To analyze quantitatively and study on the fire elements and their error of acoustic homing torpedo affecting on the capture probability in some weapon system,the capture probability in many attitudes of this torpedo has been calculated and simulated on the basis of Monte Carlo model and analytic method in this paper,then some available approaches to improve the capture probability is provided at the same time to exploit the acoustic homing torpedo's advantages to the full.


The CFD simulation software—FLUENT is successfully used in the research of aerostatic porous bearing field.During the use of FLUENT,the boundary condition,solver model,solution controls and the quality of mesh are hard to master.FLUENT was used to analyze the three-dimensional flow field of porous aerostatic journal bearing.The pressure image and the loading capacity data of the bearing were obtained,and the static rigidity was calculated.The experimental result shows the simulation is right and feasible.


This work aims to transfer research on academic achievement in compulsory secondary education (CSE) students (12-18 years) from personal factors to others of a psychosocial or sociological type, in a Spanish center with a high level of immigration, which welcome students from twenty eight nationalities whose percentage is about 60%. A second objective was to develop a brief measurement instrument to predict academic achievement, being the main dependent variable the number of suspended subjects in all three course evaluations, finding an optimal constellation of variables which may be more likely to achieve better academic achievement. 317 students of Secondary Education were part of this research in a public center of Zaragoza (Aragon-Spain) who were given an  ad hoc   Family Settings, Psychosocial and Contextual Questionnaire  whose factorial analysis yielded three factors: Context Immigration, Family Settings and academic autobiographical history and study habits. Finally, we analyzed the differences found among students from different continents, trying to find sociocultural foundations and optimal conditions that can explain these differences. Further analysis allow us to glimpse a configuration of the most important variables that point to a hypothetical academic success in this educational field where there is great ethnic and cultural diversity.


Exploration for gas hydrate resources in the South China Sea began in the late 1990s. A series of geophysical and drilling expeditions have since been carried out in the marginal sea. As a result, large amounts of seismic data have been accumulated, and tens of exploration wells have been drilled.


We investigated four orchids of the genus Maxillaria (M. discolor, M. acicularis, M. notylioglossa and M. desvauxiana) in regard to the position of heterochromatin blocks as revealed using chromomycin A3 (CMA) and 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) fluorochrome staining and 5S and 45S rDNA sites using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). The species showed differences in chromosome number and a diversified pattern of CMA+ and DAPI+ bands, including heteromorphism for CMA+ bands. The 5S and 45S rDNA sites also varied in number and most of them were co-localized with CMA+ bands. The relationship between 5S rDNA sites and CMA+ bands was more evident in M. notylioglossa, in which the brighter CMA+ bands were associated with large 5S rDNA sites. However, not all 5S and 45S rDNA sites were co-localized with CMA+ bands, probably due to technical constraints. We compare these results to banding data from other species and suggest that not all blocks of tandemly repetitive sequences, such as 5S rDNA sites, can be observed as heterochromatin blocks.


The incoming radiation or more exactly the radiation being absorbed by a collector, is one of the most influential factors on the solar yield of a solar thermal system. Hence, a powerful monitoring especially of large solar thermal systems would not work without measuring the radiation with (at least) one (usually additional) sensor. Uncertainties due to the radiation occur, when the absorbed radiation has to be estimated. They depend on the accuracy of the used solar sensor, the plane, in which the sensor has been installed, the diffuse correlation and conversion models used for the estimation of the radiation-distribution over the sky and the incidence angle corrections for the used collector. Experimental comparisons yield, that properly calibrated PV-cells achieve acceptable accuracy for monitoring solar systems. The installation of the used sensor in collector plane instead of in horizontal plane should be preferred since it allows to determine the absorbed radiation with a lower uncertainty due to the estimation of the different fractions of the global radiation. For the estimation of the different fractions of the global radiation, the combination of the diffuse correlation method from Erbs together with the conversion model from Hay-Davies represents the measured data in a best way. More detailed methods do not provide better results in the scope of the investigated data. Additionally it could be shown that the consideration of the incidence angle correction has to be done with care, since typically used approximations could lead to not negligible deviations.


Arnold wrote to Clough of Keats that Keats did not understand that one 'must begin with an Idea of the world, in order not to be prevailed over by the world's multifariousness'. Darwin is on Keats's side of this argument. He begins with the multifariousness of the world, is even prevailed over by it, and then uses it as both material and idea. Such an attitude in itself goes some way towards resolving the problem of first causes and of teleology. He refuses any precedent 'Idea' of the world from which to begin. This is not to suggest that he refuses theory, or that he believes facts to be authoritatively inert. In a letter to Fawcett in 1861 he made his position clear: About thirty years ago there was much talk that geologists ought only to observe and not theorise; and I well remember someone saying that at this rate a man might as well go into a gravel-pit and count the pebbles and describe the colours. How odd it is that anyone should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service. In his Reminiscences of his father Francis Darwin wrote that 'it was as though he were charged with theorising power ready to flow into any channel on the slightest disturbance, so that no fact, however small, could avoid releasing a stream of theory'.


Resistorless dual-mode electronically tunable quadrature oscillator using a single current controlled current conveyor transconductance amplifier (CCCCTA) and two grounded capacitors is presented. The proposed circuit can provide both voltage-mode and current-mode simultaneously. The circuit with grounded capacitors enjoys resistorless, electronically tunable, non-interactive frequency and condition control, generates two quadrature current outputs at high impedance nodes and two quadrature voltage outputs. H-Simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (H-Spice) simulations using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) 0.18 μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology process parameters are given to validate theoretical predictions.


This paper deals with the Gaussian process based approximation of a code which can be run at different levels of accuracy using co-kriging. This method allows us to improve a surrogate model of a complex computer code using fast approximations of it. In particular, we focus on the case of large number of code levels. A thermodynamic example is used to illustrate a 3-level co-kriging.


Hierarchical regression analyses were used to study four types of negative emotions (rage, resentment, perceived threat, and self-blame) as possible mediators of the effect of parent–child conflict on internalizing (psychosomatic symptoms and social withdrawal) and externalizing (violent aggression and deviance) behavior in 724 adolescents. After controlling for demographic variables, the results showed that for both parents conflict had a positive main effect on internalizing and externalizing behavior. Of the four types of negative emotions, rage was the strongest mediator to mediate the effect of conflict on violent aggression, and resentment was the strongest mediator to mediate the effect of conflict on psychosomatic symptoms, social withdrawal, and deviant behavior. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed, and suggestions for future research are offered.


Objectives: Given that the effect of omalizumab in atopic dermatitis (AD) is controversial, the aim of this study was to evaluate its efficacy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of twelve patients with severe refractory AD who had received either dose of 150 or 300mg omalizumab therapy between 2012 and 2015. Scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) and dermatology life quality index (DLQI) scores were evaluated before and 3 months after omalizumab therapy. Results: All our 12 patients had severe refractory AD (SCORAD > 40). The SCORAD and DLQI scores after 3 months of omalizumab therapy were from 64.9 ± 12.3 to 38.9 ± 8.4 (p < 0.001), and 21.9 ± 3.3 to 13.0 ± 4.5 (p < 0.001) respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in the values of SCORAD and DLQI between patients treated with 150mg and 300mg omalizumab (SCORAD, p = 0.485; DLQI, p = 0.818). The reduction of SCORAD by omalizumab was significantly greater in AD patients with a very high SCORAD score (SCORAD > 60) compared to those with a low SCORAD score (32.8 ± 8.1% vs. 16.5 ± 10.4%, p = 0.010). In addition, the degree of reduction of SCORAD or DLQI did not achieve significant difference between patients with or without received systemic glucocorticoid (SCORAD, p = 0.310; DLQI, p = 0.937). Conclusion: Omalizumab may be an effective therapy for AD patients, but further studies are needed to substantiate our findings.


One of the strongest experimental indications of hydrogen tunneling in biology has been the elevated Swain−Schaad exponent for the secondary kinetic isotope effect in the hydride-transfer step catalyzed by liver alcohol dehydrogenase. This process has been simulated using canonical variational transition-state theory for overbarrier dynamics and optimized multidimensional paths for tunneling. Semiclassical quantum effects on the dynamics are included on a 21-atom substrate−enzyme−coenzyme primary zone embedded in the potential of a substrate−enzyme−coenzyme−solvent secondary zone. The potential energy surface is calculated by treating 54 atoms by quantum mechanical electronic structure methods and 5506 protein, coenzyme, and solvent atoms by molecular mechanical force fields. We find an elevated Swain−Schaad exponent for the secondary kinetic isotope effect and generally good agreement with other experimental observables. Quantum mechanical tunneling is calculated to account for ∼60% of the reactive flux,...


This article addresses the problem of Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) in wireless networks, a framework with particularly stringent constraints imposed by many Internet of Things (IoT) applications from diverse sectors. We propose a novel Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) scheduling algorithm, named NOMA-PPO, to solve the Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) uplink URLLC scheduling problem involving strict deadlines. The challenge of addressing uplink URLLC requirements in NOMA systems is related to the combinatorial complexity of the action space due to the possibility to schedule multiple devices, and to the partial observability constraint that we impose to our algorithm in order to meet the IoT communication constraints and be scalable. Our approach involves 1) formulating the NOMA-URLLC problem as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) and the introduction of an agent state, serving as a sufficient statistic of past observations and actions, enabling a transformation of the POMDP into a Markov Decision Process (MDP); 2) adapting the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm to handle the combinatorial action space; 3) incorporating prior knowledge into the learning agent with the introduction of a Bayesian policy. Numerical results reveal that not only does our approach outperform traditional multiple access protocols and DRL benchmarks on 3GPP scenarios, but also proves to be robust under various channel and traffic configurations, efficiently exploiting inherent time correlations.


Chain records is a new type of multidimensional record. We discuss how often the chain records occur when the background sampling is from the unit cube with uniform distribution (or, more generally, from an arbitrary continuous product distribution in d dimensions). Extensions are given for sampling from more general spaces with a self-similarity property.


The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of menstrual cycle on the cardiac autonomic function in young healthy women by power spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) and to determine the correlation between estrogen, progesterone, gonadotropins and HRV in different phases of menstrual cycle. The study included 27 premenopausal women and they were assessed in both proliferative and secretory phases of menstrual cycle. Results were analyzed by using SPSS, differences between two phases compared by student's paired t test and correlation was determined by Pearson's correlation coefficient. The results showed a nonsignificant increase in high frequency (HF) normalized unit (nu) in follicular phase and low frequency (LF) nu in secretory phase. No significant correlation was found between HRV and sex hormones and gonadotropins suggesting that relationship between menstrual cycle and autonomic activity is still a matter of debate.


We have previously developed an ultrasonic strain measurement-based shear modulus reconstruction technique. The iterative RF-echo phase matching method uses successively acquired RF-echo data frames for measuring strains generated in vivo in soft tissues due to spontaneous heart motion and/or externally applied pressures. Together with development of a suitable configuration technique for mechanical sources and reference regions, we developed a numerical method for stably reconstructing the globally relative shear modulus distribution with respect to reference shear moduli from the measured strain data. As the elasticity of soft tissues changes on being heated, we propose that the developed shear modulus reconstruction technique can be used as a monitoring technique for the effectiveness of thermal therapy. We applied the reconstruction technique to interstitial RF electromagnetic wave therapy. To verify the feasibility we conducted in vitro experiments using fresh calf liver.


constitution of the chromosome and is determined only by the sex of the germ line through which the chromosome has been inherited' (Crouse, 1960). Thus the phenomenon of genomic imprinting, which violates the Mendelian principles of equivalence of genetic information in reciprocal crosses, was fi rst recognized in a modest insect system. Genomic imprinting, a process that reversibly marks one of the two parental contributions and can function at the level of homologous loci, chromosomes or chromosomal sets during development, results in the functional non-equivalence of genes (Chandra and Nanjundiah, 1990). There are numerous examples of imprinting operating at the level of genes and segments of chromosomes in mammals that are discussed in this issue. The inactivation of paternal X chromosomes in the extra embryonic tissue of mice serves as an example of parental origin effect on whole chromosomes while the inactivation of the paternal set of chromosomes in male mealybugs serves as a unique example of the whole haploid genome being subjected to genomic imprinting (Schrader and Hughes-Schrader, 1931; Brown and Chandra, 1977). Imprinting involves not only a mechanism to mark the conAbstract. The coccid insects (Hemiptera; Sternorrhyncha; Aphidiformes; Coccoidea; Pseudococcidae) are well suited to study not only the mechanisms of genomic imprinting but also facultative heterochromatization, a phenomenon well exemplifi ed by inactivation of the X chromosome in female mammals. Coccids show sex-specifi c heterochromatization of an entire set of chromosomes and transcriptional silencing of all the paternally contributed chromosomes in males. Thus, genomic imprinting and the resultant differential regulation operate on 50% of the genome in contrast to the single X chromosome in female mammals. A signifi cant insight into the


We define the spreading time in the SIS process as the average time between the start of the outbreak and the time that the number of infected nodes first reaches the average number of infected nodes in the metastable state. We show that the spreading time can be computed using a uniformised embedded Markov chain and give numerical results for the complete graph and the star graph. For the complete graph we derive, using the same method, an analytical expression for the spreading time starting from a single infected node. We show that the spreading time is only significantly larger for a single initially infected than when a few nodes are infected, and scales logarithmically as a function of the network size for a fixed fraction of infected nodes in the metastable state. We also show that mean-field methods predict that the spreading time in regular graphs is independent of the degree. For graphs with a high epidemic threshold, the spreading time is lower than for graphs with a low epidemic threshold. The spreading time seems to be related to the average hop count in the graph. For graphs that have a relatively low average hop count, the spreading time scales logarithmically, but for graphs with a high average hop count, such as the rectangular grid and the ring graph, this is not the case.


The use of customized failure analysis (FA) tools is often needed when trying to improve the baseline yield in IC manufacturing Iines. With this aim, we present in this paper the development of bitmap for Digital Signal Processors (DSP) multimode chip,;. The data obtained from this bitmap tool are statistically tracked and analyzed in the Iight of a database that has been made up with information coming from both bitmap case histories and the results of a defect-on memory simulation. We show how this procedure: greatIy enhances the understanding of small yield Iimitors and also minimizes the amount of physical FA and hold analysis times for product lots.


In wearable biomedical signal detection, the low-power consumption is a critical requirement. However, the process of biomedical signal detection with traditional neural-network processor is uneconomical for large data movements. A typical solution is the near memory computing (NMC) method, locating more data near the computing engine to save energy, where the detecting accuracy and power consumption is difficult to be optimized simultaneously. In addition, a suitable computing engine is needed to match both power and computation budget. In this work, we combine the NMC-based ECG processor equipped with a high-precision time-domain engine to perform the detection of arrhythmia, namely TDPRO. The proposed TDPRO supports high precision multiplication and addition operation with 8-bit input and weight parameters. Also, we propose TD-zero-jumping and idle-shutdown technique to further reduce 63%$\sim$ 91% power consumption of the time-domain engine. The error rate of 8-bit MAC operation in the TDPRO is 1.18%, which is suitable for the ECG detection.


ABSTRACT English towns during the medieval period have, in recent years, become increasingly recognised as places of diversity, with some of their inhabitants born in several European regions. Studies of immigration have, however, focussed on port towns and large towns and with an emphasis on those who originated from mainland Europe. This study examines, for the first time, the intriguing communities of Icelanders who lived in the Midlands and asks what these individuals can tell us about England's relations with Iceland. Up to four Icelanders lived in Nottingham and up to three in Coventry at any one time, serving mercers who may have traded stockfish and fish liver oil, which were sold in both towns. In exchange, Nottingham produced goods including alabaster altar pieces, which were given homes in churches in Iceland's coastal towns.


Assembly of NASA's X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft is continuing during 2020 and making good progress, despite challenges such as those imposed by the unexpected global pandemic.


Abstract We report the case of a right-handed patient who developed a global aphasia after a right hemisphere cerebrovascular lesion. Despite having extensive damage to the right hemisphere this patient did not show the expected emotional features that usually follow right hemisphere lesions such as anosognosia, indifference reaction or undue cheerfulness, but displayed anxiety, frustration, outbursts of crying, and withdrawal characteristic of the catastrophic reaction that usually follows left hemisphere lesions. This case demonstrates that 'crossed' aphasics may not only have a reversed lateralization of language and related cognitive abilities, but a reversed affective lateralization as well.


Samarium(II) iodide-mediated intermolecular coupling reactions of N,N-dibenzylenamides (1a-d) with carbonyl compounds (2a-i) produced the corresponding N,N-dibenzyl-γ-hydroxyamides (3a-i) in moderate to good yields. Attempts to remove the two benzyl groups of 3a using hydrogenolysis and Birch reduction were unsuccessful. On the other hand, the lithium aluminum hydride reduction of 3a produced 10 in 61% yield, and dedibenzylation using 20% Pd(OH) 2 on carbon gave the corresponding δ-aminoalcohol (11).


Battery is a device that contains electrical cells. It can store energy which is later converted into power. Conventionally to find out the power stored in the battery using an open circuit voltage test. This causes the battery cannot be monitored continuously during the charging state. In this proposal the design of artificial neural network systems was conveyed. This artificial neural network is designed to estimate the value of State of Charge (SOC) on the battery and equipped with a bluetooth feature. The estimation system consists of a voltage sensor and ACS 712 current sensor to send information about the condition of the battery to the STM32F1 microcontroller as the control center. This estimator has functions, namely estimation of SOC. So it is expected that if the battery is connected to this system, then the SOC battery will always be monitored accurately.


Machine printing press with a printing unit (02) having a width for printing a paper web (03.1; 03.2) with six vertical printed pages arranged adjacent to one another in a first newspaper format (F1; F2 ), in which a longitudinal cutting device (06 is provided; 65) through which can cut a paper web (03.1) printed with six printed pages arranged adjacent to one another in newspaper format (F1; F2) three partial webs (03a, 03b, 03c) having each a width of two pages of vertical newspaper, in which a folding structure (11) having a group of three formers is provided ( 41, 42, 43) arranged side by side in a flat machine, characterized in that the three formers (41; 42; 43) are arranged in the machine printing press so that the two distances (A1; A2) between the planes of folding (F41; F42; F43) of two formers (41; 42; 43) contiguous parallel to each other are made so as to be modified.


HHV‐8/Kaposi Sarcoma herpesvirus has been associated with a broad spectrum of diseases in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Primary donor‐derived infection can be associated with severe and rapidly fatal non‐neoplastic disease, and diagnosis is made with high HHV‐8 DNAemia.


The stacked denoising autoencoder (SDAE) is a slight modification of stacked autoencoder, which is trained to reconstruct a clean version of an input from its corrupted version. It has been successfully used to learn new representations for an unsupervised framework. However, the noise level in the SDAE is determined by experience and remains fixed throughout the training process. To address this limitation, we present an adaptive stacked denoising autoencoder based on the principle of annealing (AdaptiveSDAE), a novel method of adaptively obtaining the noise level. This is achieved by first computing the average noise level for each epoch using a linear average noise level function based on the principle of annealing; and second calculating the noise level for each input neuron based on the average noise level, and the contribution of the input neuron to the activation of hidden neurons (which depend on the input neuron's value and the weights). Thus, the network includes a combination of features at multiple scales. The experimental results show that our proposed AdaptiveSDAE performed better than SDAE and other unsupervised feature learning methods.


The paper deals with Hou Hsiao-Hsien's film, A City of Sadness, the milestone of bringing the 228 Incident to public discussion. Based on the point that the inspiration of audience's emotion is the narrative strategy of Hou to re-present a political taboo, the discussion includes how this film is defined as a hitoriographical one; how the film devoted to screen the forgotten history; what the modern sense of history is embodied by the discussion of the film and the incident; and how public and private domains intertwine and interact. The incident, the telling about the incident and the discussing about the film all contributes to the renewal of our knowledge of modernity and Taiwanese identity. Three major roles of the film, Wen-ching, Hiromi and Wen-heung as well as some sequences of scenes are also discussed in the paper. Through these analyses, the paper intended to deepen the understanding of Hou's narrative characters; advance the understanding of history; and exemplify the formation of historical discourse. A brief comment on the memorial museum and the monument in Taipei also appears at the end of the paper, so that the retelling of the incident can be observed in a wider manner.


T HE ASSOCIATION between abnormalities of amniotic fluid volume (AFV) and altered perinatal outcome has long been recognized. ' Oligohydramnios is associated with fetal dysmaturity syndromes (ie, postmaturity and intrauterine growth retardation [IUGR]) and with fetal congenital anomalies (ie, renal agenesisfdysgenesis). 12 Polyhydramnios, on the other hand, is associated with a variety of maternal (ie, diabetes mellitus, Rh isoimmunization) and fetal (open neural tube defects, gastrointestinal tract obstruction) conditions.L.3 In all the above conditions, perinatal mortality (PNM) and morbidity are known to be increased.' 3 Antenatal recognition of both oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios has traditionally been based upon clinical examination of the patient. A symphysis-fundal height either less than or greater than that expected for gestational age should alert the practitioner to the possibility of their presence. The inaccuracies of clinical assessment of AFV for detection of these conditions is well recognized and has, over the years, prompted a search for more reliable methods for detecting both oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios. These methods have included both radiologic (plain abdominal xray, amniography) and sonographic (measurement of total intrauterine volume) techniques.4,5 The results of these methods, which are either invasive or time-consuming, or both, have been disappointing, and a simple clinically applicable and relevant method for assessing AFV is needed. More simple methods for assessment of AFV using real time ultrasound have been reported recently by several authors.6,7 Philipson et al have outlined subjective sonographic criteria for the identification of oligohydramnios and have found a significant relationship between their findings and the incidence of IUGR.6 Similarly, Zamah et al have outlined subjective sonographic criteria for the identification of polyhydramnios and have reported a significant relationship between their findings and the incidence of fetal congenital defects.' The subjective nature of both of these authors' criteria for identification of oligohydramnios and polyhydramnios, respectively, limit their


The neural network optimized by genetic algorithm(GA) is an efficient and accurate prediction method, which can quickly find the optimal solution through high-speed computing capability and self-learning function. The neural network model optimized by GA is applied to the prediction of soil moisture of ecological slope protection, which provides reference for practical application of slope vegetation screening. In this paper, nine meteorological factors and soil moisture data were obtained by field monitoring instruments and related meteorological data. Considering the lag of meteorological factors, the neural network optimized by GA is used to predict the soil moisture of 8 meteorological data. The results show that the root mean square error (RMSE) and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the prediction model are 0.22726 and 0.41234%, respectively, indicating that the prediction model runs well. Through V-fold cross-validation, it is found that the prediction results of the model is accurate and stable. The algorithm combining artificial neural network and GA can well predict the soil moisture of ecological slope protection, with high prediction accuracy, and has a good application prospect in other fields.


Sublevel caving (SLC) is a mass mining method relying on the flowability of the blasted material. The ore is blasted in slices against caved material which is mainly waste rock. The result of the c ...


Removable shoe comprising a replaceable outsole members (104) (100), (a) an upper member (106); have a outer surface which is not designed for use in activities in direct contact with the (b) ground and an upper member (106) fixedly engaged with the midsole member (108); designed and (c) for use in activities in contact with the ground, removal on at least a majority of the midsole member capable attached outsole member (104) may include. Outsole member (104) may be mounted in a variety of different ways to the midsole member (108) and / or the upper member. In use, the wearer can, for example, the type of competition surface temperature, and / or in accordance with other conditions, to select a particular set of outsole members for use in a fixed time. Outsole members to wear can be exchanged in expenses without associated with the time also to exchange the rest of the shoe.


Introducing the means and the ways of design about the smithing chain,By researching and counting the problem of keeping sequence.


It is coming up to that time of the year when staff start to wonder what their salary rise might be. At the same time, partners in law firms are beginning to gather information about what is a fair wage for a role and their capacity to pay higher salaries.


While citywide sanitation planning is perceived to be an enabler of coordinated improvements in sanitation services for developing countries, intended outcomes have often been elusive. In order to illustrate how political economy, chosen planning approaches, and ideas about change and development have acted as determinants of outcomes, this paper draws on three case study countries that took qualitatively different approaches to sanitation planning – Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. The analysis found that the assumptions informing the planning methods were often not valid, which then undermined the potential for successful implementation. Based on the analysis, the paper argues that urban sanitation planning and implementation in developing countries needs to be transformed to reduce the emphasis on comprehensiveness and instead emphasise flexibility, a learning orientation and strategically chosen incentives. This approach demands tighter cycles of planning and action, direct testing of assumptions, and an in-depth understanding of the localand national-level political economy and the links between them. It requires innovation to be enabled, with funding mechanisms that focus on outcome rather than input. In this way it would be possible to shift away from the typical emphasis on prescriptive procedural planning steps and towards delivery of the much-needed improved sanitation outcomes.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess whether social needs, social influences and convenience of smart phones affects students' dependence on them. This research also examines whether students' dependence on smart phones influences their purchase behaviour. This investigation is conducted among the students in a public university in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach – The research used a multiple regression analysis in an attempt to achieve the objective. The construct validity was assessed by computing the principal axis factor with varimax rotations. In total, 200 completed and usable questionnaires were received from the respondents who comprised students from a public university in the Federal Territory of Labuan, Malaysia. A simple random sampling method was utilised where every unit in the population had an equal chance to be selected.Findings – Results via multiple regression analysis revealed that social needs and social influences significantly affec...


This paper proposes a new prosodic phrasing model for Chinese text-tospeech systems. First, in contrast to the commonly used CART techniques, we propose a new inductive learning algorithm based on the extension matrix theory. Second, we collected 559 sentences (of approximately 78 min length) from news programs and built a corresponding speech corpus uttered by a professional male announcer. The prosodic boundaries were manually marked and word identification, POS tagging and syntactic analysis were also done on the text. Finally, our model was trained on 371 sentences and tested on 188. We achieved a success rate of about 93%.


The study investigates the impact of financial development variables on economic growth Nigeria. To achieve the objective of this study, data was collected from secondary sources and various econometric analysis such as Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) test, Granger Causality test, Co-integration and Error Correction Method (ECM) were employed on time series data from 1960-2008 and the results revealed Money Supply (MS) and Credit to Private Sector (CPS) are positively related to economic growth of Nigeria. The Johnsen and Granger tests shows Money Supply and Credit to private Sector (CPS) are cointegrated with GDP in Nigeria within the study period and the Granger tests indicated that all the exogenous variables Granger cause GDP and GDP Granger cause other variables in Nigeria. The paper concludes that the government should ensure a robust supervision of the financial sector to enable financial institutions provide the needed funds for the growth and development of the Nigerian Economy.


Bioactive peptides are protein sequences that remain inactive in the native protein primary structure, but when released may regulate many physiological functions. Bioactive peptides have been isolated from many protein sources such as soy proteins, fish proteins, maize and milk proteins but milk proteins appear to be the most important sources of bioactive peptides identified so far. These bioactive peptides can be released during fermentation with specific lactic acid bacteria or during gastrointestinal digestion. The most studied bioactive peptides derived from dairy proteins are anti-hypertensive or ACE inhibitory peptides. ACE is an enzyme that plays a crucial role in the function of the renin-angiotensin system which is an important regulator of blood pressure. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptide blocks the conversion of angiotensin I to angiotensin II and thereby reduces the blood pressure. The ACE-inhibitors derived from milk proteins are attributed to different fragments of casein and whey proteins. The concentration of ACE inhibitory peptides in fermented dairy products can be increased by fermenting or co-fermenting with specific proteolytic strains of LAB. Thus, a great opportunity is available for the development of functional dairy products enriched with ACE inhibitory peptides that support heart health through blood pressure lowering effects.


Fully microscopic models for the calculation of the carrier dynamics and resulting optical response are used to investigate the validity of various models that have been suggested as the cause for the efficiency droop in GaN-based devices. Models based on internal piezoelectric electric fields, carrier localization, Auger and density-activated defect recombination are analysed. In particular, the models are used to simulate aspects of a recent experiment in which green emitting quantum wells were pumped resonantly and emission from adjacent ultra-violet emitting wells was attributed to carrier redistributions due to Auger processes. It is shown that the UV emission can be explained as a direct result of the optical excitation without involving Auger processes.


ABSTRACT Background: The use of social media may be a valuable tool for dissemination of patient education interventions. However, in Alzheimer's disease (AD), little data exists about the effectiveness, associated cost, or conditions for utilization. Method: Alzheimer's Universe (www.AlzU.org) is an online educational portal that provides evidence-based educational content for the public, and a variety of activities related to optimizing AD management. The primary goal of our study was to assess the effectiveness of using the social media platform Facebook.com as a tool to recruit subjects to visit AlzU.org via targeted advertising and evaluate the associated costs. Secondary outcomes included AlzU.org join rates, lesson and activity completion rates, user demographics and attitudes about the education research platform. Results: A total of $706 generated 4268 visits to AlzU.org via a series of page posts promoted with targeted advertising to individuals with previously expressed interest in 'Alzheimer's disease,' to those who had 'liked' the Alzheimer's Association page, and followers of www.facebook.com/AlzheimersDisease. Advertising used different promotional taglines in the Facebook Advertising manager tool using 'Cost Per Click' and the 'Optimized for Engagement' settings. Across all strategies combined, 503 visitors joined AlzU.org (11.8% join rate), 412 engaged with at least one lesson/activity (82%), and 100 completed all available lessons and activities (19.8%). Users were primarily women (79.8%) and the most common age group was 50's (43.3%, range 22–92). The majority joined AlzU.org to learn more about AD prevention or treatment (66.3% and 65.3%, respectively). Over 90% were satisfied with their experience. Discussion: Subjects were quickly and cost-effectively recruited to AlzU.org. Completion rates of education content and activities were adequate, and subjects were highly satisfied with their experiences. Overall, targeted advertising on Facebook.com was an effective means of disseminating AD education online.


This work treats the hand- held camera shooting as mean of expression in cinematography. Partially the text is composed of historical and technical evolution of hand-held camera work.
The description of using hand-held camera in way of dramaturgical construction of the film is done with help of several specific examples coming from different genres.


In this paper we demonstrate the performance and reliability of 1200V SiC DMOSFETs manufactured in a high volume 150mm Si CMOS foundry. These DMOSFETs exhibit less than a 10% shift in threshold voltage and practically no change in breakdown characteristics after high temperature stress tests at 175°C. The performance of very large area 6.30 × 9.45mm2, 11mΩ SiC DMOSFETs prove that device scaling is possible with a common process.


SUMMARY The sequential allocation of treatments by an experimenter is considered in the context of the patient horizon. The importance of taking into account the whole of the patient population in designing the trial is illustrated for play-the-winner allocation and vector-ata-time allocation, both with success lead termination. The optimal scheme is considered to be the one which minimizes the total number of patients who receive the poorer treatment. The difference between the two allocation schemes is found to be small compared with the differences which result from incorrect estimation of the patient horizon, or from the usual procedure of ignoring the patient horizon and selecting an arbitrary significance level. Proposals are made concerning the operation of the termination rule in the absence of complete information about the patient horizon and other parameters.


Research on the effects of extrinsic rewards on subsequent levels of intrinsic motivation and performance has produced conflicting results. In the present study, player statistics were obtained on 33 major league baseball free agents for two seasons prior to, and two seasons after, the signing of the contract. Results suggest that the new contract, particularly its substantial pay raise, caused a decrease in immediate postcontract performance. In addition, there was some evidence that performance output recovered to its precontract level in the second season postcontract. Findings are discussed with respect to previous work on intrinsic to extrinsic motivational shifts and the overjustification effect.


A novel linear Radio-over-Fiber link with carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) improvement by exploiting optical spectrum vector manipulation is proposed. Experimental results show CNR is improved by 19 dB compared to optical sideband phase shifted linear approach.


It's increasingly difficult to do now marketing, and the companies that do not use social media to communicate, accelerates their extinction. Social media has changed everything in the last three years, it's now normal for a client to connect with a brand, and customers expect to receive quick feedback through social media, everything takes place in real time.


ICT offers new teaching and/or learning methods, especially in the field of foreign languages. These new technologies develop not only new teaching and learning environments, but also raise the issue of their pedagogical integration in teaching French as Foreign language. This article aims at addressing issues related to the contribution of ICT in an action-oriented perspective "task" and "learning scenario" (Mangenot, 2003). The objective is to identify the pitfalls faced by teachers in their attempt to integrate new technologies in teaching FFL. Our assumption is that ICTs provides the learner a new way of acquiring knowledge and skills. This case study raises a number of concerns with regard to integration of ICT in the teaching of FFL. How for instance do teachers of French integrate ICT in their actual teaching in order to motivate and empower their learners? And then, what are the obstacles to the integration of new  technologies in the university system of teaching? By way of a systematic approach, this study discusses an experiment with undergraduate and postgraduate students who are using learning scenarios in written production activities by following well-defined instructions.


This study evaluates the toxicity of eight insecticides against Helicoverpa armigera (Hubn.). These include conventional and newer molecules which are being used on a large scale in six districts (Raichur, Kalaburagi, Bidar, Dharwad, Ballari, Bengaluru and Gangavathi) of north eastern Karnataka. The results revealed that the least LC50 value was observed in chlorantraniliprole 18.5%SC (0.17- 0.39 ppm- 2014-15; 0.19-0.43 ppm- 2015-16; and 0.70-0.94 ppm- 2016-17. Maximum LC50 value was observed with chlorpyriphos 20%EC (35.16-41.08; 37.35-43.27; and 36.02- 41.94 ppm). The order of toxicity was chlorantraniliprole > emamectin benzoate > flubendiamide > spinosad > thiodicarb > methomyl > profenophos > chlorpyriphos. These results reveal that rotation of conventional insecticides along with the new insecticides might be more effective.


For NFL football fans, comparing team abilities and speculating on the outcomes of team matchups is one of the most enjoyable aspects of following the game. The comparison of teams can be a source of intense argument, with discussions commonly peppered with anecdotes and cherry-picked information to support the contention of one team being better than another. Various web sites promote a semblance of scientific rigor by computing power rankings, numerical team ratings, and other related quantities that are ostensibly reliable measures of team strength. But if interest centers on a serious study of NFL team strength, how can we appeal to a solid statistical foundation to measure ability and predict game outcomes?


The goal of our paper is to develop a algorithm that observes moving objects in a scene and learns observations to study the patterns of activity. The proposed algorithm is based on the Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) approach. In the proposed approach we first detect the object and track by optimizing trajectories through multiple hypothesis analysis. Here, we focus on tracking motions of objects and learn patterns of activity in a scene. Further segmentation is carried out based on an adaptive background subtraction method that models each pixel of a frame as a mixture of Gaussians and this model is updated using on-line approximation method. The results given by Gaussian distributions are then determined to check which are most probably from a background process. The tracker proposed is stable, which reliably deals with lighting changes, clutter and long-term changes in the scene. By using the hierarchical binary tree classification technique, the image sequences are classified. The tree formed based on the joint co-occurrences found within the sequences. The hypotheses formed are placed according to their distributions. The proposed method is used to track individual instances in a scene as well as sequences.


This study aimed to evaluate in vitro effect of commercial products Dalneem®, Ecolife® and StubbleAid® in recommended concentration of the product (RC), half that concentration (1⁄2RC) and twice that concentration (2RC) and the aqueous rhizomes extracts of Curcuma longa (Zingiberaceae), aqueous leaves extracts of Cymbopogon citratus (Poaceae), Corymbia citriodora (Myrtaceae) and Rosmarinus officinalis (Lamiaceae) in 10% concentration (w/v) on Metarhizium anisopliae. The treatments were sprayed onto the fungus previously grown in Petri dishes with PDA (potato, dextrose and agar) culture medium. There were analyzed the colony forming units (CFU), vegetative growth, conidial production, conidial germination and insecticidal activity against Diatraea saccharalis larvae (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). Although commercial products significantly affected some biological parameters of the fungus, only Dalneem® 2RC was classified as incompatible with the fungus. The plant extracts caused significant effect only to vegetative growth (ranging from 4 to 7%), and were all classified as being compatible with the strain of M. anisopliae.


The Bardeen model describes a regular spacetime, i.e. a singularity-free black hole spacetime. In this paper, by analyzing the behavior of the effective potential for the particles and photons, we investigate the timelike and null geodesic structures in the Bardeen spacetime. At the same time, all kinds of orbits, which are allowed according to the energy level corresponding to the effective potentials, are numerically simulated in detail. We find many-world bound orbits, two-world escape orbits and escape orbits in this spacetime. We also find that bound orbits precession directions are opposite and their precession velocities are different, the inner bound orbits shift along counter-clockwise with high velocity while the exterior bound orbits shift along clockwise with low velocity.


Eduardo Sacriste studied Architecture at the School of Architecture of the Universidad de Buenos Aires where he graduated just two years after Le Corbusier's visit to Argentina. His production, widely published, is recognized along with his academic work, however, there is still a critical analysis of his work inside the classroom to make. This work proposes an approach to the architectural teaching problem focusing on Eduardo Sacriste (1905-1999) teaching experience between 1947 –year the Curriculum for the career at the Universidad Nacional de Tucuman is changed– and 1965 –year Sacriste is appointed as United Nations Organization for Science and Culture advisor to study the feasibility of postgraduate studies in Indian architecture schools. The approach proposed here is based on the differences between etic and emic contexts worked by Carlo Ginzburg together with the concept of semantic ambiguity. These conceptualizations will allow us to interrogate the study case to open new perspectives to analyze the way in which architects have been trained in Argentina.


Injection moulding process is one of the common processes to produce plastic parts from simple to complicated parts. This paper focuses on the injection process analysis of a 25 tooth spur gear. Three runner system are proposed for the gear and each system will be analysed using Autodesk Simulation Moldflow Advisor. The most suitable design will then be chosen based on the results obtained from the simulation. The design undergoes cooling quality, sink mark, fill + pack, and warp analysis. Based on these analyses, Design 1 gave the better results compared to Design 2 and 3. From there, Design 1 runner system is chosen for the injection moulding mould which will be fabricated later in the research.


International migration in the Republic of Korea consists of the migration of foreign workers into the country and the migration of Koreans to other countries. The need for human capital has made it a destination country for foreign workers while economic development has given its nationals the option to emigrate. As a destination country, the share of foreigners to the total population is relatively small compared to other destination countries in Asia. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor are the main sources for collecting data on international migration. Further improvements in data collection, production and dissemination are areas that need to be addressed.


The insect fauna of Russian Far East (RFE) is represented by about 31500 estimated species from 629 recorded families of 31 orders. The largest orders are Hymenoptera (72 families, 9000 estimated species), Diptera (119 families, 8000 estimated species), Coleoptera (114 families, 5500 estimated species), Lepidoptera (81 families, 5000 estimated species). The list of recorded insect families as the estimated number of species for each RFE region are given firstly. The distribution of some families in Russia is restricted by RFE only. Among 93 insect species included in Red Data Book of Russian Federation 43 occur in RFE only. The most rich insect fauna associated with mixed broad-leaved-coniferous forests in the south of RFE. Eastern Palaearcric species are dominated here (more than 50 %). There are two hot insect biodiversity spots in RFE: Primorskii krai and Kuril Islands. Comparison of species number in the RFE with other Holarctic regions is given.


Aim: Following the introduction of an access and waiting time standard for Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) services, the identification and treatment of people experiencing an At-Risk Mental State (ARMS) for psychosis has become a national priority. However, there is a dearth of literature concerning what is offered to and accepted by ARMS service users within routine services. Methods: This descriptive evaluation reports upon the assessment and treatment of people with an at-risk mental state identified during the first year of a routine service operating in line with the EIP standard. The paper details referral sources, referral to treatment times, socio-demographic characteristics, ARMS subgroups and the interventions accepted by these service users. Results: A total of 138 ARMS cases were identified over the evaluation period, with 73% (n=101) aged between 18-34 years and 86% (n=118) meeting attenuated psychotic symptoms criteria. The majority (64%) of service users engaged in multiple interventions; 54% (n=75) accepted psychoeducation and coping skills enhancement work, 42% (n=58) participated in a sleep programme, 33% (n=45) undertook coping with voices and visions work and 28% (n=39) engaged in individual psychological therapy. Conclusion: The findings indicate that the majority of ARMS service users presenting to the EIP service were aged 18-34 and experienced attenuated psychotic symptoms. A range of NICE and CBT informed interventions as well as individual psychological therapies appear to be acceptable to ARMS service users and many engaged in multiple interventions offered.


The torque impactor can effectively solve the stick-slip vibration of PDC bit in the deep formation, but the wear of the pendulum seriously restricted the service life of the impactor. In order to reduce the wear of the pendulum under complicated working conditions, the polycrystalline diamond composite material was used as the wear-resistant material to design the pendulum wear-resistant belt. Based on the analysis of the feasibility of using polycrystalline diamond as pendulum wear-resistant material, the finite element model of dynamic contact interaction between pendulum wear-resistant belt and impact cylinder was established, the influence of the arrangement of wear-resistant blocks on the stress of the contact area between the pendulum wear-resistant belt and the impact cylinder was studied. The results show: Polycrystalline diamond composite material has stronger wear resistance and better anti-friction performance than conventional wear-resistant materials, and can reduce the wear of the inner wall of the impact cylinder, which is feasible on the surface of the pendulum hammer. The use of the wear-resistant belt structure is beneficial to improve the variation of the shear stress of the area where the pendulum and the impact cylinder contact each other. The wear-resistant belt structure is beneficial to improve the shear stress variation amplitude of the pendulum and impact cylinder in contact with each other. When the wear-resistant block is arranged in a circular block staggered arrangement, the shear stress change amplitude of the interaction contact area is the largest, the triangular block staggered arrangement mode is second, and the trough block shape staggered arrangement is the smallest. The research results have important reference significance for the design and application of polycrystalline diamond composite pendulum wear-resistant belt.


Emerging millimeter-wave (MMW) applications require reliable data on the MMW properties of materials. An overview is given of some of these requirements, the nature and limitation of the available data, the means of obtaining such data, and the progress that is being made in characterizing the MMW properties of materials.


The impact of technology on information began the day catalogue card was devised to store the bibliographic details of a book. Initially, the size of a catalogue card used to be 5x3 in. it was increased to 6x4 in. as need .was felt to record more information. With rapid increase in the volume of scientific literature, microform replaced paper for storing information. With the advent of computers, it appeared that the problem of data storage and retrieval of information had been solved, but soon it was realized that even magnetic medium used for storing information was not sufficient, and floppy disc and hard disk offsetting higher capacity and fast retrieval were developed. But the race between the volume of information generated and the medium for its storage did noted there. Thus, versatile medium of mass storage in the form of optical disc was found.


Are possible further atomization and monodispersed particles, and aims to provide a particle producing method of using an inorganic particle-containing emulsion and the inorganic particle-containing emulsion can improve the yield . To this end, the oil phase liquid, a water-in-oil emulsion obtained by mixing and stirring an aqueous phase liquid containing inorganic particles, wherein the aqueous phase liquid, specific gravity of 1.5 g / cm


that converges uniformly interior to E. Consequently, if U(x, y) is any function that is harmonic in E, then U can be represented as the real part of some f that is given by (1). We shall use this fact to establish a Poisson integral formula for U. We should mention here that the Poisson formula can also be obtained by mapping the ellipse in the z-plane onto a rectangle in the w-plane thus obtaining F(w) as the transform of f(z) and applying the Cauchy integral formula, using in addition some properties of the Jacobian elliptic function Z(w). We have chosen the method presented in this paper because of its simplicity. The Poisson formula is readily generalized to the Poisson-Stieltjes formula and to what is commonly called the Herglotz formula for nonnegative harmonic functions. We apply the Poisson-Stieltjes formula to the class 61 of functions with positive real part in E and extend it to find an integral representation for functions regular in E and mapping E onto a domain that is starlike with respect to the origin. Other classes of functions related to 61 in various ways could also be studied by this method. The coefficient problem for the class of starlike functions as well as other subclasses of functions that are univalent in E and can be related to 61 is studied in [4].


If all vehicles are connected together through a wireless communication channel, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) can support a wide range of real-time traffic information services, such as intelligent routing, weather monitoring, emergency call, etc. However, the accuracy and credibility of the transmitted messages among the VANETs are of paramount importance as life may depend on it. In this article we introduce a novel framework called blockchain-assisted privacy-preserving authentication system (BPAS) that provides authentication automatically in VANETs and preserves vehicle privacy at the same time. This design is highly efficient and scalable. It does not require any online registration centre (except for system initialization and vehicle registration), and allows conditional tracing and dynamic revocation of misbehaving vehicles. In this article, we conduct an in-depth security analysis and a comprehensive performance evaluation (which is based on the Hyperledger Fabric platform) for our proposed framework. The results demonstrate that our framework is an efficient solution for the development of a decentralized authentication system in VANETs.


The primary use of the Harmonic scalpel in laparoscopic cholecystectomy has been for the division of the cystic artery and liver bed dissection. In this study, we evaluate the safety & efficacy of Harmonic scalpel as the sole instrument for division of the cystic duct and artery as well as dissection of the liver bed (clipless cholecystectomy). Methods: A prospective, non randomized clinical trial was conducted on 21 consecutive patients with symptomatic gall bladder stones who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in the surgical Ain over a period of six months. In all patients, Harmonic scalpel was the sole instrument used to seal and divide the cystic artery and duct as well as for dissection of the gall bladder bed. The operative time, operative blood losses, intraoperative and postoperative complications especially bile leaks, hospital stay as well as cost were evaluated. A short term postoperative follow up was done for all patients for one month. Results: Twenty (95.2%) successful clipless laparoscopic cholecystectomies were conducted with no open conversion. One patient (4.8%) early in the series developed postoperative bile leakage, which was managed by ERCP. There were no other complications in our series. The operative time ranged from 60-100 minutes (median= 80min.). The hospital stay was 1-3 days (median= 2 days). No gall bladder perforations occurred and the quality of the operative field was excellent with traces or minimal blood loss. Conclusion: Clipless laparoscopic


The objective of this study was the evaluation of non-documentary (personal) sources of information available in the pharmacy network of Santa Clara municipality. To this end, twenty six community-based pharmacies were included. A data collection model to gather information on the type of source under analysis in this paper was designed. Seven Bachelors of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who are the professionals in charge of the information service in the network of communitybased pharmacies, were surveyed. Pararell to this, the probable function that pharmaceutical technicians may perform in this service was assessed, for which 47 persons were also interviewed. The results revealed that it is difficult for the population to accede to these sources, that higher level professionals do not perform their function as sources of information on a daily basis, and that upgrading of knowledge of technicians and bachelors should be extended along with their greater participation in events and in article publication. There were no significant differences between the number of surveyed people that stated resorting to personal sources of information or responding to consultations by phone and those who daily combine both methods to provide information on drugs.


The value and authority of advance directives such as the living will and the durable power of attorney are discussed, as well as the dangers of loss of personal identity and psychological continuity that these directives present. Differing theories of the degree of psychological continuity necessary for the preservation of personal identity are examined, concluding with the author's "compromise position" that cases of permanent unconsciousness and neurological dementia destroy some of the preconditions for personhood and thereby negate the choice between respecting the wishes of the formerly competent person and the new, different person's life because such beings are not persons at all.


Immune responses of invertebrate animals are mediated through innate mechanisms, amongwhich phagocytosis, encapsulation, production of ROS and antimicrobial peptides. Althoughpolychetes represent an evolutionary interesting group closely related to presumable common ancestor of other celomates, their immune mechanisms still remain scarcely investigated. Here we discuss immune responses of the polychete Arenicola marina, the lugworm. Besides an overview of diversity of celomocytes and cellular responses, we present the synopsis on antimicrobial peptides arenicins: their structure, function and therapeutic potential.


Results: Mean age of adolescent girls was 13.77± 2.42. Among the 480 adolescent girls covered in the study 72.5% were found to be anemic. Prevalence of mild and moderate anemia among adolescent girls was 34.19% and 65.81% respectively. Study found significant association of anemia with socioeconomic status , type of family, father's occupation, father's education, mothers education and mothers occupation.


During a recent examination of the lead-mines of Derbyshire, I was interested in some accounts of explosions which had taken place, which were not due either to any material used by the workmen or to fire-damp. Though at first inclined to believe that the accounts were exaggerated, I soon found that not only was the evidence of such explosions having constituted a real danger to the men overwhelming, but that accidents are still liable to occur from this cause. The explosions are connected with the structure known as slickenside in the veins.


DIFFERENCES in the amount of reported drug use among adolescent respondents in studies conducted in school and at home by our research group at Columbia University raised the question of possible response bias because of the setting of the interview. In a 1971 study among students in 18 high schools, the average level of reported use of marijuana and other illicit drugs was greater in every school studied than the reported use in a small-scale national representative household sample survey of youngsters twelve to seventeen years old completed the same year. Among the 18 high schools, the proportion of students reporting any use of marijuana ranged from a low of 23 percent in one school to a high of 58 percent in another. But in the national sample survey, only 15 percent reported such use (Elinson et al. 1977: Sections 3 and 7). Several possible explanations may account for the difference in results. One is that the 18 schools were not selected to represent all United States high schools. Indeed, some were purposely chosen because drug use was thought to be especially prevalent among their students. Another explanation involves age differences in the two samples. In the study of high schools, approximately 5 percent of the students were over the age of seventeen. Since older youth report using more drugs than those younger (Elinson et al.), this may account for some of the differences in results.


The situation in which the tourism industry currently finds itself is forcing increased monitoring of the available tourism opportunities in the various territories of the country. Comprehensive state support within the existing crisis, including the creation of a new National Project "Tourism and Hospitality", offers additional opportunities for the development of domestic tourism. The North-West region (NWFD), with its impressive tourism potential, needs to increase the activity of all participants in the tourism market towards maximizing its opportunities to attract travelers. The article provides an overview of the main research results on the current state of tourism in the NWFD: the development level of transport and hotel infrastructure, the involvement of the territories in various promotion projects, the popularity level of the regions among tourists. Special emphasis was made on a number of promising regions of the district. The article also presents the conclusions of the authors' SWOT analysis. Recommendations are made in the conclusion.


It was the purpose of this study to determine whether one or a combination of adult readability formulas, when applied to shorthand dictation material, could predict
difficulty, as well as to develop a shorthand formula for this specific purpose. In addition, the questions of comparative reliability and practicability were tested
with respect to the two kinds of formulas as applied to the shorthand material.


Context and Challenges In spite of the documented significant benefits of a child's positive relationship with books and reading, international studies show low levels of reading habits, attitudes, and motivation among young readers (Gallagher; Karakitsios; Krashen). The situation in Cyprus and Greece is quite discouraging (ΕΚΕΒΙ, 2010) as reading education seems to be limited to formulaic teaching/learning and evaluation, through reading activities that are mainly concerned with the acquisition of knowledge and skills and not so much with the development of reading engagement (Katsiki-Givalou; Panaou). Within the Greek-Cypriot context, literature has its own separate curriculum throughout primary education, distinguishing it from language teaching and learning. This separate curriculum emphasizes the importance of literature in modern schools and showcases the value of literature on its own merit. As is usually the case, though, what actually takes place in schools looks quite different. The majority of elementary school teachers only occasionally incorporate literary texts other than the ones included in their Language Arts textbooks, and only to enhance their language units rather than for the sake of literature itself. And while the development of reading engagement is identified as a central aim in the Literature Curriculum, schools usually only devote one or two weeks per school year to it. It should be noted here that during the 2016–2017 school year, the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture set reading promotion as an emphasized yearlong goal across all Cyprus elementary schools; while this was a commendable effort, it was abandoned the very next year. Some possible reasons for the disjuncture between official policy and practice could be the lack of guidance and support for the teachers, the lack of relevant materials and school infrastructures (e.g., school libraries), unclear expectations regarding the texts and practices to be incorporated, and the lack of professional development of literature in education (Panaou).


Context: The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI) and World Health Organization (WHO) recommended the use of pentavalent vaccine in developing countries to replace the DPT vaccine. The underlying reason was to be able to increase the uptake of the hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza b vaccines in these countries. It is important to study the adverse events associated with the pentavalent vaccine, as it has been part of the national paediatric immunization schedule of India since 2014. Aim: To study & compare Adverse Events Following Immunization before and after introduction of pentavalent vaccine in children under seven years of age. Settings and Design: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in District immunization office of a metropolitan city. Methods and Material: Detailed records of 61 reported cases from District immunization office of a metropolitan city Statistical analysis used : SPSS version 22.0. Results: After introduction of pentavalent vaccine most frequent presentations were pain (36.1%), fever (36.1%), febrile seizures (30.5%), seizures other than febrile (22.2%) and local swelling (16.67%). In the groups before and after introduction of pentavalent vaccine respectively, 03 (12.0%) and 06 (16.7%) cases died, out of these 06 deaths, 04 (66.7%) were directly due to pentavalent vaccine. Conclusions: There was an increase in unexplained deaths after introduction of pentavalent vaccine (Age group – 0 -24 months). Hence, it is recommended that rigorous research should be conducted to increase the investigations and reporting of AEFI cases associated with pentavalent vaccine.


In this paper,we investigate the capacity degradation due to the coexistence of WCDMA and CDMA2000 net-works by system-level Monte Carlo simulation.Both systems are simulated according to the deployment of macro cells,andspeech service is considered.The capacity losses under different carrier spacing and different geographical offset are evalu-ated.Simulation results show that considerable capacity loss is seen when WCDMA is the victim system,while the influ-ence of WCDMA to CDMA2000 is slight.Increasing carrier-to-carrier spacing and decreasing geographical offset lead toless capacity loss and co-locating the base stations of both systems is a preferred solution.


1. The genome consists of three segments of single-stranded RNA of 0.6-0.7x 1Q6Da (S), 1.5-1.9 x 1Q6Da (M), and 4.1-4.9 x 1Q6Da (L); these values correspond approximately to 1. 7 -2.0, 4.3-6.3, and 12-14 kb (Clerx et a1., 1981; Watret and Elliott, 1985; Ward et a1., 1990).


India faces a grave health care burden due to the high prevalence of type 2 diabetes and its sequalae. Epidemiological data from different parts of the country show a rising prevalence of diabetes in the urban areas. A national study in 2000 AD showed that the prevalence in urban adults aged ≥ 20 years was 12.1%. Onset of diabetes occurs at a younger age in Indians, giving ample time for development of the chronic vascular complications. Moreover, impaired glucose tolerance (IGTj, which is a forerunner of diabetes, is also increasing, especially among the younger population. There is a wide urban-rural difference in the prevalence of diabetes indicating a major role for urbanization in the causation of the disease. Indians are also susceptible to the major complications related to diabetes like coronary artery disease, neuropathy, nephropathy and retinopathy. Prevalence of the complications is higher in low socio-economic groups due to lack of good control of glycaemia and hypertension and also due to behavioural factors. The direct and indirect costs involved in the treatment of the chronic disease especially when associated with the vascular complications are enormous. There is an urgent need to implement preventive measures to reduce the high morbidity and mortality and also to reduce the cost burden to the patients and to the society.


Objective
To investigate dose escalation by metabolic sub-volume based on standard uptake values (SUV) gradient of pre-treatment positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) radiotherapy.

Methods
The pre-treatment 18F-FDG PET/CT images of 29 patients with locally advanced NSCLC were analyzed retrospectively. Gross tumor volume (GTV) was delineated on the PET/CT fusion images. Tumor metabolic sub-volume was segmented according to the threshold of 50% and 75% maximum standard uptake values (SUVmax). The region that under 50% SUVmax was defined as GTV1. From 50% to 75% SUVmax was defined as GTV2, and over 75% SUVmax was defined as GTV3. PTV (planning target volume), PTV1, PTV2 and PTV3 were extended from GTV, GTV1, GTV2 and GTV3, and different plans were designed subsequently. Plan 1 was designed for PTV with prescription dose 60 Gy, and Plan 2 was designed for PTV1, PTV2 and PTV3 with prescription dose 60-66 Gy, 66-72 Gy and≥72 Gy, respectively. The dosimetric parameters between tumor target and organs at risk (OARs) were compared.

Results
Compared to Plan 1, the absorbed dose in Plan 2 that covers 2% volume of the PTV (D2) was increased from 66.5 Gy to 78.5 Gy and the dose was escalated by about 23.2%. The average dose of PTV1, PTV2 and PTV3 increased by 2.8% (62.7-64.4 Gy), 10.3% (63.5-70.0 Gy), 18.7% (63.8-75.8 Gy), and the average dose of PTV increased by 8.9% (63.2-68.8 Gy). The sub-regional dose had been effectively improved. There was no significant difference in target coverage between Plan 1 and Plan 2 (P>0.05). Homogeneity index(HI) was decreased with the escalation of maximum dose for Plan 2(t=23.3, P 0.05).

Conclusions
Dose escalation based on metabolic sub-volume from 18F-FDG PET/CT was feasible, and radiation dose escalation of sub-volume with high metabolic activity can be achieved without increasing the OARs dose.

Key words:
Dose escalation; Non-small cell lung cancer; Sub-volume; 18F-FDG PET/CT; Radiotherapy


Slug tests offer a quick and inexpensive field method of obtaining localized permeability values. The most commonly used method of interpreting slug test data by Black (1978) requires considerable engineering judgement, and can potentially lead to inconsistency in its application. One of the inconsistencies is usually in the estimation of the initial excess head; the proposed Translation Method offers a way of reducing the inconsistency. Another inconsistency can result from the subjective process of matching actual data with published type curves of expected well response in different aquifers. It is proposed that a standard numerical method should be employed for consistent application and automation of this process. The development of these procedures has led to the implementation of an interactive software package that allows the consistent application of slug test analysis at a lower cost.


one of the special branches of surgery. By virtue his varied experience and sympathetic understanding ?f the little patient, the author is well qualified i?' this difficult undertaking. The reader will be delights with the motto of this book, which reads 'In corpoie pueri non est locus chirurgi violentaeIt was tne author's intention to present a volume, neither ency^0? psedic nor compendial in character, but of practical value to the psediatric surgeon. The reader will soon discover that the result has more than justified the attempt. The text of the book has been divided into nine parts each consisting of well indicated sections, making for easy reading and quick reference. The author has been ably assisted by his colleagues in the writing 0 chapters on special subjects. There is no doubt that anaesthesia in children requires great skill an discrimination. On this subject the contribution 01 Dr. Drysdale Buchanan is both interesting and up to date. Dr. Lester TJnger has written the chapter ?P ' blood transfusion' with the authority that his expei'i"


Emerging trends in computer design and use are likely to make exceptions, once rare, the norm, especially as the system size grows. Due to exceptions, arising from hardware faults, approximate computing, dynamic resource management, etc., successful and error-free execution of programs may no longer be assured. Yet, designers will want to tolerate the exceptions so that the programs execute completely, efficiently and without external intervention. Modern computers easily handle exceptions in sequential programs, using precise interrupts. But they are ill-equipped to handle exceptions in parallel programs, which are growing in prevalence. In this work we introduce the notion of globally precise-restartable execution of parallel programs, analogous to precise-interruptible execution of sequential programs. We present a software runtime recovery system based on the approach to handle exceptions in suitably-written parallel programs. Qualitative and quantitative analyses show that the proposed system scales with the system size, especially when exceptions are frequent, unlike the conventional checkpoint-and-recovery method.


e20746 Background: Purpose of this paper is to prevent the peristomal skin excoriations. So far there has not been any permanent solution for this complication. Approximately 45% of patients with stoma suffer from this problem and are told to learn to live with it. It is important to understand the pathogenesis of any complication before a solution can be found. The excoriation results from digestion of the epithelium by enzymes in the mucus flowing out of the stoma. The liquid contents of the feces, because of their physical property, run along the mesenteric border of the intestine which is shorter than the anti-mesenteric border. This is complicated by bacterial contamination present in feces. It is essential to have intact mucosa all around the stoma. Skin is less resistant to bacterial invasion when compared with mucosa. When peristalsis starts, it tends to pull the mesenteric corner of the stoma inside the peritoneal cavity. This will continue till the mesenteric corner comes to the skin level. At this point there is no mucosa to protect and the liquid intestinal contents, instead of dropping in the bag leak over the skin and start digesting the epithelium. To change the mechanics of peristalsis, it is necessary to separate the mucosal (inner) tube from the serous (outer) tube. Once this is achieved, the peristalsis affects only the serous tube and has no effect on the mucus tube which forms the lumen of the stoma. This results in a 360 degree mucosal protection of the stoma.

METHODS
Delayed-Primary Self-Maturation a technique of constructing stoma described by Phadke was utilized in constructing all ileostomies and colostomies. Primary maturation of stoma is avoided. The stoma is left obstructed with staples. It is opened with electro-cautery only after good peristalsis has returned. The opening is at the anti-mesenteric corner. Mucosal cuff protrudes and is pushed by peristalsis. It everts and debrides the eschar of serositis, exposing the granulation tissue. The cuff rolls out and auto-grafts over the granulation tissue. The margins of the cuff come in contact with dermis of the opening in skin and complete the maturation process.

RESULTS
63 Colostomies and 17 Ileostomies were constructed using this technique. All complications were prevented.

CONCLUSIONS
DPSM technique will prevent peristomal skin excoriations and all other complications. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


Since the beginning of computer-based application development and implementation, the provision of stable application system performance has been and continues to be a significant and problematic issue. Poor performance is frequently a source of end user dissatisfaction and reflects on the entire quality of service delivered by IT. Maintaining stable application performance requires an effective ongoing management process that begins with accurate and objective measurements: including measurements of resource usage, application workload activity, and the service or response time delivered. However, end-to-end and component service measurements are not currently part of most Client/Server and Web application architectures.
To address the issues described above, we develop a framework for end-to-end and component response time measurement, establish a flexible service measurement infrastructure/tool-set called ARTMS (Application Response Time Management System), and evaluate three uses of service measurement information. We make the following specific research contributions: (1) Design and implement end-to-end transaction and component correlation using a self-identifying tagged (embedded) packet based correlation communication. We consider multiple alternative designs, implement, and measure results. (2) Design, implement and test a class of adaptive algorithms that respond to service measurement feedback using potential extensions to the ARM API to facilitate communication between the application and the infrastructure. (3) Design, implement and test several new algorithms for rapid problem diagnosis using service and resource measurement feedback.
In summary, this research examines and develops a standard methodology based upon the ARM (Application Response Measurement) API to implement ubiquitous end-to-end and component service measurements. Moreover, this research evaluates the methodology's effectiveness by exploring three exploitations of the measurements: Adaptive Applications, Adaptive Infrastructures, and Rapid Performance Problem Diagnosis.


This article is devoted to learning long traditions of Surkhan valley agriculture. It was proved by ethnographical field materials and archive documents in this article that Surkhan valley was surrounded by mountains covering 3 sides, only southern side was open to Amu-Darya, and this geographical position was very comfortable for agriculture. It was scientifically determined that Surkhan valley was not only high-tempered area, but also very convenient land with sunny weather. New kinds of the crops of Surkhan valley agriculture were augmented according to local position at the period of Bukhara emirate. Creating special kinds of land products and cereals suitable for valley climate were written based on archive sources. Changes happening on sowing crops in the valley influencing political, economic and ethnographical processes resulted by Bukhara emirate's being dependent to Russian empire were given based on scientific literature, archive materials, and statistics. As well as stretching cotton-growing lands, traditions of agriculture, and transformation processes were analyzed by many historical-ethnographical sources for this time.


The ATLAS experiment at the LHC in Geneva uses a complex and highly distributed Trigger and Data Acquisition system, involving a very large number of computing nodes and custom modules. The configuration of the system is specified by schema and data in more than 1000 XML files, with various experts responsible for updating the files associated with their components. Maintaining an error free and consistent set of XML files proved a major challenge. Therefore a special service was implemented; to validate any modifications; to check the authorization of anyone trying to modify a file; to record who had made changes, plus when and why; and to provide tools to compare different versions of files and to go back to earlier versions if required. This paper provides details of the implementation and exploitation experience, that may be interesting for other applications using many human-readable files maintained by different people, where consistency of the files and traceability of modifications are key requirements.


This academic article reviews the air transport in Thailand, specifically the situation and the outlook. The authors surveyed and collect the data from secondary sources both internally and internationally including the public sector annual report, private, and academicians. The situation has been predicted into three phase cases including; best case scenario, moderate, and worst-case scenario. Additionally, the service quality, the reskills and upskills for employee acquiring new skills, the organization transformation, and the technology adaptation are required. More importantly, the health safety plan and policies of air carriers shall be implemented and communicate to the public to assure their safe journey. Meanwhile, the adoption of technology could also minimize the repetitive work and human contact but it could provide new air travel experiences. The earliest the air transport industry was revitalized; it means the socioeconomic improvement.


This dissertation examines how German-American and German-Canadian Lutherans in St. Louis, Missouri, and Waterloo County, Ontario, constructed their ethnic identities from the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 to 1970. Did German Lutherans understand their ethnicity as an identity to overcome, or as an identity worth preserving? What role did religion and race play in how they constructed their ethnic identities? It argues that German Lutherans in the Missouri and Canada Synods constructed a hybrid identity that sought to balance their competing ethnic, religious, racial, and national identities. It charts their experiences negotiating discrimination during the Second World War, their efforts to bring German immigrants to North America through lobbying for immigration policy changes, and their struggles to resist pressures to assimilate throughout the postwar period. Contrary to popular assumptions, German Lutherans did not abandon their ethnic identities during the twentieth century, but rather continued to practice a German ethnic identity within the ethnic boundary zones of their churches. They continued to justify speaking German as a theological necessity, formed alliances with new German refugees and displaced persons to continue their ethnic traditions, and resisted exclusionary mainstream Anglo-Canadian and American nationalisms by advocating for a pluralistic understanding of their past through cultural and commemorative events. By drawing on developments in critical race theory and whiteness studies, this dissertation argues that "whiteness" or a white racial identity is essential for understanding how German Lutherans constructed an ethnic identity. While it was controversial during and after the Second World War to openly identify as German, German Lutherans successfully mitigated these stigmas through their white privilege and ability to form political alliances with white government officials. Moreover, German Lutherans maintained an ethnic identity because they excluded other immigrants and racialized North Americans from attending their congregations by supporting Jim Crow segregation. By keeping their churches white, they were also able to keep their churches "German." This study urges immigration historians to look more closely at how whiteness and ethnicity in the twentieth century reinforce, rather than replace, one another.


According to related research findings,this paper chooses indicators of quantity,quality and ecology to establish an evaluation index system for forest land security.By using factor analysis,it calculated indicators weight and made comprehensive evaluation.The findings show:(1)the forest land resources basically remained secure in 2001,2004,2006 and 2010in Heilongjiang province,which indicates good service function of forest land resources at work,relatively stable ecological system,and relatively less economic and social security problems;(2)quantity and quality indicators are the decisive factors affecting the security of forest land resources.Though the ecological security has a little impact on the security of forest land resources,its continuous deterioration will have negative effects in terms of quantity and quality on the security of forest land resources,at last.So some effective measures should be taken to guarantee and improve the ecological security for sustainable improvement of the forest land security in Heilongjiang Province.


The classical dynamics and corresponding semiclassical quantum spectra are studied in a classically nonintegrable three-spin system with antiferromagnetic exchange coupling. The statistical average of the local curvatures of the energy diagram, i.e., that of second-order differences of eigenvalues, shows a scaling behavior when the inverse spin magnitude is decreased towards 0. The quasifractal feature of the energy diagram is suggested as a promising indicator of the quantum version of classical chaos.


N-Benzylidene-t-butylamine oxide (PBN), N-benzylideneaniline oxide (DPN), and 2,3,5,6-tetraraethylnitrosobenzene (ND) trap phenyl radicals in a relative rate of 1 : 0.72 : 2.6, whereas they trap phenylcyclohexadienyl radicals in a relative rate of 1 : 2.3 : 130. The origin of such different spin-trapping abilities of these spin traps towards phenylcyclohexadienyl radicals is discussed.


The influence of the family environment on child survival is difficult to study using retrospective data especially in contexts where family structures are complex and where children are mobile. Data from a follow-up survey in rural Mali (1976-2009) are used here to address this question. Several indicators are constructed to test the effect of family structures on child mortality: morphology of the domestic group availability of family resources the childs place in the family and the presence of his or her parents. Bivariate and multivariate analyses find no difference in child mortality across different family environments. This finding suggests that the family and social networks still play a powerful role in regulating and managing risks of unequal treatment and care of children.


substantially reformed for decades, and the need to redesign nursing education for quality and safety is of paramount concern to the nursing discipline.2 The dedicated education unit (DEU) evolved as an academic-service partnership model with the potential to enhance the relevance and authenticity of undergraduate nursing clinical experiences. The DEU model involves a restructuring of the partnerships among hospital leaders, direct care nurses, nursing faculty, and nursing students. In the nursing units utilized for this study, college and university nursing faculty are integrated and physically available for oversight, and direct care nurses provide direct supervision and direction of student learning. Each direct care nurse accepts a patient assignment in partnership with two nursing students. Direct care nurses role model and support contemporary nursing practice for the students; faculty role model and support theoretical integration and evidence. The organizational change involved in implementing the DEU, including changing the role of the direct care nurse, requires careful management planning and implementation.3 Temporary drops in patient satisfaction with the onset of the DEU may occur as direct care nurses expand their roles and duties. Current evidence supports that the DEU experience is beneficial to nursing students, nursing faculty, and nurse preceptors.4-15 However, little evidence and documentation exist to guide nurse managers and hospital nurse leaders regarding the relationship between the implementation of nursing DEU units and patient satisfaction over time. In this healthcare environment of rising costs, sustainability of the DEU model will be achieved only if additional outcomes can support a financial return on investment and a positive impact on the quality of the patient-care experience.


Imperanene, a novel phenolic compound [1] has been isolated from Imperata cylindrica. Its structure was elucidated by spectroscopic evidence. Imperanene showed platelet aggregation inhibitory activity.


Abstract Experimentally, it appears that, over a fixed domain, the mean areal rain rate and the fractional area covered by rain exceeding a fixed threshold are highly correlated. It leads to methods for estimating mean areal rain rates, hereafter called threshold methods, which will be discussed in this paper. A mathematical framework based on the decomposition of the rain rate above a given threshold as the product of two random functions will be developed. These functions are the nonzero rain rate and a binary function set to one if the intensity is higher than a threshold τ and zero if this is not the case. Then two theoretical values of the correlation between the mean areal rainfall and the percentage of surface where rainfall is higher than τ will be put forward. The first one assumes independence between the mean of the rainfall above a given threshold on the area where it rains more than this threshold and the percentage of surface covered by this rainfall. The second takes into account a linear r...


At R.G. Kar Medical College Hospital, Calcutta, 10 cases of septic abortion from 1975-1977 were studied. Hysterectomies were preformed on 4 cases due to emergency situations including traumatised uterine fundus and perforated cervix, and on 6 cases after conservative treatment. Upon performing laparotomy in 9 cases, a uterine rent was detected; in 1 case there was a perforation in the posterior wall of the cervix, and in 5 cases mechanical obstructions due to internal adhesions to the uterine rent were found. 4 patients died primarily because of the patients seeking help too late. It is suggested that under high risk circumstances, laparotomy is advantageous to conservative medical management since bowel injuries and mechanical obstructions can only be detected by laparotomy. Radical surgery, however, should be undertaken before the patients general condition deteriorates to the point that the patient cannot tolerate surgical intervention.


Absorption spectra of the glasses Ag 28 Ga 28 Ge 532 Er 2 S 1123 and Ag 12 Ga 12 Ge 228 Er 2 S 483 in the 450–1050 nm range at room temperature were investigated. PL bands with maxima at 980 and 1540 nm were recorded under laser excitation with 800 nm wavelength. PL emission mechanism is analyzed from energy transfer processes, taking into account partial cluster formation of erbium ions and energy transition diagram of Er 3+ .


Submitted for the MAR09 Meeting of The American Physical Society Mesoscopic fluctuations in the spin-electric susceptibility due to Rashba spin-orbit interaction MATHIAS DUCKHEIM, DANIEL LOSS, Department of physics, University of Basel — Spin-orbit interaction enables the control of the spin with electric fields in non-magnetic semiconductors. The orbital transport processes generating the internal fields that are necessary for this control are typically described as classical diffusive drift. In contrast, when this orbital motion is phase coherent, typical mesoscopic effects occur not only in transport but also in the spin dynamics. We investigate mesoscopic fluctuations in the spin polarization generated by a static electric field and by Rashba spin-orbit interaction in a disordered 2D electron gas. In a diagrammatic approach we find that the out-of-plane polarization while being zero for self-averaging systems exhibits large sample-tosample fluctuations which are shown to be within experimental reach. We evaluate the disorder-averaged variance of the susceptibility and find its dependence on magnetic field, spin-orbit interaction, dephasing, and chemical potential difference. [M. Duckheim and D. Loss, Phys. Rev. Lett.(in print), arXiv:0805.4143v1]. Mathias Duckheim Department of physics, University of Basel Date submitted: 07 Dec 2008 Electronic form version 1.4


The article presents the comparative effect of hepatoprotective drugs (heptral, mexidol and methyluracil) on the expression of the HMOX1 gene in toxic liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ). Studies were performed on 70 male white outbred rats. Changes in the expression of the HMOX1 gene were more pronounced 72 hours after administration of CCl  4 . However, under the influence of drugs, changes in expression multiplicity were most marked after 24 hours. The expression of the HMOX1 gene increased in response to all these treatments. The most pronounced response was obtained with the use of oxymethyluracil. Thus, under the toxic action of CCl 4  hepatoprotective drugs enhanced protective and adaptive mechanisms, inducing the activity and expression of the  HMOX1 gene.


The infection of livestock animals with the parasite Fasciola gigantica causes economic loss due to mortality, weight loss, reduced productivity and poor milk production. An effective vaccine to overcome these problems would be a viable alternative to the currently used drugs. Leucine aminopeptidase (LAP) plays an important role in the parasite's biology, such as in processing, maturation, activation or degradation of substrates and is, therefore, considered as a candidate for development of a vaccine. In the presented work the protein coding fragment of a FgLAP cDNA was subcloned into the pThioHisB bacterial expression vector. Recombinant FgLAP was expressed and purified from Escherichia coli TOP10. The purified rFgLAP has and will be used in further studies such as proteolytic activity assays, immunohistochemistry and vaccine development. FgLAP protein- and DNAbased immunization trials have been performed in mice to test the antigen's vaccine potential. In addition to the recombinant FgLAP, a complex of synthetic FgLAP peptides (spFgLAP) was designed from the active site of FgLAP and has also been used for protein-based immunization. DNA-based immunization has been performed with the pSecTag2A mammalian expression vector containing the FgLAP coding DNA.