Highly effective dispersions of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be made using a commercially available buffer solution. Buffer solutions of 3-(N-morpholino)-propanesulfonic acid (MOPS), which consists of a cyclic ring with nitrogen and oxygen heteroatoms, a charged group, and an alkyl chain greatly enhance the dispersibility and stability of CNTs in aqueous solutions. Additionally, the ability of biomolecules, especially cationized Pt-cored ferritins, to adhere onto the well-dispersed CNTs in the aqueous buffer solution is also improved. This was accomplished without the use of surfactant molecules, which are detrimental to the electrical, mechanical, and other physical properties of the resulting products. The assembled Pt-cored ferritin proteins on the CNTs were used as an electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction.


Spiral structures and shocks often appear in astrophysical gas dynamics and particular in accretion-disc simulations; however, they are difficult to follow numerically. In this paper we consider a black hole of 8M as a primary and a small secondary of 0.5 M , following the idea that a low M2/M1 would favour spiral structure and possibly spiral shock onset through gas compression induced by strong gravitational attraction. In the framework of Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), we performed two 2D models and two 3D models. Simulations in either pair are distinguished by the adopted γ value (low and high compressibility cases). Indeed, both 2D models reveal the existence of spiral structures in the disc bulk. Furthermore, spiral shocks at the outer disc edge are evident for the high compressibility 2D model. Spiral structures appear to develop also for the 3D high compressibility model. Instead, for the 3D low compressibility model, no clear conclusion can be drawn as the number of particles (and thus the SPH resolution) is low.


type="main"> This article empirically investigates the impact of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on women's rights. By measuring commitments to CEDAW based on reservations made by states, this article tests whether the convention enhances women's economic, social, and political rights. Using panel data for up to 147 countries for the period of 1981–2007, my findings suggest that CEDAW improves women's social rights advocating changes in cultural practice toward gender equality and this effect is conditional on the level of democracy of a member state. However, the joint effect of CEDAW and democracy does not seem to create any significant impact on women's political and economic rights, nor does CEDAW or democracy alone affect any dimension of women's rights. These results indicate that collaborative efforts between international law and domestic institution are crucial to promoting gender equality.


In the driving situation, the experienced driver develops habitual responses which serve him well, moat of the time. However, in some emergency situations, a limited repertoire of habitual responses, such as broking or swerving, may be inadequate to cope with a situation which is incongruous with the driver's S-R contiguity pattern of avoidance behaviour: a situation where a diametrically opposed response is required to avert disaster. When a driver is called upon to accelerate, rather than brake suddenly, his habitual, almost reflexive response to the emergency situation, may serve to aggravate the danger in the situation and possibly culminate in a crash. This study, which is part of a larger project, describes such u perverse situation and discusses some important inferences for safety training, with particular reference to the perroptual style of the individual.


Consider a class of uniform elliptic diffusion processes on Euclidean spaces. We estimate transition densities and their deriva- tives uniformly with respect to the starting points. We use these re- sults to prove an ergodicity of ∇P c t (see (1.2) and Theorem 1.4) under certain conditions. This is useful in precise estimate of large deviation principles.


jft f the many idees recues inherited from nineteenth-century research on the corpus of C/ trouvere lyric, at least two continued to be counterproductive, if not outright damaging, up until nearly the end of the twentieth century.1 The first is evident in Jeanroy's conviction about the trobairitz, expressed in the 1930s, that woman's song showed "laziness of the mind," "an obvious lack of taste," and "no regard for decency," and in Bee's resistance decades later to recognizing the existence of female trouveres} As a consequence, scholars found themselves needing to prove that women must have been composing lyric works in northern France during the thirteenth century and, correlatively, that women of any era were capable of producing sophisticated artistic works, period. The second received idea was that the question "Who's singing?" could be answered by submitting a complex corpus of complex songs to rhetorical analysis that would result in a reasonably neat typology. One outcome of that endeavour was a set of criteria that supposedly characterized "feminine" writing, whether "textuelle" or "genetique. "3 Of course, the most serious shortcoming of the typological approach has always been that the trouveres themselves seemed to value, or at least not to mind, shifting narrative voices and intermingling elements from a wide variety of registers.4 Their works vigorously resist classification. Therefore, scholarly prejudice against the existence of women trouveres as something other than an aberration and over-emphasis on typology consigned the female composer to her sewing closet where, yes, she was allowed to craft a lyric fabric in her own limited way, but was not allowed to engage in "masculine" pursuits. Over the past twenty years, the question "Who's singing?" has been examined with a fresh eye both by feminists and by proponents of other critical approaches. As one would expect, this latest round of scrutiny has yielded abundant, often contradictory, and sometimes shaky results, while giving rise to even more questions. In her essay "Constant Sorrow: Emotions of the Women Trouveres," Pfeffer resolves, "For my purposes, I consider any anonymous Old French song that tells a woman's story using the first person feminine pronoun to be composed by a woman trouvere" (120). A lengthier, more nuanced summation of the issues surrounding the "constructed female subject in the chanson de femme" appears in "Feminism and the Discipline of Old French Studies," by Burns, Kay, Krueger, and Solterer: If the women's voices we hear in the chanson de femme have been placed in female mouths, as Bee assents obliquely, they have been placed there by someone else. By a male author who has constructed and created female voices as products of his own literary imagination? In which case these women's


Gödel has called to my attention that p. 773 is misleading in regard to the discovery of the finite axiomatization and its place in his proof of the consistency of GCH. For the version in [1940], as he says on p. 1, "The system Σ of axioms for set theory which we adopt [a finite one] … is essentially due to P. Bernays …". However, it is not at all necessary to use a finite axiom system. Gödel considers the more suggestive proof to be the one in [1939], which uses infinitely many axioms. His main achievement regarding the consistency of GCH, he says, really is that he first introduced the concept of constructible sets into set theory defining it as in [1939], proved that the axioms of set theory (including the axiom of choice) hold for it, and conjectured that the continuum hypothesis also will hold. He told these things to von Neumann during his stay at Princeton in 1935. The discovery of the proof of this conjecture On the basis of his definition is not too difficult. Gödel gave the proof (also for GCH) not until three years later because he had fallen ill in the meantime. This proof was using a submodel of the constructible sets in the lowest case countable, similar to the one commonly given today.


The possibility of using preparations limiting toxemia and hypoxia, in particular inhibitors of proteoletic enzymes and antihypoxants, as preparations having immunoprotective activity is considered. Under the conditions of the experimental model of severe mechanical injury on mice-hybrids of the first generation F1 (CBAC57BL6), the immunoprotective activity of such antihypoxants as amtisol and a derivative of 1, 2, 4-triazino-5, 6 indole, as well as a counterkal, a drug limiting toxemia and a cationoacceptor preparation of dimexide, administered to immunized erythythermal It has been shown that in the body of mice receiving antihypoxants, contrical and dimexide accumulate significantly more antibody-forming cells compared to their number in animals of the control group. Thus, amtisol, a derivative of 1, 2, 4-triazino-5, 6 indole, contrical and dimexide can be considered not only as preparations for pathogenetic therapy of trauma, but also as immunoprotectors drugs that indirectly limit the formation of post-traumatic immunodeficiency and the risk of infection in an immunocompromised host. The risk of infectious complications and the generalization of the inflammatory process in patients after severe mechanical injury is more than 50%. Prevention of infectious complications of traumatic disease should be comprehensive and aimed at correcting the function of the immune system.


Voting in India is a constitutional right. Voting is the heart of democracy. Voting is a fundamental right under the Representation of People Act 1950 and fundamental rights in India under Article 19(1)(a). Indian democracy is built on the foundation of voting. Voting is a responsibility as it is a right. Every citizen must cast his or her vote if one is a citizen over 18 years of age. The citizens of India elect their representatives and these representatives form a government. A voter has right to know that his or her vote is recorded or counted accurately through EVM or not. This Paper represents introduction of EVM, and evaluation of traditional voting process to E-voting process. Electronic voting machine is already used in developed countries but in India it is a burning issue and security is major concern, so this paper also focus on the security issues of EVM.


There have been numerous animal and some human experiments described in the literature that were designed to visualize the lymphatic vessels and nodes by subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intraperitoneal injection of an opaque substance (1–4,11,12,15, 18). The opaque contrast agents have varied from suspensions or colloidal solutions of metal and metal sources to water-soluble iodide preparations, iodized esters of fatty acids, or iodized oils and iodine-containing emulsions (1–4, 11, 12, 15). Most of these media have shown positive results but can be used only in experimental animals or cadavers because of their local or general toxic effects. During the 1930's (1, 11–18) many investigators in different parts of the world published reports on lymphography. No procedure applicable to clinical practice was developed, however, and consequently interest in lymphography faded. Kinmonth's publication in 1952 (8) and his Edinburgh address in July 1954 described direct lymphography in man. His method of intralymph...


We extend and refine well known filtrations for pushouts of free maps of operads to the setting of colored operads over a fixed set of colors C, resulting in a suitable C-fold filtration. As a consequence, we obtain a direct proof that n-truncated operadic functors are n-excisive. In this short note we extend and refine well known filtrations of diagrams of algebras over an operad (cf. for example [1], [2], [4]) to the case of colored operads, our main result here being Proposition 2.10. This result is preceded and inspired by a similar filtration that recently appeared in [6], but the filtration we present here (which in particular recovers the result in [6]), is substantially more powerful and flexible since rather than simply providing a simple infinite filtration it provides a "multidirectional infinite filtration", with a different direction for each color in C. These filtrations and the extra flexibility they provide are important for upcoming work by the author on model categories for operads in G-spaces and (genuine) G-spectra. In this write-up, however, we include only a single simple application: we show in Proposition 3.5 that n-truncated operadic functors on AlgO are in fact n-excisive. This result originally appeared in the author's thesis, but the proof was fairly indirect, as one needed to first identify the stabilization of AlgO and then classify multilinear functors on such stabilizations. Instead, our proof here is a short direct application of our new filtrations. 1 Definitions: colored operads, modules and algebras The following is adapted from [6], although we warn the reader that our terminology differs on some key aspects, most notably in our usage of the term "C-symmetric sequence". Throughout we will let C be a fixed set, which we refer to as the set of colors. Further, Σ will denote the standard skeleton of the category of finite sets and bijections. Explicitly, the objects of Σ are the sets r = {1,2,⋯, r} for each r ≥ 0. Definition 1.1. Consider the obvious functor Σ → Set given by r ↦ C. We define ΣC, the category of C-words and shuffles to be the opposite category of


This paper analyzes some phenomena on modification of registration f orm of spiteful web page,and raises some solutions to it.


Abstract. The duration of cell cycle parameters in control mouse jejunum has been compared with that found following induction of a graft‐versus‐host reaction (GvHR) during the first 3 weeks of postnatal life.


Nanomedicines exploit the unusual physicochemical and biological properties of nanoparticles, including their nanoscopic size, high surface‐area‐to‐volume ratio, easy surface modification, and biocompatibility. Among various therapeutic and diagnostic applications of nanomedicines, cancer‐targeted drug delivery systems (DDS) have been found to be a promising area of research. Effective DDS rely on two major factors: slow and sustained release of chemotherapeutic drugs and their targeted delivery to tumor sites. Both the drug release and targeting ability of nanoparticles are greatly affected under in vivo conditions by the "protein corona," a tightly packed layer of protein molecules, formed around nanoparticles upon contact with biological fluids. Owing to the adsorption of proteins onto the surface of nanoparticles, their identity is significantly altered, and they can readily be cleared from systemic circulation by the mononuclear phagocytic system. In this context, scientists have employed various strategies, including the use of different ligands, stealth polymers, and protein corona shields/pre‐coating with specific proteins to modulate protein corona formation and retain the targeting ability of nanoparticles. This review article focuses on the recent progress of these different strategies with a special emphasis on the protein corona shields/artificial protein corona approaches for the development of effective cancer targeting nanomedicines.


An kind of operation optimization model is put forward on the basis of analyzing manufacturing system characteristics with consideration of optimization. The Features of the model are real-time, dynamic, multi-objective and multistage. The algorithm called 'Harmonizing Cluster Results' for the model is presented in order to solve the difficulties of solution for the manufacturing system operation model. Then the model is simplified into some different submodels, such as production ability optimization submodel, time optimization submodel, balancing and harmonizing submodel etc. These submodels include different optimization directions which covers Time, Quality, Cost, Service and Environment of manufacturing system. Finally the operation optimization model and its solution algorithm are proved to be reasonable and available applied to an assembly line of energy meter in a factory. The simulation results showed the solution algorithm of the model is accurate. Keywords—manufacturing system; coordinated optimization model; multi-objective simulation optimization model


Power transformer is a complex system.It is difficult to gain complete experiment data in actual fault diagnosis.To solve the problem,the paper proposed a new method of fault diagnosis of power transformer based on rough set.The implementing steps of the method are as follows: analyzing collected history fault data of power transformer to determine condition attribute set and decision attribute set;deducting condition attribute set to remove redundant information and extract key information,so as to gain relative rule set;making fault diagnosis for power transformer by use of the rule set.The case analysis proved validity and effectiveness of the method.


The lastest two years, facebook becomes a quite popular trend through the global internet which not only make up above five hundred million member numbers but also benefits quite many companies. The cole value of facebook is make connections of people all around the world, create many relationships, and make people feel there are many ways to be concerned and take care of you. Through this kind of modle, the power and mode of consumption is made, and business opportunities is created accordingly。 Our research is to use facebook fan's website to divide into three aspects. Through the facebook fans website, we try to understand how to create attractiveness and make it become one of the marketing modle. The multimedia, information, and customer interation can attract fans to join in and make further interation. Through our research, we hope to help people who want to operate the fans website find the direction to make their website widely succussful and help the physical brand to create their own business opportunity.


To determine the effects of combined isotonic and deep friction soft tissue techniques on pain and function in patient with chronic lateral epicondylitis. Study Design: Quasi Experimental study. Place and Duration of study: Data was collected from Mednic clinic and services hospital Lahore, for 6 months of duration after the approval of synopsis. Method: Quasi Experimental study was conducted on twenty-two patients of chronic lateral epicondylitis. Participants were allocated to either combined isotonic technique group and deep friction soft tissue technique group, both groups were treated for 12 sessions in 4 weeks. NPRS and PRTEE scale were used to measure the treatment effect before and after treatment of 3 session per week, total 12 sessions in 4 weeks to each participant. Data was analyzed by SPSS 21. Results: Total participants 22 were classified into two groups, Group A (combined isotonic technique) and Group B (deep friction soft tissue technique group). Minimum age was 30, maximum age was 46, mean age 37 and standard deviation was ±4.93. The significance was greater than 0.05 which mean the data is normally distributed as the value of Shapiro wilk test for NPRS .88 and for PTREE was .208, therefore parametric test (paired and independent T test) was applied. The significance values for all statistical tests were set to 0.05. Paired sample T test for NPRS mean difference reading for group A was 2.63 ±.9244 and group B was 1.09 ±.3015 and for PRTEE mean difference for group A was 14.09 ±7.8288 and group B was 5.81 ±3.945 showed that although in both group changes were significant but difference of mean was greater in Combined isotonic technique group. Independent T test comparison of mean score of NPRS and PRTEE between Group A and Group B showed that there was significant difference in value, pretreatment NPRS mean difference was .011 and post treatment NPRS score was 1.54. pretreatment PRTEE mean difference was 1.90 and post treatment NPRS score was 6.36 so combined isotonic technique showed greater mean difference after treatment. Conclusion: The study concluded that combined isotonic exercises group showed better results than deep friction soft tissue technique group for improvement of pain and functional disability in lateral epicondylitis patients


In the article the becoming of professional education on social work in the USA and in the lesser degree in European countries is reviewed. The influence of movements of Societies of organization of charity for appearance of social demands for qualified social workers is analyzed. The chronology and geography of appearance of first schools of social work in the world is observed. The attention is paid to discussion about the content of educational standard and educational plans on social work. The conclusion is made that by the end of the first third of the XX century in professional organization the approach of practical men prevailed, the followers of Mary Richmond and the heirs of the movements of Societies of organization of charity for the essence and content of preparation of professional social workers.


1Consultant, Department of Anaesthesia, Leeds TeachingHospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK 2 Professor, Leeds Institute of Biomedical andClinical Sciences, University of Leeds, UK ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Correspondence to: P.M. Hopkins Email: email@example.com


Abstract A technique based on rough set theory is investigated for identifying defects on a backlight (a rear window of a vehicle with a defrost circuit). Since replacement of defective backlights results in a significant financial loss, automobile manufacturers are trying to remove defective backlights during the manufacturing process. Therefore, an automated inspection system based on infrared (IR) imaging techniques has been developed to detect backlight defects such as missing lines or hotspots, where the most challenging task is identifying hotspots from their artefacts. Feature selection techniques based on rough set theory are explored in this short communication and are used to extract a feature vector, which increases inspection accuracy as well as reduces computational complexity. The theory is also applied to generate decision rules, which can be simply added to existing inspection systems to assist the operators in their decision-making process. The proposed inspection system is expected to provide more reliable fault detection with low rate of false alarms than currently available systems.


The structural, electronic and optical properties of PbZrTiO3 (PZT) and PbSnZrTiO3 (PSnZT) have been studied by a quantum-mechanical calculation using a total-energy pseudopotential code. This compound has a tetragonal crystal structure with space group P4mm of a ferroelectric phase. Different compositions of titanium (Ti) and zirconium (Zr) in PZT and PSnZT were varied with Ti/Zr composition of 33/66, 50/50, and 66/33. It is found that the different compositions of Ti/Zr have changed the lattices and the band structure of both materials. The cohesive energy was calculated to predict the most suitable composition for modification in PZT and PSnZT. The refractive index under the change of Ti/Zr composition was also investigated. The PZT and PSnZT compounds may be promising materials for future ferroelectric and piezoelectric applications.


Based on county section data of Heilongjiang Province in 2006, using Geoda as the major analytical tool, the paper analyzed the regional agglomeration and disparity in 64 counties of Heilongjiang province with spatial statistical and econometric model. The results showed that there were fairly strong spatial agglomeration and autocorrelation in the 64 counties of Heilongjiang province, while spatial disparity was also obvious. This agglomeration and disparity were not only affected by urbanization, the governmentpsilas financial expenditure, the level of agricultural industrialization, per capita savings, and other relevant factors, but also impacted by their geographical location. According to the results of regression analysis, we had further discussions on the relationship between various influencing factors and the regional economic growth. Based on the analysis results, the paper puts forth some corresponding policy recommendations.


This study aims to determine the effect of location and price perception on visiting decisions tour the hot springs of Citiis Galunggung in Tasikmalaya Regency. The method used is a quantitative approach with the survey method. With a research sample of 100 visitors Citiis Galunggung hot spring tour in Tasikmalaya regency. The data used is primary data. The analytical tool used in this study is multiple regression using SPSS 25.0. The results showed that the location by visitors of Citiis Galunggung. Location had good criteria. The price perception of Citiis Galunggung had good criteria. Visiting decisions on visitors of Citiis Galunggung have good criteria. Simultaneously location and price perception have a significant influence on purchasing visit. Partially location has a significant influence on purchasing visit.. Partially price perception has a significant effect on purchasing visit.


WP-2012-1 The relative vulnerability index: a framework for evalu- ating multimodal traffic safety Offer Grembek SafeTREC, UC Berkeley www.safetrec.berkeley.edu August 2012 Available for download from the SafeTREC site of the University of California eScholarship repository http://www.escholarship.org/uc/its_tsc


The chapter, written as an essay, has as its purpose the critical reflection on the advances, critical issues, and cultural and institutional resistance that has experienced Universidad Catolica del Maule (UCM) in the last years regarding equity and gender equality. With the purpose of visualizing the strains, it has been privileged the analysis of official documents with the aim of identifying the presence of non-sexist and inclusive language; moreover, it provides information on the policies and the proposals of gender developed by the organization in the last decade, through guidance, strategies, and academic claims or with specific training programs. The conclusion that is reached is that the UCM not only does not show a non-sexist and inclusive language in its official documents but also many practices of its authorities could be tagged as authoritarian and arbitrary, even though an increasing number of women has held management positions in the last years. They, more like, appeared to reproduce and perpetuate the aforementioned practices. Furthermore, it has been found institutional resistance to the development of researches which central purpose of reflection is the study of gender, wasting with it the possibilities that offer doctrinal teachings to add higher doses of respect and tolerance. The information previously stated allows asserting that there are still many debts in terms of gender and inclusion that the UCM must try to solve, as soon as possible, if it genuinely pretends to be loyal to its vocation as a Catholic university.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11298/887DOI: http://doi.org/10.5377/entorno.v0i66.6732
Keywords: Catholic universities, Stereotype (psychology), Sociology of Education, Social Inequality.


The mappers have paid attention to the quality control technology for accuracy,logical consistency and integrity of map geometric data for a long time,but the theory and quality control method of map aesthetics and its visibility have been in a state of neglect.For further research and application requirements,the current status and development trend of map esthetics and visibility,quality test approaches and quality evaluation were summarized in this paper.


The title of this books seems somewhat misleading, at least to the extent that the term 'Les Bleus' generally tends to be reserved to refer to the French national football team at senior level—think World Cup '98, Zidane, Barthez, Deschamps et al.—or other 'senior' squads, whereas the second part of the volume's title promises a—presumably wide-ranging—consideration of 'Sport in France 1958–2010'. At 189 pages of text, dealing with 'sport in France' during the whole of the Fifth Republic would be a tall order indeed, so in fact, the analysis promises to centre—wisely—on a 'main narrative' of how and why the French state since 1958 has sought to create elite athletes in the two global team sports that are soccer and basketball, 'primarily at youth level'. What the volume ends up being seems to be something of a mixture of relatively general—but enlightening for those not entirely up to speed with the issues—discussion of the mainsprings of sports policy in France over the last 50 years or so, focusing to a not inconsiderable extent on the selection and training of young sportsmen and sportswomen, but always rather necessarily set against the dominant background of senior elite competition at World Cups, Olympics and other competitions. The strength of the research is undoubtedly that the analysis is based in major part on the archives of the— variously named and annexed to other portfolios over the years—ministry for sports and youth and on a number of interviews with some significant actors in French sport and sports policy, such as Edwige Avice (Minister of Youth and Sport, 1981–1983), Gérard Bosc (former national technical director, basketball), or Gérard Prêcheur (trainer and coach at the elite Institut national du football [Clairefontaine football training centre]). But there are also a considerable number of interviews with minor figures whose contribution to a study of policies and structures seems anecdotal, within an analysis whose focus is essentially 'macro' rather than a more 'ethnographic' microapproach. The bibliography also seems to reveal a possible weakness of the study, which is that the huge volume of work produced by French sociologists, historians and sports scientists on training, sports policy, and the cultural and political significance of sport in French society during the Fifth Republic appears to have been integrated rather poorly into the analysis. All in all, this is a study which, although it contains some admirable insights, ultimately disappoints.


The science of artificial intelligence, and specifically machine learning, has developed significantly in recent years. Similarly to how technology is always developing, healthcare practises are also changing. Machine learning technology is being gradually merged with medical research to improve overall outcomes and make patient care more accessible. Any technology used in healthcare that helps to decrease effort and produces outcomes quickly and efficiently should be seen as beneficial. But there are many things to take into account in this area. Healthcare appears to benefit greatly from the study of machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence. If applied wisely, support vector algorithms and neural networks may be even more effective than the methods now employed in medicine. In order to make things simpler and produce better outcomes, this study examines numerous applications in the medical sciences.


kg/m 2 ) of children in China. They concluded that the BMIs of thin and fat children (defined as those in the lowest and highest quartiles of BMI, respectively) were more likely to track (ie, remain in the same quartile of BMI at follow-up). We agree with Wang et al that this is an important area of study but are concerned that their analysis of tracking may be misleading. They stratified the children by quartile of BMI at the first examination (see Table 2 of their article) and then calculated the percentage of those who tracked or alternatively moved up or down the quartile ranking. Where variables are correlated, we suspected that the likelihood of the quartile changing might not be the same for all quartiles, being less in the extreme quartiles. We suggest that this statistical property, rather than any underlying biologic factor, may have been the reason for the increase in tracking that Wang et al reported in the extreme quartiles of initial BMI. We demonstrated this effect by simulation. We generated 1000 observations (x) to represent a first measurement of BMI that was generated randomly from a normal distribution by using the RANNOR function of SAS (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC). A second correlated (r = 0.7) observation (y), to simulate a later measurement of BMI, was generated by the formula y = x + z, where z is a further random number generated by RANNOR. Observations x and y were then ranked and examined for evidence of tracking in a manner similar to that used by Wang et al. An increase in tracking was apparent in the extreme quartiles. Thus, in this first simulation, 62% of those in the lowest and highest quartiles of x tracked (ie, were also in the lowest and highest quartile of y, respectively) and only 34% in quartiles 2 and 3 tracked. A repeat of this simulation (1000 times) showed that with this degree of correlation, tracking occurred in 60.7% of observations on average (95% CI: 56.8, 64.4) in the extreme quartiles (1 and 4) and in 36.0% of observations (31.6, 39.6) in the central quartiles (2 and 3). These values changed depending on the degree of correlation between the 2 variables (data not shown), approaching 25% for all quartiles as the degree of correlation decreased to 0. Simulation also showed that the extent of tracking in individual quartiles was potentially affected by the underlying distribution of the data (data not shown). Use of correlation coefficients within quartiles (rather than the percentage of tracking) is subject to similar problems. In the simulated set described above, which had a normal distribution and a Pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.7, correlation coefficients of x and y were highly dependent on the quartile; the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.40 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.49) within quartiles 1 and 4 and was 0.19 (0.09, 0.3) within quartiles 2 and 3. Given these simulations, we believe that the conclusion of Wang et al regarding tracking of BMI in the extreme quartiles may be misleading. In their Table 4, Wang et al reported that tracking of overweight increases if at least one parent is overweight and that, conversely, tracking of underweight increases if at least one parent is underweight. This appears to be an important observation; however, we are concerned that their data may be confounded by the same problem. If children of overweight and underweight parents lie in extreme quartiles of the first observation of BMI, they may artifactually appear to track more strongly. Wang et al asked an important biological question: do the biological variables of individuals identified by place in the population distribution or by other factors such as family history differ in stability over time? The above simulations suggest that increased tracking in extreme quartiles, as they define tracking, is an expected property of correlated variables and may have no bearing on the biology underlying BMI.


The results of studying the motion of isotropic liquid drops in a homeotropic layer of liquid crystal Е7 with long-lived instabilities induced by a damped shear flow that occurs when a flat capillary is filled due to the action of capillary forces (capillary flow). An intense flow of nematics with initial homeotropic orientation leads to the appearance of orientational instabilities. In the experiments, a liquid-crystal cell with a variable gap (from 60 to 100 μm) was used. The object of the study was a 10:1 emulsion "liquid crystal – isotropic liquid". It was found that drops of isotropic liquid form various types of spatial structures. In particular, chains of drops in the region of strong deformations of LC orientation (for example, at the boundaries of the existence of long-lived regions with a changed orientation) were observed. In addition, an increased concentration of isotropic droplets occurred in the region separating the sections of the liquid crystal under the action of an electric field and in the absence of its action. Based on the analysis of microscopic images, the velocity of mutual motion of two isolated drops was determined. It made possible to estimate the interaction force between the drops (Fa = 5.6 pN) that was caused by the distortions of orientational structure in the vicinity of the drops. The results obtained are discussed within the existing theory of liquid crystals.


The purpose of this paper is to set out a case for the hope of Israel in the eschatological future. The primary focus in this paper is Romans, the climax of the Apostle Paul's discussion and argument concerning ethnic Israel in Romans 9-11, in addition this is framed by drawing on other biblical texts. The aim is to set the scene — and provide a summary in terms of biblical theology — for the case for God's calling and purpose for the Jewish people, with a special focus on the eschatological place of Israel as set out in Romans 11. In so doing we will establish precise contextual definitions for key terms: Israel, Supersessionism/ Nonsupersessionism, Christian Zionism, and Restorationism, and how this relates to the resolution the Apostle Paul sets-out in Romans 11: Israel is inextricably intertwined in God's eschatological scheme. The conclusions of this paper will serve as a basis for more detailed hermeneutical and theological treatments of this and related topics in later papers presented at this conference. 1 Smith: Coming Kingdom and the Hope of Israel Published by Digital Commons @ Biola, 2015 54 The Journal of Messianic Jewish Studies Volume 1, 2015


To the Editor: Andrade et al reportedly demonstrated kindling with repeated subconvulsive stimulation to rats. One group of 20 rats was given daily electrical stimulation for 4 consecutive days. Rats who seized on any given day were not stimulated on subsequent days, whereas rats that did not seize were stimulated again the next day. Sixteen of the 20 rats seized on days 1–3 (5 on day 1, 6 on day 2, and 5 on day 3), so 4 rats were left to stimulate on day 4. Only 1 (25%) of these seized that day. Another group of 20 rats was stimulated for the first time on day 4; 7 of those 20 (35%) seized. The authors concluded that the fact that 17 of 20 seized in group 1 versus 7 of 20 in group 2 makes a case that kindling occurred in the first group. I disagree with this conclusion. The kindling model involves the induction of seizures with repeated applications of originally subconvulsive electrical stimuli, whereby repeated applications of the now supra-convulsive stimulus reliably induce seizures. By not repeatedly stimulating the rats that seized once to see whether they continue to seize, Andrade et al have not shown this. In fact, the group that was supposedly "kindled" (ie, rats stimulated on day 4) had a rate of seizing of 25% compared with 35% for the stimulation-naive group. This does not suggest to me that the first group of rats had an increased tendency to seize on day 4. If the authors wished to demonstrate kindling, it seems to me they should have continued with daily stimulation to rats that seized to test if they continued seizing with the same parameters. Given the well-known and rather robustly demonstrated anticonvulsant effects of both electroconvulsive shock in animals and ECT in humans, I doubt this would have occurred. Furthermore, the kindling model involves direct application of electrical stimulation intracerebrally to focal areas that subsequently show permanent changes. I find it hard to believe that the small amount of extracerebrally applied current in electroconvulsive shock that actually makes its way to the brain and then is rather diffusely distributed would have such permanent effects. My take on their results is that "seizure threshold" is not a fixed, unmovable phenomenon, but rather a probability statement that a given animal will seize with a given stimulus. If a rat does not seize on day 1, then perhaps on day 2 (or 3 or 4) the conditions of either the animal (eg, hydration, nutrition, sleep deprivation) or of the electrical stimulus (eg, slight variations in machine output or the electrode placement on the animal's head) along with a host of other factors of which we are not aware may lead to a seizure.


The influence of the vertical prismatic coefficient of the forebody on the ship motions in waves was investigated. Ship motions and hydrodynamic coefficients were calculated for the ship models with three values of block coefficient. Inside each model family the vertical prismatic coefficient has three values, which led to the change of forebody cross-sections from U-shaped to V-shaped form. The models with V-shaped forebody appeared to have an advantage in heave in all waves, while pitch was reduced in long waves and increased in short waves. This was caused by the difference in distribution of sectional added mass and damping along the ship's length.


Wind turbines (WTs) often work in harsh environmental conditions. The risk of blade breakage by hitting the tower has increased because of the decreased bending stiffness of the WT blades with the increasing sizes of WTs. To address the system dynamics of WTs, this article proposes a Mogrifier long short-term memory autoencoder (MLSTM-AE) method to monitor blade breakage using the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data. Firstly, the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) is calculated for variable selection. Secondly, the time-lagged multivariate variables are augmented and taken as input for the encoder which consists of a Mogrifier long short-term memory (MLSTM) layer to learn the deep features. Another MLSTM layer runs as the decoder to reconstruct the input. The proposed MLSTM-AE model can extract spatial-temporal information more effectively than traditional long short-term memory (LSTM) and autoencoder (AE). Next, kernel density estimation (KDE) is applied to develop boundaries for generating blade breakage alerts based on reconstruction errors, which can reflect changes in system dynamics caused by blade breakage. The advantages of the proposed MLSTM-AE-based monitoring method are illustrated by employing real blade breakage cases from several wind farms located in China by comparing with other related methods in terms of warning time, false alarm rate (FAR), and accuracy.


In order to screen one suitable catalyst for magnetically stabilized fluidized bed (MSFB) reactor in the process of oxidative carbonylation of phenol to diphenyl carbonate (DPC), Pd/MFe2O4 catalysts were chosen, then prepared and characterized by XRD, H2-TPR, XPS and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Compared to the other metal ion doped spinel ferrite catalysts, the catalytic activity of Pd/MnFe2O4 was much higher, which the single pass yield of DPC reached 33.12% with selectivity above 99%, and turnover frequency (TOF) reached 70.56 molDPC·(molPd·h). The result showed that the formation of the ferrite oxygen-deficient and ion transference in the ferrites was in favor of the catalytic activity. When the support MnFe2O4 was calcinated at 500 °C, the saturation magnetization of the obtained catalyst Pd/MnFe2O4 came up to 43.1 A·m·kg. With good magnetic property and brilliant catalytic activity the catalyst Pd/MnFe2O4 may suite for industrial experiments in MSFB reactor in future.


Back in 1988, I was involved with the APP in organising a conference on Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Services in Europe. The presentations given at that meeting had a profound effect on many APP members and a couple were published in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Our eyes were opened to the fact that in the public sector some countries were considerably in advance of the UK in the provision of psychoanalytic therapy services as were the systems within which they operated. We were also made aware that, especially in Scandinavia, it had been found to be feasible to adapt psychoanalytic understanding to public sector work with psychosis in a more systematic way than that provided by the occasional exceptional service in the UK. This book, from a Finnish author, is a further example of psychoanalytic therapy being applied to the public sector and brings a sophisticated and rich mixture of theory and practice. The core of the book is a series of papers explicating a model focussing on the developmental stages through which the mind develops its representational capacity, integrating the work of the semiotician Charles Pierce with that of many well known psychoanalytic writers in this field (especially Stern, Segal, Fonagy, Kernberg and Ogden). The clinical setting that illustrates the practical utility of this theoretical framework is the psychoanalytic component of the psychotherapy service for students in the University of Turku. Most of the patient therapies described are with variants of borderline psychopathology. Keinänen emphasises the epigenetic development of semiosis starting with what he calls (after Pierce) the ''index stage'', in which the mind starts to bind experience originating in the bio/physiological processes leading to pleasurable and discomforting sensations emanating from the body. This is followed by the ''iconic stage'' in which images are formed with the increasing capacity to separate out self from other but without reflective capacity. These images lead to discharge and action. With the acquisition of language, reflection is possible with the capacity to develop a sense of time and delay of action. Keinänen emphasises the importance of a further layer ushered in by the capacity to integrate reflections of the other as well as of the self. Keinänen gives a number of case studies demonstrating how the therapeutic process facilitates the development of these stages, especially how increasing awareness of the reflecting capacities of the therapist are internalised. As the therapy develops the patient and therapist are more able Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Vol. 22, No. 3, September 2008, 239–240


When fixed reordering costs and/or carrying rates are not known, efficient instead of optimal order quantities may be calculated by allocating the available reordering capacity to storage items such that the implied inventory investment is minimized, or vice versa. Static versions of this problem have been discussed in detail elsewhere. The present paper develops an algorithm suitable for calculation of efficient order quantities under conditions of dynamic multi-item demands.


The paper consists of short historical review and the spectrum of contemporary methods of grafting of cranial defects. Technical aspects of the operation and characteristics of materials used in the Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Academy in Lublin were presented. Two groups of patients, ten persons each, were comparatively analysed with special consideration of early and late postoperative complications. It aimed at estimating suitability of knitted polypropylene-polyester prosthesis Codubix in comparison with autogenous bone flap.


When China acceded to the World Trade Organization in 2001, pundits were enthusiastic about the prospect that China's World Trade Organization membership would boost international trade, encourage China's restructuring toward a market economy, discipline the domestic legal system, and strengthen the rule of law in China. More recently, however, serious concerns have been raised regarding China's record on the rule of law. The first National Security Strategy report issued by the Trump Administration in December 2017 claimed that China's increased participation in the liberal international economic system had not effectuated China's deeper engagement with, or respect for, the rule of law.

The purpose of this article is to take a critical look at the two contrasting narratives on the impact of the World Trade Organization on China's rule of law construction over the past two decades. It concludes that, although the World Trade Organization has played a positive role in advancing the rule of law in China, such a role has long been exaggerated. Accordingly, we provide an account of why the World Trade Organization has failed to play a catalyst role in instituting the rule of law in China widely expected in the western world.


BACK GROUND: In this modern age, fractures of humerus are on an increase & the management of these fractures also form an important part of orthopaedic management. Fractures of Humerus accounts for nearly 3% of all fractures.The present study is an attempt to study the advantages & disadvantages of open reduction internal fixation using dynamic compression plate with screws for fracture shaft of Humerus, analyze the results & compare with the standard studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a hospital based prospective study centered in Department of Orthopaedics at Indira Gandhi Government General hospital and Post Graduate Institute, Puducherry, from September 2010 to September 2012 in which 30 patients with diaphysealhumerus fractures are treated with dynamic compression plate and screws. RESULTS: Patients were regularly followed-up post-operatively. Thirty cases were available for follow up. Excellent results were seen in 17 patients, good results in 8 patients, fair results in 2 patients and poor results in 3 patients. CONCLUSION: Open reduction and internal fixation with dynamic compression plate and screws gives better functional and anatomical results in diaphysealhumerus fractures. The successful use of dynamic compression plate for diahysealhumerusfractures requires careful assessment of fracture pattern, appropriate patient selection, meticulous surgical techniques appropriate choice of fixation, judicious augmentation with internal fixation, careful post-operative monitoring and aggressive early institution of rehabilitation. The final functional result of treatment of diaphysealhumerus fractures not only depends of on anatomical reduction but also depends on surrounding soft tissue injuries and mobilization.


Expression for second order, third order elastic constant, pressure derivative and Cauchy discrepancy of CsI crystallizing in CsCl structure are presented with the help of (VTSM) model. It includes the effect of van der Waals interactions and three body interactions in the framework rigid shell model. The short-range overlap repulsion is operative to the second neighbor ions. The theoretical results are compared with experimental one by calculating pressure derivative of second order elastic constant SOEC, third order elastic constant TOEC and Cauchy discrepancy. It is concluded that the VTSM is adequately essential for description of Elastic constants and complete lattice dynamics of Cesium Iodide.


Police authorities in a number of countries have recently introduced body-worn cameras (BWC). With the use of body-worn cameras, the police have gained access to new forms of wearable and powerful ...


[Objective] To observe the effect of bladder-tumor lysate on capacity of DCs excreting IL-12. [Methods] BIU-87 cells are frozen and melt repeatedly for 4 times, then tumor lysate is obtained. Healthy volunteer PBMCs cultured with RPMI1640 contained rh GM-CS+rh IL-4+rh TNF-α in vitro for 9 days, and then DCs pulse with bladder-tumor lysate. DCs could excrete IL-12, so the supernatant were detected on every 3 days by ELISA technique. [Results] DCs could be harvestd through healthy volunteer PBMCs cultured in vitro. The capacity of DCs excreting IL-12, which sensitized by bladder-tumor lysate, was stronger than that of unsensitized DCs, and the secretory volume were different on the different stages (P 0.05). [Conclusion] The secretory volume of IL-12 p70 is affected by full-grown status and some stimulant signals, and bladder-tumor lysate is one of stimulant signals.


Sticky traps for the leaf miners Liriomyza sativae Blanchard and Liriomyza trifolii Burgess and their associated hymenopterous parasites were developed for use in watermelon fields using PVC pipe and plastic cups. Comparison between numbers of insects caught on sticky traps with numbers of insect reared from leaf samples indicated a predictive value of 3 wk for leafminers. Traps intercepted greater numbers of insects when placed as close to the plant canopy as possible.


A book cover can convey a lot about the content of the
book. Despite the adage to not evaluate something based on
outward appearances, we apply machine learning to see if we can,
in fact, judge a book by its cover, or more specifically by its cover
art and text. The classification was done considering three
different aspects - cover image only, cover text only and both
image and text in a multimodal approach. Image classification
was done using transfer learning with Inception-v3. For text
detection from the cover image, images were first converted to
greyscale and different thresholds were applied to detect
maximum text. This text was then vectorized and used to train a
Multinomial Naïve Bayes model. We also trained custom CNNs
for image and text modalities. For multimodal classification, we
examine late fusion model, where the modalities are combined at
decision level, and early fusion model, where the modalities are
combined at the feature level. Our results show that the late fusion
model performs best in our setting. We also observe that text is
more informative with respect to genre prediction and that
significant efforts need to be devoted to solve this image-based
classification task to a satisfactory level. This research can be used
to aid product design process by revealing underlying information.
It could also be used in recommender systems and to help in
promotion and sales processes for automatic genre suggestion.


The following best describes my two year term as WISA President : The Water Institute of Southern Africa (WISA) has been a (pleasantly) commanding organisation, challenging not only my scientific ability, but also my relationships with others, my ability to give without expecting anything in return, and forcing me to see the bigger picture - not only in the context of our country, but also in the context of life.


Breast cancer is the most common leading cause of death among women worldwide (Kohrmann et al., 2009) due to distant metastases. Tumor cells produce Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP) enzymes that destroy the basement of membranes, permitting invasion (Kohrmann et al., 2009). MMP is a family of 23 members structurally and functionally related endopeptidases (Nagase et al., 2006). MMPs are upregulated in most human tumor cell lines and their high levels are linked to metastasis (Baker et al., 2000). The stage of tumor progression is positively correlated with the expression of MMP family members (MMP-1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, and 14) (Overall and Lopez-Otin, 2002). MMP-2 and MMP-9 help in forming neovascularization and are involved in tumor angiogenesis mainly through their matrix-degrading capacity (John and Tuszynski, 2001). MMP-9 up-regulation was associated with a shortened relapse-free survival in breast cancer patients (Vizoso et al., 2007). The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMPS) family, including TIMP-1, 2, 3, and 4, regulates the multifunctional metalloproteinase activities. TIMPs have apoptosis-inducing properties and are down-regulated in a variety of human cancer cell lines. Over-expression of TIMPs reduced the experimental metastasis of melanoma (Khokha, 1994; Montgomery et al., 1994). TIMP-1


A simple active microwave delay line to be used with an electron‐spin echo spectrometer to reduce the dead time is described. The delay line employs a microwave amplifier and two PIN diode switches as its active components. Tests with a coal sample at room temperature show that the dead time could be reduced from 140 ns without to 60 ns with the active delay line.


The human brain, with all its complexity, relies on an interconnected network of organic biological microfibers, known as neurons, which facilitate the propagation of information across the body. Through the use of electrical action potentials, these signals are processed using different spatio-temporal principles that rely on the biochemical nature of axons (used for information propagation) and synapses (highly variable junctions), which make up the mammalian neurobiological system. This manifests itself in the adaptable nature of the human cognition that makes us capable of learning through experiences.


After defining the quantum and gate,we introduce a new scheme on how to realize quantum and gate,which utilizes the superiority that quantum strategies are more successful than classical ones.Our scheme is to realize the operation of quantum and gate by means of two discriminable quantum coins.


Summary Field and laboratory experiments were conducted to study if rain could wash-off pollen grains from the surface of the stigma and consequently affect the efficiency of fertilisation in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.). Flowers of the loquat cultivar, 'Dawuxing', growing in the field, were emasculated, pollinated by hand with pollen of the cultivar 'Longquan No.5', then sprayed with water to simulate the effect of rain at –8, –4, –2 h before, –0 h (immediately before hand-pollination) , +0 h (immediately after hand-pollination), and 2, 4, 8, or 12 h after pollination. A control to which no water treatment was applied was also included in the assay. Meanwhile, additional assays were performed in the laboratory to improve the resolution of the field study by using earlier treatments. Here, treatments were performed by pollinating, immersing, and shaking a branch with flowers in a container of water in the laboratory –120, –60, –30, –0, +0, 30, 60, or 120 min before or after hand-pollination. One additional sample was immersed, shaken, then hand-pollinated, and immersed and shaken (ISPIS) again. The results showed that the numbers of pollen grains that germinated, and the percentages of fruit set, differed significantly between the –4, –2, –0, or +0 h treatments and the non-water-treated control in the field assays, especially in the case of the –0 h and +0 h treatments in which the stigmas were washed immediately before or after hand-pollination. However, the –8, 2, 4, 8, and 12 h treatments did not show significant differences from the non-treated control. On the other hand, the laboratory experiments showed that all washing treatments reduced the number of germinated pollen grains retained on the stigma, and the immersion treatments at –30, –0, +0, or 30 min as well as the additional ISPIS treatment, showed significant differences from the non-treated controls in the numbers of pollen grains retained on the stigmas. In conclusion, the results showed that adhesion of pollen grains to the stigmas in loquat was rapid and strong, and that the simulated rain treatment was not able to wash-off pollen grains completely from the stigma surface, except in the –0 h and +0 h treatments.


The prevalence and severity of wounds can increase in the older population. It is therefore vital to have an understanding of managing and treating the symptoms. Jackie Stephen-Haynes makes some suggestions to promote healing in care settings


The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused devastating damage to Thailand and other nearby countries. This presentation summarizes some improvements of tsunami disaster mitigation, especially for non-structural countermeasure namely tsunami warning system, tsunami evacuation drill and tsunami disaster education as well as issues on housing recovery and tsunami memorials based on lessons from the 2004 tsunami. Five months after the event, a new organization in Thailand so called National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) was established. Currently, NDWC is under the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Ministry of Interior. NDWC is not only in charge of tsunami but also all natural disaster warning in Thailand. For tsunami warning, NDWC works together with Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) on data sharing. NDWC and TMD monitor the data from their seismic stations, GPS buoy, as well as other data providers including the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). It took about 20 min for NDWC to announce tsunami warning message at the beginning but improved to 5 min at present. There is national tsunami evacuation drill conducted every year in the 2004 tsunami affected 6 provinces operated by local governments and NDWC. However, some small tsunami events such as in 2012 demonstrated that traffic problems during evacuation are still unsolved. Story of the 2004 tsunami has been telling to young generations by their parents, school teachers and medias. Ministry of Education is currently developing teaching materials for tsunami education referred to Japanese materials. About the tsunami disaster memorials, there are both locations with well maintain and location that need moderate to major reparations of the memorials as well as evacuation related facilities. Governments and private sector provided various types of post-disaster housing by different source of funding provider, but turn out that most of residents in provided houses project have less satisfy in their housing's conditions. In the future, further improvements on non-structural countermeasures for tsunami in Thailand can be expected in various points of view.


This paper presents a probability faligue/tracture cumulated damage theory,which based on traditional Miner's linear cumulated damage theory;and establish a two dimensional probability fatigue/fracture reliability life analysis model for helicopter" 3 dynamic components.


Abstract The concept of black holes or completely collapsed gravitational objects as they were originally called has fascinated the scientific community and writers of science fiction for centuries. The mathematical proof of the existence of black holes came from the collation of multiple lines of evidence, some of which were highly debated and was derived from both indirect and direct sources. The measurement of gravitational waves and the observation of a black hole represent one of the most astounding achievements in astrophysics which will open up new areas of investigation for the role that black holes play in the formation, maintenance and evolution of galactic structure.


According to the World Health Organization (WHO), hearing loss (HL) is one of the six key contributors to worldwide disease rates. It is becoming a critical issue in society, not just affecting the aging population, but also negatively impacting young people who are spending more of their spare time performing activities that expose them to excessive noise levels. In this research, we intend to design a filter as a signal processing system in a hearing aid (HA). MATLAB is used to model the digital filter structure, while Simulink is used to capture the entire design. This study examines current critical concerns in hearing aid research from the perspectives of a variety of disciplines. The study proposes a filter and signal processor model based on hearing aid experience, but first, it provides an audiogram for numerous examples to determine if the suggested model would suit or not. The work thus provides an effective compensation of missed high-frequency sounds response in patient hearing by the digital signal processor.


This project has been developed within the context of a startup company that aims to improve the problem of limited stroke recovery of the upper limb in the Netherlands. The company's value proposition consists of addressing this problem by means of artificially assisted therapy. The specific mission of this project has been to reconsider the company's value proposition(VP) from a sustainability and circular economy perspective. This has been done in particular by exploring how circular and platform design strategies can be articulated in such a way that leverage the company's activities towards its main goal. As a result off a multilevel design approach, a platform business model has been proposed as a sustainable approach. As part the platform VP, a circular open-source platform strategy has been proposed to develop the platform infrastructure. A technological vision towards this infrastructural development proposes a tool kit composed of a set of subsystems which includes Human Machine Interfaces and Active Assistance Devices of different types that support different treatment modalities. This set of subsystems are designed to be highly open, adaptable, upgradable and reconfigurable. Within this strategic framework, a showcase application of circular and platform design strategies has been reached by means of a modular architecture. This technical application demonstrates how the vision can be systematically implemented in the short term, within the value creation activities of the startup company.


SUMMARY A study was conducted to elucidate the effects of supplementation of mannan oligosaccharide (MOS), a prebiotic, and probiotic mixture (PM) on growth performance, relative weights (RW) of viscera, and population of selected intestinal bacteria to broilers reared under cyclic heat stress (HS). Two hundred fifty 1-d-old broiler chicks were randomly divided into 5 treatment groups with 5 replicates. From d 22 onward, the broilers were reared either in a thermoneutral zone (TN) or exposed to HS until d 42. Birds were fed either a corn-based basal diet (TN and HS groups) or the same diet supplemented with 0.5% MOS, 0.1% PM, or their combination as synbiotic. Birds were killed on d 42 to collect viscera and jejunal and cecal digesta. Digesta was used to enumerate Clostridium perfringens, total coliforms, and Escherichia coli. The HS decreased mean BW gain, feed consumption, and FE of broilers compared with the TN broilers. The TN group had higher RW of spleen, bursa of Fabricius, and ceca compared with the HS group. The supplementation of PM and SYN improved mean BW gain and FE compared with the HS group. Increase in RW of spleen, bursa, intestine, and ceca was observed in the supplemented groups compared with the HS group. Based on these findings, we concluded that HS has significant negative effects on mean RW of viscera and growth performance of broilers. Moreover, feeding a diet supplemented with either MOS or PM alone or as combination can partially or completely ameliorate these effects.


The aim of this comment is to investigate the effect of the real liquid assets on the private consumption in less developed coun tries on the light of the result obtained by M. Mehdizadeh in an earlier issue of this journal [2]. He argues that in the case of a less devel oped economy, Iran, the theoretical positive sign of the private consumption function with respect to real liquid assets doesn't hold and, instead, a negative relationship exists. From this, he concluded that "... this sheds some doubt on the so-called 'real balance effect' on consumption of less developed econo mies ...". He attributed his results to two main reasons; uncertainty, and that the actual level of liquid assets fall short of their desired


This paper studies the basic principle of the appearance and drift space charge waves in transferred electron devices (TEDs) on base A3B5 variband semiconductor compounds. The two-temperature model of the electron intervalley transfer in a variband semiconductor was applied. The operation of the Gunn diodes on base of different threefold semiconductor compounds are investigated.


Modern washing conditions pose performance problems for laundry detergents. Bleaches and additives that clean clothes at lower temperatures and concentrations are examined


Yb:YAG transparent ceramics with high optical quality were fabricated by solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering method (1750 °C×30 h) using high-purity Y2O3, α-Al2O3 and Yb2O3 powders as raw materials. The measured concentration of Yb in 5.0at% Yb:YAG ceramics is 6.41×10 cm, and the cell density is 4.65 g/cm. The microstructures, spectral characteristics and laser performance parameters of Yb:YAG ceramics were studied in this work. FESEM results show that Yb:YAG ceramics have uniform and compact structure, clean and straight grain boundaries, and the average grain size is about (19±3) μm. The in-line transmittance of Yb:YAG ceramics with thickness of 4.0 mm reaches 82.5% at 400 nm and 85.2% at 1100 nm. The minimum pump saturation light intensity occurs at 940 nm, and the pump threshold power at 1030 nm is the lowest. The quality factor of 1030 nm laser 206 无 机 材 料 学 报 第 35 卷 pumped at 940 nm is 1.02×10 cm·s. By calculating the gain cross section, it is indicated that Yb:YAG ceramics can be tuned broadband, and are ideal laser gain media.


The measurement of the crosslinking degree in XLPE cable insulation by the hot set test demonstrated that the inner layer of the HV XLPE cable insulation had a larger elongation than the outer layer,indicating that the inner layer had smaller crosslinking degree than the outer layer.However,the measurement by the gel content test led to a completely different result.We found by analysis that the inaccuracy of the measurement by the gel content test lay in that the outer layer had different crystal morphology and crystallinity than the inner layer.Furthermore,the mechanical and physical test demonstrated that the inner layer had smaller tensile strength and elongation than the outer layer.All these results indicate that the insulation has inhomogenous radial crosslinking degree.


At present,the state information of grounding line connecting and removal is collected and sent by human in domestic catenary operation.This method in dealing with large expansion and long distance ground line overhaul can't satisfy the requirements of economy,efficiency and satety of modern high-speed railway any longer.In this paper,a grounding line information-gathering device is designed based on GSM,using DSP processor and combining with PC technology.This device collects the information of grounding line and operation signal in the form of SMS,and sends the information from each operation site.Communicating with PC-side software by USB interface,it can display the information of grounding line and the operation sections to achieve the GIS calibration.This device can prevent the false switch on to improve the security of catenary operation,can protect the people and equipment,and can supply the hardware platform for catenary operation of information management.


This article is of a methodological design of the master-class for teachers and has a voluntary character. It presents one of the possible forms of organization of teachers' activity according to their familiarity with the capabilities of the IPad application in classroom and in extracurricular activities in mathematics.


Contents: P. Rusin, H.L. Ehrlich: Developments in Microbial Leaching - Mechanisms of Manganese Solubilization.- S.Y. Lee, H.N. Chang: Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoic Acid.- S.A. Markov, M.J. Bazin, D.O. Hall: The Potential of Using Cyanobacteria in Photobioreactors for Hydrogen Production.- A.L. Gutman, M. Shapira: Synthetic Applications of Enzymatic Reactions in Organic Solvents.- Y. Inada, A. Matsushima, M. Hiroto, H. Nishimura, Y. Kodera: Chemical Modification of Proteins with Polyethylene Glycols.- F. Kawai: Breakdown of Plastics and Polymers by Microorganisms.


The utility model discloses a plasma disinfecting and purifying clean workbench comprising a workbench, wherein the workbench is provided with a bracing frame, the bracing frame is provided with a plasma disinfecting device, the plasma disinfecting device comprises a shell body, an upper end and a lower end of the shell body are respectively provided with air inlets and air outlets, a filter screen, a fan and a plasma purifier are arranged in order between the air inlets and the air outlets inside of the shell body, and the air outlets closing to the plasma purifier face to a bench surface of the workbench. The plasma disinfecting and purifying clean workbench of the utility model can purify and eliminate harmful substances such as inhalable particulates, volatile organic compounds, bacteria, viruses, and so on, and can effectively eliminate dust particles in the air, thereby ensuring quality of products which are produced from the workbench.


For endoscopic interventions, recommendations exist on how to administer oral anticoagulants and thrombocyte aggregation inhibitors. Unfortunately the authors did not mention administering desmopressin to prevent hemorrhages or rapidly achieve hemostasis, and neither did they mention local hemostasis by using cyclokapron solution (1). Before administering highly concentrated platelets after hemorrhage during an urgent operation, preceding which it was not possible to stop treatment with platelet aggregation inhibitors, a treatment attempt should be undertaken using desmopressin (0.3 µg/kg body weight as a brief i.v. infusion administered over 30 minutes) (2). Locally, hemostasis can be achieved by applying a gauze pad soaked in cyclokapron solution, for example, if a tissue specimen was taken (3).


defensive reactions to American challenges; Johnson was unreasonable to fear that American failure in Vietnam would embolden the Soviet Union. Perhaps, but one could reasonably take exception to these claims. However, because Dallek intends this book to encourage discussion about the hidden side of foreign policy, these difficulties should be considered an opportunity to follow his lead in examining and describing the forces underpinning American foreign policy.


The purpose of this article is not to constitute a comprehensive exegesis of the vegetal universe of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes , a highly complex, but largely unexplored world. I propose to read the various stages of Hermes' nocturnal expedition in the light of the mythology of the plants marking his route and to show that they have, without exception, links to death and the Underworld. Thus, the plants indicate the liminal nature of the landscape crossed by Hermes and the catabatic nature of his journey.


Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) data for 495 wavelengths and wafer measurements (pre- and post-oxide film thickness) from a commercial etch tool were collected for 18 oxide wafers to explore the feasibility of using OES as an in-situ sensor to estimate average oxide etch rate. A variable selection method is proposed based on the principle of partial least square (PLS) regression, which select several most informative wavelengths to build ordinary least square (OLS) regression models. Compared with the PLS models, it is found that OLS regression models based on selected wavelengths are more robust.


This paper discusses the role of RBI in testing times. Specifically this paper has analysed the guidelines issued by the RBI during 2007 sub-prime crises which had grave after effects on the strongest of economies of the world. The effects of the crises are still visible on the markets of today. Primary data was collected and analysed through chi-sqaure testing. Reserve Bank, the central bank of India has a very big responsibility of strengthening the business and economy in India together with modernizing and providing new aspects of growth to new businesses. These two require a very good balance in the opportunities and control emphasized by RBI on the corporate sector. All this is generally done through the banks which in turn are controlled by the RBI – the apex which creates the monetary policy of Indian republic. RBI from time to time gives out policies to commercial banks and other financial institutions about the kind of financial products they can create in terms of risk and returns that they offer to the investors. This paper is written after a detailed study of RBI guidelines on working of commercial banks in light of the global recession which witnessed fall of big economies like US, Europe and institutions like Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns which were once regarded as immortals.


This paper describes the design of a novel tunnel set-up mechanism for Ethernet networks that allows users in fast moving vehicles to access multimedia services. The network architecture under study will be presented and the designed tunnel set-up mechanisms will be detailed. For the establishment of VLAN-based tunnels, a "scoped refresh" extension of the GVRP standard has been implemented. For the distribution of QoS-related reservation parameters, a new GARP-based protocol (G2RP) is developed with closed loop design, a mechanism for updating reservation parameters and admission control. Both protocols are implemented on a Linux test bed using the click modular router. Two important scenarios will be detailed, together with an overview of the performance evaluation results.


This work is deals with processing and analysis of ECG waves, namely with recognition of ECG samples with diagnosis of myocardial infarct and arrhythmia from samples. As a base concept for comparing the ECG wave to the typical wave,Template matching method is used, which can find the best similarity between the test sample and ECG templates. With respect to the metrics it calculates their relative similarity, too. Input data were obtained from the project PhysioNet, gathered at the Institute of Cardiology at the University Clinic Benjamin Franklin in Berlin and digitalized in the National Metrology Institute, Germany under the name PTB ECG database. The outputs are the similarity coefficients of the twelve conventional ECG leads and the six basic parameters of waves. The results of our proposal with used methods for data preprocessing and implemented algorithm are comparable with the results obtained by systems based on neural networks classification. It has the potential to help physicians in the initial analysis and identification of the patient's condition.


The American financial services industry employs innumerable intermediaries working for investors and savers, such as accountants, advisors, agents, bankers, brokers, consultants, directors, funds, lawyers, managers, and rating agencies. They charge considerable fees to facilitate exchanges by easing searches and synthesizing or validating complex information. Their influence has been studied from numerous perspectives, including behavioral finance,1 industrial economics,2 and public-choice theory.3 Such treatments illuminate why financial intermediaries exist, what value they add, and what costs they impose, from the perspective of how clients act, how market structures work, and how laws and policies are formulated. To this substantial literature comes a welcome supplement' Intermediary Influence' thanks to Professor Kathryn J udge. Providing a singular account of intermediary influence as a source of sustained pricing power, Judge's article warns of excessive transaction costs, a net direct loss to the constituents of intermediaries (on both sides), and an indirect net social loss. Such


Two new approaches to the inclusion of target charge-polarization effects in electron-scattering calculations are presented and tested. The first approach is an energy-dependent polarization potential based on an ${r}^{\ensuremath{-}6}$ nonadiabatic correction to the adiabatic polarization potential. The second approach is a matrix effective potential which includes the nonadiabatic dynamics of the polarization effect at all $r$. The two approaches are tested by comparing them to accurate phase shifts and differential cross sections for electron-helium scattering for impact energies 12-400 eV.


The electromagnetic and weak neutral currents display different sensitivities to various strange quark matrix elements of the nucleon. Measurements of the parity-violating electron-proton and electron-nucleus asymmetries at intermediate energies could allow one to extract limits on the nucleon's strange-quark form factors. The prospects for deriving such constraints from present and approved experiments at MIT-Bates and CEBAF, as well as the implications of such measurements for models of nucleon strangeness, are discussed.


Modern fault-tolerant distributed architectures can be configured to tolerate a wide-range of faults. For instance, Fireplug is a distributed BFT graph database, based on n-version programming, that can be configured to tolerate crash or Byzantine faults, uncorrelated faults in individual machines, correlated faults that affect all replicas running a given software version, or correlated faults that affect an entire datacenter. Interestingly, in such a system, fault handling heavily depends on the type of faults the system is configured to tolerate. To hardwire all possible behaviours in the fault-handling code is inflexible and may even be impractical. In this paper, we explore a different alternative that consists in specifying not only the system configuration, but also the fault-handling behaviour, and how the system adapts to changes in the workload, in a policy language, that is processed externally to the managed system. We show that, using this approach, a single simplified codebase of the managed system can be used effectively to address a wide range of dependability constraints.


Last year, I went back to my home town in Nanjing, China for my holidays. When I saw my piano in the living room, I was very excited to try it and see whether or not I could play it again. I just tried several single tones on the piano and then automatically played my favourite melody very smoothly. This action surprised me as I have not touched the piano for more than two years! Then, I endeavoured to ask my father, as he is a musician and also an experienced music teacher, why I could still do it. He simply said, 'Because you started when you were five. It is best to learn music at an early stage in my experience.' His answer prompted me to think about music learning and its importance in early childhood. Also, I asked, in regard to the role of teachers in the music education process, how should encouraging students in their lifelong music learning be taken into account. The following interview with my father provides an insight into China's music teaching and considerations for the development of music education nationally and internationally.


In expanding-extraction process,the running of counter-flow cooling dryer directly affects the temperature and water content of goods to extraction,so the system process calculation of counter-flow cooling dryer is the foundation of guiding production.This paper introduced the calculation of cooling,drying,heat-exchange and dust-collecting by an example that provide the basis for equipment choice.


Recent trends in the commercial aviation industry have resulted in rapidly increasing complexity and decentralisation in service parts logistics systems. As a consequence, MRO service providers tend to adopt more flexible strategies, such as service parts sourcing and demand fulfilment for customers with different service-level requirements. The MRO service providers often enter into cooperative agreements with other service providers to pool inventories, enabling them to increase their flexibility in delivering services to multiple airlines with different contractual terms. Although using cooperative strategies, such as emergency resupply, is useful to increase flexibility, the inherent complexity of optimal mechanism is a critical issue that needs to be further investigated. To this aim, we consider a repairable service parts inventory system with multi-customer classes and develop an optimal emergency resupply policy. Following this, to overcome the intractability issue of finding the optimal policy, an efficient approximation method is proposed. Numerical results indicate that the proposed approximation method is highly accurate, and leads to a significant costs reduction. This paper sheds light on the effectiveness of emergency resupply policy that improves MRO service providers' flexibility and enables them to ensure responsive service parts inventory.


After AWWA, lyses ment reading and Regulations" March Criteria "Variance 1986), for (Journal TreatI have Analyses and Criteria for Treatment Regulations" (Journal AWWA, March 1986), I have some comments stemming from 10 years' experience, primarily as a regulator in the areas of public water and waste management. Amirtharajah's recommendations for how to determine whether a variance should be issued fail to take into account the myriad challenges currently facing both regulator and purveyor in protecting groundwater sources. In simplistic terms, if the source is not, or cannot be, protected, then a variance analysis lacks credibility. His emphasis is on sanitary surveys, monitoring, and evaluation of data. Unfortunately, those activities as outlined in the article, though needed and important, fall short of providing the necessary foundation for making a valid variance analysis. Further, I believe such a treatise may do a disservice to some of the more demanding issues surrounding the whole area of safe drinking water. These issues center around three topics: protection of surface water and groundwater; cleanup of contaminated water; and management of water resources for the greatest public good. The issue of standards is assumed to be a part of each of these topics. Within these three areas several subgroups emergesubgroups that constitute the elements of management and prevention, which must be the foundation for assuring safe drinking water. Most water systems have little control over source protection and poor financial ability to deal with contamination of the source, unless it is simple bacteriological contamination. I am not speaking of the large municipal purveyor that owns an . entire watershed for the system source, but rather of the small water associations, water districts, private purveyors, and planned unit developments. If valid variances are to be issued, these smaller, more complex components must also be


With the promotion of Mandarin Chinese,Learn Chinese in ethnic minority areas has become a hot topic.This article discusses areas of Chinese Lahu grammar teaching,Comparing the two languages on the similarities and differences of grammar,and put forward feasible proposals.for the minority second language teaching must provide examples of teaching reference.


Creating nanosized pores in 2D materials can increase the edge sites, improve the mass transfer, and contribute to different physical properties, which shows potential applications in many fields including filtration membranes, electronics and energy storage devices, and catalysts. An iconic member of this type of material is porous graphene. Herein, a unique 2D layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanomesh is designed and synthesized as a new class of 2D holey materials. It represents the first case of exfoliation method for preparing 2D holey materials among all published reports. As an oxygen evolution reaction electrocatalyst, the 2D CoCo‐LDH nanomesh has apparently lower onset overpotential (220 mV) than that of compact nanosheets without holes (270 mV) owing to the pores through the plane that offer more highly active edge sites with lower coordination number and promote the mass diffusion. This work opens up a new avenue for designing 2D porous materials for energy conversion and storage.


The position of the hypothesis about dialectical intercourse of indoor and outdoor sovereign policy, at which the harmonization of interests is the main condition to sustenance of the social system in the condition of persistent balance is introduced in this article. At the example of the postwar history of the USSR the thesis that in the conditions of the action of the strong environmental factor (the arms race), taking the social system out of the balance, owing to the harmonization of interests the balance jumped into that direction, in which the effect of outdoor influence jumped, and the state ruling system got resources for the realization of the sovereign policy in the position of bipolar world, is expanded.


feudal warlord gangs Diem should pulverise. Also granted that this aborted any effort to try to build a broader more inclusive government and state in Saigon, with serious consequences, although Chapman argues that Diem did not want to do that in any case. The core problem remains: how could this have been done in a way that produced a viable administration able to defeat the challenge that sooner or later was going to emanate from Hanoi? It is at least as likely that building a coalition including at least the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai in any such government would have made it too weak to endure even to 1963. Identifying them as genuinely rooted local political forces is one thing; suggesting that the abstract formula of 'building a broad based inclusive administration as a basis for unity' could have worked at this time, in this place, is quite another. There is no doubt that Diem ran roughshod over all opposition and built far too narrow an administration, and that case is made again here; but the question of what else might have worked is something that Chapman herself acknowledges cannot really be answered. Indeed, the driving force to the thesis ultimately becomes to condemn Diem, and thus American policy — thereby joining the argument noted at the start of this review — by trying to explain the zig and zags of local politics on the ground after 1955. This leads to mixed results. On the one hand Ho Chi Minh is allowed the dignity of being communist and nationalist at the same time; Diem, on the other hand, is rebuked for trying both to contain communism and build his own administration. And again, that seems to stem from stale 'made in America' arguments. But in the end Chapman does put across one crucial point. These substate organisations understandably focused on their own survival, reacted to the course of events and made choices accordingly, and those choices, when examined, do tell us important things about the politics that shaped the failed effort to preserve a non-communist state in Vietnam. Chapman does not quite escape 'American-centred' analysis, but at least she directs our critical attention to things Vietnamese that we should indeed have been paying more attention to all along.


Distributed applications have become very popular and there is a growing need to efficiently and securely distribute data. This paper describes the design and the implementation of a distributed installer (DP), which can accomplish both these tasks. The authors reviewed the goals that any such system should achieve, and show which goals are achieved by DI and several similar systems. This paper provides the description of the functionality, design and the implementation of DI.


Our goal is to determine the ability of alternate host plants, specifically "ground vegetation," in or near almond orchards or vineyards to serve as reservoirs for Xylella fastidiosa (Xf). We surveyed ground vegetation in ALS-infected almond orchards in California's Central Valley. Plant tissue samples were collected throughout a 2 year period and processed for Xf presence using restriction enzyme digestion of RST31-RST33 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products and bacterial culture on selective media. Overall incidence of Xf was low in the ground vegetation species, only 63 of 1369 plant samples tested positive. Of the 37 species of common ground vegetation sampled, 11 tested positive for Xf, including such common species as Sheperd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), filaree (Erodium spp.), cheeseweed (Malva parvifolia), burclover (Medicago polymorpha), annual bluegrass (Poa annua) London rocket (Sisymbrium irio), chickweed (Stellaria media). There was a seasonal component to bacterial presence, with positive samples found only between November and March. Both ground vegetation and almond trees were most commonly infected with the almond strain of Xf (6 of 7 surveyed sites). ALSinfected almond samples had a Xf concentration within reported ranges, however, we were unable to accurately measure Xf titer in sampled ground vegetation for comparison. INTRODUCTION The epidemiological factors of Pierce's disease (PD) and almond leaf scorch (ALS), which lead to economic damage, requires more than the presence of susceptible crop cultivars, insect vectors, and plant species suitable for vector feeding and/or breeding. After the pathogen, Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is inoculated into a host plant, bacterial multiplication, systemic movement, and expression of disease symptoms depends on many factors including temperature, date of infection, and the Xf strain and concentration. We hypothesize that a reservoir population of Xf can reside in and around grape or almond orchards without the outward expression of plant disease. Xf reservoirs in adjacent vegetation may increase the window of vulnerability for nearby susceptible crops to become infected by providing enough inoculum for vectors at critical periods. For this reason, removal of blue green sharpshooter breeding hosts was an effective method for controlling the spread of PD in coastal wine grape regions. As yet, there have not been similar studies of vegetation management for controlling the spread of ALS, which has been increasing in prevalence and severity in California's interior valleys. By identifying the seasonal presence and incidence of Xf in common ground vegetation in or near almond orchards, weed control efforts can appended to also reduce reservoir Xf host species and reduce the level of bacterial inoculum. We report here are sample collections of annual plant species in almond orchards, where ALS incidence had been recorded for more than 2 years (all sites reporting PD and/or GWSS were heavily treated with insecticides in 2005). OBJECTIVE 1. Determine the presence of Xf in alternate host plants that are commonly visited by glassy-winged and native sharpshooters in selected ecosystems in the San Joaquin Valley; with samples representing different seasons and annual or perennial hosts. RESULTS Ground vegetation survey Surveyed almond orchards were located in California's north Central Valley (Butte Co., Glenn Co.), the middle of the Central Valley (Stanislaus Co.) and the south Central Valley (Kern C.). Every 2 to 6 weeks, depending on the seasonal availability of ground vegetation, a visual survey and collection of the four most abundant weed species was conducted. A total of 58 collections were made. There were 37 species of ground vegetation commonly found (Table 1), with most material collected in winter and spring when ground vegetation was common.


The differences in power meters and gestures between cycling and running can have an impact on determining Critical Power (CP) intensity in each sport. CP is a concept that has been extensively researched in cycling, but with the advent of power measurement in running, it can now be examined in that discipline as well. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether power output at CP intensity is interchangeable between cycling and running segments measured with their respective discipline-specific power meters. A group of 18 trained triathletes (age 33.0 ± 11.1 years, height 1.75 ± 0.06 m, body mass 71.2 ± 7.1 kg) performed a CP test in cycling (3-min All-Out Test) and running (9/3-min Stryd CP Test). The main results of the present study showed significant differences (p < 0.001) between CP in cycling and running. The running CP (301.8 W ± 41.5 W) was 20.2% overestimated compared with the cycling CP (251.1 W ± 37.0 W). Cycling power only explained 26.7% of the running power (R2 = 0.267; p = 0.284). Therefore, power would not be interchangeable between the cycling and running disciplines at CP intensity. In conclusion, it would be necessary to carry out a specific test for each discipline to be able to make a correct determination of CP.


Psoriasis is a common skin disorder characterized by focal formation of raised plaques that constantly shed scales derived from excessive growth of skin epithelial cells. The disease is characterized by a series of linked cellular changes in the skin: hyperplasia of epidermal keratinocytes, vascular hyperplasia and ectasia, and infiltration of T lymphocytes, neutrophils, and other types of leukocyte in the affected skin. Psoriasis is now considered as a T cell-mediated inflammation of the skin. Types of psoriasis that may be clinically encountered include plaque psoriasis, guttate psoriasis, erythrodermic psoriasis, pustular psoriasis, nail psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and scalp psoriasis. Psoriasis is believed to be genetically linked but can also be triggered by mechanical, ultraviolet, and chemical injury; various infections; prescription drug use; psychological stress; smoking; and other factors.


Although solutions of multi-dimensional transient water flow can be obtained by numerical modeling, their application may be limited as root water uptake is generally considered to be one or two-dimensional only. This is especially the case for trees. The first objective of this Chapter is to test the suitability of a three-dimensional root water uptake model for the simultaneous simulation of transient soil water flow around an almond tree. The soil hydraulic and root water uptake parameters were optimized by minimizing the residuals between measured and simulated water content data. Water content was measured in a three-dimensional grid around a sprinklerirrigated almond tree for a 16-day period, following irrigation. A second objective was to compare the performance and results of the three-dimensional flow model using with oneand two-dimensional root water uptake models. For this purpose, measured water contents were aggregated in the xand j -di rect ion in the one-dimensional case and in the radial direction for the two-dimensional uptake model. For the estimation of root water uptake model parameters, a Genetic Algorithm was used to estimate the approximate global minimum of the parameter space, whereas final parameters were determined using the Simplex optimization algorithm. With the optimized root water uptake parameters, simulated and measured water contents during the 16-day period were in excellent agreement for all root water uptake models. Most significantly, the spatial variation in flux density below the rooting zone decreased when reducing multidimensional root water uptake to fewer dimensions, thereby justifying the proposed multidimensional approach. 'This Chapter has been published by: Jasper A. Vrugt, Mark T. van Wijk, Jan W. Hopmans, and Jirka Simtinek, One-, two-, and three-dimensional root water uptake functions for transient modeling, Water Resources Research, 37(10), 2457-2470,2001. © Reprinted with permission of the American Geophysical Union. 23