Nuclear Medicine (NM) Imaging serves as a powerful technique in visualizing radio-pharmaceutically targeted physiological processes allowing non-invasive monitoring of disease, it's progression and therapy response. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging has become a cornerstone in oncology and is utilized in disease staging, monitoring response to therapy, detecting recurrence and predicting prognosis. Artificial intelligence is increasingly being adopted to assist radiological interpretation of PET images. In this work, we for the first time set instance object detection in PET imaging in a reinforcement learning (RL) paradigm. Q learning, a model free RL learning algorithm, is used to learn a policy which tells an agent what actions to take to maximize a reward in an environment in order to achieve a specific task. In this work Q learning with a novel reward function defined by the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence is used to detect instances of an object in PET images. The RL agent is tested using a phantom study and accurately identifies the location of all five spheres; producing a mean error of 1.5 voxels. Testing is also performed on two 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose investigations imaged for oesophageal cancer. The location of the cancer lesion determined by the RL agent on a sagittal cross section is in excellent correspondence to the location defined by an expert radiologist, with a mean error of 2 voxels. The RL framework thus proves promise for automated object detection in PET imaging and providers the first example of it's use in Nuclear Medicine imaging studies.


We share with a range of relational approaches to psychotherapy an emphasis on the importance of viewing the research encounter, like the therapeutic relationship, as a cocreation to which both researcher and participant(s) contribute from their own subjective experience, both in and out of awareness. There is an obvious need for the researcher, like the psychotherapist, to be adaptable and versatile when engaging in therapy or in research. There is no easy rule book of techniques laid down to conduct a particular research project or to explore a particular client issue or presentation. That said four features of relational research will be present to a greater or lesser degree in all relational research projects though with varying emphases 1 : presence, inclusion, intersubjectivity and reflexivity.


The Brhadisvara temple also known as the Rajarajesvara temple built by Raja Raja1 in 1010 A.D. has been acclaimed as the finest achievement of Chola art. The present volume on the architecture of the Brhadisvara temple is the first of technical monographs. The architectural plan of the monument precede the other studies relating to inscriptions on inner and outer wall, in the garbhagrbha, karanas on the upper storeys. A standard code has been devised so that all the subsequent studies will follow the same code. It is the monument which provides centrality to the region and constitute the steel frame for further studies on other aspects.


Abstract Two trials were conducted to determine if gluconeogenic supplementation (GS) via injection at day of hatch would facilitate early survivability and growth in chicks from immature breeder hens under adequate brooding conditions. Early chick mortality and feed conversion were not influenced by treatment; however, BW between Days 1 and 6 postinjection were influenced by treatment. An unexpected positive response to injected saline was observed, but GS provided a greater effect on BW at two times. These results suggest that under proper brooding conditions, chick growth may be facilitated by saline or supplemental gluconeogenic nutrients during early transition from fat to carbohydrate-based nutrient uptake in posthatch chicks. However, normal growth was achieved in chicks from a young flock when provided adequate brooding conditions.


Objectives: The amounts and percentage of older age who are more than 60 years old in Indonesia from year to year are increasing.  As comparation  in 1990 the amounts were 7.99 millions  percentage 5.55 % of total resident :  in 2000 the amounts were 15.88 millions percentage 7.60 %  of total resident.  Aging is a  physiology and pathophysio-logy process in the human body which run  continuosly and can't be stopped. We can make some effort to minimize the aging process so the general condition is getting better and the life span will be prolonged.  According to Katz VL in 1991  it was that one of the effects is to increase the general condition by increasing the physical fitness Physical fitness is personal activity to do daily physical activity, without causing exhaust feel.  Method: We have a program of health education and walking exercise program one mile or 1.6 km.  The exercise frequency is 3 times a week, and is done for 3 months. One's physicall fitness can be measured by VO 2 maximal (maximal oxigen consumption para-meter).  The  reason of using walking exercise as a tool to measure VO 2 is that in this exercise most of the muscles are in active motion,  so it will increase the action pump  of perifer blood vessels.  Venous return and stroke volume will increase so that VO 2 maxi-mal  is increasing.  Results: From 30 samples of study it's found that average of VO 2 ma-ximal  amounts before walking exercise : 25.89 in l/kg/minute, and after walking exercise the average of VO 2  maximal  31.65 in l/kg/minute. The research has been done in Mandala Krida Stadion.  The objects of the study are members of  Paguyuban  Pejalan Kaki Mandala Krida.  Keywords: Physical Fitness, Walking Exercise, Active Motion


A current hypothesis of sleep-wake regulation proposes that a sleep process would start with the activation of sleep-promoting neurons located in the preoptic area of the anterior hypothalamus. This activation leads to the inhibition of wake-promoting neurons located in the posterior hypothalamus, basal forebrain and mesopontine tegmentum, which, in turn, removes inhibition from the sleep-promoting structures, thereby enhancing the sleep process. Sleep-promoting neurons are supposed to contain γ-aminobutyric acid and inhibit cholinergic, noradrenergic, serotonergic or histaminergic wake-promoting neurons at sleep onset and during sleep. By comparison with this current active hypothesis of sleep, the present mini-review gives an overview of experimental evidence supporting the old passive reticular hypothesis of sleep, indicating that sleep may result from functional deafferentation from the tonic ascending reticular activity, the idea of which was advanced in the last century by Kleitman, Bremer, and Moruzzi and Magoun. We propose that sleep would start with a small reduction of the activity of the lower brain stem, in particular medullary monoaminergic and non-monoaminergic wake-active neurons, as a result of a decrease in external and internal stimuli exerting excitatory influences on these neurons. By the mechanism of a cascade of disfacilitating processes, this reduction of activity may lead to the inactivation of whole wake-promoting structures in the brain, resulting in the initiation of sleep; the disfacilitation hypothesis of sleep.


Private universities in Indonesia are self-sustaining as they depend mainly on enrollments for revenues.  Human capital is the main asset that they must sagaciously manage and constantly rejuvenate.  With millennials constituting 40% of the country's population, this study aims to identify the performance factors of Generation Z faculty members in private universities to attain long-term sustainability. These second-wave millennials enter the workforce early compared to other generations, possess high work ambitions, but they are fraught with stress when striving to achieve higher performance and establishing long-term commitment.  The phenomenology research strategy was undertaken in five private universities. Triangulation methodology through interviews, observations, and archives, in addition to source triangulation that involves 20 informants made up of faculty members and their direct supervisors were conducted.  The findings denoted the significance of individual motivation, self-determination, job satisfaction, and organization commitment to achieve performance.  Furthermore, this study offers insights for leadership to embrace their generation Z faculty members for the longevity of the institutions.

Received: 30 October 2020 / Accepted: 11 December 2020 / Published: 17 January 2021


Abstract: An assessment of brain wave on mind behavior of consumers from six participants were conducted while watching advertisement stimuli with two brands of milk powder (Enfagrow and Dugrow). Six participants volunteered for the study and their brain waves were recorded to measure their frequencies during their engagement and decision making. The analysis showed higher activity of beta and alpha were stimulated while watching Enfagrow, Dugro advertisement stimulated higher theta in the frontal area and temporal area, especially, at T6-Av with (19.83 uV) amplitude compared to Enfagrow advertisement with (2.99 uV) amplitude.


The hydrolytic stability and the effect of annealing on the improved aging properties of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) hydrophobic coatings have been investigated. Surfaces coated with hydrophobic SAM coatings give higher flow rate and are of wide interest to researchers in the area of microfluidics. Hydrophobic SAM of fluorooctyltrichlorosilane (FOTS) was deposited on silicon by using a vapor phase technique. The aging of the hydrophobic property was examined by using contact angle measurements. It has been found that while such a monolayer suffers from a loss of hydrophobicity with time, annealing can partially recover the hydrophobicity. The mechanism of aging was investigated through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which revealed very little chemical change in annealed monolayers. Surface roughness and morphological changes due to hydrolytic attack was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A spontaneous formation of silane mounds on the s...


This correspondence discusses the estimation of direction-of-arrival (DOA) in a magnitude-aided antenna array (MA-AA), where magnitude-only radio frequency (RF) chains are introduced into the classical AA to acquire magnitude measurements. DOAs are initially estimated by the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm based on the complex-valued measurements from the conventional antennas. After griding the neighborhoods of these initial DOAs, the DOA estimation problem with the hybrid observations in MA-AA is converted as the recovery problem of sparse signals, which can be resolved by generalized approximate message passing (GAMP). Due to the "spatial leakage" effect, non-zero clusters appear around true DOAs. Their positions (i.e., non-zero supports) provide DOAs estimations. Moreover, DOAs and supports remain unchanged in several snapshots, then common supports are shared. Therefore, the cluster-sparse property of sparse signals is exploited by modeling a hidden Markov-tree (HMT) in the shared supports, on which belief propagation (BP) is executed to recover the binary probabilities of supports. Some unknown hyper-parameters in GAMP and BP are learned by expectation-maximization (EM). In comparison to existing estimators, EM-BP-GAMP shows advantages on DOA estimation, computational complexity, and DOA resolution. With the EM-BP-GAMP estimator, MA-AA is more energy-efficient than the classical AA. These advantages are successfully validated by experimental results.


Shallow depth to groundwater, surface drainage, and subsurface flow during storm events are major environmental concerns of low-level radioactive waste management operations in humid regions. At two waste disposal sites within the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), groups of closed trenches have experienced these problems and have been shown to collect and hold water with seasonal fluctuations ranging from 1 to 2 m. In an attempt to correct these water-related problems, the older of the two sites (Solid Waste Storage Area Four (SWSA 4)) was equipped in September 1975 with asphalt lined drainage-ways designed to prevent infiltration of storm drainage from a 13.8-ha upslope catchment. At the second site (49-Trench area of SWSA 6), the entire 0.44-ha trench area was capped with a bentonite clay cover in 1976. These attempts have not corrected the water problems. In September 1983, engineered drainage projects were initiated at both the disposal sites. The SWSA 4 project was designed to divert surface runoff and shallow subsurface flow which originates upslope of the site away from the disposal area. The second project, a passive French drain constructed in SWSA 6, was aimed strictly at suppressing the site water table, thus preventing its intersection with themore » bottoms of disposal trenches. Postconstruction monitoring for performance evaluation has shown that the water table in the 49-Trench area has been suppressed to a depth > 4.9 m below the ground surface over 50% of the site as compared to a depth of only 2.1 m for certain parts of the same area observed during seasonally wet months prior to drain construction. The SWSA 4 project evaluation indicates that 56% of the Winter-Spring 1984 runoff was diverted around SWSA 4 via the drainage system.« less


For each holomorphic vector bundle we construct a holomorphic bundle 2-gerbe that geometrically represents its second Beilinson-Chern class. Applied to the cotangent bundle, this may be regarded as a higher analogue of the canonical line bundle in complex geometry. Moreover, we exhibit the precise relationship between holomorphic and smooth gerbes. For example, we introduce an Atiyah class for gerbes and prove a Koszul-Malgrange type theorem.


【Objective】 Fluctuations of blood glucose in type 2 diabetes(T2DM) and nephropathy in insulin secretory function.【Methods】 Selected 188 cases of hospitalized patients with T2DM,based on 24h urinary albumin excretion rate(24hUAER) into diabetic nephropathy(DN) group of 96 cases;pure type 2 diabetes(T2DM) were 92 cases.Glucose monitoring system(CGMS) 72h blood glucose monitoring groups to calculate the standard deviation of the average blood glucose(SDBG),compared two groups of blood sugar fluctuations.Evaluation of the use of HOMA-β β-cell function.【Results】(1) the two groups was significantly higher than the DN group SDBG T2DM group(P0.05 or P0.01),HOMA-β decreased significantly(P0.01).(2)HOMA-βand beat course,SDBG,FINS 、24hUAER were positively related(P0.01).DN-related regression analysis showed that SDBG,the course 、UAER as an independent factor.【Conclusion】 Fluctuations in blood sugar in type 2 diabetic nephropathy role in promoting the development of islet β-cell dysfunction compared with persistent high blood sugar is more serious.


The article is dedicated to analysis of the phenomenon of art in the context of creative processes. Creativity is defined within the system of interrelation of the concepts of the one, the other, becoming and emptiness. Emptiness is the only possible form to contain becoming. The concepts related to art, such as beauty, harmony, disharmony, ugliness, the ugly etc. are considered as a reason for highlighting the phenomenon in its givenness and definiteness in the system of creativity.


The Hall element is constructed from a thin sheet of conductive material with output connections perpendicular to the direction of current flow. Hall Effect devices are included in many products, ranging from computers to sewing machines, automobiles to aircraft, and machine tools to medical equipment. The paper deals with identification of the static characteristic of this sensor for i.e. dependence of the output voltage on permanent magnet distance from sensor. The result of measurement is application recommendation.


The main purpose of this study was to determine the validation of construct and reliability of the image instrument in educational institutions. A non-random sample selection of 314 high school students from Montemorelos, Nuevo León was made. An instrument with 25 statements was created to measure the image of The University of Montemorelos (reliability α = 0.956). The methodologies that were utilized in the validation were factorial analysis and confirmatory analysis, with the latter made with structural equations. In the factorial analysis, it was observed that the statements were grouped into four dimensions, as it was initially planned. With the exception of one item, all the other statements were grouped in the proposed dimension. In the confirmatory validation utilizing structural equations, all the selected criteria were fulfilled.


Simple Summary BRCA1 and BRCA2 are two major high-penetrance breast/ovarian cancer predisposition genes, whose mutations can lead to high risk and early onset of breast and ovarian cancer. Numerous studies are focused on spectrum and prevalence of BRCA1/2 mutations worldwide. This is the first study that exclusively focused on native Apulian probands. We found that ten recurrent BRCA1/2 pathogenic variants account for more than half of the patients with proven HBOC syndrome from Apulia. Besides BRCA1 c.5266dupC, which is present in significant numbers in every Apulian province, the other PVs occur at a high frequency in some areas and not others. In-depth knowledge of the mutation spectrum of the target population and of the relatively small number of recurrent mutations is crucial to develop a specific cost-effective strategy for mutation screening and a program for breast–ovarian cancer control and prevention through more liberal, yet rational, genetic testing and counseling. Abstract BRCA1/2-associated hereditary breast and ovarian cancer is the most common form of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and occurs in all ethnicities and racial populations. Different BRCA1/BRCA2 pathogenic variants (PVs) have been reported with a wide variety among populations. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed prevalence and geographic distribution of pathogenic germline BRCA1/2 variants in families from Apulia in southern Italy and evaluated the genotype–phenotype correlations. Data were collected from Oncogenetic Services present in Apulian hospitals and a shared database was built containing Apulian native probands (n = 2026) that had undergone genetic testing from 2004 to 2019. PVs were detected in 499 of 2026 (24.6%) probands and 68.5% of them (342 of 499) were in the BRCA1 gene. We found 65 different PVs in BRCA1 and 46 in BRCA2. There were 10 most recurrent PVs and their geographical distribution appears to be significantly specific for each province. We have assumed that these PVs are related to the historical and geopolitical changes that occurred in Apulia over time and/or to a "founder effect". Broader knowledge of BRCA1/2 prevalence and recurring PVs in specific geographic areas could help establish more flexible genetic testing strategies that may enhance our ability to detect high-risk subjects.


SYNTHESIS 2004, No. 4, pp 0568–0572xx.xx.2004 Advanced online publication: 03.02.2004 DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-815944; Art ID: F11503SS © Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York Abstract: Sonication of a mixture of magnesium powder, 1,2-dibromoethane, aryl bromide and diethyl dicarbonate in THF followed by treatment with BF3·OEt2 at room temperature afforded aryl ester with reasonable yield. A series of aryl bromides were investigated and transformed to their corresponding aryl esters under the reaction conditions.


Colombia is a country that has a wide variety of vegetables with health benefits, one of them is citron, which is used in the market for pig and livestock feed in the first instance; second with little food use, although it applies to a wide variety of preparations and not least the medicinal use, which due to its properties have been attributed to heart care, cholesterol, gastritis, osteoporosis, among others.
The main objective of this project was based specifically on finding the feasibility of a project for the creation of the company CIDRAGUR, producer of artisanal yogurt based on citron in the municipality of Rionegro, department of Antioquia; for this, a market analysis was carried out that showed the potential of the product in the city, as a target market; the marketing and distribution plan that could be implemented was elaborated and finally the financial viability was evaluated with a five-year projection, resulting in the feasibility of the project as an innovative idea.
By studying the feasibility of the complementary use with the artisanal yogurt of this vegetable, it allows you to view and enter the market with a natural product, rich in nutrients, that benefits the health of the consumer, who due to lack of time in his accelerated life is destined to consume products or fast foods not suitable for your health, giving the possibility of entering the product with a new and different flavor.


Dielectric measurement characteristics such as the dissipation factor, relative permittivity and conductivity as a function of temperature and frequency have been achieved on composite materials based on different epoxy resins filled with alumina inclusions. The analysis of the results show the presence of porosity and inhomogeneity in these materials. The study of the dissipation factor, as a function of temperature at high frequencies, has shown an unexpected absorption phenomenon in materials designed to be utilized as electrical insulators. The identification of the entities responsible for this relaxation shows that the entities result from one of the components of the material. These results can also confirm the inhomogeneity of the materials.


Abstract The complications, especially those affecting microcirculation, exhibit great importance in the assessment and follow-up of patients with diabetes mellitus. Blood viscosity plays its most important role in the microcirculation where it contributes significantly to peripheral resistance and may cause sludging in the post capillary venules. The effect of whole blood viscosity in patients whit diabetic nephropaty is still unclear. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of glicaemic control measured by glicated hemoglobin on rheological parameters, and especially on whole blood and plasma viscosity in patients with diabetic nephropaty. Blood viscosity is an important determinant of local flow characteristics. Blood exhibits shear thinning behavior: its viscosity decreases exponentially with increasing shear rates. Estimation of whole blood and plasma viscosity was made on 42 patients, comparing different stages of diabetic nephropathy and with different values of glicated hemoglobin. Depression of the regulatory mechanisms of microvascular blood flow as well as decreased tissue perfusion indicated the restricted blood flow in microcirculatory network in diabetic nephropathy. In conclusion blood viscosity was elevated in the patients with major organ complications and not in the patients without or with early complications, in correlation with poor glicaemic control.


I H E IHE PROBLEM AND THE DANGER of reading an avowedly autobiographical novelist is the tendency to ignore the art, the transformation process mediating between the life of the writer and what we read, the life in the novels. Perhaps there is an assumption that the text can be best understood by documenting the actual biography and then studying the ways the fictional world differs or conforms. The structural relationships integral to the text may be seen as inherently unimportant in themselves. Audrey Thomas has repeatedly called herself an autobiographical novelist. Yet the fictional world in her Isobel Carpenter trilogy, Mrs. Blood, Songs My Mother Taught Me, and Blown Figures, has more substance to it than the correspondence of the writer's life to the novels would suggest. There is in the narrative progression through the three books a consistency of theme and focus. They tell the story of one woman's attempt to harmonize her dreams and the fascination romance has for her with her actual reality, her life as it has to be lived. We are given a woman character who embodies the romance of adventure but in a context of emotions more familiarly associated with horror than romance. In the narrative process the trilogy whittles away at contemporary values in the form of the family, love and sexuality, to reveal an emotional and rational vacuum at their core. The values, the thinking, the behaviour of the central character, Isobel Carpenter, a woman whose years span the pre-second world war, war time and post war years continuing into the present, are the focal centre of the fictional world in the books. The meaningful part of the character, though, is her travels because it is her travels which lift her out of the main stream of the fiction of domestic romance and enable Thomas to make other kinds of statements about her romantic heroine. An examination of the books begins with the strong centre of consciousness or perspective which is characteristic of them. This centre is either Isobel's own voice, the " I " of personal communication and dream-thought intelligence, or the more limited narration used in Blown Figures where the narration moves away from the


The selection criteria for superior individuals of litsea mollifolia Chun were set up based on an overall survey in Linshui County,and 20 individuals were selected among 120 litsea mollifolia trees with good surface features to analyze the oil content and traits of their fruits.The mean age of these superior plants was 6 years old,and they were mainly scattered in natural forest or artificial forest.Their average height was 4.01 m,and their average crown diameter was 3.01 m.The mean fruit-bearing amount of each plant was 2.32 kg,and the mean fruiting oil-producing rate was 3.89%.A serial of traits of fruits of the superior individuals were determined and analyzed and then 3 superior litsea mollifolia individuals were selected which had obvious fine surface features and a high oil content.


FPGAs are gaining popularity as the target of choice for the efficient implementation of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) approaches. Modern SoCs with integrated FPGAs have low-power on-chip processors and sufficient interfaces to accommodate the most commonly deployed Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, developing DNN hardware accelerators using integrated FPGAs remains a complicated task due to the complexity of reconfigurable computing and limited hardware resources on embedded devices. In addition, it is necessary to master High-Level Synthesis tools (HLS) and their hidden philosophy driving RTL design. This paper presents our Python framework to fully customize and automate the generation and deployment of FPGA-based DNN topologies for Edge Computing. Our framework environment, Jupyter Notebooks, allows users to customize their desired hardware DNN and its related applications on Xilinx's Pynq boards. Subsequently, the framework automatically generates TCL (Tool Command Language) scripts driving HLS tools on the host server or cloud. Once the desired FPGA-based architecture is generated, the framework retrieves the bitstream to configure the FPGA. Therefore, the user can deploy this bitstream to accelerate any Python application that performs the same DNN model. The experimental results show that our framework can speed up 59.8× a 784-32-32-10 topology, while the power consumption is less than 0.266W.


The teacher profile for this century is a mediator, conscious and critical about your historical context. In this profile, teachers realize that  the assessment process assumes that to learning's act is inherent  that the student to face the difficulties. In this paper, we aim to discuss the teacher's perception about the SCRATCH (technological tool) as an assessment tool.


UNLABELLED
BUT: Introducing a new sonographic method for evaluation the patency of fallopian tubes.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Transvaginal hysterosalpingosonography (HSSG), using chlorocid as a contrast material was performed in 52 infertile women, 12 of with after ectopic pregnancy.

RESULTS
Transvaginal hysterosalpingosonography showed as patent 24 fallopian tubes and 68 obturated. LSC and/or HSG pointed 30 patent and 62 obturated. Compared to LSC and HSG, transvaginal HSSG showed 100% sensitivity and 88% specificity.

CONCLUSIONS
This investigation revealed the good diagnostic value of HSSG with chlorocid as an easy and not expensive method for the evaluation of the patency of fallopian tubes.


1. Ancient Archives and Concepts of Record Keeping: An Introduction 2. Archival Record-keeping at Ebla 2400-2350 BC 3. Archival Practices in Third-millennium Babylonia 4. Private and Public: The Ur-Utu Archive at Sippar-Amnanum (Tell Ed-Der) 5. Archives of Old Assyrian Traders 6. Documents in Government Under the Middle Assyrian Kingdom 7. Local Differences in Arrangements of Ration Lists on Minoan Crete 8. 'Archives' and 'Scribes' and Information Hierarchy in Mycenean Greek Linear B Records 9. Reflections on Neo-Assyrian Archives 10. Aramaic Documents of the Assyrian and Achaemenid Periods 11. Record-keeping Practices as Revealed by teh neo-Babylonian Private Archival Documents 12. Reconstructing an Archive: Account and Journal Texts from Persepolis 13. Cuneiform Arcgives in Hellenistic Babylonia: Aspects of Contents and Form 14. They Did Not Write on Clay: Non-Cuneiform Documents and Archives in Seleucid Mesopotamia 15. Greek Archives: From Record to Monument 16. Tomoi Synkollesimoi


Ecology and environmental problem-solving climate change as a current issue for the Canadian forest sector highway construction and wetland loss - migration banking programmes in the Southeastern United States The impact of farmland conversion in California agricultural impacts on wildlife - problem review and restoration needs managing archaeological cultural resources as environmental resources - an aid for local governments creation of the Hol Chan Marine Reserve in Belize - a grass roots approach to barrier reef conservation biophysical measurement of sustainable development the status of the theoretical and applied science of restoration ecology wilderness recovery - thinking big in restoration ecology the wilderness idea revisited - the sustainable development alternative the wilderness idea reaffirmed the Federal mandate to restore - laws and policies on environmental restoration observations on the future debate over "delisting" the grizzly bear in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem restoration ecology as public policy public policy and direct democracy self and organizational efficacy of front-line managers in the US Fish and Wildlife Service what is education for? perspectives on science, law and values in natural resource problems.


Aim\ Based on the properties of magnetorheological (MR) fluids which are materials having flow properties that can be modified with magnetic field, the principle and the feasibility of shock damper using the MR fluids are discussed. Methods\ The configurations of the MR fluids shock damper, control system, and related theories are presented. Results Computation shows that the performance of the MR fluids shock damper, the resistances to shock, has effectively improved. Conclusion\ To apply the MR fluids to shock damper, the performance of the shock damper can be actively controlled.


Mixing in porous media is difficult, because laminar flows lack the turbulent eddies that provide mixing in open channels and engineered reactors. This presents a fundamental problem for in situ remediation, where the active chemical and biological processes are limited to a narrow fringe between the contaminated plume and the native groundwater (or injected additives). Most discussions of mixing in porous media focus on dispersion, which is enhanced by heterogeneous permeability. An alternative conceptual model is chaotic advection, in which passive particles in a transient velocity field exhibit sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Such velocity fields cause stretching and folding of material lines, leading to space-filling patterns (Figure 1) that greatly enhance mixing. This poster reports a new approach to generate stretching and folding for enhanced mixing. Injection and Extraction Schemes to Enhance Mixing in Groundwater


103 Navy OD consultants were administered four personality tests. Their effectiveness was rated by their peers and superiors. Multiple regression analyses and t-tests supported the hypothesis that personality characteristics are significantly related to consultant effectiveness.


In this paper, we present a shot boundary decision fusion strategy which implements a multi-modal cascaded dichotomic search on the boundary space. The initial and core step of the proposed method is narrowing the shot boundary decision space as long as the accuracy is improved. Instead of the default sequential change detection, a dichotomic change strategy which is supervised with a cascaded fusion, is implemented to achieve higher accuracy and less algorithmic complexity. The main decision sources are image color histograms, object recognizer results, motion comparators, audio pattern analyzers, key point extractors and edge descriptors which are selectively employed in a cascaded manner. We propose a shot boundary detection algorithm which is noise tolerant, video genre adaptable, context aware and computationally efficient. In order to reduce computational complexity, we construct a shot boundary search heuristic for pruning the set of candidate shot boundary frames. We employ both statistical and rule based approaches in a cascaded fashion in order to decide the size of the search space to be pruned for the purposes of improving computational efficiency. TRECVid 2006 and 2007 data sets are used in the evaluation process and the performance results are given for both cuts and gradual transitions.


Through comparative analysis, we research the relationship between cotton future price and cotton spot price in different regions, in order to formulate corresponding strategies in different regions under the new situation. We use ADF unit root test, E-G two-step co-integration test, Granger causality test, and other research methods in Eviews 5.0 statistical software, to empirically study the relationship between the cotton future price and cotton spot price in Xinjiang, the relationship between the cotton future price and cotton spot price in China. The results show that there is a long-term relationship between the cotton future price and cotton spot price in Xinjiang, between the cotton future price and cotton spot price in China; the cotton future price plays unidirectional role in guiding cotton spot price in Xinjiang and cotton spot price in china. The discovery function of cotton future price plays much greater role in me cotton market of China than in the cotton market of Xinjiang.


The dissociation and isomerization reactions of N11 isomers, including the two structures 1 and 3 previously studied as well as the three new structures 2, 4, and 5, were investigated by the density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP/6-31G(d), B3LYP/6-311G(d), and B3LYP/6-311+G(3df)//B3LYP/6-311G(d) levels of theory. The results indicate that, similar to previous results on N9 and N10 isomers, the barrier heights for structures 1 and 2 to lose N2 are about 10–15 kcal/mol whereas the barrier heights for structures 1–3 to lose N3 are about 25–30 kcal/mol. Therefore, it seems that N2 is easier to be eliminated than is N3 from the relatively larger nitrogen isomers. In addition, for structures 1 and 3, both dissociation and isomerization can occur in the N8–N9 bond, due partly to its character in having an aromatic bond. Moreover, the isomerization is preferred compared with dissociation because of its relatively lower energy barrier height.


Feature similarity matching, which transfers the information of the reference frame to the query frame, is a key component in semi-supervised video object segmentation. If surjective matching is adopted, background distractors can easily occur and degrade the performance. Bijective matching mechanisms try to prevent this by restricting the amount of information being transferred to the query frame, but have two limitations: 1) surjective matching cannot be fully leveraged as it is transformed to bijective matching at test time; and 2) test-time manual tuning is required for searching the optimal hyper-parameters. To overcome these limitations while ensuring reliable information transfer, we introduce an equalized matching mechanism. To prevent the reference frame information from being overly referenced, the potential contribution to the query frame is equalized by simply applying a softmax operation along with the query. On public benchmark datasets, our proposed approach achieves a comparable performance to state-of-the-art methods.


Effects of two kinds of plant endophytic fungi products from ginseng and seabuckthorn(RD and SD)on the nitrogen utilization efficiency of rice Liaoxing-1 were studied by pot experiment.Before tansplanting,rice root were dipped into 250 ng/ml RD,250 ng/ml SD,and 250 ng/ml water for 15 min,respectively.Total N content of representative plant samples at the elongation stage,heading stage and maturity stage were measured,respectively.Furthermore,N accumulation,N uptake,N periodic accumulation,N periodic absorption rate,nitrogen agronomic efficiency,and nitrogen physiological efficiency were analysized.The results showed that above six indexes in RD and SD treatments were all significantly higher than those in control.These indicated that RD and SD could promote nitrogen fertilizer absorption and utilization in rice.


In May 1991 M. Mamyrbaev, student of the Kirgiz State University, brought to Dr. A. MoKEEV, the head of the chair of Ancient and Medieval History, a silver goblet with an ancient inscription. The goblet (Fig. 1, 2) was found by some shepherd at a dzhailoo (summer alpine pasture) in the Aq Shyiraq river basin in the Terskei Alatau mountains. About 100 km north-west of this dzhailoo at the southern shore of Issyk Kul lake there was the medieval town of Barskhan (nowadays Barskaun hillfort), which was the capital of an Eastern Qaräkhänid appanage principality. So it seems that the Aq Shyiraq river basin was a dzhailoo, where the rulers of Barskhan spent the sultry summertime.


http://dx.doi.org/10.9771/ccrh.v33i0.33331 Participatory devices in Brazil have been analyzed in a dense literature examining the ambivalent projects pursued through citizen participation, the involvement of citizens in these projects and their varying effects on public policy or the political sphere. What is lacking is an in-depth analysis of the role of public participation professionals (PPPs) in Brazil, namely, the specific actors who are paid to design, implement or facilitate participatory forums. This article uses a qualitative methodology to develop a typology of organizers of some Brazilian participatory mechanisms, by studying their trajectory and conceptions of participation they support. Its aim is to show that these actors are central in defining how citizens should participate and who is part of the legitimate audience. Therefore, PPPs play a major role in reinforcing the transformative scope of a device or, on the contrary, in limiting it to a simple consultation of citizens, through the audience rallied, the tool(s) they choose or the meaning they give to participation.


Immediate postbiopsy selective renal angiography was performed on 18 patients. The most common finding was filling of the needle track with opacified blood. Minimal to extensive perirenal puddling of contrast material was seen in 6 patients. Minimal arteriovenous communication, arterial occlusion, and nephrographic defects were also noted. Accurate placement of the biopsy needle in the cortical region is important in preventing major complications.


Maximum power point trackers (MPPTs) are required to ensure optimum utilization of photovoltaic (PV) arrays in renewable energy systems, both as stand-alone and as supplementary sources of energy. In this paper, a MPPT algorithm is presented based on the perturb and observe (P & O) approach, implemented with an adaptive perturbation step size to allow fast convergence to the required operating point.


Alittle studied area of art and decoration is that of tattoos, lip plugs and body decorations of which I found many interesting examples in the various tribes throughout Mozambique. Ritual tattooing or scarification is done with great ceremony at an important juncture of a child's development, usually connected with initiation rites. It is also performed as a member of the tribe assumes a more important political rank or passes from one social level to another, while at other times it has been used to mark slaves. Scarifications are also sometimes made during illnesses with medicines rubbed into them by curandeiros or witchdoctors.


Preface 1. Introduction 2. Pairwise alignment 3. Markov chains and hidden Markov models 4. Pairwise alignment using HMMs 5. Profile HMMs for sequence families 6. Multiple sequence alignment methods 7. Building phylogenetic trees 8. Probabilistic approaches to phylogeny 9. Transformational grammars 10. RNA structure analysis 11. Background on probability.


In view of the frequently cited similarities between photo‐ and electrocatalysis, large overlaps are to be expected in terms of the mediators used. However, closer inspection reveals that the exchange of mediators is the exception rather than the rule. In this context, the mediator portfolio of electrosynthesis holds great potential for useful applications in photocatalysis (and vice versa). Herein, a systematic approach toward harnessing electrochemical mediators for photocatalysis is presented. Using the phenanthro[9,10‐d]‐imidazole framework (a known electrocatalytic system) as a test case, it is shown how systematic investigation and tuning of the mediator properties leads to application in photocatalysis. As a result, a much broader platform becomes accessible, one in which the redox potential in the ground and excited state can be adjusted by variation of the substituents to enable both oxidative and reductive transformations to occur simply by choosing the type of energy input (light or electricity).


She was admitted as the bowel injury was suspected. Her haemoglobin was 13.4 gm%, white blood cell count was 10.7 and C-reactive protein level was 344 mg/L with normal liver function. Her urea level was 8.5 mmol/L, creatinine level was 218 mmol/L and sodium level was low (133 mmol/L). Her X-ray abdomen suggested distended bowel loops with no gas under the diaphragm. Chest X-ray was normal. She was reviewed by a surgical team who in the absence of any signs of peritonism decided to manage conservatively. Her condition worsened and repeat investigations suggested increasing urea and creatinine levels. A computerised tomography (CT) scan was requested which suggested gross ascites. She had emergency laparotomy and 3–4 L of urinary ascites was drained. There was a bladder injury at apex (through and through) which was closed in two layers with Vicryl 2-0. Bladder was catheterised and a pelvic drain was inserted. The drain was taken out on day 3 and the catheter was removed after 10 days. She made an uneventful recovery after stormy preand postoperative period and discharged in good condition on day 11.


In this paper,a new feature extraction method of weighted pairwise maximum margin criterion(WPMMC) was introduced,it was the general form of maximum margin criterion(MMC).It was proved that WPMMC can be directly implemented in the DCT domain and the results were exactly the same as the one obtained from the spatial domain.For compressed JPEG images,WPMMC can be directly implemented in the DCT domain so the process of calculating DCT can be omitted.At the end of this paper,the proposed WPMMC method and its application in the DCT domain were tested in face recognition.Experimental results showed that the performance of WPMMC was more efficient than that of PCA,LDA,and MMC.The performance of WPMMC remaining parts of the DCT coefficients in the DCT domain can reach a better result than using the whole DCT coefficients or in the spatial domain.


A first DC / DC converter (5) is formed as such a constant-voltage-control type, and is driven such that it keeps the voltage at the electric power generation bus (A) at a predetermined target value. A second DC / DC converter (7) is such a constant-current control type and is driven such that it holds the input current or the output current to a predetermined setpoint. A control circuit (8) determines an optimum target value Va * of the voltage at the electric power generation bus, on the basis of different algorithms and as a function of all or some of the modes A to C by the charging / discharging of a second electric storage means (6) are divided, and controls the first DC / DC converter (5) in such a way that the voltage Va assumes the determined optimum target value Va * to the electric-power-generation bus.


I. Both varieties gave a clear and abrupt break at the bag-spike junction. The Dianeal bags seemed to be more likely to stretch during the test procedure; the mean stretch value was 0.283 inches. Mean tensile strength (::t: SD) for the Inpersol connection was 8.141 ::t: 1.11 Ib. and for the Dianeal connection was 13.78 ::t: 3.47Ib. (Fig. 2). The Inpersol connection is clearly less secure than the Dianeal (p < 0.001). There is no literature on the tensile strength of CAPD bag-spike connections. Several circumstances may place stress on these junctions: I) folding the CAPD bag for insertion in a gannent, 2) picking up bag by the connecting set, 3) inadvertent tug on the bag while hanging it and 4) steadying the bag by holding the spike while unwrapping the


In location prediction systems, the purpose is to infer mobility pattern of individuals so that applications can know in advance where a user will go next. Although researchers have proposed many schemes to achieve better accuracy in location prediction systems, this area is still open to further research. In this study, we investigate the potential to improve performance (accuracy and training time) of location prediction models by leveraging large scale data. Given that users closer in space would exhibit similar mobility behaviors, our idea is to create what we are calling a community model for a group of users in a given geographic area and then use parameters from this model to enhance performance for individual users in the same community. We choose to experiment with logistic regression classifier and use a real life dataset to investigate this idea. The results from our experiments show that our idea to use community-wide learned model parameters in individuals works very well and reduces training time for individual models by nearly 100 percent. However, we don't find similar improvements in accuracy.


People always set literal translation against free translation.But in fact,both of them are good means of translation which deal with different situation.In translation,both of them can achieve good effect.They are not completely separate from each other,but can be combined with each other in good translation.


The hydraulic unit (11), by a pin (15, 16) elastomeric elements which are penetrated by (17, 18), elastically supported by the console two legs extending at right angles to one another (12) (17, 18) It is. Console (12) legs (14) of, and the mounting direction of the unit (11) opened in the opposite direction, and has a notch for receiving the elastomeric element (18). Using a pin (16) arranged clamping means (34, 35, 36), elastomeric elements (18) is compressed in the axial direction, the console (12) legs (14) of the notch, the notch It is pressed against the and arranged side on both sides. Using compressed elastomeric element (18), coupling is achieved by binding and friction due to the mutual shape of the leg (14) of the console (12). Devices are available in the vehicle.


We present a general framework in the setting of difference ring extensions that enables one to find improved representations of indefinite nested sums such that the arising denominators within the summands have reduced degrees. The underlying (parameterized) telescoping algorithms can be executed in RΠΣ -ring extensions that are built over general ΠΣ -fields. An important application of this toolbox is the simplification of d'Alembertian and Liouvillian solutions coming from recurrence relations where the denominators of the arising sums do not factor nicely.


A method for the algebraic approximation of attractors recently developed by Foias and Temam is adapted for application to autonomous galloping oscillators. We compare results obtained by algebraic approximation on the one hand and numerical integration on the other. We conclude with an assessment of the limitations of the method as applied to our systems.


In this paper, a generalization of the γ-ray transmission method which is useful for measurements on soil samples, for example, is presented. The correction factor, f, is given, which is a function of the apparent density of the soil and the γ-ray energy. With this method, the need for individual determinations of f, for each energy and apparent soil density is avoided. Although the method has been developed for soils, the general philosophy can be applied to other sample matrices, such as water or vegetables for example


The main aim of this research work is to develop a multi walled carbo nanotubes and carbon nano fibers in a superhydrophobic manner.It is developed in the form of a carbon composite. The work is coated by including a water contact angle 158.2° and also with an inclined angle of 5.2°. The advanced processing technique is utilized in this work.In this the combimation of supercritical fluid processing is done.The supercooled water experiment (SWT) displayed that the surface of composite coating wettability is a major controlling section for decreasing ice accretion on the stable surface. Based on the observations it can be identified that both the carbon nao tubes and multi walled carbon nano tubes had a very good wear resistant.Moreover, the ~120 S duration of rubbing the inclusion of trapped wear fibers and matrix increase the friction of force because of strong adsorption and the resulting composites have strong mechanical transduction compared with CNF and MWCNT coating. These results show that a coating strategy is very effective for anti-icing system and it s attributed to the the impending value in certain application where maximum scale is required.


Photolysis of molecular oxygen (O2) sustains the stratospheric ozone layer and is thereby protecting living organisms on Earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the past, atmospheric O2 levels were not constant, and their variations are thought to be responsible for the extinction of some species due to the thinning of the ozone layer. Over the Phanerozoic Eon (last ∼500 Mio years), the O2 volume mixing ratio ranged between 10% and 35% depending on the level of photosynthetic activity of plants and oceans. Previous estimates, mostly performed by simplified 1-D models, showed different ozone (O3) responses to atmospheric O2 changes within this range, such as monotonically positive or negative correlations, or displaying a maximum in the O3 column around a certain O2 level. Here, we assess the ozone layer sensitivity to atmospheric O2 varying between 5% and 40% with a state-of-the-art 3-D chemistry-climate model (CCM). Our findings show that the O3 layer thickness maximizes around the current mixing ratio of O2, 21% ± 5%, while lower or higher levels of O2 result globally in a reduction of total column O3. At low latitudes, the total column O3 is less sensitive to O2 variations, because of the "self-healing" effect, namely, a vertical dipole in the tropical ozone response. Mid- and high-latitude O3 columns that are largely affected by transport of O3 from the tropics, however, are much more sensitive to O2 with changes up to 20 DU even for small (±5%) O2 perturbations. We show that these variations are largely driven by the radiative impact of O3 on stratospheric temperatures and on the strength of the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC), indicating chemistry-radiation-transport feedback. High O2 cases result in an acceleration of the BDC and vice versa, which always works in favor of the negative part of the O3 anomaly dipole in the tropics being more effectively transported to the mid- and high-latitudes than the positive one. Although there are other factors strongly influencing O3/O2 relationship on the Phanerozoic Eon timescales that have not been considered here, our results and the presented mechanism bring useful insights for other studies focusing on the long-term O3/O2 relationship.


This paper examines the present industry reaction to IMO Resolution A.861 (20) and discusses the advantages of taking a broader approach to the issue than simply meeting just those compliance requirements. We suggest that far from being a simple data grave and tool for maritime accident investigation authorities, to view critical events for a stipulated period of time, the Voyage Data Recorder is capable of providing the maritime industry with an opportunity to improve the safety and efficiency of maritime operations in a way never before considered possible. The Voyage Data Recorder functionality provides for a range of scalable options aimed at enhancing the management and further application of recorded event data with the aim of improving the safe and efficient operation of ships.


Over the past decade the management of recurrent ovarian cancer has become increasingly complex. While newer treatment options have unequivocally improved outcomes for patients, keeping abreast of ever-changing management principles is presenting major challenges for clinicians. A watershed moment occurred at the fifth Ovarian Cancer Consensus Conference in 2015 when experts agreed that the current approach to therapeutic planning cannot be based solely around the so-called 'platinum-free interval' but must take into account additional factors such as tumor biology (e.g. histotype, BRCA mutation status, homologous recombination defects, mismatch repair deficiency), type and outcome of prior therapy (e.g. chemotherapy, antiangiogenic agents), type and presence and severity of symptoms, number of prior chemotherapy lines, and outcomes of previous surgery. Moreover, quality of life considerations and patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are increasingly becoming key factors in clinical decision-making. In such a rapidly evolving environment, regular review of the evidence is essential. That said, evaluation of a patient's eligibility for further platinum-based therapies continues to be a key parameter when selecting treatment for recurrent ovarian cancer. Platinum-based chemotherapy, with or without maintenance treatment with anti-angiogenics or poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors, is an option to consider for patients who initially responded to platinum and do not present contraindications such as severe allergy. Patients seemingly not eligible for platinum retreatment might benefit from non-platinum combinations such as single-agent chemotherapy plus bevacizumab or trabectedin+pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD). The latter is an effective and well-tolerated regimen that has shown superior efficacy over PLD monotherapy without detriment to quality of life and, theoretically, may have the added benefit of enhancing the efficacy of subsequent platinum rechallenge; this concept is being addressed in an ongoing trial. At the annual meeting of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology in November 2017, a symposium was held entitled 'The key role of quality of life in the longdistance race of ovarian cancer.' The esteemed panel of experts examined some emerging concepts with potential to shift the focus of ovarian cancer management from quantity of life to quality of life. In ovarian cancer, as with other chronic conditions, there can be considerable discord between patients and physicians with regard to perceived symptom burden. The willingness of some patients to 'trade' treatment efficacy for a better quality of life underscores the importance of PROs in therapeutic planning. Professors Andreas du Bois (Essen, Germany) and Felix Hilpert (Hamburg, Germany) provided an overview of the current status of PROs in guiding clinical trial design and clinical decision-making in patients with ovarian cancer, and previewed the potential of PROs in these settings. Case studies presented by Dr Isabelle Ray-Coquard (Lyon, France), Dr Nicoletta Colombo (Milan, Italy), and Dr Christian Marth (Innsbruck, Austria) illustrate clearly the complexity of managing recurrent ovarian cancer in everyday practice and the myriad clinical challenges faced daily by multidisciplinary teams. The case studies focused particularly on the role of trabectedin+PLD in the management of the subgroup of ovarian cancer patients with expected limited platinum sensitivity.


The pH-responsive double hydrophilic block copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(methacylic acid-co-4-vinyl benzylamine hydrochloride salt) (PEG-b-PMAA/PVBAHS) was synthesized. A series of PEG-b-PMAA/PVBAHS with different molecule weights and compositions were characterized by IR, 1H-NMR, elemental analysis and TGA. With different MAA/VBAHS ratio, the PEG-b-PMAA/PVBAHS copolymers had the different isoelectric point (IEP). Supermolecular structures of the block copolymers could be formed by the interionic interactions at different solution pH. Experiment results showed that the structures of the pH-responsive copolymers in aqueous solution could be changed at different pH environments. The aggregation of this double hydrophilic block copolymer in aqueous solution was determined by both of solution pH and copolymer composition.


This paper introduces the global positioning system(GPS),analyzes the characteristics of GPS signal,puts forward a kind of new floating GPS jamming means,gives out the realization theory of captive balloon-borne GPS jamming system.


BACKGROUND
Today, many agricultural products claiming a link to their origin and a typicity, receive a warm welcome on the market. Nevertheless, the notion of typicity is blured for consumers and need to be objectified for communication purpose. This study aims at formalizing a methodology for studying typicity of terroirs, with wine PDO example, by a participatory approach with professionals of the wine sector from terroirs, using Focus Group and tasting. The vision of terroirs' typicity by professionals outside of these terroirs has been studied by a Free Word Association Task.

RESULTS
This study allowed to distinguish clearly the typicity of the studied terroirs. Professionals from terroirs identified the global conceptual typicity of their terroirs by using different factors, mainly soil, geography, and grape variety whereas professionals outside terroirs expressed their visions of terroirs by reputation or sensory characteristics of wines. Tasting results showed a discrimination of wines based on their typicity and highlighted descriptors involved in sensory perceptual typicity for each studied terroir.

CONCLUSION
Professionals from terroirs share a common vision of their typicity and identify more typicity factors than professional outside terroirs. Sensory typicity has been highlighted for five of the six terroirs studied, according to the different descriptors. The study of two populations, from and outside terroirs, shows the gap between the typicities identified by professionals from terroirs and those perceived by professionals outside terroirs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


This article addresses the question of whether an adequate theory for explaining the historical development of Latin American labour movements is currently available. The importance of the question derives from the fact that empirical studies of labour movements (however restricted in time and space) must necessarily refer (even if only implicitly) to some wider context in which the monographic study is situated. For most researchers, the primary focus of attention is (correctly) the delimited case; the context and comparison is usually (and incorrectly) taken as unproblematic. There is, therefore, a need to turn our attention, every now and again, explicitly to the larger picture. In recent years there seems to have been something of a minor boom in studies of the working class. For the first time, an impressive quantity of monographic material is becoming available.! One rather ironic result of this recent flurry of activity has been to highlight the discrepancy between general theories about labour and our concrete knowledge. It is to this issue that the present article is addressed. As an illustration of the present situation, it may be useful to begin with some comments on a recent English-language work on Latin American labour history, Hobart Spalding's Original Labor in Latin America.2 Spalding is an historian with considerable knowledge of his area, who works within a dependency framework. He has written the first detailed treatment of Latin American labour history from this perspective. This attempt to move beyond the narrow confines and arbitrary comparisons set by monographic analysis is laudible, and there is a great deal that is of value in Spalding's account. As our present concern is with Spalding's theoretical framework, we will pass over the detailed historiographic issues raised by his book, and immediately proceed to examine the interpretative schema which he uses to organize the data. Spalding claims to detect three 'stages' in the development of the labour movement in Latin America. These he identifies as: (1) formative (2) expansive and explosive (3) co-optive-repressive.3 The first question concerns the analytical power of these categories: what do they tell us? The answer, unfortunately, is remarkably little. Let us examine them in more detail. The first phase simply states that things have a beginning. It is difficult to imagine not being able to talk about a formative period for any phenomenon. This is not a useful conceptual (theoretical) category. It is just a statement that


Computed tomography (CT)‐based spiculated sign is a risk factor for malignancy in patients with lung nodules (LNs). The present meta‐analysis aimed to evaluate the diagnostic utility of CT‐based spiculated sign as a means of differentiating between malignant and benign LNs.


In order to clarify the effect of carbon and nitrogen source and cultivation method on the bacterium grows liquid of Cordyceps militaris sinensis,several culture solutions were prepared with the different carbon and nitrogen sources,and inoculated with the bacterium grows liquid of Cordyceps militaris sinensis.Then it was cultivated by oscillating and quiet ways separately.The size,number of hypha ball and the amount of mitogenic spore in culture solution were observed and the cultivated methods were also compared.The result indicated the better carbon source were maize,rice,and wheat grain;the better nitrogen source were pupa soup and peptone;and oscillating cultivation was better than quiet cultivation.The conclusion was the excellent bacterium liquid of Cordyceps militaris sinensis can be obtained with the proper carbon and nitrogen source and oscillating cultivation method.


In the Arctic and subarctic regions peat soils are widespread. They serve as an indicator of anthropogenic pollution in different historical periods. Samples of peat of different ages were studied - layer of vegetation 0 cm, 0-5 cm, 5-35 cm, 85-140 cm. The age of the layers was defined on the basis of the lead-lead dating method. The elements were identified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. It was determined that the highest concentration of all three elements is observed in peats aged 2-29 years. This is due to both anthropogenic and groundwater effects. In areas that are below the maximum level of groundwater, a portion of the elements associated with readily soluble organic matter in the water is washed out and transported to the rivers with groundwater. Iron concentrations are observed in peat, regardless of anthropogenic activity, which is less characteristic of lead. This is also evidenced by large concentrations of chromium in younger layers. Lead and chromium are not nutrients. Such significant changes in lead and chromium concentrations may indicate air pollution due to the widespread development of industry and the transboundary transport of pollutants to the subarctic zone.


Multimedia services are being increasingly provided to mobile users with the emergence of high speed wireless communications technologies such as HSPA+ and LTE. The LTE specification has been developed to provide high quality services to multimedia users in the wireless network. To support high quality multimedia services, QoS and QoE are essential factors that must be considered by mobile service providers and network operators. One of the important issues in QoS/QoE in the wireless network is to maintain a certain level of service quality as well as efficient radio resource utilization, in which the downlink scheduling algorithm is involved. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of various downlink scheduling algorithms considering different speeds of mobile users and the varying number of UEs in the wireless network, in particular, the LTE network. Simulation results are presented and analyzed to compare the performance of scheduling algorithms for video/voice transport over the LTE network.


Objective To investigate the effect of penehyclidine hydrochloride(PHC) on pulmonary interstitial fibrosis(PIF) induced by paraquat (PQ) in rats.Methods Forty-eight male SD rats were randomly divided into four groups,control group(Con group),model group(Mod group),PHC group and dexamethasone(Dex) group.Then every group was randomly divided into 7th day and 22th day subgroup,there were 6 rats in every group.20% PQ (18 mg/kg,diluted to 1 ml) was injected peritoneally to make poisoning model,while in the Con group 1 ml normal saline was used.30 min after exposed to PQ,rats in PHC group and Dex group were respectively intraperitoneally injected with PHC (0.1 mg/kg) and Dex (3 mg/kg),and then repeated injection once per 24 h,all intervention drug were diluted to 1 ml with normal saline.Rats in Con group and Mod group at corresponding time points were given with equal volume of normal saline.On the 7th day and 22th day respectively,experimental animals were killed to detect the partial pressure of oxygen in artery (PaO2) and partial pressure of carbon dioxide in artery (PaCO2),the lung wet/dry ratio (W/D),the pathological changes of lung tissue by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining,and the transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) expression in lung tissue with immunohistochemistry.Results Comparing with Con group,the PaO2 was significantly lower[(79±6) mm Hg/(78±8) mm Hg vs(39±6) mm Hg/(44±5) mm Hg,(46±4) mm Hg/(52±5) mm Hg,(54±6) mm Hg/(60±6) mm Hg(1 mm Hg=0.133 kPa)],the PaCO2[(44±7) mm Hg/(45±7) mm Hg vs(92±5) mm Hg/(82±4) mm Hg,(84±8) mm Hg/(73±8) mm Hg,(75±7) mm Hg/(65±7) mm Hg],pulmonary W/D[(2.60±0.25)/(2.58±0.22) vs(5.67±0.61)/(4.57±0.39),(4.25±0.44)/(3.85±0.34),(3.69±0.40)/(3.40±0.28)] and TGF-β1[(136±7)/(140±7) vs(215±23)/(322±29),(193±11)/(246±16),(186±11)/(214±14)] expression was significantly increased in rats exposed to PQ.The morphological changes presented acute pulmonary inflammatiuon on the 7th day,while on the 22th day,PIF appeared.Penehyclidine hydrochloride and Dex,could significantly increase PaO2,decrease PaCO2.Inhibit lung inflammation infiltration,reduce PIF,significantly reduce lung W/D and TGF-β1 expression in the lung tissue,and there were no obvious difference in PHC group and Dex group.Conclusions PHC can inhibitting the expression of TGF-31,then reduce lung inflammation infiltration and suppress the occurrence of PIF of PQ poisoning in rats.

Key words:
Penehyclidine hydrochloride;  Pulmonary interstitial fibrosis;  Paraquat;  Transforming growth factor-β1


A major challenge in kinase drug discovery is accurately relating a compound's inhibitory activity in vitro to its potency within the cell. A number of factors can contribute to the relationship including those that influence the drug's intrinsic affinity for the kinase, such as choice of substrate, and those that influence the concentration of drug required to achieve the affinity in a cellular environment, such as serum protein binding and competition with ATP for ATP competitive inhibitors. In this study we evaluated the effect of different substrates as well as human serum protein (tested up to 40%) on the apparent affinity in the p38α enzyme assay and compared the results to those found in human whole blood and THP1 cellular assays measuring a reduction in IL1‐β and TNFα production, respectively, following stimulation with LPS. The enzyme assays were conducted with active p38α, ATP at Km and saturating concentrations, with MBP or MK2 as substrate, with and without human serum protein under initial velocity conditions. We observed that the differences in inhibition potency between the enzyme and cellular assays were, in general, accounted for by choice of substrate and serum protein. A shift in potency between the enzyme and cellular assays due to competition of the inhibitors with ATP was not observed. The KI value for the ATP competitive p38 inhibitors in the enzyme assays was similar to the IC50 value for inhibition of IL1‐β in human whole blood.


Observations on the blood pressure of a group of 660 displaced male Tibetans revealed striking dissimilarities in regard to the mean systolic and diastolic figures as compared to those reported for Europeans and Americans. The average Tibetan figures are lower than those of Western populations; however, a comparable variability after the fourth decade and a parallel spread of values with age and weight were found in the Tibetan data. The socioeconomic status and height bore no relation to the blood pressure levels. The results obtained from this survey on the Tibetans are compared with those of other Mongolian groups. It is suggested that the differences of blood pressure among related Mongolian groups and populations studied in the West are largely determined by environment.


Linear anodic potentiodynamic polarization and dynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopic (DEIS) measurements were carried out for NiTi and NiTiNb alloys in physiological 0.9 wt% NaCl solution in order to assess their corrosion resistance. DEIS measurements were performed from open circuit potential to dissolution potential. It was shown that the impedance measurements in potentiodynamic conditions allow simultaneous investigation of changes in passive layer structure. The impedance spectra of various potential regions were fitted and also discussed. The surface morphology of the alloys after linear anodic polarization test was studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique.


This paper will give a brief overview of some alternatives for including diffraction effects in computational room acoustics. Geometrical acoustics is the basis for most computer modeling methods in room acoustics, and both deterministic and stochastic approaches are used. The image source method and the beam tracing method dominate for the former, and ray tracing for the latter. Deterministic methods are used for sequences of specular reflections, and diffraction effects are straightforward to include in such methods. Paths that involve at least one diffuse reflection are usually handled by ray tracing and recent work has suggested how to implement diffraction in ray tracing. The inclusion of diffraction effects might offer more accurate modeling, most notably for free‐hanging reflectors, orchestra pits, balcony edges, etc. The boundary condition issue will be discussed since diffraction solutions that are useful in room acoustics exist only for ideally rigid surfaces. Underlying approximations in some f...


The hippocampal formation (HF) facilitates the creation of declarative memories, with subfields providing unique contributions to the discriminability and generalizability of events. The HF itself and its connections with other structures exhibit a protracted development. Maturational differences across subfields facilitate a shift towards memory specificity, with peri-puberty sitting at the inflection point. Peri-puberty also happens to be a sensitive period in the development of anxiety disorders. Taken together, we believe HF development is critical to negative overgeneralization, a common feature of anxiety disorders. To investigate the role of the HF in behavioral discrimination and generalization we examined the relation between behavior and cross-sectional indices of HF maturity derived from subfield volume. Participants aged 9-14 years, recruited from clinical and community sources, performed a recognition task with emotionally valent (positive, negative) and neutral images. T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted structural scans were collected. Partial least squares correlations were used to derive a singular metric of maturity for both HF volume and structural connectivity. We found our volumetric HF maturity index was positively associated with discrimination for neutral images and generalization for negative images. Hippocampal-medial prefrontal cortex structural connectivity maturity metric evidenced a similar trend with behavior as the HF volumetric approach. These findings are important because they reflect a novel developmentally related balance between discrimination and generalization behavior supported by the hippocampus and its connections with other regions. Maturational shifts in this balance may contribute to negative overgeneralization, a common feature of anxiety disorders that escalates during the same developmental window. Significance Statement The hippocampal formation (HF) facilitates declarative memory specificity and is composed of subfields whose development during adolescence overlaps with the onset of anxiety disorders. Aberrations in mechanisms governing memory specificity may contribute to negative overgeneralization in anxious youth. Participants completed an emotional memory discrimination task while in the scanner. Using a multivariate maturity metric based on subfield volume we found individuals with more "mature" HF were better at differentiating similar neutral images and more likely to generalize similar negative images. These findings are important because they capture a novel developmental mechanism related to the balance between discrimination and generalization. Shifts in this balance, may contribute to negative overgeneralization, a common feature of anxiety disorders.


High molecular weight, randomly coupled poly(imide siloxane) soluble block copolymers were synthesized from bis(amino propyl) polydimethylsiloxane equilibrates of various molecular weights, aromatic metalinked diamines, and 3,3'-4,4'-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA). Two synthetic procedures were successfully used to synthesize the poly(amic acid siloxane) intermediates. For both synthetic procedures, a cosolvent system was employed to achieve complete solvation of all components throughout the polymerization. Physical property characterization is continuing.


As critical researchers engaged in work that celebrates neurodiversity we are interested in ways in which particular spaces can be experienced as AS/NT friendly. Given the strong focus on 'impairments' associated with autism in many of the dominant literatures, particularly the 'impairment in social interaction', alternative understandings of friendship and social interactions are important if we are to engage with neurodiverse relationships. In this poster we explore representations of friendship among autistic people and the potential impact that social networking in online-space such as Facebook or off-line space such camps for autistic people may have in enabling a reconstruction of ideas about friendship and how these alternative notions of 'friendship' may be useful for some autistic people. The growing body of literature focusing on the internet as a potential tool for empowerment for use by people with AS, means that it is important to explore its potential for creating neurodiverse spaces that recognise and respect difference. In this presentation we draw on the example of Facebook and Swedish summer camps for adults with autism to explore the potential for social networking to support neurodiverse communities.


This paper analyzes the methodologies of quantified SWOT, scenario planning, and sensitivity analysis, identifies the properties of Armenian electrical system and heavy electric equipment trade, and derives the strategy alternatives to promote the export of Korean electric equipment enterprises to Armenia through the applications of A'WOT and sensitivity analyses. To enter into the Armenia electric equipment market successfully, the short-run appropriate method is export owing to the high political and commercial risk and the most important strategy is to strengthen the technological competitiveness through increasing the R&D investment.


Abstract Efficient online state estimation of dynamic dispersion processes plays an important role in a variety of safety-critical applications. The use of mobile sensor platforms is increasingly considered in this context, but implies the generation of situation-dependent vehicle trajectories providing high information gain in real-time. In this paper, a new adaptive observation strategy is presented combining state estimation based on partial differential equation models of the dispersion process with a model-predictive control approach for multiple cooperating mobile sensors. In a repeating sequential procedure, based on the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter, the uncertainty of the current estimate is determined and used to find valuable measurement locations. Those serve as target points for the controller providing optimal trajectories subject to the vehicles' motion dynamics and cooperation constraints. First promising results regarding accuracy and efficiency were obtained.


Introduction: The nonunion rate is higher and loss of reduction is common after reduction and fusion for the higher grades of spondylolisthesis. This is due to fusion bone base deficiency and lack of anterior column support, and can be addressed by supplementing the posterolateral fusion with a posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). Materials: All patients had a single disc level degenerative or spondylolytic slip exceeding 25%. Laminectomy and instrumented reduction (VSP or TSRH) was performed. 86 patients underwent posterolateral fusion and 82 underwent the same procedure plus a PLIF (done by tightly impacting bone chips into the disc cavity after a very aggressive discectomy). No fusion cages were used. Results: Presented as No-PLIF vs. PLIF. Age: 56 vs. 52 years. Male/Female: 14:72 vs. 15:67. Cases with pars fx: 44% vs. 56%. Level of slip (L3-4, L4-5, L5-S1): 9, 59, 18 vs. 4, 60, 18. Iatrogenic neurological injury: none vs. none. Deep infection: 1 vs. none. Nonunion: 9.3% vs. 2.4%. Broken screws: 6 vs. 2. Degree of slip (pre-op to post-op to 2 years): 34% to 11% to 20% vs. 38% to 4% to 8%. Patients that lost reduction: 67% vs. 18%. Disc height gained at 2 years: −0.2 mm vs. 2.3 mm. Subjective back pain score: 3.5 vs. 2.0. Greenough LBOS score: 54 vs. 62. Patients very satisfied: 43% vs. 60%. Cases with adjacent level slip: 4 vs. 4. Discussion: Spondylolisthesis is commonly treated with a spinal fusion. The goal of surgery is to eliminate motion between the unstable segments, and mechanically it is preferable that the vertebrae fuse in as near anatomic position as possible. It has been shown that the fusion rate decreases with higher degrees of slip, with the spondylolytic types, and with severely degenerated discs. Pedicle screw instrumentation can increase the fusion rate. Reduction of the slip can often be achieved, but it is common to lose the reduction over the course of 1–2 years if only posterolateral fusion is done. Adding an interbody fusion cage can help restore the disc height and widen the intervertebral foramen, but increases complexity, cost, and may actually decrease bone contact area and compression forces. We have found that in grade II and worse slips, pedicle screw fixation alone is not strong enough to maintain reduction of either vertebral alignment or disc height. Adding a chip PLIF appears safe and effective in increasing the union rate and the disc height, and in maintaining reduction in grade II spondylolisthesis. Clinical results are better, the infection rate is not higher. In our hands, there have been no neurological injuries. This study also raises questions about the role and need for interbody fusion cages.


The aim of this work is to analyze and compare the dynamic performances of two types of controllers (namely, classical Proportional Integral and Fuzzy Logic) for the matrix converter in terms of tracking the reference and robustness. Output signal of the Matrix Converter (MC) is directly affected by unbalanced grid voltage. Some research works have been made to overcome this problem by using Proportional integral (PI) control. However, PI control has a lower performance when it is used in complex and nonlinear systems. Fuzzy logic controller (FLC) has best performances, even in case of strongly nonlinear systems. Therefore, the combination of these two controllers to form a fuzzy supervisory control (FSC) can give better performance to overcome the limitation of PI control in nonlinear systems. In this paper a novel FSC control method is proposed. The FSC performs closed loop control of the output current to improve the performance of the MC powered by unbalanced grid voltage. The whole operating principle, Venturini modulation strategy of MC, PI control and characteristics of FSC are presented. To show the effectiveness of the control methods, the performances of the system are analyzed and compared by simulation using Matlab/Simulink software.


PURPOSE: To obtain modified SiO 2 gels which is an excellent thermal insulation material by polycodensing silicic acid from aqueous water-glass solution into SiO 2 gel, and by extracting the gel by an organic solvent and reacting the gel with a silylating agent and drying the product. CONSTITUTION: (a) The pH of an aqueous water-glass solution is adjusted to be ≤3.0 using an acid ion exchange resin or a mineral acid. Subsequently (b) the silicic acid obtained from the process (a) is polycondensed to SiO 2 gel by adding a base, further, in the case a mineral acid is used in process (a), the gel is washed in an optional way until no more electrolyte is therein, (c) water is removed from the gel obtained in the process (b) until water content reaches ≤5 wt.% by an extractive distillation using an organic solvent which forms with water an azeotrope that separates on cooling into two phases. Subsequently, (d) the gel from the process (c) is reacted with a silylating agent, then (e) the silylated gel obtained in the process (d) is dried at pressures and temperatures which are below the critical pressure and/or the critical temperature of the organic solvent used in the process (c), thereby the object xerogels are prepared. COPYRIGHT: (C)1996,JPO


To develop a theory relating to SCA, one needs to define the measurement criteria for SCA. In recent times, although there were many researches that were undertaken focusing in the area of Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA), there is still, however, a lack of an operational definition for SCA. There is no one agreed upon method for evaluating sustainable competitive advantage for business organizations and hence the measurement criteria for SCA have not been established despite the extensive focus in the area. In the past, performance indicators such as profitability or market share have always been used to justify the determinants of the SCA. Should both the factors play a leading role in determining the SCA, what about other auxiliary or peripheral factors that could be a contributing point? There should be a quantitative numerical value that depicts the sustainability of a manufacturing organization. The key objectives of this study are to examine the definition and the various viewpoints on Sustainable Competitive Advantage and subsequently to develop a measurement criterion that represents Sustainable Competitive Advantage. Given such kind of scenario, the initial step would be to develop or create an operational definition for SCA. This paper hence is an attempt to explore the various viewpoints on literatures on Sustainable Competitive Advantage and to develop dimensions that represents Sustainable Competitive Advantage. We conceptualized a framework to evaluate the influence of four variables namely; Effective Supply Chain Management (2) Product differentiation and Innovation, (3) Organizational responsiveness; and (4) Cost Leadership. The study is based on empirical data collected from a survey of managers of Malaysian manufacturing industries. The data were collected through an email survey, and had 300 valid responses. The analysis shows that all the four hypotheses were supported. The findings of this study would assist in defining a more precise way of achieving a sustainable competitive advantage in Malaysian manufacturing industries.


The shortest-path problem has been studied in various settings in Computational Geometry literatures. This includes the shortest-path ~ r o b l e m inside the simple polygon and the shortest-path problem avoiding a set of polygonal obstacles. Further variations of these problems are possible for different types of polygons or polygonal obstacles. In this thesis we will study the rectilinear shortest path problem avoiding a set of isothetic rectangles and vertical line segment obstacles. We will present efficient preprocessing algorithms to answer the shortest path between two arbitrary query p i n t s . We also demonstrate an approximation algorithm with less preprocessing and query time to report an approximate shortest path between two arbitrary query points. Then we present an efficient parallel algorithm to preprocess the set of rectangles to answer the shortest-path query between two arbitrary points using a single processor. We also present an efficient parallel algorithm t o answer the single shot shortestdistance between a source and a destination point specified during the input. Lastly we present an efficient parallel algorithm to preprocess a set of vertical line segments to answer the approximate shortest-path query between two arbitrary points.


Organic electronics now supports a rapidly growing industry, including organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays as used in cell phone displays and up-market TVs. This has been enabled both by successful engineering of materials and devices, and also through the design of new device architectures


Image representation plays an important role in image processing applications. Recently there has been a considerable interest in the use of quadtrees. This has led to the development of algorithms for performing image processing tasks as well as for performing converting between the quadtree and other representations. Common to these algorithms is a traversal of the tree and the performance of a given computation at each node. These computations typically require the ability to examine adjacencies between neighboring nodes. Algorithms are given for determining such adjacencies in the horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions. The execution times of the algorithms are analyzed using a suitably defined model. Region representation is an important aspect of image processing with numerous representations finding use. Recently, there has emerged a considerable amount of interest in the quadtree [3-8, 111. This stems primarily from its hierarchical nature, which lends itself to a compact representation. It is also quite efficient for a number of traditional image processing operations such as computing perimeters [14], labeling connected components [ 131, finding the genus of an image [I], and computing centroids and set properties [ 181. Development of algorithms to convert between the quadtree representation and other representations such as chain codes [2, lo], rasters [12, 171, binary arrays [ll], and medial axis transforms [15, 16, 191 lend further support to this importance. In this paper we discuss methods for moving between adjacent blocks in the quadtree. We first show how transitions are made between blocks of equal size and then generalize our result to blocks of different size, where the destination block is either of larger or smaller size than the source block. Such blocks are termed neighbors. Note that the transitions that we discuss also include those along diagonal, as well as horizontal and vertical, directions. The importance of these methods lies in their being the cornerstone of many of the quadtree algorithms (e.g., [ 1, 2, 10, 12-19]), since they are basically tree traversals with a " visit " at each node. More often than not these visits involve probing a node's neighbors. The significance of our methods lies in the fact that they do not use coordinate information, knowledge of the size of the image, or storage in excess of that imposed by the nature of the quadtree data structure.


The uniform asymptotic description of the propagation of an input rectangle-modulated harmonic signal of angular frequency ω
 c
 and initial pulse width T into the half-space z ᐳ 0 that is occupied by a single resonance Lorentz medium is described. The asymptotic description is developed by representing the input rectangular pulse as the difference between two Heaviside unit step-function modulated signals that are separated in time by the initial pulse width T. This representation clearly shows that the resultant pulse distortion in the dispersive medium is solely due to the Sommerfeld and Brillouin precursor fields that are associated with the leading and trailing edges of the input pulse. The dynamic evolution of the pulse with increasing propagation distance z ᐳ 0 is described for both long and very short initial pulse widths T. In both cases it is shown that the pulse distortion becomes severe when the propagation distance z is such that the precursor fields associated with the trailing edge of the pulse interfere with the precursor fields associated with the leading edge.


Abstract Laparoscopic examination is useful in the evaluation of infertile women. To perform this test, pneumoperitoneum is required to distend the abdomen, improve visibility and displace the intestines out of the pelvis. Several gases have been used to achieve this purpose including nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), helium, xenon and air. This is a prospective study in a private fertility centre comparing CO2 and room air pneumoperitoneum for diagnostic laparoscopy. Also the safety of room air was evaluated. One hundred and forty five patients received CO2 (group 1, n = 73) or room air (group 2, n = 72) pneumoperitoneum. Ketamine anaesthesia was used for all the patients and the cost of the procedure was same for the study. CO2 pneumoperitoneum offered better visibility during laparoscopy and the patients also had a better outcome: Wound infection (CO2 – 2/73: 2.7% Vs. Air – 11/72: 15.3%); abdominal discomfort (feeling of retained gas in the abdomen) CO2 – 5/73: 6.9% Vs. Air – 61/72: 84.7%) and shoulder pain (CO2 – 0/73; 0.0% Vs. Air – 56/72: 77.8%). Group 1 patients returned to normal activity earlier (1.5 days ± 1.3 SD Vs. 4.8 days ± 2.1 SD). We conclude that CO2 pneumoperitoneum has a better outcome than Air especially for day-case diagnostic laparoscopy. However, room Air pneumoperitoneum is safe, cheap, and available and may be recommended for low resource settings.


An exact theory, supported by experimental measurements, of bounded acoustic‐beam reflection near the Rayleigh angle from a fluid‐solid interface loaded by a solid layer is presented. We derive an analytical expression for the reflection coefficient by applying continuity conditions appropriate for the problem geometry to wave potentials in the three media. The reflected field, including leaky Rayleigh‐wave effects, is calculated by evaluating numerically the Fourier integral containing the incident beam transform and the reflection coefficient. The dispersion of the Rayleigh wave speed is deduced from the behavior of the reflection coefficient in the complex plane. We find excellent agreement with measurements of the wave speed over a wide range of frequency and layer thickness in stainless steel samples loaded with copper layers. The beam displacement parameter, which is also deduced from characteristics of the reflection coefficient, displays an unexpected minimum as a function of frequency. Experimental results are compared to theory for the acoustic amplitude distribution in the reflected field, both near and at the Rayleigh angle.


Monosomic analysis was used to ascertain that red seed coat color in 'Red Bobs' wheat (L.) is controlled by one gene located on chromosome 3A. A second factor, tentatively located on chromosome 3B, and a third gene located on 3D governed seed coat color in 'Kharkof' wheat. One of the three genes that control seed coat color in PI 178383 wheat was associated with chromosome 3B. The gene located on chromosome 3B in Kharkof and PI 178383 was designated R.


Abstract Let
$\mathsf {C}$
 be a symmetrisable generalised Cartan matrix. We introduce four different versions of double Bott–Samelson cells for every pair of positive braids in the generalised braid group associated to
$\mathsf {C}$
 . We prove that the decorated double Bott–Samelson cells are smooth affine varieties, whose coordinate rings are naturally isomorphic to upper cluster algebras. We explicitly describe the Donaldson–Thomas transformations on double Bott–Samelson cells and prove that they are cluster transformations. As an application, we complete the proof of the Fock–Goncharov duality conjecture in these cases. We discover a periodicity phenomenon of the Donaldson–Thomas transformations on a family of double Bott–Samelson cells. We give a (rather simple) geometric proof of Zamolodchikov's periodicity conjecture in the cases of
$\Delta \square \mathrm {A}_r$
 . When
$\mathsf {C}$
 is of type
$\mathrm {A}$
 , the double Bott–Samelson cells are isomorphic to Shende–Treumann–Zaslow's moduli spaces of microlocal rank-1 constructible sheaves associated to Legendrian links. By counting their
$\mathbb {F}_q$
 -points we obtain rational functions that are Legendrian link invariants.


The integration of geological modelling, petrophysics and geophysics in a single inversion scheme is a complex and powerful strategy for solving challenges faced in geoscientific resource exploration. Probabilistic geological modelling and geophysical inversion are non-linear processes that show various degrees of sensitivity to uncertainty in input measurements. Using field geological measurements from the Mansfield area (Victoria, Australia) and synthetic geophysical data, we present a synthetic case study investigating the impact of geological uncertainty on constrained joint geophysical inversion. We investigate the influence of uncertain geological measurements on geologically constrained inversion through a sensitivity analysis to uncertainty in orientation data. Probabilistic geological models used to define constraints for geophysical joint inversion are obtained through a Monte-Carlo based uncertainty estimation (MCUE) method. We simulate a broad range of possible cases through a parameter sweep on uncertainty levels in geological measurements to provide a reference for practitioners. The analysis and comparison of the results at varying uncertainty levels show that results can be grouped into two main categories. For the highest uncertainty levels, significant portions of the models retain the characteristic features of geologically unconstrained inversions. Meanwhile, below a threshold in uncertainty level, inversion benefits from the interaction of geophysical data and geologically conditioned constraints. In such cases, inverted models are improved compared to both the geological modelling alone and geologically unconstrained inversion. The conclusion of this work is that knowledge of this threshold is critical for the interpretation of results and decision making because it indicates whether the datasets provide enough information to take advantage of the complementarities between geological modelling and geophysical inversion. Knowledge of this threshold can also support decision making pertaining to inversion strategies and geological field data collection.