presents a dual‐pulse method using the thymidine analog 5‐ethyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine (EdU), detected by click chemistry, combined with BrdU labeling and detection. No cross reactivity with incorporated EdU is observed using the BrdU antibody clone MoBU‐1. EdU detection using click chemistry does not cross‐react with incorporated BrdU. Cells are first pulsed with EdU, and then pulsed with BrdU; sequential pulses of EdU, followed by BrdU, are done without removing or washing out EdU. Curr. Protoc. Cytom. 55:7.38.1‐7.38.15. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


A disjunctive linear optimization problem is to minimize a function over a feasible set which is the union of (perhaps infinitely many) convex sets. The classofdisjunctiveoptimization problems contains many classes of optimization problems which look at the first sight very different from their structure (f.e. semi-infinite and mixed-integer linear optimization problems, certain non-linear approximation problems, fractional pro¬gramming, linear complementary problems). Our purpose in this paper is to investigate the disjunctive linear optimization problem in dependence on the involved mappings. Especially, we establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the upper and lower semicontinuity of the feasible and optimal set mapping. Examples will illustrate the difficulties and characteristics to derive such conditions in parametric disjunctive programming


"Anyone who can contemplate quantum mechanics without getting dizzy hasn't properly understood it." The pronouncement of Niels Bohr, one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics, still rings true. Despite decades of detailed development, the theory that underpins modern physics continues to conflict with common sense. While many have "mastered" quantum mechanics, few claim to understand it. Could computer science change all that? Some researchers believe that a budding subject called quantum computation will finally force physicists to make sense of the unreal rules that seem to govern how the world really works. At the same time, quantum computation could change the face of computer science. It's already clear that the principles of quantum mechanics can radically reduce the apparent complexity of certain problems, including one—the factorization of large numbers—that is currently used for cryptographic purposes. Theorists are scrambling to extend the notion of computer power to include the potential of these as-yet-unrealized machines. Or make that proto-realized. Several groups have built rudimentary quantum computers. So far the most complicated task carried out has been an "efficient" search for one item in a four-item "database"—the computational equivalent of finding a needle in a three-straw haystack. Everyone agrees that substantial technological hurdles lie ahead, and some skeptics doubt that they'll all be cleared. But the prize is tantalizing, and the race alone should be informative.


Testing burners in the process industries requires controlling both the furnace temperature and the firing rate independently. This has commonly been done by varying the amount of insulation inside a test furnace. This paper discusses using a bayonet heat exchanger system to vary the furnace temperature at a fixed firing rate. The heat transfer inside the furnace to the heat exchanger system is considered.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


The invention relates to a foreground segmentation method based on significance detection, which comprises the following steps of: (1) inputting a color image in an RGB (Red, Green, Blue) format; (2) subjecting the color image in the RGB format to median filtering; (2) extracting color characteristics, brightness characteristics and direction characteristics to obtain color characteristic patterns, brightness characteristic patterns, and direction characteristic patterns, which form a characteristic pattern set containing eight characteristic patterns; (4) subjecting 8 patterns in the characteristic pattern set to multi-scale sampling; (5) subjecting each characteristic pattern to Gaussian filtering, and calculating the mean value of each characteristic pattern; (6) calculating Euclidean distance between the Gaussian blurred image and the mean value of each characteristic pattern; (7) obtaining color salient patterns, brightness salient patterns and direction salient patterns; (8) blending the above salient patterns to obtain a comprehensive salient pattern; and (9 ) subjecting the comprehensive salient pattern to the foreground segmentation by means of K-means clustering. The foreground segmentation method can effectively inhibit the interference of noise and background on a target and has pretty good real time performance.


Feeding parts in automated manufacturing processes lack the adaptation flexibility to rapid production changes, which are typical for small to medium enterprises. In this paper we present a novel application approach for feeding parts, which can be incorporated in small and medium production facilities. The approach relies on a scoop like tool that is attached to a collaborative robot. With the adoption of learning by demonstration methods, part feeding skills can be set-up fast and easy directly on the factory floor by a non-expert user. The approach exploits dynamic movement primitives as an underlying method for representation of trajectories. In the execution phase, we use admittance control with switching force control parameters, defined during the demonstration, for reliable execution of the part feeding skill in contact with the environment. The proposed approach is tested on on several part feeding cases with a Universal Robot UR10e.


The main goal in this research is to predict how translation waves evolve in a canal and what the consequences for the workability of water-borne construction equipment are. Translation waves arise due to filling and emptying of lock systems. In this research the measures to reduce effects of translation waves are control options related to the lock complex only. Adaptations to the water-borne construction equipment or to the bathymetry of the canal are excluded from this research. Currents induced by other external factors than translation waves induced by the lock complex, are not investigated. The research is applied to a case study, the Juliana Canal. Construction works are performed to make the canal attainable for vessels of CEMT-class Vb. To predict the adaptations of water level changes and currents due to translation waves a 1D-model is developed. In the model, theory from Thijsse (Thijsse, 1935) on the development of a translation wave is applied and extended on more complex discharge extractions from the canal. The propagating and reflecting waves through the canal are calculated. The bathymetry of the canal-system determines the transition points and reflections. To obtain a good representation of the translation wave in this canal, a set of 42 reflections were included in this model. If the currents in the canal become too large, unworkable construction situations arise resulting in downtime. Two control options can be done at the locks. The first option is regulating the magnitude of the discharge to fill the lock chamber. This is done by defining the number of culverts used during filling. Four scenarios are investigated, with: 2, 1 or 4 culverts used and with 2 chambers filled simultaneously. The second option is to vary the time between sequent fillings. Six scenarios for this option are investigated, with: 5, 10 and 15 minutes between subsequent waves, chambers filled with 1 or 2 culverts. None of the investigated scenarios result in no downtime but the downtime can be reduced significantly. The most favourable scenario from the first group of control options, vary between 1, 2 and 4 culverts, depending on the location. Simultaneous filling should always be avoided. In the second group of control options, the scenario where the lock chamber is filled with one culvert and 15 minutes between sequent waves, results at 4 of the 5 locations in the least downtime. At the other location the best option is the scenario where the chamber is filled with 2 culverts and also 15 minutes between the waves. There is not a scenario that is the best scenario for all locations along the canal. The resulting water level change and current are the summation of the original wave and reflection waves. The reflection waves are created by e.g. reflections at a port or changes in the width of the canal. The distance of the construction location to these transition points determine which reflections, and with what magnitude, are at that specific location. This makes the net water level change and net current very location dependent. For each location the model has to be run with different scenarios. Concluding, the model gives a good representation of the situation in reality, for the modelled locations in canal. For future projects, the model can relatively easy be adapted to another canal-system by changing the bathymetry, lock discharges and transition points. The model is applicable to gain insights of a system for designs. It can be used as a decision tool during construction works as well due to the short calculation period. The use of this model can forecast the working conditions and limit the downtime.


This paper presents a digital distance relay scheme for power transmission line protection. The scheme uses a single criterion to determine the fault distance during the ten types of shunt faults on a three-phase transmission line. The criterion is derived using a modal transformation. The scheme uses a recently developed algorithm based on block pulse functions to compute fundamental frequency voltage and current phasors of fault signals. The scheme is tested using simulated voltage and current signals obtained from the electromagnetic transient program (EMTP). These simulations are performed on a 230 kV transmission line of a six bus power system model.


We provide you this proper as well as simple showing off to get those all. We provide Robust Nonlinear Control Design State Space And Lyapunov Techniques Systems Control Foundations Applications and numerous books collections from fictions to scientific research in any way. in the midst of them is this Robust Nonlinear Control Design State Space And Lyapunov Techniques Systems Control Foundations Applications that can be your partner.


Deals with the questions: What is the role of a research group? How should it function? What models are assumed?


The authors previously reported an unusual phenomenon of strain relaxation accompanied by a reduction in threading dislocation density (TDD) on a Si0.77Ge0.23 layer grown on top of alternating layers of Si0.77Ge0.23∕Si0.76Ge0.23C0.01 [Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 041915 (2006)]. In this letter, the mechanism by which SiGeC domains, formed during annealing at 1000°C, assist in TDD annihilation process is further investigated. A g∙b analysis of transmission electron microscope images showed the formation of pure edge dislocations from the reaction of two 60° misfit dislocations, which glide and/or slip with the assistance of the localized interfacial strain of the SiGeC domains. TDD reduction in this structure is thus due to the annihilation of threading dislocation arms during misfit dislocation combination.


The migratory phenomenon of unaccompanied minors and their transition to adult life in host countries remains a challenge for European societies in general and for Spanish society in particular. It is a heterogeneous migratory actor that makes its study and analytical treatment. This article investigates this topic by exploring the related circumstances in the process of guardianship of unaccompanied foreign minors arriving in Spain, and their access to the labor market when they reach the age of majority. With a mixed methodology design, secondary sources that identify gaps in their passage to the majority of age are analyzed. It concludes with the proposal that the extuted youth conform to their own analytical category for social policies to guide and develop strategies and programs for full coverage of their needs.


The paper examines the low-usage of Igbo language among some selected secondary school students in three Local Government Areas of Owerri. The paper uses questionnaire with close test to measure the knowledge of Igbo language among respondents in three LGA in Owerri speaking areas in Imo State in the Southeast Nigeria. The results of the data show that Igbo language enjoys low patronage and patriotism amongst the students used for the data. Many of these students found it extremely difficult to express themselves freely in Igbo language and at the same time, they were unable to provide meanings for selected Igbo proverbs, words, and expressions. The significance of this work is seen in the fact that Igbo language stands the risk of gradual extinction if urgent measures are not taken by all stakeholders concerned to arrest the dwindling fortunes of the language.


We present a statistical analysis of strong turbulence of Langmuir and ion-sound waves resulting from beam-plasma interaction. The analysis is carried out on data sets produced by a numerical simulation of one-dimensional Zakharov's equations. The nonlinear wave interactions are studied using two different approaches: high-order spectra and Volterra models. These methods were applied to identify two and three wave processes in the data, and the Volterra model was furthermore employed to evaluate the direction and magnitude of energy transfer between the wave modes in the case of Langmuir wave decay. We demonstrate that these methods allow one to determine the relative importance of strongly and weakly turbulent processes. The statistical validity of the results was thoroughly tested using surrogated data set analysis.


Brightness, opacity, surface strength, ink density, and cracking tendency were not affected by the layout strategy for drying the precoat. Dryer capacity and economic aspects should be considered more than questions about quality in optimizing the precoating installation.


Abstract
 This paper offers a cultural assets model for supporting school effectiveness that moves beyond the deficit and difference approaches of the twentieth century. The model incorporates the capacity to identify contemporary cultural assets, and support cultural continuity, cultural diversity and cultural resilience during change. Undertaking concept-centric analysis, the reconceptualised understanding of contemporary cultural assets informs the construction of schools as cultural hubs, and reveals seven benefits that enhance asset-based approaches to school effectiveness. The model incorporates multigenerational flows of influence, community cultural activities, a communication conduit, and glocalised interactions. An empirical analysis of evidence advances the model's sociocultural view of effective schools; provides opportunities to extend research beyond minority studies; and establishes the importance of cultural assets in secure base leadership for developing schools as dynamic organisations.


The advances in the synthesis of dimethyl carbonate by oxidative carbonylation of methanol in liquid-phase are summarized,the structure characteristics as well as catalytic performance of various catalysts are presented in details.According to previous studies,the main demerit of equipment by the existing catalysts that easy deactivation and high corrosion can be avoided by using chloride-free active species,which should be considered as a new direction in the development of the next generation catalysts.Furthermore,designing and preparing catalysts based on the structure characteristics of CuⅠ active sites,regulating and controlling the amount,location and distribution along with improving the uniformity of active sites,and improving surface chemical properties of the catalytsts are expected to achieve desirable catalytic properties in the future.


Background: Tooth extraction, regardless of the progress of modern dentistry
causes serious problems and dysfunction of the masticatory system and is
considered as a multicomplex problem for both dentist and patient. Therefore it is
important to investigate any factors for tooth extraction including educational level
as one of the predisposing factors. Purpose: To describe the association between
educational level and tooth extraction. Methods: Randomized samples of patien's
medical record in RSGM-P FKG Unair aged 30 years or over, classified according
to the educational level: Elementary (SD), lower secondary (SMP), upper
secondary (SMA, D1, D2), bachelor's degree (S1, D3, D4), or master's degree (S2)
or higher, were identified. In 706 subjects, a number of characteristics such as
patient's age, gender, and number of teeth extracted were recorded. Results: A total
of 1386 teeth were extracted from 706 patients. The highest rate (30,88%) of
extraction occurred for those 40-49 years old. Females comprised 67,00% of
patients and highest teeth extracted (890). Group of upper secondary education had
most extracted teeth (493, 37,25%) and the master or higher education group had
fewest (23, 2,41%). Average tooth extracted per person gradually decrease with
educational level: primary (2,52 ± 2,73), lower secondary(1,99 ± 1,89), upper
secondary (1,87 ± 1,90), bachelor's degree (1,39 ± 0,80), master's degree or higher
(1,35 ± 0,70). Conclusion: The higher educational level of person, the fewer teeth
extracted


Formation of complexes between vinyl ether copolymers with acrylic acid and vinyl ether of ethylene glycol in ethanol, isopropanol, n-butanol, n-hexanol, and DMF was studied by viscometry and spectroturbidimetry. The interpolymer complexes are formed through the development of H-bonds, and the efficiency of the complexation process is dependent on the copolymer composition, that is, on the content of active functional groups in the copolymer chain and on the chemical nature and composition of the solvent.


The research presented in this paper is a continuation of previous research [J. Foster, T. Wangl which proposed an uniform amplitude coder as an alternative to the traditional time domain coders such as PCM, DM. The encoder of Time Code Modulation (TCM) transmits the quantized intervals corresponding to the time at which the input signal passed through uniform spaced amplitude levels (of a predetermined step size). The decoder reconstructs the signal by using linear interpolation in the amplitude domain (instead of time domain). Allowing for a variable rate transmission rate, TCM systems can effectively be used with packet switched networks. From the results of past research the TCM coder has shown promising performance. When sampling the analog voice signal (12 bit amplitude resolution) at a frequency of fs = 32KHz the resulting Signal-to-Noise (quantization noise) Ratio is 13.18 dB (using a step size = 32). The corresponding transmission rate is 20% to 30% of the sampling rate. As will be shown the sampling frequency and step size are the two dominate factors that affect TCM performance; the higher the sampling frequency and the smaller the step size a higher SNR can be achieved by TCM, but at the same time, the transmission rate will increases. In order to determine the optima value of each factor, a comparison was conducted on the sampling theorems between time and amplitude domains. Several parallels can be found between Nyquist based PCM and TCM systems. With uniform time window sampling the bandlimited nature was imposed upon the frequency of the input signal. How is the Nyquist based theorem for the uniform amplitude window sampling defined? Concerning the interpolation process at the decoder, is there an low-pass filter in the amplitude domain with parallels low-pass filters in the frequency domain? Since time and frequency have an inverse relationship, what is the relationship between amplitude and inverse-amplitude? The greatest gain of such a system may be found in its capability to change the l/amplitude (frequency) characteristic of the signals. By scaling the time of an original


BACKGROUND
Thyroid dysfunction is among the most common adverse effects during anti-PD-1 immunotherapy, and alongside correlations with elevated anti-thyroid antibodies (ATAb), studies have found correlations with survival. However, the exact relations remain to be clarified. We therefore aimed to clarify the relationship between thyroid dysfunction, ATAbs and survival in anti-PD-1 treated cancer patients.

METHODS
We included 168 patients with non-small-cell lung carcinoma, renal cell carcinoma, and metastatic melanoma treated with nivolumab or pembrolizumab. TSH and free T4 (FT4) levels were measured before each anti-PD-1 infusion. ATAb levels (anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and anti-thyroglobulin (Tg)) were measured at baseline and after 2 months of treatment. Although the vast majority of patients had detectable levels of ATABs, only few patients had positive ATAbs when using conventional cut-offs. To study the consequences of detectable ATABs, the cut-off levels were a priori set at the median concentrations at baseline in the study population. Tumor progression was classified according to RECIST v1.1.

RESULTS
Patients who acquired overt thyroid dysfunction during treatment had significantly higher overall survival (OS) (HR=0.18 [95%CI: 0.04-0.76]; p=0.020) and progression free survival (PFS) (HR=0.39 [0.15-0.998]; p=0.050) than patients without thyroid dysfunction with one-year OS rates of 94% vs 59% and one-year PFS rates of 64% vs 34%. During treatment, patients with ATAb levels above the median had a higher OS (HR=0.39 [0.21-0.72]; p=0.003) and PFS (HR=0.52 [0.33-0.81]; p=0.004) than patients with ATAb levels below the median, with one-year OS rates of 83% vs 49% and PFS rates of 54% vs 20%, respectively. When analyzing ATAb levels over time, patients with a persistent ATAb level above the median had a higher OS (HR=0.41 [0.19-0.89], p=0.025) and PFS (HR=0.54 [0.31-0.95], p=0.032) compared to patients with a persistent ATAb level below the median. Patients whose ATAb levels increased above the median during treatment had an improved OS (HR=0.27 [0.06-1.22], p=0.088) and PFS (HR=0.24 [0.07-0.77], p=0.017) compared to patients whose ATAb levels decreased below the median.

CONCLUSIONS
Acquired overt thyroid toxicity and above median ATAb levels during anti-PD-1 treatment are associated with improved PFS and OS. Additionally, our results suggest that ATAb levels at baseline are of clinical relevance for PFS and OS.