Gastropods are a diverse and abundant class of molluscs found in all of the world's oceans. In this thesis, I explore how predation affects two ecologically similar species of marine gastropods performing two essential activities: foraging and reproduction. First, I examined whether the Atlantic oyster drill, Urosalpinx cinerea, a common predator in the mid-Atlantic adjusted its foraging behavior in the presence of predatory crabs. I found that oyster drills do not reduce the number of oysters consumed nor do they alter the location in which they drill through an oyster shell in the presence of blue crabs. However, oyster drills did preferentially drill through the dorsal right quadrant of oyster shells. Preferential drilling of oyster shells is a novel result that contradicts prior claims in the literature. Second, I investigated whether the oviposition strategy of the dogwhelk, Nucella lapillus, acts to reduce predation and desiccation mortality. Here, as in previous work, I found that egg capsules themselves provide little direct protection against predators. However, the clustering of egg capsules in large groups does provide a significant benefit by reducing predation relative to uniformly spaced egg capsules. Similarly, it appears that encapsulation alone is an ineffective means of preventing desiccation-induced mortality in the embryos. However, clustering of capsules significantly reduced mortality due to desiccation. Overall, clustering increased survival of egg capsules and the increase in survival was roughly proportional to cluster size. Taken together, these two experiments suggest that predators may influence oviposition but not foraging in intertidal gastropods.


The concept of a regional criminal policy is given, necessity of its development as an independent institute is substantiated. The primary goals of a regional criminal policy, that underlie its strategy are designated.


The article examined prerequisites for formation and discharge of biogas from bottom mud Northern Azov, conducted spectral analysis of gas evolved and the chemical analysis of bottom mud, built map of measurements border of silt Bilosarayskaya bay of the Azov Sea.


A novel class of piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting power sources is presented for gun-fired munitions and other similar applications that require very high G survivability. The power sources are designed to harvest energy from the firing acceleration as well as vibratory motion of munitions during the flight and convert it to electrical energy to power onboard electronics. The developed piezoelectric-based energy harvesting power sources produce enough electrical energy for applications such as fuzing. The power sources are designed to withstand firing accelerations in excess of 100,000 G. In certain applications such as fuzing, the developed power sources have the potential of completely eliminating the need for chemical batteries. In fuzing applications, the developed power sources have the added advantage of providing additional safety, since with such power sources the fuzing electronics are powered only after the munitions have exited the barrel and have traveled a safe distance from the weapon platform. The design of a number of prototypes, including their packaging for high G hardening, and the results of laboratory and air-gun testing are presented. Methods to increase the efficiency of such energy-harvesting power sources and minimize friction and damping losses are discussed.


It is noted that natural gas hydrate exists in geological formations and constitutes a potentially large natural gas resource for the future. To make recovery of natural gas from hydrates commercially viable, hydrates must be dissociated in-situ. At the present stage, depressurization method is expected to be a main dissociation procedure because of its high energy profit ratio and so on. Whereas, there is a worry that some interruptions for gas production i.e. plugging by hydrate formation will occur. Also there is a demand to enhance the recovery ratio of natural gas. In this study, inhibitor injection with higher methanol concentration has been examined using laboratory made methane hydrate bearing sediment. As a result, it becomes clear that the higher concentration effectively contribute to the faster gas production rate. Whereas, dilution of methanol by pure water from hydrate dissociation were observed significantly, compared to the case of lower concentration.


Three new caddisflies species of the fossil genus Archaeotinodes: Archaeotinodes petropolitana sp. nov., Archaeotinodes regiomontana sp. nov., and Archaeotinodes rossica sp. nov. from the Baltic amber (Upper Eocene, 40 million years old), are described and illustrated.


We extend previous studies of the dynamical relaxation in liquids consisting of particles interacting with the soft-sphere or inverse power potential, , where ε and σ set the energy and length scales, respectively, and n is the steepness or stiffness parameter. In previous work we have simulated these systems using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Here we include model colloidal particles interacting with this potential, executing the position Langevin equation of motion as implemented in the Brownian dynamics (BD), method. A formal statistical mechanical expansion of the force autocorrelation function for such particles was carried out in both cases. Using the (molecular) Liouville operator this gives at short time a scaling with time, t, in terms of a reduced time, , where d depends on the state point, and for the colloidal case, the Smoluchowski operator gives the reduced time, . The first term accounts for the leading two-body contributions to the relaxation, and the second term, in d, represents additional two-body, and the leading three-body contribution. d depends mainly on the packing fraction and only weakly on n for ca. n ≥ 18. In the colloidal case, because of the greater sensitivity to n, the simulations were limited to relatively small values (in the range, 18–72). In this range of n values, the term in d is shown to make a significant contribution and is necessary to produce collapse at short times for both the MD and BD data. We also show that in this n range there is a collapse of the correlation functions at short times with an alternative (empirical) definition of the reduced time ∼ n α t, with α < 1 for the molecular case and α < 2 for the colloids. This applies not only to the force autocorrelation function but also for the shear stress and deviatoric pressure autocorrelation functions. In the 18–72 range, the α were typically 10% lower than the large n limiting value (1 and 2 for MD and BD, respectively). The optimum value of α for the various time correlation functions depended on the packing fraction and choice of correlation function. The shear stress correlation functions for these finite n have α values closer to 1 (MD) and 2 (BD) than the pressure and force autocorrelation functions.


With the condition that logistics capability has prominent influence on supply chain competency,a competition model for supply chain versus supply chain based on logistics element capacity and logistics operation capability was proposed.In which,logistics element capacity is represented by the element's physical capacity,while logistics operation capability is reflected by process proportion and operation factor.With some given parameters,this model was solved by using projection method.The solution describes logistics capability' s characteristic of those supply chains who win the competition.Besides,each supply chain' s shortage of logistics capability and the corresponding promotion policy were analyzed by changing the process proportion,operation factor and the element's physical capacity.Upon these,the impact of each supply chain carrying out logistics capability promotion policy on its own competency was investigated through numerical examples.


Effect of feeding defatted millet (Sorghum vulgarie) flour at 5, 10 and 14.5% protein levels respectively for six weeks has been studied on rat liver mitochondrial, microsomal and supernatant fractions total lipids, cholesterol, triglycerides, total phospholipids, phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl ethanolamine. The results have been compared with rats fed casein at 10% level for the same period. The metabolism of liver subcellular fractions lipids of millet diet and casein diet fed rats has been studied by the incorporation of acetate-1-14C and . A significant increase in mitochondrial triglycerides of rats fed millet diet at 5 and 10% protein level, in microsomes of rats fed millet diet at 5, 10 and 15% protein levels and in supernatant fractions of rats fed millet diet at 5 and 15% protein levels was observed. A significant increase in total cholesterol in mitochondria and microsomes and a significant decrease in supernatant fraction of rats fed millet diet at 10% protein level was observed. A signi...


The concepts of strong isomorphisms, weak isomorphism and conjugation in the dynamics of F-quantum spaces have been introduced and studied.


Real estate indices based on appraisals or sale prices of properties are known for their slow response to market news. These indices can therefore be represented (in logarithm) as the sum of a latent "true" price index and a lagging error. We show that the latent appreciation return and the lagging error can be jointly estimated in a state-space model, which has two key features. First, it employs exogenous variables known to predict asset returns to predict the latent appreciation return. Second, it incorporates known sources of the lagging error, such as the partial adjustment in observed index to the latent appreciation return and the seasonality in reappraisal quality. We find that, after the estimated lagging errors are removed, the appraisal-based National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries returns become more informative and hence exhibit (i) greater variance, (ii) weaker auto correlation, (iii) higher correlation with the returns of the securitized real estate and (iv) more timely response to market news. Copyright 2003 American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association


In general, the dynamic analysis with FEM(Finite Element Method) of large structures requires large computer memory space and long computational time. For the purpose of economical dynamic analysis of large structures, most of engineers want to use an efficient solution algorithm. This paper reports the modified CMS(Component Mode Synthesis) method which uses more efficient algorithm than the classical CMS method. In this paper, it is shown that Ritz vector sets can play the role of normal mode vector sets of substurctures in the CMS algorithm. The modified CMS method has good convergence performance compared with that of the classical CMS method.


The Yi people have a long history and enjoy an ancient well-developed culture. The embroidery art plays a very important role in their dress. The article gives an analysis to the Maying flower designs so that more and more people get a better understanding of the connotation of the Maying flower and its structure in the Yi peoples dress.


The Eucharist posed a test of faith to believers, as it was meant to do. The encounter with the Eucharist, above all at annual Communion, was envisaged by the designers of the Mass as the moment of personal testing and awareness. Manuals for priests insisted that the meal be made of the noble white corn. Wheat, and no other grains, so common in European regions and in the diets of the poor, was to be used. A rich language of sensual delight thus developed: for like all food this was to be tasted seen, smelt, and tasted. Given the insistence that Christ's body was present, and indeed shared with believers as a gift of love, and a boost of grace, it seems surprising that tasting God is rarely described in any detail, and is overwhelmingly described simply as "sweetness". Keywords:Christ; Eucharist


Glass systems of the composition xLi2O−(25−x)K2O−70(0.4ZnO+0.6P2O5)+5MnO2 (x = 4,8,12,16 and 20 mol %) have been prepared by melt quenching technique. The thermal and mechanical properties of the glasses have been evaluated as a function of mixed alkali content. Glass transition temperature and Vickers's hardness of the glasses show a pronounced deviation from linearity at 12 mol% Li2O. Theoretically estimated elastic moduli of the glasses show small positive deviations from linearity. MAE in these properties has been attributed to the localized changes in the glass network. The absorption spectra of Mn2+ ions in these glasses showed strong broad absorption band at 514 nm corresponding to the transition 6A1g(S)→4T1g(G), characteristic of manganese ions in octahedral symmetry. The fundamental absorption edge in UV region is used to study the optical transitions and electronic band structure. From UV absorption edge, optical band gap energies have been evaluated. Band gap energies of the glasses have exhibi...


Objective To explore the optimal method of qualitative and quantitative assessment of retinal neovascularization(RNV),choroidal neovascularization(CNV) and leakage from CNV. Methods Thirteen mice were randomly divided into RNV assessment group(n=7)and CNV assessment group(n=6).For RNV assessment, 3 mice were served as normal controls,and the other 4 were made into models of retinopathy of prematurity(ROP).At postnatal d16,mice in normal control group and 3 ROP model mice received intraocular injection with FITC labeled or unlabeled antibody and were sacrificed 12 h later.The retinas were flat mounted(FITC labeled antibody) or incubated with secondary antibody(unlabeled antibody) and then flat mounted.The other ROP model mouse was served as blank control.For assessment of CNV and leakage from CNV,6 mice(12 eyes) were induced into models of CNV,and were randomly divided into two groups.Seven and 14d after model establishment,mice were intraocularly injected with unlabeled antibody,and fluorescein sodium were intraperitoneally injected 12 h later.The area of CNV and that of CNV leakage were calculated. ResultsRetinas from eyes injected with FITC labeled antibody exhibited good resolution of ultrastructure of RNV,while retinas from eyes injected with unlabeled antibody showed selective staining of RNV with no background,greatly facilitating identification and quantification of RNV.Merging images of stained CNV with images of fluorescein sodium leakage from CNV revealed double labeled CNV surrounded by fluorescein that had leaked into surrounding tissues.The mean area of CNV and its leakage of d14 were significantly different from those of d 7(P0.05). Conclusion In vivo immunostaining allows detailed structural analysis of retinal vessels and facilitate identification and quantification of RNV and leakage of CNV.


The adsorption kinetics character of Ni(Ⅱ) with tea dust has been studied.The thermal adsorption model of Ni(Ⅱ) in the initial concentration of 120 mg / L,200 mg / L,320 mg / L,600 mg / L,800 mg / L,1 000 mg / L has been investigated in the condition of waste tea dosage of 1.2 g,pH value of 5.5,temperature of 25 ℃,adsorption time 1 h.The relative parameters of Langmuir,Freundlich and Temkin thermal adsorption equation were obtained.The result shows that the adsorption behavior of Ni(II) with waste tea dust accords with Temkin model better.


Objective: To study the surgical treatment of lung carcinoma in aged people. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted based on the data of 145 old patients with lung carcinoma who received surgical treatment. Results: Surgical removement of the tumor was performed in 114 cases(78.6%). Thoracotomy was performed but the tumor was not tremoved in 31 cases(21.4%). In patients with the tumour removed 1, 3, and5-years survival rates were 87.8%, 69.0% and 37.2%, respectively. Conclusion: Perioperative intensive treatment is very important for the increase of the operative chance and the surgical effectiveness in old Patients with lung carcinoma.


Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) enable direct communication between the brain or nervous system and a machine without involving the sensory-motor system. BMIs are an embryonic technology and remarkable accomplishments have recently been reported. BMIs have a high potential and possibly an enormous impact on society, and may evoke a revolution in the way we interact with computers. If we look at the Human Factors and Ergonomics community's position in the BMI field, we do not have a meaningful track record yet. However, the thesis of this paper is that we as a community are in a good position to (1) facilitate a broadening of the focus of BMIs from therapeutic applications to general use and (2) to realise a spin-in of BMI technology to domains such as Human Computer Interaction, supporting people with special needs, and training and simulation.


Abstracts. Otorhinolaryngology. W. Joёl (D. med. Woch. 1929, No. 51), on the basis of numerous autopsies of those who died due to pyemia after angina and on the basis of experimental work, comes to the conclusion that pyemia after tonsillitis comes from tonsillas or tissues surrounding the tonsils in the form of phlegmon and retracts the corresponding veins in the process; secondary formation of blood clots with subsequent pyemia. comes from the periphlebitic process. Thrombosis of small veins of peritonsillar tissue, according to the author, in contrast to Frankel'io plays a very insignificant role in pyemias after angina.


The traditional higher compulsory educational mechanism take people to think that the university is a suitable administrative subject. But, with the market economy system and modern educational system constructed, the qualification of university subject have taken changes. Only the university is a suitable subject when it exercise legal functions and powers , or not. Therefore, when it exercising administrative works ,we must make clear it's identity of civil subject and supervise by some principles and institutions , such as legalize, rationalize, procedural principles and promulgation, hear witness, appeal institutions.


This paper critically examines how capitalist, alternative capitalist and non-capitalist ontologies and relations are negotiated in a hybrid makerspace that hosts both for-profit and non-profit entities and integrates community and commercial aspects. Despite a growing body of knowledge on the distinct characteristics of non-commercial makerspaces, few scholars have analysed them in relation to capitalism. This applies even more to commercial or hybrid makerspaces that remain so far under-researched in diverse economies literature. These spaces, however, can be of increasing interest given what we know about makerspaces as hubs of budding entrepreneurship and that some makers avidly pursue entrepreneurial objectives while others are reluctant to even consider commercialising their projects. In this paper, I employ an extended framework of diverse economies that understands capitalism as not only a form of socio-economic organisation but also a cultural and political architecture. Followed by an overview of existing literature that sheds light on beyond-capitalist dimensions of makerspaces, I explore a case study of the Keilewerf, a hybrid makerspace situated in Makers District in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, disentangling how capitalist, alternative capitalist and non-capitalist ontologies of sustainability-oriented makers co-exist and conflict with economic relations, knowledge production and relations with the state.


A retarding field energy analyzer has been developed for diagnosing 300 μs duration, 60 cm×60 cm negative glow, sheet plasmas immersed in a 150–250 G axial magnetic field. The electron density in these 4.5 kV, 13 A, 120 mTorr discharges in air and other gases, is high enough to reflect X‐band microwaves. The presence of the magnetic field makes the suppression of secondary electrons from the Faraday collector surface more difficult. The approach taken here is to bias the entire collection circuit and the amplifiers 90 V positive with respect to the data acquisition room. The differentially pumped analyzer is designed to accept electrons with a large range of perpendicular velocities, and it measures the parallel velocity distribution function of the discharge electrons entering a 0.64‐mm‐diam hole in the anode plate. It gives valuable information about the energy spectrum of the energetic beam electrons emitted from the cathode, and the effect of energy loss and scattering processes on this propagating be...


Extracted from text ... MARCH 2005 THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN JOURNAL OF HIV MEDICINE 44
Michelle Rotchford Galloway, MPhil (Journ)
Media and Communications Manager, South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI)
VACCINE RESEARCH
Building bridges of understanding
and empowerment between society
and researchers
Masikhulisane, meaning 'Let us grow together', is the new name
of the revamped and refocused community involvement
programme of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative
(SAAVI). The programme aims to create an equal, meaningful
partnership between community and scientists to facilitate
AIDS vaccine research and promote overall understanding of
medical research. As the programme manager Elise Levendal
says: 'It's for us to bring ..


Summary

Pomegranate fruit and its products are being widely promoted to consumers as healthy alternatives for their daily diet. The aim was to study the main sensory differences among twenty pomegranate cultivars, determining which cultivars have particular flavour or texture notes that could make them more appropriate for fresh consumption or processing. Four clusters grouped all samples, two of them included sour cultivars and two of them included sweet and sweet-sour cultivars. Cluster 1 (sour) was characterized by having floral, apple, and grape flavour notes and also producing a tongue numbing sensation. Cluster 2 (sour), which included the Wonderful cultivar, had samples with wine-like attributes. Clusters 3 and 4 (sweet and sour-sweet) were characterized by having overall sweet, pear and grape notes for cluster 3, and beet, fruity-dark, fermented, musty and woody flavour for cluster 4.


A field experiment was conducted during the rainy (kharif) seasons of 1996 and 1997 at Salooni, Himanchal Pradesh, to study the response of 3 maize (Zea mays L.) varieties to nitrogen and farmyard manure (FYM) application under rainfed condition. Among the varieties, 'Salooni Local' recorded the highest plant height, cob length, grains/cob and 100-grain weight, resulting in higher grain and stover yields. Application of 90 kg N and 15 tonnes FYM/ha resulted in the maximum plant height, cob length, grains/cob, grain weight, harvest index and thereby higher yields. Maximum agronomic efficiency was recorded with application of 45 kg N and 15 tonnes FYM/ha.


The purpose of the study was to evaluate the physical development of children born in families burdened with repeated miscarriages. The main group is consisted of 210 children of whom 153 children were prospected, born in families with repeated miscarriage as a result of complex treatment with lymphocytotherapy - subgroup A of the main group. Subgroup B of the main group was formed as a result of retrospectively examined 57 children born in families with repeated miscarriage, mothers receiving only medical treatment. The comparison group consisted of 199 children born in families without a history of reproductive losses. According to the results of the multilateral statistical analysis, it is established that the indices of physical development (weight and length of the body) of both unresolved and full-term children born in families with repeated miscarriage are basically consistent with population data according to the age of gestation. At the same time, in the case of pregnant women only medical therapy, the parameters of mass and body length of full-term newborns exceed the data recorded in the population.


An electron cyclotron resonance source has been used to generate a Cl 2 plasma and etch Si trenches >100 μm deep. High microwave power was used to achieve Si etch rates of 1.09 μm/min for trench openings >500 μm. With pressure ranging from 2 to 30 mTorr, etching at higher pressures, up to 20 mTorr, increased the anisotropy of the etch, due to sidewall passivation. In addition, Si etch rates were faster at high pressures, increasing from 0.47 to 0.78 μm/min as the pressure was increased from 2 to 30 mTorr. Features with aspect ratios >30 have been fabricated using 1200 W microwave power and 50 W radio-frequency power at 20 mTorr with 20 sccm of Cl 2 flow. Under these conditions,the self-induced dc bias at the stage was 50 V, and a selectivity >250 over an evaporated Ni mask was achieved. This allowed the use of an evaporated Ni mask for trench depths >50 μm. Electroplated Ni could be used as an etch mask, and the selectivity of Si over Ni was 75. Also, the addition of SF 6 increased the etch rate to as high as 1.89 μm/min for trench openings >500 μm, while keeping the vertical profile and smooth surface. The Si etch rate was found to depend on the aspect ratio and an etch rate reduction of 18% was seen in the Cl 2 plasma for 1.5 μm wide trench openings relative to the etch rate of a 50 μm wide trench opening. The etch rate also increased as the etch time increased. For a 30 min etch in the Cl 2 plasma, an etch rate of 0.79 μm/min was measured; however, for a 2 h etch, an etch rate of 1.00 μm/min was measured.


IT is generally admitted that cookery is both an art and a science, but it JL is essentially also a profession. It is a manipulative art which cannot be acquired by mere theoretical teaching, for it requires years of assiduous and constant practice before experience brings the desired efficiency. The sole legitimate objects of cooking are to make food more palatable and easier to digest and assimilate. Thus the essential quality of any and all culinary preparations, whether treated simply or elaborately, is that the food cooked may be capable of furnishing nourishment to the body, and supplying new vital force to replace that which is constantly being used up by the processes inseparable from life. Good cooking, that is &dquo; genuine cookery,&dquo; is a process which preserves all the essential flavours and nutritive qualities in foods. Therefore to cook well must be regarded as one of the grandest accomplishments, for it means making the best of nature's own gifts. Bad cooking, on the


In this paper, the effect of hall parameter on the flow of Casson nanofluid containing gyrotactic microorganisms over a stretching boundary in a porous medium is studied. The stratification, porosity, and Casson fluid parameters are also examined. Using suitable similarity transformations, the basic equations describing the flow are converted to nonlinear differential equations, which are then solved computationally using the spectral local linearisation method. The effects of key parameters such as the Hall parameter, the thermophoresis parameter, the porosity parameter, and Casson fluid parameters are analyzed. The results obtained suggest that the Hall parameter has the effect of decreasing the secondary flow, the heat and mass transfer rate, and density of the motile microorganisms. A decrease in the the Hall parameter is found to cause an increase in the transfer rate, the mass transfer rate, and the density of the motile microorganisms. An increase in the porosity parameter leads to a decline in the skin friction, heat transfer rate, mass transfer rate, and density of the motile microorganisms. The applications of this study arise in industrial areas, including Hall current accelerators, planetary dynamics, Hall current sensors, and magnetohydrodynamic power generators.


Abstract Short interspersed elements (SINEs), which are nonautonomous transposable elements, require the transposition machinery of long interspersed elements (LINEs) to mobilize. SINEs are composed of two or more independently originating parts. The 5′ region is called the "head" and is derived mainly from small RNAs, and the 3′ region ("tail") originates from the 3′ region of LINEs and is responsible for being recognized by counterpart LINE proteins. The origin of the middle "body" of SINEs is enigmatic, although significant sequence similarities among SINEs from very diverse species have been observed. Here, a systematic analysis of the similarities among SINEs and LINEs deposited on Repbase, a comprehensive database of eukaryotic repeat sequences was performed. Three primary findings are described: 1) The 5′ regions of only two clades of LINEs, RTE and Vingi, were revealed to have contributed to the middle parts of SINEs; 2) The linkage of the 5′ and 3′ parts of LINEs can be lost due to occasional tail exchange of SINEs; and 3) The previously proposed Ceph-domain was revealed to be a fusion of a CORE-domain and a 5′ part of RTE clade of LINE. Based on these findings, a hypothesis that the 5′ parts of bipartite nonautonomous LINEs, which possess only the 5′ and 3′ regions of the original LINEs, can contribute to the undefined middle part of SINEs is proposed.


Modeling of the field distributions from electromagnetic sources is of interest for various applications for example electromagnetic compatibility investigations, near-field to far-field transformations, antenna diagnostics and electromagnetic dosimetry. In order to determine whether exposure safety guidelines, such as the EU directive 2004/40/EC, are complied with, source modeling methods are important. Two methods for determining the total field, including phase information, when only field amplitudes have been measured on a set of planes in front of an electromagnetic source have been developed. The first method, the adjoint field method, is a gradient based optimization algorithm based on the adjoint fields. The second method, the phase angle gradient method, employs an optimization algorithm based on the phase angle gradients of a functional. Promising results have been obtained both for numerical test cases and for measured field.


Abstract The feasibility of measuring residual stresses in self-pierce riveted (SPR) joints by neutron diffraction technique was investigated. The main challenge involved dealing with the very small dimensions of SPR joints. Two different joints were examined: aluminium–steel and steel–steel. Even though small dimensions were involved, meaningful results were obtained. In the rivet head, tensile stress was observed for the steel–steel sample, whereas only compressive stress was observed for the aluminium–steel. The residual stress in the rivet head was higher at the centre and lower at the edge for both joints. Stresses in the sheet material beside the rivet wall and at a distance of three times the rivet radius from the rivet axis were not significant. For the SPR joints examined, the maximum value of residual stress was compressive and occurred in the rivet leg. The results are discussed according to the physical events involved during the process.


On the basis of multivariate methods of geomet-ric morphometrics in 21 homologous landmarks the author studied changes in the body shape of males and females of the perch Percafluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1758) and roach Rutilusrutilus (Linnaeus, 1758) populations coexisting together in the Verkhne-Vyisky reservoir (the Middle Urals) during breeding and feeding. It was found out that with age and growth the perch and roach had common regulari-ties in the changes of the body shape and its indi-vidual structures. Periodic changes in the body shape of the perch and roach associated with changes in the gonad size at the various phases of the seasonal cycle (breeding and feeding) were 1.2 times less than variability caused by sex and 4.0 times less than variability caused by age and growth. The different morphogenetic reactions were observed in males and females of the perch and roach from sympatric populations living in the same ecological conditions of the Verkhne-Vyisky reser-voir most likely connected with specific biological and ecological peculiarities of the fishes belonging to different taxonomic orders. It was found out that the range of sex differences in body shape was larger in the perch than in the roach. The coordi-nated unidirectional seasonal changes in the body shape in both sexes of the perch and roach was accompanied by increased morphological differ-ences between males and females.The transfor-mation of the body shape between the feeding and spawning periods increased sex differences in the body shape in the perch; while in the roach it creat-ed sex differences in the body shape. During the feeding period the differences between individuals of different sexes were smaller and were observed only in the perch.


The seat vibration level is important for evaluation of the machinery quality in the research and development(RD) of the low noise machine.The method adopted is the machine-electric equivalence of machinery dynamic systems in view of mechanic impedance,then study is conducted on the influence of the machinery seat vibration level by the parameters of the elastic resilient equipment.Some conclusions that can be referred by the low noise machine RD brought up.


Sage and veteran delegates to the American Medical Association (AMA) annual meeting say the vast majority of resolutions have historically been "always about money."

But with the American health care system in upheaval and the nation's doctors under what AMA Past-President Dr. Peter Carmel


BACKGROUND
Since liver fibrosis is one of the most accurate predictors of prognosis in hepatopatic patients, its accurate assessment and staging is a major public health issue. Transient elastography (TE, Fibroscan®) and shear wave elastography (SWE) represent the gold standard techniques among non-invasive methods to assess liver fibrosis. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is increasingly used to diagnose the nature of liver lesions and is often performed together with TE and SWE. In this study we evaluated the effect of CEUS on liver stiffness measurements obtained by TE and SWE.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis of ultrasound (US) exams performed by an expert operator was carried out. TE and SWE were performed 30 seconds before and after the execution of CEUS. Statistical analysis was carried out using the statistical software R. Kolmogorov-Smirnov analysis was performed to test the normality of continuous variables. The pre- and post-CEUS liver stiffness values were compared using the Wilcoxon's test.

RESULTS
Ninety-six patients were enrolled. While the measurements were comparable when performed with TE, those obtained by SWE decreased by 6% after administration of the contrast agent (P= 0.0005). Fibrosis stage deviated between pre- and post-CEUS in 16 (17%) patients with Fibroscan® and 22 (23%) patients with SWE. Among the latter, in 9 cases (10%) a deviation from absent-low (F0-F2) to high-fibrosis (F3, F4), or vice versa, occurred.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study, the first to assess the effects of CEUS on US elastography, shows that the contrast agent (Sonovue®) does not significantly affect liver stiffness measurements obtained by TE, whereas the accuracy decreases when performed by SWE.


"We have entered a renaissance in the care for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia-related lower urinary tract symptoms," writes Steven A. Kaplan, MD.


Objective To study the adiponectin mRNA expression in subcutaneous and omental adipose tissues of type 2 diabetes and their relation with blood adiponectin, body weight index, waist hip ratio and insulin sensitivity. Methods The adiponectin mRNA expression level in adipose tissue of 22 cases with type 2 diabetes and 26 cases of non diabetes controls was assayed by real time fluorescence quantitative RT PCR. The level of plasma adiponectin was measured with ELISA kit. Results The adiponectin mRNA expression in omental adipose tissue was significantly decreased in patients with type 2 diabetes than that in non diabetes controls (P0.05). The expression level of adiponectin mRNA in diabetic omental adipose was negatively correlated with waist hip ratio. No difference of plasma adiponectin level was found between two groups. Plasma adiponectin level was positively correlated with the mRNA level of omental adipose tissue in diabetes group. Conclusion Type 2 diabetic patients show lower transcription of adiponectin mRNA in omental adipose tissue than that of non diabetic control. The level of adiponectin mRNA in visceral adipose tissue seems to be an important parameter of insulin resistance.


Main properties of the processes of iron ore destruction in terms of its simultaneous effect by mechanical load and electric field of ultra-high frequency have been studied. That was compared with the case when only mechanical load is applied. Theoretically, it has been proved that in the first case, quartz crystals accumulate more energy, and this effect is manifested mostly in terms of resonance. For the first time, the iron ore samples of cubic geometry were tested using a non-uniform volumetric compression unit. Application of the ultrahigh frequency field resulted in ultimate strength reduction by 1.5 – 2.0 times and significant increase in plasticity of the destruction. At the same time, density of the sample destruction energy in a volume unit is significantly lower than that in the case of mechanical load (1.05 and 2.6 MJ/m3, respectively). There is also a tendency of reducing large fraction yield and increasing fine fraction yield along with the increase up to 11% in iron content in the products after grinding. The results of theoretical and numerous experimental studies have been substantiated the necessity to continue the research and development work on adapting the proposed jaw crusher to the production conditions.


Our experiment demonstrates a subwavelength-wide peak from double-slit diffraction inside a slab with hyperbolic dispersion; this highly localized field can be used for subwavelength probes.


OBJECTIVE To prepare and evaluate the sustained release ketoprofen pellets by melt pelletization.METHODS The sustained release pellets were based on the combination of stearic acid /PEG4000 as meltable binder and lactose / HPMC / starch as filler.After the determination of size distribution,the similarity factor f_2 was used to assess the similarity between two in vitro dissolution profiles.RESULTS By means of choosing the optimum stirrer speed,temperature and the optimum amount of stearic acid,PEG4000,lactose and HPMC,ketoprofen sustained release pellets showed the idea release behavior in vitro.CONCLUSION The in vitro dissolution tests of ketoprofen sustained release pellets can sustained release over 10 h with the two meltable binder.


The spread of antibiotic resistance (AR) is a major threat to global health. Plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer is the main mechanism by which AR is transferred between cells lying within close spatial proximity to each other. In this study, we address a fundamental question regarding the spread of AR-encoding plasmids: Is there an optimal time to administer antibiotics to minimize plasmid spread within microbial communities? We addressed this question using microbial consortia consisting of two Pseudomonas stutzeri strains, where one is an AR-encoding plasmid donor and the other a potential recipient. We allowed the strains to co-expand across a nutrient-amended surface and administered antibiotics at different points in time. We found that the extents of plasmid transfer and transconjugant proliferation have unimodal relationships with the timing of antibiotic administration, where they reach maxima at intermediate administration times. Using an individual-based model, we found that these unimodal relationships result from an interplay between the probability to acquire plasmids from neighboring cells and the probability of plasmid loss upon cell division. Our study provides novel mechanistic insights into the transfer and proliferation of AR-encoding plasmids within microbial communities and identifies the timing of antibiotic administration as an important determinant of AR spread.


It is a new engine that generates power from temperature differences. The engine additionally has low cost, high efficiency, low noise operation, suppression of member friction, and the ability to generate or cool power from a low quality heat source.


In today's Europe, only 24 per cent of the labor force always works regular daytime hours. The aim of the current study was to explore conceptualizations of food and meals in relation to irregular ...


Througi the comparison of the various different methods for fast searching 10 kV outage cable, this paper introduces the engineering example using TA through method, whkfa is innovative, fast and safe. The various factors are considered and synthesized, and recommendation opinions for fast searching 10 kV outag cable are put forward.


Let (R, m) be a regular local ring with prime ideals p and q such that √ p + q = m and dim(R/p) + dim(R/q) = dim(R). It has been conjectured by Kurano and Roberts that p ∩ q ⊆ m for all positive integers m. We discuss this conjecture and related conjectures. In particular, we prove that this conjecture holds for all regular local rings if and only if it holds for all localizations of polynomial algebras over complete discrete valuation rings. In addition, we give examples showing that certain generalizations to nonregular rings do not hold.


We employ surface acoustic waves to control the transfer of photo‐generated carriers between interconnected quantum wells and wires grown on pre‐patterned (311)A GaAs substrates. The wires are embedded at photo‐lithographically defined positions within (Al,Ga)As/GaAs quantum well. Optical studies on these structures have shown sharp PL lines and antibunched photons with tunable emission energy, revealing the presence of several recombination centers within the wire. The spatial separation of these recombination centers emitting single photons is determined from time‐resolved measurements.


Transcripts of spontaneous human speech present a significant obstacle for traditional NER models. The lack of grammatical structure of spoken utterances and word errors introduced by the ASR make downstream NLP tasks challenging. In this paper, we examine in detail the complex relationship between ASR and NER errors which limit the ability of NER models to recover entity mentions from spontaneous speech transcripts. Using publicly available benchmark datasets (SWNE, Earnings-21, OntoNotes), we present the full taxonomy of ASR-NER errors and measure their true impact on entity recognition. We find that NER models fail spectacularly even if no word errors are introduced by the ASR. We also show why the F1 score is inadequate to evaluate NER models on conversational transcripts.


For the first time in my life I had to watch what I ate. Results of a glucose tolerance test at 22 weeks of my first pregnancy revealed that I had gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Thereafter, I was caught up in an intense regimen of medical intervention, which included

I worked hard every day


Many metallurgical processes in some moment needs that the specific material in form of chunks, grains, powder, dust etc. must be added. The results and benefits from it depends on the fast and uniform distribution of the introduced material inside the whole volume of the alloy being processed. That is why the method of pneumatic powder injection is widely used to introduce the powdered material of various kinds into the molten alloys. But the problem of particles penetration into the liquid metal is quite complicated and many variables and parameters influence the final result. In the paper the results of the model laboratory research on this problem were presented. The model particles of spherical shape of different dimensions, made of various materials were introduced into water. The geometrical features of the area of particle, entrapped air and water interaction was analyzed. The results were compared to those achieved by other researchers. The results can be then an initial stage to the next research to combine the obtained data with the results of real pneumatic powder injection experiments.


AbstractWe demonstrate that in the class of models with Constrained Minimal FlavourViolation (CMFV), in which the CKM matrix is the only source of CP violationand B 0q −B¯ 0q mixings (q = d,s) are described by a single operator (¯bq ) V−A (¯bq) V−A ,the lower bounds on the mass differences ∆M s,d are simply given by their StandardModel values (∆M s,d ) SM with two possible exceptions that we identify. Our proofinvolves all possible charged gauge boson, Goldstone boson and physical chargedand neutral scalar exchanges and assumes that the masses of new charge +2/3singlet heavy fermions T i that mix with the top quark have all to be larger thanm t , which is chosen by nature. Similarly, the additional charged gauge bosonshave to satisfy M i > M W , while no such bound needs to be set on the chargedand neutral scalar masses. The two possible exceptions arise in the presence ofU(1) neutral gauge bosons and Majorana fermions in box diagrams with flavourviolating couplings. However in the case of the MSSM with CMFV and low tanβour bound is satisfied in spite of gluino and neutralino contributions.


Highly textured nanorods of iron sulfide Fe(1+x)S (0.1<x<0.2) were deposited on silicon by chemical vapor deposition using the single source precursor iron(III) N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate. The evaporation of this precursor in vacuum, followed by its thermal decomposition on silicon substrate, resulted in the growth of iron-rich iron sulfide semiconductor. Magnetic profiling of the iron-rich Fe(1+x)S rods grown on silicon revealed a Curie temperature of 360°C; the in-plane:out-of-plane magnetic saturation ratio is 4:1, with a saturation magnetization of 19.7emu∕g.


This article describes the development and field implementation of an integrated traffic responsive urban corridor network control strategy called the INtegrated-Traffic responsive Urban corridor Control (IN- TUC). The focus of IN-TUC strategy is to provide traffic-responsive settings at suitably defined constant control intervals for the different control elements included in a corridor network area. IN- TUC consists of three parts: urban traffic control, variable message sign control, and ramp metering.


Positive allosteric modulators for free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFA2R/GPR43), that affect receptor function through binding to two distinct allosteric binding sites, were used to determine the correlation between the responses induced in neutrophils by two distinct activation modes; FFA2R was activated either by the orthosteric agonist propionate or by a receptor transactivation mechanism that activated FFA2R from the cytosolic side of the neutrophil plasma membrane by signals generated by the neutrophil PAFR (receptor for platelet activating factor), P2Y2R (receptor for ATP), FPR1 (receptor for fMLF) and FPR2 (receptor for WKYMVM). We show that the transactivation signals that activate FFA2R in the absence of any orthosteric agonist were generated downstream of the signaling G protein that couple to PAFR and P2Y2R. This transactivation of allosterically modulated FFA2Rs, by signals generated by PAFR/P2Y2R, represents a novel mechanism by which a G protein coupled receptor can be activated. Weak correlations were obtained when the FFA2R activity was induced by the transactivation signals generated by PAFRs and P2Y2Rs were compared with the FFA2R activity induced by the orthosteric agonist propionate. Comparison of the responses for each allosteric modulator revealed that the ratio values, calculated from the peak values of the ATP and propionate responses, varied from 0.2 to 1. Depending on the allosteric modulator, the response induced by the two different mechanisms (orthosteric activation and receptor transactivation, respectively), was equal or the propionate response was more pronounced. Importantly, we conclude that FFA2R activation from outside (orthosteric activation) and inside (receptor cross-talk/transactivation) can be selectively affected by an allosteric FFA2R modulator. The allosterically modulated FFA2R is transactivated by signals generated by other GPCRs. The PAF and ATP receptors transactivate FFA2R from the cytosolic side of the membrane. The mechanisms that regulates activation of FFA2R from outside and inside differ.


This experiment was carried out based on three different simples of honey,using test-tube colorimetric method to measure the diastase number in honey.The result showed that with drop of the quality of honey,diastase number of it show downward trend:diastase number in honey of sample A and F is all 17.9,that of sample B,E,C,D is respectively 8.3,6.5,2.5,0.With extension of keeping in storage diastase number of honey in six samples show different varying rule:the DN of the superior samples descend distinctly,but that of the inferior change not too obviously.


J.K.E. Halm was Chief Assistant at the Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope, from 1907 to 1927. Though barely remembered today, he made several contributions to the advance of astrophysics. Of the staff at the time, he was the most conversant with contemporary trends and the most capable as a theoretician. In what follows, an outline is given of his life and work.


This report describes the work completed in the first phase of the Simultaneous SO{sub 2}/NO{sub x} Removal Testing and Toxics Characterization test program. Tasks covered in this report as specified in the Statement of Work included: Task 1.2.0 Equipment Modification and Reagents Procurement; Task 1.3.0 Testing at the 5 kW Scale; Task 1.3.1 Temperature Enhanced Fe(III)EDTA Reduction; Task 1.3.2 Electrolytic Cell Fe(III) EDTA Reduction; Task 1.3.3 Chemical Regeneration Agents Testing; Task 1.3.4 Combination of Strategies; Task 1.4.0 Data Analysis and Phase I Report. Proposed in Task 1.3.4 are combinations of regeneration methods (based on data generated in Tasks 1.3.1 to 1.3.3) that gave the best results at the lowest possible cost. The Test Plan approval (Task 1.1.0) was previously submitted under separate cover.


A ripple current cancellation technique injects AC current into the output voltage bus of a converter that is equal and opposite to the normal converter ripple current. The output current ripple is ideally zero, leading to ultra-low noise converter output voltages. The circuit requires few additional components, no active circuits are required. Only an additional filter inductor winding, an auxiliary inductor, and small capacitor are required. The circuit utilizes leakage inductance of the modified filter inductor as all or part of the required auxiliary inductance. Ripple cancellation is independent of switching frequency, duty cycle, and other converter parameters. The circuit eliminates ripple current in both continuous conduction mode and discontinuous conduction mode. Experimental results provide better than an 80/spl times/ ripple current reduction.


Summary 1) Definite suppression of growth of treated portion of the head was observed 80–110 days after irradiation with 3,000 or 6,000 r. In irradiated portions: teeth disappeared completely, growth of olfactory chambers suppressed greatly, but they never disappeared completely, anterior portion of the lower jaw had disappeared, visceral arches all shifted in rostral direction, development of the eyes was suppressed. According to sensitivity, it is possible to distribute the tissues and organs among 5 groups. (I) The teeth and lymph nodes (disappeared completely in 100% of animals). (II) Olfactory epithelium and the lens (disappeared in 28%, damaged in 55% and normal in 17%). (III) Epithelium of the cornea (disappeared in 30%, damaged in 38% and normal in 32%) and the rods and cones layer of the retina (disappeared in 31%, damaged in 33% and normal in 36%). The gills. (IV) Other layers of retina (damaged in 16% and normal in 84%). (V) Pigment cells of choroid and other tissues of the head, which are comparatively resistant and did not show any clear signs of damage. 2) Specialized but not completely differentiated tissues can be destroyed by X-ray irradiation and after this never restored, being replaced by typical skin epithelium with Leydig's cells. This was observed in oral epithelium, olfactory epithelium and epithelium of the cornea.


BACKGROUND
In recent years, obesity has become the major public health problems worldwide. The aim of the meta-analysis is to estimate the overall prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents in China, Publications between 2009 and 2014 on the obesity prevalence among primary school students in China were retrieved from PubMed, CNKI and Wanfang databases. After evaluation of the quality of the articles, 20 papers were finally included in our study. Meta-analysis findings showed that the pooled prevalence of obesity in primary school students is 10.4% (95% CI: 7.8%-13.8%). Our results indicated that the obesity prevalence status in China was still troublesome, effective and practical measures should be taken to control the the situation.


From Servant to Savant exposes the fundamental role that the French Revolution played in the emergence of modern professional musicianship and music historiography. Like other arts and trades in Old Regime Paris, music professionalized under a system regulated by legal permissions called privilèges. Musicians learned to work within the privilege system to elevate their legal and social status by the eve of Revolution. But the Revolution's Abolition of Privilege on August 4, 1789, overthrew this feudal order and set in its place a modern property regime requiring strict delineation between public and private property. From Servant to Savant reveals the profound musical consequences of this reckoning. Before the Revolution, music was an activity that required permission, after, it was an object that could be possessed. Everyone seemingly hoped to gain something from owning music—musicians claimed it as their unalienable personal expression while the French nation sought to enhance imperial ambitions by appropriating it as the collective product of cultural heritage and national industry. Musicians capitalized on these changes to protect their professionalization within new laws and institutions yet excluded those without credentials from their elite echelon. As musicians and the government negotiated the place of music in a reimagined French society, new epistemic and professional practices constituted three lasting values of musical production: the composer's sovereignty, the musical work's inviolability, and the nation's supremacy. From Servant to Savant thus demonstrates how the French Revolution set the stage for the emergence of so-called musical Romanticism and its legacies, which continue to haunt musical institutions and industries.


Passively mode-locked quantum-dot diode lasers are very difficult to characterize because they are typically unstable, have low peak powers, and high bandwidth. Measure data indicates these lasers are not typically mode-locked.


Using statistical methods (e.g. Praise-Winsten regression with panel corrected standard errors and binary logistic regression) common hypotheses about party unity in parliamentarian and presidential regimes are tested. For this purpose I use an extensive compilation of data on party unity in democracies. Parliamentarianism proves to be a (nearly) sufficient condition for high party unity. Presidentialism turns out to be a necessary condition for low party unity. But to suppose that there is always no or little party unity in presidentialism is wrong. It is hard to imagine modern democracies without parties and in modern democracies agenda-setting in legislatures is dominated by the governments. The condition "presidentialism vs. non-presidentialism" remains to have the biggest explanatory power for the differences of party unity in different countries. Competition between candidates of the same party during national elections (whereby the authority of party leadership is constricted) explains a great deal of the large variation of party unity in presidential democracies. In parliamentary democracies, however, this factor has no effect as a non-presidential government nearly guarantees a high level of party unity.


Some theoretical and experimental developments of the research on Bose-Einstein condensates(BECs)since the successful realization of vortex states in BECs of dilute alkali atomic gases in 1999 are reviewed, and related basic concepts and theory are also introduced. Part of the recent study of the authors is included as well.


Two wing-alone wind-tunnel models were tested in the NASA Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel facility to study the static divergence behavior of such configurations and to provide a data base for correlation with supersonic analytical predictions. One model had a four percent maximum thickness airfoil and the other had an eight-percent maximum thickness airfoil. The wing models had low aspect ratios and highly swept leading edges. Results show that decreasing airfoil thickness, moving the wing-pivot location upstream, or increasing the pitch-pivot stiffness have the beneficial effect of increasing the divergence dynamic pressures. The calculations accurately predicted the trend of experimental divergence dynamic pressure with Mach number.


As a continuation of a previous investigation, the exterior differential formulae for non-Abelian anomalies are derived within the reformulated path integral scheme, and a number of differential geometric objectives are traced out reversely. With the help of these objects, a compact form for the gauged Wess-Zumino effective action induced by finite chiral transformation is also derived in the path integral formalism.


Study Design. Historical cohort study. Objective. We investigated the prescription of opioids in injured Canadian workers to determine recent trends in use and the association between early prescription and future recovery. Summary of Background Data. Opioid analgesia is effective for reducing chronic nonmalignant pain, and opioid prescriptions for musculoskeletal pain seem to have increased over the past years. However, recent evidence indicates early opioid use may be associated with delayed recovery in patients with back pain. Methods. Data were extracted from the Alberta Workers' Compensation Board administrative database, and information was obtained on all time loss claims for sprains, strains, fractures, dislocations, amputations, or burns between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2005. Information on all narcotic prescriptions was obtained along with demographic data and duration of time loss benefits. Injury severity was controlled for via nature of injury coding. Analysis included multivariable logistic and Cox regression. Results. Data were obtained for 137,175 subjects. The majority were males (∼70%) with back sprains (∼35%), and a mean age of 37 years. Between the years 2000 and 2005, all opioid prescriptions within the first year of claim decreased from 11.4% of claimants to 8.3%. Older males with fractures, dislocations, or amputations were more likely to receive narcotics. Claimants receiving early opioid prescriptions experienced delayed suspension of benefits. However, this association was also seen in claimants prescribed early non-narcotic analgesics. Discussion. Prescriptions for opioid analgesia appear to be decreasing within workers' compensation claimants in Alberta, Canada. As expected, claimants with more severe injuries were more likely to receive opioids. An association was observed between early opioid prescription and delayed recovery, however, this is likely explained by pain severity or other unmeasured confounders.


KSQ Therapeutics has emerged from stealth mode with $76 million in funding from Polaris Partners to use the powerful gene-editing tool CRISPR to crack open a swath of new drug targets. Building on the work of its academic cofounders—David Sabatini and Tim Wang from MIT; William Hahn from Broad Institute; and Jonathan Weissman from the University of California, San Francisco—KSQ has developed a high-throughput method of using CRISPR to probe gene function. The biotech firm, which already has 40 employees, will initially focus on oncology and immunology drugs.


Today's smartphones have developed into advanced computer systems with enormous photo and video capabilities, larger touch-screens, ubiquitous internet access, and powerful global positional location services. There are numerous applications available nowadays that provide a wide range of services to smartphones' users in almost every area of daily life, such as communication, news, entertainment, maps, and education. The Student Information System, or SIS, is a service at the desktop computer-level provided by institutions of higher education to the students and faculty using which the students can gain access to their transcripts, get their semester timetable, register or drop courses, find out about the courses' final examination timetable, or get general academic information. The faculty, using SIS, can access information pertaining to the students registered in their course, get detailed information about their advisees, or audit degrees when their advisees are close to graduation. In this paper, we have described the design of an SIS application developed for Android operating system so that, instead of using a computer system, both students and faculty can gain access to the academic information on-the-go through their smartphones on which this application has been installed. Initial tests have indicated positive experience encountered by both students and faculty upon using this application and efforts are underway to develop similar application for Apple's iOS as well. Keywords—Smartphones; mobile; android; SIS


Aiming at the single evaluation content of the current train simulation training system, the process of voice interaction in the daily work of train conductors cannot be effectively and comprehensively reflected, and the coordination between dispatching terminology and train running equipment are not considered. In order to realize the objective evaluation of whether the terms are clear and the semantics accurate and the consistency check of "schedule terms-equipment operation", the HMM speech recognition subsystem of an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization Based on Self-Adaptive Escape (AEPSO) for railway dispatching was constructed. Compared with the traditional Baum-Welch algorithm, the experiment result shows that AEPSO-BW algorithm has certain advantages in speech recognition compared with traditional Baum-Welch algorithm. It provides a more comprehensive evaluation index for the training and assessment of vehicle service personnel.


A new understanding of substance abuse explores treatment issues based on subtypes of addicts, with a special focus on antisocial personality disorder and functional addiction. * Case studies of real people that illustrate the three subtypes of addicts * Offers specific intervention and treatment recommendations based on subtype * Gives a firsthand look at actual functional addicts who continue to use illicit drugs * Presents a realistic discussion of the poor prognosis for antisocial personality addicts and what can be done to manage this population


Climate-related changes have already been observed at various spatial and temporal scales, along with frequent extreme climate events and emerging issues in great complexity. Meanwhile, the impacts of climate change are expected to become increasingly more severe for more people and places as the amount of warming increases. However, great challenges and uncertainties exist in understanding climate change and its complex impacts, largely due to the limited availability and compatibility of large-scale data. Climate change research is based on multiple parameters, using global datasets that cover long time periods and that have increasingly finer temporal and spatial resolutions. As data volumes continuously expand and more parameters are considered in climate modeling and analysis, traditional spatial data management and analysis is reaching a bottleneck. There is, therefore, an urgent need to make use of big data and cloud computing to allow more integrated investigations and a synthesis of the complex changes in the climate in the context of Earth systems. Big Earth data empowered by Earth observation technology has great potential for use in the integrated analysis of climate change at global and regional scales and for supporting an informed response by human society to common challenges such as climate warming, extreme climate and weather, and climate-related disaster risks. This special issue includes six original research and technical papers that cover a wide range of applications of big Earth data related to the understanding of various aspects of climate change, including dataset development and the application of these data to extreme high temperatures, drought, dust storms, and ecosystem respiration and evapotranspiration at global, regional, and national scales. As the mean land surface air temperature has increased at almost twice the rate of the mean global warming rate, extreme heat events have become more frequent and more intense over major land areas (Jia et al., 2019), especially the vast Eurasian and African continental areas. Long-term and reliable spatial datasets are key to effectively capturing the details of large-scale heatwaves on which to base informed actions. This special collection includes a dataset of high-temperature extremes over Eurasia and Africa for the period 1979–2018 at a spatial resolution of 0.5°, produced by Yang and Zhang (2020). Three main indices – hot days, hot nights, and combined hot extremes – are included in the data products. These data are freely available and users can select high-temperature extremes with appropriate thresholds according to their specific research and application purposes. Drought is another major extreme climate event that compromises the economy and also livelihoods in many developing countries in Eurasia and Africa. Also included in this special issue is a paper by Zhong, Hua, and Yan (2020), who extracted a basic gridded dataset of the drought events that occurred between 1950 and 2015; a second-level dataset (a drought risk dataset) that describes the drought hazard, exposure, and vulnerability for the period 2000–2015 is also presented. Data for analysing drought events and their impacts at various scales are available for analysis. BIG EARTH DATA 2020, VOL. 4, NO. 2, 91–93 https://doi.org/10.1080/20964471.2020.1778870


With increased microbial resistance to antibiotics from natural sources, we are bound to look for synthetic chemicals with antibacterial activity. Many such chemotherapeutic agents such as norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and others are widely used. Ten Schiff base metal ion complexes derived from salicylidene thiosemicarbazone and 5-bromosalicylidene thiosemicarbazone (SALTSC and 5-BrSALTSC) were synthesized, characterized and screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against common pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The sensitivity of the compounds tested both by disc diffusion and tube dilution techniques. Among these compounds 5-BrCuSALTSC was found to be highly active against S.aureus at a concentration of 100µg/disc and against E.coli at a concentration of 150µg/disc. 5-BrNiSALTSC was found to be highly active against E.coli at a concentration of 150µg/disc. These compounds, if found to be non-toxic to human and animal tissues, can be used for treating human infections. They may also be used at higher concentrations in veterinary medicine.


Previous research has examined either the effects of strategy instruction or the effects of literature-based instruction on children's literacy learning. Much less is known, however, about the combination of teacher-led strategy instruction within a literature-based framework. A qualitative case study explored what diverse second-grade students learned about reading, writing, and literature through a yearlong program of strategy instruction integrated within a rich, literature-based environment. Data sources collected by the teacher-researchers and a participant-observer in the classroom included personal journals kept by both investigators, individual student interviews and interviews with parents and care givers, videotapes of regular classroom literacy activities, artifacts of students' reading and writing, assessments of students' literacy learning, and the teacher-researcher's daily plan book. A content analysis revealed students grew in overall instructional reading level and came to view reading as a natural component of the school day; demonstrated high levels of engagement with books; developed skill in word identification, fluency, and comprehension; and grew in written composition abilities. Findings can be interpreted within a framework of teachers striving for balance and equilibrium within the curricular elements of literature envisionment and contextualized strategy instruction and a blend of teacher-initiated instruction and instruction responsive to students. (Contains 107 references, 77 references to works of children's literature, and 3 tables and 2 figures of data.) (Author/RS) ********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by'EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** 0 Delicate Balances: Striving for Curricular and Instructional Equilibrium in a Second-Grade, Literature/Strategy-Based Classroom James F. Baumann Gay Ivey University of Georgia U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement ED ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. AMC National Reading Research Center READING RESEARCH REPORT NO. 83


In combination with the advantages of classical variational assimilation and regularization constraint, a multi-parameter regularization constraint assimilation method is studied. Unlike the weight of background and observation to the objective functional of classical variational assimilation, the regularization constraint can adjust the weight of observation term and give the weight function on the basis of Huber-estimator weight function during regularization parameter optimization. Simulation brightness temperature experiment is made for the water vapor channel of the Hyper-spectral Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). The result shows that the variation method studied is better than the classical variational assimilation method. The influence of observation data on analysis fields is diagnosed on the basis of the degree of freedom for signals. The result shows that the method studied can effectively extract the brightness temperature information from the water channel of AIRS. ! "# 2017–08–01 $% /0&'1(23)4Æ'5* +2,67)4 (1708085QD89) Æ -/8.9/0(8:;1<2=>67?3 (2016SYIAE14) )* @4A (1984-), B C5DE6 +Æ FGH,7 89-:;<IJ &K8.3=1< E-mail: email@example.com * ./)*E-mail:email@example.com http://journal.sitp.ac.cn/hw Infrared (monthly)/Vol.38, No.11, Nov 2017


Dynamic shape change of the octopus mantle during fast jet escape maneuvers results in added mass energy recovery to the energetic advantage of the octopus, giving escape thrust and speed additional to that due to jetting alone. We show through numerical simulations and experimental validation of overall wake behavior, that the success of the energy recovery is highly dependent on shrinking speed and Reynolds number, with secondary dependence on shape considerations and shrinking amplitude. The added mass energy recovery ratio η ma , which measures momentum recovery in relation to the maximum momentum recovery possible in an ideal flow, increases with increasing the non-dimensional shrinking parameter σ ∗ = ˙ a max U √ Re 0 , where ˙ a max is the maximum shrinking speed, U is the characteristic flow velocity, and √ Re 0 is the Reynolds number at the beginning of the shrinking motion. An estimated threshold σ ∗ ≈ 10 determines whether or not enough energy is recovered to the body to produce net thrust. Since there is a region of high transition for 10 < σ ∗ < 30 where the recovery performance varies widely and for σ ∗ > 100 added mass energy is recovered at diminishing returns, we propose a design criterion for shrinking bodies to be in the range of 50 < σ ∗ < 100, resulting in 61-82% energy recovery.


The purpose of the paper is revealing the peculiarities of Voltaire's views on the last stage of the Northern War, ended by the Treaty of Nystad, as well as presenting the specific character of the great enlightener's evaluation of the Russian empire and its historical role. The author finds out, why Voltaire, condemning fascination with the history of wars and kings, in his two works: «The History of Charles XII» and «The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great» paid great attention to the Northern War and Peter I's participation in it.The reasons of the French historian interest to the named subject are viewed in terms of the modern methods of historical analysis, «philosophical» basis of his views on war and civilization, features of historical presentation.The paper shows Voltaire's change in attitude on interpretation of the military historical subjects, first covered in «The History of Charles XII» and then in «The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great». The focus of the paper is on the up to the present-day controversial issue, whether Peter I was involved in Gorth–Alberoni conspiracy, aimed at the complete political change in the appearance of Europe. The 18th century historian ultimately came to the conclusion that the Tsar had made use of Gorth's plans as a tactic means for solving his own foreign policy problems. This point of view is shared by many contemporary historians. Peter I's declaring Emperor was the direct consequence of victorious end of the Northern War. It was found that Voltaire drew a more optimistic picture of Peter I's imperial title recognition, than it actually was. According to Voltaire, the specific feature of the Russian Empire, created by Peter I, lies in the fact that it was a self-civilizing empire, bringing enlightenment on the neighboring «barbaric» peoples.The author of the paper, reviewing specific cases, arrives at a conclusion, that Voltaire's works of high confidence for their time took a worthy standing in the world historiography of the Petrine era, due to a wide range of sources, the historian's ability for their critical assessment, his seeking to maintain a certain evaluation independence in the description of events from different perspectives, his commitment to historical truth, his talent of a writer.The work is carried out within the project, aimed at publishing a first complete scientific edition of «The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great» in Russian.


The magnetic properties of bulk hybrid V2O3/Ni composites were studied as a function of composition and synthesis conditions. We find a sharp increase in the coercivity and a sharp decrease of the magnetization as the temperature of the bulk materials passes through the V2O3 structural phase transition. The magnitude of the effect of the V2O3 phase transformation on the magnetic properties of the Ni is strongly dependent on sintering temperature. The V2O3 crystallite size is also dependent on the sintering conditions. Stress on the Ni particles due to the V2O3 structural transformation produces an inverse magnetostrictive effect which is responsible for the changes in the magnetic properties.


Researches on the heat transfer and flowing resistance characteristics of self clean twisted strips with holes have been done.The experimental results of strips structure optimization show that the resistance and heat transfer coefficient will be increased firstly and then reduced as the holes ratio y rises;the heat transfer enhancement ranges from 2% to 18%;the resistance coefficient λ reaches the maximum when y is 18%;the comprehensive performance of the twisted strip 7# is the best.So, the twisted strips of such structure are more suitable for the operation conditions of intermediate and low Re and the strips of great holes ratio y should be used at the flowing velocity of more than 2.0 m/s.


This study introduces the calculations of the radiation background, by characterizing the radionuclides and calculating their specific effectiveness in the environment of the city of Baghdad (soil and plants) using the gamma-ray spectroscopy technique. 20 soil samples at a depth of 20 cm were collected for 5 locations on the Rusafa side, where the site coordinates were fixed using the G.P.S device. A modern global gamma-ray spectroscopy system (DSA 2000) was used, with high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector with an efficiency of 50% and an analysis capacity of 2.2 keV with respect to the energy of 1332 keV for the 60Co source. The results of the specific activity rates of the radionuclides (214Bi or 214Pb), (228Ac or 208Tl), (40K), and (137Cs) in soil were: (50.735 Bq/kg or 0.525 Bq/kg) which is close to the value of the previously published results, as the highest value was recorded in Bangladesh (88.1 Bq/kg or 4.8 Bq/kg). The results of the qualitative effectiveness of the soil of the sites showed normal levels within the radiation background of Baghdad's soil. There was a significant convergence of the study's findings with other studies.


The performance of companies in 21st century has been largely influenced by the sustainability of business by means of effective governance and management. To achieve sustainable growth of business is a difficult task in an environment of rapidly changing political, economic, competitive, and consumer preferences. Each of these factors presents unique challenges to the business organizations and affecting their growth and profitability. Indian Information and Technology (IT) industry is the fastest-growing sector in the economy which has not only transformed India's image on the global platform, but also fuelled country's economic growth. This sector has contributed significantly to social and economic transformation of the country. There are various steps and efforts made by these companies achieve sustainable growth of their business in the long run. This paper tries to study the changing trends in IT sectors and the efforts made by the IT companies to achieve sustainability with a case study of TCS ltd.


1. Every person has a right to life. 2. The foetus is a person. (So, the foetus has a right to life.) 3. Every person has a right to decide what happens in or to her body. 4. The pregnant woman is a person. (So, the pregnant woman has a right to decide what happens in or to her body.) 5. Where the right to life of one person conflicts with another's right to decide what happens in or to her body, violating the right to life is morally impermissible [all else equal]. 6. Abortion is a violation of the foetus's right to life.


Abstract : The IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol is widely used for wireless local area networks. Consequently, it is important to examine the protocol performance in operational environments. This thesis presents a simulation study of the performance of the IEEE 802.11 MAC protocol in multihop, jamming, and mobile node environments. The effects of the request-to-send mechanism and fragmentation in these environments are also studied. The average throughput and delay are obtained from the simulation and these results are then used to analyze the protocol performance.


Isobaric vapour-liquid equilibrium results have been determined for the binary system acetone-hexyl alcohol at 760 mm total pressure by use of a Scatchard still. The vapour-liquid equilibrium results for this system are satisfactorily correlated by Wohl's three-suffix Margules equations.


Double-electron-excitation processes of He atoms by proton, antiproton, and C{sup 6+}-ion impact have been theoretically investigated using the second-order Born approximation and the close-coupling method in the energy regime of MeV/u. The semiclassical impact-parameter method with a straight-line-trajectory approximation is employed to describe the collision processes. Hyperspherical wave functions are adopted to take full account of the strongly correlated motion of two atomic electrons in He. For proton and antiproton impact, it is found that the first-order mechanism dominates for excitation to the (2{ital s}2{ital p}) {sup 1}{ital P{ital o}} excited state, while the second-order processes play a significant role in excitation to the (2{ital s}2{ital s}) {sup 1}{ital S{ital e}}, (2{ital p}2{ital p}){sup 1}{ital S{ital e}}, and (2{ital p}2{ital p}) {sup 1}{ital D{ital e}} excited states at a few MeV/u. It should be noted that the doubly excited (2{ital s}2{ital p}) {sup 1}{ital P{ital o}} state plays an important role as an intermediate state in these second-order processes in addition to the singly excited 1{ital s}2{ital p} {sup 1}{ital P{ital o}} state. It is also found that the difference for the double-electron-excitation processes by proton impact and by antiproton impact is much smaller than that for the double-ionization processesmore » in this energy range. For the C{sup 6+}-ion impact, higher-order mechanisms play more important roles at a few MeV/u. The excitation mechanism is also discussed based on the classification scheme of the correlation quantum numbers, which enables us to obtain a more direct physical insight into the collision mechanism.« less


The amphiphilic drugs chloroquine and O,O'-bis(diethylaminoethyl)hexestrol are able to form complexes with the acidic-phospholipid 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol. The dissociation constants of the complexes with chloroquine are independent of pH in the range investigated here (4--7) as well as of temperature (4 degrees C--40 degrees C). The phase transition temperature of phospholipid is markedly reduced by both drugs, the effect is reversible by addition of Ca2.


More and more companies are providing data mining and analytics solutions to customers using social media data. The general approach taken by these companies is to continually collect data from social media sites and then use the collected snapshot of the content for a data mining or analytics task. Unfortunately, given the exponential increase in the volume of social media data, building local database snapshots and running computationally expensive algorithms is not always plausible. As an alternative to the centralized approach, in this paper, we study the feasibility of cooperative algorithms where data never leaves the mined social media network, and instead the network users themselves work together, using only the communication primitives provided by the social media site, to solve data mining problems. While cooperative algorithms can be built for many different data mining tasks, to show the viability of this approach, we focus on a task fundamental to many different social mining applications membership detection (an individual using the social media site wants to efficiently get a request to a member of a known group with unknown membership). Using Twitter as our specific social graph, we seek cooperative algorithms that solve this problem with high probability even when we assume only a small fraction of the Twitter network participates and we enforce a bound on the number of tweets generated. After validating the potential of cooperative solutions on Twitter, we empirically evaluate a collection of cooperative strategies on a snapshot of the Twitter network containing over 50 million users. Our best solution, which we call brokered token passing, can reliably and efficiently detect group membership while requiring only a small number of tweets be sent and a small percentage of users participate.


Private Stream Aggregation (PSA) schemes are efficient protocols for distributed data analytics. In a PSA scheme, a set of data producers can encrypt data for a central party so that it learns the sum of all (encrypted) values, but nothing about each individual value. Due to this ability to efficiently enable central data analytics without leaking individual user data, PSA schemes are often used for IoT data analytics scenarios where privacy is important, such as smart metering. However, all known PSA schemes require a trusted party for key generation, which is undesirable from a privacy standpoint. Further, even though the main benefit of PSA schemes over alternative technologies such as Functional Encryption is that they are efficient enough to run on IoT devices, there exists no evaluation of the efficiency of existing PSA schemes on realistic IoT devices. In this paper, we address both these issues. We first evaluate the efficiency of the state of the art PSA schemes on realistic IoT devices. We then propose, implement and evaluate a DIstributed setup PSA scheme for Use in Constrained Environments (DIPSAUCE). DIPSAUCE is the first PSA scheme that does not rely on a trusted party. Our security and efficiency evaluation shows that it is indeed possible to construct an efficient PSA scheme without a trusted central party. Surprisingly, our results also show that, a side effect, our method for distributing the setup procedure also makes the encryption procedure more efficient than the state of the art PSA schemes which rely on trusted parties.


The paper addresses the problem of integrating various applications related to geological interpretation within an integrated workflow. This supposes the exchange of different types of objects related to several knowledge fields (seismic, stratigraphy, structural geology), represented in various formats. The solution that we propose consists in linking specialized ontologies describing the different fields knowledge to a pivot ontology related to basic geological knowledge. The linkage between these ontologies and the earth modelling applications can be operated thanks to the semantic annotation technology. The paper presents some key-elements of this pivot ontology and gives an outline of the semantic annotation methodology, studied as a possible solution for modelling workflow integration.


One of Machine Type Communication (MTC) applications is Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). WSN is an intelligent network application system to collect, integrate, and transmit data autonomously. Sensor nodes in WSN, communicate over short distance via a wireless medium and collaborate to accomplish a common task, such as enviroment monitoring, military surveillance and industrial process control. The constraining aspect of WSN usage is the limited power of each sensor node, so energy efficiency becomes an important issue in WSN. Routing is a function in WSN, which consumes a substantial amount of energy. One of the routing protocols that can increase the energy efficiency of WSN is Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH). In this paper, High Altitude Platform (HAP) is used to replace Base Station (BS) as sink node in WSN. HAP is designed at altitudes of 17, 20 and 22 km. Then WSN over HAP using the LEACH routing protocol evaluated its performance. Performance indicators that we evaluated are engergy consumption, number of dead nodes and total average packets which is sent to HAP. From a series of simulations conducted, the results obtained that the higher the laying of HAP, then the coverage area will be greater. So that the energy consumption will be smaller, the number of dead node less and the avarage of total packet delivered to the HAP will be greater.


In recent years, microblog has been experiencing an explosive growth, which brings much inconvenience to users to build a healthy social circle in this chaos online world. Friend recommendation can automatically recommend potential friends, filter out the useless information, and facilitate the healthy development of social network. A novel friend recommendation approach is proposed in this paper. First, three kinds of social behavior features, i.e., social rating feature, social content features and social relation features, are extracted to represent the relationship of each user pair in the large-scale microblog data. Based on these features, a binary classifier is trained to determine whether the second user in each pair should be recommended to the first one. In this way, the original recommendation problem is transformed to a binary classification problem so that the sparseness problem of collaborative filtering method can be solved properly. Experiments shows that our approach improves the performance of friend recommendation compared with the traditional collaborative filtering methods.


Optimal transport (OT) theory and the related p-Wasserstein distance (Wp, p ≥ 1) are popular tools in statistics and machine learning. Recent studies have been remarking that inference based on OT and on Wp is sensitive to outliers. To cope with this issue, we work on a robust version of the primal OT problem (ROBOT) and show that it defines a robust version of W1, called robust Wasserstein distance, which is able to downweight the impact of outliers. We study properties of this novel distance and use it to define minimum distance estimators. Our novel estimators do not impose any moment restrictions: this allows us to extend the use of OT methods to inference on heavy-tailed distributions. We also provide statistical guarantees of the proposed estimators. Moreover, we derive the dual form of the ROBOT and illustrate its applicability to machine learning. Numerical exercises (see also the supplementary material) provide evidence of the benefits yielded by our methods.


This "designers' manual" is made during the TIDO-course AR0533 Innovation & Sustainability. For a long time, facades have been designed as a static element aimed to protect the interior against the influences from the outdoor environment. One of the most important factors to change this approach is that these facades - which often contain a lot of glass - are losing too much energy and lead to a very high energy consumption and neglect the occupants comfort, given the variable exterior conditions. This manual aspires to make architects aware of the benefits of adaptable daylight systems in buildings and gives them a helping hand obtaining sustainable design solutions regarding adaptable facades. This helping hand is presented as an overview of all systems that are currently developed by analysing multiple case studies that represent each type of systems. These case studies are also meant to inspire.


Oral habits are learned patterns of muscle contraction and have a very complex nature. They are associated with anger, hunger, sleep, tooth eruption and fear. Some children even display oral habits for release of mental tension. These habits might be non-nutritive sucking (thumb, finger, pacifier and/or tongue), lip biting and bruxism events. Tongue thrust is the most common of them, these habits can result in damage to dento-alveolar structure hence causes and its management plan is important to every clinician.


The paper deals with some mitigation techniques of parasitic phenomenon in modern electric motors supplied by inverters. These techniques are commonly divided into two groups, namely modifications of inverter and modification of motor. The shaft voltage was found as a source of electromagnetic interference. Investigated mitigation techniques applied on outer rotor permanent magnet motors were: increased distance between stator end-windings and disc, faraday shield between stator end-windings and the housing, grounded shaft and electrical insulation between the rotor and the shaft. Effectiveness of analyzed techniques was tested on 6.5kW and 10kW brushless direct current motor.


A 31-year-old woman (figure) with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) (first symptoms February 1994, first diagnosis August 1994, Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] 3.0) was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2014. The last relapse had occurred in August 2007. Under treatment with natalizumab from August 2007 to June 2013, the patient was clinically stable and the brain MRI showed no signs of disease activity. Because of a positive JC virus antibody test, the immunomodulatory therapy was changed to fingolimod in July 2013. The patient remained clinically stable during the switching period and thereafter. In January 2014, a brain MRI showed 2 new lesions without contrast enhancement. After diagnosis of breast cancer in January 2014 and subsequent surgery in February 2014, adjuvant chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and docetaxel was started (March–July 2014). Fingolimod was stopped in March 2014 considering the strong immunosuppressive effect of cyclophosphamide. The patient received granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF; pegfilgrastim) 6 mg subcutaneously at each of the 6 cycles of chemotherapy to reduce the risk of infection during the phase of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. In July 2014, the patient experienced a numbness and tingling in her right leg, which progressed to a severe hemiparesis (EDSS 7.0) leading to hospitalization. The MRI scan of the brain revealed several new lesions including a lesion with contrast enhancement. An IV steroid pulse therapy was administered. She recovered partially (EDSS 6.5). Fingolimod was started again in August 2014. Subsequently the patient developed another relapse with a worsening of the atactic hemiparesis on the left side, resulting in an inability to walk (EDSS 7.5). Again an IV steroid pulse therapy was administered. The patient recovered partially until the end of August 2014, when she was discharged from rehabilitation. At that time, she was able to walk for 50 meters without aid (EDSS 6.0). Another brain MRI in September 2014 revealed confluent progressive lesions in the white matter with partial contrast enhancement. The patient was referred to our inpatient clinic, where again a steroid pulse therapy was administered. In the following months, the patient recovered to a clinical condition similar to that before the start of the chemotherapy (as of August 2015, EDSS 3.0). An MRI scan of the brain in September 2015 did not show new lesions or contrast enhancement compared to the preceding MRI examination in September 2014.


Abstract Because sorghum is a drought-tolerant crop, it is often preferred by producers in cases of expected water stress. The objectives of this review were to summarize the water requirements, effect of water stress, and hybrid variation in drought tolerance of grain sorghum, and to suggest possible solutions that could help narrow the gap between potential and actual dryland sorghum yield. We reviewed more than 70 reports in peer-reviewed journals, extension publications, books, and websites. Grain sorghum tolerates and avoids drought more than many other cereal crops, but the drought response of sorghum does not come without a yield loss. Water stress at the vegetative stage alone can reduce yield more than 36%, and water stress at the reproductive stage can reduce yield more than 55%. Eighty percent of sorghum production in the world is under dryland conditions. We deduced that by focusing on techniques that can improve water availability in sorghum growing season alone, we can double the current dryland sorghum yield with the existing genetic potential. Results of this review suggest the existence of genotypic variation in drought tolerance among sorghum hybrids due to possible physiological differences or vice versa. We concluded by presenting possible management options to reduce the effects of water stress in dryland conditions and suggesting possible areas of research.


This article examines the co-production of narratives based on an analysis of audio recordings from 12 statutory lay–interprofessional meetings involving clients and concerning rehabilitation for r ...


Title of Thesis: DOES SENSE OF COMMUNITY MEDIATE THE EFFECTS OF NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE ON ADOLESCENT DRUG USE? Hua Yan, Master of Arts, 2013 Directed By: Professor Terence Thornberry, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice This thesis examines the relationship between neigh borhood disadvantage, sense of community, and adolescent drug use. Prior research has found that sense of community has positive effects on adolescent behavi or. However, little study has examined the specific impact of sense of community on adolescent drug use. Based on social disorganization theory and the extended s ocial disorganization models, this thesis attempts to fill this gap in the literature by testing the hypothesis that sense of community mediates the effects of neighborhood disa dvantage on adolescent drug use. Using data from Add Health, correlations and regres sions are applied to test the hypothesis. The results partially support the hypot heses. Sense of community is found to mediate the effects of one aspect of neighborhoo d disadvantage – residential instability, on adolescent drug use. DOES SENSE OF COMMUNITY MEDIATE THE EFFECTS OF NEIGHBORHOOD DISADVANTAGE ON ADOLESCENT DRUG USE?


The ocean covers more than seventy per cent of the total area of the earth, so its political, economical and military values have attracted great human attention since early time. Along with the development of ocean related activities in the recent twenty to thirty years, oceanic economics have become an important factor for countries concerned with the sea. Many countries in the world specify ocean study as one of the important scientific research areas and at the same time pay more and more attention to ocean surveying and charting. As a result, the science and technology of ocean surveying and charting developed rapidly in these countries. That is true for China, where science and technology in this respect developed continuously. Here is a brief description of China's main status on ocean surveying and charting and also some ideas about future development in these areas.