Motherwort (MW), a Korean folk medicine, has been applied to treat inflammatory disease. However, its effect on inflammatory cytokine release from mast cells is not well known. We investigated the anti- inflammatory effect of MW on the secretion of inflammatory cytokine such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8 in human mast cell line (HMC-1). MW was treated in vitro before activation of HMC-1 cells with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) plus calcium ionophore A23187. MW had no cytotoxic effects on HMC-1 cell viability. MW (1 mg/ml) inhibited PMA plus A23187-stimulated gene expression and production of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8. Stimulation with PMA plus A23187 induced NF-κB activation in HMC-1 cells, which was inhibited by MW (1 mg/ml). MW inhibited secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8 possibly by inhibiting NF-κB activation. These results indicate that MW may be helpful in regulating inflammatory diseases.


Approaches to shore and floodplain management are compared for Washington State and the Province of British Columbia. Thus a comparison is being made within an international context for two adjacent jurisdictions. The floodplain and shore/management policies and programmes introduced over the last ten years in Washington State and British Columbia reflect the adoption of a broader range of alternative strategies. However there are significant differences between the State and Province with respect to the extent of formal arrangements and permit systems, the degree to which separate agency functions have been established, and the relative roles of the respective federal governments.


Previous studies of transonic shock control bumps have often been either numerical or experimental. Comparisons between the two have been hampered by the limitations of either approach. The present work aims to bridge the gap between computational fluid dynamics and experiment by planning a joint approach from the outset. This enables high-quality validation data to be produced and ensures that the conclusions of either aspect of the study are directly relevant to the application. Experiments conducted with bumps mounted on the floor of a blowdown tunnel were modified to include an additional postshock adverse pressure gradient through the use of a diffuser as well as introducing boundary-layer suction ahead of the test section to enable the in-flow boundary layer to be manipulated. This has the advantage of being an inexpensive and highly repeatable method. Computations were performed on a standard airfoil model, with the flight conditions as free parameters. The experimental and computational setups wer...


The first and only set of U.S.‐nationally distributed K‐12 science education standards have been adopted by many states across America, with the potential to be adopted by many more. Earth and space science plays a prominent role in the new standards, with particular emphasis on critical Earth issues such as climate change, sustainability, and human impacts on Earth systems. In the states that choose to adopt the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), American youth will have a rigorous practice‐based formal education in these important areas. Much work needs to be done to insure the adoption and adequate implementation of the NGSS by a majority of American states, however, and there are many things that Earth and space scientists can do to help facilitate the process.


Abstract 4445

Despite remarkable responses with imatinib in chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-CP), there remains a proportion of patients who are resistant or intolerant to imatinib treatment. Dasatinib is effective second-line treatment for this patient population. Importantly, without effective therapeutic intervention, these patients inevitably progress to advanced phases of disease, have a short survival and declined health outcomes. This emphasizes the importance of patient-reported outcome assessment in these patients. Comprehensive information about the results of dasatinib therapy both in terms of clinical and patient-reported outcomes will be helpful in evaluation of risks/benefits of treatment in this patient population. We aimed to study response rates as well as quality of life (QoL) parameters and symptom profile in imatinib-resistant or -intolerant CML-CP patients receiving dasatinib.

38 CML-CP patients resistant or -intolerant to imatinib were enrolled in the study (mean age - 50 years old, SD 14.5; range −22–79 years; male/female – 19/19). The median of disease duration was 5.7 years (1–13 years). The median duration of imatinib treatment - 39 months (5–101 months). 33 patients had resistance to imatinib treatment; 5 patients were intolerant to imatinib. Patients received dasatinib in the dose of 100 mg daily. Median follow-up was 12 months. For QoL assessment patients filled out the SF-36 and for symptom assessment – Comprehensive Symptom Profile in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients (CSP Leuk-CML). The CSP Leuk-CML is developed to assess profile of 47 symptoms specific for patients with CML. To compare patient population with normative data the sample from population norm (PN) database adjusted to age and gender was used. For comparisons Mann-Whitney test was used. Symptom severity and percentages of patients with symptoms at moderate-to-severe (ratings3 5) levels was evaluated.

High rates of hematologic (complete, 90%) and cytogenetic (major, 85%; complete, 35%) response were observed for the majority of patients at 6 months from the start of therapy. During observation period two patients died (at 2 and 6 months after therapy initiation), one patient discontinued treatment due to significant thrombocytopenia at 2 months, and one patient discontinued treatment due to disease progression at 6 months after therapy initiation. At base-line patients experienced impaired QoL as compared to population norms: the values for the majority of SF-36 scales were significantly lower than in control group (p 75% decrease from a PN). At base-line the majority of patients (96%) experienced fatigue; a half of them suffered from moderate-to-severe fatigue. 75% of patients experienced at least one moderate-to-severe symptom; more than 40% had more than 7 moderate-to-severe symptoms. At 12 months after dasatinib treatment 47% of patients experienced no QoL impairment; the number of patients with severe or critical QoL impairment slightly decreased (25% and 10%, respectively). At 12 months after the start of therapy QoL treatment response in terms of stabilization or improvement was registered in the majority of patients (81%). In nearly all patients symptom severity did not change or became lower at different time-points of treatment as compared with base-line. The number of patients with moderate-to-severe symptoms decreased while treatment.

Thus, treatment with dasatinib is beneficial for imatinib-resistant or -intolerant CML-CP patients both in terms of clinical and patient-reported outcomes. Desirable clinical and patient-reported outcomes were registered for the majority of patients. Comprehensive evaluation of the results of second-line treatment of CML-CP allows to assess the risks and benefits of therapy both from physician's and patient's perspective.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


In this paper a new quasi-triangular Hopf algebra as the quantum double of the Heisenberg-Weyl algebra is presented.Its universal R-matrix is built and the corresponding representation theory are studied with the explict construction for the representations of this quantum double.


Overall, stem cells play a crucial role in advancing immunotherapy for various types of cancers by offering innovative approaches to harness the immune system's potential for targeted and efficient cancer treatment. As research continues, it is expected that stem cells will contribute to the development of even more effective therapies in the future. Generally, several types of stem cells are used for immunotherapies, as follows:


In the post-war economy of Japan, the high-pressure economy as defined by Okun and Yellen maintained its real exchange rate relatively low and kept the economy mildly inflationary. Not only did it encourage short-term employment but it also fostered a long-term productivity trend as measured by its total factor productivity (TFP). International pressure for a stronger yen after the Plaza Accord, coupled with the restrictive monetary policy of the Bank of Japan, created a large exchange rate gap and accordingly, the extreme Japan-U.S. output price gap, referred to as the price level index (PLI), in 1995. It further caused the squeeze of domestic wages and led to the deflationary pressure that plagued the Japanese economy for decades. In our opinion, the exchange rate also depressed domestic capital accumulation caused by the internationally low nominal rate of return on capital and that situation caused the TFP stagnation in Japan.


This paper investigates the application of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in a coordinated direct and relay transmission (CDRT) system, where the base station (BS) directly communicates with the near (i.e., cell-centric) user, while it requires the help of a dedicated full duplex (FD) relay to communicate with the far (i.e., cell-edge) user. For the considered NOMA-FD-CDRT system, we derive closed-form expressions for the outage probabilities and ergodic rates experienced by the downlink users, under the realistic assumptions of imperfect channel state information (I-CSI) and imperfect successive interference cancellation (I-SIC). Expressions for system outage probability and ergodic sum rate are also presented. The links are assumed to experience independent, non-identically distributed Nakagami- ${m}$ fading. The analysis of outage probabilities are carried out for both integer and non-integer values of the fading severity index. Extensive simulation results are described to validate the accuracy of analytical results, and to illustrate the performance gain of the considered system, as compared to NOMA-HD-CDRT system and the orthogonal multiple access (OMA) based CDRT system. Our results show that, both channel estimation error variance and I-SIC factor have significant impact on the performance of the considered NOMA-FD/HD-CDRT system. Further, to ensure fairness in terms of outage, we numerically determine the power allocation coefficient at the BS that provides equal outage performance for both the near and the far users in the presence of I-CSI and I-SIC. Furthermore, we derive closed-form expression for the optimal power allocation (OPA) coefficient at the BS that minimizes the system outage probability of the NOMA-FD/HD-CDRT network under I-CSI. With the help of numerical and simulation investigations, we establish that the proposed OPA significantly reduces the system outage probability, as compared to random (i.e., non-optimal) power allocation at the BS.


The mrp are public expression of a special and exceptional historical moment of the Spain of the educational transition (1970-1985). They are close and are twinned with other social movements that work with great vitality in a very favorable context for the emergence of freedoms of all kinds, at the end of the iron-fisted Franco dictatorship. The mrp have the collective aspiration, sometimes romantic, to build a new world, a different and more just society, in this case from processes of change in educational policy and pedagogical renewal. The shift from mrp to smaller pedagogical renewal groups in their composition, and more focused on specific pedagogical aspects, occurs when the mec, political parties and teacher unions channel other aspirations existing or born even within the mrp. In our opinion the mrp of this stage are the verification of an active and multiform social movement gestated and built in the field of education, unique in the world and unrepeatable, typical of the socio-political process experienced in Spain of the educational transition since the dictatorship Francoist to democracy.


Objective To investigate the relation between carotid atherosclerosis and lacunar infarction in hypertensive patients.Methods 111 hypertensive patients with lacunar infarction and 91 hypertensive patients without lacunar infarction were given CT or MRI and carotid color Doppler examination.Results Increased systolic blood pressure, decreased apoA,high blood pressure history were correlated to lacunar infarction in hypertensive patients (P0.05).The number of carotid arteries with plaque, the mean pulse index and resistance index of carotid artery in hypertensive patients with lacunar infarction were higher than those in hypertensive patients wit+hout lacunar infarction (P0.05).The mean caliber of carotid artery in hypertensive patients with lacunar infarction was smaller than that in hypertensive patients without lacunar infarction(P0.05).Conclusions The increased systolic blood pressure, decreased apoA, long hypertension history and carotid atherosclerosis were likely correlated to lacunar infarction in hypertensive patients.


The damage and blockade of airport runways are important objectives in modern warfare. The minimum takeoff and landing window is regarded as the damage criterion of an airport runway. On the basis of Mathematica, a simulation is performed by judging whether the inequality group has a solution domain. An improved algorithm for judging whether an airport has a minimum takeoff and landing window is proposed. The algorithm is used to calculate and analyze the blockade probability of an ordinary missile to an airport and the influence of the performance of a guided submunition on the blockade of an airport runway. Results show that increasing the number of submunition, reducing the circular error probable of submunition, and increasing the number of subprojectiles can increase the blocking capability of submunition, while increasing the dispersion radius of subprojectiles will first increase the blocking probability and then decrease it. Through simulation, the inflection point of the blocking efficiency of submunitions is found. This article improves the judgment formula of takeoff and landing window, Compared with the window scanning method, the proposed method solves the problems of error caused by excessively large scanning step and extremely long calculation time caused by considerably small scanning step.


This paper presents results of a software development project carried out by the "Electricity North West" (ENW) and "TNEI" to find economic use-of-system charges for the extra high-voltage (EHV) network. Several cost-based charging models which satisfy principles set by the Regulator, such as cost reflectivity, predictability, stability and transparency were developed. In this paper, the emphasis is put on the developed software and the comparison of nodal marginal charges obtained from the proposed pricing models.


The essence of seizing is the core of theory system of the police tactics.Carrying out the researching of the essences and the actual indication of the seizing is to explore the nature of the seizing concept and develop the fundamental theory of tactics and help police to find the "safe theory" in working.This article analyzes from the common and special nature of the seizing and the indicating to the action.


Let M1 and M2 be closed, orientable 3‐manifolds. Let Hi denote a Heegaard surface in Mi . We prove that if H1#H2 comes from stabilizing a lower genus splitting of M1#M2 then one of H1 or H2 comes from stabilizing a lower genus splitting. This answers a question of C Gordon [9, Problem 3.91]. We also show that every unstabilized Heegaard splitting has a unique expression as the connected sum of Heegaard splittings of prime 3‐manifolds.


Objective To compare the efficacy and side effects of venlafaxine combined with olanzapine in the treatment of somatoform disorder.Methods A total of 68 patients with somatoform disorder were randomly assigned into study group(34 cases) treated with venlafaxine combined with olanzapine and control group(34 cases) treated with with venlafaxine monotherapy for 6 weeks.The efficacy was measured with Hamilton Depression Scale(HAMD) and the smatization item of SCL-90,and side effects were evaluated with the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale(TESS) at baseline and the 2nd,4th,6th weekend.Results The reduction rates of HAMD and smatization factor score of SCL-90 in study group were significantly higher than those in control group after treatment(P0.01).In the 2 th,4 th and 6th weekend of treatment,the scores of HAMD and smatization item of SCL-90 in study group were significantly lower than those in control group(P0.01 or P0.05).Compared with control group,the study group had higher effective rate(P0.05).There was no significant differences in score of TESS between the two groups and the side effects in the two groups were not serious.Conclusion Venlafaxine combined with olanzapine is effective in the treatment of somatoform disorder with high safety.


Many readers in England will have spent at least a little time over the last few weeks pondering the meaning of their PCT's performance in the recent star ratings. For those with three stars, a pat on the back all round. For those with none, a disconsolate sigh, and off to the next patient. Or perhaps complete disdain of the whole worthless procedure. After all, not one of the performance indicators examined nurses' input into care.


The stones and boulders that lie in rivers and lakes, and the rocks that often line their banks, commonly support a variety of lichens. The aquatic habitat extends from the upper parts of the rocks that are frequently splashed by the water, through those regions where the rock surface is in and out of the waves cast up by the flowing stream or wind-blown lake, to the frequently inundated and thence the permanently submerged surfaces on both the fixed boulders and the smaller loose stones. Here grow the fresh-water species of Verrucaria, of which eight are described in this paper. They are restricted to this type of habitat, and no other species of Verrucaria are to be found in it except for an occasional erratic, so that the group is clearly defined by its highly specialized habitat requirements. The substratum these Verrucaria species need is hard rock, and unlike many saxicolous species of this genus they seem largely indifferent to the pH of the substratum. Certainly they are to be found on such highly calcareous rock as carboniferous limestone, though they develop better on acidic granites, slates and schists. The more resistant the rock is to the erosive action of the water the better developed are the Verrucaria plants on it. Conversely, they do not grow satisfactorily on the softer limestones, or for that matter on the easily abraded granite of many Dartmoor streams. In such places the species represented are restricted to one or two and the plants are depauperate. On the Continent a few species have been recorded on wooden pales in water, though whether they are normally saxicolous species in an unusual habitat may perhaps be left an open question at present. The preference of this group for the hardest rocks has added to the difficulty of studying them and is partly responsible for the multiplicity of questionable species and infraspecific taxa that have been described. In the first place the collecting of specimens can be satisfactorily attempted only when the level of water is reasonably low, a facility often denied the botanist by rain in the surrounding hills causing a spate in the river he wishes to examine. Secondly, to chip from an exceedingly hard rock, often smoothed and rounded by years of wear in the water, a piece bearing the chosen specimen sufficiently complete to show all its characteristics, can present difficulties that individual lichenologists solve in their various ways. But the frustration is not unknown of seeing a fine specimen fly off the rock from the chisel and be lost for ever some yards away in the depths of the river. The result is that a considerable number of species have been described on the basis of small, incomplete and unrepresentative specimens. Two further difficulties perplex the student of the fresh-water species of Verrucaria. The first is the great variety of forms in which a particular species


With the availability of historical pavement maintenance records and collected pavement performance data in the pavement management system (PMS) of highways in Jiangsu Province, it is of great importance to study the optimal application time of preventive maintenance. Rutting depth was selected as the pavement performance indicator since it is more critical than the other evaluation indexes. Pavement deteriorates much faster when the rutting depth reaches 10 mm. It is recommended to apply preventive maintenance before the beginning of severe deterioration, which is more cost-effective than rehabilitation. Heavier traffic on the highway causes the pavement to reach its turning point earlier. The life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) method was used to calculate the optimal application time of the preventive maintenance treatments. The application time of different preventive maintenance treatments is much the same, although the benefit over cost ratio is different between the different treatments.


Background: In Portugal colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers and the number of deaths from malignant colorectal cancer has increased. Surgery is the most common treatment and despite advances in preoperative evaluations, there are still high rates of complications in surgical procedures, negatively influencing health outcomes. Thus, to reduce the occurrence of this type of complications, it is necessary to understand the factors that lead to a higher risk of developing postoperative complications and to monitor the impact on the effectiveness and efficiency indicators to improve the quality of care in colorectal surgery. Objectives: To identify factors associated with postoperative complications and their impact on mean delay and in-hospital mortality in patients with colorectal malignant neoplasia of Portuguese Public Hospitals. Methodology: Retrospective analysis based on the discharge summary database from 2014 to 2016. Based on logistic regressions, we identified odd ́s ratios for predictive factors in the development of postoperative complications in the diagnosis of colorectal malignant cancer undergoing surgery and the impact on outcome indicators: mortality and mean delay, using Disease Staging version 5.27 and APR-DRG version 31 software. Results: Of the 17816 episodes analyzed, 2055 (11.53%) developed at least one postoperative complication, with another postoperative infection (9%); postoperative urinary tract infection (2.64%) and postoperative septicemia (1.87%), as the most frequent. We identified several predictive factors in the development of postoperative complications analyzed. We found that patients with postoperative complications had an increased risk of hospital mortality (OR 6, 94) and a risk of increased hospitalization (OR 10,24). Some complications were highlighted as to their impact on each of these results. Conclusion: The results of our study highlights problems in the quality of care, recommending the prevention and control of some postoperative complications. This study allows the knowledge of postoperative complications for colorectal surgery, malignant neoplasia in Portuguese public hospitals and may be a starting point for further investigations.


We addressed the potential role of cell-laminin interactions during epaxial myotome formation in the mouse embryo. Assembly of the myotomal laminin matrix occurs as epaxial myogenic precursor cells enter the myotome. Most Myf5-positive and myogenin-negative myogenic precursor cells localise near assembled laminin, while myogenin-expressing cells are located either away from this matrix or in areas where it is being assembled. In Myf5nlacZ/nlacZ (Myf5-null) embryos, laminin, collagen type IV and perlecan are present extracellularly near myogenic precursor cells, but do not form a basement membrane and cells are not contained in the myotomal compartment. Unlike wild-type myogenic precursor cells, Myf5-null cells do not express the α6β1 integrin, a laminin receptor, suggesting that integrin α6β1-laminin interactions are required for myotomal laminin matrix assembly. Blockingα 6β1-laminin binding in cultured wild-type mouse embryo explants resulted in dispersion of Myf5-positive cells, a phenotype also seen in Myf5nlacZ/nlacZ embryos. Furthermore, inhibition ofα 6β1 resulted in an increase in Myf5 protein and ectopic myogenin expression in dermomyotomal cells, suggesting that α6β1-laminin interactions normally repress myogenesis in the dermomyotome. We conclude that Myf5 is required for maintaining α6β1 expression on myogenic precursor cells, and that α6β1 is necessary for myotomal laminin matrix assembly and cell guidance into the myotome. Engagement of laminin byα 6β1 also plays a role in maintaining the undifferentiated state of cells in the dermomyotome prior to their entry into the myotome.


Implementing an e-Learning system is not just about bringing a new technology in practice and improving teaching and learning. It is also about changing long-lasting conceptions that in classical methods are better than in computerized ones, without replacing them. This is also why software solutions for online learning and testing must be as user-friendly as possible, but also provide high-quality solutions to suit the teachers' and learners' needs. This paper shows our developed eLearning system, Education Management Tool, with the purpose of enhancing classical teaching and examination methods, without replacing them. EDM is continuously being developed and perfected, with new modules and functionality added regularly for efficient communication and collaborative project work of students or document management of teachers. We also extend the interactive teaching section with lessons focused on graph algorithms (breadth-first search, depth-first search, Dijkstra, etc.) and binary tree operations (insertion, deletion, traversal, search, etc.). Such algorithms can be better explained through visually illustrated examples which might help the students to easier understand them. Therefore, we present the above mentioned algorithms with the help of interactive Flash files as part of the lessons.


Nonlinear interaction between femtosecond solitons has been investigated in a distributed erbium-doped fibre amplifier (DEDFA). It is shown that when the input femtosecond soliton pair is in phase, the soliton self-frequency shift is greatly accelerated by soliton interaction.


As is known, the free heat-kernel on the integers (a modified Bessel function) is turned into the periodic free heat-kernel on the discrete circle by factoring, giving a pre-image sum. I generalise existing treatments by making the functions periodic up to a phase, thus introducing an extra parameter into the analysis. Identifying the classical paths form with the conventional eigenfunction expression, I find a combinatorial trace identity which allows various Bessel identities to be extracted, such as a generalisation of the Jacobi-Anger expansion.The free Dirichlet, Neumann and hybrid Dirichlet-Neumann heat-kernels on a discrete interval are constructed using both modes and images. The Neumann imaging mirror has to be placed at a half-integer. The corresponding lattice Green functions are expressed in terms of Chebyshev polynomials and the Laplacian matrices extracted. The generating functions for circuits with bumps are evaluated.


Our previous report" revealed that "myosin B" extracted from rigor muscle showed rela tively high values of ATPase activity, ATPsensitivity and reduced viscosity, and moreover a characteristic salting-out curve, TEAEcellulose chromatogram and sedimentation diagram. The sedimentation diagram, in 0.28M KCl solution (pH 8.0) where the aggre gation of "myosin B" occurred, was different from that of myosin B from fresh muscle and similar to that of myosin B from post-rigor muscle. The present paper reports in details the differences of the sedimentation of monomeric "myosin B" in 0 .6M KCI solution (pH 7.0) from the stored muscle with and without pyrophosphate.


#24 #24 If (x-a) 2 = b, then (x-a) = ± b and x = a ± b. This means that if we have a perfect square on one side of an equation we can remove it by taking the square root of each side and then solving in the usual way. Completing the square is a method to transform a quadratic equation into this sometimes more usable form. Also see the textbook, pages 436-38 and 444. Solve x 2-10x + 22 = 0 Isolate the constant. We need to make x 2-10x into a perfect square. Taking half the x coefficient and squaring it will accomplish this. The 25 that was put into the parenthesis must be compensated for by adding 25 to the other side so that the equation remains balanced.


The comprehensive effect that the complex electromagnetic environment acts on the army information equipments presents the real-time,dynamic,oppositional,nonlinear and integrated characteristic.From the point of view of the technical and tactical application,the simulation of radarnetwork based on HLA according to the characteristics of the complex electromagnetic environment was designed.The radar detection probability model and data fusion model of radar-network in the complex electromagnetic environment were given.The simulation and model were verified by the air-defense exercises,and could be used to support the demonstration and design for new radar.


A great goal of optics in computing is the eventual failure of electrical interconnects. This leads to two guiding principles for smart pixel technologies, which integrate optoelectronic devices to electronics for optical read-in/out. One, that the electronics be state-of-the-art, or, in other words, not compromised by the integration with optoelectronics, since the above stated goal will be reached sooner with leading edge electronics. Two, since a probable failure mode of electrical interconnects is a limitation of electrical chip pin-out, the number of optical channels per chip must be in the thousands, since it is apparently not until this number is reached that there will be a problem. Therefore, any integration process must be capable of producing such numbers of optoelectronic devices, preferably in a single step. Also, since currently only MQW modulators are available in arrays this large, that is what we use for the transmitting device. It is convenient that the MQW modulator also functions as a detector, but as described below we also have the capability of multiple levels of integration for dissimilar input and output devices.


A recent development in Higher Education reflects a growing use of digital systems and services. Younger students tend to adapt in a quicker manner than their predecessors and app use has not been an exception. This chapter's tried to reflect upon the paradigm shift in the field of HE associated with the introduction of apps like learning and health promoting apps, with particular focus on mHealth and biofeedback. The newer trend of gamification is also considered as a potential tool for increased motivation and engagement. The authors consider that the development of a coherent solution, based on a multidisciplinary approach for the promotion of students' educational success and well-being would be a worthwhile investment, leading to an innovative, integrated multidisciplinary app that might act as a promoter of HE student's adaptation, success and wellbeing.


Both flat-panel detectors and cylindrical detectors have been used in CT systems for data acquisition. The cylindrical detector generally offers a sampling of a transverse image plane more uniformly than does a flat-panel detector. However, in the longitudinal dimension, the cylindrical and flat-panel detectors offer similar sampling of the image space. In this work, we investigate a detector of spherical shape, which can yield uniform sampling of the 3D image space because the solid angle subtended by each individual detector bin remains unchanged. We have extended the backprojection-filtration (BPF) algorithm, which we have developed previously for cone-beam CT, to reconstruct images in cone-beam CT with a spherical detector. We also conduct computer-simulation studies to validate the extended BPF algorithm. Quantitative results in these numerical studies indicate that accurate images can be obtained from data acquired with a spherical detector by use of our extended BPF cone-beam algorithms.


The effects of Cl doping on the properties of CuInSe2 monograin powder have been investigated. The capacitance-voltage (C–V) characteristics were measured in the dark at 0.1–100 kHz frequencies and the carrier concentrations were estimated from the slope of C−2-V plots. The carrier concentration in undoped CuInSe2 was 2 x 1016 cm–3, it increased with increasing the Cl concentration up to 9 x 1016 cm–3. The photoluminescence spectra of undoped and Cl-doped CuInSe2 showed one asymmetrical band originated from the band-tail recombination. The band maximum shifted towards higher energies with increasing Cl concentration but the shape remained the same. We assume that with the incorporation of chloride into the materials the concentration of probably shallower complex defects [VIn + 2ClSe] increases since chloride atoms preferably occupy VSe sites. Therefore the overall acceptor concentration increases slightly. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Drug resistance is an obstacle in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and is a common reason for treatment failure or disease progression. However, the underlying mechanisms of cyclophosphamide resistance remain poorly defined. In the present study, microarray data concerning cyclophosphamide-sensitive and -resistant chronic myelogenous leukemia cell lines were analyzed. A total of 258 differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between these two groups, from which 139 DEGs were upregulated and 119 were downregulated. Several candidate genes that were associated with cyclophosphamide resistance were also identified. These DEGs were subsequently classified using Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment pathway analysis. A total of 487 biological processes and 17 KEGG pathways were revealed to be enriched. Furthermore, an interaction network was established to identify the core genes that regulated cyclophosphamide resistance. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5A (STAT5A), FYN proto-oncogene, Src family tyrosine kinase and spleen associated tyrosine kinase were revealed to be the hub genes in multiple enriched biological processes and signaling pathways, indicating that these were involved in mediating cyclophosphamide sensitivity in CML cells. The expression levels of 5 DEGs were also confirmed in two human CML cell lines (K-562 and KU812) by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, selective knockdown of STAT5A and S100 calcium binding protein A4 (S100A4) recovered cyclophosphamide sensitivity in K-562 cells, suggesting their involvement in drug resistance. The present study identified several potential genes and pathways contributing to cyclophosphamide resistance, and confirmed the involvement of STAT5A and S100A4 in drug resistance. These results enable improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying drug resistance in CML cells.


We report the first explanation of the novel electrical switching in two‐terminal devices based on thin V2O5⋅1.6H2O gel films. The switching is shown to be associated with the existence of a current‐induced channel between the contacts. The data demonstrate that the switching between the ''on'' and ''off'' states of the device is driven by the joule heating of a metal‐insulator (MI) transition in the channel material (or filaments in the channel). Resistivity data on the channel exhibit a sharp MI transition at T=334 K which is also the temperature at which the device is observed to stop switching. The signature of the MI transition in the channel is very similar to that observed in VO2(TMI=341 K), suggesting the channel may contain VO2−x conduction paths.


This development research aims to produce an interactive digital multimedia module in the Intercultural Communication and Conflict Resolution Course at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. This development research uses the ADDIE model which consists of five stages, namely analysis, design, develop, implementation, and evaluation. The resulting product is an interactive digital module that uses scenario-based and is compiled on the elearning.umn.ac.id moodle platform. Data collection in this study used interviews, questionnaires, and tests which were then analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The trial process in this study involved experts and users. The experts involved are material experts, learning design experts, and instructional media experts. The user trial was carried out by involving students from the Communication Studies Program. Experts and users are given the opportunity to use interactive multimedia products and provide responses to the given questionnaire. The results of the final analysis show the level of product validity and feasibility is 84%. Furthermore, an evaluation test was carried out using the n-gain score to measure the effectiveness of the product by using a test of 20 questions pretest and posttes. The result is an n-gain score of 71%. Based on these data, it can be said that the product is feasible to use and effective enough to be a medium of learning in intercultural communication and conflict resolution courses.


Introduction: Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy (CAV) is a major limiting factor for long-term survival among cardiac transplant recipients. Large-scale data pertaining to the clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes in such patients undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) is lacking.

Methods: We analyzed 1,897,328 patients from the NCDR CathPCI registry™ who underwent PCI of at least 1 native vessel between July 2009-December 2013 from 1477 centers, of which 542 patients (0.03%) had previous cardiac transplantation. After 4:1 propensity matching, clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were compared between 538 cardiac transplant recipients and 2128 non-transplant patients.

Results: Cardiac transplant recipients were more likely to have prior PCI, dyslipidemia, Canadian class 3/4 angina and were less likely to be smokers or present with ST segment-elevation myocardial infarction (0.9% vs. 7.1%, p<0.01) compared to the general population. Transplant recipients had fewer type C lesions (36% vs. 41% p=0.02) and were more likely to receive drug-eluting stents (DES: 81% vs. 76% p<0.01). In-hospital mortality, composite of death/MI/stroke, and bleeding complications were not significantly different between propensity-matched groups. (Table)

Conclusions: Our large database analysis demonstrate that despite some differences in clinical characteristics, in-hospital outcomes among cardiac transplant recipients undergoing PCI for focal lesions associated with CAV were similar to the general population. Use of DES was higher in this group.

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To understand the textural properties of carbon replicas obtained from the charring of styryl-based LDH hybrid assemblies, the calcination process was carefully studied within a temperature domain between 500 and 700 °C. Supported by several characterizations such as nitrogen gas adsorption, X-ray diffraction recorded in situ, Raman and ESR, the drastic change in the porosity (micro- and meso-porosity) should be explained by the thermal process combined to the acid-leaching procedure responsible for the opening of the porosity and more specifically by the intimate mixing between the organic and inorganic components. Indeed, a temperature of 600 °C is found to ensure the carbonisation of the organic part, as well as supplying small inorganic particles. Their departure during the acid-leaching is believed to create the well defined mesoporosity, and higher temperatures of treatment induce a crystallisation of the particles, and ill defined mesopores for the relative carbon replica. The carbon replica is found to be reactive against fluorine gas, with a nominal uptake dependant of the temperature and of up to 1.0 F per carbon atom. The fluorination is highly deleterious for the texture with a drastic decrease in the specific surface area. The higher the temperature of fluorination, the lower is the corresponding BET surface area. The mechanism of fluorination is studied by ESR and 19F solid state NMR. Against lithium ion the fluorinated carbon replicas exhibit an intricate electrochemical behavior, and an unexpected reversible process is observed at 2.5 V vs Li for the carbon replica fluorinated at 300 °C.


Remote influences of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on tropical Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) are examined using reanalysis and in-situ observational datasets. During both the warm and cold events of ENSO, latent heat flux anomalies are the major mechanism for SST anomalies over the Caribbean Sea. Results from a linear decomposition of the latent heat flux anomalies indicate that the anomalous air-sea difference in specific humidity ðDq 0 Þ is the dominant term in January, one month after the ENSO's mature phase. Since anomalies of SST and saturation specific humidity at the sea surface are still small in January, Dq 0 is due mostly to changes in specific humidity in the lower atmosphere. Changes in surface air humidity and temperature, and their relationship to temperature variability in the upper troposphere during ENSO warm events are discussed.


In this article we construct orthonormal bases compatible with bi-variate homogeneous $\alpha$-modulation spaces and the associated spaces of Triebel-Lizorkin type. The construction is based on generating a separable $\alpha$-covering and using carefully selected tensor products of univariate brushlet functions with regards to this covering. We show that the associated systems form an unconditional bases for the homogeneous $\alpha$-spaces of Triebel-Lizorkin type.


Feasibility study for the opening of an Italian food restaurant in the city of Quito the present research was based on the requirements and viability that must have a restaurant of Italian food for people who like places where you can eat nutritious foods. Specifically to achieve know if it is appropriate in terms of financial along with market strategies, the technical study and other tools that allow achieve the main goal in this study. Managing to the purpose of attending to a group of people in the capital by obtaining the best performance and streamline the processes of elaboration of the products in the restaurant….


Sprays of (2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid (ethephon) applied to 'Delicious' apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) in July at concentrations of 500 to 1000 ppm shortly after the completion of June drop hastened the respiratory climacteric, and increased soluble solids, watercore and preharvest drop. These effects were diminished when 1000 ppm succinic acid-2,2-dimethyhydrazide (daminozide) was included with ethephon. All concentrations of ethephon increased flesh firmness. Two periods of fruit abscission occurred following ethephon application at high concentrations: shortly after application and immediately prior to harvest. After cold storage, fruit which had received 500 or 1000 ppm ethephon had less scald but a greater incidence of brown core. High ethephon concentrations increased bloom the following spring but had no influence on fruit set.


Sweet corn (Zea mays L. var. rugosa cv. Jubilee) was grown on a fine loamy clay krasnozem soil with banded nitrogen fertilizer at rates up to 200 kg N ha-1 from (NH4)2SO4 and 50 kg N ha-1 from each of NH4NO3 and urea. Some treatments were top-dressed with one or two applications of 50 kg N ha-1. The highest yield of both cobs (23.1 t ha-1) and fresh shoots (93.8 t ha-1) and the highest concentration of N in cobs and shoot dry matter was attained with 100 kg basal N ha-1 and two subsequent topdressings of 50 kg N ha-1 each, applied as (NH4)2SO4. From banded dressing alone, 150 kg N ha-1 produced the highest cob yield and the highest accumulation of N in cobs and shoot dry matter. Top-dressed N increased the yield of cobs and the yield and N concentration in shoots, but did not influence the N concentration in cobs. As N rates were increased, there was an increase in the weight of primary cobs, the weight and number of secondary cobs and more significantly, in the number of tertiary cobs. The source of N did not have any effect on the yield or most yield related components except yield and number of tertiary cobs, which were higher in the ammonium sulfate treatments. The contribution of nitrogen uptake efficiency NUPE and nitrogen ultilization efficiency NUTE to variations in nitrogen use efficiency NUSE was calculated and discussed.


The students' desire to learn should be aroused in the teaching procedure. The thinking can be widened by the profound knowledge and extensive information. Therefore, the students' creative thinking and unique good personality on the observation, inquiry, exploration and innovation should be cultivated.


An extensive study on the use of Si as a substrate for the growth of AlGaN/GaN layers for High-Electron-Mobility Transistor (HEMT) were studied and reported in this article. We have used thick buffers to grow high resistive i-GaN by MOCVD which offers a high breakdown voltage. While the leakage through buffer and substrate can be controlled by thick buffer, the leakage through gate is controlled using a thin 2-nm in-situ grown i-GaN cap layer. We have evidenced a high figure of merit (BV2/RON) of 2.6 x 108 V2Ω-1cm-2 for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs grown on 4-inch Si substrate. The challenges before the MOCVD growth of GaN on Si is also discussed in detail.


I might have titled this contribution "Porton International and Biological Defense Research: Ethics, Politics and International Security," since Porton, as a company, has grappled with issues at the heart of all three of these areas. I cannot claim to speak for all of industry since I have not made an exhaustive survey of companies involved in biological defense activities or compiled a comprehensive list of the issues, but I believe that Porton's experience is both representative and relevant. Thus, the purpose of thls paper is to relate some case studies of real-life social and ethlcal decisions faced by corporations involved in biological defense R&D and in manufacturing products affected by national security considerations. Whde the lessons are apropos, particularly to Porton, many are generic to the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries. To understand how Porton has confronted questions of ethics, politics, and international security, it is useful to know sometlung about the company. Porton International PLC, the parent company, has two groups of operating subsidiaries, one in the United Kmgdom (U.K.) and one in the U.S. (FIG. 1). Of these, JRH Biosciences, LH Fermentation, and Porton Products, which are manufacturers of biological media and reagents, bioprocessing equipment, and therapeutic agents and vaccines, respectively, are involved in activities relevant to this discussion. In addition, Porton International has a unique relationship with the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research (CAMR), an institute now governed by the U.K. Department of Health's Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS). Until 1979, CAMR was the medical defense R&D center for the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MOD); it was the British equivalent of Fort Detrick in the U.S. CAMR scientists have long had expertise in worlung with lughly contagious or hazardous microorganisms, and since talung over CAMR, the PHLS has continued to fund many military medical research programs that had more general public health applications. In addition, CAMR manufactures a variety of vaccines and diagnostic and therapeutic agents. Hence Porton International, directly as a group of companies and indirectly though CAMR, works with andlor manufacturers hazardous microorganisms, the bioprocessors and safety cabinets in which they are grown and their products purified, and the reagents and media necessary for their growth. And because this part of our business involves workmg


sion with a detailed analysis of the likely route of trade and timber transport from the Levant to Mesopotamia, vividly evoking the laborious progress of the massive cedars of Lebanon, on painfully slow ox-carts, to the river. His favoured identification is Birecik. The maps in this article, unfortunately, are so small and grey as to be almost unreadable, and omit many of the locations mentioned in the text. Another river crossing is the subject of E. Anson's paper, 'Alexander at the Beas', in which he argues against the controversial proposals of Spann and Heckel that Alexander never intended to go further than the Beas, and that there was no 'mutiny' there. For Anson, Alexander's ambition was infinite, bounded only by what he could do in a lifetime. G. Cohen, 'Polis Hellenis', offers a careful analysis of the term, emphasising the cultural connotation of 'Greek', which is more than simply a linguistic term. The fact that there are no poleis Hellenides in Asia Minor indicates that the term does not refer to political structure, but to paideia. Two papers are concerned with the Realien of Alexander's empire. B., 'Why the Devil Wears Prada: the Politics of Display in Military Kit', vividly characterises the clothing, armour and parade dress of the Macedonians, and the importance of the 'look' as part of the apparatus of power. D. Whitehead, 'Alexander the Great and the Mechanici', surveys the engineers and their work for Alexander, in a paper which provides abundant detail for the imagining of Alexander's matériel. Anyone for a reconstruction helepolis to complement Coates and Morrison's trireme? J. Bellemore, 'Valerius Maximus and his Presentation of Alexander the Great', takes us into the interesting field of the reception of Alexander in antiquity. She discusses Valerius Maximus' 24 references to Alexander, and concludes that the author regarded Alexander as a great man despite his faults. I argued in Roisman's Brill's Companion (2003), in an article not mentioned by Bellemore, that this line of interpretation puts the cart before the horse: it was because Alexander was a great man that he was a useful source of exempla. Philosophers use history for their own purposes. Two final papers have nothing to do with Alexander but expand the representation of Antipodean colleagues. A. Pomeroy, 'Tacitus and the Crises of Empire', explores Tacitus and 'periodization'. J.R. Melville-Jones, 'Legitimizing an Emperor: the Solidus of Alexander III', raises hopes, but the coin he examines is not of that Alexander, but of the homonymous Byzantine emperor (A.D. 912–3). The discussion is interesting, but lacks illustrations. These two last papers may get lost in the company they keep, but no historian of Alexander can afford to ignore the rest of the content of this book.


A polyphase transconductor-capacitor (Gm–C) channel filter for a low-IF Bluetooth transceiver is described. It is designed in a 2.5 V, 0.25 μm standard CMOS process and employs a novel fully differential transconductor. Simulated performance is presented showing good fifth-order bandpass filter response (1 MHz centre frequency, 1.2 MHz bandwidth), 1 dB compression at l.3 V pk–pk, signal-to-noise ratio of 68.2 dB and an input third-order intermodulation product of 34.2 dBV. The power consumption is 1 mW and estimated chip area is 0.1 mm2.


Through this anthology of Bartomeu Fiol's poetry, we focus on a study of the imagery in his works.
The disconcerting element in Fiol's imagery can be explained through a conception of poetry where content
prevails over form and ethics over aesthetics. Poetry's objective is to underline reality and emphasize
innovation. It can safely be said that images of immobility and kinaesthesia form the core of Bartomeu Fiol's
poetic universe: his poetry, thoughts and humans relations are expressed through images of movement.


Development of a cost effective parking assistance system including the features of the system and the implementation challenges are described. The details of the system including, system architecture, software architecture, features developed and performance optimization approaches are described. Detailed overview of the system architecture of the low cost prototype system including the key components used and the mapping of the functionality onto target processor are provided. A series of road tests were conducted for parking scenarios and confirmed the usability of the system in enhancing driving comfort. Finally, the results of the parking assistance system including the output image for multiple use case scenarios are shown.


A comparative study was carried out on the wear of 38CrSi high-alloy steel using TiCrAlN- and TiAlN-coated tools. The presence of elemental Cr in the TiCrAlN coating resulted in formation of a Cr–O film on the tool, which provided a lower friction coefficient. This also mitigated transfer of cutting heat to the tool substrate and inhibited elemental diffusion between the tool and the workpiece. Simultaneously, the hard Cr–O film, which formed outside the Al–O film, provided excellent wear resistance and protected the Al–O film. Thus, elemental Cr played an active role in enhancing the wear resistance of the tool, prolonging its life. A workpiece cut using a TiCrAlN-coated tool had a surface roughness of 0.79 µm, which was about 62% lower than that obtained using a TiAlN-coated tool. Although wear of the TiCrAlN-coated tool was reduced, reaching 0.2 mm over the standard test time of 8 min, this time was 300% longer than that observed with the TiAlN-coated tool. Furthermore, the cutting force components were smaller, at up to 8 N, and the cutting force was 50% lower than with the TiAlN-coated tool. The wear and failure mechanisms of micro-milling 38CrSi alloy were the product of a combination of forms of wear and followed the wear law in terms of tool tip breakage, coating damage, abrasive wear, and adhesive wear; coating damage had the most important effect on tool life.


This study demonstrates a new resistive switching material, F-doped TiO2 (F:TiO2), fabricated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) with an in-house fluorine source for resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices. Controlling oxygen vacancies is required since RRAM uses resistive switching (RS) characteristics by redistributing oxygen ions in oxide, and poor oxygen defect control has been shown to significantly reduce RRAM reliability. Therefore, this study designed an F based RRAM device using fluorine anions rather than oxygen defect for the main agent of RS behavior. We developed the F:TiO2 RRAM material using a novel in situ doping method in ALD and investigated its RS behaviors. The Pt/F:TiO2/Pt device exhibited forming-less bipolar RS and self-rectifying behavior by fluorine anion migration, effectively reducing the sneak current in crossbar array architecture RRAM. The doped fluorine passivated and reduced oxygen related defects in TiO2, confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Adopting the F-based RS material by ALD provides a viable candidate for high reliability RRAM.


The influence of the distribution of voids on macroscopic mechanical properties is an important problem in plastic deformation of damaged materials. Since the distribution of voids in actual damaged materials is heterogeneous, we have to evaluate the heterogeneous distribution of voids quantitatively. We propose a new method using the voronoi tessellation and the stereology to evaluate the heterogeneous distribution of voids in this paper. In order to verify the availability of the new method, perforated sheets with randomly distributed holes are set up as plane models of damaged materials and are examined under uniaxial tension. Mechanical properties of perforated sheets are estimated by anisotropic yield function and the relationship between distiribution of holes and macroscopic yield stress is investigated quantitatively. It is shown that the method is valid for evaluating the heterogeneous distribution of holes.


This chapter talks about history of non-profit sector in Croatia, current low frame, dimenzions of sector development and it's basic characteristics.It analises subjects of human resources, organizational capacities and development. It separately analizes role of local and central governmentin sector development.


We merge the concept of methane venting tectonics and the old legend about Surt, the giant of fire, living in the underground and having a burning sword. Due to the tumbling and collisions between blocks thrown up in the air by the explosive methane venting forces, ignition is likely to have set the methane on fire; i.e. huge burning columns of tens to hundreds of metres height. Such events occurred in east-central Sweden at about 3000 BP. The Bronze Age people are likely to have understood it as Surt pushing up his sword of fire from the underground. The legends of Surt, the Fenris Wolf, the Midgards Serpent and the Ragnarok apocalypse, all seem to owe their origins to the violent geodynamic activity along the east-central part of Sweden at about 3000 BP. We may therefore speak about an ancient "Svenonian mythology", which precedes the Norse mythology of the Edda by about 2000 years.


We use the notion of the centers of similitude of two circles to give a simple construction of the Ajima circles tangent to two sides of a triangle and a circular arc through two vertices. 1. Ajima's theorem Theorem 1 below is the solution of a famous Japanese temple geometry problem; it is sometimes referred to as a "hard but important Sangaku problem" (see, for example, [2]). It was mentioned in Fukagawa Pedoe's Japanse Temple Geometry [4, Problem 2.2.8, pp. 28, 103]. A proof was given in Fukagawa Rigby [5, pp. 17–18, 96–97], where the result is attributed to Naonobu Ajima (1732–1798). Theorem 1 (Ajima). Given a triangle ABC and a circle O′(R′) passing through B and C and containing A in its interior, there is a circle K1(r1) tangent to AB and AC, and the circle O′(R′) internally. If M and N are the midpoints of BC and the arc of the circle O′(R′) on the opposite side of A, then r1 = r + 2d(s− b)(s− c) as = r ( 1 + tan A 2 tan φ 2 ) , where a, b, c are the sidelengths of triangle ABC, and r, s its inradius and semiperimeter, d = MN , and φ2 = ∠BCN (see Figure 1).


Environmentalists have found the National Environmental Policy Act to be an effective litigation tool in their efforts to prevent environmental degradation, and the decision-making processes of nearly all federal agencies have been afftected-in form if not in substance-by NEPA. Ironically, the only agency which has escaped NEPA's procedural clutches is the institution charged with implementing the nation's major environmental improvement programs-the Environmental Protection Agency. With increasing frequency but with universal futility, industry has cited the agency's noncompliance with NEPA in challenging EPA's Clean Air Act programs. All courts which have considered the issue have agreed with EPA and held the Clean Air Act exempt from NEPA. Thus, EPA has managed to avoid the institutional headaches which NEPA has caused other agencies. But while the Clean Air Act has accordingly been immunized from this potential source of industry challenge, the question must be asked, "At what cost?" In this article, the author examines the policy reasons for and against such an exemption.


Motor of an internal combustion engine, in particular a diesel or petrol engine or gas engine, with a number of cylinders and in this piston arranged, wherein a piston for driving a crankshaft of the engine through a piston and Pleuelbolzenlagerung at one connected to the crankshaft connecting rod by a piston pin in arranged one facing the piston end of the connecting rod eye of the connecting rod is mounted, wherein the piston has a connecting rod end facing away from the piston head portion and a side facing the connecting rod piston boss portion. According to the invention it is provided that the piston has at least one piston boss with a substantially hollow cylindrically shaped hub interior surface and a piston bottom cooling chamber, and a lubricating device is provided for lubricating the piston and Pleuelbolzenlagerung, comprising: at least one disposed on the hub inner surface of the outlet opening and at least one piston head refrigerator and the outlet opening connected and which is arranged outside a plane of movement of the connecting rod oil return passage, wherein said lubricating device is adapted for supplying lubricant from the piston bottom cooling chamber via said at least one oil return channel, further through the outlet opening and further via a gap between piston and connecting rod along the outer surface of the piston pin in a connecting rod which forms between the piston pin and lubricating zone.


Bark structure of eleven oak species commonly found on southern pine sites was examined and described. In inner bark (phloem), groups of thick-walled lignified fibers and sclereids are interspersed among thin-walled cellulosie elements (parenchyma, sieve tube members, and companion cells). These fibers and selereids greatly influence the bark's density, hardness, and other physical and mechanical characteristics. The innermost periderm is the boundary between inner and outer bark. In oriter bark (rhytidome), areas of collapsed, dead phloem are enclosed by periderm layers. Periderm shape and spacing vary greatly within species. Great differences in exterior roughness and bark thickness also occur within species.


Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati have collaborated on development and presentation of a team-taught course on nuclear power plant systems and operations; the course is offered to students at both universities through interactive video. This paper discusses the following lessons learned and recommendations: (1) successful presentations depend upon equipment and communication links functioning properly; (2) careful attention to classroom layout, particularly camera placement, is important; (3) use of an electronic classroom places significant additional responsibilities on instructors over traditional teaching methods; (4) it is a non-trivial matter to understand the operation and maintenance of equipment and the integrated performance of the classroom; (5) situations will arise which prevent a session from proceeding; (6) effective use of multi-media requires a greater degree of preparation and presents additional logistical problems; (7) changes in teaching style are needed if students are to actively participate; (8) coordination among instructors is required to ensure all aspects of a course are adequately carried out; (9) students and faculty both benefit from having teaching responsibility shared among faculty from two universities; and (10) working on a common project facilitated further collaboration between the universities. Future plans and improvements are also discussed. Contains 10 references. (DLS) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************


324 In this article, Greever, Austin, and Welhousen examine the responses to the book William's Doll by two groups of fourthgrade students separated by over 20 years. Research studies can emerge from burning questions, from quiet wonderings, and from problems that require solutions. Our study of gender differences in children's responses to the book William's Doll (Zolotow, 1972) began in a different way— by happenstance. In the recesses of a retired colleague's file cabinet, carefully saved for over 20 years, we found responses to William's Doll written by a group of fourth-grade students in 1975. Since two of us (Ellen and Patricia) teach children's liter


When our national industry came into fast speed development period, we implemented low price policy in order to amass fund for industry.Afterwards we made adjustment for the agriculture product price and made the price free gradually in order to arouse the enthusiasm of the farmers. In order to solidify the agriculture position, we must make protective price policy for agriculture products. To prosper the agriculture with science and technology is our developing strategy.


This paper explores the robust kernelized multi-view clustering (MVC) for nonlinear data. The existing MVC methods aim to excavate the complementary and consensus information from multi-view data lies in the linear space for clustering. However, in real-world scenarios, data points usually lie in multiple nonlinear spaces, leading to undesirable clustering results. To this end, we propose a robust kernelized MVC method based on high-order similarity learning (RKHSL), to jointly learn the local structure affinities in original space, the nonlinear affinities in mapping kernel space, and the high-order correlations in tensor space. Specifically, the first-order similarity (FOS) is learned to excavate the local structure affinities and the second-order similarity (SOS) is learned in the high-dimensional kernel space to excavate the nonlinear affinities of data points. Afterwards, the third-order similarity (TOS) based on low-rank tensor is learned to excavate the global consistency from multiple views. Extensive experiments on five commonly benchmark datasets show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in most scenarios and is capable of revealing a reliable affinity graph structure concealed in different data points.


Shape similarity is a key concept and requirement for molecular recognition. As a result, much research has been undertaken to develop methods to represent molecular shape and to quantify the shape similarity between molecules. A great variety of shape descriptions and similarity comparison approaches have been developed, ranging from explicit representations using intersecting atom‐centered spheres and molecular superposition to abstract statistical representations that allow alignment‐free comparisons. Several of these methods have sufficient computational performance to allow shape similarity searches over extremely large compound databases as a ligand‐based virtual screening (VS) technique. As with other approaches to VS, the relative performance of shape similarity methods is dataset and problem specific, with each approach having its merits and limitations and no one approach showing a clear and consistent advantage over the others. Again, as with other VS approaches, most reports of performance are in the context of retrospective validation studies, which show competitive performance against target‐based and two‐dimensional methods. Prospective studies are rarer in the literature, but a number of successes have been reported. Intensive research continues in the search for improved representations of shape, partial shape matching, and approaches to address the challenges imposed by ligand and target flexibility. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Fire severity, which quantifies the degree of organic matter consumption, is an important component of the fire regime. High-severity fires have major ecological implications, affecting carbon uptake, storage and emissions, soil nutrients, and plant regeneration, among other ecosystem services. Accordingly, spatially explicit maps of the fire severity are required to develop improved tools to manage and restore the most damaged areas. The aim of this study is to develop spatially explicit maps of the field-based fire severity (composite burn index—CBI) from different spectral indices derived from Sentinel 2A images and using several regression models. The study areas are two recent large fires that occurred in Tunisia in the summer of 2021. We employed different spectral severity indices derived from the normalized burn ratio (NBR): differenced NBR (dNBR), relative differenced NBR (RdNBR), and relativized burn Ratio (RBR). In addition, we calculated the burned area index for Sentinel 2 (BAIS2) and the thermal anomaly index (TAI). Different tree decision models (i.e., the recursive partitioning regression method [RPART], bagging regression trees [Bagging], and boosted regression trees [BRT]), as well as a generalized additive model [GAM]), were applied to predict the CBI. The main results indicated that RBR, followed by dNBR, were the most important spectral severity indices for predicting the field-based CBI. Moreover, BRT was the best regression model, explaining 92% of the CBI variance using the training set of points and 88% when using the validation set. These results suggested the adequacy of RBR index derived from Sentinel 2A for assessing and mapping forest fire severity in Mediterranean forests. These spatially explicit maps of field-based CBI could help improve post-fire recovery and restoration efforts.


The invention discloses low-cost, high-strength and heat-resisting magnesium alloy and a preparation method thereof. The low-cost, high-strength and heat-resisting magnesium alloy comprises, by weight, 6.2%-9.3% of Al, 3.5%-5.5% of Sn, 1.0%-1.8% of Sb, 0.2%-0.9% of Si, 0.1%-0.4% of Sm and the balance Mg. According to the low-cost, high-strength and heat-resisting magnesium alloy, the microscopic structure of the magnesium alloy is improved through multi-micro-alloying, and therefore mechanical property of the magnesium alloy is improved; alloy elements are reasonably selected, the content of the alloy elements is controlled, the cooperative reinforcement effect of all components is achieved, and the mechanical property and the heat resistance of the magnesium alloy are improved. The magnesium alloy is even in microscopic structure, high in room temperature and high temperature strength, and excellent in high temperature creep resistance; on the basis of keeping high mechanical property of the magnesium alloy, cost of the magnesium alloy is greatly reduced, and the magnesium alloy is suitable for application and popularization.


The condensation of multiple building blocks in a ball mill allows molecular cages with a size up to 3.1 nm to be built.


Process monitoring of multivariate quality attributes is important in many industrial applications, in which rich historical data are often available thanks to modern sensing technologies. While multivariate statistical process control (SPC) has been receiving increasing attention, existing methods are often inadequate as they either cannot deliver satisfactory detection performance or cannot cope with massive amounts of complex data. In this paper, we propose a novel k-nearest neighbors empirical cumulative sum (KNN-ECUSUM) control chart for monitoring multivariate data by utilizing historical data under in-control and out-of-control scenarios. Our proposed method utilizes the k-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm for dimension reduction to transform multi-attribute data into univariate data, and then applies the CUSUM procedure to monitor the change in the empirical distributions of the transformed univariate data. Simulation studies and a real industrial example based on a disk monitoring system demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed method.


The weekly newspaper Grenada Today published a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, and signed 'The People's Man'. It contained the following sentence: 'During the election campaign you spent millions of dollars to bribe people to vote for you and your party, disregarding what the law says governing the electoral process.' The appellants, the editor and publisher, were charged with the offence of intentional defamation, contrary to s. 252(2) of the Criminal Code, on the basis of this publication. They argued that the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to criminal libel were inconsistent with the right to free expression guaranteed by s. 10 of the Constitution. The Chief Magistrate referred the case to the High Court, posing three questions relating to the constitutional validity of the offence of intentional libel. These were, essentially, whether s. 10 protected the freedom to publish material discussing political matters, including the suitability of public figures for office, and, if so, whether s. 10 was violated by the offence contained in s. 252(2) of the Criminal Code or by the Director of Public Prosecutions in instituting these proceedings (the questions are set out in full in the judgment of the Privy Council at [5]). In the High Court, Alleyne J held (2000, unreported, at [7]) that the freedom of expression guaranteed by s. 10 of the Constitution protected the freedom to publish material discussing political matters. He further held (at [44]) that the Crown had failed to show any clear or pressing need to circumscribe and inhibit the freedom of expression in the way and to the extent that s. 252(2) sought to do. He therefore concluded that the provisions in the Criminal Code relating to the offence of intentional defamation were unconstitutional, null and void and of no effect. The Commissioner of Police appealed. The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal (2001, unreported) allowed his appeal and upheld the constitutional validity of the relevant provisions in the Criminal Code. The appellants appealed to the Privy Council, arguing that the offence of intentional libel was unconstitutional. HELD, DISMISSING THE APPEAL, whilst s. 10 of the Constitution protected the freedom to publish material discussing political matters or the conduct of public figures in relation to elections to the House of Representatives or in relation to their suitability for membership of the House, the limitations on freedom of expression imposed by the offence of intentional libel were not excessive and could be justified in the light of the objective the offence sought to uphold, namely the punishment of those who, by false accusation, attacked a person's reputation.


Abstract Homogeneous functional assays that utilize competition binding technology are widely used for determining pharmacological properties such as intrinsic activity and potency. One example is time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) 3′,5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) assays, where labeled cAMP (tracer) and a labeled anti-cAMP antibody bind together to produce a TR-FRET signal when the two constituents are proximal to each other. This signal is disrupted when unlabeled and cellularly generated cAMP competes with the tracer cAMP for binding to the labeled antibody. It is important that the resulting assay signal, usually expressed as a TR-FRET ratio, be transformed to cAMP concentration using a cAMP standard curve. However, examples are still generated in the literature wherein investigators have used the ratiometric signal (not transformed using a standard curve) to determine values for intrinsic activity and potency of ligands. Untransformed raw data often produce reaso...


The article covers three main areas: first is the collection,
in electronic format, of image studies produced by various
modalities, the second is the utilization of a fast and
acessible long-term electronic storage system, and the third to
facilitate communication between radiologists and other
specialists.


A method is given for optimizing the frequency response of finite impulse response (FIR) digital filters designed by frequency sampling. The impulse response of the filter is multiplied by a window computed by optimizing its discrete Fourier transform. A multidimensional search is used to minimize the maximum deviation of the frequency response from the design specifications. The optimal window- transform method has two advantages over conventional minimax optimal design methods [6]. One advantage is that the multidimensional search is carried out over a much smaller number of parameters. For example, it has been found that the stop-band attenuation of low-pass filters designed by this method is approximately 50 dB when optimized over one parameter and 80 dB when optimized over two parameters. The other advantage is that the functional form of the optimal window-transform with a given number of parameters is nearly constant over an entire class of filters, such as the low-pass filters, so nearly optimal prototype windows may be found.


Abstract Upregulated delta-like protein 3 (DLL3) functions as a Notch ligand and has been a target for cancer therapy. The present study assessed DLL3 expression as a tumor marker for endometrial cancer. RNA-Seq expression data and clinicopathologic records from 545 patients with endometrial cancer were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Mann–Whitney U and logistic regression tests were applied to associate the level of DLL3 expression with clinical variables from the patients. Kaplan–Meier curves and log-rank tests were performed to compare overall survival of patients stratified by different levels of DLL3 expression. Multivariate Cox regression tests were used to analyze independent predictors for endometrial cancer. DLL3 expression was upregulated in endometrial cancer tissues compared to para-carcinoma tissues (P = .0003). High DLL3 expression was associated with the age of patients (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74), advanced stages of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics system (OR = 2.9), grade III/IV (OR = 5.1), myometrial invasion (OR = 2.2), pelvic involvement (OR = 12.9), and para-aortic lymph node metastasis (OR = 9.9) (all P ⩽ .001). Furthermore, upregulated DLL3 expression was also associated with a median overall survival of 112 months (HR = 1.85, confidence internal 1.202–2.846, P = .005). The multivariate analysis showed that DLL3 overexpression and advanced tumor stages, grades, and lymph node metastases were all independent prognostic predictors for endometrial cancer. The DLL3 expression could be a potential and novel tumor marker for early diagnosis and an independent predictor of poor survival for patients with endometrial cancer.


The problem existing in selecting the safety coefficient of conductor strength has been analyzed,the relationship among safety coefficient of conductor strength,line span,and meteorological condition is expounded.It has been suggested that in line de- sign:for apt-shake area,if the annual average operating stress is a controlled condition and the span being kept in the scope of con- struction span,the annual average operating stress should be suitably enhanced,so as to lower the safety coefficient;for other area without apt-shake,the critical span is calculated without considering the annual average operating stress,the safety coefficient should be 2.5 as set in the regulation,so as to ensure the economic behaviur of investment.


The fungal kingdom encompasses ≈1.5 million species (1) as diverse as single-celled yeasts, pathogens of animals/plants, and plant root symbionts. Fungi are eukaryotic, closely aligned with metazoans (2, 3). Animals and fungi diverged ≈1 billion years ago; their last common ancestor was unicellular, motile, and aquatic. Some fungi grow as unicellular yeasts, but most are filamentous multicellular organisms. Importantly, some fungi are dimorphic, growing as both yeast and filamentous forms (i.e., Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Yet others are trimorphic and grow as yeast, hyphae, and pseudohyphae (i.e., Candida albicans). S. cerevisiae pseudohyphal growth long eluded detection—it requires special conditions/strains and was lost during domestication (4). How pseudohyphae are related to yeast and hyphae (as a distinct fate or a continuum) was unknown until the report of Carlisle et al. (5) in this issue of PNAS. They reveal that pseudohyphae are intermediate between yeast and hyphae, with implications for pathogen–host interactions and fungal evolution.


We demonstrate the generation of slow and fast light (SFL) in a linear and passive three-beam interferometer. Such propagation regimes occur for narrowband pulses with center frequency close to the transmission minima. A model that fully describes SFL effects in this system is developed and an analytical approximate expression for the group delay at the minima is derived. We demonstrate that slow light is not possible if the length difference between adjacent branches of the interferometer is a constant. If a small length detuning (ξ ) in one of the branches is introduced, slow light at one of the two minima can be obtained as long as ξ exceeds a critical value. Simultaneously, tunneling, superluminal, or normal regime is sustained at the other minimum, depending on the system's length. A proof-of-model experiment is performed in the radiofrequency range using coaxial cables and 1 × 3 power splitters. The possible realization and performance of such a system in the optical range is also discussed. This system is proposed as a simple alternative to active systems and photonic band-gap structures for sustaining both slow and fast light.


Solid-state laser and x-ray laser research activities at the Institute for Solid State Physics of the University of Tokyo are reviewed. A description of the four-beam multi-TW neodymium- doped phosphate glass (Nd:Glass) laser system is given. Advanced laser research, such as the development of a table-top ultra-short pulse TW Nd:Glass system and phase conjugate system, are also reviewed. Studies on recombination pumped soft x-ray lasers with He-like ions are presently underway. Picosecond x-ray spectroscopy of laser produced aluminum plasmas revealed population inversions between the n equals 3 - 2 levels of He-like Al ions. Details on the first observation of amplification in a recombination pumped He-like soft x-ray laser, showing a time-resolved small-signal gain of 3 cm-1 for the 31D - 21P transition of He-like N, are also given.


This paper proposes a 1‐kV single‐phase neutral point clamped (NPC) PWM rectifier with a simple predictive power controller (PPC). It includes the three‐level NPC converter and a simplified PPC. This system achieved to feature multi‐level converters and the ability to provide high voltage gain, and a control with accurate and straightforward predictive strategy without the need of PLL and PI controller. It also takes advantages of a digital delay compensator unit, a user‐friendly single‐phase three‐level space vector modulation (SVM) with neutral point balancing, and bidirectional active and reactive power flow. The proposed rectifier provides low input current harmonic distortion (THD < 2%), input sinusoidal current waveforms, zero or desired reactive power flow, fast dynamic response (=5 cycles), high stability, high efficiency, and the lower DC voltage ripple (<6%). Simulations have been carried out for a 1 kV/20 kW rectifier under different conditions. In this analysis, various practical conditions have been investigated and discussed in details. Furthermore, the proposed system was compared with the other literature and conventional methods.


The suitability of clay modified with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose was tested for the removal of Pb 2+ from aqueous solutions. The effect of pH on the adsorption process was investigated in the pH range from 1 to 9. Tests were conducted at different temperatures: 20 °C, 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C and 60 °C. The effect of initial concentration of adsorbate on lead removal was analysed using solutions with lead concentrations from 50-150 mg L -1 . Also, the amount of adsorbent in the process of removing lead was determinated. The efficiency of lead removal was observed to be 86.19 % from solution with the initial concentration 100 mg L -1 . Obtained Freundlich adsorption isotherms show extremely high correlation coefficient R 2 , i.e. processes of equilibria on the investigated clays can be described using this equation. The series of conducted experiments shows that the clay modified with carboxymethyl cellulose is suitable for the removal of lead from waste waters. Further researches should be focused on modifying clay with other long chain molecules which can improve adsorption properties.


Objective
To observe the efficacy and action mechanism of ulinastatin (UTI) combined with octreotide in the treatment of acute pancreatitis.

Methods
96 cases of acute pancreatitis were divided into the group A (UTI and octreotide,n=48) and the group B (octreotide,n=48) according to the random number table method. The levels of serum inflammatory factors [interleukin -8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factorα(TNF-α), interleukin -6 (IL-6)] and the blood rheology indexes (plasma viscosity, platelet adhesion rate, high shearing of whole blood viscosity) were measured before treatment (T1) and after 2 weeks of treatment (T2), and the efficacy was evaluated at T2.

Results
The total effective rate in the group A was higher than that in the group B (95.83% vs.81.25%;χ2=5.031,P=0.025). At T2, the levels of serum IL-8, TNF-α, IL-6 in the two groups [(26.63±5.49), (34.53±6.51), (24.63±8.21), (31.48±9.27), (22.04±4.27), (29.56±5.51) ng/L] were lower than those at T1 [(48.21±7.19), (49.19±7.85), (61.26±11.36), (60.84±10.92), (41.59±6.63), (40.57±5.75) ng/L] (t=16.527, 9.959, 18.106, 14.201, 17.175, 9.578;P<0.05), those in the group A were lower than those in the group B (t=6.427, 3.833, 7.474;P<0.05). At T2, plasma viscosity, platelet adhesion rate, high shearing of whole blood viscosity in the two groups [(1.76±0.13)%, (1.94±0.22)%, (36.54±6.51)%, (49.78±8.47)%, (5.24±0.77), (5.79±0.91) map/s] were lower than those at T1 [(2.15±0.36)%, (2.16±0.37)%, (81.35±13.46)%, (81.36±13.48)%, (6.28±1.18), (6.27±1.16) map/s] (t=7.059, 3.541, 20.764, 13.743, 5.144, 2.256;P<0.05), those in the group A were lower than those in the group B (t=4.880, 8.580, 3.197;P<0.05).

Conclusion
UTI combined with octreotide in the treatment of acute pancreatitis can significantly improve the efficacy, reduce inflammatory reaction, and improve the blood microcirculation, and it is favorable for prognosis of the disease.

Key words:
Ulinastatin; Octreotide; Acute pancreatitis; Action mechanism


Mammalian liver peroxisomes contain only one kind of aminotransferase, alanine: glyoxylate aminotransferase 1. 0ne of the function of alanine: glyoxylate aminotransferase 1 is detoxication of glyoxylate in human. Primary hyperoxaluria type 1 is a rare autosomal recessive disease caused by a deficiency of the liver specific peroxisomal alanine: glyoxylate arninotransferase 1. Subcellular distribution, substrate specificity, response to hormone and amino acid sequence of hepatic alanine: glyexylate aminotransferase 1 and organ distribution of the enzyme changed during rapid molecular evolution in mamrnals. Birds are classified into two groups on the basis of intraperoxisomal forms of liver alaninei glyoxylate aminotransferase, In the peroxisomes, alanine: glyoxylate aminotransferase was present as the holo form in guoup 1 (pigeon, sparrow, Java sparrow, Australian budgerigar, canary, goose, and duck) and as the apo form in group 2 (white leghorn, bantam, pheasant and Japanese mannikin). Physical, enzymatic and immunological properties of apoand holo-enzyrnes from different birds are described,


Target transformation factor analysis is applied to analyze the components of unresolved fraction in the elution curve of La, Pr and Gd which is obtained using the chelate agent- impregnated resin and 0.7 M hydrochloric acid as an eluent. We determined the number of components contributing to the unresolved fractions and verified the presence of suspected components.


the assistance to persons of terminated rehabilitation is the basic task of CPC and Chinese Government,and it results in a good performance;however,with the advance of society,some new requirements are put forward as to the assistance work in the new era in that the traditional policy-oriented assistance work does not agree with the new requirement in new times.Our assistance work should be done by law rather than by policy and,should be creative in terms of law,specifically,duty should be legalized,work process should be systematized,job placement should be marketized,assistance subjects should be socialized and work system should be integrated.


This paper addresses the definitions and models of knowledge intensive entrepreneurship, and proposes a research agenda. DRUID is one the major organization for research on these topics (www.druid.dk). The DRUID Academy is oriented towards improving research amongst PhD candidates.


Based on the principle of flexible testing technology, the test software is designed hierarchically and modularized. By calling the optimization algorithm of the test process, the automatic combination of the test process and the package call of the basic unit program of the test, the optimal sequencing and flexible configuration of the valve group test process are realized, and the efficiency of the automatic test scheme of the valve group is effectively improved. The test results show that the optimized test scheme can reduce the test time by 14.8% ∼ 34.6% and the test energy consumption by 9.0% ∼ 11.2%.


Teaching Developmental Writing: Background Readings Bernstein, S. N. (2004), Teaching Developmental Writing: Background Readings, 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. Susan Naomi Bernstein addresses a wide variety of issues that are common to those of us who teach developmental writing in Teaching Developmental Writing: Background Readings. Some of the questions she addresses deal with the philosophy of education. "What is the purpose of a developmental writing course?"(p. iii) What is the impact of technology on all developmental courses? "How do we create an environment in which a culturally diverse student body can thrive?"(p. iii) Other questions address pedagogy. What kinds of activities can we use in the classroom to make our varied student populations successful, not just as writers but as students as well? This book is divided into fourteen chapters, and each chapter has a similar arrangement. There is an introduction that briefly summarizes the readings that will follow in the chapter. Bernstein then discusses issues that will be raised in the readings. Each chapter consists of two or three articles written by educators such as Mina Shaughnessy and Peter Elbow. Each article is followed by suggestions for classroom activities and also by a section titled "Thinking about Teaching". Bernstein concludes the book with an extensive (and very useful) bibliography. Chapter topics include: basic writing from both the teachers' and students' perspectives, writing and its connection to reading, approaches to grammar instruction, learning differences, writing with adult learners, technology and writing, basic writing and the writing center, collaborative learning, and ESL writers, to name a few. If you are tempted to skip Chapter 12, "Teaching ESL", don't. The readings are insightful and the strategies suggested are beneficial for all teachers of developmental writers. The authors of the three articles included in this chapter discuss the need for understanding the "wide range of student voices and experiences."(p.339) All three articles address the need for student-centered learning as opposed to the traditional focus on the teaching of English grammar to ESL students. In the first article included in this chapter, "ESL Writing and the Principle of Nonjudgmental Awareness: Rationale and Implementation," author Loretta Frances Kasper reminds teachers that "the priorities of the instructor become the priorities of the student" (p.340). This does not apply just to ESL students. How often does the instructor of writing hear this question from his or her students, "What do you want?" Kasper writes that it is important to give timely feedback to student writing using the principal of nonjudgmental awareness advanced by Timothy Gallwey in his book, The Inner Game of Tennis, (p.341) Kasper explains that instead of correcting almost all student errors as she had previously done, she identifies errors and allows students to correct their own mistakes through a variety of revisions as well as using peer review in the classroom. …


Charles Brockden Brown's Ormond (1799) contains the first ex tended fictional portrayal in America of what the novelist calls "roman tic passion" between women. Early critics generally treat the homoeroti cism between Constantia Dudley and Sophia Courtland either with disdain or as a psychological aberration. Harvey R. Warfel, for example, claims that "emotions of normal love are alien to [Constantia's] nature, and there seems to be a homosexual tendency in her conduct" (135); Donald A. Ringe remarks that "Constantia's relationship with Sophia leaves much to be de sired [. . .] at best, the relationship is not one to increase the stature of Constantia as the heroine of the novel" (44); Norman S. Grabo views Con stantia's "queer" friendship with Sophia as one of "a series of tests or temp tations" in the formation of her "sexual identity"; and Steven Watts argues that "it seems no accident that as [Constantia's] rational faculties steadily prov[e] less able to illuminate the social and moral atmosphere, she turn[s] to the attractions of female homoeroticism" (97). In contrast to these views, Lillian Faderman identifies the text as an important literary representation of female "romantic friendship" ? evidence that such relationships were casually accepted in eighteenthand early nineteenth-century American culture (112-115); and most recently, Julia A. Stern has interpreted the rela tionship within the context of republican anxieties over the breakdown of male brotherhood, suggesting that "female homoerotic longing becomes a pliant medium for Brown's investigation of republican fraternity's fail ure" (159). Curiously, however, no analysis of the novel has yet explored the female homoeroticism in the context of cultural debates about women's


Spintronic thin films were shown to be promising high-performance broadband terahertz (THz) emitters. For spintronic ferromagnet/heavy metal heterostructures, THz emission arises from three mechanisms: the magnetic dipolar radiation due to the ultrafast demagnetization, the transient current radiation due to spin-charge conversion, and anomalous Hall effect. Here, we demonstrate that the three mechanisms show distinct dependences on the thickness of the ferromagnetic layer. With the insertion of an ultrathin ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ layer between the ferromagnetic and heavy metal layer, the spin-charge conversion is suppressed when the ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{3}$ thickness exceeds 1 nm. Our results agree with the theoretical predictions based on a simple spin-diffusion model.


Railroad, a superior mode of public transportation provides safe, efficient, speedy, comfortable and economical service, has fundamentally different characteristics from airplanes, ships and cars. Among the unique characteristics of a railroad is the fact that it operates on fixed track with multiple car trains. The subway system was first selected as the best solution to difficult automobile traffic conditions and environmental problems. Seoul subway no.1 line (Jongno line) was opened for service on August 15, 1974. Seoul city has completed and now operates eight subway lines (286.7㎞) since 1974. At present the subways operate in Busan, Daegu and Incheon city, and are under construction in Gwangju and Daejeon city. The power source for subway trains has been electricity since 1896, and power supply systems are the third rail type and/or the catenary system. The typical catenary system is the rigid bar type. R-bar and T-bar are used in the rigid bar type of catenary system, and the two types of R-bar and T-bar are uesd in Korea also. R-bar is used only for AC 25㎸ power supply and T-bar for DC 1,500V. From 30 years of subway experience I would like to suggest the most economic catenary system to ensure of safety, reliability and expediency for the railway lines to be constructed and the forthcoming replacement due to the life cycle after studying and analysing the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of R-bar and T-bar.


RESULTS The tail-cut model resulted in a mean (SD) TBV loss of 15.4% (6.0%) with hemodynamics consistent with class I hemorrhagic shock. The liver punch biopsy model resulted in a mean (SD) TBV loss of 16.7% (3.3%) with hemodynamics consistent with class I hemorrhagic shock. The liver laceration model resulted in a mean (SD) TBV loss of 19.8% (3.0%) with hemodynamics consistent with class II hemorrhagic shock. The spleen transection model resulted in the greatest blood loss (P < .01), with a mean (SD) TBV loss of 27.9% (3.4%) and hemodynamics consistent with class II hemorrhagic shock. The liver laceration and punch biopsy models resulted in most of the blood loss within the first 2 minutes, whereas the spleen transection and tail-cut models resulted in a steady loss during 10 minutes. The liver laceration and spleen transection models resulted in the greatest degree of hemodynamic instability (mean [SD] arterial pressure decreases of 25 [1] and 41 [11] mm Hg, respectively). One-hour survival was 100% in all 4 models.


Principal component analysis (PCA) is a well-known tool in multivariate statistics. One significant challenge in using PCA is the choice of the number of components. In order to address this challenge, we propose an exact distribution-based method for hypothesis testing and construction of confidence intervals for signals in a noisy matrix. Assuming Gaussian noise, we use the conditional distribution of the singular values of a Wishart matrix and derive exact hypothesis tests and confidence intervals for the true signals. Our paper is based on the approach of Taylor, Loftus and Tibshirani (2013) for testing the global null: we generalize it to test for any number of principal components, and derive an integrated version with greater power. In simulation studies we find that our proposed methods compare well to existing approaches.