Total aortic arch replacement has been and remains one of the most complex procedures in cardiovascular surgery. Since the first successful arch repair in the 1950s, the risks for cerebrospinal complications and mortality have been reduced but not eliminated. The introduction of hypothermic circulatory arrest and antegrade cerebral perfusion were critical to improving the outcome of the arch repair. Since many patients require a second‐ stage procedure, the invention of the elephant trunk procedure was another milestone in simplifying future operations on the descending aorta. The combination of an arch prosthesis and a stent‐graft for the descending aorta is nowadays known as the "frozen elephant trunk." It has the potential to treat complex aortic pathologies in a single‐ stage procedure. The ThoraflexTM Hybrid graft was introduced in Europe almost a decade ago and currently awaits its commercial availability in the United States. Four‐branched hybrid grafts simplify selective anastomoses of the supra‐aortic vessels. In this issue of the Journal of Cardiac Surgery, Masiello et al. present their single‐center experience with the ThoraflexTM Hybrid prosthesis. In this retrospective study, the authors report on 70 patients who underwent total aortic arch replacement with the frozen elephant trunk technique over a time period of approximately 2 and a half years. The early mortality was acceptable and the rates of perioperative stroke and spinal ischemia were extremely low. The early mortality was 14.2% in the present study and involves both elective and emergent cases for aortic dissection. Therefore, the mortality is comparable to the results of other centers. The incidence of stroke and spinal ischemia were low in the Salerno experience. Neurologic complications have always been an issue with operations on the aortic arch, especially in high‐risk patients. Generally speaking, we have to put more effort into further reducing this risk. The authors' surgical approach relies on "debranching" the supra‐aortic vessels on the beating heart and they attribute the low stroke rate (partially) to this technique. I find this approach promising. Also, the risk for spinal ischemia can be a problem with the frozen elephant trunk procedure. The Salerno group performs the distal anastomosis in Zone 2. The proximalization of the distal anastomosis is thought to reduce the risk for spinal cord injury and is nowadays widely performed. In addition, their usage of a short stent‐graft helped to minimize the risk for spinal ischemia. The present study advocates for the usage of the frozen elephant trunk in dedicated aortic centers. While I support the authors' suggestions that complex aortic operations should be performed in specialized centers, it might be difficult for such centers to be simultaneously geographically accessible. More geographically dispersed smaller centers might not be able to perform the frozen elephant trunk procedure with adequate results. Especially in acute aortic dissection, a simpler operation might be more appropriate to prevent a deadly outcome in these cases. In elective situations, it might be advisable to refer complex aortic cases to specialized aortic centers. In summary, the present study by Masiello et al. demonstrates how the frozen elephant trunk procedure can be applied with


Results of input-to-state stability (ISS) type for systems of Lur'e type are presented. The generic system is a feedback interconnection of a finite-dimensional linear system and a set-valued nonlinearity. An illustrative example is provided wherein the results are applied in the design of PID control in the presence of input quantization and nonlinearity.


In eukaryotes, the proteasome represents the major system for controlled intracellular proteolysis. Its ubiquitin-independent counterpart in prokaryotes is structurally well characterized, but still little is known about its cellular targets and hence its physiological role (M. J. Pearce, P. Arora, R. A. Festa, S. M. Butler-Wu, R. S. Gokhale, and K. H. Darwin, EMBO J. 25:5423, 2006; S. Gandotra S, D. Schnap-pinger, M. Monteleone, W. Hillen, and S. Ehrt, Nature Med. 13:1515, 2008). From an evolutionary point of view, this compartmentalized protease is also of interest as a possible ancestor of the eukaryotic system (R. E. Valas and P. E. Bourne, J. Mol. Evol. 66:494, 2008). Although widespread in Archaea, occurrence of the 20S proteasome (28-subunit barrel-shaped proteolytic core) appeared to be confined to a single phylum of gram-positive bacteria, the Actinobacteria, including genera like Mycobacterium, Rhodococcus, and Streptomyces. Recently, this viewpoint needed adjustment upon proteogenomic identification in mine-drainage biofilm of actinomycete-like proteasomes from uncultivated Leptospirilla, acidophilic gram-negative bacteria of the Nitrospirae phylum (R. De Mot, Trends Microbiol. 15: 335, 2007). Now, genomic data for two cultivated soil isolates of the equally poorly characterized phylum Verrucomicrobia reveal that equivalents of the characteristic six-gene cluster previously identified in Leptospirillum (mpa-pafX-orfX-prcB-prcA-pafA) are present in the extremely acidophilic methanotroph 'Methylacidiphilum infernorum' V4 (P. F. Dunfield et al., Nature 450:879; GenBank CP000975) and the xylan-utilizing strain Ellin514 (P. Sangwan, S. Kovac, K. E. Davis, M. Sait, and P. H. Janssen, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:8402, 2005; Gen-Bank ABOX010000075). The moderate level of homology between the respective verrucomicrobial orthologues (46–54 % amino acid identity) and significant difference in G + C-content of the gene clusters (10%) reflect the different subdivision affiliation of these strains within the phylum. Much like the two Leptospirillum proteasome gene clusters, the genome context of both verrucomicrobial clusters is not conserved and lacks synteny with flanking genes in actinomycete genomes.


Present methods and problems associated with the surface marking of obstructions to aviation, such as tall towers, are discussed. The correlation of subjective evaluations of appearance, from both ground and air observations, with the physical characteristics of the orange-painted sections of selected towers is described. Recommendations regarding the in-service appearance of orange paint consist of expanded chromaticity limits in combination with specific restrictions on reflectance. A suggested method of field implementation consists of using color tolerance charts displaying colored squares which depict the limit of the chromaticity and reflectance requirements.


Three-dimensional and axisymmetric numerical simulations of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations have been conducted to study the appearance and development of vortex breakdown in a family of columnar vortex flows in a straight pipe without wall friction. The numerical simulations show that the basic form of breakdown is axisymmetric, and a transition to helical breakdown modes is shown to be caused by a sufficiently large pocket of absolute instability inside the original axisymmetric "bubble" of recirculating flow. Depending on the values of the Reynolds and swirl parameters, two distinct unstable modes corresponding to azimuthal wave numbers n= +1 and n = +2 have been found to yield a helical or a double-helical breakdown mode, respectively. By means of a simple linear spatial stability analysis carried out in the sections of the pipe where the basic axisymmetric flow presents reverse flow, we have identified the frequencies and the dominant azimuthal wave numbers observed in the three-dimensional simulations. © 2006 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2338065


The odds ratio is one of the most widely used measures of association for 2 × 2 tables. A generalized Yule coefficient transforms the odds ratio into a correlation-like scale with a range from -1 to 1. Yule's Y, Yule's Q, Digby's H, and a new coefficient are special cases of a generalized Yule coefficient. The new coefficient is shown to be similar in value to the phi coefficient. A confidence interval and sample size formula for a generalized Yule coefficient are proposed. The proposed confidence interval is shown to perform much better than the Wald intervals that are implemented in statistical packages.


This chapter concentrates on the ancient sources concerning South Arabia (SA), which in the Greek-Roman tradition became the incense land par excellence and in that way much more well-known than the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. The anonymous author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea reports that myrrh is exported from Muza on the south-west coast of Arabia. The most likely candidate seems to be the myrrh tree, especially on the basis of Pliny who mentions a Gabbanitic myrrh. The discoloration of the soil in circles may be due to a concentration of insoluble resin fallen from the trees at harvest time. On the basis of the ancient writers on SA and Somaliland it seems justified to divide SA and Somaliland into a western myrrh region and an eastern frankincense region discussing trees in their wild state.Keywords: Arabian Peninsula; eastern frankincense region; Gabbanitic myrrh; Muza; South Arabia (SA)


Knowledge of the past is always partial and shallow. The glottological research exposed in this article is an attempt to dust off the forgotten past and how languages evolved throughout the time. Any civilization idolizes the planets, especially the moon. On this occasion, Earth's satellite name in the Greek language bears – at the end – a substrata word. Further, the «fire» concept of the Daghestani languages sparkled in the Aegean Sea. The article includes all the aspects, from the «fire» as a word root to the spatial-chronological application in a cross linguistic-cultural perspective, nevertheless, the ritual vision of the fire is also included.


To improve the detection precision of the urban rail vehicle wheel key parameters,a new non-contact dynamic detection method based on opening up a "detect window" at the wheel/rail contact point is put forward.The image geometric mapping model of the wheel tread and the coordinate system for detection are established,and the calculation method of wheel key parameters is established on the basis of coordinate translation methods.According to the actual application regulations of urban rail vehicle wheels,the key parameters of optical section detecting window are selected.The wheel key parameters checking experiments are carried out by use of the developed test bed.The results show that the wheel key parameter error values obtained by the method are all less than 1%.By opening up the "detect window" at the wheel/rail contact point,the light source position and the camera position can remain unchanged,so the parameters detecting precision can be guaranteed effectively.


Intact antibodies, and F(ab′)2, and Fab′ fragments thereof directed against β2‐microglobulin (β2m) and the HLA alloantigenic polypeptide chain impede the mixed leukocyte culture reaction (MLR). The Fab′ fragments are effective only when bound to the responder cell population. The kinetics of their inhibiting action suggest that they interfere with the recognition phase of the MLR. Thus, it seems possible that β2m may be part of or closely associated with those structures on the responding cells which recognize the stimulatory alloantigens.


Human's ability to live comfortably depends on their housing. Homes must be safe, strong, and environmentally friendly. Construction materials have changed over time in accordance with the conditions. They ranged from stone structures to palm grids and mountain caverns. Bricks that had been burned and treated were also known. Builders were accustomed with using natural resources like animal and plant glue to bond the decorative pieces and increase the workability of mortars. In areas where its color wouldn't be an issue, bitumen was extensively employed as a man-made organic glue. It is the primary part of asphalt pavement nowadays. Natural stones represented strong building elements among these resources. The ancient people mastered their challenging quarrying techniques and used rocks and stones exclusively in their construction.


This paper tries to ascertain whether the expectations hypothesis of the term structure of interest rates was fulfilled for the EMU countries in the period previous to its launching. To this end, we employ individual country data for the Euro area. Using pooled and panel cointegration techniques we conclude that there is an equilibrium relationship linking the long and the short-run interest rates for both the individual countries and the panel as a whole. Due to the homogeneity found in the short-long term interest rates relationship across countries, the fears raised about the use of area-wide aggregates by the ECB if not discarded need to be, at least, qualified.


The biological activity of 3: 5 : 3\m='\-l-triiodothyronine (TIT) has been compared with that of l-thyroxine (THX) by three different methods. 1. The first compared increases in oxygen consumption rate in rats and showed that TIT had 3\m=.\7and 7\m=.\5times the activity of THX when administered subcutaneously and orally. Although the onset ofaction appeared to be more rapid with TIT, the overall effects of the two compounds on oxygen consumption in intact rats were qualitatively similar. 2. The second, a mouse anoxia method involving subcutaneous injection, gave a ratio of 4\m=.\5 in favour of TIT. 3. In the third, the effects of the two compounds in preventing goitre formation were studied in rats given thiouracil. The relative activity of TIT established by this method was 7\m=.\4times that of THX.


Dynamic vegetation models use plant functional types (PFTs) to represent structural and functional variables that control energy, carbon, nutrient and water budgets. Wullschlegeret al. (pp. 1–16) review the origins of the PFT concept and address the current state of models that use PFTs in northern high-latitude ecosystems. They conclude that while the PFT concept is a valuable tool for reducing complexity in nature, additional attention should be devoted to remote sensing and mapping of vegetation, to trait database development for aboveand below-ground (i.e. root) processes, and to the replacement of fixed parameters for PFTs with formulations based on trait co-variance and empirical trait– environment relationships.


A short time since Mr. G. Trubenbach, Managing Director of the Newlands Diamond Mine, West Griqualand, drew my attention to a notice by Professor Beck of the paper which I read to the Royal Society last June, on the Parent-rock of the Diamond in South Africa, kindly sending me a translation of the original. As Professor Beck's criticisms are founded on such a travesty of my published opinions that I can only suppose his knowledge of our language to be very imperfect, and as the hypothesis which he advances appears to me untenable, I ask permission to reply to the one and point out the improbability of the other.


When ceramic slurries are used for casting, the moulded product can contain defects which arise from the aggregation of the particles. One mechanism of aggregation is drying of the slip, which forces the particles together, producing agglomerated structures which are much larger than the primary particles. The problem of understanding this phenomenon is twofold. On the one hand, it is difficult to measure aggregates in a concentrated slurry. On the other, there is no theory to predict when aggregates should form in an apparently perfect dispersion. The present paper describes a new experimental method for measuring aggregates in concentrated ceramic suspensions, showing that the aggregation phenomenon can be followed over a wide range of experimental conditions. In particular, the results show that the aggregates exist at small concentrations in concentrated ceramic slurries even before drying takes place. These structures are defined here as 'multiplets' to distinguish them from the more normal aggregates produced by drying or freezing. A new theory of aggregation is proposed to fit the experimental results. This theory, based on the idea that multiplets form as a consequence of phase change driven by small adhesive forces between ceramic particles immersed in liquid, shows how the size of multiplets should vary with particle concentration, adhesion, and diameter. A good fit between experiment and theory was obtained for silica dispersions. The method was also shown to be relevant to other colloidal systems, including polymer latex and biological cells.


An analysis of impact resistance of composite fan blades for turbo-fan engines has been conducted. Analytical models of composite blade of different sizes and materials were composed and impact resistance was evaluated by the analysis. The validity of the analytical model was confirmed by comparison of the analytical result with the experimental result of natural vibration of the titanium blade model of the same configuration as the composite blade models. The transient response produced by simulated bird strike on the blade model was analysed with the finite element method which includes bird impact load model and geometrical nonlinierity. The validity of the analytical method was confirmed by comparing the analytical results with the experimental results of some impact tests of the titanium blade models. The results show that polymer matrix composite blades have much lower impact resistance than titanium blade and it is clear that the composite blade of same size as the titanium blade is entirely broken by the bird strike, and 1.65 and 2.06 times larger size composite blades are partially broken by the bird strike.


Objective:Major burns often induce zinc deficient status. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether excessive store of zinc or metabolic disturbance of copper will be induced because of large supplements of zinc after major burns. Methods:Artificial semi synthetic diets with different zinc contents were made. Three groups of rats were give zinc deficient diet to induce zinc deficient status then 20% TBSA second degree scalds were made. Then the rats were divided into three groups pair fed chows different in zinc concentration. Zinc contents were 1 6 μg/g, 24 7 μg/g, 286 9 μg/g respectively. A group of rats fed normal zinc content (24 7 μg/g) diets before and after scalds was designed as control. The contents of Zn and Cu in serum, liver, kidney, spleen and testicle were analyzed. Results:Zinc contents in these organs were improved markedly but excessive store of zinc resulted from large supplements of zinc were not found. The contents of copper were improved markedly in serum and kidney too because of zinc supplements. Conclusion:In zinc deficient status after severe burns, increasing the supplements of zinc moderately in a short time do not result to excessive store of zinc nor metabolic disturbance of copper.


This study contributes to the understanding of Owenism and why it failed. It corrects many of the earlier misconceptions and errors of fact about New Harmony, Indiana, and the seven other Owenite communities founded in 1826 and 1827.


Since the inception of sensor networks, a wide variety of algorithms for in-network data processing have emerged. To enable practical implementation of a broad class of these proposed algorithms, sufficient application programming support for network communications is critical. While standard (but relatively low-level) network application programming interfaces (APIs) such as those implemented in TinyOS can provide a basis for flexible application-specific customization, experience in the past several years has shown that data processing algorithms in fact share similar higher level communication needs that can be better supported. In this paper, we first identify common communication patterns through an extensive survey of data processing algorithms proposed over the past four years in the proceedings of the Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN) conference. We then present the design of a higher level network API for sensor networks that is powerful, convenient to use, and compact. Many familiar issues in traditional networking such as addressing and reliability have vastly different solutions in the sensor network environment, and we carefully develop the rationales behind the design of the resulting network API, providing an in-depth discussion on the fundamental design decisions. We believe that the proposed network API serves as a starting point for the implementation of a more comprehensive sensor network communication middleware than what is found in currently available systems, enabling algorithm developers to quickly and easily implement their designs without having to handle low-level networking details themselves.


In this study we tried to evidence the type of lymphatic vascularisa tion in the mammary gland at bitches, as well as the capture of some possible lymphatic connections between the border homo-lateral mammary glands, including the hetero-lateral ones. All of these things imply a good knowledge of the mammary lymphatic irrigation, the lymphatic's drainage way and the possibility of communication between the mammary glands through the lymphatic vessels, although, in this field of study there are few data on these kind of connections.


The paper deals with regularities of formation and location of zeolite-containing deposits of the Gazakh trough of the Lesser Caucasus. The Aydag deposit is located in the Tauz district of Azerbaijan, 7 km away from the Tauz city. The Aydag deposit productive stratum of natural zeolitized ash tuffs in combination with the same characteristics of the enclosing rocks can be classified as a complex deposit with a relatively non-uniform composition and structure of the productive stratum. The mineral and chemical compositions of zeolite-bearing rocks of the Aydag deposit have been thoroughly studied. Special feature of this deposit is the high content of clinoptilolite. According to X-ray diffractometry and mineralogical analysis of average samples, its content is around 70-80%. The porosity of this rock is around 15-20%, or even more, and does not depend on the stratigraphic level. It was found that the high-silica zeolitites of the Upper Cretaceous strata of the Lok-Karabagh zone belong to the hydrothermal-epigenetic type, which formed after the uplift of the enclosing strata, and generally the resource material for the formation of zeolites used to be volcanic glass of acidic, medium, rarely basic composition, contained in tuffs.


This paper introduces the Apriori Algorithm, optimizes the algorithm through the gradual reduction of the amounts of scan- ning data and the times of scanning database these two aspects, introduces the AprioriTid algorithm and Partition algorithm. According to the advantages of these two algorithms to combine the two again, using the Partition Algorithm for the whole database, though dividing the database into districts, each zone is used in AprioriTid algorithm. In addition, operates a data preprocessing while dividing the database into districts, that is to say, put the two sets of higher support into the same partition, and finally compares the efficiency of combining results with a simple algorithm.


Jayalakshmi SS, Srinivasa Rao B, Sailaja S. Focal clinical and electroencephalographic features in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.
Acta Neurol Scand: 2010: 122: 115–123.
© 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard.


The aim of this study was to characterize the biochemical profiles of the virgin olive oils produced in various districts of Aegean and South East Anatolia regions of Turkey over two growing seasons (2001–2002). The olive oils were extracted by classic hydraulic pressing, three phase continuous system, Abencor oil method at laboratory scale, and foot oil process from monocultivar Turkish olives, including Ayvalik, Memecik, Nizip Yaglik, Gemlik, Domat, and Uslu. Total phenolics, ortho-diphenols, oxidative stability, and total chlorophylls of the oils differed by location. The cis-trans fatty acids, triacylglycerols, and the actual versus theoretical equivalent carbon number of 42 (ECN 42) triglycerol content (ΔECN42) were within national and international averages. Oil samples from the three phase continuous system had higher total phenolic contents than those of the hydraulic pressure system. Turkish monocultivar virgin olive oil samples were classified by biochemical profiles using the principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses multivariate statistical methods. Clustering analysis defined groups according to growing location. Triacylglycerols and fatty acid profiles can be used for identification of monocultivar olive oils with regard to authenticity and classification.


Abstract—To address the challenge of unprecedented growth in mobile data traffic, ultra-dense network deployment is a cost efficient solution to offload the traffic over some small cells. The overlapped coverage areas of small cells create more than one candidate access points for one mobile user. Signal strength based user association in IEEE 802.11 results in a significantly unbalanced load distribution among access points. However, the effective bandwidth demand of each user actually differs vastly due to their different preferences for mobile applications. In this paper, we formulate a set of non-linear integer programming models for joint user association control and user demand guarantee problem. In this model, we are trying to maximize the system capacity and guarantee the effective bandwidth demand for each user by soft-association control with a software defined network controller. With the fact of NP-hard complexity of non-linear integer programming solver, we propose a Kernighan Lin Algorithm based graph-partitioning method for a large-scale network. Finally, we evaluated the performance of the proposed algorithm for the edge users with heterogeneous bandwidth demands and mobility scenarios. Simulation results show that the proposed adaptive soft-association control can achieve a better performance than the other two and improves the individual quality of user experience with a little price on system throughput.To address the challenge of unprecedented growth in mobile data traffic, ultra-dense network deployment is a cost efficient solution to offload the traffic over some small cells. The overlapped coverage areas of small cells create more than one candidate access points for one mobile user. Signal strength based user association in IEEE 802.11 results in a significantly unbalanced load distribution among access points. However, the effective bandwidth demand of each user actually differs vastly due to their different preferences for mobile applications. In this paper, we formulate a set of non-linear integer programming models for joint user association control and user demand guarantee problem. In this model, we are trying to maximize the system capacity and guarantee the effective bandwidth demand for each user by soft-association control with a software defined network controller. With the fact of NP-hard complexity of non-linear integer programming solver, we propose a Kernighan Lin Algorithm based graph-partitioning method for a large-scale network. Finally, we evaluated the performance of the proposed algorithm for the edge users with heterogeneous bandwidth demands and mobility scenarios. Simulation results show that the proposed adaptive soft-association control can achieve a better performance than the other two and improves the individual quality of user experience with a little price on system throughput.


This experiment was carried out in the 1995/96 summer to determine the aflatoxin (AFL) levels ability to decrease turkey performance raised under excellent environmental conditions and also to avaluate a natural sodium bentonite (NSB) efficiency as an adsorbent. One thousand and eight poults were housed in 84 floor pens following a randomized complete block design with 14 treatments arranged in a 7x2 factorial, with 7 AFL levels (0, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 2000ppb) and 2 NSB levels (0 and 0.5%). At 21 days of age the birds fed without NSB showed body weight gain (BWG) and feed intake (FI) reduction (P<0.05) from 500ppb or more of AFL, whereas the birds fed with NSB showed BWG and FI reduction (P<0.05) only from 1000ppb or more of AFL. These same results were observed at 40 days of age, but at 70 days, the BWG and FI reduction was statistically significant (P<0.05) from 500ppb or more of AFL, with or without NSB inclusion. In general, birds fed with NSB had about 15 to 20% less BWG and FI reduction than birds fed without NSB. The feed conversion (FC) was less affected by AFL levels, although it worsened with increasing AFL levels. AFL have greatly affected the mortality rate. At 21 days of age the birds fed with 1000 and 2000pbb of AFL have already presented 15.3 and 72.2% of mortality, respectively and until 40 days all birds fed with 2000ppb of AFL died. However there was a benefic effect of NSB inclusion. Based on theses results can be concluded that AFL are highly deleterious for turkey and that NSB can partialy protect the birds from AFL negativo effects.


For some class of the f ini te difference equations o s c i l l a tion c r i t e r i a are given. Let R be the set of a l l r e a l numbers. We le t N(nQ) = = | n Q , n 0 + 1 , . . . } , where nQ i s a natural number or zero. Let a > 0 be a real constant. The difference operator A^ will be defined in the following way AQ*n = x Q + 1 axQ (neN(O)) , where j x Q j i s the sequence of r e a l numbers. Instead of  we shall write A. In this paper we study osci l la t ion of solutions of the difference equations m


Mycobacterium bovis infection in cattle continues to be a problem in several regions, partly due to inadequate diagnostic tests. The aim of this study was to use an experimental model of the natural disease to identify T‐cell epitopes from the mycobacterial 38 kDa antigen as potentially specific diagnostic reagents. A panel of overlapping synthetic peptides (16‐mers with a five‐residue overlap) were produced from the published amino acid sequence. It was found that peripheral blood lymphocytes from at least three of four experimentally infected animals, which were considered to be in either Th1‐ or Thl/Th2‐dominated stages of anti‐mycobacterial immunity, proliferated in response to five epitopes (residues 1–27, 88–107, 122–138, 243–260 and 307–328). However, in vitro production of IFN‐γ was detected only in response to epitope 122–138, indicating a role in protective immunity. The peptides were not recognized by control, uninfected animals, but all epitopes showed various degrees of recognition by animals which were field reactors to intradermal tuberculin testing. Furthermore, epitopes 1–27, 88–107 and 122–138 were recognized by four breeds of cattle and by animals from separate herds, suggesting genetic permissiveness in recognition which would be essential in the development of a diagnostic test.


Building up high quality teachers contingent forms the basis of developing quality education.Quality of teachers contingent is the main factor of controlling the application of quality education.P.E. teachers should renew their knowledge structures and improve their quality to develop quality education in new circumstances.


ABSTRACT Results from the analysis of over 8400 bottom-hole temperature values from petroleum exploration wells in the Williston Basin are reviewed. Estimates of geothermal gradients, thermal conductivities and heat flow values from the Mesozoic -Cenozoic and Upper Paleozoic units indicate that regional heat flow variations with depth occur and these are related to the hydrodynamics. Anomalously high geothermal gradients and heat flow values occur in the sedimentary interval below the Paleozoic erosional surface in the Weyburn area, but high values are not evident in the Mesozoic - Cenozoic sediments above. This anomaly cannot be completely explained by the blanketing effect of thick shaly units present there, and so there may be an anomalous contribution from the basement. The geothermal anomaly coincides with an electrical conductivity anomaly evident from magneto-telluric investigations. Two-dimensional numerical models with anomalous heat generation or anomalous thermal conductivity based on the structure indicated from magneto-tellurics give heat flow values that correspond to those observed. It is probable that enhanced radioactive heat generation related to mineralization occurs in the mid-upper crust resulting in the electrical and thermal anomalies.


Fugitive emissions have been identified as a significant source of total suspended particulate (TSP) emissions from some industries. Fugitive emissions of inhalable particulates (particles less than 10 {mu} equivalent aerodynamic diameter, or PM{sub 10}) are less than for TSP, but can be significant in some circumstances. Both are subject to regulation under Federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) regulations. Fugitive emissions can be regulated by identifying pre-control emissions, control technology and effectiveness, and resulting controlled emissions. Alternately, control can be specified qualitatively when emissions are known to exist, but can not be quantified. Quantitative estimates of emissions and control efficiency have been made for proposed facilities in different industries. Unfortunately, the state of the science in fugitive emissions may not be sufficiently advanced to support such a demonstration for incinerator ash.


Real networks are often dynamic. In response to it, analyses of algorithms on {\em dynamic networks} attract more and more attentions in network science and engineering. Random walks on dynamic graphs also have been investigated actively in more than a decade, where in most cases the edge set changes but the vertex set is static. The vertex sets are also dynamic in many real networks. Motivated by a new technology of the analysis of random walks on dynamic graphs, this paper introduces a simple model of graphs with increasing the number of vertices, and presents an analysis of random walks associated with the cover time on such graphs. In particular, we reveal that a random walk asymptotically covers the vertices all but a constant number if the vertex set grows {\em moderately}.


Review(s) of: Children's Difficulties in Reading, Spelling and Writing edited by Peter D. Pumfrey and Colin D. Elliott, The Falmer Press, U.K., 1990. 328pp ( 28 hardcover, 12.95 softcover) For researchers, psychologists and teachers.


Use your device to scan and read the article online Introduction: Nursing is recognized in all countries as a job with high occupational stress. Therefore, the existence of tools to assess this occupational stress can contribute research into nurses' mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of Persian version of the Condensed Nurses' Occupational Stress Scale (NOSS).


In order to study the soil deformation influenced by adjacent piles when subjected to large area loading,3D finite element method was adopted to investigate the pile-soil interaction in the Beilun power station preloading project.By considering the pile restriction to soil deformation emphatically,the numerical simulation analysis showed that the soil settlement decreased with piles existed,while the soil lateral deformation increased around the piles in a certain range close to the ground.Moreover,the bending moment of pile body and the stress of the steel embedded in the pile were calculated to examine the stability of break wall pile foundation under loading.An empirical equation of maximum bending moment was obtained for piles with caps.Good agreement of calculated results with the measured data showed that this work can be used to support the relative design and construction.


Several new drugs are under development for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM) and the introduction of immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs) and proteasome inhibitors (PIs) has prolonged both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). However, patients may become resistant to these drugs and new strategies are needed to improve disease control and outcome. Here, we provide an overview of new monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) used for the treatment of MM, in particular anti-CD38 and anti-CS1 MoAbs. MoAbs may interact with myeloma cells through different mechanisms of action and targets: MoAbs can elicit antibodydependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), activate complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), activate antibodydependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), and/or directly induce tumor cell apoptosis. Alternatively, they may target bone marrow microenvironment, resulting in neutralization of growth factors, inhibition of angiogenesis, modulation of mediators of bone disease, or enhancement of the host antitumor immune response (Figure 1) [1]. CD38 is a multifunctional cell surface glycoprotein highly expressed on myeloma cells, at low levels on normal lymphoid and myeloid cells. CD38-targeting antibodies kill MM cells via CDC, ADCC, ADCP, direct induction of apoptosis, and modulation of CD38 ectoenzyme function [1]. Currently, there are three anti-CD38 MoAbs under clinical development for MM patients: daratumumab, SAR650984, and MOR202 (Table 1). In particular, daratumumab was first investigated as single agent. In a phase I study, daratumumab at 16 mg/kg showed to be safe and effective as compared with the 8 mg/kg dose, with an overall response rate (ORR) of 36% versus 10%, respectively. Daratumumab had an acceptable safety profile, with grade 1–2 infusion-related events (IREs) including mild and transient bronchospasm, headache, dyspnea, and fever. Most events occurred during the first infusion, and no patient discontinued treatment because of IREs [2]. Subsequently, a phase II study assessed daratumumab at 16 mg/kg in 106 relapsed/refractory MM (RRMM) patients: the ORR was 29%, the median PFS was 3.7 months, and only 5% of grade 3 IREs were observed [3]. Of note, these patients were heavily pretreated, almost all of them did not respond to therapy with IMiDs or PIs, they were refractory to alkylators or had relapsed after autologous stem transplantation. Therefore, these results are quite impressive, and responses and survival outcomes are better than expected [11]. Daratumumab was then tested in combination with other drugs, such as with the association lenalidomide-dexamethasone (RD). Also in this case, the 16 mg/kg dose proved to be superior to lower doses of daratumumab in terms of efficacy (ORR: 81%), with a favorable safety profile (grade 3 IREs occurred in only 6% of patients, and only one patient discontinued treatment due to grade 3 laryngeal edema). Neutropenia was the most frequently reported grade 3 or 4 treatment-related adverse event (75%) [4]. Overall, this trial demonstrated significant activity in the context of refractory myeloma and paved the way for the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of daratumumab for the treatment of myeloma. Other trials are testing daratumumab with bortezomib-based strategies in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) and RRMM patients, and preliminary results are promising [5]. Daratumumab plus pomalidomide and dexamethasone led to an ORR of 71% in a heavily pretreated population resistant to previous lenalidomide therapy, and responses deepened over time. Moreover, the addition of daratumumab to pomalidomide and dexamethasone was associated with only a moderate toxicity: most of the events occurred on the first day of the first cycle, and they included mainly chills (13%), cough (13%), and dyspnea (11%) [6]. It is important to be aware of daratumumab interference with laboratory test results, particularly with serum protein electrophoresis and immunofixation assays. This complicates the evaluation of complete responses, causing unexpected falsepositive results. Moreover, daratumumab interferes with routine pre-transfusion laboratory tests, because CD38 is also present on the surface of red blood cells, possibly leading to false-positive results of the indirect antiglobulin tests (IATs) [1]. New laboratory tests are, therefore, needed and are under evaluation to overcome these 'new adverse events'. An ongoing trial is also investigating the role of daratumumab in asymptomatic myeloma and results are awaited (clinical trilas.gov: NCT02316106).


Proponents of electronic rulemaking proposals designed to enhance ordinary citizens' involvement in the rulemaking process have debated with skeptics the question of whether such initiatives will actually increase citizens' involvement. In the debate thus far, however, proponents have largely assumed the desirability of such involvement, and skeptics have usually not challenged that assumption. In addition, proponents and skeptics have focused on the relationship between agencies and individuals, failing to consider the larger administrative law context - and in particular the role played by Congress and the courts. This Article considers e-rulemaking in a broader institutional context and directly addresses the desirability of the proposed e-rulemaking initiatives. The Article finds that there are good reasons to believe that e-rulemaking initiatives' costs outweigh their benefits, but that it would be premature to settle on that conclusion. The Article ultimately advocates modest experimentation with e-rulemaking, both to allow for further evaluation of e-rulemaking and to provide additional data about the rulemaking process more generally.


TH E objective of paediatrics is to enable every individual to have a healthy happy childhood and to reach adult life in the best possible state of physical and mental health. A child who suffers from chronic or permanent handicap as a result of preventable disease represents a human tragedy and a serious failure of the National Health Service. In addition such a child imposes a burden on the community in respect of the financial cost of long-term care and lost potential which usually far outweighs the cost of providing proper diagnosis and treatment for the disease in the first place. It has been estimated that the cost of 50 years' institutional care for a severely handicapped person is of the order of £250,000 (Lancet, 1974). Economies in the child health service, unless carefully judged, may well prove to be false, and costs appropriately incurred are likely in the long run to prove to be economies. The balance between cost and effectiveness in the child health services has to be judged on this basis and over a long time scale.


The present invention relates to a method for preparing conjugates of an active substance and hydroxy alkyl starch and to conjugates of an active substance and hydroxyalkyl starch, preferably hydroxy ethyl starch, wherein the conjugates are prepared by covalently linking the hydroxyalkyl starch and the active substance by a chemical residue having a structure according to formula (I) (I') (I'') wherein R1, R2, R2', R3, R3'and R4 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, an optionally suitably substituted, linear, cyclic and/or branched alkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, aralkyl, and heteroaralkyl group, preferably hydrogen.


A faults diagnosis method of diesel engine based on timefrequency distribution singular value spectrum and RVM(relevance vector machine) was proposed.In order to gain computation efficiency,the discrete DT-CWPT(dual-tree complex wavelet packet transform) transform method was used to abstract the time-frequency distribution of the diesel engine cylinder head vibration signals,and the feature was extracted by singular value decomposition based on the time domain characteristics of engine,and then the features after optimum seeking were used as the input parameters of the RVM to realize the identification of diesel engine faults.Simulation results indicate that the method has high computation efficiency and good performance of accuracy.


Objective To investigate the effects of Triptolide(TP) and Dexamethasone (DM) on expression of bcl-2 mRNA and apoptosis in eosinophils(Eos) of bronchalveolar lavage fluid(BALF) in asthmatic guinea pigs,and to inquire into the mechanism of TP and DM promoting Eos apoptosis.Methods Forty-eight hours after giunea pigs were stimulated by ovalbumin(OVA),Hypodense Eos(HEos) and Normodense Eos(NEos) were purified from BALF by gradients of percoll.Twenty-four hours after Eos cultured in PRMI1640 medium containing TP (10 -7~10 -4mol·L -1) or DM (10 -10~10 -5mol/L),the mRNA of bcl-2 in Eos was measured by hybridization,Apoptosis was detected by TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling(TUNEL).Results Eos cultured under the condition of TP or DM administration in vitro,apoptotic Eos increased and the expression of bcl-2 mRNA decreased in a dose-dependent manner.The expression of bcl-2 mRNA was inversely correlated with Eos apoptosis.Conclusions TP and DM may promote Eos apoptosis and inhibit expression of bcl-2 in dose-dependent manner in vitro.bcl-2 might be involved in the mechanism that TP and DM promote apoptosis of Eos.


In this paper, we consider two sequential decision making problems with a convexity structure, namely an energy storage optimization task and a multi-product assembly example. We formulate these problems in the stochastic programming framework and discuss an approximate dynamic programming technique for their solutions. As the cost-to-go functions are convex in these cases, we use max-affine estimates for their approximations. To train such a max-affine estimate, we provide a new convex regression algorithm, and evaluate it empirically for these planning scenarios.


There are research results among 109 subjects of zgeneration student who find that the most popular media to develop their friendship self-identity is 80.58% of subjects chose an android application that can be downloaded at play store, 2.91% subjects chose modules, 2.91% subjects chose CD/DVD cassette, 1.94% subjects chose the guidance board, 2.91% subjects chose leaflets/pamphlets, and 14.56% subjects chose others. Other research also shows that 98% of the total 123 subjects of late adolescents agree to develop android application for the development of their religious self-identity. Thus, some of the media mentioned in Permendikbud 111 subh as leaflets and guidance board have small percentage. This is an evaluation of the guidance and counseling policy makers to review the existing policies. Ideally, existing policies should adjust the needs of counselee in the 4.0 industrial revolution era. That way, Permendikbud 111 which is making media development on mobile phones as one of the addition to the description and output of media development activities in guidance and counseling. Keywords—guidance and counseling media, permendikbud 111, policy suggest


In this paper, an enhanced security mechanism is presented against eavesdropping on spectral amplitude coding (SAC) optical code-division multiple-access (OCDMA) access networks. The reconfigurable coder/decoder (codec) which was constructed with arrayed-waveguide-grating (AWG), optical switch and additional controller unit is used as the basic system to realize the implementation of dynamic code matrix assignment. Instead of employing a huge code space, we adopt the spectral amplitude coding (SAC) with unipolar M-sequence code matrix for a specific signature address (coding) and its match address codeword (decoding). Furthermore, a weighted load balance problem based on the power distribution on each wavelength is investigated, and then a dynamic reconfiguration policy is proposed to choose the best code matrix assignment with the minimum weighted degree of load balance. The evaluation results show that the dynamic reconfiguration policy can outperform a class of static policies in terms of two performance metrics, weighted degree of load balancing and the number of register shifting.


Being the main channel of diathesis education,multimedia teaching can made the teaching effect most exerted in the limited time.This thesis introduced the characteristics of multimedia teaching from technique,method and effect etc.


Both in the USA and in the Netherlands, extensive studies on approaches for identifying flood risks (the combination of levee failure probabilities and consequences) are ongoing. A related topic concerns evacuation and emergency management (EEM). The magnitude of life loss is directly influenced by the effectiveness of EEM. Different models can be used to define the effectiveness of evacuation. The main objective of this study is to compare Dutch and American methods for evacuation as part of flood risk management strategies for a number of case studies in the US. A second, additional objective is to explore how approaches for EEM that have been recently developed in the Netherlands, can be applied in the United States. This research shows the benefits and limitations for the application of different types of models. This research contributes to the improvement of methods for emergency management, in the Netherlands, the US and other countries.


Within the framework of CNAM resource centre on training and work, this article analyses the way researchers organize their search for information and make use of documents available in resource centres. The first part presents the context of the study described in this article (bibliographical synthesis, hypotheses that can be extracted from this synthesis). The second part presents the investigation results and stresses its contribution to the knowledge of personal information gathered by researchers and the different phases corresponding to the development of scientific product (those fields were rarely studied until now).


A news release from Craig McDaniel requesting assistance from the community to arrest and convict whoever illegally sent misinformation about his opponent just two days before the election.


In this paper we analyze generalized type-II hybrid ARQ procedure using rate-punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes for balanced, unbalanced, and correlated MIMO orthogonal STBC systems with Rayleigh propagation. Parameters of the corresponding finite state Markov chain (FSMC) model are derived using an SNR partition method based on equal-state duration. Analytical results for throughput and packet error rate (PER) are given as well and validated by simulations for different values of round trip delay.


The nature of dark energy can be probed not only through its equation of state but also through its microphysics, characterized by the sound speed of perturbations to the dark energy density and pressure. As the sound speed drops below the speed of light, dark energy inhomogeneities increase, affecting both cosmic microwave background and matter power spectra. We show that current data can put no significant constraints on the value of the sound speed when dark energy is purely a recent phenomenon, but can begin to show more interesting results for early dark energy models. For example, the best fit model for current data has a slight preference for dynamics [w(a){ne}-1], degrees of freedom distinct from quintessence (c{sub s{ne}}1), and early presence of dark energy [{Omega}{sub de}(a<<1){ne}0]. Future data may open a new window on dark energy by measuring its spatial as well as time variation.


We present a method of estimating quality factor Q from CMP records,and a method of estimating layer positions based on coherent characteristics of traces.First,employing a function with four undetermined parameters to approximate the source wavelet,the relation between the instantaneous frequency(IF) at the envelope peaks of seismic wavelets(EPIF) and traveltime at different offsets is derived based on the theory of one-way wave propagation in a 1D viscoelastic medium;then by using the relationship,we extrapolate the EPIF of zero offset of the event;finally,Q is estimated by combining WEPIF with the reflectivities information.Applied to synthetic pre-stack CMP models and the result indicates that the method has no boundary effect and is more precise;we also apply the method to field record,it produces a Q-curve indicating that the extent of absorption corresponds well to the gas saturation of reservoirs.


Usage motivations for social networking sites range from maintaining relationships to expanding social networks. Nevertheless, the increasing Social Media use has also brought disadvantages. It leads to negative psychological effects by the fear of missing out, and fulfilling needs as gossiping and self-presentation. Social Media users suffer from social competition and pressure to engage actively. Furthermore, increasing technostress influences their cognitive ability which leads to concentration problems, affects multitasking abilities, and produces cognitive overload. Additionally, addictive behavior has an impact on efficiency, productivity and task performance. This paper provides an overview of Social Media studies about usage intentions and psychological effects on individuals' stress and efficiency in form of a critical literature review. It can be followed up with research on Social Media marketing considering the private Social Media behavior of customers during working time.


The invention relates to a reliably working waterproof connector. A front shell and a rear shell of the waterproof connector are laminated at an interval. An insulating separator is arranged in the interval between the front and rear shells in an injection way. Opposite contact element mounting holes are formed in the front and rear shells. Contact elements penetrating through the insulating separator are arranged in the contact element mounting holes of the front and rear shells. A front insulating sleeve and a rear insulating sleeve are respectively wrapped on the outer peripheral parts of the contact elements, which are matched with the front and rear shells, and are integrated with the insulating separator in an injection molding way. The insulating separator is arranged between the front and rear shells, the front and rear insulating sleeves between the contact elements and the hole walls of the contact element mounting holes of the front and rear shells are integrated with the insulating separator, and can be tightly wrapped on the contact elements in the molding and curing processes of the insulating sleeves without any gap, and then water penetrating into gaps between the insulating sleeves and the wall holes of the contact element mounting holes cannot permeate the insulating separator, so that a reliable waterproof function is realized.


Abstract Hami melon (Cucumis melo L. var. Winchosen) flesh was extracted and the extract analysed by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry, resulting in identification of 42 volatile components. Twenty-four components were newly reported in Cucumis melo, including a series of four diacetate esters. Nonvolatile components quantified in Hami melon flesh include fructose, glucose, sucrose and ascorbic acid.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effects of desloratadine citrate disodium on serum immunological function indices (IgE, C3 and C4), inflammatory factors (IL-4, IL-17 and IL-33), and chemokines (MCP-1, RANTES and Eotaxin) in patients with chronic urticaria.

STUDY DESIGN
An experimental study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
Department of Dermatology, Shaanxi Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Xi'an, China, from January 2017 to January 2018.

METHODOLOGY
A total of 128 patients with chronic urticaria were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, with 64 patients in each group. The patients in the control group were treated with loratadine and those in the observation group were treated with desloratadine citrate disodium. After 4 weeks of treatment, the serum levels of immune function indices (IgE, C3 and C4), inflammatory factors (IL-4, IL-17 and IL-33), and chemokines (MCP-1, RANTES and Eotaxin) were determined.

RESULTS
After 4 weeks of treatment, the levels of serum IgE, IL-4, IL-17, IL-33, MCP-1, RANTES and Eotaxin in the observation group were lower than those in the control group (all p<0.001). The levels of serum C3 and C4 in the observation group were higher than those in the control group (both p<0.001).

CONCLUSION
Desloratadine citrate disodium can effectively reduce the severity of chronic urticaria, and its therapeutic mechanism may be related to balancing Th1/Th2 cell function, regulating inflammatory mediators and inhibiting the action of chemokines.


Commissioning of the LCLS-II hard X-ray FEL at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has started. This facility and its successors will ultimately accelerate electrons to 8GeV, with beams of 375 kW at 1MHz. Potential errant beams of such high-powers, will need to be detected very fast -200 μsto limit exposure and to protect beam-line and safety components. Currently, the parent low-repetition-rate (LCLS) uses ion chamber technology, both as Point Beam Loss Monitors (PBLM) by collimators, dumps, septa, etc., and also as Long Beam Loss Monitors (LBLM) that provide detection coverage in extended areas where the accelerator enclosure is not sufficiently thick to shield full beam losses. Due to the finite ion mobility and related screening effects, ion chambers are not fast enough for MHz beams, and their response would not be linear at high charge rates [1]. Consequently, LCLS-II has been designed with synthetic mono-crystalline diamond chips as PBLMs, which offer nanosecond time resolution due to the high mobility of holes in the valence band. LBLMs will be 200m-long optical fibers, with photomultipliers (PMT) that detect Čerenkov photons produced by charged particles interacting with the fibers. Models for these technologies were developed as scoring functions for the FLUKA Monte Carlo code [2, 3], and then were benchmarked and tuned against in-house experiments. Those models were then used to understand optimized placement of detectors considering shared use of detectors, response intensity or even radiation damage. The limited scope of this paper just allows highlighting the basics of each of the processes and their subsequent conclusions. SYNTHETIC DIAMOND DETECTOR RESPONSE All simulations and tests on diamond detectors described here refer to synthetic mono-crystalline diamond (C{d}) by CIVIDEC, named 'B1' type. Diamond Response Implementation By using GEANT-4 [4], CIVIDEC simulated e−/hole pair generation (i.e. charge in fC) in 500 μm of C{d} per interaction of photons, protons, neutrons, electrons or positrons of up to 1GeV, as well as the total interaction rates by those ∗ This work was supported by Department of Energy contract DE-AC0276SF00515 † firstname.lastname@example.com particles. The resulting data points for pair generation per interaction, and for total interaction probabilities, were then fitted to 5th degree polynomials, mostly on the Log-Log scale. Eventually, local function fitting to some energy ranges was also used. The five sets of polynomials were programmed in the FLUKA user modifiable routine "fluscw.f", so that fluence scoring in every voxel of the geometry can be automatically weighted by the product of the interaction probability in C{d} for the given particle at its current energy and its associated charge generation rate per interaction. Finally, in order to obtain the total signal fC per simulated primary, results should be multiplied by the actual detector volume (i.e. 8 × 10−3 cm3 for B1) and divided by the 500 × 10−4 cm path. It should be noted that the detector signal is independent of its orientation. Actually, this implementation allows anticipating the diamond detector response field in space, not requiring to code the detector geometry (materials, etc.) at any precise location. Thus, a single setup allows assessing the response of diamonds located anywhere through the scoring volume. B1 Model Benchmarking and QA Process Performance of B1 detectors and accuracy of the corresponding Monte Carlo predictions were tested in various setups at SLAC involving pulsed high-energy electron beams (up to 14.5GeV, thus leading also to intense photon and neutron fields) at ESTB facility, and low-energy photons from a 137Cs, 30Ci source at the Radiation Calibration Facility (RCF). Tests allowed identifying early bugs in the physics implementation, as well as hardware weaknesses (current leaks). After addressing all those, readings and predictions generally agreed within 20%, sometimes even within a few percent, and did not show any intensity-driven bias across the range of measurements, which spanned five orders of magnitude average current, starting at a few pA. Another conclusion was that the RCF irradiation well was also an adequate facility to calibrate B1 detectors. ČERENKOV FIBER DETECTORS Physics Implementation of Čerenkov Fibers Charged particles moving through a dielectric medium -like the silica of fibersat a speed greater than the phase velocity of light generate so-called Čerenkov photons, which are emitted at a characteristic polar angle 10th Int. Particle Accelerator Conf. IPAC2019, Melbourne, Australia JACoW Publishing ISBN: 978-3-95450-208-0 doi:10.18429/JACoW-IPAC2019-THPRB102


The distribution of vertical strain inside concrete specimens subjected to uniaxial cempression has been measured to examine the failure m chanism and localization effects. From the tests. Iocalization in uniaxial compression occurred when HfD 2 2, By conside[ing the pammeters, such as height-depth ratio (HtD), cross-section size and shape ofspecimens, it has been fbund that, when the localization oceurs, the ftacture length depends only on the width of the cross-section. The fraeture nergy in compression, whi¢ h is calcu1ated based on the obtained complete load-deformation curve and the ftacture volume, has found to be constant for the same properties of concrete. KEYVVORDS: fracture mechanics, localization effects, size effects, fracture energy in cornpression, compressive fracture l ngth


The production of Solanum tuberosum L., Lycopersicum esculentum Mill. and Physalis ixocarpa Brot. (Solanales: Solanaceae) is prone to economic loses because of the presence of Bactericera cockerelli Sulc., which is related to the Purple Top and "zebra chip" diseases, and is also considered a vector of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum. The alternatives of control have been inefficient because none of them have considered the spatial behavior of the insect inside the plot. Such behavior would allow focusing the control alternatives, making them more efficient. The purpose on this work was to model the spatial distribution of the eggs, nymphs and adults of B. cockerelli which were obtained in potato field by transects samplings, by using geostatistics tools. The results indicate that the spatial distribution of the populations of eggs, nymphs and adults of B. cockerelli type was aggregated in each sampling date. The cross validation of the semivariograms corroborates the aggregated distribution of eggs, nymphs and adults of B. cockerelli. The generated maps allow observing the aggregated structure of the insect population, letting identify both infested areas and not-infested areas. Spatiotemporal stability was found for the three stages of the insect.


In contemporary imaging methods the magnitude of the electromagnetic signals is assumed to be independent of the distance between the radiating region and the receiver. The veracity of this assumption is evaluated for a typical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scenario. Further, a more exact model of the MR signal based on magnetic dipoles is proposed and used for image reconstruction. The received signals are modeled using the complete electromagnetic field representation and the reconstructed images are compared with that using the models reported in literature. The difference that the complete form of the electromagnetic fields makes to the final reconstructed image is seen to be significant.


This paper proposes a new user interface paradigm for motion capture based animation systems, providing intuitive and eecient ways to visualize the main motion capture concepts and operations. A prototype system was built, implementing the proposed interface model and supported by a exible architecture that is suitable to work with the motion capture methodology.


High cattle densities, expanding human settlements and the conversion of miombo woodland into farms and teak plantations are threatening wildlife populations in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania, and conservation research on this internationally important wetland is required as part of an integrated approach to its future management. The effect of land-use change on antelopes (family Bovidae) was investigated by surveying tracks and dung during three seasons over 1999–2000 in an area of mixed land-use. Use of miombo woodland, grassland and farmland habitats by antelopes was highest during the wet season (April–May), probably representing the movements of animals away from the floodplain. Duiker, puku Kobus vardoni and reedbuck Redunca spp. predominantly used the farmland during the wet season, at which time buffalo Syncerus caffer were more common in the miombo woodland. The findings of this study have three main implications for the conservation of the valley. Firstly, the inadvertent provision of suitable wet season habitats for puku and other small-medium antelopes by rice farmers could lead to higher levels of illegal hunting, and may increase the potential for conflict between agriculture and wildlife. Secondly, the loss of miombo vegetation will most strongly affect the larger species of antelope (sable Hippotragus niger and waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus), which favour open-woodland habitats; future work should therefore determine levels of habitat use by antelopes in and around maturing teak plantations. Thirdly, any management prescriptions to conserve the Kilombero Valley should include the land on the edge of the floodplain.


Adult-onset Still′s disease (AOSD) is a rare auto-inflammatory syndrome. In Zambia, like most parts of Africa, fever is usually caused by infections (e.g., tuberculosis) and infestations (e.g., malaria). AOSD represents one of the few febrile conditions that are not due to microbial infections or parasitic infestations. It therefore cannot be managed with antibiotics or antihelminthics. Generally, patients are <35-year-old, febrile, have arthralgias, and an evanescent maculopapular rash. Treatment of AOSD requires the use of immunosuppressant drugs. This is the first report of a patient with AOSD in Zambia. It is one of the very few cases to be reported in Africa.


PURPOSE: Fluid circulation pipes inside geothermal holes at constant intervals and a manufacturing method thereof are provided to reduce a time for manufacturing the fluid circulation pipes by integrally pressing an inflow pipe, a discharge pipe, and a spacer. CONSTITUTION: Fluid circulation pipes inside geothermal holes at constant intervals comprise an inflow pipe(11), a discharge pipe(12), a spacer(14), a connecting pipe(13), and a balancing weight. The spacer is installed between the inflow pipe and the discharge pipe, and maintains the gap between the inflow pipe and the discharge pipe. When the inflow pipe and the discharge pipe are successively extrusion-molded, the spacer is extrusion-molded with the inflow pipe and the discharge pipe. The balancing weight is connected to the connection pipe, and guides the insertion of the fluid circulation pipe into the geothermal hole.


Background: HER2/neu is overexpressed in 15-25% of gastric cancer patients and associated with poor prognosis. Alternative treatments to monoclonal antibodies are needed due to cost and global availability issues of mAbs. Thus a B-cell peptide vaccine (IMU-131) was developed, consisting of 3 fused B-cell epitopes (p467) from the HER2/neu extracellular domain coupled to CRM197 applied with the adjuvant Montanide. The current study evaluated the optimal and safe vaccine dose leading to immunogenicity and clinical responses. Material & Methods: In an open-label multicenter Phase Ib trial in SE-Asia and Eastern Europe, 14 patients with HER2/neu overexpressing (++/+++) gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma were recruited to receive 3 injections of IMU-131 (days 0, 14, 35) in combination with chemotherapy (CT) every 21 days. Dose escalation with 10 µg, 30 µg and 50 µg was performed in 3 cohorts. Safety, immunogenicity and clinical responses were evaluated. Results: No SAEs related to administration of IMU-131 were reported. Eleven of 14 patients were evaluable for vaccine-specific immune responses and 10 for tumor growth assessment. Higher p467- and Her-2 specific IgG levels were observed in cohort 2 (30 µg/dose) compared to cohort 1 (10 µg/dose). Two of five patients in cohort 2 showed minimal antibody titers. In contrast, all patients in cohort 3 (50µg/dose) responded to the vaccine with equally high antibody levels. Response rate was an exploratory endpoint and of 10 evaluable patients, 5 patients showed partial response and 4 patients showed stable disease. In cohort 3 the high antibody levels correlated with clinical response, while in cohort 2 only moderate correlations between humoral and clinical responses were observed. In cohort 1 partial response did not correlate with Ab levels, but rather with a high percentage of CD8 T-cells and increased inflammatory cytokine levels (high IFN-γ and TNF-α/IL-10 ratio). Conclusions: The vaccine was well tolerated and safe with antibody responses at the highest dose (50 µg) showing a strong correlation with clinical responses. Thus, a dose of 50 µg was recommended for further evaluation in Phase II, featuring two arms of either IMU 131 plus CT or CT alone. We propose that this vaccine might be of significant medical benefit and further trials are warranted. Citation Format: Ursula Wiedermann, Erika Garner-Spitzer, Yee Chao, Iurie Bulat, Arunee Dechaphunkul, Wichit Arpornwirat, Chaiyut Charoentum, Chia-Jui Yen, Thomas Cheung Yau, Marina Maglakelidze, Suebpong Tanasanvimon, Jedzada Maneechavakajorn, Aumkhae Sookprasert, Li-Yuan Bai, Wen-Chi Chou, Teerapat Ungtrakul, Christoph C. Zielinski, Leslie Chong, Nick Ede, Anthony J Good. A Phase Ib open label multicenter study with a HER2/neu peptide vaccine administered with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil or capecitabine chemotherapy shows safety, immunogenicity and clinical response in patients with HER2/Neu overexpressing advanced cancer of the stomach [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr CT059.


In goat and sheep flocks, mycoplasmosis is a disease that may cause severe economical losses associated with polyarthritis, mastitis, agalactia, conjunctivitis, pneumonia and reproductive failure. The latter may involve repeat breeding, granular vulvovaginitis, infertility and abortions. The aim of the present study was to assess the occurrence of Mycoplasma agalactiae (Ma) in semen and milk samples from naturally infected goat in the semiarid region from Pernambuco State, Northeast from Brazil. Thirty-nine semen samples and 81 milk samples were submitted to DNA extraction using a commercially available kit and following the manufacturer's instructions. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was then performed in accordance with protocols described in the literature. The results of the present study revealed the presence of Ma in the DNA of 17.9% (7/39) of the semen samples and 3.7% (3/81) of the milk samples. The results obtained in the present study confirm the elimination of the DNA of Ma in the semen and milk samples. The presence of this agent in goat flocks is considered very risky in terms of reproductive disorders and contagious agalactia outbreaks in the Northeast region of Brazil.


Aims: Microbiologic evaluation of cotton, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) tape, and foam as an endodontic spacer material in permanent premolars and molars – an ex vivo study. Subjects and Methods: After ethical approval, 72 patients who signed the informed consent form participated in the study. Following access opening and biomechanical preparation, the teeth were randomly assigned to cotton (n = 24), PTFE tape (n = 24), and foam group (n = 24). Samples obtained from the access cavity at baseline (sample one – S1) and after seven days (sample two – S2) were checked for an increase in the microbial load. They were placed on brain-heart infusion agar plates, incubated aerobically for 48 h, and the colony-forming units were calculated. Statistical Analysis: One-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc test were used and a P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was a statistically significant difference in all the three groups concerning baseline and after Seven-day mean values. An intergroup comparison revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean difference values between the cotton and PTFE tape group. Whereas, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean difference values between the cotton and foam and PTFE tape and foam group. Conclusions: Within the limitations of the study, it can be stated that the PTFE tape and foam group performed better than cotton.


The interwoven relations of the two longstanding strategic allies is still continuing after the lapse of thirty-six years of the Islamic Revolution of Iran and have occupied the minds of many political thinkers from the past years to the present time and have forced them to investigate the causes of the continuing tensions between Iran and the United States of America. However, this study aims at investigating the role of culture and identity in the bilateral relations of the two countries. The author tries to answer this question by using the theory of Constructivism stating that how culture and identity affect the relations between Iran and the United States of America. Besides, the required data were collected through library references and the research is a descriptive – analytical case. It seems that culture and identity because of playing an important role in the definition of "self", "other" and "interests" of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America, can be considered as one of the main reasons for the continuing tension between the two countries. The findings show that, cultural values and the identity components of the Islamic Republic of Iran have challenged the unclaimed domination of the United States of America and have affected the national interests and the security of this country through. Accordingly, the United States of America in the past thirty-six years has been challenging with Islamic Republic of Iran.


Observations of the effects of oxytocics on the human pregnant cervix have been made in vivo using a double open ended catheter technique. Prostaglandin E2, prostaglandin F2α and oxytocin had similar but no specific effects upon the intracervical canal pressure; ergometrine caused contractions of the cervix. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to cervical rupture and cervico–vaginal fistulae that have been reported following second trimester abortion induced with prostaglandins.


Anti-irritants, whether naturally occurring or man-made, are substances that provide a soothing effect to irritated skin and reduce damage by a variety of mechanisms, including reduced absorption and/or biochemical manipulation of noxious chemicals. These products show promise in reducing irritation caused by acute and chronic exposure to known irritant chemicals; however, the data on anti-irritants are incomplete. Controlled trials of the efficacy of proposed anti-irritants substances in reducing irritant contact dermatitis in human and animal models are reviewed. Based on our literature and hand search, anti-irritants seem promising in treating and preventing a variety of irritant contact dermatitis conditions, but their true effects remain sub judice. Many studies do not allow deduction of clinical effects. Further experimentation must be performed to assess sensitivity and specificity of each anti-irritant to their specific irritant-inducing substance.


A Thesis Submitted to Ethiopian Institute of Architecture Building construction and city development to the school of graduates studies of Addis Ababa University in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the degree of masters of Arts in urban land and property valuation


In order to study the effects of different diets on the amino acids content in duodenum digesta of cows,6 kinds of diet with 2 kinds of roughage (corn stover silage and corn stover) and 3 kinds of concentrate to roughage ratio (3∶7,4.5∶5.5 and 7∶3) were used as feed in the research. Three healthy Holstein cows with permanent cannulas at the proximal duodenum with the body weight of 550~600 kg were selected according to 3×3 Latin design. The experiment was divided into 2 stages with 3 periods. The results showed that the kinds of roughage had little influence on content of amino acids,while the ratio of concentrate to roughage had larger influence. The influence of dietary composition on the content of amino acids changed with the kinds of amino acids. The most affected amino acids were Met,Thr and Leu,and the Val,Lys,Phe and His were the second,while Arg and Ile changed little with the dietary composition. The results indicated that the kinds of roughage and the ratio of concentrate to roughage could influence the content of amino acids in duodenum digesta.


An electrodeless microwave-excited discharge in argon has been used to examine the population densities of some seventeen Ar I and six Ar II atomic levels at pressures between 6.0 and 0.02 mbar. Electron density measurements in the range 1017 to 1018 m-3 were made from the microwave impedance and these were compared with the ion density measurements from double floating probes. The results show the importance of ion loss to the tube walls and the necessity of allowing for ionic diffusion when using the probe method. The atomic system is shown to be in the (quasi-) saturated phase and the population coefficient rm(1) is determined for seven Ar I atomic levels from 6s to 9s. The influence of microwave power upon the plasma quantities, electron density, ion density and electron temperature, and the atomic level populations has been demonstrated. It is found that the input power and pressure are dependent variables.


A 15-year-old boy was referred to the ear, nose and throat department with a 5-year history of left-sided nasal obstruction and purulent, foul-smelling nasal discharge. On flexible nasendscopy, mucopurulent discharge from the left middle meatus was noted and the nasendoscope could not be passed beyond this point. The right nasal passage was entirely normal.

A CT scan of the sinuses demonstrated a hyperdense, irregular mass measuring 2.5×2.5 cm in the left posterior nasal airway, projecting into the nasopharynx (figure 1). There was no history of foreign body insertion.

Figure 1
A coronal CT of the foreign body in the left nasal cavity.

Operative findings during examination under anaesthetic were of a large occlusive foreign body lodged …


Nowadays, data security has become very important. A data can be hidden with a steganography technique into text, image, audio and video files. Steganography is used widely data security applications. But there are stegoanalysis methods that provides obtaining hidden data. To prevent this, steganography can be used with cryptography or different methods. Cryptography is not enough alone for data security sometimes. In this study, the information is encrypted and hidden because of it is important to prevent capture of information by undesirable persons. Firstly, plain text is encrypted with RSA encryption algorithm and then encrypted data is hidden into an image for data security in this study. Stego image consist of text and an image which is data hidden into an image. We show that how is hidden information and besides how visual difference is become on example images.


The primary purposes of this study were to investigate both the appropriateness and the implications of incorporating a testlet definition into the estimation of the conditional standard error of measurement (SEM) for tests composed of testlets. When individual items are used as the fundamental measurement unit with tests composed of testlets, the assumptions required by measurement modeling are violated, but those assumptions are satisfied when testlet scores are used as the measurement unit. Therefore, item-based estimation methods probably introduce some magnitude of bias in the estimates of conditional SEMs for tests composed of testlets. The five conditional SEM estimation methods used in this study were classified as either item-based or testlet-based methods. In general, the item-based methods provide lower estimates of the conditional SEM along the score scale than do the testlet-based methods.


Propranolol prevents hemod ynamic and humoral events after abrupt withdrawal of nitroprusside. FAHMY, N.R., MIHELAKOS, P.T. et al. (1984) Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 36,410. Splanchnic and renal elimination and release of catecholamines in cirrhosis. HENRIKSEN, J.H. et al. (1984) Cut, 25, 1034. Propranolol interactions with diazepam, lorazepam, and alprazolam. OCHS, H.R., GREENBLATT, D.J. et al. (1984) Clinical Pharmacology, 36.45 I . Noradrenaline: a circulating inhibitor of sodium transport. RIOZZI, A., HEAGERN, A.M. et al. (1984) British Medical Journal, 239, 1025. Effect of adrenaline on myocardial oxygen consumption during beta-adrenoceptor blockade comparison: of atenolol and pindolol. SIMONSEN, S., WELZEL, D. ( 1 984) European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 21, 29. Beta-adrenergic blockade and training in human subjects: effects on muscle metabolic capacity. SWDENHAG, J. et al. (1984) American Journal of Physiology. 241, E 305.


The invention provides a method for accurately measuring the position of a fixed star by an astrometry telescope through a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) detector. The method specifically comprises the following steps: selecting the CCD detector used on a full-automatic astrometry instrument terminal, mounting and utilizing the CCD detector, utilizing an automatic focusing principle and an automatic focusing method of the CCD detector and accurately measuring the position of the fixed star by using a picture photographed by the CCD detector. According to the method provided by the invention, the measurement work of the position of the fixed star can be carried out on the astrometry telescope by using the CCD detector; the observation efficiency is improved, the structure is simple and the utilization is convenient; the method can be popularized and applied to the astrometry telescope.


We introduce the notion of an isotropic quantum state associated with a Bohr-Sommerfeld manifold in the context of Berezin-Toeplitz quantization of general symplectic manifolds, and we study its semi-classical properties using the near diagonal expansion of the Bergman kernel. We then show how these results extend to the case of complete orbifolds, and give an example of application to relative Poincar\'e series.


One child in five wets the bed at the age of 4 (Bransby, Blomfield, and Douglas, 1955). Thereafter the incidence falls, but even at the age of 14 between 2 and 3% of the population remain enuretic. Many pharmacological remedies have been applied to this problem in the past, but there have been few controlled trials, and little evidence of better than placebo response with such traditional remedies as amphetamine and belladonna derivatives (Kim, 1959; Glicklich, 1951). Until the introduction of the newer antidepressant drugs, the only effective treatment has been the alarm (Mowrer and Mowrer, 1938; Lovibond, 1964). The acceptability of this form of treatment may be limited by socio-economic factors and the high degree of co-operation demanded from both child and parent. The relapse rate with the alarm is high (Turner and Young, 1966). A safe and effective pharmacological method of control or cure remains a desirable goal. MacLean (1960) was the first to report the apparent effectiveness of imipramine in nocturnal enuresis, and his initial uncontrolled observations preceded more than 60 subsequent papers on the subject. In this welter of literature we have noted only 12 satisfactorily designed trials. However, only 2 of these (Poussaint and Ditman, 1965; Friday and Feldman, 1966) were conducted on children referred to a paediatric out-patient clinic, the remainder having been carried out on children in institutions, service recruits, or disturbed children being seen at a psychiatric centre. Friday and Feldman (1966) studied 51 children, the majority ofwhom came from a socially deprived background, with a high incidence of neurotic behaviour. These were given a brief course of treatment with 10 or 25 mg. imipramine, depending on age; 82% of the children had their wetting frequency reduced by over 50% while on the drug, as compared to 4500 of those children receiving placebo.


Ninety seven patients radically operated upon for cancer of the rectum and colon were examined, the follow-up being 1-14 years. In 59 cases colostomy was performed. The disability and occupational activity of these patients have been studied as well. The working capacity of patients operated after the Miles technic was retained in 50%, 43%--resumed their former activities. The colostomized patients were found to have the greatest difficulties in gaining rehabilitation. For adequate screening of the colon through a colostome a special device--an anoobtlrator was developed.


CMOS has become a major technology for VLSI because of its low power dissipation, high noise margin, and ease in circuit design. In order to achieve higher circuit speed, it is necessary to boost the performance of the active devices and reduce the parasitics associated with various levels of interconnects. For example, silicide has been applied to gate as well as source/drain levels to minimize parasitic resistances. In this paper, a bulk CMOS process is presented in which the performance of the active devices is enhanced. Half-micron gate length and 15 nm gate oxide are used to increase the transconductance of the devices. A new source/drain contact and interconnect scheme [1] allows a reduction in diffusion area and minimizes junction capacitance. Using this process, functional ring oscillators fabricated with e-beam lithography show 76 ps stage delay per fan-out at 3.3 V, which is the shortest reported for bulk CMOS process.


The UV convolution spectrometry was used to determine Benzoic acid ,Saccharin sodium, Citric acid in the compound drink without any separation. The average recoveries of three components and RSD were 99.43%(RSD1.41%);99.24%(RSD1.29%);99.54%(RSD1.80%) respectively.


The invention discloses a method for keeping performance of an electrolytic ozone generator and prolonging service life. A machine control system composed of all control electromagnetic valves in the electrolytic ozone generator is connected with a direct current power supply (8-1) in the electrolytic ozone generator; an ozone generator in the electrolytic ozone generator is connected with a direct current power supply (8-2) in the electrolytic ozone generator. The method is characterized in that the direct current power supply (8-1) provides control current for the machine control system when the electrolytic ozone generator needs to provide ozone; the direct current power supply (8-2) provides constant membrane electrode working current for the ozone generator; the direct current power supply (8-1) stops outputting of current when the electrolytic ozone generator does not need to provide ozone; the direct current power supply (8-2) continues to provide constant membrane electrode working current for the ozone generator, and excessive ozone generated by the ozone generator is reduced into oxygen to discharge. By adopting the method, the condition that a membrane electrode of the electrolytic ozone generator still can keep excellent activity after long-term operation is ensured, so that the electrolytic ozone generator generates stable ozone amount while the electrolytic ozone generator is stable in performance and long in service life.


【The current study examined the effects of freeze-dried mulberry fruit on disaccharidase activity in the small intestine and the lowering of blood glucose in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Sprague-Dawley male rats were randomly assigned to one normal and three streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic groups. The diabetic groups were fed a mulberry fruit-free diet (DM-group), 0.3% mulberry fruit diet (DM-F group) or 0.6% mulberry fruit diet (DM-2F group). After they were fed the experimental diets for three weeks, diabetes was induced with an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin 50 mg/kg b.w before sacrificing 9 days later using the same experimental treatments. Analyses of anthocyanins, flavonoid and 1-deoxynojirimycin (DNJ) of lyophilized mulberry fruit were carried out and the major anthocyanins were rutin (142.5 mg), isoquercitrin (10.3 mg), quercetin (5.8 mg), morin (1.6 mg) dihydroquercetin (3.83 mg), cy-3-O-glucopyranoside (230.45 mg) and cy-3-O-rutinoside (131.5 mg) on the basis of 100 g dry weight. Total DNJ content was 2.39 mg/g dry weight of lyophilized mulberry fruit. Blood glucose level decreased in the diabetic mts fed the mulberry fruit supplement. The content of the liver glycogen increased in the diabetic mts fed the mulberry fruit supplement. Disaccharidase activity in the proximal part of the intestine, such as that of maltase, sucrase and lactase in the mulberry fruit supplementation groups, were lower than that of the DM group. These results suggest that mulberry fruit possess a suppressive effect on hyperglycemia, possibly by inhibiting the activity of disaccharidase in the small intestine of rats.】


An analytical approximation for the relative incremental permeability of soft ferrites as a function of the magnetic field H is proposed. The numerical values of the parameters of the approximation are given for several current materials. Experiments confirming its validity are reported. The approximation is useful in design of nonlinear magnetic components and in analysis of circuits using them.


To harness the rich amount of information available on the Web today, many organizations start to aggregate public (and private) data to derive new knowledge bases. A fundamental challenge in constructing an accurate integrated knowledge repository from different data sources is to understand how facts across different sources are related to one another over time. This challenge, referred to as the temporal record linkage problem, goes far beyond the traditional record linkage problem as it requires a fine-grained analysis of how two facts are temporally related if they both refer to the same entity. In this paper, we present a new solution for understanding how two facts may be temporally related and exploit the knowledge to profile how entities evolve over time. Our solution makes use of a novel transition model which captures sophisticated patterns of value transitions. Specifically, our transition model captures the probability that an entity may change to a particular attribute value after some time period. This transition model can be considered jointly with various source quality metrics to fine-tune how records should be temporally linked to entities. In particular, we showcase how the freshness of data sources can be built into a source-aware temporal matching algorithm that jointly considers the value transitions and the freshness of data sources to link temporal records to entities in the right time period. In this way, an increasingly complete and up-to-date entity profile can be derived as more and more temporal records are aggregated from different sources. Our suite of experimental results on real world datasets demonstrate that our proposed method is able to outperform the state-of-the-art techniques and build more complete profiles for entities by identifying their true matching temporal records at the right time period.


The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) is potentially among the most advanced electric propulsion technologies, since it allows thrust with very high continuous variable specific impulse. Since 1995, the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at the NASA Johnson Space Center has conducted experimental and theoretical research on the VASIMR. Ion cyclotron resonant heating (ICRH) is the main mechanism of power deposition from radio waves, generated by the Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency (ICRF) antenna, into the VASIMR plasma (Figure 1). The goal of numerical simulations is to model the underlying physics processes and to help design a Radio Frequency (RF) antenna to maximize heating efficiency. There are also two closely related tasks: to model the magnetic nozzle and to optimize the overall performance of VASIMR. Mathematical simulation of ICRH helps to design an RF-antenna, i.e. make maximal absorption of RF power into the plasma in the resonance area.


What does it mean to learn from history, and can it make you a better investment professional? Economic and financial history have been experiencing a revival in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, and governments and central banks have been using claims and assumptions about past historical events to support and justify their policy decisions, for better or for worse. Knowledge about economic and financial history matters at a macro/ systemic level and for individual investment professionals. But do we know what we're doing? We asked CFA Institute Financial NewsBrief readers about the importance of economic and financial history to their success as investment professionals. Of the 844 responses, an overwhelming majority (96%) answered that it was either very or somewhat important. I suspect, however, that some may not know how to use this knowledge to make better investment decisions (or, at the very least, avoid poor ones).


In recent years, the literature reveals that creativity is an essential ingredient for strategy formulation. This creative potential in strategy formulation is manifested by four strategic roles played by middle managers: facilitating adaptability, implementing deliberate strategy, synthesising information and championing alternatives. In this perspective, the purpose of this research is to investigate the direct impact of strategic roles of middle managers (SRMMs) on the creativity in strategy, and the moderating effect of SRMMs on the relationship between the creativity in strategy and organisational performance. A survey questionnaire has been distributed to 350 CEOs of large Tunisian companies involved in the upgrading program. The results of the application of structural equation methods show a central roles of strategic middle managers both in its relationship to creativity in strategy, as in the relationship between creativity in strategy and organisational performance.


The relation between fan speed reduction and airflow uniformity in a stack during kiln drying of timber was established. The results obtained from selected drying quality parameters support the hypothesis on the negative influence of excessive fan speed reduction as related to the decrease of air velocity spread, but also causes an increased differentiation of drying conditions in the stack. It is primarily due to air velocity reduction below the level ensuring the required drying conditions. The results of the performed analyses may be used to develop principles of fan speed reduction which account for a uniform airflow in the stack for a given option of fan speed.


Content: Chlorine: history, manufacture, properties, hazards and uses -- Hypochlorination -- On-site generation of chlorine -- Chemistry of chlorination -- Determination of chlorine residuals in water and wastewater treatment -- chlorination of potable water -- Chlorination of wastewater -- Disinfection of wastewater -- Chlorination facility design -- Dechlorination -- Operation and maintenance of chlorination and dechlorination equipment -- Chlorine dioxide -- Ozone -- Bromine, bromine chloride, iodine and UV radiation


The long life working requirements was achieved using brushless DC torque motor as the antenna driving component and selecting photoelectric encoder as a goniometric component according to the radar searching system require continuous operation,high reliability working,The thesis introduced the working principle of system composition;a detailed analysis was carried out about load rotational inertia,wind-force torque,friction torque,unbalanced torque and provided computation formula,presented the selection principle of the drive motor and the angle measuring device,and discussed engineering design theory of the power driver of the brushless DC torque motor,system current loop,velocity loop,system reliability,security,a set of system was developed finally according to the design principle,and carried out system simulation and experiment.


Introduction: COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus which has varies from mild to severe symptoms. This study aimed to determine serum zinc level in COVID-19 patients and find out it's correlation with c-reactive protein. Method: 150 Covid-19 patients, with certain RT-PCR positive result and CT-scan for percentage of lung involvement, were enrolled in the study. Blood samples were collect from the patients for biochemical assessment. Results: The results showed a significant negative correlation between serum zinc with c-reactive protein, percentage of lung involvement and recovery days. Conclusion: zinc is trace element with important body functions and need further studies to enforced its role on COVID-19 inflammatory status.