This investigation attempts to examine the effect of UV-B radiation on germination, seedling growth, chlorophyll a and b content, soluble phenol, anthocyanin and flavonoid contents of sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.). Final germination percentage was significantly reduced but germination velocity was enhanced. Chlorophylls a and b and total Chlophyll a+b content declined significantly in response to UV-B exposure. However, chlorophyll a/b ratio was substantially increased. Marked accumulation of soluble phenol was observed as a result of UV-stress. Anthocyanin and flavonoids were increased in response to UV-B radiation as they provide a protective mechanism to UV-radiations. These results are discussed in the light of the mode of action of UV-B radiation. development and physiological and biochemical responses of sunflower to supplemental UV-B radiation. at 2000rpm for 15 minutes to clear the suspension. Supernatant, which contained soluble pigments was used for determination of chlorophylls. Absorbance of the extract was recorded at 663, 645 and 630nm on Shimadzu UV-1201 spectrophotometer against 80% (v/v) acetone blank. The chlorophyll content was calculated using the formula given below and expressed in mg/g fresh weight.


Background and Purpose: Childhood cancer can affect the adjustment of children and their parents, especially their mothers. This study aimed to assess the correlation between the general health and illness perception of mothers of children with cancer with the quality of life of their children. Materials and Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study conducted on 100 children with cancer and their mothers referred to Ayatollah Kashani Hospital in Shahrekord City, Iran, from 2019 to 2021. They were selected by convenience sampling. The study data were collected by the general health questionnaire, brief illness perception questionnaire, questionnaire on the quality of life (QoL) of preschool children (1-6 years old), and questionnaire on the QoL of children (aged 8-12 years). The Pearson correlation test was used for data analysis. Results: Among the children with cancer, 43 were girls, and 57 were boys. The Mean±SD age of the children was 7.67±3.48 years. The results of the Pearson correlation test showed a significant correlation between the general health of mothers with the QoL of preschool children (r=-0.70, P<0.001) and the QoL of primary school children (r=-0.64, P<0.001) as well as the QoL of primary school children (completed by parents) (r=-0.65, P<0.001). The correlation between illness perception and other variables, such as the quality of life of preschool children (r=0.21, P=0.19) and the QoL of primary school children (r=0.18, P=0.18), were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Due to a significant correlation between mothers' general health with the QoL of children with cancer, it is recommended that the medical and nursing team benefit from psychological interventions in this field for mothers and children with cancer.


Here we present carbon nanotube (CNT) buckypaper with efficient loading and releasing patterns for negatively charged drug. Carbonaceous membrane (Chit–NH2 /CNT) with three-dimensionally interwoven porous nanostructure and positive surface was prepared by self-assembly of CNT fibers hybridized with chitosan (Chit–NH2 ) in core–shell structure. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images clearly showed that core–shell structured Chit–NH2 /CNT fibers and countless nanosized pores at less than 30 nm in length were formed between positively charged Chit–NH2 /CNT fibers. Based on Brunauer–Emmett–Teller N2 -adsorption method, the surface area, average pore size, and pore volume were approximately 19.7 m2/g, 9.54 nm, and 0.043 cc/g, respectively. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) loading and releasing profiles of these carbonaceous membrane constructed with positively charged CNT fibers were tested. The maximum entrapment of BSA was at a loading capacity of 0.65 mg/mg for 1.0 mg of Chit–NH2 /CNT hybrid membrane. The maximum release of BSA was about 65% of the entrapped amount for 1.0 mg of Chit–NH2 /CNT hybrid membrane. BSA was almost continuously released over the 11-day period at a rate of about 0.23 g/day. Chit–NH2 /CNT hybrid membranes showing impressive drug-loading/-releasing characteristics could be potentially used as transdermal drug delivery system for negatively charged drugs in the medicinal field and tissue regeneration area.


From mid-2004 to mid-2007, the Iraq war was distinguished from other comparable insurgencies by its high rates of civilian victimization. This has been attributed to a number of different factors, including the role of Islamic fundamentalist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq as well as the regional ambitions of Iran and Syria. Using an unpublished dataset of violence in Iraq from 2003–2008 from the Iraq Body Count (IBC), this paper argues that the violence against civilians is best understood as a combination of three interacting logics—bargaining, fear, and denial—that are predominantly local in character. First, armed Iraqi actors bargained through violence both across and within sectarian communities, and were driven by mechanisms of outbidding and outflanking to escalate their attacks on civilians. Second, the pervasive fear about the future of the Iraqi state encouraged the "localization" of violence in Iraq, particularly in the emergence of a security dilemma and the proliferation of criminal and tribal actors. Finally, Islamist groups such as al-Qaeda in Iraq played the spoiler in Iraq, using mass-casualty attacks to generate fear among the population and deny U.S. efforts to build a functioning state. Only by addressing each of these three logics as part of its counter-insurgency strategy can the U.S. put an end to violence against civilians and develop the Iraqi state into a credible competitor for the loyalties of the population.


At the National Library of Medicine (NLM), an application-level technique for improving the transmission rate of large images across the Internet has been developed. Initial performance tests were conducted in 1994 and evaluation has continued with a series of tests conducted with cervical X-ray image files transmitted from Texas Tech University, the University of Arizona and the NASA Lewis Research Center to NLM. Statistics were collected to compare the observed transmission rate using the NLM technique versus conventional FTP transmission. On the links tested, the average transmission rate using the new technique showed a consistent improvement over conventional methods, including a 2- to 3-fold improvement on the Tucson and Cleveland tests. Work is now underway to extend the initial implementation into a portable, robust technique. In this paper, we present high-level design concepts for the second implementation and provide results of the most recent tests.<<ETX>>


We present a coupled opto-electronic oscillator architecture with independent stabilization of optical frequency and mode spacing. Decoupling the two parameters is accomplished by filtering the spectrum into three regions for generation of unique error signals.


This paper intends to present the importance of "electronic" in relation to Public Administration. I will present here a scheme showing the links that the citizen has with the government throughout life. Further, the scheme is completed with a table showing the electronic services (and their degree of maturity) found in Romanian institutions. Obviously, the ideal would be that the overlapping of these two categories of information is perfect. To reach, at least partially, this ideal I present five pillars that support, in theory, the concept of egovernment.I will draw a legislative framework under which we find the mentioned the concept of electronic. We will see here that legislative initiatives have emerged around the pillars mentioned in the first part. Even if today, in 2012, there are two pillars (pillar four and five) fully uncovered by legislation, there are at the experimental level several local initiatives.A better implementation of e-gov should be started close to the citizens. Obviously, the best examples must come from the top of the pyramid (Government, ministries), but people have an initial area of interaction with these smaller institutions, their representatives in the regions: prefectures, municipalities, financial departments etc.The topic is intended to evidence both the incursion into classical studies using as a foundation researches developed earlier, and the changing paradigm in the context of changing environment and analyze the influence factors.


A type of nanoribbon with four-membered rings was synthesized and was found to behave like a hologram of atomic orbitals.


We deal with Dirichlet's problem for second order quasilinear non-divergence form elliptic equations with discontinuous coefficients. First we state suitable structure, growth, and regularity conditions ensuring solvability of the problem under consideration. Then we fix a solution u0 such that the linearized in u0 problem is non-degenerate, and we apply the Implicit Function Theorem: For all small perturbations of the coefficient functions there exists exactly one solution u ≈ u0, and u depends smoothly (in W 2,p with p larger than the space dimension) on the data. For that no structure and growth conditions are needed, and the perturbations of the coefficient functions can be general L∞-functions with respect to the space variable x. Moreover we show that the Newton Iteration Procedure can be applied to calculate a sequence of approximate (in W 2,p again) solutions for u0.


The invention relates to random terpolymers based on itaconic acid, aconitic acid and sodium alkenyl sulphates, prepared by means of polymerisation in an aqueous solution using free radicals at an acid pH in the range of 1.0 to 3.5, with a redox system as an indicator. Said terpolymers act as inhibitors of mineral scaling, such as calcium carbonate, calcium sulphates, strontium and barium, and dispersants of clays, iron oxides, carbonates and calcium sulphate.


The paper addresses preparation of engineering students for the global market. The following issues are discussed: the most important attributes of academic mobility; crosscultural competence as a determinant of successful global professional communication; experience of the Kazan National Research Technological University (Russia) in crosscultural competence development. Academic mobility is considered as a social phenomenon and as a personal quality, an integral unity of four basic components: cognitive, communicative, pragmatist and reflexive. Within cross-cultural competence we point out motivational, cognitive, personal, and communicative/behavioral components. National Universities in Russia intensify efforts to integrate into the global academic community. There is still a plurality of problems regarding mobility, second language fluency and cross-cultural competence. In this paper we propose introducing an additional degree (Russian equivalent to the Western minor degree) as one of the tools for preparation of students for mobility programs. Results of cross-cultural training are presented and discussed.


Dartford Borough Museum has also built up collections of over 10,000 specimens. It has no geological staff but over 25 years of voluntary work by John Carreck have made this one of the best organised and documented collections in the region. Its strengths lie in local Kentish material and especially Pleistocene mammals from Swanscombe. The collections held have not been well publicised but include E.E.S. Brown, A.L. Leach, J.N. Carreck, R.H. Chandler, Simeon Priest, F.J. Epps, A.G. Wrigley, C.W. Wright, A.G. Davis., A.T. Marston, G.E. Dibley, John Griffiths, and W. Furner....


The longitudinal swelling of three different sorts of wools, when permanently set, has been studied. It has been observed that, when progressively set, Mohair fibers, which acquire a set much more readily, show retarded swelling, compared to Blackface wool fibers. The effect of setting time reveals that the structure of Mohair fiber opens up at a much faster rate, but the swelling is high in the case of Blackface wool fiber which exhibits poor settability. Moreover, in each case, fibers, on acquiring a certain set, show a decrease in longitudinal swelling due to bond re-formation. It appears that the increase in longitudinal swelling, which is due to changes in the cortical regions, is influenced not only by the setting strain or the setting time; the number of strained bonds initially present and the ease of bond re-formation also determine the extent of swelling.


Aeromonas hydrophila B11 strain was isolated from diseased Anguilla japonica, which had caused severe gill ulcers in farmed eel, causing huge economic losses. EnvZ‐OmpR is a model two‐component system in the bacteria and is widely used in the research of signal transduction and gene transcription regulation. In this study, the ompR of A. hydrophila B11 strain was first silenced by RNAi technology. The role of ompR in the pathogenicity of A. hydrophila B11 was investigated by analyzing both the bacterial comparative transcriptome and phenotype. The qRT‐PCR results showed that the expression of ompR in the ompR‐RNAi strain decreased by 97% compared with the wild‐type strain. The virulence test showed that after inhibition of the ompR expression, the LD50 of A. hydrophila B11 decreased by an order of magnitude, suggesting that ompR is involved in the regulation of bacterial virulence. Comparative transcriptome analysis showed that the expression of ompR can directly regulate the expression of several important virulence‐related genes, such as the bacterial type II secretion system; moreover, ompR expression also regulates the expression of multiple genes related to bacterial chemotaxis, motility, adhesion, and biofilm formation. Further studies on the phenotype of A. hydrophila B11 and ompR‐RNAi also confirmed that the downregulation of ompR expression can decrease bacterial chemotaxis, adhesion, and biofilm formation.


School manuals have special place among the socio-cultural acquisition of the past, which are the kind of reflection of certain era, the level of knowledge, worldview and prevailing stereotypes in the field of education. The manual is a carrier of the content of education, definitions, storage of knowledge and methods of learning that is necessary in this society. The complexity of the manual, the richness of its types, structure, diversity of its content and functions define it as a valuable historical document, the research of which provides opportunities to study the features and patterns of development and formation of the manual  in different historical periods and using modern manuals. The research of the history of school manual development begins with the establishment by scientists the fact of the manual origin, which historians associate with clay tablets on which the Sumerians placed manuals five thousand years ago. The formation of the pedagogical theory of the manual is associated with the idea that the manual was first defined as a special book created on the basis of pedagogical principles as one that implements a certain content of education.


Abstract This research seeks to understand the impacts of tourism on the quality of life (QOL) of citizens of Hue, Vietnam, to investigate residents' opinions on various aspects of their QOL, and examines these residents' attitudes toward tourism development on issues such as tourism-related employment, tourism knowledge, and perceived personal benefits from tourism. Intercept interviews were conducted with 480 Hue residents. The findings show that tourism provides Hue residents with a sense of community well-being and community pride. However, while tourism brings jobs, there is dissatisfaction with the quality of employment available and residents lack empowerment in policy-making and local government participation.


certain theology of which Nietzsche would have been highly suspicious. Indeed, in its fascination with the "spectacular" and the "great," understood as the "big," the notion of "event" seems related to the "grand" power politics of which Nietzsche was so critical, and which he ultimately associated with slave morality. So if Lemm and Conway are right to point out that Nietzsche rejected the "petty politics" of his day, that of the nationalist state and its jockeying for position within the European balance of power, Lemm's claim that events become great only if they are received as such by the democratic people seems a little harder to accept: Nietzsche's claim that a culture is judged not solely by its great men but also by how they are received is made in the first instance about a particular people, namely the Greeks, and we know that for Nietzsche the ancients were in fact the aristocrats par excellence. Both Lemm and Bosteels refer to Badiou's idea of "anti-" or "archi-" philosophy as a way of capturing Nietzsche's "great politics," understood as either going beyond or even breaking with a conventional understanding of politics, and it has become commonplace to depict Nietzsche's political thought as being in some sense "supra-" political. But we need not appeal to extraneous notions to be able to make sense of Nietzsche's political thought. Indeed, in depicting Nietzsche in this way, the end result might prove more of a double peine of contributing neither to our understanding of Nietzsche nor to a deepening of the philosophical project that was called upon in the first place. Nietzsche wanted us to "relearn" politics, yet we can do so from within the structures of his own thought, for instance by analyzing contemporary politics from the perspective of either master or slave morality. As this collection shows, we still have a lot to learn from him.


In this article we consider min-min type of problems or minimization by two groups of variables. Min-min problems may occur in case if some groups of variables in convex optimization have different dimensions or if these groups have different domains. Such problem structure gives us an ability to split the main task to subproblems, and allows to tackle it with mixed oracles. However existing articles on this topic cover only zeroth and first order oracles, in our work we consider high-order tensor methods to solve inner problem and fast gradient method to solve outer problem. We assume, that outer problem is constrained to some convex compact set, and for the inner problem we consider both unconstrained case and being constrained to some convex compact set. By definition, tensor methods use high-order derivatives, so the time per single iteration of the method depends a lot on the dimensionality of the problem it solves. Therefore, we suggest, that the dimension of the inner problem variable is not greater than 1000. Additionally, we need some specific assumptions to be able to use mixed oracles. Firstly, we assume, that the objective is convex in both groups of variables and its gradient by both variables is Lipschitz continuous. Secondly, we assume the inner problem is strongly convex and its gradient is Lipschitz continuous. Also, since we are going to use tensor methods for inner problem, we need it to be $p$-th order Lipschitz continuous ($p>1$). Finally, we assume strong convexity of the outer problem to be able to use fast gradient method for strongly convex functions. We need to emphasize, that we use superfast tensor method to tackle inner subproblem in unconstrained case. And when we solve inner problem on compact set, we use accelerated high-order composite proximal method.


Abstract A novel alternative route to access rhenium(V)−phthalocyanine complexes through direct metalation of metal‐free phthalocyanines (H2Pcs) with a rhenium(VII) salt in the presence of various two‐electron reducing agents is presented. Direct ion metalation of tetraamino‐ or tetranitrophthalocyanine with perrhenate (ReO4 −) in the presence of triphenylphosphine led to oxidative decomposition of the H2Pcs, giving their respective phthalonitriles. Conversely, treatment of H2Pcs with ReO4 − employing sodium metabisulfite yielded the desired ReVO−Pc complex. Finally, reaction of H2Pcs with ReO4 − and NaBH4 as reducing agent led to the formation of rhenium oxide (RexOy) nanoparticles (NPs). The NP synthesis was optimised, and the RexOy NPs were capped with folic acid (FA) conjugated with tetraaminophthalocyanine (TAPc) to enhance their cancer cell targeting ability. The cytotoxicity profile of the resultant RexOy−TAPc−FA NPs was assessed and found to be greater than 80 % viability in four cell lines, namely, MDA−MB‐231, HCC7, HCC1806 and HEK293T. Non‐cytotoxic concentrations were determined and employed in cancer cell localization studies. The particle size effect on localization of NPs was also investigated using confocal fluorescence and transmission electron microscopy. The smaller NPs (≈10 nm) were found to exhibit stronger fluorescence properties than the ≈50 nm NPs and exhibited better cell localization ability than the ≈50 nm NPs.


Tetracyanoethylene was added to dihydroresorcine and dimethyldihydroresorcine which yielded 2-amino-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-4H-chromene-3,4,4-tricarbonitriles by cyclization. Dimethyl-dihydro-resorcine-monoimine together with tetracyanoethylene eliminated HCN and resulted in a 7,7-dimethyl-tetrahydro-quinoline derivative. The structures were proved by alkaline degradation and by IR- and NMR-spectroscopy


CCR2 is required for monocyte recruitment in many inflammatory processes, as well as conferring Th1 lymphokine responses. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) resolution represents a specific inflammatory response whereby the thrombus must be dissolved for restoration of blood flow. Using a stasis model of DVT in the mouse, we investigated the role of CCR2 on DVT resolution. Genetic deletion of CCR2 (CCR2 (cid:1) / (cid:1) ) was associated with larger thrombi at early and later time points, increased thrombus collagen, fewer thrombus monocytes (F4/80), and significantly impaired neovascularization. IL-2 and IFN- (cid:2) were significantly reduced in early CCR2 (cid:1) / (cid:1) thrombi, whereas MCP-1 was significantly increased, and Th2 lymphokines were unaffected. Supplementation of CCR2 (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice with IFN- (cid:2) normalized early thrombus resolution without increasing monocyte influx. Neither Ab depletion of IFN- (cid:2) nor genetic deletion of IFN- (cid:2) impaired early DVT resolution. Early fibrinolysis was not impaired in CCR2 (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice, but a significant reduction in both matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activity was observed. However, only MMP-9 activity was restored with administration of IFN- (cid:2) . We conclude


A high performance transparent inverted organic light emitting device with a total maximum luminance efficiency of 67 cd A−1 and power efficiency of 67 lm W−1 was realized using 1,4,5,8,9,11-hexaazatriphenylenehexacarbonitrile (HATCN) as an organic buffer material. HATCN, a discoid organic molecule, effectively protected the underlying organic emission layers from damage caused by sputter deposition of the indium zinc oxide top electrode, and simultaneously showed good hole injection performance from the transparent top electrode into an organic hole transporting layer. Moreover, transparent inverted OLEDs show an average transmittance of around 81% in the visible range; this value is very close to that of ITO/glass itself.


The principle of vehicle stability control is introduced in this paper.The vehicle road steering modular of over steering,under steering and normal steering are studied based on an simplified two degree of freedom vehicle operation and control model.The frame of vehicle dynamic control system and its brake torque control modular are presented.


__________________________________________________________________________________________ Numerous studies on Michael Faraday were published, but this article will shed some light on Faraday's diseases and disability, and on some of his scientific and medical achievements.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Objective: To characterize the patient population with substance-related found-down extremity compartment syndrome (FDECS) and report on their treatment and outcome. Data Source: This systematic review was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. Articles in English language were identified by searching 3 online databases, EMBASE, PubMed Publisher, and Cochrane Central, in September 2019. Study Selection: Studies involving substance-related FDECS were included. Exclusion criteria were as follows: patient age <18 years, not original studies, no full text available, technical reports, traumatic acute extremity compartment syndrome, chronic exertional compartment syndrome, and vascular acute extremity compartment syndrome. Data Extraction: There were 61 studies included with 166 cases of FDECS. Two investigators screened and extracted data independently according to a standardized template. Disagreements were addressed by an attempt to reach a consensus, and involvement of a third reviewer. Studies were quality assessed with "Quality Assessment tool for Case Series Studies." Data Synthesis: Descriptive statistics were reported using Excel. Conclusion: Substance-related FDECS is often occurring in young adults. Data from this review found that most of the patients were already diagnosed with substance use disorders and/or psychiatric disorders. There should be a high index of suspicion of FDECS in patients presenting after prolonged immobilization. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


A common dilemma in the emergency department is whether to hospitalize low-risk patients with chest pain. This study examined the role of immediate exercise testing in this decision.

Researchers identified 212 consecutive patients presenting to the ED with chest pain and an …


Abstract By means of r.f. sputtering the polycrystalline Pb(Zr0.53Ti0.45W0.01Cd0.01)O3 ferroelectric thin films of df = (0.5 − 10) μm in thickness have been obtained. A disk ceramics obtained by hot pressing method or a layer of powdered ceramic samples was used as a target. On the basis of structure analysis by X-ray diffraction conditions which are necessary for obtaining thin ferroelectric, stoichiometric films having a perovskite-type structure have been determined. Regions of amorphous film deposition, pyrochlore-type structure or mixture of pyrochlore-type and perovskite-type structure are also presented in diagram "working gas pressure versus substrate temperature" (p 02 - Ts ). New experimental data on pyrochlore-type structure metastability and its conversion into perovskite-type structure caused by thermal treatment are obtained.


Spreads are popular ready to eat convenient foods commonly used nowadays and the demand has come up for cost effective, nutritious spreads based on locally available resources. Hence, the present study was carried out to formulate nutritionally superior spreads. Jackfruit seed flour was used as the major ingredient and used in varying proportions starting from 50 to 25 % with various fat sources. Suitability of three different fat sources like cocoa butter, unsalted butter and hydrogenated palm oil were tried. Other ingredients used were cane sugar (12%), cocoa powder (4%), permitted food additives (3%) and salt (1%). Organoleptic evaluation of developed jackfruit seed flour based nutri spreads was done. The developed nutri spreads obtained high scores for organoleptic qualities with maximum scores for spreads prepared with hydrogenated palm oil. Highly acceptable nutri spreads could be standardised based on jackfruit seed flour successfully.


(3-pinene, limonene, myrcene,camphene, A3-carene,andterpinolene-promoted onlyslightly or hadno effect on deer rumen microbial activity, whereas allofthempromoted activity insheep rumen microbes, except A3-careneandterpinolene, which inhibited activity. Oftheoxygenated monoterpenes, allmonoterpene alcohols-a-terpineol, terpinen-4-ol, linalool, citronellol, andfenchyl alcohol-strongly inhibited therumen microbial activity ofbothsheepanddeer. Monoterpene esters (bornyl acetate) produced mildinhibition forbothsheep anddeermicrobes, andcitronellyl acetate inhibited rumen microbial activity insheep, whereas itpromoted activity inboth deer. Monoterpene aldehyde (citronellal) inhibited theactivity ofrumen microbes frombothsheep anddeerhaving no accesstoDouglas fir fromtheHopland Field Station, whereas theyproduced no effect uponthedeerhaving accesstoDouglas firfromtheMasonite forest. Rumenmicrobial activity forsheepanddeer was promoted slightly withaliphatic ester (ethyl-n-caproate). There was amarkeddifferencebetween sheep anddeer rumen microbes asaffected byaddition ofthevarious essential oils. Themonoterpene hydrocarbons promoted activity more on sheep rumen microbes thanon deer, andthemonoterpene alcohols inhibited sheep rumen microbial activity more thanthatofdeer. Furthermore, thedeer rumen microbes fromHopland Field Station wereaffected more thanthedeerfromMasonite forest.


Conventional interpretations of the Cosmic Ray Diurnal Variation generally assume that the mean viewing direction of the stations concerned remains constant over each 24-hour period. At the lower end of the energy range to which ground-based neutron monitors respond, two effects combine to question the validity of this assumption. Firstly, distortion of the geomagnetic field by the solar wind causes the direction of viewing of a ground-based station at a specified energy to vary according to the local time-of-day. Secondly, there is a seasonal effect due to the tilt of the earth's rotation axis. At lower energies and some stations both these effects can be significant. Furthermore, the directions of viewing are also affected by the degree of disturbance in the geomagnetic field. We report here the results of calculating the directions of viewing for Mawson at representative neutron monitor energies for each three-hour period throughout 1999, using the Tsyganenko model of the geomagnetic field and the appropriate value of Kp for each period, and discuss how these results affect the interpretation of the observed diurnal variation.


This paper analyzes the lesson study-based school principal academic supervision model to improve the pedagogical competence of teachers at SDN Cipanengah CBM Sukabumi by using a qualitative descriptive research method. The research was conducted by analyzing the stages of Plan, Do, and See. The research begins with interviews and field observations. Planning indicators are 1) identifying plans, 2) formulating objectives and output criteria, 3) compiling schedules, 4) reviewing instruments, 5) carrying out supervision, 6) carrying out supervision of learning outcome assessments, 7) analyzing results, 8) designing the provision of feedback, 9) preparing follow-up planning, and 10) preparing supervision reports. Indicators of implementation and observation are 1) reviewing device administration, 2) reviewing the implementation plan, 3) carrying out supervision, and 4) carrying out assessment supervision of learning outcomes. Indicators of reflection include 1) assessment supervision observation, 2) analysis, 3) academic supervision data analysis, and 4) follow-up. Management of academic supervision is indispensable to increasing teachers' pedagogical competence. Based on the results of interviews and field observations, it is found that nearly 75.63% had sufficient criteria in making administration of learning tools and carrying out assessment activities.


The purpose of this note is to present an alternate derivation of a formula for the synthesis of a loaded line. The problem is to determine the values of the normalized susceptances a and c mounted an exact quarter-wavelength apart along a uniform line. These are arranged in the order a, c, c,. . .c, a to achieve a loaded line with a given phase shift and perfect match. In order to analyze a particular line design for standing-wave ratio and phase shift over a band of frequencies on a digital computer, it is worthwhile to know the values of the susceptances to many more decimal places than one would achieve from a simple graph.


In this paper, we present a single time-delay system based on a new generalized Lorenz system. We found that the new system belongs to the generalized Lorenz system family by analyzing its linear term. We obtained the Hopf bifurcation condition and the time-delay parameters through the method of calculating the equilibrium point and analyzing equilibrium stability and Hopf bifurcation. The simulation images of the system under different time-delay parameters were drawn. We concluded that the introduction of time-delay in the generalized Lorenz system improved overall stability. At the time-delay parameter $\tau$=1. 5708, the system appeared relatively stable limit cycle and occurred supercritical Hopf bifurcation. Changing the delay parameters near the delay bifurcation point would affect the stability of the system.


In the crystal structure of the title compound [systematic name: 2,4-diamino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-1-ium 3,5-dinitrobenzoate], C12H14ClN4+·C7H3N2O6−, the pyrimethamine molecule is protonated at one of the pyrimidine N atoms. The carboxylate group of the 3,5-dinitrobenzoate anion forms double hydrogen bonds of type N—H⋯O, resulting in a fork-like interaction with the protonated diaminopyrimidine rings [graph-set notation R22(8)]. This motif self-assembles through a DDAA array of quadruple hydrogen bonds. The crystal structure is also stabilized by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds.


An efficient,environmentally safe and low-cost novel water-based cleaning agent was successfully developed for the heavy oil foulant in kitchen ventilator.Based on the orthogonal experiment with 7 factors and 3 levels of L18(37),the optimal ingredients and their mass percentage of the cleaning agent are as follows:a certain anionic surfactant F 4%,APG 3.5%,AEO-91%,LAS 0.5%,sodium citrate 1%,triethanolamine 3%.Detergency of the cleaning agent and the commercial multi-purpose cleaning agent for kitchen were comparatively studied with dilution ratio of(0-10)∶1 at the temperatures of 10℃ and 30℃,respectively.It was found that the former has much higher decontamination rate than that of the latter,and its decontamination rate is still more than 90% with dilution ratio of 10∶1.The as-prepared cleaning agent from cheap industrial raw materials is applicable in a wide temperature range,with excellent comprehensive cleaning performance and simple preparation process,and shows a good application prospect.


In the current study, we explored the impact of Tudor‐staphylococcal nuclease (SN) on obesity induced by a high‐fat diet (HFD) in mice, because the functional involvement of Tudor‐SN in lipid metabolism in vivo is unknown. HFD‐transgenic (Tg) mice exhibited reductions in hepatic steatosis and systemic insulin resistance. There was no difference in hepatic lipid accumulation between chow‐fed wild‐type (WT) and chow‐fed Tg mice; consistently, no difference in activation of the lipogenic pathway was detected. Overactivation of hepatic nuclear sterol regulatory element‐binding protein (nSrebp2)‐2, the central regulator of cholesterol metabolic proteins, was observed in HFD‐Tg livers along with improved cholesterol homeostasis, but no such changes were observed in HFD‐WT livers. Consistent results were observed in vitro in α‐mouse liver 12 cells treated with palmitate mimicking the HFD state. In addition, global gene analysis indicated that various downstream targets of nSrebp2, were up‐regulated in HFD‐Tg livers. Moreover, HFD‐WT mice displayed islet hypertrophy and suppression of glucose‐induced insulin secretion from islets, whereas HFD‐Tg mice had normal pancreatic islets. This finding suggests that the improved pancreatic metabolism of HFD‐Tg mice is related to the systemic effect of insulin resistance, not to the autonomous influence of pancreatic cells. Tudor‐SN is likely to be a key regulator for ameliorating HFD‐induced hepatic steatosis and systemic insulin resistance in vivo.—Wang, X., Xin, L., Duan, Z., Zuo, Z., Wang, Y., Ren, Y., Zhang, W., Sun, X., Liu, X., Ge, L., Yang, X., Yao, Z., Yang, J. Global Tudor‐SN transgenic mice are protected from obesity‐induced hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance. FASEB J. 33, 3731–3745 (2019). www.fasebj.org


We examine whether auditors consider organization capital in audit pricing decisions. Utilizing an international sample from 40 countries spanning the period 2001–2017, we find that firms with high levels of organization capital pay high audit fees: a finding that is consistent with both the risk‐ and the agency‐based arguments for audit pricing. Additionally, our results indicate that the positive relationship between organization capital and audit fees is reinforced in firms with pronounced business risks and agency problems, whereas it is relatively weak in countries with protective employment legislation. Our study contributes to the voluminous literature on the determinants of audit fees by showing that auditors price the risks related to clients' intangible assets, especially those embodied in a firm's key talents. Our study also contributes to the scarce literature on the effects of organization capital in international markets.


ABSTRACT The choice between centralization and decentralization of wastewater treatment depends on many factors and requires a case-specific approach. In Italy, 92% of plants have a potentiality of less than 10,000 p.e., but altogether they treat 31% of total pollutant load. They must comply with different local regulations and they have higher specific costs than larger plants. This paper reports some examples of upgrading small overloaded plants with advanced technologies such as lamellar settlers, dissolved air flotation (DAF), moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs), and membrane biological reactors (MBRs). In plant nr. 1, nitrification was improved by converting part of the aerated tanks into hybrid MBBRs. Plant nr. 2 was upgraded by converting an out-of-use tank into a tertiary MBBR. Plant nr. 3 was upgraded by introducing lamellae into the settler and converting a thickener into a tertiary MBBR. In plant nr. 4, a DAF unit was installed as a primary treatment to remove Total Suspended Solids and part of...


The purpose of the chapter is to explore the type of study abroad programming available to preand in-service teachers through the lens of a participant. The authors' experiences with the various programming options provide a unique perspective on the options available to both participants and their educational and professional institutions. The data indicates that international education experiences are of particular value to those in the teaching profession, and the authors' experiences point to the consortium model of international education as a uniquely promising model for providing transformational educational experiences to preand in-service teachers.


Crowbar circuit is the main means to achieve low voltage ride through (LVRT) in DFIG (doubly-fed induction generator). The fixed crowbar resistor is usually adopted in traditional crowbar circuit, which is difficult to meet the requirements of grid interconnection criterion for dynamic reactive power in the wind farm. This paper starts with the DFIG mathematical model with crowbar circuit. According to the analysis of the working state of the generator when the power grid is faulty, the analytical formula of the rotor current for the grid fault is obtained. Based on this, a self-adaptive crowbar control strategy is proposed. The adaptive crowbar resistance was set two times on the basis of limiting the rotor current. Then the theory of adaptive control strategy was verified by theoretical analysis and simulation experiments. The results show that the adaptive resistor control strategy combined with hardware and software increased the reactive power by about 0.9Mvar within 0.ls after grid fault occurs, which has a significant effect on optimizing the reactive power output of the DFIG's stator winding. And this adaptive resistor control strategy effectively improves its LVRT capability.


Several studies have demonstrated the importance of sociodemographic factors on prison mortality. This study advances our understanding of mortality by expanding demographic models to include habitual offenders, primary offenses and sentence length. Using data from the Florida Department of Corrections, this article explores the relationship between demographic and criminal characteristics of inmates and the odds of surviving confinement. Results indicate that criminal characteristics of inmates and medical status more strongly affect the probability of surviving confinement than race and sex. Finally, there was no indication of confounding and interaction effects with the exceptions of a two-way interaction of good health and race, good health and prison offense, and prison offense and sentence length.


Interview with Korean War veteran Marvin Dunn as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Dunn's personal experiences about boot camp and training, combat in Korea, combat at Hill 749 and Hill 884, and of being a teacher, principal, and administrator in Dallas ISD. Additionally, Dunn discusses his decision to drop out of college to join the U.S. Marine Corps, his assignment to combat unit, the battlefield injury at "the Punchbowl," that resulted in his leg amputation, the following recuperation, his opinions regarding enemy soldiers and what the U.S. accomplished in the war, civilian opinions of the war, struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, returning to college and graduate school, and his involvement with Korean War Veterans Organization. The interview also includes an appendix with photographs.


In this paper, we investigate localized discrete states wit h a non-zero topological charge ( discrete vortices) in a prototypical model of dynamical lattice systems, based on the twoand three-dimensional (2D and 3D) discrete nonlinear Schrödinger (DNLS) equation, with both attractive and repulsive on-sit e cubic nonlinearity. Systems of two nonlinearly coupled DNLS equations are consider e too. We report new results concerning the existence and, especially, stabili ty of the vortices with higher values of the topological charge S (S = 2; 3; 4). Quasi-vortices, i.e., stable solutions of the quadrupole and octupole type, which replace unstable vortices withS = 2 and 4, respectively, are also found. The vortices of the gap-soli ton type, which are found in the defocusing (repulsive) model, are quite different, a s concerns the stability, from their counterparts in the focusing (attractive) models. In the two-component system, stable compound vortices of the type (S1; S2) = (1; 1) are found, the stability area beinglarger for the(+S; S) species. In the 3D case, besides finding stable vortices with S = 1 and3, a novel possibility is reported, viz., a stable two-compon ent complex with mutually orthogonal vortices in the components. A pplications of the results to nonlinear optics and Bose-Einstein condensates are brie fly d scussed. URL: http://nlds.sdsu.edu 138 P.G. Kevrekidis, B.A. Malomed, D.J. Frantzeskakis et. a l


Interference has an adverse impact on spaceborne SAR image interpretation, and mainly originates from terrestrial radio emitters. In recent years, a new type of mutual terrain scattered interference (MTSI) originating from other satellites also draw great attention, whose signal characteristics and resulting image artifacts are totally different from terrestrial interference. Determining the presence and type of interference in SAR images is an indispensable step before interference mitigation. In this paper, a novel interference recognition model using a deep convolutional neural network combined with attention mechanism is proposed. Combined with the attention mechanism, Resnet focuses on the changes in local interference regions and extracts the interference features in the image to distinguish interference. The distinction of MTSI and different kinds of terrestrial interference can be used as pre-processing before interference suppression. The experiments show that the proposed method outperforms other models on real measured Sentinel-1A data.


In recent years, the use of Stereo lithography (SL) to produce end-use parts has
increased rapidly. However, only limited applications have been considered as
there are several problems that impede the conversion of Stereolithography to be
used as a mainstream manufacturing process. One of the major problems is the
instability of the SL parts post-build when subjected to environmental factors.
This research included long-term material testing to investigate the effects of
ageing, humidity and temperature on the mechanical properties of the SL parts.
This work was carried out at a temperature range of -40°C to +lOO°C over
differing ageing and humidity conditions (dry (lO%RH), controlled (SO%RH) and
wet (lOO%RH». The results indicated that the main degradation factor was
humidity. It was therefore selected for further investigation in this research. This
is the most comprehensive analysis and characterisation of materials data yet
compiled for additively manufactured materials.
Stereolithography materials tested have been shown to significantly degrade over
time when subjected to a high level of relative humidity. Therefore, it was the
primary aim of this research to identify the mechanism of hygroscopic
degradation of Epoxy-based SL materials. This was achieved using various
techniques including mechanical tests, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)
and Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR).
Modelling of water penetration into SL Epoxy-based parts was undertaken and the
type of diffusion was found to be anomalous (non-Fickian). Therefore a dualFickian
model was developed to identify the diffusion coefficients of the
investigated materials. Additional equations were developed to model the profiles
of moisture concentration and Young's Modulus within a specimen and to predict
the stiffuess of an SL material at a certain age. The methodology that has been
developed in this work can now be further used to predict the mechanical
properties of any future Epoxy-based SL material providing the diffusion
coefficient(s) of the material are known.


In Japan conventional bombing had not proved sufficient: it was the atom bomb that ultimately brought surrender. The brilliant Hungarian mathematician John von Neumann had worked on the Manhattan Project and identified Hiroshima as a bombing target. He went on to design computers that helped build bigger bombs. In addition he developed an original mathematical approach to modelling a dynamic economy that helped economists advance their modelling. With the Cold War looming, he and colleague Oskar Morgenstern pioneered the new subject of game theory which the big powers used to model their post-war defence tactics, and led to the classic 1950s strategy of 'mutually-assured destruction'.


In this paper, a compact coplanar waveguide‐fed slot antenna that can operate over an octaveband (1.75–3.7 GHz) is presented. The novelty of this antenna is the wideband operation with the radial stub loading. The front‐to‐back ratio of the antenna with a back plate is better than 25dB in H‐plane and better than 18 dB in E‐plane. The cross polarization level is around −20 dB over the band and the worst being at −15 dB. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 48: 2405–2408, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.21963


A pixel, an OLED(Organic Light Emitting Display) device, and a driving method thereof are provided to compensate for the threshold voltage of driving transistors by using four transistors and two capacitors in a pixel. A pixel includes first, second, and third transistors(M1,M2,M3), an OLED(Organic Light Emitting Diode)(OLED), and storage and feedback capacitors(Cst,Cfb). A gate electrode of the first transistor is connected to scan lines and a first electrode thereof is connected to data lines. A gate electrode of the second transistor is connected to a second electrode of the first transistor and a first electrode thereof is connected to the first source voltage. A gate electrode of the third transistor is connected to the scan lines, a first electrode thereof is connected to the first source voltage, and a second electrode thereof is connected to the second electrode of the second transistor. A cathode of the OLED, which is connected between the second and third transistors, is connected to a second source voltage. The storage capacitor is connected between the gate and first electrodes of the second transistor. The feedback capacitor is connected between the gate and second electrodes of the second transistor.


ABSTRACT
A gradual retarding of lipid digestion and absorption might contribute to preventing the visceral fat accumulation and obesity in humans. The lipolysis rates of different triacylglycerols (TAGs) by pancreatic lipase in vitro were studied in order to find suitable components as a retardant for lipolysis. Several TAGs containing longer acyl chains than stearic acid or containing unsaturated fatty acids whose double bonds are located closely to the carboxyl group like petroserinic and γ-linolenic acid showed significantly lower lipolysis rates as compared with triolein (OOO) control. Most of these resistant TAGs contributed to decelerating the lipolysis rate when replaced at 10% into the OOO control. Especially, 1-behenoyl-2,3-dioleoyl-rac-glycerol (BOO) was comprehensively thought to be a suitable TAG as a digestive retardant among them. Each 10% replacement of edible oils by BOO gave 15% to 30% reduction of the lipolysis rate in vitro. Resistant TAGs that are able to melt or solubilize into liquid oil at body temperature have some potential as a digestive retardant for lipids.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
Visceral fat accumulation and obesity in humans are thought to be correlated with the rate of lipid digestion and absorption. The entire rate of lipid absorption is controlled by their partial replacement with some digestive retardant. Resistant triacylglycerols may have some potential as a digestive retardant of lipids. Results of the present study propose a new fat system for foods with antiobesity effect.


A new method by utilizing Brillouin backscattering of optical fiber to suppress the time delay signature (TDS) of an external cavity semiconductor laser is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. When the average power of the injected chaotic laser is within the range of 400–1500 mW, the TDS can be significantly suppressed with the G.655 fiber of the 0.5, 2, 4.5, or 6 km length. The G.652 fiber has the same TDS suppression effect with the G.655 fiber. The TDS suppression effect is relatively stable among a number of measurements ranging from 1 to 50. Moreover, the TDS suppression has nothing to do with the length of the chaotic series by employing the Brillouin backscattering method.


Glasses in the system CaO–SiO2 were prepared with the composition varying from 40 to 55 mole % CaO. The Na2O impurity content ranged from 0.01 to 1.30 mole %. The electrical resistivity was insensitive to the Na2O content but decreased with increasing CaO concentration. The activation energy for conduction ranged from 33.54 to 31.23 kcal/mole as the CaO concentration increased. The conduction mechanism was considered in terms of three arbitrary parameters: (1) equivalent oxygen packing density, (2) ionic radius, and (3) ion-oxygen attraction.


adaptive testing (CAT) is a next-generation method of delivering tests to students. CAT works by tailoring both the difficulty and number of items to an examinee; smarter examinees warrant more difficult items. Designing the test with this interactive, intelligent CAT algorithm has numerous benefits, and this paper discusses some of those benefits. In a traditional paradigm of test design, tests are assembled into one or more fixed forms. We have all experienced such tests: here are 200 multiple-choice items, please answer them all. This approach has a number of problems, some obvious and some more subtle. The most obvious disadvantage is that this approach is quite inefficient. All 200 items are not necessary for all examinees; if someone were to take only the 50 most difficult items and answer 45 correctly, we can confidently assign a high score without wasting the time to administer the 150 easy questions. Doing so not only lightens the burden for the student, but can also translate to substantial savings in testing costs. Another issue is the large differences in precision among examinees. This is due to traditional tests typically being built with large numbers of medium-difficulty items. There is good reason for this: we have large numbers of medium-ability people! Plus, classical reliability is highest in this situation. But this is at the expense of low or high ability students. Those examinees are measured with much less precision. For the same reason, low and high ability examinees typically have a poor experience with the test. Low examinees are exhausted and discouraged by the fact that most items are too difficult to be relevant. Meanwhile, high examinees are not appropriately challenged, because most items are too easy. The fixed-form approach has a number of additional drawbacks when classical test theory (CTT) is used. A well-known issue is the effect of guessing, whether random or nonrandom. There are classical methods to correct for guessing, but they are actually more biased than not using any correction at all. Most CATs are based on item response theory (IRT), which provides a model-based approach to account for guessing. Additionally, IRT provides much more powerful procedures for linking and equating, ensuring a stable scale with comparable scores for all examinees. CAT works by tailoring both the difficulty and number of items to an examinee. Adapting the difficulty of items means that an examinee with high ability will receive difficult items, …


Target grouping can divide battlefield targets into battle space groups. In this way, the target grouping reduces the difficulty of situation assessment and increases the efficiency of decision. In order to solve the target grouping, a target grouping method based on Manifold-CFSFDP algorithm is proposed. This method turns target grouping into dataset clustering. After calculating the manifold which measures the similarity of targets, it searches the clustering centers and classifies the other data points by CFSFDP based on manifold. The simulation experiment for artificial and UCI datasets proves that M-CFSFDP is more effective than CFSFDP. The correctness and feasibility of M-CFSFDP are also shown by static and dynamic grouping of battlefield targets.


Objectives To analyze and discuss Possible influential factors of expenditure in inpafients with med- ical insurance.Methods The medical expenditure and personal data in the first Pages of case history were col- lected from the inpatients with madical insurance in the Affiliated Hospital to Ningxia Medical College from De- cember,2005 to November,2006 and T test and variance were adopted to analyze the relations between sex,age, hospital days and expenditure.Results Among the hospital expenditure from the patients with medical insur- ance,the medicine costs accounted for the greatest proportion and the hospital expenditure increased with the ex- tention of hospital days.The decrease of times in operation could reduce the hospital expenditure.Conclusion By controlling the factors such as hospital days,times and medical costs,the hospital expenditure can be limited effectively.


This paper summarizes a study to investigate the feasibility of an all-chemical, common-element solution for a human exploration architecture of the Moon, Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs), and Mars using proven, near-term, lowrisk propulsion systems and passive boil-off technologies. First, a parametric study was performed to understand the influence of different design variables on the initial mass of in-space Cryogenic Propulsive Stages (CPSs). The parametric study used a simplified sizing model and generic mission architectures. It quantified the degree to which propellant mass fraction is the driving design variable for all missions, boil-off rate is only important for long duration missions, and engine Isp is only a minor factor over the range available to LOX/LH2 engines. Second, using these insights, a set of design approaches for the CPSs was established. To improve propellant mass fraction, primary structures mass can be reduced by launching the CPS to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) as a non-loadbearing payload inside a fairing, and subsystems mass can be reduced by using an innovative Integrated Vehicle Fluids (IVF) technology. To reduce boil-off rates, the tanks can be intelligently designed and shielded with Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI), the number of thermal connection points to the tanks can be minimized, and a deployable sun shield can be included for long duration missions. With these characteristics in mind, conceptual level designs for two CPSs were developed: a ~100t gross mass CPS Alpha and a ~220t gross mass CPS Beta, both with low boil-off block upgrades available using deployable sun shields. An optional ~480t gross mass CPS Gamma was also designed as an alternative Earth departure stage for Mars missions. Using these stages, concepts of operations were developed for missions to the Moon, NEAs, and Mars. Missions departing from LEO and the Earth-Moon L1 point were also compared. Using L1 as a departure point reduces the number of elements required at the start of the mission, but increases the mission complexity and adds additional constraints for missions beyond cis-lunar space. Results presented include details on the masses and design of the CPSs, specific combinations of stages required for each mission, and in-space trajectories required to reach the selected destinations. Launch manifests to deliver the CPSs to LEO were not considered in this study, though efforts were made to constrain the CPS designs such that they would be capable of being launched empty or partially full on existing or proposed near-term launch vehicles.


Abstract. Statistical and serological evidence supporting the assignment of Tar to the Rh blood group system is presented. The association of the presence of the Tar antigen with a weak expression of D is confirmed, and the rare Rh complex (‐D‐) Tar ‐positive described. The expression of the Tar antigen is influenced by the Rh complex with which it is associated.


Gene pool of apple trees of the Experimental Station of Pomology named after L. P. Symyrenko IS of NAAS of Ukraine is supported in the "field gene bank" and has more than 1260 samples. The main task that gene banks solve is to preserve the genetic diversity of plants for present and future generations of people. As a result of attracting new samples to the collection and studying the imported introduced material, the selected sources of economically valuable traits are transferred for further inclusion in the selection programs of other research institutions. The genetic potential of apple productivity and resistance to biotic and abiotic environmental factors is far from exhausted.


Agrobiont spiders are among the largest and most frequent groups of predators in agricultural areas, having an important role in pest control. Since land cultivation results in the reduction of their abundance several times a year, the pace of the recovery of the populations and their phenology primarily depends on the reproductive biology and development. The aim of this research was monitoring of the impact of crop rotation, insecticides use and field management on the life cycle of the agrobiont spider species Pardosa agrestis (Westring, 1861). The research was conducted on three experimental fields near the site Stari Žednik (Vojvodina, Serbia), which was managed by the conventional, integrated and organic methods. P. agrestis is characterized by the bimodal phenology and has the highest abundance in the organic management system in oil-seed rape fields. The study of insecticide application impact on the species phenology has shown that the use of pyrethroid agrochemicals has a negative impact on P agrestis phenology.


Changes of Japanese consumer preference for electric vehicles (EVs) with new EV commercialisation and subsidy implementation has been quantitatively evaluated by applying conjoint analysis to the respondents choice experiment data collected by internet questionnaire survey that have been conducted in February 2009 and 2010. Powertrains (battery electric vehicle (BEV), gasoline hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and gasoline plug-in HEV (PHEV)), vehicle price, vehicle range, driving cost and passenger capacity have been chosen as attributes of vehicles and marginal utility and its monetary measure of each attribute have been calculated by setting the gasoline vehicle (GV) with typical specifications as baseline. The estimated results indicate that the vehicle range of BEVs under the current battery technology level lead to utility decline and that those EVs with fewer seats by mounting devices for electric driving would not be accepted by consumers. In terms of powertrain selection, consumers express strong preference for HEVs, whereas for BEVs and PHEVs they express low / negative preference or hold their judgment for choosing. From the comparison of the estimated marginal utilities for powertrain in 2009 and 2010, significant statistical differences are found for HEVs and Kei passenger type BEVs. Moreover, it is confirmed that implementation of has played an important role to enhance consciousness of HEVs and Kei passenger type BEVs as environmentally friendly vehicles. It is true that the current subsidy has played an important role to raise awareness of some kind of EVs. However, in order to improve environment by diffusing other kinds of EVs that have higher environmental performance than HEVs, not only the commercialisation of those kinds of vehicles that satisfy consumer needs at acceptable vehicle price levels but also further schemes should be required to gain consumer recognition especially for BEVs and PHEVs.


Cryptography is often used in an information technology security environment to protect data that is sensitive, has a high value, or is vulnerable to unauthorised disclosure or undetected modification during transmission or while in storage. Cryptography relies upon two basic components: an algorithm (or cryptographic methodology) and a cryptographic key. This Recommendation discusses the generation of the keys to be managed and used by the approved cryptographic algorithms. This paper proposed first approach method Minutiae points from fingerprint using Image Processing and Texture features from iris (MIPT) for cryptographic key generation from multimodal biometrics, extraction of Minutiae points from fingerprint using Image Processing, extraction of Texture features from Iris, feature level fusion of fingerprint and iris features. Simulation and experimental results are verified using MATLAB/Simulink platform. Index Terms Biometric systems, CSLF, Cryptography key generation, MIPT.


The Short SCI V.T.O.L. Research Aircraft, using four special Rolls-Royce RB.108 jet lift engines, which made its first flights in 1959 heralds a new method of taking-off and landing which may revolutionise the operational flexibility of aircraft of the future. The Short SC. 1 is the result of six years research and development by Short Brothers and Harland Ltd., who built and developed the aircraft, and Rolls-Royce Ltd. who designed and developed the special light weight turbojet engines which support the aircraft during the V.T.O.L. phase and which are shut down as soon as the aircraft has attained wing borne flight by the horizontal thrust from its separate propulsion engine. The SC. 1 is shown in hovering flight in Fig. 1.


We outline a Semantic Web approach for considering the impact of context information on the trustworthiness of communication. We show that the contexts of message sender, receiver, and mediating network can have influence on the degree of trust the receiver assigns to a message. We define ontologies to capture context-sensitive messaging and trust, as well as propose trust evaluation functions. We illustrate their usage with rules that determine trust factors of context information.


Abstract The soil chemical properties and microbial numbers in three volcanic ash soils and two non-volcanic ash soils, which had been continuously subjected to the same tea cultivation practices (21 y), were investigated. The results obtained were as follows. 1) pH values of all the soils gradually decreased from the original pH value (near neutral or mildly acid pH) to strongly acid values of about 4 or lower. In contrast, long-term tea cultivation practices resulted in the increase of the total C and N contents in the surface layers (0–20 cm) while the contents remained stable in the subsurface layers (20–40 cm). The increase in the organic matter content in non-volcanic ash soils was presumably due to the accumulation of microbial residues. The availability of P increased markedly. 2) Numbers of bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, and denitrifiers were higher in volcanic ash soils than in non-volcanic ash soils, and also higher in surface layers than in subsurface layers. The results suggest that in spite...


Abstract : The report presents the results of experiments carried out to determine the amount of moisture emitted by the eyes and the periorbital areas under various conditions of temperature, humidity and activity. Under ambient laboratory conditions the rate of moisture emission from the eyes varied between 0.3 and 1.5 g/h.


Teaching intercultural communication presents many challenges, particularly at predominantly white institutions (PWI). Individuals who hold majority identities may have difficulty seeing their own culture or race and, relatedly, the value of intercultural communication for their lives. Additionally, students who hold marginalized or minoritized identities can feel the burden of being cultural ambassadors in classroom discussions, creating an inequitable labor burden. Moreover, students of all identities may experience discomfort related to conversations about culture. This semester-long assignment seeks to address those challenges by contextualizing culture in a way that can be applied to all students, regardless of the identities they hold. The Food for Thought assignment is a third-culture-building exercise designed to teach students about culture and intercultural communication through a communal dining experience. Courses Any full-semester intercultural communication course of approximately 40 students, but can be adapted for any course with a cultural component (e.g. interpersonal communication or the basic/foundational course) by limiting dining to one or two class periods. Objectives The activity aims to help students learn about and foster community through third-culture building, to develop intercultural sensitivity and respect for cultural differences, to recognize and introspect on one's own culture, and to connect lived experience to theory.


Abstract Measurements are reported of the ferroelectric polarization P s induced in a non-chiral smectic C phase by a variety of chiral dopants having different molecular structural features. Using molecular calculations of contributing dipole moments, ferroelectric order parameters are determined from the experimental results. The relationships between the P s and various other molecular properties are discussed, and it is shown that restricted rotation of the molecule due to its shape and internal energy barriers to rotation can result in relatively high values of P s. In contrast dipolar groups flexibly attached to a chiral centre may have their contribution to P s greatly reduced through internal rotation.


ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the results of the first part of thisresearch: the reconstruction of the historical evolutionof the academic structure of the...


Data-based analysis gives out an estimation of the incubation period. A dynamic model is established and discussed. Disease reproduction number reveals the high probability of COVID-19 pandemic, but strengthening the exposure of asymptomatic people will help to curb the transmission, and measures of contact-tracking and stay-at-home play a replaceable role. Discussions point out that social disruption can be avoided if the contact tracking rate can be more than 0.5. Investigations for re-opening show that a city of the same size as Wuhan can be reopened if new cases are continuously below 1000 for a few days and when they are less than 500, with the assurance of contact tracking associated with extensive testing. In short, tracking and testing are the prioritized strategies, while maintaining awareness can shorten the epidemic period and mobility restrictions can be avoided.


Aromatic molecules, such as pentacene, sexiphenyl and naphtho[2,3-a]pyrene, adsorbed on Au(111) surfaces are studied with x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). All the molecules developed a strong interface dipole indicative of charge transfer from the molecule to the substrate. At monolayer coverages or less a variety of two-dimensional ordered structures were discovered. Naphtho[2,3-a]pyrene, a 2D chrial adsorbate, forms chiral domains rater than a 2D racemic unit cell.


This paper presents a generalization of causal consistency suited to the family of objects defined by a sequential specification. As causality is captured by a partial order on the set of operations issued by the processes on shared objects (concurrent operations are not ordered), it follows that causal consistency allows different processes to have different views of each object history.


Bounds on absorption probabilities for Banach space-valued Brownian motion are obtained as expectations of estimates for the conditional probability given the endpoint of the path. The results are applied to the problem of computing the tail distributions of the supremum, S, of the two-parameter Wiener process and the supremum, S', of its tied-down version. It is shown that for i > 0,


The stigma papillae in Gladiolus are of the "dry" type and are highly vacuolated cells with an organelle-rich peripheral cytoplasm. The cell wall of each papilla is overlain by a distinctive cuticle possessing an irregularly scalloped inner margin. Between the cell wall and cuticle is a layer of amorphous sub-cuticular material. Lipids are detected on the papilla surface. A pollen grain will hydrate and germinate only on a papilla and not on any other (non-papillate) portion of the stigma. The pollen tube penetrates the papilla cuticle, which is forced away from the papilla cell wall by sub-cuticular pollen tube growth. As the cuticle lifts away, the sub-cuticular material disperses. At the base of the papilla, the pollen tube grows onto the adaxial nonpapillate surface of the stigma lobe. At this site, the cuticle has been lifted away from the underlying cells by release of a mucilaginous substance from the latter, and the pollen tube grows within this substance beneath the detached cuticle. The cytological features of Gladiolus papillae are compared with other stigma papillae described in the literature. Also, a review of the literature, as well as some of the findings of the present study, suggest that certain prevalent interpretations of dry stiema structure and function may be onen to auestion.


1. Issues in the Syntax and Semantics of Partipant-oriented Adjuncts: an introduction 2. Depictives in English and Warlpiri 3. Adverbials and Depictives as Restrictors 4. Depictive Agreement and the Development of a Depictive Marker in Swiss German Dialects 5. Quantifying Depictive Secondary Predicates in Australian Languages 6. Depictives in Kartvelian 7. On Depictive Secondary Predicates in Laz 8. Participant Agreement in Panoan 9. Secondary Predicates and Adverbials in Nilotic and Omotic: a typological comparison 10. Asyndetic Subordination and Deverbal Depictive Expressions in Shona 11. Forms of Secondary Predication in Serializing Languages: on depictives in Ewe 12. Depictive and Other Secondary Predication in Loa 13. A Semantic Map for Depictive Adjectivals References Index of Languages Index of Terms


The method of multivariate transition probability (low graphs is proposed for seeking the transition probability generating function of many random variables. Detailed discussions upon some statistical characteristics of continuous sampling plan CSP-1, 2, T, V and of probability sampling style show that the method is suitable and appropriate for attribute samplings.


The BMI cut-score used to define overweight and obesity was derived primarily using data from Caucasian men and women. The present study evaluated the racial/ethnic bias of BMI to estimate the adiposity of young men and women (aged 17–35 years) using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) determination of percentage body fat (DXA-BF%) as the referent standard. The samples were 806 women and 509 men who were tested from one to three times over 9 months providing 1300 observations for women and 820 observations for men. Linear mixed models (LMM) regression showed that with age and BMI controlled, DXA-BF% of African-American (AA) men and women, Asian-Indian men and women, Hispanic women and Asian women significantly differed from non-Hispanic white (NHW) men and women. For the same BMI of NHW women, the DXA-BF% of AA women was 1·76 % lower, but higher for Hispanic (1·65 %), Asian (2·65 %) and Asian-Indian (5·98 %) women. For the same BMI of NHW men, DXA-BF% of AA men was 4·59 % lower and 4·29 % higher for Asian-Indian men. Using the recommended BMI cut-scores to define overweight and obesity systematically overestimated overweight and obesity prevalence for AA men and women, and underestimated prevalence for Asian-Indian men and women, Asian women and Hispanic women. The present study extends the generalisability of research documenting the racial/ethnic bias of the universal overweight and obesity BMI cut-scores.


To obtain a reliable characterization of complex reservoirs, they must be represented with fine scale models. However, detailed descriptions demand a huge amount of information and processing time. Therefore, less complex models are usually designed. To construct these "simple" models, pseudo relative permeability curves are developed. Pseudos reduce the number of dimensions of reservoir models, trying to reproduce the behavior of the fine scale system. Simplifying 2dimensional (2D) systems to 1-dimensional (1D) models allows reservoir engineers to apply them to simple calculations and less complex reservoir simulations. Once reduced to 1D, models are usually analyzed by means of frontal advance theory. In this paper, stratified systems under no-crossflow and under vertical equilibrium (VE) conditions were studied by means of numerical simulation (NS), analytical methods and simplified pseudo relative permeability functions (PRPF). When frontal advance theory was used, some restrictions were found to the application of pseudo functions. These limitations, if overlooked, can yield wrong conclusions.


This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy control approach for a robotic manipulator to perform assembly tasks. Hybrid force and pose control typically employs an expensive high dimensional force sensor in addition to vision sensors. In contrast to traditional approaches, a low-cost single-axis force sensor together with CCD cameras and a laser projector can be applied to carry out hybrid force and pose control of a robotic manipulator on 3-D surfaces. Specifically, design of fuzzy control approaches has been applied to hybrid eye-in-hand and eye-to-hand visual servoing configurations. In particular, to expand the workspace while improving control accuracy, eye-to-hand approach is considered for target positioning in a work space followed by pose and force control employing eye-in-hand approach. Color features are designated as target points on a 3-D surface. After visually determining the direction normal to the 3-D surface at the center of the target through reconstructing the laser cross projected by the laser projector, a robotic manipulator equipped with a low-cost single-axis force sensor is able to perform hybrid force and pose control for drilling, bolting, and screw locking tasks. The proposed approaches have been successfully validated on 3-D surfaces by performing experiments with an industrial robotic manipulator.


Seagrass meadows are the dominant ecosystem in the nearshore coast of metropolitan Adelaide and significant areas have been lost since the 1940s. Seagrass is widely recognised for its value to coastal ecosystems. This paper identifies both benefits and costs of seagrass meadows and wrack to coast protection, and beach and harbour management at this highly managed coastline. The assessment includes estimates of costs and benefits to the beach replenishment programme as a result of increased sand transport potential due to seabed deepening associated with seagrass loss, and sand supply to the littoral sand budget from sand released following seagrass loss. Current investigations into the feasibility of restoring local seagrass meadows using planting and erosion control techniques are noted. It is concluded that the quantifiable costs from seagrass loss to date outweigh the quantifiable benefits of the released sand to the beach replenishment programme.


Objective To investigate if cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) measures can be used to verify the cochlear implant (CI) map and consequently improve CI outcomes in adults with bilateral hearing loss. Design CAEPs were measured in CI recipients using the speech tokens /m/, /g/, /t/ and /s/. If CAEP responses were present for all speech tokens, the participant's map was considered "satisfactory". If CAEP responses were absent, the CI map was considered "unsatisfactory" and therefore adjusted and CAEP measures repeated. This was repeated until auditory potentials were seen in response to all four speech tokens. Speech testing was conducted pre-CI, as well as before and after CAEP-guided map adjustments. Results 108 adult unilateral CI users participated, whose sound processors were previously programmed using subjective methods. 42 CI users elicited a CAEP response to all four speech tokens and therefore no further mapping adjustments were made. 66 subjected lacked a CAEP response to at least one speech token and had their CI map adjusted accordingly. Of those, 31 showed a CAEP response to all four speech tokens, and the average speech score significantly improved after CI map adjustments based on CAEP responses. Conclusion CAEP's are an objective tool that can be used to guide and verify CI mapping in adults CI users. Significant improvement in speech scores was observed in participants who had their CI map adjusted based on CAEP responses.


Banking sector in India is supposed to be the most promising financial intermediary with effective assistance in promoting the deficit sector of society in different financial and non-financial dimensions. Among different variants, the Commercial Banks mainly the Public and Private can ensure special effort towards uplifting the socio-economic status of our society. Banking operation, in this very context, can add special significance in social upgradation if it includes the backward gender section of our society, women under its operational and managerial purview. It is very appraising condition that in market, the top level banks are having their chief executive positions from women community. Amongst which the Private Sector domain finds involvement of women minds in administration successfully for longer period like ICICI, Axis Bank etc. This adds special impact on gender development through economic upgradation in men-dominated financial world. In this very regard, question may arise on the financial performance of the said women-led banks which can specifically be reflected by the liquidity position as judged by financial ratios.


How to adapt to the new rural construction requirements to shape the new rganization,new party members and new farmers,to form a new socialist countryside construction of a powerful force? This is a rural grassroots party organizations current focus.In the process of building new socialist countryside formed a unique "Huzhou model" in Huzhou,Zhejiang Province.The Huzhou Wusicun full development of rural grassroots democracy within the party and to promote a new round of rural economy and political development of an effective approach is a certain reference.


Here, we report the restriction modification system of Nostoc punctiforme ATCC 29133, along with its methylated genome sequence, under contrasting nitrate availability. Generated methylation profiles revealed increased methylation for key enzymes of assimilatory nitrate reduction, suggesting that Nostoc punctiforme employs DNA methylation to regulate its nitrogen metabolism.


Background and objective: The lack of bacterial growth on media culture is not always a reason of the non-existence or death of the bacteria. Being alive, some bacteria can obtain a status in which they lose their growth ability on the common media culture. The status of the bacteria survival is defined as Viable but non-culturable those only the tests based on bacteria survival confirm their viability and other tests are unable to diagnose them. This status can be a serious factor to outbreak some infectious diseases caused by the use of some materials of which the microbial safety is approved. applying some environmental stress, the present study investigates Non-culturable E. coli ability to dispossess from this phase and being resuscitated. Materials and methods: After collecting several samples, Non-culturable E. coli were divided into different groups in order to carry-out different experiments. They were liking to heat shock of 42oC in different periods of time, different concentration of Bile-salts and NaCl and combinational of these methods. Results: 15 mM salts, 42 mM NaCl, and 42oC heat shock within 2 min 1x10 4 ,0.6x10 4 and 3/1x 10 4 CFU/ml respectively. The combination of these parameters in a binary manner, also inferred to suitable results. Applying the three stresses simultaneously arising optical density up to 0/58 and 9x10 CFU/ml presented the best respond. Conclusions: The results show that applying some alterations in the condition of bacterial culture, the growth path of the bacteria which remain to a stationary phase can be changed to the normal status.


A process for the preparation of electroplated dumb-bright tin coating from methyl-sulphonate bath was established.Thus the effects of plating parameters on the deposition rate of the tin coating were investigated,while the morphology of the coating was observed using a scanning electron microscope.It was found that the deposition rate of the tin coating increased with increasing concentration of methyl-sulphonate in the plating bath.The deposition rate was almost linearly proportional to the current density,and the temperature of the plating bath had a significant effect on the deposition rate.Namely,the deposition rate was faster at a lower temperature of the plating bath,and the corresponding tin coating was composed of fine crystals and bright as well.With increasing temperature of the plating bath,the deposition rate of the tin coating decreased first and then gradually increased,but hydrogen evolution became severe and the current efficiency decreased at a too high temperature of the plating bath.


Charge distributions in EPDM/ATH compounds were measured. Homocharge develops in a crosslinked pure EPDM (ethylene propylene diene terpolymer) and the addition of ATH (alumina tri-hydrate) increases the homocharge due to the trapping of charge at the EPDM-ATH interfaces. Details of the results are described.


Memristor crossbar array is an emerged architecture suitable for matrix computation. Memristor based neural networks (MNN) address the speed and energy efficiency issues in computing hardware. However, there are still a lot of problems with memristor, and the limited size of memristor crossbar resulting in the accuracy of the MNN is lower than conventional neural networks (CNNs). In this paper, a modified Dropout and Maxout based MNN for improving the accuracy of the MNN is proposed. A three-layer memristor based multilayer Perceptron (MLP) in 64*128 crossbar is built to perform MNIST image recognition. The experiment results demonstrate that the in-situ training of the MLP achieves a high accuracy near 96.5% with Dropout and Maxout.


Objective To evaluate the uncertainty of measurement for determination of Ceftriaxone by HPLC.Methods The content of Ceftriaxone was determined by HPLC.The mathematical model was established to analyze the source of uncertaint.Results Every component of uncertainty was evaluated through the variable parameters among the procedures.The combined standard uncertainty was finally obtained by synthesizing the uncertainties of all variables.Conclusion The statistical approach of measurement uncertainty established in this paper was reasonable and reliable.


ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate a new variant of the multi-commodity network flow problem, taking into consideration multiple transport lines and time windows. This variant arises in a city logistics environment, more specifically in a long-haul passenger transport system that is also used to transport urban freight. We propose two mixed integer programming models for two objective functions: minimization of network operational costs and minimization of travel times. Since the problems under study are NP-hard, we propose three size reduction heuristics. In order to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms, we carried out computational experiments on a set of synthetic problem instances. We use the relative percentage deviation as performance criterion. For the cost objective function, a LP-and-Fix algorithm outperforms other methods in most tested instances, but for the travel time, a hybrid method (size reduction with LP-and-Fix algorithm) is, in general, better than other approaches.


The nutritional problems of the Australian communityare reviewedby Michael Gracey, of Perth, with particular reference to heart disease and obesity and emphasis on special risk groups, such as migrants, Aboriginals and "high-rise" children (page 202 and see also the editorial by Basil Hetzel on page 196). The thiamine status of the Australian population was recently researched by the NHMRC, and a summary of its report appears on page 232. Many of the leached soils in Australia are zinc deficient, and evidence of adaptation to this is seen in native plants and animals; Blake and Kirk, of Canberra, find an unusually high frequency of carbonic anhydrase variants in Australian Aboriginals and examine the possibility that this represents evolutionary adaptation to zinc-deficient diets, and the implications for treatment with sulphonamides and other carbonic anhydrase-inhibiting agents (page 183).


Many family physicians spend significant time working outside the office, visiting nursing homes, hospitals and other facilities. For these times, there are excellent software programs for personal digital assistants (PDAs) that allow physicians to carry a subset of patient data beyond the office as well as input information gathered outside the office for future use. For example, I use PDA software to track allergies, problems and medications taken by my patients at a nearby nursing home. These elderly patients' medications can change between visits because they see many subspecialty doctors. With my PDA I am able to capture these changes and ensure my office records are up-to-date. This article discusses some useful patient-tracking programs as well as a program that allows easy database creation on either Palm or Pocket PC devices.


Objective Analysis the reasons of doctor-patient dispute by internal fixation material breakage,and to provide reference for precaution of doctor-patient dispute.Method We collected medical disputes on orthopedics and oral surgery from January 2000 to July 2009,and analyzed reasons of disputes.Result The reasons of doctor-patient disputes caused by internal fixation material breakage included:the internal fixation material cinch(50%),the internal fixation material deform(27.1%),the internal fixation material breakage(22.9%);among the total orthopedics(81.81%),oral surgery(18.18%).Conclusion To adopt high-quality medical material,improve medical treatment environment facilities construction,enhance technical level of medical members,and enhance doctor-patient communication is the key issues for preventing dispute occurrence.


The aim of this research is to analyze the socio-cultural importance of non-ligneous forest products (NWFPs) in the forest of Agoua, located in the department of Hills in Benin. This research led to an inventory of NWFPs and ethnobotanical surveys among 50 foresters, 62 NWFP resellers, 46 consumers and 12 phytotherapists. The data collected relate to the plant species used as NWFPs by populations living on the massif of Agoua, to endogenous knowledge and to the use values of NWFPs. Thus, 105 plant species distributed in 48 families have been inventoried within the forest massif of Agoua. The determination of the different categories of NWFP uses revealed that 61 (58.09%) of the total number of plant species surveyed were used in traditional medicine, 30 in food (28.57%), 28 for various domestic uses (26.57%), 8 for building materials (7.61%), 6 for packaging (5.71%) and 4 for coloring (3.8%). The organs taken by the populations vary from one species to another and according to the use they make of them. In fact, it is the leaves, fruits, barks, flowers and roots that are used by the populations bordering the forest of Agoua. The excessive exploitation of NWFPs by the populations bordering on the Agoua forest is the cause of the decline and disappearance of these plant species with a high genetic and socio-cultural potential. The aggravation of this phenomenon with population growth may be detrimental to the sustainability of this forest ecosystem. In order to reduce the effects of such use, it is necessary to implement methods and collection rates that respect the sustainability of these resources.


The water structure at superhydrophobic solid/bulk water interfaces has been investigated by vibrational sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. We have adapted a simple and facile chemical modification procedure (methyltrichlorosilane/toluene treatment followed by extraction with ethanol) to prepare transparent quartz crystal surfaces with varied wetting properties, from hydrophilic to hydrophobic and superhydrophobic. In comparison with those obtained on bare quartz, the SFG spectra on polymethylsiloxane-modified surfaces showed significant changes of the relative intensities of the two broad OH stretching modes of hydrogen-bonded water at ∼3200 and ∼3450 cm−1, which can be correlated with surface morphology and molecular variations. Intriguingly, on superhydrophobic quartz these bands are very weak and replaced by a characteristic "free OH" (not hydrogen-bonded) stretching (>3600 cm−1) band that is typically observed at water/air interfaces. These results suggest that hydrogen bonding between wate...


The effect of Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) fungi on biomass accumulation, nutrient uptake, mycorrhizal root infectivity and soil colonization was determined in Papaya (Carica papaya) seedlings raised under four phosphorus regimes in sand culture and also in 1:1 sand/soil media under sterile and unsterile conditions. Inoculation with AM fungi increased the plant height, leaf number, and stem girth in relation to uninoculated seedlings grown under equivalent P concentrations. An increase in plant height, leaf number and stem girth also occurred in both inoculated sterile and un-sterile 1:1 sand/soil media in relation to uninoculated sterile and unsterile media. Arbuscular mycorrhiza also increased the leaf area and the root, leaf and stem fresh and dry weights and also caused an increase in the uptake of phosphorus and potassium in the leaf tissues. It also favoured mycorrhizal infectivity of roots, soil mycorrhizal spore colonization and increased the root absorptive surface area. This study indicates that AM fungi improves the capacity of papaya seedlings to absorb and utilize plant nutrients possibly by increasing the effective root surface area from which available form of nutrients are absorbed and also by increasing access of roots by bridging the depletion zones. As a low cost technology, arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation is recommended as part of the regular practise into nursery media used for papaya seedling propagation. Keywords— passion fruit, papaya, phosphorus, potassium.


This study investigates the relationship between volatility and contract expiration for the case of Mexican interest rate futures. Specifically, it examines the hypothesis that the volatility of futures prices should increase as contracts approach expiration (the "maturity effect"). Using panel data techniques, the study assesses the differences in volatility patterns between contracts. The results show that although the maturity effect was sometimes present, the inverse effect prevails; volatility decreases as expiration approaches. On the basis of the premises of the negative covariance hypothesis, the study provides additional criteria that explain this behavior in terms of the term structure dynamics. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:371–393, 2011


Commercial banks' loan pricing decisions can be useful for policy purposes from the perspectives of effective financial intermediation, stability of financial system, economic stability and monetary transmission mechanism. Taking cues from the large literature on the subject, this study provides an empirical investigation of various determinants of banks' loan pricing decisions in the Indian context. Using the dynamic panel data methodology and annual data for a sample of 33 banks including public, private and foreign banks over the period 1996-2011, the study finds the significant impact of various bank specific factors, regulatory and supervisory indicators and macroeconomic factors on the banks' loan interest rates and their spread over deposit interest rates. The study concludes that commercial banks could consider several factors including the policy rate in their loan pricing decisions and therefore, it is useful for understanding those several factors for reform and monetary policy purposes.


1. A method for delivering nicotine to a patient wherein the nicotine is in the form of a nicotine salt and is administered via a transdermal patch comprising a system for providing an electrical current sufficient to enhance the flux of nicotine through the skin. ! 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the nicotine salt is selected from the group consisting of nicotine citrate, nicotine maleate or mixtures thereof. ! 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the nicotine salt is nicotine maleate. ! 4. A method of reducing irritation caused by nicotine, comprising the transdermal patch, wherein the patch comprises a nicotine salt. ! 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the nicotine salt is selected from the group consisting of nicotine maleate, nicotine citrate and mixtures thereof. ! 6. A transdermal patch suitable for administering nicotine to man, wherein the patch comprises a nicotine salt and an electrical current sufficient to enhance the flux of nicotine through the skin. ! 7. The transdermal patch of claim 6 wherein the nicotine salt is selected from the group consisting of nicotine maleate, nicotine citrate or mixtures thereof. ! 8. The transdermal patch of claim 7, wherein the nicotine salt is nicotine maleate. ! 9. The transdermal patch of claim 6 wherein the nicotine salt is dissolved in a buffer solution, to thereby form a donor solution with pH of from about 4 to about 9.! 10. A transdermal patch according to claim 6, wherein the pH of the donor solution is from about 5 to about 7.5. ! 11. The transdermal patch of claim 6, further comprising a microprocessor suitable for controlling the magnitude of the electric current produced to modulate the flow rate of nicotine through the skin.


Abstract In the course of conducting a radio-telemetry study of Lampropeltis getula getula (Eastern Kingsnake) within a ca. 3000-ha area in southwestern Georgia, we observed that adjacent home ranges of individuals infrequently overlapped. To quantify this overlap, ten interactions were compared; male/female overlap averaged 25%, while male/male overlap averaged 13%. Although we lack corroborative data, the limited overlap we observed is consistent with what would be expected from a territorial animal.


PURPOSE
To show the effect of dysprosium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid bis-methylamine injection on the images of normal human myocardium.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
T2-sensitive fast gradient-recalled echo (GRE) (repetition time [TR], 10.8 msec; echo time [TE], 4.2 msec) and spin-echo (SE) (TR, three RR intervals; TE, 60 msec) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with driven equilibrium-preparation pulse was used to produce T2 contrast material enhancement. The contrast agent was injected into 12 healthy subjects at doses of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mmol/kg.

RESULTS
Driven equilibrium-prepared GRE images showed a transient decrease of myocardial signal intensity at doses of 0.2-0.6 mmol/kg. Postcontrast T2-weighted SE images showed a myocardial signal attenuation (30%-45% decrease) at a dose of 0.4 mmol/kg or higher.

CONCLUSION
Dynamic MR imaging with a magnetic susceptibility contrast medium can be used to monitor the first pass of contrast media through human myocardium with a conventional MR imager and a fast GRE sequence.