Due to the complexity of the system, the control of the modular multilevel converter (MMC) constitutes an intense research activity. The stored energy inside the MMC presents a new degree of freedom, which can be exploited to provide ancillary services (oscillation damping for example). In order to do so, the response time of the energy loop has to be as fast as possible. However, when a cascaded approach is used to control the structure, this purpose cannot be achieved without fast inner loops. This paper presents a novel inner loops controller in order to obtain a high response dynamic. These controllers have been developed based on exact discrete-time models obtained from an analytic calculation of exponential of matrices. A pole placement method using feedback control has been chosen to derive their control laws. For stability matters, a pole location analysis is used to set appropriately the controller parameters, which are the sampling period and the controller gains. After validation with offline simulations and in order to show the advantages of the proposed controllers compared to the existing solutions, experimental tests have been performed using a real small-scale MMC.


Dairy farm laneways are sources of enriched P loss. Aluminium sulphate (alum) has been shown to decrease P loss when applied to land; our hypothesis was that alum may serve as a cost‐effective strategy to mitigate P loss from laneways connected to streams. A 4‐month field study, over the milking period when cows regularly used the laneway, showed that alum (25 and 50 kg/Al/ha) initially lowered FRP losses for four events, over 60 days, following application. If connected to a stream, the cost‐effectiveness of alum use on dairy farm laneways (51–75 USD per kg P retained) was high compared to other strategies on a grazed dairy farm.


Abstract In an attempt to apply the tools and concepts of geography to the study of higher education in the United States, some pertinent findings of the 1970 census are summarized and the spatial distribution of certain aspects of the two-year public colleges is explored. Three ratios calculated from the 1973 listing of junior colleges and from census data are mapped: average enrollment per public two-year college, ratio of public two-year colleges to population, and percentage of the population enrolled in such colleges. The maps appear to express a regionality in community college development; the need for more regional studies is emphasized and questions raised. A major conclusion is that the very states that already have the most community colleges are the ones in which continued growth in number of colleges is most likely.


3respectively in the TLE cases.There was a significant difference of the HF volume between the control and TLE groups(P<0.05).The sensitivity and specificity of quantitive MRI in epilepsy lateralization were 70% and 87.5% respectively. If ELE cases were included into the negatve group,its specificity was decreased to 80%. Conclusion Quantitative MRI can help lateralization of the seizure in epilepsy. The volume of hippocampus also tended to change in ELE.


We characterize respiration-induced motion in the canine myocardium and present preliminary efforts to compensate for the motion in gated PET. An anesthetized dog was injected with 23 mCi FDG-18 and placed in a CTI/Siemens ECAT EXACT HR scanner. The animal was mechanically held at peak inspiration and peak expiration positions for alternate eight-second time periods. Data from each eight-second interval were stored separately, resulting in a total of 32 interleaved volume datasets for each study; half of which represented data during peak inspiration, half represented data during peak expiration. Data from each position were summed and separately reconstructed. The above protocol was repeated four times. Ungated transmission data were acquired while the animal was ventilated normally and were used to correct for the effects of attenuation. Images from each reconstruction were aligned using a cross-correlation technique, which gives the rigid-body transformation necessary to register the two volumes. Over the four sets of data a 10.8 {plus_minus} 0.7 mm magnitude translation and a 6.3 {plus_minus} 0.5 degree rotation were required to align the inspiration data with the expiration data. Consistent registration of the gated data allows summing of the data to improve statistics. Obviously, if one sums the images without regardmore » to misregistration, blurring occurs proportional to the amount of movement over the respiratory cycle. The blurring is markedly decreased by first registering the gated datasets in image space, and then summing according to the transformation parameters. Though cardiac gating was not used in this preliminary study, it indicates that rigid body transformation followed by summation can compensate for a large portion of the image degradations due to respiratory motion. Gated acquisition of PET data using respiratory status signals via a pneumatic bellows will allow separate stages of the respiratory cycle to be collected on the ECAT EXACT HR.« less


A shortcutprocedureas quick, easy-to use methodfor design and simulation of mul- ticomponent batch distillation is used to predict the operatingcondition of recoveringxylene from solvent in an existing batch distillation column in benzol refinery. Theprocedure can be used to investigate the effect of the operatingparameters on the operation of columnfor three possible modes of batch distillation operations;constant reflux, variable reflux and step wise change in the reflux ratio. It is shown that step wise change in the reflux ratio, in comparison with a fixed ratio mode, can significantly reduce the requiredoperation time and makes the operation more econom- ical even at high reflux ratios. Applying the procedure in a batch distillation column (National Iranian Steel Cooperation) with 35 bubble-cap trays, mixed-xylenes were produced in a desired purity of 95% with a recovery of 92.5%from afeedstock containing 40% xylenes.


(63) Continuation of application No. 09/561,656, filed on May 2, 2000, now Pat. No. 6,542,772, which is a continuation of application No. 09/170,833, filed on Oct. 13, 1998, now Pat. No. 6,058,324, which is a continuation of application No. 08/849,202, filed on Jun. 2, 1997, now Pat. No. 5,820,558, which is a continuation of application No. PCT/US95/15694, filed on Dec. 4, 1995, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 08/349,018, filed on Dec. 2, 1994, now Pat. No. 5,673,701.


This essay was originally runner up in the 2014 Alliance 21 Essay competition run by the United States Studies Centre in Sydney.


Summary:  Purpose: Epilepsy is a common disease whose prevalence across Africa is extremely variable (from 5 to 74‰). Its social and economic consequences in this continent are not well established. The objective of this study was to compare the cost of care of patients with epilepsy with that of controls in the commune of Kiremba in Burundi.


We give a proof of the Universality Conjecture for orthogonal and symplectic ensembles of random matrices in the scaling limit for a class of weights w(x)=exp(-V(x)) where V is a polynomial, V(x)=kappa_{2m}x^{2m}+..., kappa_{2m}>0. For such weights the associated equilibrium measure is supported on a single interval. The precise statement of our results is given in Theorem 1.1 below. For a proof of the Universality Conjecture for unitary ensembles, for the same class of weights, see [DKMVZ2].
Our starting point is Widom's representation [W] of the orthogonal and symplectic correlation kernels in terms of the kernel arising in the unitary case plus a correction term which is constructed out of derivatives and integrals of orthonormal polynomials (OP's) {p_j(x)}, j=0,1,..., with respect to the weight w(x). The calculations in [W] in turn depend on the earlier work of Tracy and Widom [TW2]. It turns out (see [W] and also Theorems 2.1 and 2.2 below) that only the OP's in the range j=N+O(1), N->infinity, contribute to the correction term. In controlling this correction term, and hence proving Universality for both the orthogonal and symplectic cases, the uniform Plancherel--Rotach type asymptotics for the OP's found in [DKMVZ2] play an important role, but there are significant new analytical difficulties that must be overcome which are not present in the unitary case. We note that we do not use skew orthogonal polynomials.


The invention discloses a sterilization composition, and belongs to the field of agricultural bactericides. An active component of the sterilization composition comprises bacillus subtilis and polyoxin. The sterilization composition comprises 10 to 85 wt% of the active component. The active component comprises 10 to 70 wt% of bacillus subtilis. The invention also discloses a use of the sterilization composition in prevention and treatment of grey mould fruit rot of strawberry, cucumber fusarium wilt and rice sheath blight. Compared with a sterilization preparation prepared only from polyoxin or bacillus subtilis as an active component, the sterilization composition provided by the invention has better effects and activity of prevention and treatment of grey mould fruit rot of strawberry, cucumber fusarium wilt and rice sheath blight. Because of different mechanisms of effects produced by bacillus subtilis and polyoxin in the active component, polyoxin resistance is relieved and a sterilization composition service life is prolonged.


We are developing an eye-contact robot, a head robot that can make an eye-contact with humans. The robot can move its head and eyes (gaze directions) freely in pan and tilt directions. Each eye of the robot has two cameras - wide-range and telephoto. With an image from the wide-range camera, it can follow searching objects (such as human faces) in real time. With an image from the telephoto camera, it can detect a head movement and a gaze direction of a human and mimic his behaviors. The gaze interaction experiment (between the robot and human subjects) was conducted. Some interesting results are obtained concerning the effect of gaze manipulations.


This editorial refers to 'Down-regulation of miR-23b induces phenotypic switching of vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and in vivo ' by C. Iaconetti et al. , doi:10.1093/cvr/cvv141.

Pathological remodelling of the blood vessel wall following vascular injury involves a switch in smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotype, from a differentiated and contractile phenotype to a proliferative and synthetic state, resulting in adventitial and medial remodelling. Although this process is essential during wound healing, dysregulation of this process is central to the aetiology of a number of vascular proliferative pathologies. A substantial research effort has been attributed to trying to determine the underpinning molecular mechanisms which control this phenotypic switch in order to harness novel approaches to prevent prolonged periods of de-differentiation following vascular injury, thereby potentially improving clinical outcome. Recently, a number of studies have demonstrated that small non-coding RNA molecules, microRNAs (miRNAs), play a prominent role in controlling or modulating vascular differentiation and proliferation.1–5 These miRNAs function by partial or incomplete binding of their so-called seed region to complementary sequences in target genes to cause translational repression or degradation of these genes. This incomplete binding is thought to allow a single miRNA to target multiple mRNAs, which can potentially confer beneficial effects on disease pathogenesis through regulation of multiple genes.

Iaconetti et al. 6 provided further evidence that miRNAs play a prominent role in controlling phenotypic modulation of SMCs. The current study demonstrates that miR-23b is down-regulated following vascular injury in a rat model, and that adenovirus-mediated overexpression of miR-23b attenuates neointimal formation following balloon injury. The authors also utilize loss- and gain-of-function approaches to demonstrate that elevation of miR-23b levels reduces SMC proliferation and …


Geospatial information is indispensable for various spatially-informed analysis and decision-making, e.g. traffic analysis and built environment processes. Geospatial data often must be integrated for meaningful analysis, whereas such integration is challenging due to siloed data organization, semantic heterogeneity and multiple representation of geospatial data. Moreover, the visualization of geospatial data is one of the most prominent ways of utilizing geospatial data, however how to properly visualize the data is sometime difficult, as it pertains to a wide range of visualization (cartographic) knowledge. Semantic Web technologies unveil a promising way to mitigate these issues, as they provide means of data integration on the Web, and knowledge representation capacity to formally represent the visualization knowledge. In this PhD project, we investigate the potential values of Semantic Web technologies for geospatial data integration (particularly for geospatial data with multiple representation) and visualization in several cases, where the integration and visualization knowledge is formalized using Semantic Web technologies. All the case studies embody realworld meaning and entail data integration and visualization challenge, which have been addressed by state-of-the-art solutions inadequately. Preliminary results demonstrate great yet not fully unlocked potential of Semantic Web technologies for geospatial data, and also disclose challenges that need to be addressed. (Less)


To evaluate the suspension kinematics characteristics,by using roll center model and pitch center model,the unified formula between suspension deformation and acceleration were established,and by using g-g map,the suspension characteristics with longitudinal and lateral acceleration acting on vehicle were expressed.The toe angle,camber,as well as kingpin trailers were proposed to describe the suspension that affects vehicle dynamics.The suspension kinematics characteristics can be evaluated by g-g method not only from suspension view,but from whole car view.At last,by the suspension K C data of an A-class car,the suspension kinematics in 3D field map was calculated by this method.


A bounded real lemma (BRL) is presented here for continuous-time, finite-horizon, time-varying linear neutral systems with parametric uncertainties entering all the matrices of the system representation. The lemma uses a solution of a set of matrix inequalities by employing a descriptor model transformation of the system. The conditions which guarantee disturbance attenuation are dependent on the value of the time-delay and its rate of change. In the infinite-horizon case, the solution of the robust H ∞ conrtrol problem is obtained in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMI). A numerical example is presented and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Due to various worship approaches, churches' plans and designs have evolved over time.Intraditional churches, the chancel is where the preacher and choir are while the nave is where the audience is seated. The modern churches on the other hand usually follow the auditorium layout, where the chancel is replaced by a stage. The stage serves asa space for the musical worship and performances, other than preaching by the pastors. In acoustical terms, the chancel and the stage are known as the sound source and the audience is the sound receiver. It is essential to understand the relationship between the differences in the characteristics of traditional and modern churches and the impact on their acoustical performance.Two churches with different layout (cruciform and rectangular) from traditional and modern churches in Malaysia were selected to run a computer simulation using ODEON Room Acoustic Software. The results were then reviewed and analyzedin acoustical parameters: (i) Reverberation Time (RT) and (ii) Speech Transmission Index (STI). Smaller church scored better in STI thus it is better for speech driven worship service as while bigger church scored better in RT thus it is more ideal for musical worship. In addition, the existing materials found in modern churches improved the overall acoustical performances. In conclusion, the church acoustical performance is affected by factors like the volume, distance between the sound origin, receivers and the surrounding walls, total absorption area and types of surface material and its absorption coefficient.


One of the major unsolved problems affecting the life of the SNAP II Power Conversion System is the mass transfer of corrosion products by mercury and subsequent deposition. It is feared that the corrosion products might tend to accumulate in critical areas such as orifices, bearings and so forth. Therefore, this test was conducted to evaluate a corrosion product separator and to determine the influence of corrosion product removal on corrosion rate. The corrosion product separator was successful in removing 85 percent of the elements corroded from the container walls. The loop and separator, both fabricated from Haynes alloy No. 25, operated for 1000 hours. The mercury was boiled and condensed at 1100 deg F, superheated to 1190 deg F and subcooled to 325 deg F. The flow rate in this loop was much higher than in previous loops, being approximately 37 pounds of mercury per hour as contrasted with approximately l2 pounds of raercury per hour. No increase in corrosion rate was noticed as a result of the higher flow rates and velocity or by the removal of corrosion products. If this type of separator or an improved type works equally as well in the final application, the danger of failure from corrosion products should be greatly reduced. (auth)


The compatibility of PC/PS blend was further studied by DSC. The influence of RPS added into PC/PS on the mechanical property was also studied. The results show that RPS has good compatibilization, the tensile strength, bending strength and impact strength of reactive blend are higher than those of no- reactive blend respectively. The microstructrue and melting viscosity of blend were also characterized and compared with PC/PS blend.


In the problem of variable-length $\delta$ -channel resolvability, the channel output is approximated by encoding a variable-length uniform random number under the constraint that the variational distance between the target and approximated distributions should be within a given constant $\delta$ asymptotically. In this paper, we assume that the given channel input is a mixed source whose components may be general sources. To analyze the minimum achievable length rate of the uniform random number, called the $\delta$ -resolvability, we introduce a variant problem of the variable-length $\delta$ -channel resolvability. A general formula for the $\delta$ -resolvability in this variant problem is established for a general channel. When the channel is an identity mapping, it is shown that the $\delta$ -resolvability in the original and variant problems coincide. This relation leads to a direct derivation of a single-letter formula for the $\delta$ -resolvability when the given source is a mixed memoryless source. We extend the result to the second-order case. As a byproduct, we obtain the first-order and second-order formulas for fixed-to-variable length source coding allowing error probability up to $\delta$.


A metastable colored species from the photochromic reaction of trans-biindenylidenedione, which only proceeds in the crystalline state, has been directly observed by in situ crystal structure analysis method. The reaction mechanism and observed color change have also been confirmed from the theoretical calculation and the spectral measurement.


There are millions of patients suffering from fatal liver disease in the world. Whole-organ transplantation of the liver, such as orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT), improves the survival rate of these patients (Benten et al., 2009). However, the traditional OLT is still limited due to the serious want of viable livers available for organ transplantation. Therefore, cell therapies for the treatment of end-stage hepatic diseases are currently under investigation all over the world (Ito et al., 2009). The simplest method for cell therapies is by transplantation of primary hepatocytes isolated from the donor. Experimental studies on animals have shown that transplanted primary hepatocytes into the spleen or portal vein of host animals repopulated in the liver, suggesting that the primary hepatocyte transplantation may be successful as an alternative to organ transplantation for patients with liver failure (Sutherland et al., 1977; Makowka L et al., 1980; Demetrious et al., 1986; Arkadopoulos et al., 1998; Ribeiro et al., 1992; Ito et al., 2007; Nagata et al., 2003; Kobayashi et al., 2000). However, success in clinical use is limited (Fox et al., 1998; Platt, 1998) and donor human livers to isolate the hepatocytes for hepatocyte transplantations are also limited, since these organs are needed to use in organ transplantation. Furthermore, the primary hepatocytes are cultured in vitro with very limited success due to their slow growth and instability of hepatic phenotype tending to lose differentiation character (Clayton & Darnell, 1983). Thus, although the human primary hepatocytes are ideal cells for cell therapies, an unlimited source of hepatocytes is required. There are two ways to prepare an unlimited supply of hepatocytes: 1) induction of differentiation from pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and 2) production of hepatocytes from somatic cells by reactivation of mature hepatocytes themselves or reprogramming the somatic cells other than hepatocytes into hepatocytes. ESC and iPSC are expected to be a promising alternative resources for cell therapy because they are pluripotent, making it possible to produce any type of tissue from a single resource and they are also an infinite resource expanding continuously in the undifferentiated state


The wild tomato, Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium, bears diminutive fruits that are normally red-pigmented, the carotenoid content being similar to that of the culti-vated tomato, L. esculentum. A of the collected on Indefatigable Island of the Galapagos archipelago, has orange-colored fruits. Its carotenoid pigmentation may consist almost entirely of /3-carotene,l in place of all-trans lycopene, the principal pigment of the red-fruited varieties. In this respect, it clearly resembles the A-orange tomato segregant from hybrids of L. hirsutum X L. esculentum isolated by Lincoln and Porter2 and further discussed by Tomes et


Employers who actively partner with their employees to align career development with company objectives are experiencing higher retention rates. Career development and succession planning synergy creates happier, more productive workers and positive bot..


The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of pre-harvest application of plant biostimulant Crop Set® and different plant spacings on the production attributes and postharvest quality of watermelon 'Quetzali'. The experiment was set up in a completely randomized split-plot (3 × 2 × 4) design, corresponding to three plant spacings (0.40, 0.45 and 0.50 m), application of the plant biostimulant (with and without) and four storage periods at 10°C and RH 90% (0, 14, 21 and 28 days). Fruits were assessed after harvest in terms of average mass of fruits, number of fruits per plant and yield, and throughout the storage periods for flesh firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), SSC/TA ratio, pH and total soluble sugars (TSS). The average mass of fruit (4.02 kg) was higher in the larger spacing without application of biostimulant. The pre-harvest application of plant biostimulant negatively influenced SSC of fruits, depending on the plant spacing and storage periods. For TA and TSS content, the effect of this product varies with plant spacing and storage days. The lower plant spacing provided higher TSS to the fruits.


A study was conducted at Horticultural Research Sub-Station for Floriculture and Landscaping AARI, Faisalabad, Pakistan, during the year 2017. Leaf samples of three ornamental plant species viz. Ficus benjamina (black), Bougainvillea glabra and Conocarpus erectus were collected from seven purposefully selected road sides of city Faisalabad (AARI, Jhang Road, Jail Road, Mall Road, Satiana Road, Jaranwala Road and Samundri Road) and were assessed for the efficacy to absorb heavy metals from the atmosphere. Measurements of heavy metals were made in ppm with the help of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Mixed types of results were obtained from these locations. Maximum amount of Fe (358.0 ppm), Zn (12.86 ppm) and Cd (0.34 ppm) was absorbed by C. erectus plants, while maximum amount of Cu (9.42 ppm) and Cr (8.14 ppm) was absorbed by F. benjamina plants. However, Mn (48.15 ppm) was absorbed maximum by B. glabra plants. Among roadsides, maximum amount of Mn, Fe and Cd (47.57, 487.67 and 0.53 ppm, respectively) was observed in plants selected from Jhang Road site whereas maximum amount of Cu and Cr (9.03 and 10.56 ppm) was found at Mall Road site. A positive correlation was observed between Mn and Fe, whereas Mn and Cr, and Zn and Cu were negatively correlated with each other.


This study examines Thai students' perceptions regarding the quality of the Australian university system. Research findings reveal that (a) it is very important to maintain and safeguard the university's superior reputation, as it is the most important factor influencing Thais to choose one university over other institutions; (b) information on the university, campuses, academic courses, subjects, and services for international students should be easy to access because Thai students always look at this information as part of the quality of the institution; and (c) Thai students from different levels of education perceived the quality of international education in different ways, thus, the need for international education and the decision-making process of each group of Thai students are dissimilar. This information affords stakeholders marketing international educational institutions a better understanding of choices made by Thai students.


To effectively organize and analyze data within traffic management,this paper makes use of computing similarity between data set and sample set topic feature vector to filter and decide which categories the data sets belong to.All work stations work together to build index with the help of Hadoop distributed application framework.According to the category of query,the algorithm only consults correlative topic index for results to achieve a better retrieval performance.


The purpose of this review article is to evaluate the fact that it's worth to research in the development and of the drugs that are being formulated to have greater gastroretentive period in the stomach which enhances the therapeutic purpose of the drug for the proper site with desired concentration. This also indicates a reduced administering of the dosages. There have been quite a lot of techniques developed to achieve the prolonged gastric emptying from stomach to the small intestine. Presently, pharmacological experiments have been able to formulate drugs adapting specific methods for the targeted gastric retention time period. The techniques in use as per the demand are low density systems, high density systems, magnetic systems, mucoadhesive systems, super porous hydrogel systems (cited as per the recent available information). The detailed study on the prolonged residence time for the drug dosage forms focusses on the floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) as an efficient form. Floating systems are hydrodynamically controlled systems that have low density and are buoyant enough to float over the contents of the stomach for a long time and without affecting the gastric emptying rate. The drug is released at a rate which is desired and customized. There had been much speculations about GRDDS in the past but now purposeful and extensive researchers offer sophisticated formulation of dosage forms that are customized for delayed gastro retention time.


A woven implantable tubular prosthesis comprising: a plurality of warp yarns (11) and warp yarns (12), the warp yarns (11) comprise warp yarns upper layer (11) and warp yarns lower layer ( eleven); A first tubular extension having a first diameter; A second tubular extension having a second diameter different than the first diameter, the first and second tubular extensions are spaced to define a transition tubular extension therebetween; An angled along the tubular extension transition formed by a weaving pattern having a graduated change in the number of warp yarns (11) edge; Characterized in that the tubular prosthesis has a substantially hermetic seam fluid comprising the warp yarns of the upper layer (11) and warp yarns of the lower layer (11) woven together along the angled edge between the first tubular extension and the second tubular extension.


While there is growing concern around justice and equity, they mean different things in different socio-political and cultural contexts. Additionally, it can be difficult to make sense of how to incorporate the more abstract concept of justice into our research practices. This paper discusses prefigurative design as a framework for more just research practices to challenge inequity, particularly in community-based collaborations. I draw from past fieldwork with activist organizations and radical organizing literature to explore opportunities for how to engage with justice as academics, identifying three main opportunities for intervention through research: social relationships, resource distribution, and counter-institutions. I offer these contributions in the spirit of generative critique, in hopes that other researchers with similar concerns will iterate on these practices to commit to more just and equitable scholarly impacts.


This thesis presents important new information about the consequences of obesity on the endocrine regulation of energy homeostasis in dogs. Background . Obesity is a risk factor for the development of some types of diabetes mellitus in humans, including type 2 diabetes and diabetes associated with chronic pancreatitis. Dogs, like humans and domestic cats, develop obesity-induced insulin resistance. However, unlike humans and cats, dogs do not appear to progress from obesity-induced insulin resistance to type 2 diabetes mellitus. This implies that either there is a mechanism that protects dogs from type 2 diabetes, or that dogs lack a pathophysiological process crucial to the development of type 2 diabetes. Methods . The insulin secretion patterns in lean and severely obese dogs were described using frequently-sampled glucose tolerance tests with MINMOD analysis. There was a need for simpler methods for assessing insulin sensitivity and beta cell function in dogs that are less expensive, time-consuming, and invasive, and can be applied to large numbers of dogs in clinical settings. Therefore methods to assess fasting insulin sensitivity and beta cell function using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) were validated, as were simplified glucose tolerance tests with MINMOD analysis that require half as many samples as traditionally used frequently-sampled glucose tolerance tests. The fasting measures of insulin sensitivity and beta cell function were then applied in the first study reported using path analysis in small animal medicine or veterinary endocrinology, in which the hormonal mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance and insulin secretion were examined in over 100 naturally-occurring lean, overweight, and obese dogs. Further investigation of the role of adiponectin in obesity in dogs was then facilitated by adaptation of the gold-standard sucrose gradient technique with SDS-PAGE and western blotting for use in dogs, which allowed separate measurement of low molecular weight (LMW) trimers and hexamers, and high molecular (HMW) larger multimers. Finally, meal response tests in overweight and obese dogs examined postprandial plasma glucose, insulin, and triglyceride concentrations, and allowed investigation of the association between hypertriglyceridaemia and the risk of having high plasma canine pancreatic lipase concentrations. Results and discussion . Obese, insulin-resistant dogs maintained fasting and first-phase insulin secretion. Loss of first-phase insulin secretion is one of the early markers of the development of type 2 diabetes in humans and cats. Leptin does appear to be involved in the pathophysiology of either insulin resistance or compensatory hyperinsulinaemia in overweight and obese dogs. However, dogs differ from humans and laboratory rodents in that adiponectin, a key hormone mediating obesity-induced insulin resistance, does not appear to be decreased in obesity nor associated with obesity-induced changes in fasting insulin sensitivity or fasting insulin concentrations. Adiponectin is also not decreased in intact male dogs compared with neutered or female dogs, suggesting that adiponectin is not suppressed by testosterone in dogs as it is in humans and laboratory rodents. The biologically active forms of adiponectin, the HMW multimers, are not selectively decreased in severely obese dogs, and are not associated with insulin sensitivity measured using frequently-sampled glucose tolerance tests with MINMOD analysis. A subset of severely obese dogs with increased postprandial glucose concentrations and postprandial insulin concentrations lower than in other obese dogs was identified. Hyperglycaemia paradoxically contributes to impaired insulin secretion through glucose toxicity to pancreatic beta cells and these dogs exhibited glucose concentrations sufficient to cause glucose toxicity in humans, but they did not progress to overt type 2 diabetes during a follow-up period of over two and a half years. Hypertriglyceridaemia was not the cause of impaired insulin secretion in the persistently hyperglycaemic dogs. However, an association between peak postprandial triglyceride concentrations .5 mmol/L and high canine pancreatic lipase concentrations was demonstrated, contributing to the literature that suggests a causal relationship between high triglyceride concentrations and the development of pancreatitis. Obese dogs are at increased risk for both hypertriglyceridaemia and pancreatitis, and chronic or recurrent pancreatitis is the cause of one type of diabetes mellitus in humans. This study might lead to the use of postprandial triglyceride concentrations as early markers of the risk for pancreatitis and evaluation of the value of dietary fat restriction in dogs at risk of pancreatitis. Conclusion . There are important differences between dogs and species that develop type 2 diabetes. Adiponectin and HMW adiponectin are not decreased in obese dogs, insulin resistant dogs, or intact male dogs. These observations might explain why insulin resistant obese dogs maintain adequate fasting and first-phase insulin secretion and do not progress to develop beta cell failure and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Hypertriglyceridaemia is associated with pancreatitis in dogs as it is in humans and, through this association, obesity might play a role in the development of diabetes due to chronic pancreatitis in dogs.


: —This paper gives an overview to the SQL Injection attacks (SQLIA) and methods to prevent them; we will discuss all the proposed models to block SQL Injections. We also describes the technique to prevent injections attacks occurring due to dynamic SQL statements in database stored procedures, which are often used in e-commerce applications. As we know that SQL injection attack can be easily prevented by applying more secure scheme in login phase. To address this problem, we studied and present here an overview of the different types of attacks with descriptions and examples of how attacks of that type could be performed and their detection & prevention schemes. This paper also contains strengths and weaknesses of various SQL injection attacks. At last we also proposed the scheme to handle the SQLIA and strong enough to prevent them.


The complex interaction of snow and meteorological features leads to formation of avalanches. Thus, the identification of significant governing features in the avalanche formation process is very critical aspect for developing any prediction scheme. This has direct implication on the design complexity of prediction scheme, computational effort involved and in turn on the overall performance. In this direction, numerical feature selection methods have immense potential to rank the features according to their importance in the problem domain. In the present study, two feature ranking methods: Sequential Forward Generation (SFG) and Relief-F have been explored for finding the relative significance of snow and meteorological features which are believed to be critically connected with avalanche occurrences. The paper describes the methods and their outcome for two climatologically different areas of North- western Himalaya. The outcome of the methods was further applied to a Nearest-Neighbours method based avalanche prediction model used as classifier. The efficacy of the proposed methods has been analyzed in the backdrop of classification results thus obtained, using statistical skill scores. The study establishes the potential of these methods to be used as objective tools to find relative significance of features in quantitative terms for avalanche forecasting.


Objective To explore the relationship between COX-2 expression and angiogenesis in salivary gland adenocarcinoma.Methods The COX-2 expression,iNOS and VEGF expression,MVD were evalulated by immunohistochemical method.Results There was significant difference of MVD between COX-2 postive salivary gland adenocarcinoma and negative ones(P0.01).The expressions of COX-2 significantly positively correlated with iNOS,VEGF in salivary gland adenocarcinomas.Conclusion The present findings suggest that there is some link between COX-2 and angiogenesis in salivary gland adenocarcinoma,partly attributing to the effect of VEGF and iNOS.


This study investigated the teaching of multiliteracy in three middle school English as a Second Language Arts classrooms. The research question was: How are English learners (ELs) developing multiliteracy - defined as critical literacy, electronic literacy, and socio-cultural literacy, if at all, in middle school ESL Language Arts classrooms? Collected data consisted of classroom observations, transcribed teacher and focus student interviews; copies of teacher and student artifacts such as handouts and student notebooks. The findings of the study suggest that teachers did not teach all aspects of multiliteracy and the students seemed to be developing mostly electronic literacy, but not so much critical and socio-cultural literacy. The implications of these findings suggest the need for professional development and in-service training on the various aspects of literacy.


The number of business people, scientists, aid workers, diplomats, technicians, and bureaucrats who now live and work "abroad" has grown dramatically over the past 25 years. Even "at home" the multi-ethnic workforce is a commonplace. As a result the need for cross-cultural communications training is well established. Training materials and programmes to meet that need, however, are few, and this new manual should go a long way towards filling the gap. It provides more than 100 hours of practical interactive training, plus expert guidance on constructing intercultural training programmes and all the necessary material, including handouts and briefing sheets for workshop participants. Its exercises and discussion papers cover all the key issues, from nonverbal behaviour to overcoming prejudice. The manual should enable both experienced and less experienced trainers to conduct effective cross-cultural communications workshops. It should be welcomed by all who work with people from different cultures, including management development specialists, teacher-training lecturers, trainers in health care, social and community work, police and banking, lecturers in communication, student counsellors - and indeed anyone involved in international business, aid, diplomacy, travel or tourism.


ABSTRACT Aim of the present research is to investigate the effect of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on soil food webs (microbes, nematodes and microarthropods) trophic interactions in agriculture ecosystems. A complete randomized block design experiment of N and P fertilization was initiated in 2010 with four treatments: (1) P-addition, (2) N-addition, (3) NP-addition and (4) control. After 4 years of fertilization, compared with control, N-addition had a negative effect on microarthropods and clarify indirectly by significantly (P < 0.05) increasing soil total nitrogen (0.37 g kg−1) and available nitrogen (20.03 mg kg−1). The reduction in microarthropods resulted significant (P < 0.05) increase in bacterivores and fungivores feeding on bacteria and fungi, an example of top-down control. P-addition had indirect negative effects on microarthropods by means of significantly (P < 0.05) increasing soil total phosphorus (0.62 g kg−1) and available phosphorus (24.17 mg kg−1), aggravated fungivores feeding on fungi and strengthened top-down control. NP-addition significantly (P < 0.05) increased total microbial biomass, nematodes and microarthropods and resulted in bottom-up control. These results suggested that top-down effects were the dominant force in N- or P-addition treatments. NP-addition strengthened bottom-up control by enriching food resource. Unbalance fertilization could pose adverse on agricultural soil ecosystem and yield potential of crops.


Abstract Structural formation of Ni/SiO 2 in a solution exchange method, where Ni was supported on silica by exchanging the solution in wet silica gel derived from tetraethoxysilane under acidic conditions, and its catalytic property were investigated. In the preparation of Ni/SiO 2 , the dispersion of Ni is largely dominated by aggregation in drying, while mesopore structure in the silica support can be controlled to ∼4 nm by exchanging the solution with strong acids. When aqueous nickel nitrate solution is used in the solution exchange, large nickel nitrate crystals are formed within the gel matrix during drying. They decompose into aggregates of NiO crystallites, with sea–island distribution during calcination. On the other hand, the use of citric acid together with nickel nitrate in the solution exchange effectively inhibits the aggregation of Ni species in drying through the formation of nickel citrate, which barely crystalizes in drying. In calcination, the nickel citrates decompose into NiO particles, and their distribution in the silica matrix becomes homogeneous. Additionally, the use of citric acid and calcination in an inert atmosphere has another effect, decreasing the particle size of NiO and Ni. Consequently, we can prepare Ni/SiO 2 catalyst with high Ni surface area at high Ni content, which shows superior catalytic activity in the hydrogenation of benzene.


Adaptive inverse control is an automatic control-system design method which "learns" over time how to control a dynamic system ("plant"). The technique may be applied to single-input single-output (SISO) and multi-input multi-output (MIMO) plants. The plant may be linear or nonlinear. This report addresses preliminary results concerning a new way to perform adaptive inverse control of linear MIMO systems which learns very quickly.


The data available on infant and child mortality for Bombay City and its extended suburbs were analyzed for the 1956-1975 period. Crude death rates are low in Bombay but not because of the control of deaths in the infancy and preschool period. Clearly the incidence of death has not been controlled in the first 5 years of a childs life. In general communicable diseases which can be somewhat easily controlled have shown a greater decline than such noncommunicable diseases as rheumatic fever. In the age group 0-1 pneumonia as a cause of death maintained the 1st position throughout the 20-year period followed by congenital malformations and birth injuries. There was a distinct decline in the rank of certain communicable diseases such as measles diphtheria and whooping cough. For the age group 1-4 pneumonia occupied the 1st place. Communicable diseases in this age group were important causes of death. Among children below age 1 the proportional mortality rates from gastroenteritis and prematurity have shown a marked decline from 1966 to 1975. The proportional mortality rates from broncho-pneumonia septicemia pulmonary tuberculosis and trauma have shown a substantial increase. There has been little or no change for the number of deaths from other diseases. There has been a marked decline in proportional mortality rates for gastroenteritis septicemia and tetanus in the 1-4 age group. A number of these diseases can be prevented and their rising trends can be checked if effective general and specific measures are taken.


In our commentary on Stone's (this issue) article on the metaphor of "scaffolding," we propose (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) the "flying buttress" as an improvement. Unlike a scaffold, the buttress symbolizes a nontemporary architectural device that begins as a support to building new knowledge on an existing foundation, but then itself becomes an integral and evolving part of the new structure. We then analyze scaffolded instruction as a kind of conversation that depends on rather sophisticated shared assumptions about the agenda and the rules underlying the process of the conversation, including an understanding of when these rules are suspended. We present evidence that some children with language/learning disabilities may not benefit from scaffolded instruction because they (a) follow a different agenda during instructional discourse (e.g., to camouflage their lack of comprehension); and (b) overrely on the default Gricean Maxims that cooperative speakers always make an effort to be informative, truthful, relevant, and clear.


Compressed sensing (CS) in Magnetic resonance Imaging (MRI) essentially involves the optimization of 1) the sampling pattern in k-space under MR hardware constraints and 2) image reconstruction from the undersampled k-space data. Recently, deep learning methods have allowed the community to address both problems simultaneously, especially in the non-Cartesian acquisition setting. This paper aims to contribute to this field by tackling some major concerns in existing approaches. Regarding the learning of the sampling pattern, we perform ablation studies using parameter-free reconstructions like the density compensated (DCp) adjoint operator of the nonuniform fast Fourier transform (NUFFT) to ensure that the learned k-space trajectories actually sample the center of k-space densely. Additionally we optimize these trajectories by embedding a projected gradient descent algorithm over the MR hardware constraints. Later, we introduce a novel hybrid learning (HL) approach that operates across multiple resolutions to jointly optimize the reconstruction network and the k-space trajectory. This HL method presents an improved image reconstruction quality at 20-fold acceleration factor on the fastMRI dataset with SSIM scores of nearly 0.92-0.95 in our retrospective studies as compared to corresponding Cartesian reference. Further, we observe a 3-4 dB gain in PSNR as compared to earlier state-of-the-art methods.


The result is that academic research is perceived as irrelevant and incremental and is rarely read. It should come as no surprise that the academic review process is viewed as flawed. The evaluation and production of new ideas is, at best, an ill-structured problem, and market failure in this process is universally evident. For example, the television and film industries spend billions to develop, evaluate, and distribute new concepts. Publishers search for promising new authors and manuscripts. Advertisers create new images and messages. The success rate for these various efforts is underwhelming. And we the public see only the small percentage of ideas that survive the review and evaluation process. The programming of academic research is unique in that the audience for new ideas also plays the role of producer and reviewer. Thus, unlike television programming where my only option is either to watch or not, I read academic journals, participate in the review process, and occasionally contribute content as an author. In all of these capacities, I am excited by research that is interesting, which I define as research that makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge. Unfortunately, as a reviewer, I frequently read papers that are not interesting, and even the authors are hard-pressed to clearly articulate the study's contribution. Thus, although the review process at many scholarly journals may have deficiencies, an equal or greater problem is that many of the submissions at these journals fail to make interesting contributions. With that in mind, I will endeavor to offer suggestions on how to formulate more interesting research questions. The formulation of an interesting research question is a necessary first step to conducting successful research. When this first step is done poorly, the research is doomed to mediocrity. But "being interesting" is a tacit skill that is hard to define or teach (see Davis 1971; Zaltman, LeMasters, and Heffering 1982). We easily recognize when something is interesting (and even more easily when it is not!), but it is difficult to articulate what makes something interesting.


Encephalitogenic basic protein and the enzyme nucleoside 2' :3'-cyclic monophosphate 3'-phosphodiesterase (EC 18.104.22.168) are recognized markers for myelin. Phosphodiesterase activity can be detected in the brains of newborn rats even though myelin cannot be seen by light or electron microscope. The determination of phosphodiesterase activity and the detection of basic protein by Coomassie-Blue staining in polyacrylamide gels (Sabri et al., 1974) has proved to be a very sensitive method of detecting myelin components in the subcellular fractions of immature rat brain, particularly during the early stages of myelination. Subcellular fractions of the rat brain (age &20 days) were prepared as described by Sabri et al. (1974) and minor modifications used for the preparation of purified myelin membranes (Norton & Poduslo, 1973). The distribution of myelinmarker enzyme activity and the electrophoretic separation of proteins in sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gels in subcellular fractions show that in the early stages of postnatal brain development (0-5 days after birth) phosphodiesterase (Table 1) and the encephalitogenic basic protein are localized in the microsomal and the myelinlike membrane fractions. This suggests that the microsomal fraction contains precursor membrane fragments at an early stage in the sequence of myelination from myelin-like membranes to compact myelin. This hypothesis was tested in metabolic studies, by using [3H]lysine injected intraperitoneally into 20-day-old rats (1 pCi/g body wt.) and by fractionating the brain at different intervals (5 h-51 days) after the injection. Myelin and myelin-like fractions were prepared and specific radioactivity was determined; 5 h after


To investigate the local structure of InN, In2O3 and their alloys, synchrotron (In L3-edge) X-ray absorption near edge structures (XANES) of indium oxynitride samples with varied O contents are used in conjunction with first-principles calculations. A good agreement between the measured and simulated spectra is obtained. It is found that the spectra are sensitive to the coordination number of the In atoms, i.e., fourfold for InN-like structures and sixfold for In2O3-like structures. Moreover, the spectra are quite insensitive to the species (N or O) around In. The calculated band structures and density of states are also presented and discussed. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite and which is able to infect and replicate within nearly any eukaryotic, nucleated cell. In the intermediate host the parasite occurs in two different stages, during the acute infection as the fast replicating tachyzoite and after the immune response, during the chronic phase of the infection, as a nearly dormant bradyzoite. These bradyzoites produce a cyst wall which can not be detected by the immune system. As a bradyzoite, the parasite persists lifelong in his intermediate host. The two known isoforms of enolase and lactate-dehydrogenase are differently expressed during stage conversion and leads to the hypothesis that the parasite has a different need of its C-metabolism. It is also questionable, whether the parasite's mitochondrion harbours a complete TCA-cycle. The aim of this thesis was to examine the compartementation of the C-metabolic pathways in the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii, with special focus on the localization of the different isoenzymes in the mitochondria, cytosol and apicoplast. The localization of the identified glycolytic isoenzymes, all enzymes needed for a complete TCA-cycle as well as several enzymes of associated pathways was performed using immunofluorescence staining. The parasite was stably transfected with a plasmid containing the complete or partial open reading frame of the corresponding gene followed by a myc-tag, which allowed to detect the produced fusion proteins with myc-tag specific antibodies. As an alternative approach polyclonal antisera were produced to confirm the localization of some proteins. Only one PDH-complex is encoded in the genome and all subunits could be recognized in the apicoplast exclusively by indirect immunofluorescence staining and was confirmed with the polyclonal antisera. The presence of the PDH-complex inside the apicoplast explains how the acetyl-CoA for the type II fatty acid biosynthesis in the apicoplast is provided. In addition, isoenzymes of the pyruvate-kinase, triosphosphate-isomerase and phosphoglycerate-kinase could be localized to the apicoplast via indirect immunofluorescence staining. A triosephosphate-translocator was also found to be localized to the apicoplast. All these enzymes provide essential substrates for the biosynthesis of isoprenoids and phospholipids. Together with the previously described plastidic isoform of the glyceraldehyd-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase a new metabolic model for parts of the apicoplast metabolism could be developed. These plastidic isoforms of the glycolytic pathway are connected and catalyse the reaction during which reduction power and energy is produced. After the import of dihydroxyaceton-phosphate (DHAP) by the trisoephosphate-translocator DHAP is reduced to 3-phosphoglycerate in 3 steps in which NAD(P)H and ATP are produced and at the end 3-phosphoglycerate is exported back into the cytosol to be used for further reactions in the glycolytic pathway. Due to the absence of the PDH-complex in the mitochondria and and thus the loss of the natural acetyl-CoA source for the TCA-cycle, it was unclear whether there was a functional TCA-cycle in the mitochondria or not. The genome of Toxoplasma gondii encodes all enzymes needed for a complete TCA-cycle and they could all be localized to the mitochondria by immunofluorescence. The presence of all these enzymes and a complete respiratory chain leads to assume a complete cycle. A functional characterisation of the TCA-cycle was done by the construction of a conditional knock-out mutant of the succinyl-CoA-synthetase alpha subunit. After the integration of an additional copy under the control of a tetracycline inducible promoter, the endogenous locus of this gene was destroyed by homologous integration of a knock-out plasmid. The disruption of the TCA-cycle does not lead to a lethal phenotype. Thus it seems that a complete cycle is not essential for the survival of the parasite. Further analysis of the knock out mutant showed a reduced growth rate in comparison to the wild type. The addition of external succinate to the media led to a complementation of the phenotype. However, for a functional TCA-cycle the presence of acetyl-CoA is absolutely essential. Acetyl-CoA might be provided by the degradation of branched amino acid, which is supported by the fact that an essential enzyme, the branched-chain oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, could also be identified and localized to the mitochondria.


Structured adaptive mesh algorithms dynamically allocate computational resources to accurately resolve interesting portions of a numerical calculation. Such methods are difficult to implement and parallelize because they rely on dynamic, irregular data structures. We have developed an efficient, portable, parallel software infrastructure for adaptive mesh methods; our software provides computational scientists with high-level facilities that hide low-level details of parallelism and resource management. We have applied our software infrastructure to the solution of adaptive eigenvalue problems arising in materials design. We describe our software infrastructure and analyze its performance. We also present computational results which indicate that the uniformity restrictions imposed by a data parallel Fortran implementation of a structured adaptive mesh application would significantly impact performance.


The Ganoderm lucidum fluid ferment conditions including carbon source,nitrogen source,pH,fermentation temperature and time were examined.The results showed that the optimal culture conditions were as follows:carbon source was glucose and concentration was 4%,nitrogen source was corn-steepliquor 2%,the pH was 6.0,fermentation temperature was 28℃,culture time was 7 d.


The invention provides a titanium alloy ring groove rivet integral processing method. The titanium alloy ring groove rivet integral processing method comprises the following steps of: (1) adopting a grinding processing method to obtain a blank which is composed of a polish rod and a countersunk head, wherein the length and diameter of the polish rod are in consistence with the length and the big diameter of a finished rod part; (2) adopting a turning process to respectively turn a rolling groove billet of each section of the ring groove and a groove with a certain depth at the positions of the polish rod in the length direction; (3) utilizing an integral rolling groove wheel with groove teeth matching with the groove type of each part of the finished rod part, and performing one-time integral rolling to finish the process of the finished rod part. The titanium alloy ring groove rivet integral processing method has the advantages of high processing efficiency, low turning tool loss, good product size consistence and the like.


OBJECTIVE: To detect whether there is mixing of norfloxacin in loperamide hydrochloride capsules by UPLC-MS. METHODS: The separation of norfloxacin was performed on C18 column with column temperature set at 35 ℃, and the mobile phase was composed of acetronitrile and 0.1% formic acid (gradient elution) with a flow rate of 0.3 mL·min-1. The sample size was 10 μL. ESI source was applied with capillary tube tension at 3.0 kV and ion source temperature at 110 ℃, and scan mode was multiple reaction monitor. RESULTS: It has been proved that there was norfloxacin in 2 of the total 5 batches of samples based on the data of retention time of RP-HPLC including ultraviolet spectra, the quasi-molecular ion and the second order mass spectra split fragments. CONCLUSION: The method is highly selective and sensitive, and can be used to detect whether norfloxacin has been illegally added into loperamide hydrochloride capsules.


Zikr is one of the methods used by the Sufi scholars to revive the soul from death spirit. A heart that does not remember the grace of Allah is considered dead by the Sufis. Remembrance can make a person aware of the existence of his true God. The method of remembrance is not limited to one aspect of life, but may be remembrance in various aspects of life as the essence of zikr is witnessing the existence of Allah SWT. Remembrance of Allah may be done silently in the heart, loudly on the tongue or even in one's physical actions in a group or alone. In addition, there is no concrete verse or proposition that prohibits remembrance in various ways but advises Muslim to remembrance in various aspects of life


With Global warming and rapid urbanization, the heat island effect is intensified, extreme meteorological disasters caused by atmospheric circulation anomalies continue to intensify. High-temperature heat wave (HTHW) disaster caused death, drought, fires, grain reduction, water and electricity supply shortages in many countries. Therefore, it is a high need to assessment the risk of urban HTHW disaster, and put forward measures for disaster prevention and mitigation of urban HTHW disaster. In this study, we use Landsat 8 image to retrieve the land surface temperature (LST) by the radiative transfer equation algorithm. Based on literature review, case comparison and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), three feature layers of disaster stress (B1), disaster vulnerability (B2), and disaster adaptation ability (B3) were selected. 10 indicator layers from the perspective of society, economy and thermal environment were selected for computation . Based on the spatial distribution of LST in Chengdu, we established a risk assessment framework for HTHW disaster assessment in Chengdu. Combination with R language and GIS natural discontinuity point method, analysis of the spatio-temporal variation characteristics of the risk of HTHW disaster in Chengdu. We conclude that: 1. The LST of Chengdu has a regular increase and decrease with the relative distance between the central city and the mountains, showing a significant urban heat island phenomenon. 2. The LST of Chengdu has a spatial distribution of "two basins separated by two mountains". The time series of HTHW have fluctuating characteristics of "enhancement-subtraction-enhancement" and three variations: "continuous reduction", "period falling back" and "continuous increasing". 3. The extreme difference between the HTHWCRI is large, indicating that the polarization of the HTHW risk in Chengdu is serious. 4. The high-temperature heat wave risk factor layer mainly has three models of "low-high-low", "high-low-high" and "high-highlow", and there is a clear positive between high temperature heat wave stress and high temperature heat wave risk. Positive correlation between relevance, socio-economic development level and regional disaster adaptive capacity. 5. Jintang district has obvious "enclave" characteristics in the intensity and risk of HTHW. The number of HTHW continues to increase and the risk of HTHW is high. Keywords—high-temperature heat wave (HTHW), disaster risk, land surface temperature (LST), spatial zoning, spatiotemporal analysis 摘要—全球气候变暖、城市热岛效应及大气环流异常引起 的极端气象灾害不断加剧,导致高温热浪灾害频发,并在我 国以及世界各地引起的人员死亡、健康损害、干旱缺水、粮 食减产、森林火灾、水电供应等事件呈现增多趋势。因此, 对城市高温热浪灾害风险进行评估并提出城市高温防治措施 十分必要且紧迫。本文利用 Landsat 8 数据,通过辐射传输 方程法反演地表温度,基于文献综述、案例对比、层次分析 法选取灾害胁迫(B1)、灾害脆弱性(B2)、灾害适应能力 (B3)3 个要素层,从社会、经济、热环境角度选取 10 个指标 层, 在明确成都市温度场空间分布特征的基础上,建立成都 市高温热浪灾害风险评估框架。利用 R 语言结合 GIS 自然间 断点法分析了成都市高温热浪灾害风险时空变化特征。主要 结论:1. 成都市地表温度以中心城区、山脉的相对距离有规 律增减,表现出明显的城市热岛现象;2. 成都市地表温度呈 "两山隔两盆"的空间分布特征、 "增强—骤减—增强"的 波动型时间变化特征,时间序列有"持续减少"、"期间回 落"、"持续增强"三种变化规律;3. 高温热浪综合风险指 数极值差较大,表明成都市整体高温热浪风险的两极分化情 况严重;4. 高温热浪风险要素层主要有"低-高-低"、"高 -低-高"、"高-高-低"3 种组合模式,且高温热浪胁迫与高 温热浪风险之间有明显的正向相关性,社会经济发展水平与 区域灾害适应能力的正向相关性;5. 金堂县的高温热浪强度 和风险表现出明显的"飞地"特征,高温热浪日数持续增多 且高温热浪常年处于高风险状态。 Sixth Symposium of Risk Analysis and Risk Management in Western China (WRARM 2019) Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Intelligent Systems Research, volume 170


This paper deals with the performance characteristics of a new ac high magnetic field generator based on the effect of eddy currents. We have proposed a new ac high magnetic field generator and have obtained magnetic fields up to 15 T at 60 Hz. The proposed structure consists of layers of exciting coils and conductors built in concentric circles. The eddy currents in the conductor flow close to the hole in the conductor. The magnetic flux induced by the eddy currents is concentrated within the hole, and an ac high magnetic field is produced. A procedure for estimating the optimum shape and number of layers required to increase the concentration effect, together with a design of the colling system necessary for continuous operation, is presented.


With the development of oil and gas resources, more horizontal wells, extended reach wells and other complex structure wells are drilled today. To reduce the drilling cost, a comprehensive modeling of the factors affecting a wellbore's path (e. g; inclination angle, Bottom Hole Assembly, etc.), is needed to drill as economically as possible. In addition, the drilling cost also can be reduced significantly while the wellbore trajectory being predicted for various conditions and BHAs. It has been found that the factors affect wellbore trajectory, mainly consist two categories: BHA configuration and drilling conditions. Therefore, choosing the corresponding Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) for drilling is absolutely critical. Furthermore, it is necessary to study the initial conditions of the drill string and the bit/rock interactions before predicting the wellbore trajectory.


Arginine exists in the body as a free amino acid; constituent of most proteins and as a precursor to several non-proteins such as nitrogen compounds. This amino acid also functions as an intermediate mediator in urea formation cycle in the production of adenosine tri-phosphate, cell proliferation, vascular dilation, neural transmission, calcium release and the immune system. L-arginine is present most in dietary protein and people normally receive more than 5 grams of it daily. Almost 25 years ago this supplement became popular among athletes. Most scientists describe oral arginine as a growth- enhancing hormone.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of L-arginine on changes in lactate and ammonium concentrations. The research population included 30 male students randomly picked out from among students representing research population willing to participate in the project. Out of this number 10 were assigned to the experimental group 1 consuming L-arginine supplements and 10 were chosen as experimental group 2 consuming branched amino acid supplements and 10 were assigned to control group. Results showed that consumption of L-arginine supplements reduces ammonium. Although different studies have reported different results in this field it is likely that arginine delays fatigue through interfering in the metabolism of ammonium.


There is a need for high‐level evidence regarding the added value of laparoscopic (LLR) compared with open (OLR) liver resection. The aim of this study was to compare the surgical and oncological outcomes of patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) undergoing LLR and OLR using propensity score matching to minimize bias.


The article tells about K. K. Grot, an organiser of charity and care in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Grot was a chief of the Patronage of Empress Maria Alexandrovna for the blind one of the Russian charitable organisations under the auspices of the Emperors family. Furthermore, from 1882 till 1884 Grot was a chief of the Department of the Institutions of Empress Maria. The author researches the activity of K. K. Grot as an organiser of charity and care in Russia.


1. Assistant professor, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Sports Physiology, Arak University, Arak, Iran 2. M.Sc in Exercise Physiology, Department of Sports Physiology, Arak University, Arak, Iran 3. Associate Professor, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Sports Management, Arak University, Arak, Iran 4. Associate Professor, Faculty of Sport Sciences, Department of Sports Physiology and Pathology, Arak University, Arak, Iran


Oka Q15] proved that any domain of holomorphy in C is a Cousin-I domain, that is, a domain in which any additive Cousin's distribution has a solution. Conversely Cartan pT] had stated that any Cousin-I domain in C is a domain of holomorphy and Behnke-Stein £2] gave its proof. From Cartan £6] C{(0, 0, 0)} is a Cousin-I domain which is not a domain of holomorphy and from Thullen [18] C-{(0, 0)} is not a domain of holomorphy but a Cousin-II domain, that is, a domain in which any multiple Cousin's distribution has a solution. These two facts suggest that Cartan-Behnke-Stein's theorem can not be generalized for Cousin-I domain in C(^^3) and for Cousin-II domain in C"(»^2) directly. The main purpose of the present paper is to extend Cartan-Behnke-Stein's theorem in the following form: Let L be an abelian complex Lie group and 31^ be the sheaf of all germs of holomorphic mappings in L. A domain (D, qf) over C with H^D, 2Ii)=0 is a domain of holomorphy. If D is a domain in C with continuous boundary such that TV-^DftP, ^L) = 0 for any simply connected and relatively compact polycylinder P in C, D is a domain of holomorphy. Moreover these two results hold also for L = GL(p, C).


Because society is doing significant efforts to recycle plastics, one option is to break them down into monomers with the help of specialized enzymes. Polyesters such as PLA (polylactic), PCL (polycaprolactone), PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) and PET (polyethylene‐terephthalate) have been considered in more detail for these biological treatments, because they can be now produced as bio‐based polymers, and because ester bounds and esterases are very frequently found in nature. In particular since PET is the most abundant thermoplastic of the polyester family and accounts for approximately 10% of all synthetic plastics on the market, it has attracted more attention. Here we will review the patented biological recycling processes concerning the recycling of PET.


Community and development in South East Asia region and Indonesia are signs of a success in a development which show progess in all aspects, including economy, social, and culture. This is where development communication becomes important. Not only to tell people what the government has done, but also to influence people to participate in the process of development. The appropriate development communication can establish a non-centralized and communicative development.


generic rank, reclassification of the other subgenera, and notes on certain subgenera and species. J. Am. Mosq. Control Assoc. 16:175188. Sweeney, A. W., Doggett, S. L. & Piper, R. G. 1990. Host specificity of Amb/~osporu indicolu (Microspora: Amblyosporidae) in mosquitoes and copepods. J. Invertebr. Pufhol., 56:415-418. Swofford, D. L. 1993. PAUP: Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony user's manual (Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois). Thompson, J. D., Higgins, D. G. & Gibson. T. J. 1994. CLUSTAL W: improving the sensitivity of progressive multiple sequence alignment through sequence weighting, position specific gap penalties and weight matrix choice. Nucleic Acids Rcs.. 22:4673-80. Vossbrinck, C. R., Andreadis, T. G. & Debrunner-Vossbrinck, B. A. 1998. Verification of intermediate hosts in the life cycles of Microsporidia by small subunit rDNA sequencing. J. Eukuryor. Microbial., 45:290-292.


We study the approximation of the spectrum of a second-order elliptic differential operator by the Hybrid High-Order (HHO) method. The HHO method is formulated using cell and face unknowns which are polynomials of some degree $k\geq0$. The key idea for the discrete eigenvalue problem is to introduce a discrete operator where the face unknowns have been eliminated. Using the abstract theory of spectral approximation of compact operators in Hilbert spaces, we prove that the eigenvalues converge as $h^{2t}$ and the eigenfunctions as $h^{t}$ in the $H^1$-seminorm, where $h$ is the mesh-size, $t\in [s,k+1]$ depends on the smoothness of the eigenfunctions, and $s>\frac12$ results from the elliptic regularity theory. The convergence rates for smooth eigenfunctions are thus $h^{2k+2}$ for the eigenvalues and $h^{k+1}$ for the eigenfunctions. Our theoretical findings, which improve recent error estimates for Hybridizable Discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) methods, are verified on various numerical examples including smooth and non-smooth eigenfunctions. Moreover, we observe numerically in one dimension for smooth eigenfunctions that the eigenvalues superconverge as $h^{2k+4}$}for a specific value of the stabilization parameter.


The behavior of single piles subjected to negative skin friction in soft soil was conducted by analyzing the results from full-scale long-term field measurements and three-dimensional (3D) numerical analyses. A skin friction coefficient (α and β coefficients) of the instrumented piles is back-calculated at different degrees of consolidation (U) of soft marine clay. Back-calculated β-values ranged from 0.15 to 0.35 for clay, and from 0.30 to 0.55 for sand, respectively. In addition, back-calculated α-values ranged from 0.1 to 0.3 for coated pile, and from 0.2 to 0.8 for uncoated pile when undrained shear strength of the soft clay was about 30–60 kPa, respectively. Moreover, this study describes behavior of a pile based on full-coupled 3D finite element (FE) analysis. The appropriate parametric studies needed for verifying the pile-soil interaction with consolidation are presented in this paper. Compared to the results from the measurements, it is shown that the computed results are capable of predicting the pile-soil behavior under consolidation. The major parameters that influence the pile behavior are discussed for different soil-pile conditions.


Process monitoring and control up until now has been available only at the transmission and highest level distribution substations – for lack of communications lines. Now the wireless communications technology GPRS permits low cost connectivity to even the lowest levels of the distribution grid. This provides the grid operator far deeper control over the grid, shortened reaction times in case of a failure and the efficient use of sophisticated network calculation programs. This paper shows how to use GPRS as a communications medium for power distribution and also displays a project realized this way.


One of the flares at Rohm & Haas plant experienced a series of three consecutive deflagrations resulting in severe damage to the flare water seal flame arrestor. The deflagrations occurred during process start up after a complete unit shutdown. This incident caused no personal injuries or off‐site impact. The incident was investigated using MCSOII (Multiple Cause System Oriented Incident Investigation) process.


Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) has become standard clinical practice for gentamicin, amikacin, and vancomycin to optimize efficacy and reduce toxicity. TDM after the first dose of antibiotic was adopted in our institution. This study aims to evaluate if target therapeutic drug concentrations could be achieved more rapidly in patients with TDM performed after the first dose of gentamicin, amikacin, or vancomycin compared to TDM at steady state. A single‐center retrospective cohort study was conducted at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore. Patients aged 1 month to 18 years old who received amikacin, gentamicin, or vancomycin between October 2012 to March 2016 and had at least 2 serum drug concentrations done within the same dosing interval were included. The primary objective was to compare the time taken to achieve target serum drug concentrations between first‐dose and steady‐state TDM. A total of 334 patients on amikacin, 211 patients on gentamicin, and 140 patients on vancomycin were included. Using Kaplan‐Meier analysis, the median number of days to optimize therapy was significantly shorter after first‐dose TDM was performed for amikacin (first dose, 1.51 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.44‐1.89] days vs steady state, 2.85 [95%CI, 2.50‐3.25] days; P < .01] and gentamicin (first dose, 1.66 [95%CI, 1.25‐2.08] days vs steady state, 3.54 [95%CI, 2.40‐4.75] days; P < .01] but not vancomycin (first dose, 1.34 [95%CI, 1.06‐1.52] days vs steady state, 1.42 [95%CI, 1.26‐1.59] days; P = .99]. First‐dose TDM for gentamicin and amikacin resulted in faster attainment of target serum concentrations but did not for vancomycin. Further validation of its impact on actual clinical outcomes may be required.


Formation of the kidney requires reciprocal signaling among the ureteric tubules, cap mesenchyme and surrounding stromal mesenchyme to orchestrate complex morphogenetic events. The protocadherin Fat4 influences signaling from stromal to cap mesenchyme cells to influence their differentiation into nephrons. Here we characterize the role of a putative binding partner of Fat4, the protocadherin Dchs1. Mutation of Dchs1 leads to increased numbers of cap mesenchyme cells, which are abnormally arranged around the ureteric bud tips, and impairs nephron morphogenesis. Mutation of Dchs1 also reduces branching of the ureteric bud and impairs differentiation of ureteric bud tip cells into trunk cells. Genetically, Dchs1 is required specifically within cap mesenschyme cells. The similarity of Dchs1 phenotypes to stromal-less kidneys and to Fat4 mutants implicate Dchs1 in Fat4-dependent stroma-to-cap mesenchyme signaling. Antibody staining of genetic mosaics reveals that Dchs1 protein localization is polarized within cap mesenchyme cells, where it accumulates at the interface with stromal cells, implying that it interacts directly with a stromal protein. Our observations identify a role for Fat4-Dchs1 in signaling between cell layers, implicate Dchs1 as a Fat4 receptor for stromal signaling that is essential for kidney development, and establish that vertebrate Dchs1 can be molecularly polarized in vivo. D ev el op m en t A cc ep te d m an us cr ip t INTRODUCTION Metanephric kidney development requires interactions between three adjacent cell layers: the epithelial ureteric bud (UB), cap mesenchyme (CM), and stromal mesenchyme (stroma) (Fig. 1A) (Costantini and Kopan, 2010; Kopan et al., 2014). The UB forms a tubule that undergoes elongation and reiterative branching to form the collecting ducts. Growth and branching of the UB depends upon reciprocal cell signaling interactions with the neighboring CM, which coalesces around the tips of the branching epithelium. CM cells are also the progenitor cells for nephrons, which are created through a mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition to form a renal vesicle, which then undergoes further growth and morphogenesis (Costantini and Kopan, 2010; Kopan et al., 2014). The CM is surrounded by stroma. Genetic ablation of stromal cells or mutation of stromal-expressed genes including Ecm1, Foxd1, or Fat4 has revealed that stroma influences the development of the CM and UB (Das et al., 2013; Hatini et al., 1996; Hum et al., 2014; Levinson et al., 2005; Paroly et al., 2013). Nonetheless, there remain substantial gaps in our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that orchestrate the communication between stromal cells and other cell layers required for kidney morphogenesis. Here, we examine the role of Dchs1-Fat4 signaling in this process. Much of our understanding of Dchs1 and Fat4 comes from studies of their Drosophila homologues, Dachsous (Ds) and Fat. Ds and Fat are large cadherin family transmembrane proteins that bind to each other to regulate both Hippo signaling and planar cell polarity (PCP) (Matis and Axelrod, 2013; Reddy and Irvine, 2008; Staley and Irvine, 2012; Thomas and Strutt, 2012). Hippo signaling is a conserved signal transduction pathway best known for its influence on organ growth, which it controls by regulating a transcriptional co-activator protein called Yorkie (Yki), or in vertebrates D ev el op m en t A cc ep te d m an us cr ip t the Yki homologues Yap and Taz (Pan, 2010; Staley and Irvine, 2012). PCP is the polarization of cell morphology and cell behavior within the plane of a tissue (Goodrich and Strutt, 2011; Wansleeben and Meijlink, 2011). PCP signaling is intrinsically bidirectional, as it polarizes each pair of juxtaposed cells. Conversely in Fat-Hippo signaling Ds acts as a ligand that activates Fat, which functions as a receptor for Hippo signaling (Reddy and Irvine, 2008; Staley and Irvine, 2012), but there is also some evidence for a reciprocal Fat-to-Ds signal (Degoutin et al., 2013). Analysis of Fat4 and Dchs1 mutant mice has revealed that Dchs1-Fat4 signaling is essential for the morphogenesis of multiple mammalian organs, including the kidney (Mao et al., 2011; Saburi et al., 2008; Saburi et al., 2012; Zakaria et al., 2014). Requirements for DCHS1 and FAT4 in humans have been revealed by the linkage of mutations in these genes to Van Maldergem syndrome (Cappello et al., 2013). Mice mutant for Dchs1 or Fat4 have smaller kidneys, with fewer ureteric branches and a modest accumulation of small cysts (Mao et al., 2011; Saburi et al., 2008); hypoplastic kidneys have also been reported in Van Maldergem patients (Mansour et al., 2012). Differences between murine wild-type and Dchs1 or Fat4 mutant kidneys appear as early as E11.5, when the growth and branching of the UB in mutants lags behind that in wild-type embryos (Mao et al., 2011). Differentiation of nephron progenitor cells (CM) into nephrons was reported to be defective in Fat4 mutants (Das et al., 2013), reminiscent of the effect of stromal cell ablation on CM differentiation (Das et al., 2013; Hum et al., 2014), and it was suggested that Fat4 participates in stromal-to-CM signaling. The inhibition of nephron progenitor cell differentiation in Fat4 mutants was attributed to increased Yap activity (Das et al., 2013), although how this might be achieved is unclear, as the molecular pathway linking Fat to Yap identified in Drosophila does not appear to be conserved in mammals D ev el op m en t A cc ep te d m an us cr ip t (Bossuyt et al., 2014; Pan et al., 2013). Conversely, there is growing evidence that Ds-Fat PCP signaling mechanisms are conserved between insects and vertebrates, including the ability of human FAT4 to rescue PCP phenotypes in flies (Pan et al., 2013), and observations of abnormal cellular polarization in Dchs1 or Fat4 mutant mice (Mao et al., 2011; Saburi et al., 2008; Zakaria et al., 2014). Here, we focus on the role of Dchs1 in kidney development. We report that Dchs1 mutants share the expansion of CM identified in Fat4 mutants, consistent with their acting as a signaling pair. We also further characterize Dchs1 phenotypes in other cell types within the kidney, and show through conditional deletion that Dchs1 is specifically required within CM for the normal development of CM, UB, and stroma. Analysis of genetic mosaics establishes that the subcellular localization of Dchs1 is polarized within CM cells, where it accumulates on surfaces contacting stromal cells. Our observations suggest that Dchs1 functions as a receptor for a Fat4 signal from stromal cells that influences the behavior of CM, and indirectly, the UB. RESULTS Dchs1 functions in CM to influence kidney size and shape Immunolocalization and RNA in situ studies of E12.5 kidneys revealed that Fat4 and Dchs1 are expressed predominantly within the CM and stroma, rather than in the UB (Mao et al., 2011). Similarly, Fat4 and Dchs1 protein expression could be readily detected within the CM and stroma of E14.5 kidneys (Fig. 1B,D), whereas the UB appears to have levels of staining close to background (ie, as observed in mutant kidneys, Fig. 1C,E). These observations raise the question of how Fat4 and Dchs1 influence UB branching and growth. To determine where Dchs1 is genetically required for kidney development, we selectively removed Dchs1 from each of the three main cell D ev el op m en t A cc ep te d m an us cr ip t types within the developing kidney by using a Dchs1 conditional allele (Dchs1f) combined with either Hoxb7-Cre (expressed in UB)(Yu et al., 2002), Foxd1-Cre (expressed in stroma)(Humphreys et al., 2010), or Six2-Cre (expressed in CM and immediate derivatives)(Kobayashi et al., 2008). The efficacy and specificity of these Cre lines was confirmed using a conditional Rosa-26 lacZ reporter (Soriano, 1999)(Supplemental Fig. S1), and by Dchs1 antibody staining (see below). When kidneys from P0 mice with conditional deletion of Dchs1 in stromal cells or in the UB were examined, they appeared morphologically normal in terms of overall kidney size and shape (Fig. 1F-I, L,M,O,P). Conversely, conditional deletion of Dchs1 from CM resulted in smaller, rounder kidneys, reminiscent of those observed in Dchs1 mutant mice (Fig. 1J,K,N,Q) (Mao et al., 2011). Thus, Dchs1 is required in CM or its derivatives for overall kidney growth, and not in UB or stroma. Influence of Dchs1 on CM In developing wild-type kidneys, mesenchymal cells condense to form an ~2-3 cell wide cap around the UB tips; this cap is marked by strong expression of Six2 (Fig. 2A,C,E,G)(Kobayashi et al., 2008). Mutation of Fat4 results in increased numbers of CM cells around each ureteric bud tip (Fig. 2B,F)(Das et al., 2013). Dchs1 mutants exhibit a similar expansion of CM (Fig. 2D,H), consistent with inferences that Dchs1 and Fat4 function as signaling partners (Mao et al., 2011; Zakaria et al., 2014). In addition to the increase in thickness of the CM, the CM also appears disorganized in both Dchs1 and Fat4, i.e. the width and shape of the cap appears more irregular than in wild-type (Fig. 2A-H). Moreover, some CM cells appear mis-localized. In wild-type they are restricted to the distal side of the ureteric tips, near the surface of the kidney, but in mutants they can accumulate proximal to the ureteric tips (Fig. 2A-D). Increased thickness and D ev el op m en t A cc ep te d m an us cr ip t disorganization of CM has also been noted in kidneys with stromal deletion, or mutation of Ecm1, Foxd1, or Fat4 (Das et al., 2013; Hatini et al., 1996; Hum et al., 2014; Levinson et al., 2005; Paroly et al., 2013). To investigate the origin of these defects in CM thickness and organization, we examined CM cells in Fat4 mutants throughout kidney development, beginning at E10.5 when the ureteric epithelium first invades the metanephric mesenchyme. At E11.5, the thickness of cap mesenchyme cells appears similar between wild type and mutant kidneys (Fig. 2I,J),


What are categorical data types? The categorical data type approach is an extension of the abstract data type approach in a way that seems particularly useful for parallel computation. It is more than a programming language, however. It is an approach to software development and implementation that relies on mathematical underpinnings for useful structure. There are several ways of looking at categorical data types. From one perspective, they capture a style of second-order functional programming, in which programs are built from restricted forms of second-order functions that are polymorphic over patterns of computation and communication. From another perspective they are an extension of objects without state, or abstract data types. Categorical data types merge these two concepts by encapsulating control ow as well as data representation. Many of the ideas behind categorical data types have been arrived at directly for common data types, sometimes from the perspective of data-parallelism 16], sometimes from the perspective of objects containing parallelism, such as Mentat 15]. The beneets of the categorical data type approach are not primarily in the particular program operations that it provides, but in the framework it provides for building and reasoning about parallel programs. Why is encapsulating control ow a good thing? The problem with programming parallel machines is that they vary so much. The best way to compute something on one machine won't necessarily be the best way on another. Encapsulating control ow means that the programmer doesn't have to worry about how c D.B. Skillicorn, 1994. Permission is given to copy this document without fee provided it is copied in its entirety and this notice remains attached.


The Translation Matrix (T-Matrix) solution to the 3D problem of scattering of the electromagnetic waves from a dielectric layered media with random rough interfaces is presented. The solution is based on the coupled vector integral equation using the periodic Green's function. It is shown that the T-Matrix solution conserves energy, the bistatic scattering pattern has no pole singularity for the layered media waveguide mode case, and also in the small height regime will coincide with the SPM2 solution which is an analytical approach.


The present study was carried out to investigate the possibility that bispidinone derivative makes anticancer drug availability to human cervical carcinoma cell. The B8 has the lowest IC 50 value among B8, B9 and B10 which are bispidinone analogue with bromide. According to cytotoxic test through WST-8 assay, B8 shows the most magnificent cytotoxicity effectiveness with 76 μM of IC 50 value. In human cervical carcinoma cell treated with B8, it noticeably controlled cellular multiplication by increase of concentration and time. Furthermore, morphological changes like cellular shrink, disruption and nuclear condensation, feature of apoptosis, are observed. Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining assay test proved that B8 can cause apoptosis. Moreover, after treatment with 76 μM of B8, flow cytometry analysis shows that increase of active oxygen species are induced and membrane potential in mitochondria is decreased. Manifestation of Bcl-2 family and caspase cascades protein provides evidence that B8 induces apoptosis through mitochondria and caspase-related pathway. Taken together, we suggested that B8 reduced membrane potential in mitochondria and induce apoptosis through the pathway depended on mitochondria and caspase.


Undergraduate Tutor is formed under the precondition of a double-way choice between the teachers and students,that the basic form of universities education system is the individual tutorial,its created promoting role for the mechanisms innovation of the university study style are mainly embodied in three aspects of character education,quality education,and interactive education.Undergraduate tutor includes the full system,and high-grade system,and elite mentoring,group mentoring,professional mentoring,group mentoring,class mentoring and other forms.Therefore,we must establish long-term mechanism,changing the concept of students,the implementation of systematic management,and effectively ensure the undergraduate tutorial system be effectively implemented.


The present research is mixed; it is qualitative because is primarily exploratory research. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses. It is important to mention that the qualitative information is collected applying an observation guide to the class. Moreover, it is quantitative because the information collected through interviews and surveys is quantified generating numerical data. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables.
The purpose of this study was to research the effectiveness of the strategies to teach speaking in English as a foreign language courses and how these affect students' learning. The study also addresses the types of activities used by the teacher during the speaking activities such as discussions, role play, simulations, information gap, brainstorming, pair work/ group work and others as well as the importance of using the second language to develop students' oral proficiency.
This research paper presents a thorough analysis of the direct interaction between students and teachers of Benjamin Zeledon regular high school. It was possible to observe and assess the quality of education in teaching speaking in 7th grade, which determine the most pressing difficulties, identifying how the little use of speaking strategies demonstrated was not a quite effective in students' learning.
Most of the problems encountered in students match with many national studies that have been already presented, as the major problem that exists is that teachers teach English classes in Spanish and sometimes they explain the class in the same way or in some cases the lack of motivation, difficulties in the learning speaking such as lack of knowledge and participation of the students are some factors that limit the development of speaking skills in the classroom.


The housefly, Musca domestica, is a common widely distributed insect. This study aims at assessing the role of houseflies as a vector for transmission of bacteria. In this study 100 houseflies were collected and examined. Seventy five percent flies carried no bacteria, 20% carried coliform bacteria, while five percent flies carried more than one type of bacteria. Thirty two isolates (E. coli 25%, Citrobacter spp. 18.75%, Klebsiella pneumoniae 15.63%, Enterococcus spp. 12.5%, Staphylococcus aureus 12.5%, Coagulase negative staphylococcus 12.5% and Proteus mirabilis 3.12%) were recovered. Classical enteric pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella, Shigella and Vibrio were not isolated from any fly. There is no human open field defecation but a number of cattle, poultry farms and agriculture land where animal manure is used is present within the flying range of the houseflies. Since, the coliforms are normal gastrointestinal flora of human, animals and birds, it can be surmised that the surrogate markers (coliform organisms) have been carried by the houseflies from the excreta of farm animals, poultry or animal manure. The study reveals that the houseflies can play a significant role in transmission of enteric bacterial pathogens. However, transmission can be prevented by maintenance of good hygiene and sanitation.


Appreciation education,as a new kind of educational ideas and practice shape at present,is a possible way to train students' psychological quality. As people have not realized the basic spirit of appreciation education and the essence of love correctly, a series of problems appears. We must carry out its basic spirit to cultivate students' good psychological quality in appreciation education.


The treaty concerning maritime delimitation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, which Russia and Norway signed in September 2010, is regarded by the officialdom as a great diplomatic success. However, the document disregards a whole range of vital legal aspects, which may be detrimental to the operation of Russian state companies in the region, including possible weighty losses due to discrepancies in tax treatment.en


Intravenous (IV) atezolizumab is approved for non–small cell lung and other cancers. Subcutaneous (SC) atezolizumab coformulated with recombinant human hyaluronidase, a permeation enhancer for SC dispersion and absorption, is being developed to improve treatment options, reduce burden, and increase efficiency for patients and practitioners. IMscin001 (NCT03735121), a 2‐part, open‐label, global, multicenter, phase 1b/3 study, is evaluating the pharmacokinetics (PK), safety, and efficacy of SC atezolizumab. The part 1 (phase 1b) objective was determination of an SC atezolizumab dose yielding a serum trough concentration (Ctrough) comparable with IV. Patients enrolled in 3 cohorts received SC atezolizumab 1800 mg (thigh) once (cohort 1), 1200 mg (thigh) every 2 weeks for 3 cycles (cohort 2), or 1800 mg (abdomen) every 3 weeks cycle 1, then cycles 2 and 3 (thigh) every 3 weeks (cohort 3). In subsequent cycles, IV atezolizumab 1200 mg every 3 weeks was administered until loss of clinical benefit. SC atezolizumab 1800 mg every 3 weeks and 1200 mg every 2 weeks provided similar Ctrough and area under the curve values in cycle 1 to the corresponding IV atezolizumab reference, was well tolerated, and exhibited a safety profile consistent with the established IV formulation. Exposure following SC injection in the abdomen was lower (20%, 28%, and 27% for Ctrough, maximum concentration, and area under the concentration‐time curve from time 0 to day 21, respectively) than in the thigh. Part 1 SC and IV PK data were analyzed using a population PK modeling approach, followed by simulations. Part 2 (phase 3) will now be initiated to demonstrate that SC atezolizumab PK exposure is not lower than that of IV.


According to insurance theory, agents who have insurance coverage have less incentives to make preventive actions. In the case of complete coverage, this behavior, called ex ante moral hazard, is so strong that policy holders make no preventive action. Shavell [1979] shows that the optimal insurance contract must contain a deductible in order to give incentives to policy holders. In this article, we argue that this result cannot be obviously extended to the health insurance sector taking into account that policy holders internalize the benefit of their preventive actions through their health state improvement. Using a bi-dimensional utility function, we show that a deductible is not necessarily optimal : it may induce a decrease of the wealth that increases the cost of preventive actions. Classification JEL : I12, D81, D82.


The purpose of the present invention relates to a network-based wireless power control method, and a device and a system therefor. A wireless power control method, in a wireless power transmission device which wirelessly transmits power to a wireless power reception device, according to a first embodiment of the present invention, comprises the steps of: transmitting a first signal via a first frequency band when a power source is applied; when a second signal corresponding to the first signal is received via a second frequency band, measuring the first reception sensitivity of the second signal; receiving second to n-th reception sensitivities corresponding to the second signal from at least one other wireless power transmission device connected via a network; and determining whether power has been wirelessly transmitted to the wireless power reception device, on the basis of the first to n-th reception sensitivities. As such, the present invention has an advantage of being capable of more effectively transmitting power wirelessly by using a wireless power transmission device connected via a network.