Abstract Unlike conventional flood control systems that frequently isolate rivers from ecologically-essential floodplain habitat, California's Yolo Bypass has been engineered to allow Sacramento Valley floodwaters to inundate a broad floodplain. From a flood control standpoint, the 24,000 ha leveed floodplain has been exceptionally successful based on its ability to convey up to 80% of the flow of the Sacramento River basin during high water events. Agricultural lands and seasonal and permanent wetlands within the bypass provide key habitat for waterfowl migrating through the Pacific Flyway. Our field studies demonstrate that the bypass seasonally supports 42 fish species, 15 of which are native. The floodplain appears to be particularly valuable spawning and rearing habitat for the splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus), a federally-listed cyprinid, and for young chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), which use the Yolo Bypass as a nursery area. The system may also be an important source to the down...


The work is dedicated to the solution of an important task - the creation and study of new polymer compositions, which, unlike traditional polymeric materials, are characterized by polyfunctionality and high performance characteristics.Over the past few decades, among nanofillers, considerable attention has been paid to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) due to their special mechanical and thermal properties, geometric parameters, low mass density and their inherent electrical properties. As a polymer matrix for studying systems with an active interaction of components, it is proposed to use polymers that are capable of crystallization and include polar groups. A typical representative of such polymers is the high molecular weight polyester - penton. Such composite systems are favorably distinguished by the presence of two phase instabilities in the temperature range under study, namely, the melting of the crystalline phase and the glass transition of the amorphous component of the polymer matrix, which will provide more complete and deeper information about the mutual influence of the components of such systems. The ultrasonic method has been used for experimental study of the acoustic properties and structure of polymer nanocomposites of the penton - carbon nanotubes system. An analysis of the studied concentration dependences of the characteristics at frequencies of 5, 7.5, and 10 MHz indicates a strong character of the interaction between the penton - CNT system components. The research results indicate that the ultrasound velocity in filled systems in the entire studied concentration region is significantly higher than for an unfilled penton, and for thecarbon nanotubesfilled penton, a significant increase in the elasticity of the composite compared with an unfilled polymer matrix takes place. Obviously, this can occur due to a significant change in the structure of the polymer component of the system and the formation of an interfacial layer around the CNT with a more ordered structure respectively to pure penton. Additional information is provided by the dependences of the "jump" of the absorption coefficient on the frequency and the dependences of the tangent of the angle of mechanical losses (tgδ), which indicate that the size of carbon nanotube aggregates in the penton matrix as an obstacle to a mechanical wave is much smaller than the size of the penton particles, and the constancy of all studied characteristics when the concentration of CNTs φ ≈ 0.3 vol. % indicates the transition of the penton at this concentration to the state of the wall layer.


This publication explores how learning networks help SMEs develop capabilities by resolving their resource limitations. SMEs are key to maintaining growth in economies but they have major challenges that are often aggravated by their relative size and small operational footprints. SMEs form a significant economic force in many economies including Ireland where this empirical study was undertaken. Learning networks are mechanisms that have been developed to assist SMEs in capability- building. Research in capability-building has been conducted in large firms but somewhat neglected in SMEs. A literature review led to the development of a conceptual framework and a cross-case study analysis was carried out to robustly test this framework. It focused on the Polymer and Refrigeration industries in Ireland to investigate how and why firms differed in their capability- building acquisition while participating in a learning network. The findings show that participation in a learning network catalyses capability building in SMEs.


The paper gives some account of the development and effects of industrialization in the steel producing town of Port Talbot in South Wales, U.K. The relative degree of plant contamination by particulate pollutants is assessed as a rapid, inexpensive, and easily applied method of detection of airborne particulate pollutants. Some of the effects of environmental factors on the degree of deposition are examined.


Vanadium pentoxide gels, V2O5·1.6H2O, give rise to xerogel layers that exhibit a preferred orientation. X‐ray diffraction of this xerogel displays the 00l peaks typical of a turbostratic stacking of the V2O5 ribbons along a direction parallel to the substrate. The distance along the c‐axis is observed from the interlayer spacing to decrease continuously with increasing temperature up to 180 °C, as observed by high‐temperature X‐ray diffraction. This contraction may be described by an extrinsic mechanism of negative thermal expansion (NTE). The coefficient of NTE as large as –1.5 × 10–3 K–1 was observed. Full recovery of the interlayer spacing is obtained after cooling the sample to room temperature in open air, where water molecules are reabsorbed, indicating that the process is reversible and the heating process can be repeated without losing NTE. The structure of the xerogel was explored further using differential scanning calorimetry as well as infrared spectroscopy. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Abstract Disclosure: J.A. Siddiqui: None. C. Mintz: None. R. Rapaport: None. Autosomal dominant pseudohypoaldosteronism type I is characterized by salt wasting resulting from renal unresponsiveness to mineralocorticoids. It is a rare condition that has been estimated to affect 1 in 80,000 newborns. A previously healthy 4-week-old female baby was hospitalized for poor weight gain. She was born to non-consanguineous parents following an uncomplicated pregnancy with a birth weight of 8 pounds 7 ounces and a birth length of 21 inches, both appropriate for age. She was exclusively breastfed since birth. Her initial laboratory results were concerning for hyponatremia, hypochloremia, and hyperkalemia. She was evaluated by pediatric endocrinology because of the initial concern for salt-wasting CAH. After clinical evaluation, she was noted to have an elevated aldosterone of 1333 ng/dL and renin level of 74515 ng/dL/hr. She was clinically diagnosed with pseudohypoaldosteronism and was started on sodium chloride supplementation which she continued until 4 years of age. Eventually, she was able to self-regulate her sodium levels and her aldosterone levels normalized. With her clinical diagnosis of pseudohypoaldosteronism, she was sent for genetic evaluation in 2021 and was found to have a likely pathogenic mutation in NR3C2, which is associated with autosomal dominant pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1. She was found to be heterozygous for c.2015-4_2015-2delATAinsG:IVS4-2delATAinsG in exon 5 in the NR3C2 gene. The particular variant identified in this patient is a canonical splice site variant which is expected to result in aberrant splicing, supporting the pathogenicity of this variant. To our knowledge, this specific variant has not been reported in other patients and is absent from large population databases. The patient was also tested for SCNNA1, SCNNA1B and SCNN1G, and the results were negative. After the genetic evaluation, multiple family members were tested for PHA1. Her brother and mother both were negative, but her father was found to be heterozygous for the genetic variant in NR3C2, giving him a molecular diagnosis of autosomal dominant PHA type 1. He was clinically undiagnosed until the genetic diagnosis of his daughter. Her father had a history of multiple episodes of dehydration in infancy and childhood along with slow growth. He was evaluated by an endocrinologist at age 57 and was found to have elevated aldosterone at 73.9 ng/dL(normal range- 7-30 ng/dL, which was consistent with PHA type 1. The patient's paternal grandmother and paternal uncle also underwent targeted testing for the NR3C2 variant and the result was negative. This case report signifies the importance of clinical diagnosis and continued longitudinal follow-up. This led to genetic evaluation and the discovery of a previously unknown variant causing pseudohypoaldosteronism. In addition to the indexed case, the family was able to recognize a familial mutation that was previously undetected. Presentation Date: Friday, June 16, 2023


BACKGROUND: With the constant innovation and development of micro‐pattern technology, it has also been applied widely in cell biology, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, which provides new impetus for the construction of artificial tissues in vitro. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the classification, characteristics and application of micro‐pattern technique in tissue engineering. METHODS: The authors performed a data retrieval of PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI to search the articles addressing micro‐pattern technique and its application in tissue engineering published from 2001 to 2017, and reviewed the literatures systematically. The keywords were "micro‐pattern technique, tissue engineering" in English and Chinese, respectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Using the micro‐pattern technique, patterned cell alignment is formed to control the shape of stem cells, and regulate stem cell fusion and differentiation. Moreover, artificial tissue engineering products have been developed and used as tissue substitutes for bone tissue engineering, muscle tissue engineering, vascular tissue engineering, nerve tissue engineering and liver tissue engineering. However, cell biology mechanisms and internal mechanisms underlying the use of micro‐pattern technique in the artificial tissue construction need to be further explored and elucidated. For example, future investigations are warranted on how to construct artificial muscle tissue using the micro‐pattern technique, how to purify Schwann cells, as well as the development and innovation of micro‐pattern technique in vascular and liver tissue engineering research. Funding: the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 31470942


The recent application of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to Human Pose Estimation (HPE) from static images have improved estimation accuracy compared to traditional HPE approaches. In particular, a recent novel HPE approach combines a traditional graphical model with CNNs to result in state-of-the-art HPE accuracy, improving the estimation accuracy compared to using either approach alone. However, the accuracy of the CNN used in the hybrid model has not yet been explored, and this paper evaluates the use of CNNs in the hybrid model through investigating different network configurations and fine-tuning the network using pre-trained weights obtained from a large labeled dataset. The proposed CNN configurations not only improve the accuracy of the existing network by up to 2% but also uses fewer parameters, resulting in a higher HPE accuracy and simpler network structure.


This chapter analyses Hideo Yokoyama's Six Four (2012), drawing on Clare Birchall's theory of transparency and secrecy to complicate the classic understanding of crime fiction in terms of a progressive uncovering of the truth. For Pepper, Yokoyama's novel evokes instead a world where transparency is only ever partial, where secrecy is used tactically or as a mode of resistance within bureaucratic units as they engage in territorial struggles against other units, and where the investigation inevitably leaves a residue of what is 'unknowable'. If these manoeuvres challenge the value placed on transparency in liberal democracies, they also trouble, and mobilize, some of the epistemological certainties on which the detective novel is often taken to rely.


Context. The direction of the human face vector is an indicator of human attention. It has many applications in our daily lives, such as human-computer interaction, teleconferencing, virtual reality and 3D sound rendering. Moreover, determining the position of the head can be used to compare the exercises performed by a person with a certain standard, which brings us to investigation of ways to efficiently track moves. Depth-camera based systems, frequently used for these purposes, have significant drawbacks such as accuracy decreasing on the direct sunlight and necessity of additional equipment. The recognition from the two-dimensional image becomes more widespread and eliminates difficulties related to depth cameras which allows them to be used indoors and outdoors. Objective. The purpose of this work is creation of the method that will allow us to track human head moves and record only significant vectors of head direction. Methods. This paper suggests reference points method that decreases set of recorded vectors to minimal amount significant to describe head moves. It also investigates and compares existing methods for determining the vector of the face in terms of use in suggested approach. Results. Suggested reference points method shows ability to highly decrease set of head direction vectors that describe the move. According to the results of the study, regression-based methods showed significantly better accuracy and independence from light and partial face closure so they were chosen to be used as methods to get head direction vector in reference points approach. Conclusions. Research confirmed applicability of reference points method for human movements tracking and shown that methods of determining human head vector by two-dimensional image can compete in accuracy with RGBD-based methods. Thus combined with suggested approach these methods expose less restrictions in use than RGBD-based ones.


Objective To investigate the characteristics of damage to intraocular membranes from ocular trauma using color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) for diagnosis.Methods We retrospectively studied 1 162 eyes of 1 156 patients who sustained ocular injuries from January 2013 to December 2013.CDFI was used to detect damage to ocular membranes.The surgical diagnosis was also reviewed.Results Among 1 162 eyes of 1 156 patients,vitreous hemorrhage presented in 1 071 eyes,endophthalmitis presented in 78 eyes,and posterior vitreous detachment presented in 624 eyes.There were 521,221 and 117 eyes with retinal detachment,choroidal detachment and choroidal hemorrhage,respectively.While trauma to intraocular membranes is typically associated with a single injury identified with CDFI,most of the patients suffered from various injuries.Color Doppler flow imaging detected the damaged tissues with 2D images.Moreover,the imaging can analyze the retina and choroid blood flow to help distinguish retinal or choroidal detachment.In this study,99.1% of the ultrasound diagnoses matched the clinical and surgical diagnoses.Conclusion Color Doppler flow imaging is an economical and simple way to detect intraocular membrane injury from ocular trauma.It is also noninvasive and repeatable.The use of retinal and choroidal blood flow analysis can increase the detection rate of intraocular membrane injury from ocular trauma.

Key words:
Eye injury;  Intraocular membrane;  Ultrasound diagnosis,Doppler,color


SUMMARY We present a vehicle model that includes the vehicle dynamics and a vehicle tire model. The model developed is then used for conducting steering analysis of an automated vehicle. We test the developed model on a step lane change maneuver and propose a model-reference based controller for remote control of a vehicle. Stability analysis of the closed-loop system using die Lyapunov approach is included.


We present a measurement of the branching fraction for the rare decays B ! (cid:3)e(cid:5) and extract a value for the magnitude of V ub , one of the smallest elements of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark-mixing matrix. The results are given for five different calculations of form factors used to para-metrize the hadronic current in semileptonic decays. Using a sample of 55 (cid:2) 10 6 B (cid:5) BB meson pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e (cid:3) e (cid:4) storage ring, we obtain B (cid:5) B 0 ! (cid:3) (cid:4) e (cid:3) (cid:5) (cid:6) (cid:7) (cid:5) 3 : 29 (cid:8) 0 : 42 (cid:8) 0 : 47 (cid:8) 0 : 55 (cid:6) (cid:2) 10 (cid:4) 4 and j V ub j (cid:7) (cid:5) 3 : 64 (cid:8) 0 : 22 (cid:8) 0 : 25 (cid:3) 0 : 39 (cid:4) 0 : 56 (cid:6) (cid:2) 10 (cid:4) 3 , where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and theoretical, respectively.


Transesterif ication of glycerol triacetate and methanol catalyed by KOH supported on activated carbon was studied. The catalyst was prepared by impregnation and had a high catalysis activity. Effects of some factors on the transesterif ication were investigated systematically and reaction conditions were optimized. The optimized reaction conditions on the catalyst were: molar ratio of methanol to oil 9:1, the amount of catalyst 0.3g(the amount of glycerol triacetate 0.02mol), the consistency of KOH 20.0wt%, reaction temperature 65℃ and reaction time 1.0h, under these conditions the conversion of biodiesel reached 94.7%. The new technology featured simplicity, reusable catalyst, zero pollution.


A 67-year-old man was hospitalized urgently complaining of chills, fever and pain in the left abdomen, accompanied by hyperglycemia on July 30, 1990. He was diagnosed as having emphysematous pyelonephritis because a CT scan revealed gas formation in the left kidney. He was put under observation in an attempt to save the kidney, but his fever did not subside, so we performed a simple left nephrectomy on August 6. He made satisfactory progress after the operation, and was discharged in 32 days. The sample extraction showed that parts of the abscess wall were so thin that it could easily have perforated.Because emphysematous pyelonephritis is an inflammatory disease that can be intractable, as it was in this case, it is important to perform a nephrectomy in time, before the abscess wall ruptures.


PURPOSE: A power amplifier in a mobile communication system is provided to reduce the area of a field effect transistor and improve a general linearity of a system by implementing a distributor and adder of a power amplifier by using the field effect transistor having an internal characteristic operating in the same manner as a manual device. CONSTITUTION: An FET(Field Effect Transistor)(Q1) serves as a power distributor(110) for distributing a signal inputted through an input terminal. Amplifiers(210-216) amplify the signal distributed through the FET(Q1) and output. An FET(Q2) serves as a power adder(130) for adding the signals outputted from the amplifiers(210-216) and outputting it to an output terminal. Inductances(L1,L2,L3) and capacitors(C1,C2) matches and corrects the FET(Q1) operated as a power adder. The input terminal is connected to the gate of the FET(Q1). The gate is grounded through the inductance(L1). A drain and a source are grounded through the inductances(L2,L3). The drain is connected to the amplifier(210) through the capacitor(C1). The source is connected to the amplifier(214) through the capacitor(C2). The output terminal of the amplifier(210) is connected to an input terminal of the amplifier(212). An output terminal of the amplifier(212) is connected to a drain of the FET(Q2) through the capacitor(C3). An output terminal of the amplifier(214) is connected to an input terminal of the amplifier(216). An output terminal of the amplifier(216) is connected to a source of the FET(Q2) through the capacitor(C4). A drain and a source of the FET(Q2) are grounded through the inductances(L4,L5) , respectively. A gate connected to the final output terminal is grounded through the inductance(L6).


The quality of geospatial data collection depends, among other things, on the reliability and efficiency of the GNSS receivers or even better integrated GNSS/INS systems used for positioning. High-precision positioning is currently not only the domain of professional receivers but can also be achieved by using simple devices, including smartphones. This research focused on the quality of 2D and 3D kinematic positioning of different geodetic and low-cost GNSS devices, using the professional mobile mapping system (MMS) as a reference. Kinematic positioning was performed simultaneously with a geodetic Septentrio AsteRx-U receiver, two u-blox receivers—ZED-F9P and ZED-F9R—and a Xiaomi Mi 8 smartphone and then compared with an Applanix Corporation GPS/INS MMS reference trajectory. The field tests were conducted in urban and non-urban environments with and without obstacles, on road sections with large manoeuvres and curves, and under overpasses and tunnels. Some general conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the different scenarios. As expected, some results in GNSS positioning are subject to position losses, large outliers and multipath effects; however, after removing them, they are quite promising, even for the Xiaomi Mi8 smartphone. From the comparison of the GPS and GNSS solutions, as expected, GNSS processing achieved many more solutions for position determination and allowed a relevant higher number of fixed ambiguities, even if this was not true in general for the Septentrio AsteRx-U, in particular in a surveyed non-urban area with curves and serpentines characterised by a reduced signal acquisition. In GNSS mode, the Xiaomi Mi8 smartphone performed well in situations with a threshold of less than 1 m, with the percentages varying from 50% for the urban areas to 80% for the non-urban areas, which offers potential in view of future improvements for applications in terrestrial navigation.


From the emblematic designs of Madame Gres to Isadora Duncan's dance costumes and the "avant-garde" gowns of Yves Saint Laurent, the Graeco-Roman classical tradition of dress has clearly inspired and influenced the worlds of art and fashion. This illustrated volume explores the continually evolving influence of classical dress through the ages, presenting a historical survey of this theme. Featured works include paintings, photographs, sculpture and decorative objects from Greek and Roman times to the early 21st century as well as garments dating from the 18th century and more recent creations by designers such as Tom Ford of Gucci and Issey Miyake.


The novel security feature 200 for a value or security product 100 is formed by at least one Lichtleitstruktur 220 which passes through a major surface 101, a front and a rear major surface 103 having product layer 105th The at least one Lichtleitstruktur 220 respectively has a facing surface for a light entrance 230 and an end surface of a light exit 210th All end surfaces 210, 230 are within range of one of the major surfaces 101, 103. The Lichtleitstruktur 220 is formed by a strand of material portion 250th


Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) have been developed to reduce tendency for wheel lock and improve vehicle control during sudden braking especially on slippery road surfaces. Variations in the values of weight, the friction coefficient of the road, road inclination and other nonlinear dynamics may highly affect the performance of antilock braking systems (ABS). This system which is a nonlinear system may not be easily controlled by classical control methods. An intelligent fuzzy control method is very useful for this kind of nonlinear system. Also, a self-tuning scheme seems necessary to overcome these problems. We develop an adaptive neuro-fuzzy self-tuning PID control scheme for ABS. In this paper, fuzzy self-tuning PID controllers with using ANFIS have been improved in antilock braking system. This controller designed with three control objectives consist of reduce stopping time, limit slip ratio and improve the performance controlling system (reducing rise time and overshoot) on the ABS brake. Results of simulation showed that our aims are achieved.


The massive increases in textual data from Twitter and text analytics simultaneously have driven organizations to obtain hidden insights to implement the proper marketing strategies for businesses. The vast information generated by Twitter enables most e-commerce businesses to utilize Twitter to implement social media marketing. One of those e-commerce businesses is Blibli Indonesia. Intense business competition has led them to perform marketing strategies to understand consumer tendencies. Focusing the marketing strategies on consumer preferences enables the increase of consumer interest in Blibli, which is in line with enhancing the opportunity to reach new consumers. This research aims to discover Twitter content based on k-means results to cluster the tweets of @bliblidotcom. The best cluster is determined with the elbow method by selecting the deepest curvature, three clusters. The result suggests that Twitter users like Park Seo Jun's content. Hence, Blibli can focus on that content as its business marketing strategy on the Twitter platform.


Pramuka is an Indonesi word that stands for Praja Muda Karana that means productive youths. The process of character building in Pramus is began from elementary school level up to higher education level. This research, therefore, aims at answering the question of how the process of character building of undergraduate students is applied in the Pramuka as a college estra-currucular activity of IAIN Samarinda. Thus, participant observation, deep interview, and documentation techniques are utilized to gain empirical as well as qualitative data to support the process of data analysys in this research. Findings suggest that in the pramuka of Sultan Sulaiman-Aminah Syukur, the principe of dasa darma – ten services – is implemented to help its student members to build good character and personality. Keywords : Pramuka, Character Building, Student of IAIN Samarinda.


Aim: In this study, we aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy and cost effectiveness of a first-step evaluation form, which we improved for patients administrat ed to the emergency department (ED) with non-traumatic acute abdominal and flank pain. Materials and Methods: Patients presenting with non-traumatic acute abdominal and flank pain complaints to the ED were included in this prospective cross-sectional cohort study in two consecutive months. Control group patients were evaluated with forms currently in use in our ED in the first month, whereas the evaluation of the test group was perfromed with the standardized evaluation form specifically designed for acute abdominal and flank pain in the second month. Results: Throughout both sessions, 1224 patients in total presented with non-traumatic abdominal and flank pain. Out of these, 285 of those enrolled in the first session, and 335 enrolled in the second session. Both control and test groups, which were similar demographically and with respect to vital symptoms/ findings, did not show any significant difference with respect to the examination/test and treatment. However, we observed a significant decrease in ED patient care expenses in the group evaluated with the new standardized form. Among them, those who were evaluated with the standardized form had relatively fewer complaints than those evaluated with the currently available evaluation form. Conclusion: Our results showed that utilization of a new standardized form for patients presenting with non-traumatic acute abdominal and flank pain significantly decreased patient care expenses for ED care; furthermore, they experienced relatively fewer complaints after discharge from the ED. (Eurasian J Emerg Med 2016; 15: 20-3)


In this paper, a novel disturbance observer (DOB) design method for time delay systems is proposed to compensate system uncertainties and unknown disturbances in nano manipulating systems. A Modified Disturbance Observer (MDOB) structure for time delay systems is utilized, where the design of low pass filter (LPF) in MDOB is formulated to a mixed sensitivity optimization of infinite dimensional systems. This problem is then solved by Skew-Toeplitz based approach. Furthermore, the constraint conditions of LPF can be realized by the selection of weighting functions. Finally, experimental validation of the proposed DOB design method is performed on a piezo-actuated nano-positioning stage, where the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is NASA's next great astronomical mission. At the time of this paper, the mission has just passed its preliminary design review. This paper will visit three areas of significant maturation since the design was initially introduced. The three areas discussed are; addition of a heater to the fine steering mirror, spacecraft bus rearchiteture, and redesign of the sunshield core. Each of these design evolutions enables the mission through improved performance, reduced risk or complexity. These three design changes are examples of the efforts being exerted on the other aspects of the design that are not covered in this paper.


: Requirement engineering or requirement analysis is the branch of software engineering focusing about the real-world goals-functions and checks on software systems. The Requirement Engineering (RE) is the most crucial stage of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This stage is used to translate the incorrect, incomplete and inconsistent needs of the capable users of software into complete, accurate and consistent specifications. Therefore the urge of Requirement Engineering is tremendous to produce effective software in order to reduce software faults at the early stage of the development of software. A lot of analysis and research is done in order to find out relevant issues but a little focus has been done on finding out the depth and diversity of these issues. This paper tries to find out different requirement engineering issues and challenges while developing efficient software. The findings of this research will be beneficial for other researchers who are interested in this field of requirement engineering.


The design space of vertigo games is underexplored, despite vertigo underlying many unique body based game experiences, such as rock climbing and dancing. In this paper we articulate the design and evaluation of a novel vertigo experience, Inner Disturbance, which uses Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation to affect the player's balance. Following study observations and a thematic analysis of Inner Disturbance (N=10), we present four themes and associated design sensitivities that can be used to aid designers of future digital vertigo games. With this work we aim to encourage others to experiment within this exciting new design space for digital games.


We describe a method that permits tracking and quantifying the movement patterns of insects in three dimensions under seminatural conditions. We released individual Rhagoletis pomonella flies onto an apple tree and recorded all movements and behavior of the foraging insect. The type information obtained included: measurement of relative distance flown (net and gross displacement, average distance between stops), relative directness of flight from the fly release point to any point within the tree, relative speed of flight, relative angle and vector information for individual and total displacements, and time spent performing individual behaviors. All these parameters were calculated over the total time the insect spent on the tree and for specific time and spatial windows of particular interest. We also describe a computer program that processes and partially analyzes the gathered data. The usefulness of 3-D analysis is illustrated by providing results that show a trend for reduction in the relative distance flown and for an increase in the directness of flight by flies that searched for and landed on fruit models that released synthetic apple odor compared with models that did not.


Do you have the chance to keep abreast of current developments in your field of interest? - Fast and comfortable access to literature on teaching mathematics at all levels in general and in particular on teaching stochastics (probability theory and statistics) is in this talk discussed. For this purpose the most important bibliographic database in mathematics education, the database MATHDI (MATHematics DIdactics), is presented in more detail. The literature search in MATHDI is exemplified by identifying publications relating to the topics of this conference.


Political decisions are an important factor shaping social reality. Since their consequences concern not only decision-makers, but, above all, individuals and social groups who are their addressees, studying them is important not only in the context of theoretical but also practical goals. One of the methods of researching political decision-making is decision analysis. In the article, which is a review, based on the literature on the subject, selected models of the decision-making process are characterized in terms of a system – an important stage of decision-making. The focus was on the following models: rational, incremental, bureaucratic (organizational) and activity within the program community.


Chloro-4-(dichloromethyl)-5-hydroxy-2(5H)-furanone(MX) is a chlorination by-product in water, which has a strong matagenic property. It is found that in selected ion chromatograms of precursors of MX appeared a peak near MX which can be interfere the detection of MX. The molecular structure of the new chlorination by-product was studied by mass spectrography. It is probably 2-chloro-5-oxo-hexene diacyl chloride(COHC). The dissociation processes of COHC were proposed.


Amyloidosis is a systemic disorder of deposition of more than 30 different types of misfolded precursor proteins in extracellular tissues, leading to variety of organ dysfunctions and subsequent clinical presentations. Cardiac involvement usually results in restrictive cardiomyopathy and diastolic dysfunction leading to congestive heart failure, although conduction system defects and arrhythmias are also very common. However, as the two most common forms of amyloidosis, immunoglobulin light chain (AL) and wild type transthyretin (ATTRwt) amyloidosis do coexist, very careful and stepwise approach needs to be employed in diagnostically evaluating patients who have evidence of amyloid organ deposition with concurrent plasma cell dyscrasia (PCD). The report that describes cardiac amyloid as a presenting feature of multiple myeloma (MM) by Velayutham et al., unfortunately lacks the necessary rigor in verifying the exact etiology of cardiac amyloidosis, and further misidentifies it as a presenting feature of newly diagnosed MM. This can critically influence the choice of appropriate starting therapy. Although the 2003 International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) criteria included nonhypercalcemia, renal insufficiency, anemia, and bone lesions (CRAB) end-organ damage, such as hyperviscosity, AL amyloidosis, and recurrent bacterial infections as sufficient criteria for new diagnosis of MM, the 2014 update regards systemic AL amyloidosis as a distinct PCD, and amyloid presence in a patient with monoclonal gammopathy does not automatically suggest MM nor AL amyloidosis. Furthermore, IMWG 2014 guidelines do not recommend the use of non-CRAB criteria for the initiation of treatment. While a concurrent presence of MM or increased bone Address for Correspondence: Muhamed Baljevic* Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, The United States of America Email: email@example.com


A compact wideband implantable antenna working at industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) 2.45 GHz band is presented. The fractal geometry strategy based on the Peano curve is used to miniaturize the size of the antenna. An impedance bandwidth (BW) of 85.7 % is achieved from 1.2 to 3 GHz with overall dimensions of $\boldsymbol{7\times 8.2\text{mm}^{2}}$. A gain value of -19.8 dBi is obtained and good omnidirectionality performance at 2.45 G Hz. These features make the antenna a good candidate for invasive biomedical applications.


In this study, the design characteristics and the cognition characteristics are investigated and conducted a survey of a bus stop, which most affects to the road scenery among the road fixture. and the result follows. The design characteristic of a bus stop is the uniform, as a box or appears urban image strongly which is not conform the Farm-village. The preference of the I image, A image and H image are high but on the other hand the preference of the E image, D image and F image are lower then average. As following conducted cognition characteristics, affirmative image is similar then the Korean traditional loop shape or using natural materials. It appears that the traditional image or the natural image is preferred then urban images by individuality of the Farm-village. Therefore, in the future, the design of the Farm-village bus stop needs to consider an area features and an environmental preservation design when design.


Just before the war a number of papers were published on the subject of velocity modulation. Since then very many advances, both theoretical and practical, have taken place, but publication has been impossible. The present paper is a comprehensive treatment of the subject in which improved methods are given for dealing with one group of velocity-modulated devices. The theory presented has been developed by a team of workers in the valve laboratories of Messrs. Standard Telephones and Cables, namely J. H. Fremlin, A. W. Gent, D. P. R. Petrie, C. Strachey, S. G. Tomlin and P. J. Wallis. It is divided into five parts. The first, by Dr. Fremlin, is of an introductory character. Detailed discussion then follows on specific aspects of the problem, as under: Part 2 Small-amplitude theory and starting current, by A. W. Gent. 3 Gap efficiency factors, by D. P. R. Petrie. 4 Power output and efficiency, by P. J. Wallis. 5 Electronic frequency control, by S. G. Tomlin. For the sake of consistency a uniform series of symbols has been adopted, A list of these symbols appears on page 916.


Artificial eggs of six different colours and control eggs of Bush Warblers Cettia diphone were introduced into nests of Bush Warblers, a host of both Little and Himalayan Cuckoos Cuculus poliocephalus and C. saturatw in Japan. All control (chocolate-brown) and artificial red eggs were accepted; all grey and all white eggs were rejected. The rejection rates of orange, pink and orange spots on grey eggs were 8%, 369; and 55%, respectively. Bush arblers are more likely to reject eggs the more dissimilar they are from their own. The results strengthen the possibility that the chocolate-brown eggs of Little and Himalayan Cuckoos may have evolved through the discriminative ability of Bush Warblers and their intolerance towards dissimilar eggs.


Based on the software of Deform-3D , the finish rolling process of H-beam has been simulated. According to the simulation from result , in the finishing process ,the residual stress of large sized H-Beam is mainly caused by uneven deformation. The big deformation exists in web. The flange deformation is only generated in the rolling surface. This uneven deformation leads to big residual stress in rolling piece.


The relations between regional ventricular function and regional and surface ECGs were studied in eight conscious dogs during complete and partial coronary obstructions. Wall thickness and local ECGs were measured using an implanted sonomicrometer, and 11 subcutaneous electrodes were implanted in a modified McFee vectorcardiographic array. Complete obstruction of the circumflex coronary artery (using a hydraulic occluder) produced regional hypokinesia after 15 seconds and regional dyskinesia at 1 minute. Significant ECG changes occurred first in the surface vectorcardiogram, ST segments changed at 30 seconds and mean epicardial and endocardial ECG ST segments increased after 1 minute. During mild partial coronary stenosis that produced stable reductions of systolic wall thickening (%δWT) of less than 25% of control, no ST-segment changes occurred in the surface vectorcardiogram during the 10-minute study period, although ST segments increased significantly in the endocardial and epicardial ECG. With moderate coronary stenoses that produced immediate 25-48% reductions of %δWT (average reduction 36 ± 4%), significant mean ST displacements occurred after 2 minutes in the endocardial ECG, after 3 minutes in the epicardial ECG and after 4 minutes in the surface vectorcardiogram. With coronary stenoses that produced more than 50% reduction of %A. WT (average reduction 69 ± 2%), mean endocardial ST-segment changes were noted after 2 minutes, and changes in both the mean epicardial ECG and the surface vectorcardiogram occurred after 3 minutes. Thus, during mild coronary stenosis, regional myocardial dysfunction can occur without surface ECG changes, while during moderate coronary stenosis, it occurs before endocardial ST-segment changes and precedes surface ECG alterations by several minutes. The surface ECG was slightly more sensitive than the local ECG during complete coronary occlusion and less sensitive during partial coronary obstruction. We conclude that regional contractile abnormalities provide a more sensitive indicator of ischemia than electrocardiographic ST-segment changes.


HAZOP analysis is the best tool for process hazard identification and operability analysis so far which is applicable to the entire life cycle reviews of the projects and periodical reviews of the operational plants, covering three aspects of process, equipment and changes. This method has experienced more than half a century of development abroad, but in China, on the whole, it is still in the primary stage of promotion and adoption so there is not much experience and factually there are many issues in practice. This study delivers a comprehensive explortion of ten aspects of the major issues frequently in our country which impacts the effects of HAZOP, and on the basis proposes the countermeasures underpinned with domestic and foreign good practices to allow HAZOP fully to play the important role, maximize its value so that the risks of the projects and operational plants can be well addressed.


BACKGROUND
Branched chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation may influence glucose metabolism in individuals with impaired glycemic profile. This systematic review investigated the effects of isolated BCAA supplementation on measures of glucose homeostasis in individuals with hepatic disorders.

METHODS
We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Scopus for published clinical trials that investigated the effects of isolated BCAA supplementation on measures of glucose homeostasis, including serum glucose and insulin, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, and Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) scores.

RESULTS
Eleven trials met the inclusion criteria. Only one study revealed a decrease in serum glucose from BCAA supplementation compared to three studies that showed increases. Five studies demonstrated no significant changes in serum glucose, and two studies displayed no changes in HbA1c following BCAA supplementation. Serum levels of insulin were decreased in three studies, remained unchanged in one, whilst increased in the remaining three studies. BCAA supplementation reduced HOMA-IR scores in two studies, increased HOMA-IR scores in another two or resulted in no changes in two other studies.

CONCLUSIONS
BCAA supplementation in isolation had no effect on overall glucose homeostasis in individuals with hepatic disorders, although some improvements on serum insulin levels and HOMA-IR scores were observed. Overall, there is little evidence to support the utilization of BCAA supplementation as a potential nutritional strategy for improving measures of glucose homeostasis in individuals with hepatic disorders. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


A new 1 m3 isothermal cloud chamber mainly for ice nucleation study is described in this paper.Its structure,attached instruments and experimental procedures are also presented.The experiments of determining the artificial ice nuclei effectiveness for the AgI-containing aerosols produces by three kinds of formulations have been conducted and the results have been compared with those of two burning rooms.All experimental results show that the chamber has advantages of stable performance and reproducibility.It would be expected to become a useful experimental facility for ice nucleation investigating in China.


The high resolution neutron powder diffractometer installed on the AAEC HIFAR reactor at Lucas Heights is described. The resolution is in good agreement with predictions and, although below the most optimistic estimates, the intensities are usable. Examples are given of problems solved using the diffractometer which could not have been solved either by X-ray diffraction or by use of a conventional neutron powder diffractometer. Plans for diffractometer development are outlined.


-I report observations, including several significant distributional records, of 16 species of seabirds wintering at sea in the southeastern Caribbean during cruises from Bonaire to the Orinoco River (5-13 January 1996, 3-12 March 1997, and 23 December 1997 1 January 1998). A few scattered shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea and Puffinus lherminieri) were seen. Storm-Petrels (Oceanites oceanicus and Oceanodroma leucorhoa), particularly the latter species, were often seen toward the east. Most tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) and gulls (Larus atricilla) were near Tobago. Boobies were common; Sula leucogaster outnumbered S. sula by about 4:1 and S. dactylatra was scarce. Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) were strictly coastal. Several skuas (Stercorarius skua) were seen off Venezuela. Jaegers were common, with a ratio of 90 Stercorarius pomarinus to 8 S. parasiticus to 2 S. longicaudus. Only two tern species were seen: Sterna maxima was widespread and 4,000 S. antillarum were noted southeast of Tobago.


Aim: To evaluate the influence of native Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains in red wines from Vitis vinifera cv. Mencia: fermentative ability, inoculation success, and sensory and chemical characteristics of wines.Methods and results: Indigenous yeast strains (Sc5, Sc11, Sc21 and Sc24) were inoculated in grape musts and their inoculation success was followed by mtDNA-RFLP (mitochondrial DNA-restriction fragment length polymorphism) at different stages of fermentation. The results showed that the added yeast strains fermented in co-dominance with a resident strain, which also controlled the spontaneous processes. Chemical analysis of basic wine parameters using official methodologies showed significant differences among wines for alcohol degree and volatile acidity. Fermentative aroma compounds were determined by gas chromatography. Wines made with different yeast strains varied in higher alcohols, ethyl ester, 2-phenylethanol, ethyl lactate and acetoin content. Sensory analysis indicated that wine from strain Sc24 had the best overall score, whereas that from strain Sc11 achieved the highest scores for colour intensity, structure and fruity character.Conclusions: The application of selected S. cerevisiae strains allowed us to obtain differentiated wines from both the chemical and sensory points of view.Significance and impact of the study: The results confirmed that indigenous yeasts can be used to elaborate singular wines and may constitute a useful tool to diversify Mencia wines.


The cytoplasmic regulatory protein p62 (Sequestosome 1/A170) is known to modulate various receptor-mediated intracellular signaling pathways. p62 deficiency was shown to result in mature-onset obesity in mice, but the mechanisms underlying this abnormality remained unclear. Here we report that hyperphagia due to central leptin resistance is the cause of obesity in p62−/− mice. We found that these mice show hyperphagia. Restriction of food to the amount eaten by wild-type mice prevented excess body weight gain and fat accumulation, suggesting that overfeeding is the primary cause of obesity in p62−/− mice. Brain-specific p62 deficiency caused mature-onset obesity to the same extent as in p62−/− mice, further supporting a neuronal mechanism as the major cause of obesity in these mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that p62 is highly expressed in hypothalamic neurons, including POMC neurons in the arcuate nucleus. Central leptin resistance was observed even in young preobese p62−/− mice. We found a defect in intracellular distribution of the transcription factor Stat3, which is essential for the action of leptin, in p62−/− mice. These results indicate that brain p62 plays an important role in bodyweight control by modulating the central leptin-signaling pathway and that lack of p62 in the brain causes leptin resistance, leading to hyperphagia. Thus, p62 could be a clinical target for treating obesity and metabolic syndrome.


OBJECTIVES
To establish the frequency and describe the characteristics of a cohort of patients with SF eosinophilia (SFE) and a long clinical follow-up. A systematic review of the literature on this topic was performed.

METHODS
From November 2005 to May 2010, 982 consecutive arthrocentesis procedures performed at a tertiary care hospital were reviewed. Clinical and analytical data of patients with SFE at the time of diagnosis and during follow-up until 31 January 2012, were recorded. According to the percentage of eosinophils in SF, SFE was classified as minor (<10%) or major (>10%). Also, a literature search of all publications on eosinophilic synovitis found in MEDLINE, EMBASE and Web of Science without publication date restrictions was performed.

RESULTS
Eosinophils in SF were found in 10 of 982 (1.02%) patients: minor SFE was recorded in three patients, all of them with haemorrhagic fluid and without peripheral eosinophilia. Major SFE was found in seven patients, and only two of them had peripheral eosinophilia. In six patients, an underlying cause of the arthritis was found. Only one patient was classified as having idiopathic SFE. Most SFE promptly resolved with NSAIDs without relapses or new deformities. The literature search identified 56 patients with SFE; 49 of them (88%) had major SFE and 7 (12%) had minor SFE.

CONCLUSIONS
Eosinophils are infrequently found in SF, and in most cases peripheral eosinophilia was not detected. Most patients with SFE had a benign course with prompt resolution and few relapses.


Vibrator Testing is often included as a normal part of the seismic acquisition process. Often the outcome of this testing is not reflected in the acquisition parameters. This case history provides information and examples on how vibrator testing was successfully planned, acquired and processed during an acquisition project in 2015. It will also highlight how the testing provided benefits during the selection of final acquisition parameters for the survey.


ABSTRACT Purpose: The purpose of this study is to define the critical elements of collaboration between primary care and the sports sector to better answer the challenge of physical inactivity. The study also sheds light on how this collaboration could be further developed in the relevant organisations. Research methods: The data was collected from health care professionals (n=58), physical activity counsellors (n=8) and potential clients of physical activity counselling (n=13) using a questionnaire, observation of workshops, and focus group interviews. Results and findings: The common objective of the role of physical activity promotion and managerial support create the foundation for a counselling and referral process. At the employee level, attitudes towards physical activity, knowledge about physical activity, and the social skills are emphasised. The physical activity promotion process needs to be continuously evaluated based on objectives formulated by professionals and other stakeholders. Implications: Managerial actions, such as communication about the essence of physical activity promotion, creation of roles and responsibilities and facilitation of collaboration between professionals enhance collaboration. Research contribution: There are lack of research on partnership-related processes in the collaboration between the primary care and the sports sector. This paper contributes by presenting a practical case of such collaboration.


This paper presents the theoretical and finite element formulations of piezoelectric composite shells of revolution filled with compressible fluid. The originality of this work lies (i) in the development of a variational formulation for the fully coupled fluid/piezoelectric structure system, and (ii) in the finite element implementation of an inexpensive and accurate axisymmetric adaptive laminated conical shell element. Various modal results are presented in order to validate and illustrate the efficiency of the proposed fluid–structure finite element formulation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In order to ensure the basic security of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), a block encryption algorithm based on chaotic substitution box (S-box) is proposed. In this paper, we generated a new S-box based on the compound chaotic map, sinusoidal chaotic map, Baker map, and linear congruence generator. In addition, the limited computing power and communication capability of WSN are also considered in this paper. The method of generating round subkeys and F function is constructed based on the S-box. The extensive security and performance tests show that the proposed encryption algorithm has high security and low resource consumption which is suitable for WSN.


A novel, efficient technique to identify and quantify complex gas mixtures is described. This approach can be applied on line and in situ and is extendible to samples with reactive and thermally labile species. Complex hydrocarbon mixtures are prepared in test experiments by irradiating frozen methane targets with 9 MeV a particles in an ultrahigh vacuum chamber and releasing them during successive heating of the solid samples from 10 to 293 K after each ion bombardment. A quadrupole mass spectrometer monitors time-dependent ion currents of selected m/z values, which are proportional to partial pressures in the case of a nonoverlapping fragmentation pattern. Predominantly, parent molecules and fragments of different molecular species add to a specific m/z value, i.e., CzH,f , Nt , and CO+ contribute to mlz=28. Programmed m/z ratios are chosen to result in an inhomogeneous system of linear equations including the measured ion current (right-hand vector), partial pressures (unknown quantity), and the calibration factors of fragments of individual gases determined in separate experiments. Since all quantities are provided with experimental errors, matrix interval algebra, i.e., an IBM high accuracy arithmetic subroutine defining experimental uncertainties as intervals, is incorporated in the computations to extract individual, calibrated components of complex gas mixtures. This proceeding enables the quantitative sampling of calibrated hydrocarbons, and, especially, H, and D, without further time-consuming preseparation devices on line and in situ, hence justifying the use of this approach in space missions to elucidate the chemical composition of, e.g., planetary atmospheres without payload wasting gas chromatographs. 0 I995 American Institute of Physics.


This article investigates the characteristics of the teaching methods used by Icelandic upper secondary school teachers across 130 lessons, exploring whether commonalities can be seen among the teaching methods employed in different subjects and subject groups. The authors present different models that have been used to categorize teaching methods, such as distinguishing between teacher- and student-centered methods, dividing them into different "families" (Joyce et al., 2015), according the theoretical background they derive from, or categorizing them by the similarity of their pedagogical approach, as is done in a model presented in an Icelandic handbook on teaching methods (Ingvar Sigurgeirsson, 1999, 2013) which was used to further analyze the lessons. The model classifies teaching methods into nine categories: (1) Expository methods, (2) recitation, drill, and practice, (3) hands on methods, (4) questioning strategies and discussions, (5) artistic and expressive methods, (6) problem solving, (7) inquiry methods, (8) group work and cooperative methods, and (9) student centered projects. The 130 lesson observations were collected as part of the project Upper Secondary School Practices in Iceland, October 2013 to November 2014. Nine different upper secondary schools were selected from a stratified population, and the lessons were chosen in such a way that the sample would include lessons in all major subjects and a variety of other subjects. The lessons ranged from 27 minutes to roughly 4 hours, with the majority ranging from 40–80 minutes. One, and in 44% of the cases, two researchers, out of the total of 15 researchers associated with the project, attended each lesson and produced a detailed written record of the activities. The researchers reported on various (previously agreed upon) aspects of each lesson, such as teaching methods, communication between teachers and students, the teachers' conduct and demeanor, use of teaching materials and media, information technology, and student classroom engagement and diligence. In analyzing the data, the resulting 130 written lesson protocols were read and reread for verification, the observed teaching methods categorized and other relevant information (e.g. number of students, nature of the classroom) entered into a database. Firstly, the data were analyzed by subject, and secondly, as a whole, in order to identify all teaching methods used as well as the most common methods. The lessons attended were divided into eight different subjects and subject groups: Icelandic, mathematics, foreign languages, social sciences, humanities (other than languages), vocational studies, natural sciences, and, finally, a group with lessons where there were fewer than ten observations in each subject. In the whole sample, two groups of methods; that is, expository methods, on the one hand, and recitation, drill, and practice, on the other, were by far most commonly seen and together comprised more than half of the teaching methods observed. The use of teaching methods varied by subject and subject group. The largest diversity of methods was seen in Icelandic and vocational studies, whereas mathematics lessons stood out for lack of diversity in the teaching methods employed. To a degree, these results reflect prior research in the area, both international (Bolinger and Warren, 2007; Braicic et al., 2014; Hackling et al., 2001; Juuti et al., 2010; Ozturk, 2011) and Icelandic (Anna Helga Jonsdottir et al., 2014; Gerður G. Oskarsdottir, 2012; Hafdis Ingvarsdottir 2004, 2011; Svanhildur Kr. Sverrisdottir, 2014; Svanhildur Kr. Sverrisdottir et al., 2011). However, the current results have the advantage of framing a large set of lessons from different schools where various subject groups can be scrutinized simultaneously for comparison. The results indicate a larger diversity in teaching methods used, compared to prior Icelandic studies at upper secondary school level, and despite the fact that expository methods and various seatwork assignments were found to be the most common approach, the data revealed that upper secondary school teachers employed a variety of different teaching methods. It was notable how little role student-centered methods played in the lessons observed; that is, lessons requiring independent decision-making, participation, and student initiative. As a result, it is not likely that the teaching methods used in upper secondary schools in Iceland will help students develop the diverse competencies required by the national curriculum guide (Mennta- og menningarmalaraðuneytið [Ministry of Education, Science and Culture], 2011). Moreover, the results suggest that the use of approaches such as discussion, inquiry, and cooperative methods should be increased. The model used for categorization proved helpful in analyzing the lessons, but less so when teachers employed combined or complex methods, showing the limits of any classification attempt. However, categorizing teaching methods in this manner has an important applied value for policy and teacher education, as well as furthering academic and practical discussion on teaching methods and their characteristics.


After completion of Three Gorges Reservoir at Yangtze River, protecting and improving the ecological environment of this area is becoming increasingly important factor in comprehensive progress of the economy and society of Chongqing City. The industrial solid wastes are one of the crucial factors influencing the environment quality of Three Gorges Area and they are also the hot and difficult problems influencing the development of economy and society of Chongqing City. At this point, firstly, the discharge, present situation, prospect and development of treatment and utilization of industrial wastes in Chongqing are summarized. Secondly, the experience at home and abroad are analyzed. Then, the way and foreground for recycling the wastes with new technology are also discussed. Finally, countermeasure for treatment and utilization of industrial solid wastes after completion of Three Gorges Reservoir at Yangtze River is brought up. The study on treatment and utilization technology of industrial solid wastes will be beneficial not only to the protection of ecological environment of Three Gorges Area, but to the development of new Chongqing City as well. In a word, it will have great environmental, social and economic benefits.


The ability-grouping is the essence of the seventh educational curriculum, applied to school from year 2000, and its enriched-supplementary type will be carried out for science course. This study examines the effect of the enriched-supplementary ability-grouping within class to student's academic achievement and the attitude, related to science. Thus we developed teaching and learning methods with intellectual level about the subject of 'Water Circulation and Weather Change' in Middle-School Science 2. Then we tested 152 eighth graders who were divided into the experimental and control groups. The experimental one was taught through the ability-grouping for about six weeks, while the control through conventional lecture. The improvement of the experimental group in academic achievement was more effective than that of the control, and particularly to below-average students who ranked in lower thirty percent. The experimental one got more negative change in domain 'Science as a Subject, and in subdomain 'Anxiety in Science Lesson'. While outstanding students who ranked in upper thirty percent showed a significant positive change in subdomain 'Satisfaction in Teaching Method, the below-average were negatively changed in subdomain 'Anxiety in Science Lesson'. The current ability-grouping was suitable for the improvement of academic achievement, but not for the general attitude related to science. In order to enhance the ability-grouping effect in science education, we need to additionally consider student's interest and concern in grouping, and develop various teaching and learning methods together with proper textbook contents.


Word processors, replaced typewriters in 70s, are much used application program used for day to day tasks of digital writing for any natural language. Unicode based languages particularly Urdu and Arabic script languages are in limelight for last two decades. This paper presents a survey of the existing word processors supporting Unicode based languages focusing Urdu language, which is mainly spoken in the subcontinent. This also presents a complete set of features for an Urdu Word Processor (UWP). The UWP is being implemented using dot net with all the specified basic and advance features and functionality, which can be googled and downloaded freely.


The paper investigates the effectiveness of four projection methods of finite response function (FIR) to infinite response function (IIR) filters. This is done in the scope of a linear physiological model developed for functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Of the four methods the Steiglitz-Mcbride algorithm provided the best fit. A new method is also proposed where a regularization term is used to keep the poles of the IIR filter inside the unit circle in order to make it stable. Preliminary results are promising.


The present invention relates to ansamitocin compounds and a preparation method thereof. A structural formula of the ansamitocin compound is shown as follow, wherein R is CH2CH3 or CH2CH(CH3)2. The preparation method for the ansamitocin compound comprises: adopting macroporous resin adsorption column chromatography, silica gel column chromatography and other methods to carry out separation and purification on fermentation products of Actinosynnema sp FIM06-0063 to obtain two ansamitocin compounds, wherein structures of the compounds are characterized by mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, ultraviolet spectrum and other technologies. The prepared ansamitocin compounds of the present invention have strong anti-tumor activities. According to the present invention, the microbial fermentation method is adopted to prepare the ansamitocin compound, such that advantages of simple process and low production cost are provided.


BackgroundACE inhibitors have a special role in diabetes care. They have been proven to reduce urinary albumin excretion and reduce the rate of progression of diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy. ...


For detection of nucleotide polymorphisms or microinsertions/deletions, an optimal genotyping method would be rapid and economical. Newer, homogeneous, and automated genotyping methods with fluorescent oligonucleotide probes (1)(2)(3) can be expensive, and their use is difficult to optimize. Here we demonstrate the application of melting temperature ( T m) analysis (4) in a study of the UGT1A gene in a family with Gilbert syndrome.

Both amplification and T m analysis are performed on the same fluorescence-detection thermocycler, the GeneAmp 5700 Sequence Detection System (PE Biosystems). The single-tube assay uses a specific primer set, with a high annealing temperature, and a fluorescent dye that can detect double-stranded DNA product. Because the temperature at which double-stranded templates dissociate depends largely on product length, GC content, and sequence structure, the PCR product has a distinct T m, depending on base substitutions, single point mutations, or insertions/deletions.

Soon after the last amplification cycle, the reaction is slowly cooled by 1 °C steps from 95 °C to 60 °C. Detection follows this cooling process, with the related SYBR green emissions reflecting the amplicon renaturation kinetics. Analysis of the resulting melting profiles allows determination of insertions and, hence, of the corresponding genotype of the genomic template.

The most consistent feature of Gilbert syndrome is a deficiency in bilirubin glucuronidation. The UGT1A gene is responsible for bilirubin catalytic enzyme production. The lower expression of the UGT1A gene is related to a TA insertion in the TATA box of the gene promoter (5). The resulting PCR product differs from the wild-type gene in having a two-base insertion. This T m analysis of PCR products allowed discrimination between …


Abstract: The northern peninsular of Malaysia has lost a lot of lives and property worth billions to the series of floods that have been occurring for many years. Many disaster management strategies have been adopted by the Malaysian government in handling these flood disasters but it is still a topic in the annual agenda. This research project aimed at using fusion techniques in order to obtain more interpretable information and boundaries in classification of SAR images which can aid in addressing the flood disastrous challenges in the study area. This was achieved through the fusion of two Radarsat-1 images and a TerraSAR-X image of the study area and secondly by investigation of a suitable fusion technique for delineation of flooded areas in the study area. The techniques used include the Hue Saturation and Value (HSV), the Brovey Transformation (BT), the Gram Schmidt (GS) and the Principal Component Spectral Sharpening (PCSS), which were classified using Maximum Likelihood (ML) and support Vector Machine (SVM). The results indicated that BT is the most suitable among all the fusion techniques used having the highest overall accuracy of 70.9615% and kappa coefficient of 0.3418. Keywords: Classification, disastrous, flood, fusion, SAR INTRODUCTION The frequency, tendency and magnitude of natural disasters increase simultaneously with the rapid global increase (Lawal


The present invention relates to character recognition for the text entered by the user overlap. The techniques described herein may be identified is input to the computing device at least partially on top of each handwritten character written. The handwritten characters may be formed by one or more strokes. Users may be on approximately the same region of the graphical user interface (i.e. on top of each other) or a part of a character written words, without waiting for a timeout between characters and need not be input in the character input selection instruction prior to completion of another character input another button provides an indication or input completed character. Once at least part of the identified character, the input may be changed corresponding to the user with a graphical indication displayed on the screen. Such changes may include a graphical indication dilute or change the size or position of the graphic indication.


We report on the design and performance of our second-generation 32-channel time-division multiplexer developed for the readout of large-format arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensors. We present design issues and measurement results on its gain, bandwidth, noise, and cross talk. In particular, we discuss noise performance at low frequency, important for long uninterrupted submillimeter/far-infrared observations, and present a scheme for mitigation of low-frequency noise. Also, results are presented on the decoupling of the input circuit from the first-stage feedback signal by means of a balanced superconducting quantum interference device pair. Finally, the first results of multiplexing several input channels in a switched, digital flux-lock loop are shown.


Chimeric hydra were constructed from ectoderm of one strain and endoderm of a morphologically different strain. Body size and budding rate were assayed in three pairs of ectoderm/endoderm chimeras, which were chosen on the basis of their differences in size and budding rates. Reciprocal chimeras of one parental pair were the same size as their endodermal parent, while chimeras of another pair were closer to the ectodermal parents in size. Chimeras of the third pair were similar to one another in size, and intermediate in size between the parental strains. The budding rates of the three reciprocal pairs were similar to their ectodermal parents. This suggests that ectoderm exerts more influence than endoderm on budding rate, while both ectoderm and endoderm are capable of influencing the size of a hydra. The morphology of these three pairs of reciprocal chimeras and of a fourth pair of chimeras constructed from normal H. attenuata and a mutant strain which produces multiple basal discs were compared to the parental morphologies. Both ectoderm and endoderm contribute to the morphology of the chimeric strains.


Gas turbine engine health management has become more and more important because of its ability to optimize the total gas turbine operation. Gas path fault classification is one of the most important techniques in gas turbine engine health management. In this article, a Rough Set-based gas turbine fault classification approach is introduced to enhance gas turbine engine health management by taking its advantages in selecting appropriate measurements for fault classification and dealing with uncertainties caused by measurement noise. In the approach, a Rough Set-based knowledge discovery tool is used to find the knowledge hidden in fault samples, and transfer the knowledge into rules representing the logical relationship between the faults and the fault signatures. Such rules can then be used by the Rough Set diagnostic approach to classify faults. Enhanced fault signatures, represented by the measurement deviations and their ranking pattern in terms of their magnitude, are used to make the diagnostic approach more effective. The Rough Set-based diagnostic approach was applied to a model two-spool turbofan gas turbine engine for the classification of single- and dual-component faults. The results show that such Rough Set-based diagnostic approach is able to classify complex-component faults accurately in the presence of measurement noise.


The method for Doppler diagnostics of laser evaporation of biological tissues based on autodyne detection (reception on the laser resonator) of backscattered radiation has been developed. In this method, a laser is simultaneously used both as a source of the destructive action of radiation on biotissues and as a sensor of the backscattered diagnostic signal. This review study discusses the possibilities of Doppler diagnostics in relation to the problems of investigating the processes of laser evaporation of biological tissues in real time and laser surgery. This approach can be used to create an optical-information feedback channel in automated and robotic surgical systems based on pulse-periodic pumped single-mode CO2 lasers. Laser surgical systems with such operational feedback can be used in the development of new approaches to precision low-traumatic and organ-save laser operations.


The article is devoted to the system analysis of linguoculturological peculiarities of non-anthroponymic (descriptive) models of characters' naming in "Tales of the Don" and the novel "Virgin Soil Upturned" by M. A. Sholokhov. The anthroponymic space of the literary works under the research are indicative of the reality of Sholokhov's poetic anthroponymicon and value of his literary works as sources of studying the Don anthroponymy at the beginning of the XX century.


This study aims to determine the technical and prospect of making curcuma herbal medicine in Tanjung Rema Martapura Village. The research method uses analysis with descriptive, qualitative and quantitative methods so as to obtain the desired picture, related to the cost structure and income of the curcuma herbal medicine business. The results showed that the technique of making curcuma  herbal drink in Tanjung Rema Village, Martapura District was still relatively traditional and simple. Based on the income value obtained by the SANI entrepreneur and the Mama Ratih entrepreneur, they are both efficient, because the R/C ratio value is > 1. The revenue from the business of making curcuma herbal drinks in one month for Sani entrepreneurs is Rp. 39,840,000 and Mama Ratih is Rp. 24,960,000. with an average of Rp.32,400,000. The income that the entrepreneur Sani receives per month is Rp. 12,888,554 and Mama Ratih is Rp. 9,167,686, for the profit of the entrepreneur Sani is Rp. 9,180,221 and Mama Ratih is Rp. 6,017,686. The prospect of developing the Curcuma Herbal Medicine Business in Tanjung Rema Martapura Village is very wide open when viewed from market demand as well as the availability of raw materials and the long term.


The alignment strategies of state-owned Bulgarian newspaper enterprises are examined in light of the theoretical insights provided by adaptation and selection perspectives of organizational evolution. Building on the distinction between core and periphery, I argue that the impact of internal restructuring is closely tied to the location of change in the organizational structure. The results indicate that newspaper enterprises that attempted to reorganize their core structures became liable to pressures of environmental selection. The lack of real structural reforms in Bulgarian society between 1987 and 1990 was used to explain the unsuccessful adaptation attempts made by newspapers that implemented only peripheral adjustments. Copyright 1999 by Oxford University Press.


The present invention relates to a method for repairing lipid nanoparticles whitening emulsion, comprising the steps of: A lipid material was weighed and heated to 75-85 deg.] C, to obtain a liquid oil phase; B Weigh scale palm trees tree flower. bark extract, Indian gooseberry extract, gentian extract blood to give a composite repair whitening active;. C composite repair whitening active and lipid materials mixed uniformly heated to 75-85 deg.] C, stirred uniformly to obtain a liquid oil phase;. D taking said mixture hydrogenated lecithin and sucrose fatty acid ester to form a mixed emulsifier;. E mixed emulsifier and distilled water were weighed, mixed and heated to 75-85 deg.] C, to obtain liquid phase;. F the liquid oil and liquid phase are mixed to obtain a uniform mixture was stirred at 70-150MPa pressure and temperature conditions of 75-90 deg.] C, 10-15 cycles homogenized, cooled to room temperature to obtain an emulsion whitening repair lipid nanoparticles. Advantages: can simultaneously load flowers palm trees bark extract, Indian gooseberry extract, dragon's blood extract three active substance.


Global Positioning System (GPS) is an excellent application example of satellite communication technology. And it is widely used in navigation, measurement, and time service. However, GPS receivers are vulnerable to unintentional interference or jamming because they rely on external radio frequency (RF) signals. RF interference signals can result in degraded navigation accuracy or complete loss of receiver tracking. Thus, GPS receivers have anti-jamming ability to relieve the effect of interference or jamming. In order to improve the anti-jamming performance of GPS receiver, it is of great theoretical significance and practical application value to study the influence of interference on GPS receiver. To this end, this paper investigates the performance of integrator in the presence of single-tone interference in GPS receiver, and a single-tone interference method based on frequency difference is proposed. Specifically, the analytical relationship between single-tone interference and integrator output is given. Then, it shows that the output of integrator depends not only on the power of single-tone interference but also on the frequency difference between single-tone interference and GPS signal. Finally, the vulnerability of integrator or GPS receiver to the presence of interference increases if the frequency difference satisfies the specific condition. Simulation results show that the proposed method is able to improve the chip error rate in GPS receiver.


Spin-offs of space technology and defense oriented research projects present the highway engineer with adequate means of surveying to demand requirements. Descriptions are presented for various distance measuring instruments and photobase plans. A research project to evaluate cross sectioning by photogrammetry reveals the capabilities of several stereo plotters, aerial film, ground control, and aerial photographic procedures. The use of analytical photogrammetry in matters involving ground position determination and measurement is evaluated by several research projects. Using techniques available today, route surveys can be conceived and implemented in all stages by management-level engineers.


Treatment of patiens with esophageal diseases is one of the difficult surgery problems. ( Davidoff M.I. et al., Cherkasov M.F., Chernousov A.F. et al., Onopriev V.I. et al., 2003). The main treatment for most of them is surgery ( Chernoussov A.F. et al., 1990-2009, Abakumov M.M. et al., 2003, Bailey S. et al., 2003). Small trauma, early rehabilitation of patiens provide cost appropriateness and contributed to widespread adoption video endo surgery methods of hysterectomy an resection of cancer of the esophagus and scarring strictures. According to Mariyko V.A. et al., (1999-2006), Oskrtova V.I. et al., (1999-2010), Cherkassova M.F. (1999-2007), Peracchia A. (1997) the major advantages of such interventions in addition to lesser trauma is a good visual inspection, early recovery of pulmonary function, a small pain and fewer postoperative complications. The aim of the research is the choice of surgical tactics in video endo surgical resection and extirpation of esophageal cancer and scarring strictures.


An asphalt concrete section on a test track in the PACCAR Technical Center in Mount Vernon, Washington, was fitted with strain gauges at the surface and in pavement cores and tested using an instrumented truck operated at different speeds and with different tire pressures. The field test results are presented. The results indicate that the effects of both vehicle speed and tire pressure–contact area on pavement strains are significant: increasing vehicle speed from 2.7 km/hr (1.7 mi/hr) to 64 km/hr (40 mi/hr) caused a decrease of approximately 30 to 40 percent in longitudinal strains at the bottom of the asphalt concrete layer, which was 137 mm (5.4 in.) thick. The speed effect on transverse strains is lower, causing only a 15 to 30 percent decrease. Reducing tire pressure from 620 kPa (90 psi) to 214 kPa (30 psi) caused a decrease of approximately 20 to 45 percent in the horizontal strains at the bottom of the asphalt concrete layer. The pressure effect on surface strains was significantly lower, causing only a 5 to 20 percent decrease. The speed effect was somewhat reduced at lower pressures, and the pressure effect was reduced at higher speeds.


Chemoradiation is increasingly being recognised as an important factor for downstaging rectal cancer before surgery. A proportion of these patients would develop a complete clinical response following neo-adjuvant chemoradiation (1).

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Abstract On an acoustic time scale, a rippled flame propagating in the presence of a pressure gradient is modelled by treating The flame as a density discontinuity. The equations governing the pressure wave-flame front interaction then reduce to the equations of gasdynamics, which are solved numerically by employing a fully lagrangian algorithm in two dimensions. This preliminary study is concerned with demonstrating the relevance of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the early stages of the pressure wave-flame interaction and the subsequent evolution of the rippled flame, 50 details of flame structure are not included. Nevertheless, even with this simple gasdynamic model, the enhancement or suppression of the flame ripples are demonstrated by our numerical results, clearly illustrating changes in the flame shape due to the passage of the pressure wave.


Quantifying the topological similarities of different parts of urban road networks (URNs) enables us to understand the urban growth patterns. While conventional statistics provide useful information about characteristics of either a single node's direct neighbors or the entire network, such metrics fail to measure the similarities of subnetworks considering local indirect neighborhood relationships. In this study, we propose a graph-based machine-learning method to quantify the spatial homogeneity of subnetworks. We apply the method to 11,790 urban road networks across 30 cities worldwide to measure the spatial homogeneity of road networks within each city and across different cities. We find that intra-city spatial homogeneity is highly associated with socioeconomic statuses such as GDP and population growth. Moreover, inter-city spatial homogeneity obtained by transferring the model across different cities, reveals the inter-city similarity of urban network structures originating in Europe, passed on to cities in the US and Asia. Socioeconomic development and inter-city similarity revealed using our method can be leveraged to understand and transfer insights across cities. It also enables us to address urban policy challenges including network planning in rapidly urbanizing areas and combating regional inequality.


The premise of this article is that understanding how people are connected in time and space can provide important insights for policies that seek to improve the livelihoods of the poor. The concept of action space is presented as means of situating the individual within their unique set of temporal and spatial connections. Data from a rural Hausa community in Niger are examined regarding three inter-related factors connecting individuals: marriage, personal communities and migration. The article concludes with a discussion of how the mobile telephone throws into focus the fundamental problems of managing these connections. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Risk Factors and Health in the Netherlands, a survey on Municipal Health
Services. The main aim of the project was to monitor risk factors or
determinants of chronic and infectious disease in the general population.
Also studied were the differences with respect to many background- and
health- related variables between participants interviewed at home and
those taking the physical examination. Random sampling by the CBS led to
home interviews by trained interviewers of individuals from the age of 0
who were willing to cooperate in the survey. The interview consisted of
items related to aspects of health status and use of medicines/medical
devices. Questions on lifestyle factors (smoking, drinking and
vaccination) were included. At the end of the interview, participants
were asked for permission to be approached for an additional health
examination. Participants older than 12 years were asked to visit the
nearest community or municipal health service (GGD). Of the participant,
60.9% agreed to participate in the additional health examination. A
short physical examination was performed at the health centre. Blood
samples were taken and blood pressure measured, as well as height,
weight, and waist and hip circumferences. In addition, the
'joint-function test' was performed and an additional questionnaire was
distributed. Of the people interviewed, 30.0% had visited the community
or municipal health centre. The participants undergoing the physical
examination were representative of the Dutch population, in that there
were no major differences with respect to most of the background- and
health-related variables between participants interviewed at home and
those taking the physical examination. The prevalence of hypertension
was 19% in men and 16% in women. The prevalence of overweight was higher
for the women than for the men (12 % versus 9%). The estimation of
overweight was different for length and weight (reported was higher than
measured), clearly seen especially among the women. On the basis of
non-fasting glucose measurements, 1.6% of the group had a high glucose
level.


Recent immigration to the southern United States has created challenges for educators. This article synthesizes current works about the education of immigrants and English language learners (ELLs) in the South, and teacher preparation for working with ELLs. Reviewed studies revealed that immigrant and ELL students often are unwelcome and unwanted in the schools, and are discriminated against due to their perceived or actual immigration status both on state and local levels. In addition, teachers in southern schools are unprepared to work with immigrant and ELL youth. The author discusses the implications of this research for educators, administrators, and school district personnel in southern schools, and provides some suggestions for addressing these issues.


The mice infected with seconary cysts of Echinococcus granulosus were treated per os with albendazole sulfoxide,one of the metabolites of albendazole at a daily dose of 150mg/kg for 15 days.The ultrastructural alterations appeared in germinal layer of the cysts mainly consisted of tegument damage,extensive lysis of perinuclear cytoplasm accompanied by vacuolization,indistinction of nuclear membrane,and swelling as well as degeneration of mitochondria.All these alterations were similar to those induced by albendazole. Prolongating the course of treatment to 28 days,no further damage on the germinal layer was observed.In another experiment praziquantel was per os given to infected mice at a daily dose of 500mg/kg for 15,30 or 90 days and the ultrastructural alterations in germinal layer induced by different length of courses were simi- lar indicating no parallel relationship between the intensity of ultrastructural lesion and the course of prazi- quantel treatment.Six months after treatment,the cysts filled with cyst fluid showed normal appearance in germinal layer,while in those of the shrunk or collapsed cysts severe damage on the germinal layer was no- ticed.


Antibiotic resistance has been a driving force for the discovery and development of new antimicrobial agents since the late 1950s. Throughout the antibiotic era, new resistance mechanisms have continued to appear and new agents have, in turn, been introduced to meet the challenges. Examples of this include the development of new penicillins and cephalosporins to avoid hydrolysis by newly identified β-lactamases, the development of telithromycin to treat macrolide-resistant streptococcal infections, and the relatively recent development of the natural products daptomycin (Cubicin®, Cubist) and oritavancin (Intermune) to address vancomycinresistant Enterococci and methicillin-resistant Staphylococci [1]. In many cases it is obvious when organisms become resistant to agents that no longer have clinical efficacy. When penicillin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values are elevated from 0.03 μg/ml in non-β-lactamaseproducing susceptible Staphulococcus aureus, to over 128 μg/ml in penicillinase-producing Staphylococci that have acquired the mecA gene, resistance can be clearly defined. However, laboratory mutants can acquire sequential single step mutations upon repeated exposure to an antimicrobial agent, and MIC values may then increase incrementally by one or two dilutions at each step. In this case, geneticists frequently call an organism resistant after the mutant strain exhibits an MIC for the selecting antibiotic that is consistently higher than the MIC for this agent when tested against the wild type parent. When this occurs in a clinical isolate, should an organism be called resistant after acquisition of a single step mutation that increases the MIC value twofold? And should such a resistance designation for a single agent responsible for selecting this single step mutation be transferred to all other agents within the same antibiotic class? These are issues that are currently being debated at the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) and other groups that set antibiotic breakpoints.


Laboratory and glasshouse experiments were undertaken to evaluate the allelopathic effects of annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaudin, ARG) root exudates against growth and nodulation of lucerne genotypes. This paper reports the outcomes of the nodulation investigation. The impact of ARG on lucerne nodulation was evaluated using SARDI Five and Titan 9 lucerne cultivars (in both laboratory and glasshouse) at 6 rhizobium (Sinorhizobium spp.) concentrations (0, 0.6, 1.5 × 10, 1.5 × 102, 1.5 × 103, 1.5 × 104 colony forming units mL−1). At the highest rhizobium concentration, a fivefold reduction in nodule number was observed in the laboratory when lucerne genotypes were grown with ARG. Increasing annual ryegrass density also reduced nodulation under glasshouse conditions. The variability identified within and between lucerne populations suggests that there is scope to reduce allelopathic interference of ARG on seedling lucerne growth and improve the compatibility of these species in pasture mixtures at establishment.


Like Siberian territory, Siberian literature appears to have no clear borders. In it's broadest meaning it often encompasses literature about Siberia as we 11 as literature of Siberian people. In terms of their human biographical originalities they are so various that sometimes their images and views on Siberia extremely varied. sometimes between heaven and hell., or utopia and dystopia. The tradition of depicting Siberia as a hell was mostly deeper than that of depicting it as a heaven. The former is the case of Avaakum's "Life" which depicted Siberia for the first time as a place of forced bitter exile. And this trad ition continued. influncing on the works of the 18th and 19th century writer s including F.M. Dostoevsky's "The House of the Dead." and the works of 20th century' exile literature' writers V. Shalamov and A. Solzhenitsyn. But like the Avaakum's "Life", Dostoevsky's "The House of the dead" contained some p arts of blissful scenary in beautiful nature and the' narod' of Siberia. chang ing the soil to positive images. associated with heavenly utopian future of Russia. But from the case of Dostoevsky's "Diary of a Writer", the images of Siberia are often linked with Russian role between' negative-corrupted' Europe and 'innocent' Siberia or Asia. However we could find the imperialistic geopolitical world conception of Dostoevsky concerning on the soil of Siberia engaged with anti-European views, and it was transcended by 20th A. Block's poem "Skify", During the 1st half of the 19th century the Decembrists gave us most negative views on Siberia by mythologizing Siberia as an ultimate dark place of alienation, hardship. exiles. But under the stream of these negative views 0 n Siberia those of Russian writers could'nt refrain from depicting the charm s of new frontiers. with rich nature. exotic legendary outlaws. facinated by the myths of Siberia. And the Siberian local romantics. patiots and Siberian regionalists of the second part 19th century began to form images of utopian or "heavenly" Siberia as a kingdom of beautiful and abundant nature with blissful memory of childfood and innocence. The 19th century regionalist's symbol of innocence. purity, freedom, moral superiority, and true "Russianness" of Siberia could be associated with Russian culture of the 20th century in spite of political exiles and hardship on this soil again under the Stalinist regime (The cases of V. Shalamov. A. Solzhenitsyn). The utopian image or legendary paradise conception of Siberian earth was a 1so hailed by Soviet regime mainly with concerns of economic potential. But with the industrial development and rapid modernization process in this area, Russian intelligentsia began to realize the ecological disasters here and there i n Siberia. From the 1960s the advent onto the Soviet literary stage of so-ca ned" derevenskaia proza", with its strong voices of nationalistic and ecologic al provosts, gave us the new pro and con eyes on Siberia. mostly linked wit h modernization problems of Siberia. What will happen with the myth of Siberia in post-Soviet Russia is, of co urse, anyone's guess. Already the vision of approaching tragic apocalypse w as spreaded among the writings of "derevenshchiki", most notably of Valentine Rasputin's. It means that their themes were confronting with serious social, and ecological problems of modern Siberia. But, still their novels and articles do not conceal the writers' secret hopes of some special positive roles and realization of utopian image of Siberia in terms of literary depiction of it. Consequently, in spite of still ambiguos situation of Siberian literary circles in and out of Siberia. Siberian literature could and should create the more important stream on the river of Russian and world literature from in the future.


The fingerprint concept (i.e. a physical model used for downscaling) related to the objective highresolution analysis scheme VERA (Vienna Enhanced Resolution Analysis) is extended towards the use for precipitation analyses over complex topography. A fingerprint for upslope rain is developed which simulates the effects of air mass lifting and triggering of precipitation associated with a mountain slope, as well as the dependence of height. It further includes the decrease of accumulated precipitation in the relatively drier regions in the inner Alps. The background of the VERA analysis scheme is described as well as the different constraints made during the development of the fingerprint. Evaluations of analyses with and without fingerprint are presented.


Actaea spicata Linn. (Ranunculaceae) has been traditionally used for the treatment of various ailments such as rheumatism, inflammation, nerve diseases, lumbago, scrofula and chorea. Despite a long tradition of use, no systematic phytochemical and pharmacological work has been carried out on this potential plant. Thus, A. spicata was subjected to preliminary anti-anxiety screening studies, with a view to ascertain the verity of its traditional use as an anxiolytic. In the present investigation, roots of the plant were extracted using solvents in order of increasing polarity viz., petroleum ether (60-80C), chloroform, methanol and distilled water. All the crude extracts were evaluated for anti-anxiety activity in mice using elevated plus maze apparatus. Among all these extracts, only methanol extract exhibited significant anti-anxiety activity at a dose of 100 mg/kg in mice with respect to control as well as standard (diazepam, 2 mg/kg). Phytochemical screening showed presence of alkaloids and polyphenols in methanol extract of A. spicata. Thus, Specific methods were adopted to extract total alkaloidal and polyphenol fractions from the plant material and methanol extract of plant, respectively. Polyphenol fraction exhibited significant anxiolytic activity at the dose of 50 mg/kg, while alkaloidal fraction was found to be devoid of any activity.