Since JpGU Biogeoscience Section was established on 2010, we are continuously holding international session in collaboration with EGU. This session aims to discuss ecological and environmental information through geochemical data of proxy organisms, such as calcifier or silicifier. We encourage to carry out both biological and goescientific approaches. I will shed light on foraminiferal biodiversity and its application to environmental proxies. Planktonic foraminifers have been employed in paleoceanographic studies due to two major characters: wide geographic distributions of species and chemical composition of their calcareous shells, which reflect temperature and chemistry of ambient seawater. Accumulating phylogeographic knowledge, high genetic diversity of planktonic foraminifers has been known today and these genetically isolated species are distributed in narrower geographic area than we expected. The previous studies re-established temperature dependences of genetic types according to the pattern of their geographic distributions in many area. Moreover, genetic differentiation among geographically distant populations examined the role of ocean currents in dispersal of planktonic foraminifers. In order to improve the use of planktonic foraminifers as ocean environmental indicators, understanding ecological characters of genetic types is a crucial issue. In the previous studies for molecular phylogenetic analyses, living specimens of planktonic foraminifers were collected at each site as occasion arises. The present study therefore collected samples every month for 1 and half years at same location, the Tosa Bay, where the branch of the Kuroshio Current reaches. We focused on G l o b i g e r i n o i d e s r u b e r , the most commonly used species for paleoceanography, and found this morphospecies during the whole years in the study area. Four genetic types are detected throughout our survey, though the frequency of each type varied at each sampling time. We demonstrate the effect of external environment to productivity of planktonic foraminifers by analyzing the relationship among water-temperature, chlorophyll concentration, and frequency of genetic types. We furthermore test whether the distance from the main path of the Kuroshio Current is efficiently caused to transport a population of specific genetic type. These examinations provide us the exact information to address seasonal variation of planktonic foraminifers at genetic-type level. Planktonic foraminifera are marine single celled eukaryotes that are found globally in the ocean. They construct calcite shells that accumulate in the sediment and are used for micropaleontological studies to reconstruct past climate conditions. Modern planktonic foraminifera have been classified into about 40 species on the basis of morphological characteristics of their calcite shell. Molecular investigations however uncovered an unexpectedly high cryptic genetic diversity within these morphospecies, implying that their biodiversity has been largely underestimated. These cryptic species show distinct biogeographic distribution patterns and ecological adaptations. Therefore, understanding the extent of genetic diversity within a morphospecies as well as the ecological adaptations of its cryptic species is highly important in order to enhance the applicability of foraminifera as proxies in micropaleontological studies. We are applying a single cell approach to survey the extent of cryptic diversity within the SSU rDNA of individual morphospecies and to examine the biogeography, habitats and ecological adaptations of cryptic species. In addition, we are trying to establish a connection between genetic diversity and morphological variability of the calcite shells by morphometric analysis in order to taxonomically revise the morphospecies and to create a connection between living specimens and the fossil record. Major groups of foraminifers precipitate calcium carbonate and form calcareous shells with unique and complicate structure. One characteristic structure is a spine, covering the exterior surface of the shells. These shells and spines are though to have a function for the protection of the cell from predators or for the prop to extend the pseudopodia. However, in other organisms (e.g., land plants), calcareous crystals play a role for increasing light intensity into the photosynthetic tissue more efficiency by scattering light. Our question is what are ecological functions of the shell and spines of calcareous crystals in foraminifers. Large benthic foraminifers (e.g., C a l ca r i n a ) are the dominant species in the tropical reef waters, where is under exposure of strong light with nutrient depletion. They harbor a vast amount of photosynthetic symbionts inside the cell and utilize these symbionts for uptake recycle-nutrients to survive in the oligotrophic waters. Morphologically, C a l ca r i n a have blunt spines, which help to spread the pseudopodia, extended in a single circle round a central axis. Their pseudopodia attach to the basement, and avoid to be flowed over by tidal wave. However, our knowledge to ecological function of calcareous spines of C a l ca r i n a is still limited. We investigated the crystal orientation of calcareous spines of C a l ca r i n a g a ud i c h a ud ii by using Electron Back Scatter Diffraction (EBSD) analysis. Calcareous crystals are arranged horizontally to the axis of the spine in the center and gradually vent to the edge. This orientation of calcareous crystals makes a pathway of light through spines to the interior of the shell. Our finding suggests that calcareous spines of C . g a ud i c h a ud ii have ecological function to focus light into the cell and promote photosynthesis of their harboring symbionts. For the study of biomineralization, the mollusc Pinctada fucata is arguably an attractive genetic model system, with its draft genome sequence having been deciphered recently. It produces two crystallographically different shell layers, including the industrially important nacreous layer. We are interested in developing knock-out pearl oysters to analyze the functions of shell matrix proteins, the key players in biomineralization processes, including the unusually acidic protein Aspein. In this study, the widely used Minos transposon system is applied to generate insertional mutagenesis. The first step in developing transposons as tools for mutagenesis is to demonstrate their mobile elements function efficiently and stably in the target organism. Therefore, green fluorescent protein (GFP) is integrated into the transposon to reflect its efficiency. Algal symbiont-bearing large benthic foraminifers are primary and carbonate producers as well as paleoenvironmental indi-cators in tropical and subtropical reef environments. Despite their importance, their cellular physiology is not well known. In the present study, we have developed methods to observe in vivo images of a living symbiotic porcelaneous large foraminifer, Amphisorus kudakajimensis. The Nikon A1 confocal laser scanning microscope with Calcein-AM was used as a fluorescent in-dicator for visualizing the morphology and streaming of cytoplasm in living A. kudakajimensis. The observations indicated that the cytoplasmic density decreased and reticulopodia were formed at the aperture in the marginal part of intrashell cytoplasm. We also observed vesicles with elevated pH (pH 9.0) and lowered pH (pH 6.0) in reticulopodia-like cytoplasms using a pH-sensitive probe molecule, 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (HPTS). The present study demonstrates the use of confocal microscopy in studying cytoplasmic dynamics and the initial calcification processes such as seawater endocytosis and alkalization of seawater vacuoles. Calcifying organisms, such as pteropods, bivalves, corals and foraminifera provide a rich resource for pale-oceanographers and ?climatologists because their geochemical make-up (proxies) can be used to reconstruct past ocean history and evolution during and after natural carbon perturbations. However, it has been shown for all geochemical proxies that the main assumption of only one environmental variable controlling a target proxy is too simple. Empirical calibrations introduce a lot of uncertainty because the mechanisms of proxy incorporation are not well understood. The major problem is that the calcification mechanisms are still a black box. In this presentation I will review our current understanding of calcification and proxy incorporation in foraminifera, specifically with respect to the impact of carbonate chemistry and the new opportunities arising from this. Specimens of the patellogastropod limpet P a t e ll acae r u l ea were collected within and outside a CO 2 vent site at Ischia, Italy. The shells were sectioned transversally and scanned for polymorph distribution by means of confocal Raman microscopy. Minor element to calcium ratios were measured using laser-ablation-inductively-coupledplasma-mass-spectroscopy (LA-ICPMS). Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, and Li/Ca ratios were determined in calcitic as well as aragonitic parts of the shells. This approach allows for investigating the effects of the polymorph and the seawater carbonate chemistry on minor element partitioning separately. Foraminifera are marine unicellular organism responsible for approximately 50% of today's ocean calcium carbonate produc-tion, which implies that they play a considerable role in the global carbon cycle in ocean chemistry. However, we have not fully understood how their calcifications proceed and change their chemical environment. To understand the calcification process, we investigate the dynamics of the pH around the foraminifer. The visualized spatial pH distribution shows that the calcification accompanies a rapid decrease of the surrounding pH, which implies that the calcification accompanies active proton pumping. The resultant spatial pH distribution is used to estimate the flux of proton r


We study D-brane inspired models with U(3)xU(2)xU(1){sup N} gauge symmetry in the context of split supersymmetry. We consider configurations with one, two and three (N=1,2,3) Abelian branes and derive all hypercharge embeddings which imply a realistic particle content. Then, we analyze the implications of split supersymmetry on the magnitude of the string scale, the gauge coupling evolution, the third family fermion mass relations and the gaugino masses. We consider gauge coupling relations which may arise in parallel as well as intersecting brane scenarios and classify the various models according to their predictions for the magnitude of the string scale and the low energy implications. In the parallel brane scenario where the U(1) branes are superposed to U(2) or U(3) brane stacks, varying the split-SUSY scale in a wide range, we find three distinct cases of models predicting a high, intermediate and low string scale, M{sub S}{approx}10{sup 16} GeV, M{sub S}{approx}10{sup 7} GeV and M{sub S}{approx}10{sup 4} GeV, respectively. We further find that in the intermediate string scale model the low energy ratio m{sub b}/m{sub {tau}} is compatible with b-{tau} Yukawa unification at the string scale. Furthermore, we perform a similar analysis for arbitrary Abelian gauge coupling relations at M{sub S}more » corresponding to possible intersecting brane models. We find cases which predict a string scale of the order M{sub S}{>=}10{sup 14} GeV that accommodate a right-handed neutrino mass of the same order so that a seesaw type, light, left-handed neutrino component is obtained in the sub-eV range as required by experimental and cosmological data. Finally, a short discussion is devoted to the gaugino masses and the lifetime of the gluino.« less


An experiment is considered which consists of a series of trials, where at each trial one of two treatments must be used, the outcome, 'success' or 'failure', being known immediately; this is often referred to as a 'two-armed bandit'. It is required to find a rule for choosing a treatment at each trial which meets, as far as possible, two objectives: (a) to maximize the use of the better treatment, and (b) to minimize the probability of wrongly identifying the better treatment at the end of the experiment. A number of such rules are compared using computer simulation and it is found that an easy-to-use rule based on a dynamic allocation index performs well for a wide range of model parameters.


A Spacial Data Model is proposed to represent any kind of environmental samples. The model was based on ISO 5667 (Water Sampling) and ISO 19000 (Geographic I...


The extracellular space of 10 euryhaline southern flounder, Paralichthys lethostigma, was determined with methoxy-H3 inulin. After a single intravenous injection, plasma inulin activity declined in a time-dependent, biphasic manner which could be resolved into two separate rate functions. An initial rapid phase of inulin distribution having an average half-value time of 1.87 h was followed by a slow exponential decline having a half-value time averaging 43.3 h in freshwater-adapted flounder and 119.3 h in marine flounder. The kinetic and net retention space estimates were in close agreement, averaging 15.2% of body weight for freshwater flounder and 16.85% for marine flounder. These figures are consistent with sucrose space estimates of 14.0% for freshwater teleosts and 15.4% for marine teleosts, reported by Thorson (1961). The methoxy-H3 inulin preparation used was shown to be highly stable and to remain unbound in the circulation. However, it penetrated gradually into a non-exchangeable space in kidney ...


This paper studies the distributed non-fragile H∞ consensus problems for linear multi-agent systems with external disturbances and unknown initial disturbances under switching weighted balanced directed topologies. The designed controllers are insensitive to multiplicative controller coefficient variations. Sufficient conditions for the existence of the proposed control strategy are also obtained by using linear matrix inequality (LMI) technique. It is worth mentioning that instead of requiring the coupling strength among neighboring agents to be larger than a threshold value as in previous literature, the coupling strength in this paper can be determined by solving some LMIs. Finally, a numerical example is presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.


A scanning and transmission electron microscopic study of semen collected with the aid of an artificial vagina was carried out. The ultrastructural characteristics of Asiatic bull elephants is compared with that of other mammalian species.


A technique is proposed for implementing parallel tree-like comparator circuits with fan-in constrained gates, exhibiting logarithmic comparison time growth. The technique is based on formulating the binary comparator logic to resemble the carry look ahead logic of the binary adder. The implementation is extended to modular tree comparator networks.


The chaos phase modulation technique is one of the most promising solutions for underwater acoustic communications. Because the signal of this type modulates the phase of the carrier wave with pseudo-noise sequences, its demodulators are subjected to the distortions caused by the multicollinearity among the symbol vector elements. Because of this issue, this paper innovatively adopts partial least square regression into CPM communications to overcome the multicollinearity problem by modeling the relationships between the given predictor and response variables. The simulation experiments demonstrate that our method can provide a lower bit-error ratio compared to the reference algorithms.


A high density programmable logic device (PLD) specifically developed for high performance and for ease of use in production flows is presented. This device is designed on a 0.5 /spl mu/m triple layer metal process to produce a 55 kmil/sup 2/ die size and with the built-in frequency multiplier, allows system performance of up to 140 MHz to be achieved.


In this paper we propose methods that provide explanations for path plans, in particular those that answer questions of the type "why is path A optimal, rather than path B which I expected?". In line with other work in eXplainable AI Planning (XAIP), such explanations could help users better understand the outputs of path planning methods, as well as help debug or iterate the design of planners and maps. By specializing the explanation methods to path planning, using optimizationbased inverse-shortest-paths formulations, we obtain drastic computation time improvements relative to general XAIP methods, especially as the length of the explanations increases. One of the claims of this paper is that such specialization might be required for explanation methods to scale and therefore come closer to real-world usability. We propose and evaluate the methods on largescale navigation meshes, which are representations for path planning heavily used in the computer game industry and robotics.


This research is to investigate the impact of massive open online course (MOOC) learning platforms on teacher development, promote the development and innovation of online learning models under the "Double First-Rate," and especially expand the application of the MOOC platforms combining language learning with professional development paths. The MOOC online learning platform has a problem of a high abandonment rate. This paper first proposes a MOOC learning recommendation algorithm based on the learning sequence and similarity distance analysis as well as evaluates its accuracy. Then, the reliability test and the MOOC learning recommendation algorithm are used to evaluate the quality evaluation system of English teaching in the MOOC utilizing the structural equation model. Finally, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) are determined to analyze the impact of the MOOC regarding the English teaching platform on teachers' comprehensive development. The results show that the MOOC platform-based learning recommendation algorithm has higher recommendation accuracy and efficiency, improving the learning effect with the utilization of the MOOC. Also, it can effectively reduce the abandonment rate and has a positive effect of resolving the interaction problem pertinent to characteristic differences and sequences in the learning recommendation. The quality evaluation system of online English teaching in the MOOC has higher reliability and convergent validity, which shows better stability and consistency in all dimensions. If teachers can actively learn from the resources of the MOOC platform, then they continuously update teaching concepts, improve online teaching, give full play to their language advantages, accurately locate student needs, and develop unique courses. Therefore, it will promote the overall development of their careers and improve innovation.


The present invention relates to a microprocessor (100), which may be configured to include one or more functional units to perform an operation (126), the scheduler configured to issue operations to the functional unit (126) for execution and (118) and at least one replay detection unit. The scheduler (118) may be configured to maintain state information for each operation (606). In other embodiments, such state information (606) may indicate whether the associated operation has completed execution. The replay detection unit may be configured to detect in the scheduler (118) of one of the operations to be reproduced. When the reproduction operation is detected as needed, if the operation of the embodiment currently being executed by one of the functional unit (126), and the playback detection unit is configured to inhibit the update to the operating state information (606) performed in response to this embodiment performs the operation. A plurality of computer systems (900) such embodiments may comprise a microprocessor (100).


15 We propose here a working unit for teaching basic concepts of protein folding and evolution centred 16 around the example of a wooden snake puzzle, strikingly similar to toy models widely used in the 17 literature of protein folding. In our experience, developed at a Master course at the Universidad 18 Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), the concreteness of this example helps to overcome difficulties caused by 19 the interdisciplinary nature of this field and its high level of abstraction, in particular for students 20 coming from traditional disciplines. The puzzle will allow us discussing a simple algorithm for finding 21 folded solutions, through which we will introduce the concept of the configuration space and the 22 contact matrix representation. This is a central tool for comparing protein structures, for studying 23 simple models of protein energetics, and even for a qualitative discussion of folding kinetics, through 24 the concept of the Contact Overlap. It also allows a simple representation of misfolded conformations 25 and their free energy. These concepts, in particular protein structure comparison and the stability of 26 the native state with respect to unfolded and misfolded conformations, will motivate evolutionary 27 questions. We address these questions by simulating a structurally constrained model of protein 28 evolution, again modelled on the snake puzzle. In this way, we can discuss the analogy between 29 evolutionary concepts and statistical mechanics that facilitates the understanding of both concepts. 30 The proposed examples and literature are accessible, and we provide supplementary material to 31 reproduce the numerical experiments. We also suggest possible directions to expand the unit. We hope 32 that this work will further stimulate the adoption of games in teaching practice. 33


This paper summaries the chemical reaction mechanism,precursors and formation of chloroform in vegetables treated with sodium hypochlorite(NaClO) and provides scientific evidence to prevent and reduce harm factors and evaluate the safety of food treated with sodium hypochlorite.


Cellulose is one of attractive natural polysaccharides in nature due to its good chemical stability, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, hydrophilic, and biodegradation properties [1-2]. The main disadvantages of biopolymer films like cellulose are their poor mechanical properties. Modification of polymers with inorganic materials is a new way to improve polymer properties such as mechanical strength [3-4]. Presently, the use of graphene/graphene oxide (GO) in materials research has attracted tremendous attention in the past 40 years in various fields including biomedicine, information technology and nanotechnology[5-7]. Graphene, a single sheet of graphite, has an ideal 2D structure with a monolayer of carbon atoms packed into a honeycomb crystal plane. Using both experimental and theoretical scientific research, researchers including Geim, Rao and Stankovich [8-10] have described the attractiveness of graphene in the materials research field. Due to its sp2 hybrid carbon network as well as extraordinary mechanical, electronic, and thermal properties, graphene has opened new pathways for developing a wide range of novel functional materials. Perfect graphene does not exist naturally, but bulk and solution processable functionalized graphene materials including graphene oxide (GO) can now be prepared [11-13].The large surface area of GO has a number of functional groups, such as -OH, -COOH, -O- , and C=O, which make GO hydrophilic and readily dispersible in water as well as some organic solvents[14] , thereby providing a convenient access to fabrication of graphene-based materials by solution casting. According to several reports [15-17], GO can be dispersed throughout a selected polymer matrix to make GO-based nanocomposites with excellent mechanical and thermal properties. Since GO is prepared from low-cost graphite, it has an outstanding price advantage over CNTs, which has encouraged studies of GO/synthetic polymer composites [18-20]. In some reported papers, graphene oxide has also been used to reinforce polysaccharide matrices such as carboxymethyl cellulose-starch[21]. Here, we report a simple and environmentally benign preparation of GO/cellulose nanocomposite films by a simple solution mixing-curing method.


$q\in N$ is a regular value of both $f$ and $f|_{\partial M}$ , then we call the fiber over $q$ a regular fiber; otherwise, a singular fiber. We define natural equivalence relations among fibers as follows. Let $f_{i}:M_{i}arrow N_{i}$ be $C^{\infty}$ maps with $q_{i}\in N_{i},$ $i=0$ , 1. The fibers over $q_{0}$ and $q_{1}$ are said to be $C^{\infty}$ equivalent (or $C^{0}$ equivalent) if for some open neighborhoods $U_{i}$ of $q_{i}$ in $N_{i}$ , there exist diffeomorphisms (resp. homeomorphisms) $\Phi:f_{0}^{-1}(U_{0})arrow f_{1}^{-1}(U_{1})$ and $\varphi:U_{0}arrow U_{1}$ with $\varphi(q_{0})=q_{1}$ that make the following diagram commutative:


The production of chemicals from biomass is a very challenging process due to its diverse chemical composition. Lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose are the three main biopolymers of wood biomass, with cell walls of plant origin. Lignin has been chosen for the present studies due to its range of different linkages and structures. The present work involved a computational study of the most dominant lignin dimers and their vibrational structures, based on the Density Functional Theory method. Full geometry optimization of the compartments used the StoBe code with cluster model and non-local functional (RPBE) approach. The calculations of the vibrational frequencies were performed with harmonic approximations as well as an anharmonicity fit in the Morse potential function, as implemented in the StoBe code. In the case of lignin, the calculations included three different precursors based on: coumaryl alcohol, coniferyl alcohol and sinapyl alcohol. To represent the cellulose and hemicellulose derivatives, selected aldopentoses and aldohexoses (arabinose, xylose, glucose, galactose, and mannose) were considered. Presented here are the theoretical investigations for a variety of biomass derived compounds, to give the possibility of obtaining a theoretical VBD (Vibrations Basis Database) for experimental spectra interpretation. Such a database could be further used in the preliminary composition assessment of biomass derived substrates, which will be discussed here in more detail.


Abstract:While the Republic of Korea coped well with COVID-19 prior to the development of the vaccines, the major outbreaks of the virus in the country were largely caused and/or facilitated by several controversial Christian groups. There have also been many cases of smaller local churches spreading the virus due to their refusal to follow the government's guidelines for religious gatherings. Meanwhile, major Korean media outlets have mostly focused on cases of uncooperative churches with the short disclaimer 'the majority of Protestant churches are following the rules.' What kind of experiences did those 'cooperative' churches have to go through then? This paper is a micro in-depth case study which explores a megachurch in South Korea that has supported the government's safety measures. It pays particular attention to the church's struggles, perceived challenges and positive discoveries while practicing what can be called 'online Christianity.' It concludes with some theological questions to reflect upon for future Protestant Christianity in a time when religion may always have to be ready to be practiced in a highly technologically mediated fashion.


With the rising cost of electric energy foundrymen are becoming increasingly aware of the renaissance of the cupola as an efficient melting furnace for gray iron. During the past two decades a number of technical innovations have boosted the cupola to the forefront as the economical melting furnace for cast iron. Not only can the cost of molten metal be reduced significantly but metallurgical control can be achieved in ways not considered possible a few years ago. Cupola melting has advanced to new levels of sophistication and efficiency by using the following innovations: hot blast, divided blast, oxygen enrichment, projecting water cooled tuyeres, water cooled shell, improved refractories, increased cupola size, use of a single cupola, improved air cleaning, and duplexing. In the U.S., since 1968, conventional emission control equipment has included afterburners to remove carbon monoxide and oily fumes from the cupola effluent before it passes into the outside air. Unfortunately, afterburners increase operating costs and in addition consume large amounts of natural gas, which is in short supply. If, indeed, the 12 to 15 percent CO content of a normal cold blast cupola could be reduced to 4 percent or less in a properly designed oxygenation zone withinmore » the cupola stack itself, significant savings in energy would be possible. This concept has already been shown to be feasible in a laboratory cupola. Moreover, previous studies have shown that large increases in melting rate or reductions in the coke required to melt a pound of metal are possible for either cold or hot blast cupolas when operated under optimum conditions.« less


Electrodynamic geophones are applied in seismic prospecting, seismology and security systems. Devices with a similar design can be used as a generator in devices for energy storage, in active vibration control systems, and for detection of shallow-buried objects, including mines. To control the quality of geophones and verify the constancy of their characteristics during the manufacture, it is necessary to measure their frequency response on a shake table. The mathematical model of the geophone developed by JSC Scientific Research Engineering Institute (Balashikha, Moscow region) installed on a shake table is considered. The geophone schematic design is given, and the sequence of its operation is described. The approach of dividing an electromechanical system into several subsystems with subsequently uniting them into a resulting model is used for developing the geophone overall mathematical model. Detailed descriptions of the electrical, magnetic, and mechanical subsystems are presented. The assumptions used in compiling the overall mathematical model describing the geophone operation on the shake table are listed. A system of equations describing the interaction of the subsystems is compiled. Detailed descriptions of the resulting mathematical model, each of its element, and the interface included in its composition are presented. To estimate the developed mathematical model, the results obtained from the calculations on it are compared with the results from testing two experimental samples in the geophone operating frequency band from 10 to 100 Hz. For better clarity, the obtained results are compared in graphical form. The comparison has shown that the discrepancy between the results does not exceed 5% by the output signal amplitude. From the viewpoint of practical implementation, the developed mathematical model can be used in designing new geophones with other parameters, for example, with another natural frequency, or with a higher value of the output signal. It can also be used to develop more complex mathematical models containing a geophone. The accomplished study became a basis for elaborating a more complex mathematical model of a geophone with two natural frequencies in the operating band.


High early yields of chili pepper is very important traits to gain economic return for farmers. Developing superior genotypes and using mulches are among promising methods to have high early yields of chili peppers. This experiment aimed to determine (1) early yields of three promising chili-pepper genotypes, (2) effects of mulch types on early yields of chili peppers and (3) the best combination of mulch type and chili pepper genotype for early yields. An experiment was conducted at Ultisol site and designed in a factorial randomized complete block design with three replicates. The first factor was three promising chili pepper genotypes; H23, H53, and H73. The second factor was the types of mulches; black-silver plastic, rice straw, empty palm-oil fruit bunch and no mulch. Early yields were expressed in terms of fruit number per plant, fruit weight per plant (g) and average fruit weight (g). Results indicated that after five harvests, hybrid of H23 was the best genotypes to produce early yields of chili peppers. Fruit number and fruit weight plant of chili pepper grown using both rice straw and empty palm-oil fruit bunch mulches were significantly higher than those of grown using black-silver plastic mulch and control plot. Overall, best average fruit weight early yields of chili peppers was found in hybrid of H23 grown in bare soil.


Forum shopping is permeating litigation in nearly all fields, but nowhere as much, and as freely, as in air law. The complexity and international elements inherent to most air litigation cases have made air law the optimal arena for the practice of forum shopping. It is fostered by legal instruments, with international conventions widely applicable and domestic rules offering multiple jurisdictional options. The use of forum shopping by plaintiffs is understandable: different fora offer different incentives that might be sought after in litigation.
However, this nearly unrestrained autonomy has proven to be problematic. The multiplication of jurisdictional issues, the inflow of claims before a handful of 'attractive' fora, the elongation of court procedures, are just a few of the difficulties that jurisdictions face with the popularization of forum shopping. Judges are not without means to manage this phenomenon. Common law systems may resort to the forum non conveniens, while civil law systems may utilize a certain latitude in interpreting the legal texts in order to decline jurisdiction when the use of forum shopping becomes unreasonable.
Nonetheless, as the phenomenon catches on increasingly in France, more drastic measures might have to be considered in the future.
Forum shopping, France, Jurisdiction, Exclusivity, Abuse


An in vitro assay system that mimics some of the features of in vivo oral methoxsalen photochemotherapy (PUVA) in relation to human lymphoid cells was developed. In this assay, suspension cultures of human lymphoid cells were subjected to therapeutic concentrations of 8-MOP and to a UVA radiation spectrum modified to approximate the dermal exposure. The assay permitted correlation and quantitation of multiple 8-MOP plus UVA-induced biological and physical alterations in the same assay system. Thus were demonstrated inhibition of DNA synthesis, reduction of cell survival, production of DNA cross-links, and loss of mixed leukocyte reactivity induced by combinations of 8-MOP and UVA in or near the presumed therapeutic range. This assay may be useful for predicting lymphoid cellular toxicity of other photoactive agents as well as for examining the molecular effects of these agents.


Roflumilast is a phosphodiesterase‐4 inhibitor which treats chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Roflumilast N‐oxide is the major metabolite of roflumilast with a similar mechanism of action to roflumilast. Although racial differences in roflumilast drug disposition have been observed, the necessity of dose adjustment is subject to debate. This study compares the pharmacokinetics of a single 500 μg dose of roflumilast in healthy Chinese and Caucasian subjects under uniform conditions. Chinese subjects were found to have longer t1/2 and higher AUC0‐t and Cmax than Caucasian subjects. The point estimates on the geometric mean of AUC0‐t in Chinese subjects were 22% higher for roflumilast and 46% higher for roflumilast N‐oxide. Point estimates on the geometric mean of Cmax were 9% and 24% higher for roflumilast and roflumilast N‐oxide, respectively. Total phosphodiesterase‐4 (PDE4) inhibitory (tPDE4i) activity, a theoretical parameter that describes the combined contribution to PDE4 inhibitory activity of roflumilast and roflumilast N‐oxide, was 44% higher in Chinese subjects than in Caucasian subjects. With about a 10‐fold higher plasma AUC compared to the parent roflumilast and a much longer observed half‐life, roflumilast N‐oxide has been estimated to contribute about 90% of tPDE4i, with 10% attributed to the parent compound roflumilast. Following body weight normalization, these figures were lower but remained significant. Safety analysis showed signs of reduced tolerance or different pharmacodynamic response to roflumilast in Chinese recipients than in Caucasians. Our results suggest that Chinese patients should receive a dose of roflumilast lower than 500 μg daily during future clinical trials.


This paper first introduces the current situation of human resources development in non-profit organizations in China,the characteristics of transitional economy and explores the challenges that transitional economy poses to human re- sources management in non-profit organizations.The factors that influence human resources development in non-profit or- ganizations will also analyzed.Finally,some strategies for the development of human resources in non-profit organizations in China will be suggested.


Predicting the future popularity of online content is highly important in many applications. Under preferential attachment influence popular items get more popular thereby resulting in long tailed distribution problem. Consequently, new items which can be popular (potential ones), are suppressed by the already popular items. This paper proposes a novel model which is able to identify potential items. It identifies the potentially popular items by considering the number of links or ratings it has received in recent past along with it's popularity decay. For obtaining an efficient model we consider only temporal features of the content, avoiding the cost of extracting other features. Prediction accuracy is measured on three industrial data sets namely Movielens, Netflix and Facebook wall post. We have found the recent gain in link formation are a good predictor for future link formation as compare to total links, in other words we can say people follow the recent behaviours of their peers, considering the fact that collective attention makes something popular. Experimental results show that compare to state-of-the-art model our model have better prediction accuracy.


Objective To investigate the elderly autonomic epilepsy pathogenesis and clinical features Methods The clinical data of 2 cases of elderly patients with autonomic epilepsy were analysed,and clinical features and pathogenesis were investigated combinating with imaging and EEG results.Results Two cases of elderly patients were 67 years old and 60 years old,underwent high blood pressure and(or) a history of diabetes,performance for episodic autonomic symptoms,brain MRI examination showed multiple intracranial ischemic lesions(the limbic system of 1 case was not clearly damaged),They had no past history and family history of epilepsy,suffered from misdiagnosis on the first visit,epileptic discharges were found by long-term EEG,antiepileptic treatment was effective.Conclusion The pathogenesis of elderly autonomic epilepsy is complex and the clinical manifestations diversed,atherosclerotic cerebral infarction is one of the common factors.Imaging often can not find the epileptic lesion,and long-term EEG may improve diagnostic accuracy.


This invention discloses a beeping method among different access systems, in which, a user side GW judges if a UE is at 3GPP equal connection state or 3GPP equal idle state by signaling interaction with a control side GW, when the UE is at the connection state, the user side GW sends down data packets via the existing user side connection, when the UE is at the idle state, the user side GW carriesout broadfield beeping to UE at the idle state among different access systems to set up user side connection and transmit the down data packets.


This paper presents an efficient decoder design for the LDPC codes in IEEE 802.15 standard. This decoder features by high parallel level, low message memory requirement and code rate flexibility. By processing 72 columns and 72 rows in parallel, it can reach a throughput of 2.8 Gbps to fulfill the standard requirement. Furthermore, the decoder supports three different code rates by employing flexible check node processor units.


The transtracheal method involves clipping and aseptic preparation of an area of skin over the mid to lower third of the cervical trachea. Approximately 5 ml of local anaesthetic is injected subcutaneously between two tracheal rings. A stab skin incision is then made and an 8 or 10 gauge needle passed between the cartilage rings into the tracheal lumen. Polythene tubing, previously cut to suitable lengths (about 1 metre) is fitted with a blunted 14 or 16 gauge needle at one end and sterilised with ethylene oxide. This sort of tubing (or proprietary canine urinary catheters or adapted equine indwelling uterine catheters) can be inserted through the needle, making sure the latter is angled caudally. The needle should be left in place until it is certain that the catheter is passing caudally towards the carina and not cranially towards the larynx. It is important to remove the needle from the tracheal lumen to avoid sectioning the catheter as it is retrieved. Most horses will cough when the catheter tip touches the carina and at this point 20 to 30 mls of sterile phosphate buffered saline are rapidly injected through the catheter using a 50 or 60 ml syringe. The saline is then rapidly aspirated and the catheter can be partially retracted to facilitate this. It may be necessary to carry out several aspirations of a single flush or even several flushes to obtain an adequate sample (5 to 20 ml). If the horse appears to be chewing or swallowing frequently, or saline runs down the nostrils, the catheter has probably passed cranially into the pharynx and should be withdrawn and reinserted. After sampling, the catheter is removed and the area cleaned with antiseptic solution. Topical antibiotic may be administered but is usually unnecessary. The stab incision may be sutured or left to heal by second intention. A small quantity of blood is occasionally noted at the nostrils after sampling but subcutaneous emphysema, cellulitis formation or other sequelae are rare.


Working as a female migrant worker has a positive and negative impact. Negative impacts include children who are left without love, this will cause children to experience intellectual, emotional and moral social problems. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in emotional intelligence of teenagers with the employment status of mothers as migrant workers and non-migrant workers. Method used comparative descriptive research design with cross sectional approach. Sample was 31 teenagers with mothers of migrant workers and 30 teenagers with non-migrant mothers was taken by purposive sampling technique. The study was conducted at Nurul Huda and Mambaul Ulum Islamic junior high school, and also junior high public school 1 Bantur in September 2017. The dependent variable was emotional intelligence, measured by the TEIQue-ASF questionnaire (Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Adolescent Short Form). Data analyzed by independent t test. The average value of emotional intelligence in teenager with mothers of migrant worker is 129.03, in teenager with non migrant workers is 141.53. P value (0.005) < α (0.05), meaning that there are differences in emotional intelligence in both teenagers, where in teenager with non migrant worker their emotional intelligence is higher. Parental attachments, especially mothers can influence emotional response patterns, so this will affect emotional intelligence. It is recommended to the school to monitor emotional intelligence, because it can have an impact on their social behavior and conduct direction to surrogate family members who work as migrant workers about how to educate children in their teens. Keywords : Emotional Quotient, teenager, Mother Migrant Workers, Mother Non Migrant Workers


We have shown that, unexpectedly, AtTSPO (Arabidopsis thaliana TSPO-related protein) is an endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi localized membrane protein in plant cell.1 This localization contrast with that of mammalian 18-kDa translocator protein (at least for the mostly studied isoform, 18-kDa TSPO), a mitochondrial outer membrane protein (reviewed in2). Whereas the potential functions of 18-kDa TSPO are well documented, involved mainly in mitochondrial physiology,2 and its interest as drugs target is been explored,3 the roles of TSPO-related proteins in plant growth and development are yet to be specified. AtTSPO is expressed in dry seeds and can be induced in vegetative tissue by osmotic and salt stress or abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Moreover, it was shown that the ABA-dependent induction is transient, and that boosting tetrapyrroles biosynthesis through 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) feeding enhanced down-regulation of AtTSPO, suggesting an inherent post-translational regulation mechanism also involving ABA and likely porphyrins. We present additional evidence that ABA can help stabilize constitutively expressed AtTSPO and that ALA feeding to knockout mutant seeds, induces substantial germination delay. Here we discuss the possible link between ABA and tetrapyrroles in AtTSPO expression and post-translational regulation.


In the present paper we analyze the new political-union identities, and the search of new forms of organization, in the final period of the dictatorship called "Revolucion Argentina". To do so we reconstruct the different strategies of no-peronist fighting trade unions, between 1970 and 1973, and we analyze this empirical work in the frame of the question about the relationship between institutions and political identities.


Although the deforestation rate of the dry tropical forests in Mexico is high, very few native species are propagated in local nurseries, which limits their ...


We propose a new formula to calculate the planetary rate of sprite events, based on observations with sprite detectors. This formula uses the number of detected sprites, the detection efficiency and the false alarm rate of the detector and spatial and temporal effectiveness functions. The role of these elements in the formula is discussed for optical and non‐optical recordings. We use the formula to calculate an average planetary rate of sprite events of ∼2.8 per minute with an accuracy of a factor ∼2–3 by use of observations reported in the literature. The proposed formula can be used to calculate the occurrence rate of any physical event detected by remote sensing.


The mechanical properties of sputter-deposited NiTi shape memory alloy thin films ranging in thickness from 35 nm to 10 µm were examined using nanoindentation and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Indents made in films as thin as 150 nm showed partial shape recovery upon heating, although film thickness was found to have a marked effect on the results. A modified spherical cavity model is used to describe the findings, which suggest that the substrate tends block the shape memory effect as film thickness decreases below a threshold level which is specific to applied load. This has the net effect of decreasing the indent recovery below the critical film thickness. The fact that the spherical cavity model predicts the critical film thickness at which the shape memory effect is blocked indicates that the increased recovery of nanoscale indentations is due to a suppression of plastic processes rather than an enhancement of shape memory


Metamaterials built from chiral meta-atoms have attracted huge attention in the last years. The main interest in our work is focused on the investigation of a single chiral nano-structure and its interaction with circularly polarized light. Such an object is fabricated on an ITO-on-glass substrate using electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) [1]. This technique allows for high precision fabrication of 3D subwavelength structures of almost arbitrary geometry. In the writing process, metal-organic precursor molecules (dimethyl-gold(III)-acetyl-acetonate) are cracked by a focused electron beam resulting in a material containing gold nanoclusters embedded into carbonaceous matrix (see Fig. 1).


With the development of society, the international nursing also gets increasingly the attention from all walks of life, Chinese foreign-related nursing needs be geared to international standards. To improve the comprehensive quality of vocational foreign-realted nursing students, the most important point is to cultivate the core competence of vocational nursing students. This paper make a deep analysis on vocational nursing RICH course under the core competencies of nurses, and then conduct empirical analysis on foreign-related nursing RICH course in vocational under the network environment, and make empirical validation of RICH course. The final results show that, the RICH course under the environment of network can effectively improve the core competence of foreign-related nursing students in vocational.


A 76-year-old female was admitted to our hospital with a history of easy fatigability and fever. Labo-ratory tests showed pancytopenia. In the initial course of hospitalization, the patient was diagnosed as having myelodysplastic syndrome and infections however, treatments proved ineffective with the patient gradually developing loss of consciousness and slipping into circulatory shock. The symptoms improved initially after steroid pulse therapy administered considering the possibility of a vasculitis syndrome, how-ever, the symptoms worsened thereafter, with the appearance of the abdominal pain. Abdominal CT revealed free air and an increase of the ascites volume, and an emergency operation was performed under the tentative diagnosis of gastrointestinal perforation. The operative findings revealed intestinal gangrene and histopathological examination of the resected specimen revealed the diagnosis of intravascular lymphoma (IVL). The patient was admitted to the intensive care unit after surgery, and showed marked im-provement of the clinical condition with chemotherapy for the IVL.


Background: The genetic etiology of osteosarcoma remains poorly understood despite the publication of a genome-wide association study. Association between HLA genetic variants and risk of several cancers has been observed, but HLA variation is not well captured by standard SNP arrays. Methods: We genotyped 207 Californian pediatric osteosarcoma cases and 696 controls of European ancestry using a custom genome-wide array supplemented with approximately 6,000 additional probes across the MHC region. We subsequently imputed 4-digit classical HLA alleles using a reference panel of 5,225 individuals who underwent high-resolution HLA typing via next-generation sequencing. Case–control comparisons were adjusted for ancestry-informative principal components, and top associations from the discovery analysis underwent replication in an independent dataset of 657 cases and 1,183 controls. Results: Three highly correlated HLA class II variants (r2 = 0.33–0.98) were associated with osteosarcoma risk in discovery analyses, including HLA-DRB1*0301 (OR = 0.52; P = 3.2 × 10−3), HLA-DQA1*0501 (OR = 0.74; P = 0.031), and HLA-DQB1*0201 (OR = 0.51; P = 2.7 × 10−3). Similar associations were observed in the replication data (Prange = 0.011–0.037). Meta-analysis of the two datasets identified HLA-DRB1*0301 as the most significantly associated variant (ORmeta = 0.62; Pmeta = 1.5 × 10−4), reaching Bonferroni-corrected statistical significance. The meta-analysis also revealed a second significant independent signal at HLA-DQA1*01:01 (ORmeta = 1.33, Pmeta = 1.2 × 10−3), and a third suggestive association at HLA-DQB1*0302 (ORmeta = 0.73, Pmeta = 6.4 × 10−3). Conclusions: Multiple independent HLA class II alleles may influence osteosarcoma risk. Impact: Additional work is needed to extend our observations to other patient populations and to clarify the potential causal mechanisms underlying these associations. Understanding immunologic contributions to the etiology of osteosarcoma may inform rational therapeutic targets. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 27(10); 1151–8. ©2018 AACR.


Adopting the Functional Grammar advanced by Halliday (1985a), this paper investigates the nominalisation of two IELTS writing test papers of candidates achieving band 7 and band 5. The study aims to identify the frequency of nominalisation employed in these texts and the distribution of verbal and adjectival nominalisations. The study also looks at the other aspects that contribute to the complexity of writing: lexical density and readability. The result shows that the numbers of nominalisation in the writing test paper at band 7 doubled the amount of the writing test paper at band 5. In the two texts, verbal nominalisation is mainly used while adjectival nominalisation is low. With reference to lexical density and readability, it is revealed that the text with higher marks was denser and more difficult to read whilst the lower‐graded text was less dense and easier to comprehend. Two conclusions are drawn from the findings. Firstly, nominalisation packed the information in a text and made it denser and difficult to read. Secondly, marking tends to reflex the complexity of grammatical features.


The African National Congress that emerged in South Africa after its unbanning in February 1990, the return of its exiled members and 'surfacing' of those who had been operating underground, was a political party with little expertise in the field of policing. But the first formal positions on policing issues that emerged from its 1992 policy conference, articulated in the ANC policy document Ready to govern, gave substantial emphasis to police accountability. Not only did this say that the new police service would be 'accountable to society and the community it serves through its democratically elected institutions' but also that policing should be 'based on community support and participation' and that policing priorities would be 'determined in consultation with the communities they serve'.


There are well-known, substantial concerns that peoples' uses of water may significantly alter the quantity and quality of water-cycle processes at the local and regional scales. Addressing these concerns requires a substantially better understanding of the linkages and feedback between the various systems than presently is available. Although many studies have examined human-water dynamics, the complexity of such coupled systems is not well understood as, among other causes, the data and tools for multidisciplinary natural scale studies are not available yet. The recent information and communication technology advancements, collectively labeled as informatics (or hydroinformatics for the water-related domain), enable to address a new class of problems around the organization of data and information leading to knowledge extraction. Hydroinformatics embraces not only methods of data capture, storage, processing, analysis and graphical display, but the use of advanced modeling, optimization, knowledge-based tools and computational infrastructure (cyberinfrastructure). This paper discusses the initiation of the cyberinfrastructure-based Upper Mississippi River Basin Observatory (UMRBO). The observatory would consist of a number of interdisciplinary, multi-institutional teams synergistically collaborating on a series of research sites at different locations within the basin. There is no existing recipe to establishing an observatory at this time, however, there is a vast amount of experience and knowledge that can be shared to help establish an observatory. Building an observatory should be a collaborative, inclusive and equitable process and could be used to establish a practical problem solving agenda linking the abundance of research carried out in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to the needs of mission agencies and stakeholders within the basin. In order to begin the process, a workshop was held, in which an international team of research scientists and practitioners came together to discuss how the process could become a reality.


Sand transport is the main manifestation of sand damage in the arid and semiarid desert regions globally. It is still a challenge for ecologists to stabilize mobile sandy and to change them into stable productive ecosystems. The establishment of stimulated shrubs is one of the most effective measures as a novel sand-barrier. Meanwhile, it has a beautiful visual effect in deserts. To better understand its role in the process of ecological restoration, we conducted a wind tunnel experiment to analyze the overall characteristics of soil grain-size variation of different spatial configurations with simulated shrubs in row spaces under different net wind speeds. The results present that the average grain-size content was dominated by medium sand and fine sand, and the total percentage was more than 90%. The average grain-size content for other soil grain-size was almost the same and the proportion was less than 10%. Moreover, the sand deposition of simulated shrubs with different spatial configurations increased with the improvement of wind speed. And the average sand deposition of spindle-shaped simulated shrubs in 17.5×17.5cm and broom-shaped simulated shrubs in 17.5×26.25cm under different wind speeds was the least. There was less variation of the soil grain-size parameters among different spatial configurations of stimulated shrubs, row spaces, and net wind speeds. The effects of row spaces on average grain-size parameters would be improved with the increase of wind speed. By calculating the “correct” characteristics of any specific shelter device, all of these findings suggest that the application of the simulated shrubs will be an important component to further extend ecological engineering projects in arid and semiarid desert regions.


In this study, a Ru(II) dye was linked to another TiO2-attached Ru(II) dye through the linker, trans-1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (tbpe), and such TiO2 film electrodes were used in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The mononuclear Ru(II) dyes selected were N3 ([Ru(dcbpyH2)2(NCS)2], dcbpyH2
 = 2,2′-bipyridyl-4,4′-dicarboxylic acid), N719 ([(C4H9)4N]2[Ru(dcbpyH)2(NCS)2]), and N749 ([(C4H9)4N]3[Ru(tcterpy)(NCS)3]·3H2O, tcterpy = 4,4′,4″-tricarboxy-2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine). The photovoltaic characteristics of the DSSCs prepared using the above-mentioned TiO2 film electrodes were examined. The DSSC with the dinuclear dye, N719-tbpe-N719 had the highest short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) and thereby the highest conversion efficiency compared with the other cells sensitized by the other mononuclear or dinuclear Ru(II) dyes. The Jsc enhancement was attributed to an increase in the conduction band electrons of TiO2 due to the efficient intramolecular charge and energy transfer from the linked dye molecule to the immobilized molecule through a chain of conjugated double bonds in tbpe. These transfers are explained based on the relative LUMO levels of the dyes.


Power control is essential for code-division multiple-access CDMA cellular systems to overcome the near-far problem since all users share the same bandwidth. In this paper, we solve the power control problem for the multicarrier direct sequence CDMA (MC-DS-CDMA) system. We propose two algorithms based on the measure of the signal to interference ratio (SIR) allowing for the elimination of the effect of distance and slow shadowing in the case of indoor and outdoor environments.


Historians of modern Central Europe cannot be unfamiliar with Ernest Gellner, if only because of his significant contribution to the theory and history of nationalism (especially the essays in Nations and Nationalism [Oxford, 1983]). Of course, his continuous objection to Wittgenstein's thought and its broad reception, notably since the publication of Words and Things (London, 1959) but beginning even years before that, has been a more controversial legacy for intellectual historians of Austria. This posthumously published study of Wittgenstein and Malinowski as products of a common Habsburg dilemma can therefore not be ignored by historians of Austrian ideas and culture. The "Habsburg dilemma" referred to in Gellner's title is above all a dilemma of modernity tout court, but it is one that was either more deeply felt—or else more crudely exposed—in Central Europe than elsewhere. Such a claim is not unfamiliar to us, but pinning down this elusive modern/Habsburg condition has always been a difficult order to fill. Gellner pegs his version of the claim to two distinct poles: two epistemologies that also imply opposed theories of language, notions of culture, social orders, and on and on. These two poles are, in a nutshell, the principle of atomized individuality and that of organic communitarianism. The struggle between these "rivals," according to Gellner, motivates the Habsburg and modern dilemmas, the philosophy of Wittgenstein, and Malinowski's foundational conception of anthropology. It certainly drives Gellner's Language and Solitude. Gellner's dualism easily accommodates other familiar binaries, notably Tonnies's famed distinction of (organic) Gemeinschaft and (atomized) Gesellschaft, individualistic Enlightenment rationalism and communitarian romanticism, the cult of Crusoe and the fantasy of the village green. The story of modernity, for Gellner, is a deceptively simple one, with a twist: an apparently rectilinear path from closed, locally grounded, and communitarian systems should have given way to the victory of universality, a brotherhood of enlightened individuals motivated by reason whose organization was defined by openness instead boundedness. Liberals and Marxists were in this sense equally modernist in their expectations. But a funny thing happened on the way to modernity. That is where nationalism comes in. In a most unanticipated way, ethnic identity and the nation-state perform a transition to mass society from the uneven terrain of premodern communities but in such a way as to defer the path to Universal Man indefinitely. As it is put in one of Gellner's pithy statements (and none of his writing is short on those), "Nationalism is born of the needs of Gesellschaft, but it speaks Gemeinschaft" (22). In the Habsburg realm, which Gellner sometimes calls by its Musilian name "Kakania," "the confrontation of an abstract, universalistic individualism on the one hand and a romantic communalism on the other" (85) is more deeply entrenched than elsewhere at the same time as both sides of this "deep polarisation of Habsburg society and sensibility" are particularly vulnerable. Its populist nationalisms represented "about as clear a case of false consciousness as you might wish to find anywhere" (32), and the "abstract rootless cosmopolitanism" of those remaining to defend the imperial center left them with little ground on which to stand.


For RAN ships operating in shallow water, it is important to understand the phenomena of squat and wave-induced motions so as to avoid grounding. The British Admiralty Manual of Navigation gives guidelines to predict squat allowances in different conditions. In this article, we discuss current research in this field, and highlight the important phenomenon of transcritical squat and its implications for frigateand destroyer-type ships. What is squat? Squat is a ship's tendency to sit lower in the water as it travels faster. This is caused by the Bernoulli effect. Water is accelerated along the sides of and beneath the hull, and the free surface must drop downwards to maintain energy conservation. The ship essentially makes its own wave trough in which it sits, as shown in Figure 1. This effect is additional to the trailing wave pattern with which we are all familiar. Figure 1: The squat effect. (Top) Ship at rest. (Bottom) Ship under way. Squat comprises a midship sinkage and a change in trim. High block-coefficient ships such as tankers and bulk carriers tend to trim down by the bow. For medium block-coefficient ships such as containerships and many warships, changes in trim are more subtle, and are sensitive to the exact hull shape. Ideally, a captain should study and understand each ship's trim behaviour with increasing speed. This may be done with a trim inclinometer, or in the old days, marbles on the deck. For example, the captain of one of the containerships on which we did field trials in Hong Kong knew that his ship had a strong tendency to trim by the bow when under way. He therefore loaded his ship by the stern, so that it would have close to level trim when under way. How do we predict squat? The new PIANC guidelines for approach channel design (PIANC 2014) give a good overview of the state-of-the-art methods in ship squat prediction, and contain several formulae to predict squat. These formulae have mostly been developed for cargo ships, so care should be taken when using them for very slender warships. One simple formula which should be fairly accurate for frigates and destroyers in open water at low speeds is the Tuck formula: ssmidships = ccss ∇ LLPP 2 FFh


A new gas sensor has been designed by using SH-SAW device. Shear horizontal mode surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) has a unique characteristic of complete reflection at the free edges of the substrate. The SH-SAW are excited on a 36° YX LiTaO 3 and the right angle edge of the substrate has been used to reflect these waves. Both the phase and amplitude of the SH-SAW reflected from the edge were measured as a sensor response. Several experiments were performed to verify the edge reflection type SAW sensor in gas phase.


Technological innovations enable us to connect computer games with the environment they are played in: augmented reality games take the world as their playground. In this talk, the use of such technologies for mobile serious games is explored.


We report the use of sub-picosecond near-IR and ps UV pulsed lasers for precision ablation of freshly extracted human teeth. The sub-picosecond laser wavelength was ~800nm, with pulsewidth 150 fs and pulse repetition rate of 1kHz; the UV laser produced 10 ps pulses at 266 nm with pulse rate of ~1.2x105 pulses/s; both lasers produced ~1 W of output energy, and the laser fluence was kept at the same level of 10-25 J/cm2. Laser radiation from both laser were effectively absorbed in the teeth enamel, but the mechanisms of absorption were radically different: the near-IR laser energy was absorbed in a plasma layer formed through the optical breakdown mechanism initiated by multiphoton absorption, while the UV-radiation was absorbed due to molecular photodissociation of the enamel and conventional thermal deposition. The rise in the intrapulpal temperature was monitored by embedded thermocouples, and was shown to remain low with subpicosecond laser pulses, but risen up to 30°C, well above the 5°C pain level with the UV-laser. This study demonstrates the potential for ultra-short-pulsed lasers to precision and painless ablation of dental enamel, and indicated the optimal combination of laser parameters in terms of pulse energy, duration, intensity, and repetition rate, required for the laser ablation rates comparable to that of mechanical drill.


The Pisha-sandstone, located in the southeastern margin of the Ordos Basin, which is the thick sandstone, sand shale and argillaceous sandstone interbedded rocks of Paleozoic Permian Triassic and Jurassic Cretaceous Mesozoic, mainly composed of continental clastic rock. The study found that when the hard Pisha-sandstone are anhydrous water, such as sludge, vulnerable to erosion characteristics which due to its good permeability, high plasticity index, good hydrophilicity. From the micro perspective, the rock composition has mainly the quartz that due to its simple structure, low degree of cementation, poor construction strength. In addition, through the analysis of Pisha-sandstone lithic-facies characteristics, composition, characteristics of sedimentary evolution in the various strata of Paleozoic and Mesozoic, to restore Pisha-sandstone formed in different sedimentary environment during the period, in order to explain the causes of the different thick layer of Pisha-sandstone.


Two different dendritic 8-hydroxyquinoline ligands were synthesized through convergent approach, and the products were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared spectrometry (IR); the fluorescence properties of the dendritic 8-hydroxyquinoline ligands and the corresponding metallic complexes with Zn (II) were also studied by fluorescent spectrometry. The results show that the dendritic modifications of 8-hydroxyquinoline nucleus enhanced the intensity of luminescence, and the peripheral functional groups in the dendritic structure may affect the property of luminescence; the obvious red shift observed in the fluorescence profile of dendritic 8-hydroxyquinoline zinc provides it prospect of extensive application in the discipline of organic electroluminescent materials.


We present a rare case of cystic cervicitis in a 42-year-old woman who came to our unit suffering from primary infertility for one year. Her only complaint was infertility. She was not suffering from chronic pelvic pain or increased vaginal discharge neither before nor after marriage. Diagnosis of cystic cervicitis was made by both transvaginal ultrasound examination and MRI. As her main problem was infertility, she refrained from doing cone biopsy and opted for an ICSI trial and aspiration of the cervical cysts at the same time of ovum pick up (OPU). Ovum pick up resulted in the recovery of two oocytes. On the same setting and using the same needle, aspiration of all of the cervical cysts was performed successfully. Aspirated fluid was sent for cytology as well as culture and sensitivity. To our knowledge, this is the first case, in the english literature, to provide complete diagnosis of, and describe treatment of cystic cervicitis by transvaginal aspiration of the cysts.


Objective: To investigate the present situation, cognition and demand of emergency nurse specialists in Anhui province. Methods: Totally 92 nurses who received training in the emergency nurse specialist training base in Anhui province and obtained certification were investigated using self-designed questionnaire. Results: ①6 nurses (5.71%) left the emergency department. ② 34.78%nurses were head nurses and 20 nurses (21.74%) promoted to head nurse after training.③ nurse specialists played a big role in teaching, but played a little role in advance clinical practice, such as revision and perfection of emergency ability, rescue procedure, transfer model and standards, and pre-hospital rescue knowledge training. ④ the nurse shortage, not delaminated using of nurses, without clear responsibility were main influential factors for specialists to give play to their core competences. ⑤ nurses improved their literature review and research ability obviously after training.⑥100% nurses thought they needed managers' support and should often attend academic conference to improve their core competence. Conclusion: In order to attain the nurse specialist training objective and make use of nurse specialists in advanced clinical nursing practice, some problems should be solved, those are how to make use of nurse specialists scientifically, how to strengthen the management of nurse specialist posts, and how to re-certificate.


We investigate, in microcanonical multifragmentation models, the influence of the amount of energy dissipated in break-up fragments excitation on freeze-out volume determination. Assuming a limiting temperature that decreases with nuclear mass, we obtain for the Xe+Sn at 32 MeV/nucleon reaction a freeze-out volume that is almost half the one deduced using a constant limiting temperature.


The sources of Kant's term Gesinnung and a review of the problems of its translation into English were presented in the first part of this article; the second part examines the novel features that Kant brings to the interpretation of this concept in the critical period. In the Critique of Practical Reason these include the questions of manifestation of Gesinnung in the world, apprehended through the senses, the method of establishing and the culture of truly moral Gesinnung, as well as the problem of the immutability of Gesinnung in the progress towards the good. The new theses that appear in Religion within the Bounds of Bare Reason are Gesinnung as the internal subjective principle of maxims, on virtue as evidence of the presence of Gesinnung, on act as a manifestation of Gesinnung, on the unintelligibility of Gesinnung in its noumenal, suprasensible character, on the innateness of Gesinnung in the sense that it exists not in time, but in the form of its acceptance by free expression of the will, on the singleness of Gesinnung and its indivisibility into periods, on revolution in Gesinnung as distinct from empirical reform, on the creation of the new human being as distinct from the ancient one as a result of the revolution of Gesinnung, on the link between the revolution in Gesinnung and "conversion" or second birth. After discussing the problem of distinguishing the terms Gesinnung and Denkungsart in translation as well as a review of all the existing variants of translating Kant's concept of Gesinnung into Russian (aspiration, inclination, intention, virtue, virtuousness, conviction, attitude, mode of thinking, thoughts, mood, disposition and umonastroenie), the author comes to the conclusion that the uniform variant umonastroenie is best suited for Russian translations of Kant's works.


CD4 T cell differentiation to pro‐inflammatory and immunosuppressive subsets requires distinct metabolic pathways. Pro‐inflammatory CD4 subsets rely on glycolysis, while immunosuppressive (Treg cells) subsets, require functional mitochondria for their differentiation and function. Previous studies have shown that binge alcohol (ethanol, EtOH) administration increased Tbet‐expressing (Th1) and decreased FOXP3‐expressing (Treg) CD4 T cells in the colons of mice. We tested the hypothesis that EtOH dysregulates normal CD4 T cell differentiation, after stimulation, by impairing mitochondrial homeostasis. Human naïve CD4 T cells were isolated from buffy coats from blood bank donors (N = 6) using MACS sorting. Cells were stimulated using anti‐CD3‐coated dishes in the presence of anti‐CD28 and IL‐12, and exposed to EtOH (0 and 50 mM) for 3 days. Mitochondrial content was measured with Mitotracker Deep Red. Gene expression indicative of: autophagosome formation (ATG5, ATG7, ATG13, MAP1LC3B, BECN1, BNIP3L, ULK1), mitophagy (PINK1, PRKN),mitochondrial fusion (MFN1, MFN2, OPA1), mitochondrial fission (MFFand FIS1), and mitochondrial biogenesis (PPARC1A, PPARC1B, TFAM) was determined by RT2 profiler arrays. EtOH‐treated CD4 T cells had increased mitochondrial content (p = 0.0008) with Tregs accounting for the greatest increase in mitochondria (p = 0.04). There was a main effect of stimulation (p < 0.05) to increase ATG5, ATG13, MAP1LC3B, BECN1, BNIP3L, ULK1, MFF, PPARC1B, and TFAM, and a main effect of EtOH (p < 0.05) to increase PINK1 and decrease ATG7. There was a main effect of both EtOH and stimulation (p < 0.05) to increase MFN2, and OPA1.Taken together, these results indicate that EtOH increases mitochondrial content in Treg cells and dysregulates mitochondrial gene expression important for mitochondrial repair and mitophagy. These EtOH‐mediated alterations in gene expression could result in an inability of CD4 T cells to maintain mitochondrial homeostasis and remove damaged mitochondria that is required for normal differentiation and function of anti‐inflammatory Treg cells.


There is a need to determine which bariatric operations are the most effective for patients with super obesity and super‐super obesity.


This work presents a simple method of designing a concentrator multijunction solar cell module (MJSC) as an energy source for UV-LED water disinfection. To energize the UV-LED flow-through modules tested for wild-type E. coli inactivation, third-generation, commercial 1.0-cm2 InGaP/GaAs/Ge triple-junction solar cells will require a lens that has more than 20 suns concentration factor, where the excess power generation can be utilized at low sunlight condition. To provide 12 V across the DC-DC converter that supplies constant current to the UV-LED module, at least 6 MJSCs used should be connected in series at concentrations between 1 and 50 suns.


Music genre classification is an important task that entails classifying music genres based on aural data. Music genre classification is widely used in the field of music information retrieval. Data preparation, feature extraction, and classification are the three primary processes in the proposed system. New neural network is used to classify music genres. To categorize songs into respective music genres, the proposed system leverages feature values from spectrograms created from slices of songs as input to a proposed system architecture. Extensive tests on the GTZAN dataset demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed approach in comparison to existing methods. The proposed system architecture is also tested on Indian rhythms. This paper consists of the comparison of proposed system architecture with existing algorithms.


Part one: Professional confidentiality revisited: Personal information and the professional relationship ~ Cynthia Bisman Confidentiality, trust and truthfulness ~ Chris Clark Confidentiality in practice: non-western perspectives on privacy ~ Ian Harper Ethical practice in joined-up working ~ Ian Thompson Part two: Balancing individual privacy with the right to information: The right to privacy and confidentiality for children ~ Lilian Edwards and Rowena Rodrigues Public protection in practice: Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) ~ Hazel Kemshall and Jason Wood The right to information in practice: adoption records, confidentiality and secrecy ~ Gary Clapton Part three: Working together: Confidentiality and information sharing in child protection ~ Janice McGhee Working with children and young people: privacy and identity ~ Peter Ashe Working with adults with incapacity ~ Susan Hunter and Lisa Curtice Working together? Sharing personal information in health and social services ~ Val Baker Conclusion ~ Chris Clark and Janice McGhee.


Reactive Species as Intracellular Messengers: L.-O. Klotz, K. Briviba, and H. Sies, Signalling by Singlet Oxygen in Biological Systems. D.R. Crawford, T. Suzuki, and K.J.A. Davies, Oxidant-modulated Gene Expression. H.H. Hassanain and P.J. Goldschmidt-Clermont, RAC, Superoxide, and Signal Transduction. S.K. Koliwad, A.K. Brzezinska, and S.J. Elliott, Redox Regulation of Ion Channels. J. Giron-Calle and H.J. Forman, Cell Ca2+ in Signal Transduction: Modulation in Oxidative Stress. G.L. Schieven, Introduction of Protein Tyrosine Phosphorylation by Oxidative Stress and its Implications. A.A. Deora and H.M. Lander, Regulation of Signal Transduction and Gene Expression by Reactive Nitrogen Species. Redox Sensitive Molecular Processes and Cellular Responses: P.A. Baeuerle, Reactive Oxygen Species as Costimulatory Signals of Cytokine-Induced NFkappaB Activation Pathways. T. Okamoto, T. Tetsuka, and T. Kawabe, Redox Regulation of Nuclear Factor kappa B. C.K. Sen, Oxidants and Antioxidants in Aptosis: Role of Bcl-2. V. Goossens, K. De Vos, D. Vercammen, M. Steemans, K. Vancompernolle, W. Fiers, P. Vandenabeele, and J. Grooten, Role of Reactive Oxygen Species in TNF Toxicity. S. Roy, C.K. Sen, A. Gozin, V. Andrieu, and C. Pasquier, Redox Regulation of Cell Adhesion Processes. H. Masutani, M. Ueno, S. Ueda, and J. Yodoi, Role of Thioredoxin and Redox Regulation in Oxidative Stress Response and Signalling. A.H. Schonthal, S. Mueller, and E. Cadenas, Redox Regulation of p21, Role of Reactive Oxygen and Nitrogen Species in Cell Cycle Progression. Clinical Implications of Redox Signaling and Antioxidant Therapy: H. Viita and S. Yla-Hertuala, Effect of Lipoxygenases on Gene Expression in Mammalian Cells. A. Azzi, Tocopherol in the Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis: One Molecule, Several Functions. D.-Y. Jin and K.-T. Jeang, Peroxiredoxins in Cell Signaling and HIV Infection. J.S. Bertram, T. King, L. Fukishima, and F. Khachik, Enhanced Activity of an Oxidation Product of Lycopene Found in Tomato Products and Human Serum Relevant to Cancer Prevention. C. Bladier, J.B. de Haan, and I. Kola, Antioxidant Genes and Reactive Oxygen Species in Down's Syndrome. B.S. Kristal and B.P. Yu, Oxidant-mediated Repression of mtDNA Transcription. Y. Kajimoto, Y. Yamasaki, T. Matsuoka, H. Kaneto, and M. Hori, Suppression of the Insulin Gene Promoter Activity by Oxidative Stress. N. Maulik and D.K. Das, Redox Regulation of Ischemic Adaptation. W.C. Orr and R.S. Sohal, Oxidative Stress as a Governing Factor in Physiological Aging. W. Droge, V. Hack, R. Breitkreutz, E. Holm, S. Holm, and R. Kinscherf, Antioxidants in Senescence and Wasting. Subject Index.


ABSTRACT This study investigates the influence of chitosan to improve the dyeing absorption of cotton fabric using Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) and the determination of the amount of anthocyanin pigments by the spectrophotometric method. The results of this study highlights that cotton fabrics treated with chitosan have better depth of shade (K/S = 11) than those untreated fabrics (K/S = 4) dyed with Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.). The cotton fabrics treated with chitosan not only provide better depth of shade but also give better wash and light fastness than those of the untreated fabrics dyed with Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.)


This master's thesis assumes that the argument presented in "The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty" (D. G. Myers) is correct. The United States presently suffers from a social recession arising from the impoverishment of the human spirit. The thesis diagnoses four underlying causes of U.S. social ills: (1) science; (2) regime; (3) cultural attitudes toward teachers; and (4) a misunderstanding of the nature and purpose of education. The cumulative effect of these factors makes it impossible for public school teachers to do their job. Among the suggestions to solve this dilemma include striking the separation of church and state clause from the First Amendment. Only then will it be possible to establish the conditions necessary for the cultivation and preservation of the ideal teacher of the future. Without ideal teachers good schools are impossible. They are important instruments for restoring society by their potential to create citizens who are not only the best on the basis of virtue but also in relation to the U.S. regime. The thesis employs the classical research method, sometimes called the "Great Books" approach, to support and clarify arguments. (Contains 40 references.) (BTU) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. VD 00 American Teacher and Restoration of Society 5 THE AMERICAN TEACHER AND THE RESTORATION OF SOCIETY by CHRISTOPHER D. MARSH 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY


A timely diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is important for children as that may help inform the best services and supports needed for optimal outcomes. However, disparities in the identification of ASD have been consistently documented for racial/ethnic minority and immigrant populations. The majority of studies of immigrant populations have focused on the qualitative experience of ASD, however, greater knowledge about the predictors of the age of initial ASD diagnosis is needed. This study examined the child, maternal, and family‐level factors that predicted the age of initial ASD diagnosis in a diverse clinical sample through a retrospective medical record review. Medical records of clinical evaluations conducted between 2004 and 2014 were reviewed for children with ASD born to immigrant and non‐immigrant mothers. Regression analyses found that for both groups of children with ASD, using verbal language to communicate and having another diagnosis (attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder or another condition) predicted an older age of initial ASD diagnosis. For children with ASD born to immigrant mothers, residing in a multilingual household was associated with a younger age of diagnosis. These results highlight the complexities of an ASD diagnosis among diverse children and families, particularly among immigrant communities.


AbstractLately, Egypt has been at the forefront of multiple megaconstruction projects and the same trend is expected to continue in the future. Since such projects are mainly carried out by interna...


The introduction of nonlinear power flow controlling remedial actions and curative congestion management (CCM) increases the complexity of congestion management. State of the Art linearization approaches in the optimization of CCM can lead to violations of (n-1)-security not identified by algorithms based on linearization. This paper investigates the impact of exact outage simulations based on AC load flow equations and outage approximations based on linearization on the violation of (n-1)-security and computational effort in the optimization of CCM. Exemplary results show that exact outage simulations based on AC load flow calculation guarantee (n-1)-security at the cost of extreme computational effort. Outage approximations based on linearization can greatly reduce the computational effort, but can lead to violations of (n-1)-security by up to 7 %. Therefore, this paper introduces an advanced centralized algorithm combining linearized outage and exact outage calculations. The results show that the advanced centralized algorithm ensures (n-1)-security while increasing the computational effort in comparison to outage approximations by only a factor of between 39 % and 65 %.


Modification of active metals with metal oxide modifiers has attracted considerable attention in heterogeneous catalysis due to their synergistic effect. However, a controllable synthesis of highly reactive and stable metal–metal oxide hybrid nanocatalysts is difficult. To solve this problem, presynthesized IrM (M = Fe, Co, and Ni) bimetallic nanoparticles were initially confined in the mesopores of SBA-15 and were then in situ transformed to Ir-MOx hybrids. The obtained Ir-MOx/SBA-15 nanocatalysts show superior activity and selectivity in the hydrogenation of substituted nitroaromatics to corresponding aromatic amines compared to Ir/SBA-15. Among these Ir-based catalysts, Ir-FeOx/SBA-15 exhibits the highest activity and selectivity and has a wider substrate scope due to the interaction between Ir and FeOx. Therefore, our research provides a way to design reactive and stable hydrogenation catalysts.


This manuscript examined the wildfire effect on nitrogen cycles in a boreal forest in northeastern China using 15N natural abundance. The results showed higher TIN and ammonium concentrations in the mineral soil and higher net mineralization rates in the organic soil in the sites which was burned 4 years ago, compared to the control sites. The N isotopic ratios of organic soil and plant leaves were greater in the burned sites than in the control. The authors propose that the environmental modification caused by wildfire affected the soil N dynamics and ammonium volatilization was the main driver of the N loss, which lead to 15N-enrichment in the burned sites. As the authors describe in Introduction, the increased frequency of wildfire and its consequences on


To investigate effects of shear stress and shear strain on the magnetic properties of Sr-ferrite powder, the powder was milled by a mechanofusion (MF) apparatus, and its magnetic characteristics were studied. Coercive force of the MF-milled powder was decreased with milling time, and it reached the constant value of 140 kA⋅m-1 as milling time was longer than 30 min. Reduction of the coercive force of the milled powder was found to slightly improve degree of powder particle alignment under applied magnetic fields. M-type ferrite phase of the original Sr-ferrite powder remains unchanged after the MF-milling treatment. The mean particle size of the powder was increased by a MF-milling treatment longer than 30 min due to aggregation of the powders. As a result, the optimum MF-milling time was in the range from 15 min to 30 min under the experimental conditions of this study.


A direct evidence of 2h-high single particle component has been obtained for the first time in sd-shell nuclei from measurement of ..cap alpha../sub 0/ and p/sub 0/ decay from the 12.80 MeV state in /sup 28/Si populated through the /sup 12/C(/sup 20/Ne,..cap alpha..)/sup 28/Si reaction. This state is assigned J/sup ..pi../ = 6/sup +/ and has a g/sub 9/2/ single particle component of 20--30 % in a nearly stretched proton configuration of (g/sub 9/2/d/sub 5/2//sup -1/).


With chitosan as the raw material, a new type of resin material is synthesized through epichlorohydrin crosslinking. The effects of the reactant ratio, the reaction temperature, the reaction time, the stirring rate and the system pH on the cross-linking rate are studied in detail. The resin material is then characterized by means of IR. The experimental results show that the reaction occurs mainly on the amino and the hydroxyl of chitosan. The chitosan-based resin material with good acidresistivity and high degree of cross-linked can be prepared under the optimal experimental conditions: the system temperature is 50 t, reaction time is 9h, stirring speed is 400r/min, pH value is 12 and the mass ratio of chitosan and epichlorohydrin is 1:6.


The present study unveils the use of two versions of dilemma based games in the training of managers. The methodology that is used is an empirical observation and analysis of data on the use of the games. It reveals the result of 720 choices made in 72 small groups in 23 games and summarizes the observed behavioral patterns and insights of the participants. The games reveal a high potential to expand the consciousness of the participants and provoke a process of perspective transformation in terms of their beliefs about the nature of trust, cooperation and competitiveness in the workplace. Thus, the use of the games in training can support transformative learning.


In this paper, we examine the process of dynamic capability development and how the human component of a firm's information technology (IT) infrastructure (i.e., its human IT infrastructure) affects this development process. Using Taiwanese firms as examples, we provide evidence that the process of dynamic capability development was followed by capability possession, capability deployment, and capability upgrading. We also find that (1) technology management knowledge positively affects capability possession, (2) interpersonal and management knowledge is critical to improving a firm's capability deployment, and (3) technical specialties knowledge is essential to facilitating capability upgrading and ensuring a firm's competitive advantage. The interplay between human IT infrastructure and dynamic capability development provides insight into how organizational knowledge may be created, deployed, and updated.


Supercritical fluids (SCF) are substances above their critical pressure and temperature. Once above this critical point, they exist as a single phase with unique properties such as liquid-like densities resulting in solvating characteristics that are similar to those of liquids and mass transfer properties similar to gases. A number of different SCFs have been used in various applications. However, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most widely used SCF because it is environmentally benign, nontoxic, nonflammable, noncorrosive, readily available, inexpensive, and easy to remove from the reaction systems in comparison to many organic solvents. CO2 also has a low critical point of 73.8 bar and 31.1°C, which allows processing in ambient conditions and presents exciting prospects in the processing of thermo-labile materials with relevance to pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Supercritical CO2 (scCO2) is an excellent solvent for numerous small molecules but not so for high molecular weight and polar compounds. However, dissolution of CO2 in large molecules such as polymers is known to cause substantial depression in the melting or glass transition temperatures. In this talk I will discuss the CO2-induced melting point depression of commonly used food and pharmaceutical excipients such as fatty acids and poloxamers. This approach can be used for the particle design and coating of thermo labile substances without the use of organic solvents at considerably low temperatures. This talk will also discuss the application of scCO2 in the preparation of drug-cyclodextrin complexes as an effective substitute to the conventional methods for solubility enhancement and taste masking purposes.


With the aid of particle simulation, this paper discusses nonlinear saturation and efficiency enhancement in a single-pass Cherenkov laser using a dielectric grating, taking into account the nonlinear properties of a relativistic electron beam. For the analysis of the problem, a two-dimensional model for the Cherenkov laser is considered which is composed of a planar relativistic electron beam and a parallel plate waveguide, one plate of which is loaded with a dielectric grating. First, the nonlinear characteristics for the growth of the electromagnetic wave are considered for a dielectric grating with constant parameters. The variation of the groove depth or the slot width in a dielectric grating is found to have the same effect on the growth characteristics as the variation of the permittivity of a dielectric sheet with constant thickness. Then, in order to enhance the efficiency in energy transfer from the electron beam to the electromagnetic wave in the Cherenkov laser, one of the grating parameters or the groove depth is adiabatically decreased in accordance with the decrease in the average velocity of the electron beam. The result of numerical simulation shows that sufficient efficiency enhancement in energy transfer is achieved with the use of a dielectric grating with a variable parameter.


BackgroundWatson's Theory of Caring and Caritas proposes that caring and love potentiate healing. Creating a profile of the characteristics of a "Caritas nurse" has implications for integrating caring and love into patient care, and measuring the impact of caring on patient and operational outcomes. MethodsThis psychometric study examined the profile of nurses effective in caring. The Caring Factor Survey and the Healthcare Environment Survey were selected to measure caring and work environment conditions as reported by the patient and by the nurse, respectively. ResultsThe results of this study revealed that nurses of all ages who received high scores in caring were most frustrated with the work environment, were most experienced, worked only the hours scheduled, were most affected by the relationship with the patient, derived the most enjoyment from the relationship with their coworkers, and provided continuity of care most consistently. Discussion and ImplicationsFindings from this study indicate that further inquiry into the profile of nurses effective in caring and evaluation of the presence of caring and love on patient outcomes is warranted.


A plasma-jet spark plug is provided to reduce energy loss due of discharged plasma by defining a dimension of a clearance between an insulator and a ground electrode, thereby preventing deterioration of ignitability. An insulator(10) has an axial bore(12) extended in an axial direction, receives a front end surface(26) of a center electrode(20) inside, and supports the center electrode. A convex cavity(60) is formed on a front end side of the insulator and is defined by an inner circumferential surface of the axial bore and either a front end surface of the center electrode or a plane including the front end surface. A metal shell(50) support the insulator by surrounding a radial circumferential portion of the insulator. A ground electrode(30) is coupled to the metal shell to be electrically connected to the metal shell, is positioned at the front end side of the insulator, and has an opening(31) for communication between the cavity and an outside of the spark plug.


Abstract By means of operator algebraic methods the dynamics of the Dicke model is investigated in the limit where the number of the two-level atoms goes to infinity and the interaction strength remains on a finite level. The infinite atomic system is treated as a mean field quantum lattice system. It is shown that the limiting dynamics is essentially determined by the collective behaviour of the atoms. With Trotter's product formula and perturbation theoretical methods we obtain explicit expressions for the unitary time evolution operators in the uncoupled representation.


A new method of flow measurement based on the theory of heat transfer is described. On the basis of putting forward the experimental theory, the feasibility of experimental theory is analyzed, and the experimental equipment of flow measurement is developed according to the experimental theory. The experimental result shows that the theory of flow measurement based on heat transfer is accurate. The accuracy is dependent on the precision of temperature measurement because flow measurement is changed to temperature measurement in the method.


Many papers proposed base station(BS) sleep mode as a way to save power consumptions. However, mobile relay has not yet been considered as a component of BS sleep mode. In this paper, we combine mobile relay with BS's power-off energy saving scheme to enhance the BS power-off efficiency. With the mobile station(MS) relay, BSs have higher probability to power-off themselves. Then neighbor BSs of the power-off BS would get more burdens, but can increase the time portion of power-off BS in the total network and could save energy consumption.