Diagnostic investigations of aneurysm, hemorrhagic stroke, and other asymptomatic cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders due to the flow choking (biofluid/boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking) phenomenon in the circulatory system of humans and animals on the Earth and in the human spaceflight are active research topics of topical interest {Kumar et al., "boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking leads to hemorrhagic stroke and other neurological disorders in earth and human spaceflight," Paper presented at the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Conference, 23–25 August 2021 (American Stroke Association, 2021) [Circ. Res. 129, AP422 (2021)] and "Lopsided blood-thinning drug increases the risk of internal flow choking and shock wave generation causing asymptomatic stroke," in International Stroke Conference, 19–20 March 2021 (American Stroke Association, 2021) [Stroke 52, AP804 (2021)]}. The theoretical concept of flow choking [Kumar et al., "Lopsided blood-thinning drug increases the risk of internal flow choking leading to shock wave generation causing asymptomatic cardiovascular disease," Global Challenges 5, 2000076 (2021); "Discovery of nanoscale boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking in cardiovascular system—Exact prediction of the 3D boundary-layer-blockage factor in nanotubes," Sci. Rep. 11, 15429 (2021); and "The theoretical prediction of the boundary layer blockage and external flow choking at moving aircraft in ground effects," Phys. Fluids 33(3), 036108 (2021)] in the cardiovascular system (CVS) due to gas embolism is established herein through analytical, in vitro (Kumar et al., "Nanoscale flow choking and spaceflight effects on cardiovascular risk of astronauts—A new perspective," AIAA Paper No. 2021-0357, 2021), in silico (Kumar et al., "Boundary layer blockage, Venturi effect and cavitation causing aerodynamic choking and shock waves in human artery leading to hemorrhage and massive heart attack—A new perspective," AIAA Paper No. 2018-3962, 2018), and in vivo animal methodology [Jayaraman et al., "Animal in vivo: The proof of flow choking and bulging of the downstream region of the stenosis artery due to air embolism," Paper presented at the Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Conference , 25–28 July 2022 (American Heart Association, 2022)]. The boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking phenomenon is a compressible viscous flow effect, and it arises at a critical pressure ratio in continuum/non-continuum real-world yocto to yotta scale flow systems and beyond [Kumar et al., "Universal benchmark data of the three-dimensional boundary layer blockage and average friction coefficient for in silico code verification," Phys. Fluids 34(4), 041301 (2022)]. The closed-form analytical models, capable of predicting the flow choking in CVS, developed from the well-established compressible viscous flow theory are reviewed and presented herein. The lower-critical flow-choking index of the healthy subject (human being/animal) is predicted through the speciation analysis of blood. The upper-critical flow-choking index is predicted from the specific heat of blood at constant pressure (Cp) and constant volume (Cv), estimated using the Differential Scanning Calorimeter. These flow-choking indexes, highlighted in terms of systolic-to-diastolic blood pressure ratio (SBP/DBP), are exclusively controlled by the biofluid/blood heat capacity ratio (BHCR = Cp/Cv). An in vitro study shows that nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and carbon dioxide (CO2) gases are predominant in fresh-blood samples of the healthy humans and Guinea pigs at a temperature range of 37–40 °C (98.6–104 °F) causing gas embolism. In silico results demonstrated the existence of the biofluid/boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking, stream tube flow choking, shock wave generation, and pressure overshoot in the downstream region of simulated arteries (with and without stenosis), at a critical pressure ratio, due to gas embolism. The flow choking followed by aneurysm (i.e., bulging of the downstream region of the stenosis artery due to shock wave generation) due to air embolism is demonstrated through small animal in vivo studies. We could corroborate herein, with the animal in vivo and three-dimensional in silico studies, that flow-choking followed by shock wave generation and pressure overshoot occurs in arteries with stenosis due to air embolism at a critical pressure ratio. Analytical models reveal that flow-choking occurs at relatively high and low blood viscosities in CVS at a critical blood pressure ratio (BPR), which leads to memory effect (stroke history/arterial stiffness) and asymptomatic cardiovascular diseases [Kumar et al., "Lopsided blood-thinning drug increases the risk of internal flow choking leading to shock wave generation causing asymptomatic cardiovascular disease," Global Challenges 5, 2000076 (2021)]. We concluded that an overdose of drug for reducing the blood viscosity enhances the risk of flow choking (biofluid/boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking) due to an enhanced boundary layer blockage (BLB) factor because of the rise in Reynolds number ( Re) and turbulence. An analytical model establishes that an increase in Re due to the individual or the joint effects of fluid density, fluid viscosity, fluid velocity, and the hydraulic diameter of the vessel creates high turbulence level in CVS instigating an escalated BLB factor heading to a rapid adverse flow choking. Therefore, prescribing the exact blood-thinning course of therapy is crucial for achieving the anticipated curative value and further annulling adverse flow choking (biofluid/boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking) in CVS. We could conclude authoritatively herein, with the animal in vivo studies, that flow choking occurs in the artery with stenosis due to air embolism at a critical BPR (i.e., SBP/DBP = 1.892 9), which is regulated by the heat capacity ratio of air. The cardiovascular risk due to boundary layer blockage persuaded flow choking could be diminished by concurrently reducing the viscosity of biofluid/blood and flow-turbulence. This comprehensive review is a pointer toward achieving relentless unchoked flow conditions (i.e., flow Mach number < 1) in the CVS for prohibiting asymptomatic cardiovascular diseases and neurological disorders associated with flow choking and shock wave generation followed by pressure overshoot causing arterial stiffness. The unchoked flow condition can be achieved in every subject (human/animal) by suitably increasing the thermal-tolerance-level in terms of BHCR and/or by reducing the BPR within the pathophysiological range of individual subjects through the new drug discovery, the new companion drug with the conventional blood thinners and/or proper health care management for increasing the healthy-life span of one and all in the universe.


In some practical problems, for instance in the control of mechanical systems using accelerometers as sensors, it is easier to obtain the state-derivative signals than the state signals. This paper shows that (i) linear time-invariant plants given by the state-space model matrices with output equal to the state-derivative vector are not observable and can not be stabilizable by using an output feedback if and (ii) the rejection of a constant disturbance added to the input of the aforementioned plants, considering , and a static output feedback controller is not possible. The proposed results can be useful in the analysis and design of control systems with state-derivative feedback.


Comprehensive analysis of sweat chemistry provides noninvasive health monitoring capabilities that complement established biophysical measurements such as heart rate, blood oxygenation, and body temperature. Recent developments in skin‐integrated soft microfluidic systems address many challenges associated with standard technologies in sweat collection and analysis. However, recording of time‐dependent variations in sweat composition requires bulky electronic systems and power sources, thereby constraining form factor, cost, and modes of use. Here, presented are unconventional design concepts, materials, and device operation principles that address this challenge. Flexible galvanic cells embedded within skin‐interfaced microfluidics with passive valves serve as sweat‐activated "stopwatches" that record temporal information associated with collection of discrete microliter volumes of sweat. The result allows for precise measurements of dynamic sweat composition fluctuations using in situ or ex situ analytical techniques. Integrated electronics based on near‐field communication (NFC) protocols or docking stations equipped with standard electronic measurement tools provide means for extracting digital timing results from the stopwatches. Human subject studies of time‐stamped sweat samples by in situ colorimetric methods and ex situ techniques based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP‐MS) and chlorodimetry illustrate the ability to quantitatively capture time‐dynamic sweat chemistry in scenarios compatible with field use.


Questions of Theater and Film Roger Manvell, Theater and Film. London: Associated University Presses, 1979. 303 pp. $18.00. Roger Manvell's Theater and Film strikes me as a peculiar book, jutting out in too many directions at once, a book whose intentions, I suspect, were never very clear even to its author. Is Manvell a critic or an historian? He tries to be both and as a result in this book appears to be neither. I have not read any of the volumes he has written on Nazi Germany, reportedly his most serious forays into history, but I have read three of his previous books on film. Film (1949) is a modest primer, rather too elementary even for a modest primer ("Why Not Start a Film Society?" one chapter is memorably entitled); New Cinema in the U.S.A. (1973) was all too obviously written in another country. Shakespeare and the Film (1971) is the best of the books I have read by Manvell, though still seriously flawed. An impressive array of stills is accompanied by impeccable research, and Manvell is as sympathetic to such a conventional approach to filming Shakespeare as Olivier's Hamlet as to such an unconventional one as Brook's King Lear, to which he devotes twenty of his hundred and fifty pages. Manvell is still capable of an occasional ludicrous statement, however: Shakespeare "is a dynamic, not a static playwright-in the sense that Corneille, for example, is static." Yes, Shakespeare is dynamic, but why must he be dynamic at the expense of Corneille? And in what sense is Corneille -whose The Cid broke all the static rules of theatrical unity of the French Academy-static? Manvell's conclusions, too, are fuzzy and unimpressive: "If the film. . .can in any way help expand the recognition of what still lies to be discovered in Shakespeare's writing, it will have made its contribution." What if-a big if!-it can't? Will film then have made no "contribution"? Manvell's Theater and Film is divided into two parts. The first is called "Stage Play and Screenplay: Forms and Principles"; the second, "Examples of Adaptation from Stage to Screen," demonstrates those principles, ostensibly, in practice. In three appendixes, Manvell first summarizes the views on theater-film of Allardyce Nicoli and Andre Bazin; then compiles a list of "Films Recording the Work of Distinguished Theatrical Companies"; and finally, offers a "Select List of Dramatists Whose Plays Have Been Filmed." It is in this last appendix that Manvell's weaknesses as a film historian are most evident. His efforts are hampered by either flawed research or a bad memory. Such a list, first, must always be too selective or not selective enough. Of what use, in any case, can such a list possibly be when it is so riddled with inaccuracy and inconsistency? Peter Shaffer is said to be the author of Sleuth, which was written by Anthony Shaffer, and The Public Eye (Carol Reed, 1972) is missing among his plays that have been filmed. We are not told that Peter Medak's film A Day in the Death of Joe Egg expanded the title of Peter Nichols' play, Joe Egg. Something called The Mind of Mr. Soames is named as a play by Joe Orton. Orton wrote no such play, and Manvell, working by some odd rules of homonymy, must have in mind the 1967 film of Entertaining Mr. Sloane. Arthur Laurents has two indignities inflicted upon him: the misspelling of his name-with a "z" in place of the "s"-is followed by the omission of West Side Story and Invitation to a March among his plays that have been filmed. …


The widespread acceptance of symmetrical services has urged for performance betterment techniques in wireless communication systems. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for resource allocation in MIMO-OFDMA system for applications that demand similar quality in uplink and downlink direction. The problem is formulated as multiobjective optimization problem with objectives to maximize the bidirectional data rates for individual users and to minimize the difference between the uplink and downlink data rate for each user. Fairness has been considered as a constraint in the optimization problem. The power allocation for each subcarrier in the OFDMA system is carried out using Linear Programming (LP) techniques, while the subcarrier allocation problem has been undertaken using an innovative multiobjective optimization technique that employs the concept of non-dominance in evolutionary algorithms. The results are extremely encouraging as they outperform the algorithms reported in literature using linear programming techniques or evolutionary algorithms solely.


Laminated mosaic modules, a z-technology are introduced as an alternative architectural configuration for mosaic sensor focal plane applications. The module features a 4096 element (8x512) PbS array with 64 thirty-two input signal processing chips. Modules can be stacked into subarrays without a composite array fill factor loss. Measurements and results confirm the performance status of this technology development approach. Module components are discussed first followed by the module assembly and the subarray (a four module stack).


Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (hypromellose, HPMC) is widely used as the rate controlling polymer in hydrophilic matrix tablets for oral extended release (ER) applications. In most therapies, such ER preparations are desirable. However, in certain drug therapies, rapid availability of drug dose in order to relieve the symptoms of the disease is advantageous, followed by the maintenance of an effective drug plasma level for the continuation of the clinical effects.


Aseptic care of the skin prior to any breach is of paramount importance to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI), as each time the skin is incised or punctured a portal of entry for...


The images are mixed with a variety of noises in the process of the Dongba Manuscripts digitization. The mixture of Gauss noise and impulse noise is mainly contained in these images. However, the majority of available algorithms can only be implied in removing single noise. As for this situation, a method combining adaptive median filter and wavelet transform is put forward to the noise removal. Meanwhile, simulations are conducted on MATLAB and the result shows that the method can effectively clear the images.


Over the past decade, there has been a paradigm shift in the exploitation strategy in North American tight gas plays from vertical to horizontal wells. This shift has yet to occur in Australia. The Cooper Basin has vast amounts of contingent and prospective tight gas resources that have yet to be unlocked commercially. These resources continue to be developed primarily with hydraulic fracture stimulated vertical wells. Operators have yet to challenge the status quo and test the Cooper Basin tight gas potential with a drilled, completed and tested horizontal well. There are many advantages to horizontal well developments, from the ability to target a specific high graded reservoir unit to increased capital efficiency. Operators need to break away from convention and take a new approach to Cooper Basin tight gas exploration and development in the quest to demonstrate commerciality. A review of the inherent challenges in Cooper Basin gas field developments and the current exploitation strategies employed in analogous tight gas plays have been integrated to produce a pragmatic workflow to identify potential reservoir units that would benefit from a change in development strategy.


This paper examines the concepts of "competence" and "aptitude" in the federal state educational standards. The study substantiates the need for returning to the theoretical notions of aptitude, as developed in domestic psychology, when training specialists for creative professions. The authors analyse the content dynamics of the higher education standards in the acting profession across 2002, 2010, 2017 and 2021. The notion of aptitude is considered from the standpoint of S. L. Rubinstein's and A. N. Leontiev's activity theory and B. M. Teplov's concept of individual differences. Content analysis of the concepts of "competence" and "aptitude" demonstrates that the competence-based approach helps sustain the graduate's universal characteristics, which does not align with the educational process in the acting profession, focused on the individual approach and talent development. The authors note that the content of competencies does not account for the subject's unique characteristics, and is reduced to knowledge, skills, and abilities. The study thus emphasises the relevance of establishing a psycho-pedagogical service in higher education for creative professions


The current English Grammar books fail to describe a concrete form of attributive clause that begins with the form subject 'it'.In this article,the author briefly describes some of the structural and semantic features of this type of attributive clause.


A 38 year old man with a known testicular germ cell tumour presented with acute right sided abdominal pain but no other symptoms. Clinical examination showed positive Murphy's sign. Laboratory investigations showed leucocytosis of 10.6×109 (reference range 4.0-9.0×109)/L and serum C reactive protein of 59 (0.2-9.1) mg/L. Serum liver enzymes were unremarkable. A computed tomography scan of his abdomen and pelvis was performed (fig 1). What abnormality does this scan show?

Fig 1
(a) Axial and (b) coronal sections of contrast enhanced computed tomography scan of the abdomen and pelvis at the mid-ascending colon

A tubular hypodense lesion surrounding a central linear hyperdensity adjacent to the ascending colon with surrounding inflammatory changes, suggestive of epiploic appendagitis …


In acknowledging the potentials of existing data, researchers' interests in sharing and reusing data have recently emerged. However, sharing and reusing data is not a simple one‐step process for researchers. Because data reusers build their work on other researchers' findings, the process of data reuse involves various interactions and communications with other relevant parties. Exploring the nature of communications around data is thus important to fully understand data reuse practices and to support smoother processes of data reuse. This study investigates communications occurring around data during data reusers' experiences through qualitative interview studies involving this group. This study's results show that the communications with different stakeholders mainly support data reuse in three areas: searching, learning, and problem solving. The findings provide valuable insights into the domain of scholarly communication, data reuse, and data services.


Genuine higher-order correlations could be established up to fth order in multipar-ticle production in + p and K + p collisions at 250 GeV/c. At decreasing interparticle distance in invariant phase-space, these correlations follow approximate power-law scaling. The scaling behavior is diierent for non-exotic and like-charge particle combinations. It cannot be reproduced by FRITIOF without Bose-Einstein correlations. Including Bose-Einstein correlations according to JETSET7 reproduces the slope of like-charge two-particle correlations, but overestimates those of the higher orders.


: Wheat is a premier winter cereal crop in India. Among the various insect pests, aphids appear as a complex of species including Sitobion avenae (F.), S. miscanthi (Takahashi), Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) and R. padi (L.). Coccinella septempunctata L. is a dominant predator of aphids. Various spray patterns were tested to check their effectiveness against aphids. All the treatments more effectively controlled the aphids compared to control. However, the insecticides adversely affected the predator population. The predator populations was reduced by 87.5, 85.4 and 78.9%, respectively, one day after spray in completely sprayed, sprayed strip and unsprayed strip plots, whereas the reduction was only 22.8% in peripherally sprayed plot. The predator recovery started after 3 days in all the treated plots but it was very slow in the completely sprayed plot. Among all the treatments, the peripherally treated plot conserved maximum predator population and controlled the multiplication of the pest.


ommercial buildings require water as part of their essential services, yet the amount of water a typical commercial building needs to provide such services as restrooms and cooling systems is highly variable. It depends on a number of factors, including the technology employed in water-using devices, system maintenance, and the intensity of building use. Commercial-building owners have many options to improve water-use effi ciency. For example, they can replace or retrofi t water-using devices, such as toilets and urinals, with new models that use signifi cantly less water than did their predecessors. Unfortunately, not all effi ciency investments will make fi nancial sense to a building owner, especially given the substantial uncertainties about the future costs and benefi ts of such options. In particular, the cost of water, wastewater services, and energy will aff ect effi ciency-investment performance. Owners need an eff ective way to weigh decisions about whether and how much to invest in new technologies, retrofi ts, or repairs to improve water effi ciency. In work sponsored by the Jane and Marc Nathanson Family Foundation, RAND Corporation researchers developed an analytical framework and an easy-to-use, spreadsheet-based tool—the Building Water Effi ciency Analysis Model, or BEAM—to help building managers, consultants, and effi ciency service representatives make sensible water-use effi ciency investments. After laying out the approach, the study illustrated how it works using a case study based on the RAND Corporation headquarters building to examine the potential to improve restroom effi ciency.


The Aim of this Research is to Underline the Relation between the Performance Results in 800m Events Achieved in Competitions and the Ruffier and Margaria-Kalamen Tests Assessed before the Competitions.Research Methods and Techniques. the Paper is a Constatative Experimental Study, of the Longitudinal Type, Performed on 10 Women Athletes Practising the 800m Running Event. the Realisation of this Study Started from Checking Three Hypotheses (the Sportswomen's Results Improve from One Competition Season to another as a Result of the Continuously Performed Training Process; the Adaptability to Effort, Assessed by the Ruffier Test, Improves as a Result of the Sportswomen's Continuous Training; the Value of the Sports Performances is Influenced by the Level of the Results at the Ruffier and Margaria-Kalamen Tests). The Subjects Involved in this Study are between 16 to 17 Years of Age. The Research Methods Used were the Following: Bibliographic Study, Testing, Statistical-Mathematical Method, Analysis, and for the Interpretation of Results we Used: the Arithmetic Mean, the Maximum Value and the Standard Deviation. as Assessment Events, we Used the Results Obtained during the Competition Seasons of Two Consecutive Years, Namely 2011 and 2012, a Test for Assessing the Effort Capacity Represented by the Ruffier Test and a Test for Assessing the Power of the Inferior Limbs Represented by the Margaria-Kalamen Test. Results are Presented in a Table and Contain the Performance Values, the Effort Adaptability Values and Power Development Values. they Underline the Efficiency of the Training Process and the Relation between the Sports Performances and the Values of the Indices of the Ruffier and Margaria Kalaman Tests. The Drawn Conclusions Underline the Fact that the Results in the 2012 Indoor Season and the Values of the Indices of the Ruffier and Margaria-Kalaman Tests are Better than those of the 2011 Season, but also the Fact that there is an Inter-Conditioning Relation. the Progress Rate was Different from One Athlete to another.


Aggression and violence are of increasing concern to employees and employers. However, these issues have received limited research attention in scientific literature. In this paper, we report the findings of a meta-analysis investigating the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and aggressive workplace behaviors by focusing on the personal differences among aggressive employees. The results supported the hypothesis that EI is negatively associated with counterproductive work behaviors. The limitations and implications are discussed in terms of psychometric issues, differentiated approach of emotional intelligence constructs and organizational context. Cuvinte cheie: meta-analiză, inteligență emoțională, agresivitate, contraproductiv.


The mechanism of the elimination reaction of 2-arylethyltrimethylammonium ions with ethoxide ion in ethanol has been examined using tracer and kinetic isotope effect techniques. Absence of exchange with solvent of both 2-phenylethyltrimethylammonium-2,2-d2 bromide and 2-(p-trifluoromethylphenyl)-ethyltrimethylammonium-2,2-d2 bromide and the observation of nitrogen isotope effects of 1.3 and 0.9%, respectively, have eliminated a two-step process involving a freely-solvated carbanion intermediate for both salts. The observation of only a slight change in the magnitude of the nitrogen isotope effect when the solvent is changed from ethanol to water has also excluded a zwitterionic intermediate which is specifically hydrogen-bonded to the molecule of ethanol formed by removal of a β-hydrogen by ethoxide ion. Finally, tracer studies using α- and β-dideuterated substrates have eliminated the less probable reaction pathways involving ylide and carbene intermediates. It is concluded that the reaction of 2-aryleth...


In k-means clustering, we standardize variables before clustering and iterate two steps: units allocation by Euclidean sense and centroids updating. In applications to DB marketing where clusters are to be used as customer segments with similar consumption behaviors, we frequently acquire additional variables on the customers or the units through marketing campaigns a posteriori. Hence we need to modify the clusters originally formed after each campaign. The aim of this study is to propose a revision method of k-means clusters, incorporating added information by weighting clustering variables. We illustrate the proposed method in an empirical case.


Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) trained with satellite imagery have been successfully used to generate measures of development indicators, such as poverty, in developing nations. This article explores a CNN‐based approach leveraging Landsat 8 imagery to predict locations of conflict‐related deaths. Using Nigeria as a case study, we use the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) dataset to identify locations of conflict events that did or did not result in a death. Imagery for each location is used as an input to train a CNN to distinguish fatal from non‐fatal events. Using 2014 imagery, we are able to predict the result of conflict events in the following year (2015) with 80% accuracy. While our approach does not replace the need for causal studies into the drivers of conflict death, it provides a low‐cost solution to prediction that requires only publicly available imagery to implement. Findings suggest that the information contained in moderate‐resolution imagery can be used to predict the likelihood of a death due to conflict at a given location in Nigeria the following year, and that CNN‐based methods of estimating development‐related indicators may be effective in applications beyond those explored in the literature.


This searchable database contains details of artist and writer credits, plot summaries, coding, and other information about all the stories published in the British girls' comic Misty (IPC, 1978-80).


Independent Campus Learning Program or Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) which was launched since 2020 has contained national education policies and directions that changing the paradigm of competitive education to be collaborative. Polytechnic Banjarmasin State as one of the educational institutions that take role in the implementation of the MBKM Learning Program, cannot be separated from dynamics of change triggered by MBKM policies and changing needs labor market. How does this program impact on Polytechnic students Banjarmasin, especially regarding their attitude towards the program MBKM learning is an issue of discussion in this study. Attitude students towards this program is used as an indicator of student efforts improve competence, and indicators of achievement of learning outcomes. This study aims to analyze the attitudes of State Polytechnic students Banjarmasin towards the Independent Learning Program Independent Campus Learning (MBKM). Research focus is given to the specific competence of impact implementation of the MBKM Learning Program. The research was conducted using qualitative descriptive method. Data collection techniques in the form of observation, survey, and in-depth interviews were applied at the data collection stage, while
The data analysis technique used is descriptive analytic. Research result can be used by educational institutions, namely as a consideration for create and determine competency development and improvement strategies so as to produce competitive graduates.


AssrRAcr Three hundred and ninety inclusions from the igneous sublayer of the Sudbury Igneous Complex have been examined, and many of them analyzed by microprobe. The 264 samples from the Strathcona mine of the North Range vary from dunite through harzburgite, wehrlite and clinop;roxenite to norite and gabbro, whereas the 126 samples from mines of the South Range include only rock types vdth onhopyroxene dominant, such as harzburgite and melanorite. The texture of the rocks ranges from that of a well-developed adcumulate, mesocumulate or orthocumulate to an extensively granulated and recrystallized fabric. On both the North and South Ranges, olivine varies from 85 to 73 mole Vo Fo, hypersthene from 13.5 to 31 mole 9o Fs, augite from 5 to 15 mole go Fs, plagioclase (including both cumulus and intercumulus phases) from 90 to 30 mole 9o An, and chromite contains up to 50.8 wr. u/o Cr2O3. The textures, presence of plagioclase and evidence of olivine reacting to give orthopyroxene suggest that the inclusions crystallized at crustal pressures. The range of rock types and the observed correlation of increasing MgO/(MgO+FeO) ratio in mafic minerals wittr increasing content of mafic minerals in the host rocks suggest strongly that these rocks are derived from one (or more than one) hidden layered intrusive bodies. Our data do not allow us to state that this intrusive body is cogenetic with the Sudbury norite, but they are consistent with this interpretation.


This paper focuses on innovative mooring layouts using shared anchors and shared mooring lines. Three studies with the ActiveFloat semi-submersible floater supporting a 15MW wind turbine are presented. Those include two studies of shared anchors layouts, with a semi-taut mooring system at a deep-water site subjected to extreme conditions (Morro Bay) and a catenary mooring at a moderate water depth with gentle environment (Gran Canaria). The third study focuses on shared mooring layout at Morro Bay. The mooring system at this site is semi-taut, made of polyester, with chain close to the sea surface and the anchors. At Gran Canaria, ActiveFloat is featured with a catenary mooring system made of chain lines. Both sites are subjected to irregular sea states and turbulent wind. Time domain simulations in ULS are performed using OrcaFlex models that combine potential flow theory and Morison drag coefficients. Aerodynamic load time series are applied at the tower top. Results show that shared anchor layouts are technically feasible but do not improve the mooring system procurement costs due to the spacing constraint between each turbine. Sharing mooring lines at farm level seems more promising and could help reduce costs, due to the decrease in amount of material use.


Under certain conditions, associated with the presence of early and significant hearing loss, there are some peculiarities observed in children's interpersonal communication. Their knowledge can serve as a guide for overcoming difficulties and maximizing successful communication. The present study is dedicated to identifying the peculiarities of communicative behavior and the type of interpersonal relationships between children with hearing impairments integrated into mainstream schools. The experiment involved 40 children, divided into two groups:  control group (hearing children) and experimental group (deaf children). The Diagnostic toolkit contains 3 methodologies: the Raven progressive matrices for determining the level of nonverbal intelligence; a test for evaluation of communicative and initiating abilities, the T. Leary's psycho-diagnostic methodology for establishing interpersonal relationships in the subjects studied. The results of the first test revealed that the intellectual profile of 7-9-year-old students was significantly different from that of their hearing peers. The second test also found differences between the hearing and the deaf, but these were not statistically significant. The Leary test clearly showed that in the process of interpersonal communication, deaf children tend to be authoritarian, selfish, aggressive and suspicious of relationships. At the same time, their hearing peers seek to form an altruistic type of personal relationships.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this investigation was to determine the major molecular components of the lipids in normal human meibomian gland secretions (meibum).

METHODS
The meibum samples were studied by direct infusion electrospray ionization (ESI), quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis, in both positive and negative detection modes.

RESULTS
Hundreds of peaks were detected, among which the molecular compositions and subclasses of approximately 160 major peaks were confidently identified. The compositions and subclasses of these peaks were determined from collision-induced dissociation fragmentation patterns, high-resolution and high-mass-accuracy spectra, and references of literature reports. The major peaks detected in positive mode were those of nonpolar lipids, including wax esters, cholesteryl esters, triacylglycerols, and diesters, whereas in negative mode, the major peaks detected were those of polar lipids, including free fatty acids and (O-acyl)-ω-hydroxy fatty acids.

CONCLUSIONS
The analysis of intact lipids in meibum with direct infusion ESI-MS/MS analysis has the advantages of minimal sample preparation (no chromatography or pre-separation needed), mild experimental conditions, high throughput, and high sensitivity.


Many acronyms have evolved recently related to Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. Some of these acronyms relate to significant improvement in CCTV technology. This paper discusses Digital Signal Processor (DSP) CCTV technology, defining performance features and benefits to Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications. A survey of available DSP CCTV products is included. DSP technology and relationship to other acronyms such as JPEGS, MPEGS, M-JPEGS, and ITU/CCITT H.261 are included in the paper. The paper discusses current ITS needs which are not being met by current CCTV products, presenting a summary of requirements for next-generation CCTV cameras. The paper concludes with a short discussion of the Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. Denver I-25 project which includes one of the first ITS deployments of DSP CCTV technology.


Objective: The aim of this study is to test whether Elemene Iniection has the ability to impact the functions of the endothelial cell line HECV.Methods: After treated with Elemene as the treatment group and compared with control group,the growth rates,adhesion abilities,migration abilities,tubule formation and cell aggregation of HECV cells were successively detected by Crystal violet experiment,ECIS assay,tubule formation assay and cell aggregation assay.Results: Elemene at a low concentration has the ability to enhance HECV cells on growth(=20 μg/mL,P0.05),adhesion(=10 μg/mL,P0.05),migration(=10 μg/mL,P0.05) and tubule formation(=20 μg/mL,P0.05),while the high concentration of Elemene inhibits the functions of growth(≥80 μg/mL,P0.05),adhesion(≥80 μg/mL,P0.05),migration(≥80 μg/mL,P0.05),tubule formation(≥80 μg/mL,P0.05) and cell aggregation(≥80 μg/mL,P0.05).Conclusion: Elemene has the capability to enhance cell functions of endothelial cells at a low concentration,but inhibits the functions at high concentration.


Traditional canonical correlation analysis (CCA) suffers the small sample size problem due tohigh matrix dimensions from the matrix-to-vector preprocessing. This problem was solved by a new super-vised learning method called two-dimensional CCA (2DCCA). The 2DCCA computed image covariancedmatrix directly without matrix-to-vector conversion. But in one feature modality case, different encodingmodes for class label could result in different classification performances. And CCA was equivalent to LDAin the traditional class-label encoding in 1-dimensional case which restricted the effective features extrac-tion. Conclusion is drawn that the relationship between 2DCCA and 2DLDA is equivalent. In order to pro-mote the 2DCCA classification performance, an improved sample label-based 2DCCA was proposed. Ex-perimental results on ORL and AR face databases show that the algorithm is better than the traditional2DCCA in terms of the recognition performance.


INTRODUCTION Battling Worlds General Plant Defense Hypersensitive Response and Systemic Acquired Response in Vascular Plants Hormones in Vascular Plant Defense Salicylic Acid in Response Mechanisms Salicylic Acid Pathway in Vascular Plants Figure I. Possible biosynthetic pathway for salicylic acid Variation in Gene Expression in Re.V)()J'Jse to Pathogens Non-Vascular Plant Defense Amblystegium serpens and Physcomitrella patens and Moss Lifecycle Figure 2. A representative example of a general moss life cycle Figure 3. A. serpens culture Figure 4. P. patens culture Closing Thesis Hypothesis MATERIALS AND METHODS Obtaining and Growing Amblystegium serpens, Physcomitrella patens, and Pythium irregulare Figure 5. A. serpens growing aseptically on a petri dish Figure 6. P. patens growing aseptically on a petri dish Figure 7. A. serpens and P. patens growing under a fluorescent lighting system Table 1. The specific ingredients for BCD media used for A. selpens and P. patens Tissue Culturing Procedures Salicylic Acid Application Table 2. Salicylic Acid dilutions Phenotype Experimentation with Amblystegium serpens and Pythium irregulare Figure 8. Divided plate showing A. serpens inoculated with Pythium irregulare Chitosan Preparation and Application RNA Extractionsfrom pre-treated Physcomitrella patens Quaniifying mRNA concentrations Genotype Experimentation with Physcomitrella patens using Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction Methods Growth Ratefor Pythium Irregulare on Salicylic Acid treated and untreated media Statistics RESULTS Qualifying Cell Death Salicylic Acid did not result in resistance in Amblystegium serpens Figure 9. Healthy A. serpens with no sign of death prior to inoculation of P. irregulare Figure 10. A. serpens showing signs of infection throughout the specimen with stem browning after P. irregulare inoculation. Figure 11. Samples showing visible cell death at the P. irregulare inoculation site when salicylic acid was applied to the distal end


The most revealing description of electromagnetic (EM) distortions due to near-surface inhomogeneities and topography is in terms of galvanic and inductive effects. In either case, the distorted electric ankt magnetic fields can be best visualized as a vectorial sum of primary and secondary fields. Secondary electric fields due to electric charge build-up in the galvanic case persist to the longest periods. In contrast, the secondary electric and magnetic fields due to inductive, vortex currents disappear at long periods. The static shift of magnetotelhiric (MT) apparent resistivity sounding curves is a classic example of the galvanic effect. Methods to correct for unwanted distortions such as the static shift can be classified into six categories: use of invariant response parameters, curve shifting, statistical averaging, spatial filtering, use of distortion tensors, and computer modeling. Although invariant impedance calculations are simple to make, they cannot, in general, recover the undistorted impedance. Short period curve shifting is best done with auxiliary soundings such as time domain EM; however, this requires multiple surveys. The shifting of long period MT sounding branches is useful if a standard curve is known and can be matched. Statistical averaging of neighboring MT soundings that are conformal but static shifted has proven very effective at removing random distortions if adaquate data are available. The new EMAP (Electromagnetic Array Profiling) method combats the inherent spatial high pass characteristics of EM distortions by low pass operations in data collection and processing. EMAP proposes the continuous, in-field measurement of electric field dipoles to avoid spatial aliasing. Distortion tensor stripping of topographic distortions is possible since terrain is deterministic but stripping the effects of uncertain subsurface inhomogeneities may be misleading. A new decomposition of the MT impedance tensor under the assumption of surficial three-dimensional (3-D) galvanic effects imposed on a oneor two-dimensional (1-D and 2-D) regional setting promises a way to recover the regional structure. There is a continual need for 3-D computer modeling to test new methods and to calculate topographic and regional effects. Computer modeling has established the value of 2-D modeling of the data identified as transverse magnetic (TM) in some 3-D environments. Ideally, EM distortion correction requires continuous, or at least many, data and the application of more than one correction-modeling scheme.


Three tapica coating starchs including phosphate starch,acetate starch and hydroxypropyl starch were prepared at similar cost,and their performances were investigated and compared.The results show that all the three coating starches have good bonding strength and film forming,rheological and water retention properties.They can meet the requirements of high concentration gelatinization,high solid content coating preparation and high speed coating.For the comparison of the performance of the three tapica starches,the acetate starch is superior to hydroxypropyl starch while hydroxypropyl starch is superior to phosphate starch.


As in binary, a multiple-valued programmable logic array (PLA) realises a sum-ofproducts expression specified by the user. However, in multiple-valued logic, there are many more operations than in binary, and an important question is the choice of operations which provides the greatest number of functions for a given chip area. In this paper, we analyse various PLA configurations using operations realised in the peristaltic multiple-valued CCD technology. We compare a multiple-valued CCD PLA implementation with four other proposed designs and show that there is a significant difference in chip area required to realise the same set of functions. The basis of comparison is the set of 4-valued unary functions.


With the development of modern science and technology, robots have been more and more integrated into our daily life. In addition, there are great demand of robot related talents in the field of machinery. However, currently, mechanical design, manufacturing and automation major still focuses on courses of traditional mechanical manufacturing and automation control, supplemented by a small number of electronic information courses. Such education cannot fully meet the most industrial needs. Toward this problem, by analyzing the existing problems in robot technology education, this paper proposes a competition driven practical innovation teaching method for robot education, which consists of project-based education, innovative training, non-traditional teaching methods, team development, summer school and Robot DIY laboratory. On the basis of the above-mentioned teaching system, we actively organized teams to participate in various robot competitions, and achieved gratifying results.


It has been a critical issue to find efficient methods for fast revocation of a user's identity in identity (ID)-based cryptosystems. Unfortunately, none of the previous ID- based cryptography can find a practical way. Motivated by Boneh et al. 's idea of mediated RSA, in this paper, we propose the concept of ID-based mediated signcryption and give a concrete scheme, which yields a complete solution to the fast revocation of a user's identity in ID-based signcryption schemes. To address the security issues, we formulate security model and define strong security notions for ID- based mediated signcryption schemes. We also prove that our scheme satisfies these security requirements in the random oracle model.


ChatGPT, a general-purpose intelligent chatbot developed by OpenAI, has introduced numerous opportunities and challenges in the field of language education. With its remarkable ability to generate diverse forms of text, answer questions, and provide translations within minutes, ChatGPT has become an influential tool in the era of advanced AI technology. However, to what extent ChatGPT can be used to assist students in completing language learning tasks remains largely unexplored. Against this background, this study aimed to investigate students' experiences with ChatGPT and their perceptions of its role in language learning through a small-scale qualitative study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five students at a top-tier international university in China. Students' responses revealed that ChatGPT has the potential to serve as a valuable learning partner and aid students in completing language-related tasks. Furthermore, participants exhibited critical judgment in evaluating the quality of ideas and outputs generated by ChatGPT, as well as the ability to modify prompts to maximize learning benefits. Such critical judgment offsets the potential threats to academic integrity posed by ChatGPT. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the potential of ChatGPT in language education by adding empirical evidence from students' perspectives. This study supports the idea that ChatGPT can work as an effective tool for providing students with immediate feedback and personalized learning experiences. Such findings generate implications for future pedagogical practices in the new era by providing students with personalized guidance, designing technology-embedded language support, and developing students' lifelong learning skills (e.g., autonomy and evaluative judgment) with the support of ChatGPT.


This paper reports findings from the Northern region of a province-wide initiative aimed at better understanding local food hubs in communities throughout the province of Ontario. Drawing on case studies of five key hubs in the emerging Northern local food system, we explore from the theoretical framework of complex adaptive systems theory the emergence and development of each hub as they collectively give shape to a regional local food system. This analysis focuses on the four phases of the adaptive cycle which describes the typical developmental sequence of complex systems and reveals how they emerge, self-organise, adapt to change and harness innovation for new cycles of growth within the shadow of the dominant food system.


Purpose: This research analyzed the implementation of education financing at MA Nurul Haq Semurup as well as the consequences and impacts of these policies on Sharia economy, educators and education personnel, madrasah environments, learning activities, and students.Design/Method/Approach: This research use descriptive qualitative approach. Sources of data came from the principal and teacher of MA Nurul Haq Semurup by using a research instrument in the form of closed interviews. The data obtained is then processed by stages of understanding the substance of the education financing standards contained in government policies and scientific articles, analyzing the results of interviews, analyzing the consequences and impacts of financing policies, as well as verifying and drawing conclusions.Findings: The results showed that MA Nurul Haq Semurup education financing was carried out in two ways, namely investment costs focused on financing learning facilities and human resource development, and operational costs focusing on educators' salaries and education personnel, student activities, consumables, indirect education, power subscriptions and services. The management of madrasah financing implemented has an impact on Sharia Economy (muamalah avoids Maysir, Gharar, Haram, and Riba), improving the competence of educators and education personnel, cleanliness and comfort of the madrasah environment, harmony between fellow madrasah personnel, systematic, measurable, and orderly madrasah governance,  learning activities become interesting, meaningful, effective, and efficient, the spirit of leadership, independence, and discipline of students is formed, and students gain theoretical and practical learning.Originality/Values: The contribution of this research can provide valuable information related to education financing and become a reference of choice for other schools in the expenditure costs that have been set by the government and do not ignore the provisions in sharia economy.


A previously unknown deutonymph of Cornigamasus ocliferius SKORUPSKI et WITALIÑSKI, 1997 is described and distinguished from the common C. lunaris (BERLESE, 1882) deutonymph and the most similar C. lunariformis ATHIASHENRIOT, 1980 deutonymph. Diagnostic features of C. ocliferius are: a movable digit of the chelicera with five teeth, the number of opisthonotal setae reduced to 9 pairs, and the poststernal region with two pairs of ventral sclerites in a characteristic pattern. Reasons for the rarity of this species are proposed.


S u m m a r y : Peak acceleration attenuation relations for horizontal and vertical components are presented for the Dinarides region, based on 145 3-component accelerograms related to 46 earthquakes with local magnitudes of 4.5 or greater and with epicentral distances of less than 200 km as recorded on 39 recording sites in the greater Dinarides region. The attenuation functions were obtained by two-stage stratified regression on the local magnitude and epicentral distance as independent variables. The predicted peak acceleration values within the distance range covered by the data are comparable to the ones obtained for stiff-soil or rock sites when selected reference relations are used. The rather large average residuals are caused mostly by the lack of information on local site conditions and by the use of epicentral distance instead of fault distance.


The article is considered to the typical model of word formation process of neologisms in the modern German language. By facts of advertising text material the most productive method of adaptation is specified and characterized. The main trends of creation modern neologisms are defined.


As we look to the future, we must not only anticipate a year of innovation and progress but also a migration of labor that will remake the field of digital technology.


ABSTRACT We introduce the best unbiased prediction of missing order statistics of a stable distribution, based on conditional expected value. We present necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of conditional moments of stable order statistics. These conditions enable us to compute unknown parameters using the expectation-maximization algorithm. We reveal the efficiency of the presented method through a simulation study.


In this review, in the light of current trends in the development of nutritional science and nutritional biochemistry the key directions associated with complex comprehensive study of metabolic processes in the body are discussed. We highlight the development of lipidomic researches and formation of nutrilipidomic analysis. We review the role of different lipids, including omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs, in mechanism of protein expression, the nature of lipid-protein interactions, and the signaling function of lipids. Since PUFAs influence the increase of peroxide oxidation of lipids, this review summarizes current methodology used to estimate the oxidative stress.


In order to evaluate the effectiveness of two different types of disinfection processes, the production of disinfection byproducts and relevant capital costs for a water treatment plant, named A Water Treatment Plant, located in the south part of China,water quality analysis and determination of chlorine usage for the treated water by the two processes are conducted. It has been concluded that chloramine and chlorine are both effective. The concentration of chloroform and free chlorine in the water are rapidly increased after chlorine treatment. Additionally, the costs of chlorine are 70% of chloramine costs, which are relatively lower.


The demand of telecom operators for a 15 year lifetime of their systems is imposing a big challenge on component manufacturers. It means that also for optical connectors - which are used in large numbers in DWDM systems - the wear-out region must not be reached even after 25 years. However, how can it be shown that a connector will live for more than 25 years? Different approaches are possible: Collection of field data can supply information on the statistical failure rates at operating temperature. Accelerated aging tests (often simply called reliability tests) try to simulate aging under defined conditions. Our focus is on the reliability qualification according to the PAS (publicly available specification) IEC 62005-9-2 which is based on the co-work of Siemens with the connector manufacturers and assemblers Corning, Diamond, Huber+Suhner, Molex and TycoElectronics. This standard should now be overworked with the help of the results of the first common testing program which has recently been carried out by the Siemens ICN "Center for Quality Engineering".


This work presents an NFV management and orchestration architecture design to exploit resource allocation problems. We divide the architecture into six different modules: NFV orchestrator, VNF manager, infrastructure manager, VNF discover, VNF Monitor, and resource allocation. The last three ones are our main contribution. Specifically to resource allocation, we propose a game theory algorithm that aims to optimize the matching of the users' requests with Infrastructure providers' offers. In order to evaluate the proposal, we consider two different approaches to compare with our solution in terms of the number of resources allocated to users, the number of resources allocated by the infrastructure providers, and the final price of the transaction. Our solution was able to allocate around 30% more resources and save around 32% when compared with the other solutions in simulated scenarios.


BEING A THESIS SUBMITTED
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENT OF THE AWARD
OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LAW TO THE
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA, NIGERIA
JUNE, 1998


A series of caustic structures can be formed by rays radiated and refracted with different initial angles in the process of propagation in the convergence zone(CZ).A formula using F operator is developed based on ray model in a condition of linear sound speed profile(SSP).The correlation between caustic structure and angle and source-receiver depth is discussed.Refracted caustics are composed of rays with the initial angle in the range of 0° ~5°,which shows the duct structure.Reflected caustics are composed of rays with the initial angle in the range of ±(5°~10°),which shows the linear structure.And the upward rays and downward rays show the different configurations.The relationship between CZ gain and source-receiver depth is analyzed by BELLHOP model,and a new method is developed to determine the position and the range of CZ based on the ray arrival structure and caustic features.


Cognitive function may be impaired during the menopausal transition, with attention and working memory being particularly affected Healthy cognitive ageing studies suggest that dietary intake of B-vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants as well as adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern may protect against cognitive decline in older adults. Further research however is required to substantiate these findings and few studies have focused on dietary patterns and cognitive function in post-menopausal women. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary patterns and cognitive function in early postmenopausal women. This study was conducted using baseline data from an ongoing intervention study to assess the effects of soya isoflavones on cognitive function. Dietary intake of postmenopausal women, within 7 years of their last menses (n = 104), was assessed using the validated EPIC food frequency questionnaire from which dietary patterns were identified using principal component analysis. Cognitive function was assessed using the validated Cambridge neuropsychological automated test battery (CANTAB), using tests to assess working memory, recognition memory and measures of attention. Demographic information including age, time since last menstrual period, education and smoking and alcohol use was collected via a health and lifestyle questionnaire. Factor analysis identified four dietary patterns; 'dairy, fruit and veg', 'fats, potatoes and sugars', 'nuts and cereals' and 'potatoes, fish and alcohol', none of which were significantly associated with any of the cognitive function measures assessed (P> 0·05). Age was a significant predictor of pattern recognition memory [β= 0·30 (95% CI: 0·002, 0·013), P< 0·01]. Further research on the effects of diet on cognitive function in menopausal women is needed with the aim of identifying a natural approach for the alleviation of cognitive problems associated with the menopause. This study was funded by the Alpro Foundation. We are grateful to the EPIC-Norfolk Study team for the use of the EPICFFQ software. EPIC-Norfolk is supported by programme grants from the Medical Research Council UK (G9502233, G0300128) and Cancer Research UK (C865/A2883)


The writers concentrate on the inner and outer energy trends of Hebei province with the sub-state theory.Judging from the limited international cooperations,measures are offered to take to strengthen the governmental support,enrich the cooperative mode,adapt to potential counterparts,and reform the energy management.


Paul Cheney has written an important book for historians of the Caribbean plantation era and the French Atlantic. A microhistory based on letters from the managers of a Saint-Domingue sugar plantation to a French nobleman, it describes the economic and social relationships that defined the estate from 1773 to the Haitian Revolution. It then traces how heirs tried to collect the indemnity that France forced the Haitian state to pay colonial proprietors. The extraordinary correspondence that Cheney found in a French family archive illustrates how eighteenth-century French sugar plantations often ran on razor-thin margins, teetering between bankruptcy and profit. Cheney uses the managers' 200 letters to argue that Saint-Domingue had reached an economic dead-end—the "Cul de Sac" of his title, which is also the name of the regionwhere the estatewas located. As Jean-Baptiste Corbier wrote to theMarquis de Ferronnays in 1779, "TheCul-de-Sac plain is the deadest dead-end in the world." In fact, this was one of Saint-Domingue's most productive sugar districts, which makes Corbier's frustration all the more interesting. In seven chapters Cheney sketches the tensions behind that frustration, using letters written by Corbier and his son to illustrate how Saint-Domingue was whipsawed between old regime institutions and mentalities on the one hand and the pressures of tropical commodity production and slave society on the other. The title of each chapter expresses these conflicting pressures. Chapter 1, "Province and Colony," introduces the aristocratic Ferronnays and the bourgeois Corbiers, from Brittany and Anjou, respectively. Their lives show how ties among families connected Saint-Domingue and France so tightly that elite colonial society experienced many of the social conflicts of a French province. Chapter 2, "Production and Investment," emphasizes the tension between the estate's protomodern market orientation and its expensive problems: soil exhaustion, slave and livestock mortality, and Ferronnays's deep indebtedness. Themassive irrigation projects thatmade Cul-de-Sac so productive were built on a similar opposition; although planters owned these systems cooperatively, they fought each other for water, even sending their slaves out at night to sabotage a neighbor's aqueducts. In Chapter 3, "Humanity and Interest," Cheney does fine work contextualizing the Corbiers' management of the Ferronnays' slaves. His sources do not shine asmuch light on the lives of enslaved people as the diary of the Jamaican plantation manager Thomas Thistlewood. But he provides a fascinating anal-


This paper proposes a research framework on risk management practices and the aspects of risk management processes. The four important aspects of risk management processes are: (1) understanding risk and risk management; (2) risk identification; (3) risk analysis and assessment; and (4) risk monitoring. Conceptual and empirical literatures are explained to suggest the conceptual model. The framework suggests that there is a positive relationship between the aspects of risk management processes and risk management practices. Then, the discussions are used to generate research hypotheses to suggest the relationships. Hence, further research can prove empirically the relationships and provide contribution in the area of Islamic banking.


Attribute grammar interpretation may be used as a model of computation on recursively defined data types. Recall that an attribute grammar is a context free grammar G along with a finite set ATT of attributes (variables) partitioned into a set of synthesized attributes and a set of inherited attributes. Attribute rules assign values from specified domains to attributes of each node n of a parse tree in G, depending on the values of the attributes of the neighbors of n. The rules defining attribute values are called "semantic rules", and may be thought of as terms of a many sorted free iword) algebra T~ (ATT) generated by


The purpose of this research is to apply the character education model in the 5.0 era, find out the obstacles faced, and solutions that can be implemented in character education for fifth grade students at SDN Vidya Qasana. This research is a descriptive qualitative research case study method. The research subjects were school principals, fifth grade teachers, fifth grade students and gardeners. Sources of research data, researchers obtained from observation, interviews, and documentation. Data collection techniques through interview techniques, observation, and documentation. The validity of the data in this study were technical triangulation and peer discussion. Data analysis was carried out through the process of data reduction, data presentation and drawing conclusions. The results showed that (1) The application of character education in Civics learning in class V era 5.0 in K13 learning was carried out by the teacher by giving concrete examples to students, respecting differences, instilling discipline, disposing of waste according to its type and instilling social attitudes. (2) The results of implementing character education in Civics learning in class can be seen from the teaching and learning activities in class showing several attitudes, among others, mutual respect, submitting assignments on time, leaving class asking permission, not being noisy in class, and independent learning not depending on people other. (3) Obstacles and solutions to implementing character education at SDN Vidya Qasana. The obstacle is the lack of cooperation between the school and parents of students, students often ignore politeness, teachers do not respond to programs made by the principal who are still concerned with their personal interests. The solution to facing these obstacles is to establish communication between schools and parents of students, remind each other between students, and increase cooperation between teacher boards.


The development of this research paper entitled "MECHANISM FOR EXPORT PALMATA CARDULOVICA HAT TO THE MARKET OF UNITED STATES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA " is a response to the problem that has been showing up in recent years in the Ecuadorian trade balance, this action presented negative balances because the number of imports is greater than that of exports, and therefore it is possible to show a low level of competitiveness compared to other countries in the region. In this context, the export of fine Toquilla Straw Hats, also aims to provide support to small-scale producers, who lack the expertise to export their product to international markets, and contribute not only to improving of the economy, but also seeks
to promote socio-economic growth of these artisans, to improve their quality of life and be within the guidelines of Good Living. Therefore, the purposes of this study we have chosen the "Pile" Community of canton Montecristi in the Province of Manabi to treat their situation and analyze the economic feasibility of carrying out a project to export their product to the market of United States Southern California……


Continuous activity of the atypical protein kinase C isoform M zeta (PKMζ) is necessary for maintaining long‐term memory acquired in aversively or appetitively motivated associative learning tasks, such as active avoidance, aversive taste conditioning, auditory and contextual fear conditioning, radial arm maze, and watermaze. Whether unreinforced, nonassociative memory will also require PKMζ for long‐term maintenance is not known. Using recognition memory for object location and object identity, we found that inactivating PKMζ in dorsal hippocampus abolishes 1‐day and 6‐day‐old long‐term recognition memory for object location, while recognition memory for object identity was not affected by this treatment. Memory for object location persisted for no more than 35 days after training. These results suggest that the dorsal hippocampus mediates long‐term memory for where, but not what things have been encountered, and that PKMζ maintains this type of spatial knowledge as long as the memory exists. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


One of the efforts of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce the Infant Morbidity and Mortality Rate (IMR) is to recommend that babies should only be breastfed for the first six months of life (exclusive breastfeeding). The coverage of exclusive breastfeeding in the Special Region of Yogyakarta was 73.3%. The lowest was in the city of Yogyakarta at 59.52%. This achievement had not yet reached the government's target of 80%. Puskesmas Umbulharjo 1 is the health center with the lowest exclusive breastfeeding coverage in Yogyakarta City at 39.15%. This study aims to determine the relationship between mothers' age and occupation with exclusive breastfeeding at Puskesmas Umbulharjo 1 Yogyakarta City. This research is an analytic survey with a cross-sectional approach. A sample of 64 mothers was taken from a population of 179 mothers who had babies aged 6-12 months. Data were analyzed by using the Chi-Square test. The results of the analysis of maternal age with exclusive breastfeeding obtained a p-value of 0.007 (p <0.05), while the analysis of maternal age with exclusive breastfeeding showed a p-value of 0.000 (p <0.05). In conclusion, there is a relationship between the mother's age and occupation and exclusive breastfeeding in the working area of Puskesmas Umbulharjo 1 Yogyakarta City


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a progressive loss of cognitive function and constitutes the most common and fatal neurodegenerative disorder.[1] Genetic and clinical evidence supports the hypothesis that accumulation of amyloid deposits in the brain plays an important role in the pathology of the disease. This event is associated with perturbations of biological functions in the surrounding tissue leading to neuronal cell death, thus contributing to the disease process. The deposits are comprised primarily of amyloid (Aβ) peptides, a 39–43 amino acid sequence that self aggregates into a fibrillar β-pleated sheet motif. While the exact three-dimensional structure of the aggregated Aβ peptides is not known, a model structure that sustains the property of aggregation has been proposed.[2] This creates opportunities for in vivo imaging of amyloid deposits that can not only help evaluate the time course and evolution of the disease, but can also allow the timely monitoring of therapeutic treatments.[3]


The authors investigate general trends and spatial differences in the rural population dynamics in the Arctic regions (uluses) of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in relation to the ethnic factor, features of economic activity and transport accessibility of the territory using statistical, comparative geographical, cartographic and field research methods. Against the general decline by more than a quarter of the rural population of the Yakutia Arctic regions in the post-Soviet period, they obseve significant geographical differences: from a reduction by more than half in the Allaikhovskiy and Verkhnekolymskiy uluses with the smallest share of the indigenous population and industrial and transport development to the population growth in the Olenekskiy and Eveno-Bytantayskiy uluses with the largest share of indigenous peoples and reindeer herding and fishing type of economic activity.


Objective
To observe the application effect of safety management in reducing doctor-patient dispute during the neurology nursing management.

Methods
A total of 100 patients admitted in our hospital from January 2012 to December 2013 were selected as the observation group.Safety management had been implemented to the observation group.And 100 patients admitted in our hospital from January 2010 to December 2011 who had received conventional neurology nursing were selected as the control group.The incidence rate of doctor-patient dispute and the related indicators score of nursing safety were compared before and after the implementation of safety management.

Results
The incidence rate of doctor-patient dispute of the observation group was 2.0% , while the incidence rate of doctor-patient dispute of the control group was 9.0%, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Moreover, the score of ward management, nursing records, disinfection and isolation, emergency management and drug management of the two groups were compared and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.01).

Conclusions
The application of safety management in nerve specialist nursing can significantly improve the safety and quality of nursing and reduce the incidence of doctor-patient dispute.

Key words:
Safety management; Neurology; Nursing management; Doctor-patient dispute


Objective: To analyze behavioral changes in pregnant women in adherence to physical exercise in order to prevent and/or control the risk of hypertensive syndrome in pregnancy (HSP) with the use of a health education technology (HET) based on the Stage Theory of Change. Methods: Participant research carried out in a Primary Care Unit in Fortaleza- Ceara-Brazil with a group of ten pregnant women from August to October 2015. The HET was elaborated based on the Prochaska reference; Norcross; Diclemente and in the assumptions of health education. The data were collected through interviews and field diaries, and organized into the categories: sociodemographic, sanitary and obstetric characterization of women; Recovery of previous experiences with physical exercise; Changes that occurred with the application of HET in view of adherence to physical exercise; Evaluation of physical exercise practice; Re-signification of the HETto the adhesion of the physical exercise in the prevention and / or control of the risk of HSP. Results: The pregnant women were born in Fortaleza-Ceara-Brazil and the others in other municipalities in the State of Ceara. Six were teenagers and four were adults. Pregnant women reported risk factors for HSP- low socioeconomic status, two were obese, five consumed foods high in salt, seven were sedentary, two reported a family history of HSP, and one had systemic arterial hypertension. The women were in the gestational period between 16 weeks and 28 weeks. The knowledge of pregnant women about PE was fragmented. With the application of TES, in almost all pregnant women we perceive adherence to PE, as well as the construction of knowledge about the benefits to their health, making them multiplying agents. Conclusion: Therefore, the application of HET led the pregnant women to the "maintenance stage", meaning that they adhered to the PE, as a health promoter. However, there is still an incentive to keep them at this stage, raising them to completion by
incorporating this behavior into their lifestyle.


The world's first virtualreality, massively multiplayer, online roleplaying game starts. The manmachine interface helmet called the Nerve Gear transports the players' minds into the virtual game world where the players can experience the simulated reality with their avatars. On the first day of the service, the players discover that they are trapped in the game world. The logout option is disabled, and the avatars they created for the game world are initialized to reflect their appearances in the real world. To the players who panic at seeing their real bodies in the virtual world, the game creator Kayaba Akihiko declares that the only possible way out from the game world is to defeat the last boss on the one hundredth floor, that is, to clear the game. "This is no longer a game," Kayaba adds. When their life bars reach zero in the game world, their bodies in the real world will also die. Ten thousand players are now fated to fight monsters or even their fellow players in order to escape from the virtual game world. This is the opening of the successful novel series Sword Art Online by Kawahara Reki (Figure 1), which was serialized online on the author's home page from November 2002 to July 2008. Once it was republished in paperback by Dengeki Bunko in 2009, the series quickly gained popularity in the mainstream media Beyond the Horizon of the Possible Worlds: A Historical Overview of Japanese Media Franchises S A T O M I S A I T O


It is proved that for any nonnormable Frechet space a continuous map and a closed infinite-dimensional subspace can be found such that the Cauchy problem , has no solution for any . Previous counterexamples to Peano's theorem cover Banach spaces and nonsemireflexive spaces.Bibliography: 8 titles.


The distribution of magnitudes for long-period comets with P > 200 yr, intermediate period comets with 15 < P < 200 yr and short-period comets with P < 15 yr were analysed using a maximum likelihood method. It was found that the intermediate comets and short-period comets appear to be distinct cometary populations. On breaking the short-period comets down into smaller period ranges it was found that there was no difference in the brightness distribution indices, confirming that they are all likely to be members of the same population. The long-period comets with P > 200 yr were divided by perihelion distance and also by discovery date. It was found that the brightness distribution does not vary significantly with perihelion distance. The comets discovered during the period 568–1830, however, have a statistically different distribution index from those discovered in the period 1830–1978, giving clear evidence for the presence of observational selection in the earlier observations. Only the more recent observations should be employed in statistical studies. Comparison of the indices for the short-period comets and the long-period comets show that they are not significantly different. A common ancestry for these two groups cannot therefore be ruled out.


Annotation. Lyme disease is the most frequent disease among naturally occurring zoonoses. The first cases of tick-borne borreliosis in Ukraine were confirmed in 1994. The disease has been officially registered since 2000. Despite the high prevalence of cognitive and neuropsychological disorders in Lyme borreliosis, data on their frequency and degree of severity are contradictory. The examination of cognitive status is still not included in the standard clinical examination of this category of patients. The purpose of the study is to assess the prevalence and severity of cognitive disorders among patients with Lyme disease depending on the clinical features of the disease. We conducted a case-control study. Thirty-eight (29 women, 9 men) patients aged from 23 to 77 years (average - 48.58±16.81 years) were examined. For each patient, 38 controls matched by gender, age (±5 years), nationality, and place of birth were selected. Mini-Mental Scale Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were used to assess cognitive function. All obtained data were processed by methods of variational statistics using the statistical package "SPSS 20" (SPSS Inc.) version 21.0.0 for Windows using the Shapiro-Wilk test. Data are presented as M±σ or Me [Q25-Q75]. Depending on the needs, Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney test were used, χ2 (Pearson) and odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI), linear correlation coefficient (r) were determined. Lyme disease was associated with a more than threefold increase in the risk of developing cognitive impairment (OR 3.59; 95% CI [1.27-10.14]). Seven patients (18.4%) suffered from mild, 15 (39.5%) had moderate cognitive impairment, and 9 (23.7%) patients were diagnosed with mild dementia. Cognitive disorders were significantly more common in patients with neuroborreliosis (OR 12.44; 95% CI [1.84-84.26]) and the late stage of the disease (OR 6.11; 95% CI [1.1-37.49]). The severity of cognitive impairment according to the MMSE was negatively correlated with the age of onset (r = -0.631, p<0.001) and the duration of the disease (r = -0.406, p=0.011). Prospects for further research are to study and analyze the correlations of cognitive and psychoemotional disorders in patients with various manifestations of Lyme disease.


Review(s) of: The great barrier reef - a journey through the world's greatest natural wonder, by Len Zell, a BBC Earth production, Published by Murdoch Books Australia, Millers Point, Sydney, 2012, Hardcover, colour photos, colour illustrations, separate fold-out colour map 250 pp, ISBN-13: 978 1 7433 6179 5, RRP $59.95.


We prove new inequalities related to the spectral radius $\rho$ of Hadamard products (denoted by $\circ$) of complex matrices. Let $p,q\in [1,\infty]$ satisfy $\frac{1}{p}+\frac{1}{q}=1$, we show an analog of H\"older's inequality on the space of $n\times n$ complex matrices $$\rho(A\circ B) \le \rho(|A|^{\circ p})^{\frac{1}{p}} \rho(|B|^{\circ q})^{\frac{1}{q}} \quad \text{for all $A,B\in \mathbb{C}^{n\times n}$,} $$ where $|\cdot|$ denotes entry-wise absolute values, and $(\cdot)^{\circ p}$ represents the entry-wise Hadamard power. We derive a sharper inequality for the special case $p=q=2$. Given $A,B\in \mathbb{C}^{n\times n}$, for some $\beta \in (0,1]$ depending on $A$ and $B$, $$\rho(A\circ B) \le \beta \rho(|A\circ A|)^{\frac{1}{2}} \rho(|B\circ B|)^{\frac{1}{2}} .$$ Analysis for another special case $p=1$ and $q=\infty$ is also included.


Objective To investigate the correlation between immune inflammation and overactivity of T helper cells in childhood asthma by cell proliferation assay and activation induced cell death in vitro.Methods Th1/Th2/Th17 cytokines were determined by cytometric bead array.Cell proliferation and activation induced cell death were detected when CD4+ T cells were purified by magnetic beads and stimulated by PHA and antiCD3.At last,mRNA of Fas,FasL and Bcl-2 were mesured by real-time PCR.Results Cytokines of IL-4(2.451± 1.052ng/L vs 1.796 ±0.615 ng/L,P =0.018),IL-10( 1.920 ±0.813ng/L vs 1.390 ±0.162ng/L,P =0.006)and TNF(5.112 ±5.842 ng/L vs 1.506 ±0.551 ng/L,P =0.009) in sera of asthma group were higher than those in control group.Compared to control group,proliferation ability of CD4 + T cells in asthma group was greater ( OD450:0.498 ± 0.052 vs 0.274 ± 0.032,P < 0.001 ) and apoptosis rate was lower( 35.62 ± 0.05 % vs 65.28±3.85%,P <0.001 ).mRNA expression of Fas in asthma group was lower but Bcl-2 was higher than those in control group.Conclusion It is implicated that defective expression of Fas and over expression of Bcl-2 in CD4+ T cells may contribute to apoptosis inhibition and cell proliferation,which could explain overeactivity of CD4 + T cells and lvmphocvte infiltration in childhood asthma.

Key words:
Childhood asthma; Proliferation; Apoptosis; Fas; Bcl-2


The object of the invention is a module capable of being combined with other modules to make panels transmitters and / or receivers of sound, characterized in that it comprises a box (10) with a tray (12) foraminous bottom, a tank (14) higher, an element (16, 16-1) provided for the piezoelectric vibrating under the effect of pulses and a resonator (18) also covers the .L'invention panel made from these modules .


At the end of 1975 household interviews were conducted in Sydney with mothers who had at least one child under eight years of age, and who had a family car. The final survey sample comprised 1196 mother-child pairs. The survey was designed to provide information on restraint use by children in the community under eight years of age, on their mothers knowledge of and attitudes towards child restraints, and to identify usage problems specific to the young child occupant. Results indicated that while young children in general had a very low restraint usage rate, certain groups of children were particularly poorly protected. A child's age and the socio-economic status of his family were found to be the major determinants of his restraint use. A number of important barriers to restraint use by young children were identified by the survey and both legal and persuasive solutions to the problem are examined in the light of these findings. /Author/TRRL/


By using the analogue decoding chip TDA12020H and digital processing chip PNX8314 of NXP Semiconductors as the core devices, a digital analog integrated television is designed. And then, the structure of whole television, the analogue and digital designs are all introduced in detail.


In this article, the author responds to review articles dedicated to the book "Ritual. How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living," published in 2022., featured in this issue of the e-rhizome journal.


Kinetic study was used to compare permanganate oxidation of oligonucleotides and evaluate the structural basis for its specificity of reaction. The rate of oligonucleotide consumption was consistently dominated by reaction of unpaired and solvent accessible thymine residues, the primary targets of modification. Formation of fully complementary duplex structures suppressed reaction of the single-stranded oligonucleotides by as much as 20-fold and revealed a basal rate of modification that no longer correlated to the presence of thymine. Insertion of a mispaired or unpaired thymine into a duplex structure modestly enhanced the overall degradation rate of DNA. While steric effects should not be discounted, electrostatic effects appeared to be the major determinant in permanganate selectivity


We describe a new solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method for directly measuring the indirect spin–spin coupling J between two crystallographically equivalent, but magnetically nonequivalent spins. We show that under conditions of fast variable‐angle‐spinning (VAS), two‐dimensional (2D) J‐resolved NMR spectra can yield an accurate value of the J coupling between a pair of crystallographically equivalent spins. This information is not available from fast magic‐angle‐spinning (MAS) NMR spectra, or from NMR spectra of isotropic fluids unless a third spin is introduced into the spin system. Furthermore, the observation of J in VAS 2D J‐resolved experiments does not rely on the presence of a nonzero dipolar coupling between the equivalent spins. This contrasts with slow‐spinning MAS experiments involving crystallographically equivalent spin pairs, where recoupling of the J interaction requires that the two nuclei are also dipolar coupled.


Since the modern age,the focus of research of Western Philosophy has turned from the traditional ontology to epistemology.The pupose of this transformation is to advocate rational spirit and establish the ideological system with "I think" as the reliable starting point.Kant inherited the rational spirit,critisized De Carl's concept of talent and omnipotence and established the epistemological system of the natural comprehensive judgment mode.Husserl inherited Kant's spirit of rational criticism while overcoming his tendency of dualism,thus carrying on the rational spirit.He adopted the phenomenology as the basic method to realize the unity of scientific spirit and humanistic spirit and establish the serious metaphysical system.


In tractor-drawn commercial farms, the main cause of land degradation is soil inversion with tractordrawn moldboard and disc plows. In addition to soil inversion, movement of soil at higher speeds with tractors causes significant soil pulverization. Such tillage practices speed up soil organic carbon losses. Loss of soil organic carbon causes land degradation (Reicosky, 2001). In addition, the use of tractors for tillage makes weed control more expensive than zero tillage combined with the application of nonselective herbicides. These factors and the fact that higher soil temperatures caused by intensive tillage jeopardize seed viability (Diaz-Zorita et al. 2002) led to the introduction of zero tillage.


This issue opens with a paper which matches barriers impeding the integration of services with drivers to surmount them. Barriers reported in subsequent papers can be introduced into this matrix, some seemingly intractable, others more amenable to remedy if effective drivers can be applied. Alisa Stewart and her colleagues found progress uneven in integrating health and social care based upon their survey of 422 initiatives in Scotland. Barriers were many, ranging from piecemeal and contradictory national policies to professional protectionism. Drivers were needed to overcome the barriers, beginning with joined-up, strategic and realistic policies, and focusing on users' needs. Jane Farmer and her colleagues investigated general practitioners' and midwives' perceptions of their respective roles in routine antenatal care in remote and rural practices in Scotland. Findings from their survey and interviews confirm tension and conflict grounded in misconceptions about respective responsibilities for low risk pregnant women. Role ambiguity was a barrier. Role flexibility might be a driver, but there was some way to go before the two professions come to enjoy a harmonious working environment. Carol McWilliams and her colleagues preferred challenges to barriers. They analysed sociocultural, structural and human challenges in building partnerships—partnerships between care providers and recipients and between the former—based upon their experience in London, Ontario. Challenges to be overcome included poor communication between providers, adverse effects of budgetary cuts and resistance to change. For Morton Skjørshammer integrated practice depends as much upon good inter-personal as inter-organisational relations. In his second article for this Journal, he describes graphically how anger expressed towards colleagues in other professions in a Norwegian hospital generated stress, impacting negatively on the working environment and interprofessional cooperation. Expressions of anger can, however, be acceptable within a constructive framework perceived by the participants. Elisabeth Willumsen and Lillemor Hallberg introduce another perspective from Norway. They report findings from interviews with 23 professionals—social workers, psychologists, teachers and physicians including psychiatrists plus unqualified staff—working with five young people in two residential institutions. Interviews focused on collaboration with the young people at risk, their families and between the workers. Collaboration channelled distinctive contributions from each profession into readiness to act and encouraged flexibility based upon give and take in response to the needs of the young person. Flexibility was, however, in tension with requirements for the coordination of services. 'Radical coordination' was needed, not 'routinised coordination'.


There is a well-known elementary problem: (S3) Given a triangle T with the vertices a1, a2, a3, to find in the plane of T the point p which minimize s the sum of the distances |pa1| + |pa2| + |pa3|. p, called the Steiner point of T, is unique: if an angle of T is ≥ 2π/3 then p is its vertex, otherwise p lies inside T and the sides of T subtend at p the angle 2π/3. In the latter case p is called the S-point of T, and it can be found by the following simple construction: let a12 be the third vertex of the equilateral triangle whose other two vertices are a1 and a2, and whose interior does not overlap that of T, let C be the circle through a1, a2 a12; then p is the intersection of C and the straight segment a12a3. It is easily proved that any one of the three ellipses through p with two of the vertices of T as foci is tangent at p to the circle through p about the third vertex of T.


In the oil well perforation pressure testing,a lot of heat will be released during the process of perforation.The temperature effect of piezoresistive pressure sensor is a main factor influencing the testing precision. To accurately measure the downhole pressure,we had set up calibration system with existing wells simulation test device.The simulation test device is used to simulate downhole high temperature and high pressure environment. Several calibration tests were done under multiple temperature environments. The test results were contrasted with the standard test system. The standard test system was trace calibrated. The piezoresistive sensor sensitivity under different temperature conditions was draw out by the least square method. At last,the pressure data was modified according to the real-time temperature data which is collected by tester. Calculation shows that the peak pressure curve is 1. 4 MPa smaller after modification. This account for 2. 08% of the peak pressure. And it shows that the impact of piezoresistive sensor temperature effect should not be neglected. The temperature correction calibration method for downhole tester based on simulative oil well can effectively eliminate the effect of temperature,improve the test accuracy.


The aim of the present study was to engage a national advocacy group and local stakeholders for guidance in developing a bipolar disorder biobank through a web‐based survey and a community advisory board.


A bond colouring problem on a honeycomb lattice, equivalent to evaluating the residual entropy of a four-state antiferromagnetic Potts model, is considered. The transfer matrix for strips with three or four hexagons in each row and any number of rows is diagonalised.


Effect of no ferrule on failure of teeth restored with bonded posts and cores. CCH Ng, MI Al-Bayat, HB Dumbrigue, JA Griggs and CW Wakefield. General Dentistry 2004; 52: 143-146.


Prion protein (PrP) has attracted considerable attention, mainly due to its involvement in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. Toward its N-terminal region, PrP bears an octapeptide repeat which has been shown to bind copper. We found that a human synthetic peptide (PrP(59-91)), corresponding to the four repeats of Pro-His-Gly-Gly-Gly-Trp-Gly-Gln has the ability to reduce copper. A mutant peptide lacking tryptophan displayed only 24% of the wild-type copper-reducing activity. Experiments performed in a N(2) environment confirmed that O(2) is not involved in the reaction. Our results indicated that cell surface PrP, besides its ability to bind copper, bears the capacity to reduce copper in vitro. The potential physiological role of copper reduction by PrP is discussed.


The imaging techniques magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provide valuable tools for studying brain structure and neurochemistry in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). Although the application of magnetic resonance–based methodologies to the study of FASD in animal models is in its infancy, it already has provided new clinically relevant insights and holds significant promise to further extend our understanding of alcohol's effects on the developing fetus.


In this paper, we focus on linear modeling and design of a self-tuning PID controller for a pneumatic cylinder system for applicable to a SkilMate hand for astronauts ' Extra-vehicular activity (EVA). For the purpose of giving the initial values to the PID controller, we develop linear modeling by applying first-order Taylor series expansion, and design a self -tuning PID controller with applying real-time system identification capability utilizing fuzzy curve fitting. Finally, we verified the validity of the controller by simulation the system behavior.


The actual urban streets are all non-isolated urban streets.The numerical simulation was used to study the airflow and vehicle emission pollutant dispersion in non-isolated urban street canyons.The numerical results have a good agreement with the experimental data and it is found that the existence of the upstream and downstream buildings of the target street canyon has significant influence on the wind field and concentration distribution by comparing with the results of the previous wind tunnel experiment.The concentration of the vehicle exhausted pollutant is much higher than the concentration in the isolated street canyon.With the increase of the number of upstream and downstream buildings,the wind velocity in the target street canyon is relatively weaker,which results in a higher pollutant concentration in the canyon.It was also found that there exists a critical height when the heights of buildings at both sides are not equal.


Karl Franklin began working in Papua New Guinea in 1958 at a time when cash was a relatively new medium of exchange in the Highlands of the then-Territory of Papua New Guinea. Contemporary cross-cultural work in experimental economics relies on the use of cash, although there has been little effort to determine whether the use of an introduced medium such as cash produces results that are more a function of cash than of decisionmaking modules and strategies. This chapter is an account of su ch an effort. I administered two experimental games—Dictator and Ultimatum—among Sursurunga speakers of the province of New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, using both cash and betel nut. The results suggest that cash, at least on New Ireland, can be used in experimental games such as Dictator and Ultimatum—which, by their nature, ar e intended to illuminate deeply-rooted exchange strategies—without significantly affecting the outcomes.


An electronic spectrometer based on an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) is presented. These devices are electronically tunable, narrow-band light filters with no moving parts. The wavelength range from 350 to 600 nm can be covered with a single device, the entire spectrum is scanned in less than 1 s, and any wavelength can be randomly accessed in 0.1 ms. The resolution [full width at half-height (FWHH)] was determined to be 0.22 nm at 361 nm, and the standard deviation of peak position was usually less than 0.03 nm. Under software control, the AOTF can be stationary on a line, peak-hop between any 20 different lines, hop between 20 regions of any size, scan a spectrum, or operate as a wavelength modulation spectrometer. Operation of the spectrometer is illustrated by using hollow cathode and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission sources.