—Sparse recovery guarantees in compressive sensing and related optimization problems often assume incoherence between the 'sensing' and 'sparsity' domains. In practice, in- coherence is rarely satisfied due to physical constraints and limitations. Here we discuss the notion of local coherence, and show that by matching the sampling strategy to the local coherence at hand, sparse recovery guarantees extend to a rich new class of sensing problems beyond incoherent systems. We discuss particular applications to compressive MRI imaging and polynomial interpolation.


In the article, we consider the problems of teaching painting to students of art specialties in plein air practice. Based on a historical study of the stages of development and formation of landscape as an independent genre in the fine arts, the specifics, and features of teaching the art of painting in the open air are determined. The definition of the concept "Motif in the fine arts" is being clarified. The dependence of the format of practical tasks and stages of work on a pictorial etude on the goals and objectives of teaching painting in the plein air is established. Research methods: analysis of literature on the research problem (art history, theory, and methods of teaching fine arts, etc.); student work performed in plein air practice; works of famous artists; survey of students and teachers. The results of the research can be used in the process of teaching painting to bachelors, masters, and specialists in the field of painting, graphics, design, architecture.


The federal district courts of the United States face a peculiar time crunch each time they confront a new criminal prosecution. Every year, federal judges must cope with tens of thousands of criminal cases which have become increasingly complex and time-consuming.' At the same time, the courts are procedurally constrained in terms of the amount of time they are permitted to devote to each new case. The Speedy Trial Act2 ("STA") mandates dismissal of any federal criminal case in which an indictment is not issued within thirty days of arrest or in which a trial does not begin within seventy days of indictment or arraignment. Designed by Congress to reduce recidivism and increase deterrence through the efficient administration of justice, the STA paradoxically threatens to thwart its own objectives whenever a complex and time-consuming prosecution comes before the courts. The drafters of the STA were cognizant of this danger and constructed the statute to accommodate it. Recognizing the practical need to reconcile the STA with the many unavoidable delays intrinsic to the criminal process, the drafters enumerated nine specific exclusions that toll the STA's time limits.3 Eight of the exclusions are specifically targeted to common sources of delay such as pretrial motions and joining of new codefendants. The ninth confers discretion upon judges to grant a continuance when necessary to serve the "ends of justice."4 These exclusions, espe-


To examine in what physical conditions the postgraduates are, this study focuses on the pulse of sport physiology of 105 postgraduates by using computer technique, biological identification and information processing techniques, the biological information gathering, signal processing, computer control and graph displaying. The 105 graduates are divided into three groups for pulse test before and after the sports. It has been found that in the A, B and C groups, 65.7%, 20% and 14.3% of total statistic data of the groups are very weak physically. The less the students participate sport, the weaker they are.


AbstractEmptying of an initially water-filled horizontal PVC pipeline driven by different upstream compressed air pressures and with different outflow restriction conditions, with motion of an air-water front through the pressurized pipeline, is investigated experimentally. Simple numerical modeling is used to interpret the results, especially the observed additional shortening of the moving full water column due to formation of a stratified water-air "tail." Measured discharges, water-level changes, and pressure variations along the pipeline during emptying are compared using control volume (CV) model results. The CV model solutions for a nonstratified case are shown to be delayed as compared with the actual measured changes of flow rate, pressure, and water level. But by considering water-column mass loss due to the water-air tail and residual motion, the calibrated CV model yields solutions that are qualitatively in good agreement with the experimental results. A key interpretation is that the long air...


In realizing government policies in the field of defense industry development, currently Indonesia has 10 strategic industries that support the production of defense equipment. To support this strategic industry, the role of the government, universities, and research institutions both managed by the government and the private sector is very necessary in conducting research, development, and implementation. Although Indonesia already has 10 strategic industries, Indonesia is still lagging behind in technological mastery in the defense industry compared to developed countries. Therefore, it is necessary for the Government's strategy to catch up with these gaps or at least reduce the "gap" between Indonesia and developed countries in mastering technology in producing defense system tools.


This paper explores the Pooled Mean Group Estimation piloted by Pesaran et al (1999) to examine the impact of asymmetric oil price on inflation in selected net oil exporting countries in Africa. This technique permits us to gauge the influence of oil price volatility on inflation, and also able to capture possible asymmetric adjustment of the inflation towards to its long-run equilibrium. The findings suggest that both positive and negative oil price changes (?=0.0409; p=0.849 and ?=0.3763; p=0.065 respectively) had an insignificant positive effect on inflation on the Africa net oil-exporting countries. The study concluded that oil price changes had an insignificant impact on inflation in the Africa net oil-exporting countriesin the long run but seems to be diverse in the short-run. This, however, may not be unconnected with the role of fiscal policy measures institutionalized by the respective government of the selected Africa's net oil exporting countries as revealed in the findings. The paper offers thateach of the selected Africa's net oil exporting countries should expand their consumption expenditure and develop their manufacturing export capability in order to inspire domestic production of quality food in large quantity considering the fact that it can be used as counteractive measure against inflation.


Risk factors that increase the incidence of diarrhea are malnutrition, low birth weight, not getting adequate breast milk, crowded living quarters, incomplete immunization. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of clean and healthy living behavior in household settings on the incidence of diarrhea in toddlers. This type of research is an analytic observational study with a cross sectional. The sample size in this study were 38 people and 19 samples of dug well water. Research data were analyzed using the chi square. The results of the study proved that there was an influence between the unavailability of family latrines, p = 0.004, PR = 11, 000 there was an influence between the unavailability of clean water facilities, p = 0.035, PR = 6.111, there was an influence between the distance of latrines and SAB that did not meet requirements, value, p = 0.004, PR = 11.000 and there is an influence between the bacteriological quality of clean water that does not meet the requirements and the incidence of diarrhea in toddlers, p = 0.009. Suggestion, for officers of the Minahasa District Health Office and the Papakelan Health Center, to conduct outreach to the community about the importance of providing environmental health facilities in an effort to improve clean and healthy living behavior in household settings to reduce the incidence of diarrhea in toddlers.


Mountain spot is the important resource carrier of tourism development in China.Due to unique landforms,difficult projective water supply and increasing beds and tourists,the contradiction between water supply and demand is very obvious,which is one of the key factors restricting tourism sustainable development.The representation is Huangshan Mountain.By the method of typical years analysis,this paper lucubrates the contradictions between water supply and demand of each month in subareas of Huangshan scenic spots,and concludes:(1)Generally,water supply is not enough in Huangshan scenic spots.The situation of water scarcity is obvious.Furthermore,the contradictions exist in time,space,plentiful and scarce rainfall periods,etc.(2)The paper forecasts mid-and long-term water supply and demand,and builds dynamic control model of water supply and demand.If typical scarce year is encountered in mid-and long-term periods,first,we should maintain water supply in high mountain,and then start projects to regulate water properly and timely.The important way to improve water supply is to regulate water by means of reservoirs or diversion and withdrawl projects in Huangshan scenic spots.(3)By exerting subjective motility and firstly regulating reservoirs in subareas,the present problem of water supply can be solved.Then,by pumping water to the mountain from Wuliqiao reservoir,the mid-term problem can be solved.By building Diaoqiao reservoir and connecting all water supply systems,the long-term water supply and demand can be balanced.(4)In future,environmental protection will become one of the main methods to solve the contradiction of water demand and supply,such as reducing standards of water demand,improving level of wastewater disposing,adopting wastewater reuse technique and introducing efficient water equipment and so on.


In this paper, we show that retinoblastoma binding protein-1 (RBP1) is an important component of normal osteoblast function, since its suppression leads to a severe delay in osteoblastic nodule formation coupled with drastic decreases in classical bone gene expression. Furthermore, we show that RBP1 acts as a potent transcriptional coactivator of Runx2 function. This underscores a dualism in the effects of RBP1 on Runx2, both through the maintenance of Runx2 expression as well as transcriptional coactivation.


Electronic Medical records document the treatment plan and patient care. This study intends to identify trained nurses' reception toward using EMR in the wards. A non-experimental cross-sectional survey covered the multi-discipline area. A stratified random sampling method in which the population in this research consisted of n= 138 trained nurses. Results found that the trained nurses tended to document the data at the nurse's station compared to the bedside entry. It's also shown that the demographics variable significantly correlated with attitude domains. Hence with the research results, it is envisaged to benefit the nurses and organization and hopefully can become the catalyst for the Ministry of Health in further improving and elevating the system throughout all hospitals in Malaysia.
Keywords: Attitude, Electronic medical record, Nurses, Preferences
eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i21.3579


Special education services are shaped by legal parameters developed over the past 30 years. Many of those services give priority to process and compliance rather than to focusing on student outcomes. Today, reform initiatives to special education programs are well underway, many of them shaped by fundamental changes occurring in local education agency practice. This article provides an overview of how federal special education law supports many of the reform efforts underway in many school districts throughout the country. It reviews important legislative changes to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 and 2004, including the section of IDEA 2004 that permits the use of response to intervention as a basis for determining special education eligibility.


Despite popularity and validity of peer assessment techniques, several critical limitations are present in existing designs of IT-enabled peer assessment systems. These limitations are discussed and Double-Loop Mutual Assessment (DLMA) method is presented and justified as a novel technique for acquiring and assessing complex task competencies through social practice.


The Casimir surface force on a spherical shell is calculated, assuming the material to be satisfying the condition e(ω)μ(ω)=1, e(ω) being the spectral permittivity and μ(ω) the spectral permeability. The basic formula for the force is given under general conditions, without any restrictive assumption on the thickness of the shell or on the specific dispersion relation. When it comes to numerical evaluations, it is assumed that the shell is of small thickness, and also that the simple form μ(ω)=μs (ω≤ω0), μ(ω)=1 (ω>ω0), for the dispersion relation. The special case when μs →∞ or 0 is given particular attention, since this case appears to be of main physical interest and also since it implies mathematical simplifications. The force F may then be written as the sum of two terms: one ''normal'' term F(0) containing an attractive dispersion‐induced part as well as a repulsive, nondispersive finite part, and one ''abnormal'' term F(1) that becomes divergent when summed over all angular momenta. This particular ...


Biased agonism by G‐protein‐coupled receptor ligands has opened up strategies for targeted physiological or therapeutic actions. We hypothesized that urotensin II (UII)‐derived peptides displayed unexpected physiological effects because of such biased signaling on the UII human urotensin (hUT) receptor. We determined the coupling to G proteins and β‐arrestins of the UII‐activated hUT receptor expressed in HEK293 using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) biosensors, as well as the production of IP1‐3 and cAMP using homogenous time‐resolved Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) (HTRF)‐based assays. The activated receptor coupled to Gi1, GoA, Gq, and G13, excluding Gs, and recruited β‐arrestins 1 and 2. Integration of these pathways led to a 2‐phase kinetic phosphorylation of ERK1/2 kinases. The tested peptides induced three different profiles: UII, urotensin‐related peptide (URP), and UII4–11 displayed the full profile; [Orn8]UII and [Orn5]URP activated G proteins, although with pEC50s 5‐10× higher, and did not or barely recruited β‐arrestin; urantide also failed to recruit β‐arrestin but displayed a reversed rank order for Gi and Gq vs. Go pEC50s (–8.79±0.20, –8.43±0.21, and –7.86±0.36, respectively, for urantide, –7.87±0.10, –7.23±0.27, and –8.55±0.19, respectively, for [Orn5]URP) and was a partial agonist of all G‐protein pathways. Interestingly, the peptides differently modulated cell survival but similarly induced cell migration and adhesion. Thus, we demonstrate biased signaling between β‐arrestin and G proteins, and between G‐protein subtypes, which dictates the receptor's cellular responses.—Brulé, C., Perzo, N., Joubert, J.‐E., Sainsily, X., Leduc, R., Castel, H., Prézeau, L., Biased signaling regulates the pleiotropic effects of the urotensin II receptor to modulate its cellular behaviors. FASEB J. 28, 5148–5162 (2014). www.fasebj.org


The receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) protein acts as a central hub for the integration of many physiological processes in eukaryotic organisms. Plant RACK1 implicates in abiotic stress responses, but the underlying molecular mechanisms of stress adaptation remain largely unknown. Here, the overexpression of mulberry (Morus alba L.) RACK1 gene in Arabidopsis decreased tolerance to drought and salt stresses and MaRACK1's overexpression changed expression levels of genes in response to stress and stimuli. We developed a simple and efficient transient transformation system in mulberry and the mulberry seedlings transiently expressing MaRACK1 were hypersensitive to drought and salt stresses. The expression levels of G-protein encoding genes in mulberry and Arabidopsis were not affected by MaRACK1 overexpression. The interactions between RACK1 and G-proteins were confirmed and the RACK1 proteins from mulberry and Arabidopsis could not interact with their respective G-proteins, which indicated that RACK1 may regulate stress responses independent of G-proteins. Additionally, MaRACK1 may regulate drought and salt stress tolerances by interacting with a fructose 1, 6-bisphosphate aldolase. Our findings provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying RACK1 functions in abiotic stress responses and important information for their further characterization.


Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials (Ministry of Education), Northeastern University,Shenyang 110819, ChinaThis article presents a detailed study on the nanoscaledinterface between microelongated gold particles (GP) and bi-phase leucite/feldspar glass-ceramic matrix. The glass-ceramiccomposite with a nonuniform GP distribution was processedthrough hot-pressing under vacuum using a commercial dentalceramic furnace for glass-ceramic dental crown manufactur-ing. Heat treatments at 900°C, 1100°C, and 1300°C wereconducted, and microstructural features along the interfacewere used to verify the chemical reactions between GP andglass-ceramic matrix. It was observed that the amorphousglass-ceramic matrix had nanoscaled biphase structures, andthe distributed nanoscaled amorphous leucite phase wasattracted to GP during hot-pressing, and was more reactivewith GP than the feldspar phase. The thickness of the interfa-cial phase formed through chemical reactions between GP andglass-ceramic matrix is around 30 nm. The chemically bondedinterface has contributed significantly toward the substantialimprovements in both strength and toughness of the GP-rein-forced glass-ceramic matrix composite. Characterization tech-niques, including X-ray diffraction and field-emission scanningelectron Microscopy, incorporating X-ray microanalysis usingenergy dispersive spectrometry, have been employed in thisstudy.I. Introduction


A method for the determination of the radioactivity of the C-2 carbon of glycine has been developed. The method is based on the degradation of glycine (135–137 °C for 50 s) to carbon dioxide and formaldehyde using chloramine T. The formaldehyde originated from the C-2 carbon of glycine was trapped with dimedone (5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione) and the formaldehyde-dimedone complex extracted with toluene. The radioactivity of the toluene was a measure of the radioactivity in the C-2 carbon of glycine. Using (2-14C)glycine, the percentage recoveries ranged from 88 to 105%, whereas with (1-14C)glycine, these were <0.5%, suggesting that the label of the C-1 carbon did not interfere with the determination of radioactivity in the C-2 carbon of glycine. The method is simple, less time consuming than existing methods and a large number of samples can be handled at a time.


The Water Resources Planning Organization (WARPO) is a statutory organization (Water Resources Planning Act, 1992) under the Ministry of Water Resources, which deals with water resources strategic planning and management in Bangladesh. One of the core functions of WARPO is to update and maintain the National Water Resources Database (NWRD). According to National Water Policy (NWPo, 1999) article 5.d.iv., WARPO will set up and update the National Water Resources Database (NWRD) and Information Management System. According to this direction, WARPO has prepared the NWRD while preparing the NWMP in 2001. Now-a-days, the NWRD is used for national and regional level planning, research and study by governmental, non-governmental organizations and others. For national or regional level planning and management, all data should be authentic or reliable and readily accessible. Planners in Bangladesh need access to a wide range of data to assess resources, demands and constraints, evaluate options and formulate alternative strategies. The NWRD is the largest geo-spatial database in the country, which contains more than 450 layers of spatial and temporal datasets. After creation of NWRD, it is being updated with the project activities. Few updated tasks had been done with Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZMP) project in 2005. Recently few updated tasks are being continued with Water management Improvement Project (WMIP) project, but it is not enough for proper maintaining of NWRD. This study has shown the details analysis of NWRD, the existing gaps of NWRD and has recommended the common implementation strategy for proper maintaining of NWRD.


Retroperitoneal fibrosis Is a rare disease. Approximately two thirds of patients with this disease develop renal failure secondary to ureteral obstruction. Although urography is diagnostic in most of these cases, varying urographic appearances have been described. For the evaluation of overall renal function and obstruction before and after surgical intervention In these cases, renal scintigraphy can play an Important role, particularly In the presence of renal function compromise. The authors present a renal scan and urography performed after ureterolysis and lateralization of the ureters in a patient with retroperitoneal fibrosis.


The detection of landmines using available technologies is a time consuming, expensive, and extremely dangerous job, so that there is a need for technological breakthroughs in this field. One of the safest and most effective technologies to landmine and explosive detection is the neutron backscattering technique. The slowing-down of fast neutrons to the thermal energy is a direct measure of the concentration of hydrogen, one of the main elements present in explosive materials. The elastic scattering of fast neutrons is affected by the strong resonances in the cross-section of the three other elements of explosives: nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon. In this work, Monte Carlo estimations of the soil moisture effects on landmine detection are presented.


Intellectualisation is one of the three reforming technologies in automotive industry, which is now changing the mobility mode and human society. High safety and intelligence are the pre-requisites for putting self-driving vehicles into markets. This study presents the hardware and software architecture for intelligent vehicles, as well as their road verification in typical traffic scenarios. The hardware system includes environmental sensors, computing platforms, vehicle actuators, and vehicle platforms, which is able to provide redundant protection against the main controller failure. The software system includes environmental perception module, scene cognition module, decision and control module, human–computer interaction module and public service support module. To evaluate the performance of the developed architecture, the road tests of automated driving system were carried out in two typical traffic scenarios, including: (i) closed road test in Yuanboyuan region; (ii) open road test on Beijing-Tianjin highway. The real road test shows that the designed hardware and software systems for intelligent vehicles have desirable robustness, which can realise accurate and reliable environment perception, decision-making and motion control.


This paper preliminarily surveys unfavorable geology and special rock-soil of Youyu-Pinglu highway,identifies the distribution and hazards degree of unfavorable geology and special rock-soil,and puts forward corresponding processing measures,which has realistic guiding meaning for highway roadbed design and construction.


Abstract : In 2007, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), at the request of the USCENTCOM J4, led a multi-agency team to conduct an assessment of distribution operations in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility. This research paper examines the recommendations developed by that team and the implementation of these recommendations. Using a supply chain management methodology, the team identified the customer base in relation to stock locations and requisition flows, identified efficiencies that could be introduced to the distribution system to eliminate redundant stocks and supply operations, and recommended items that should be stocked in the theater to reduce overall transportation costs and improve responsiveness to warfighter needs. This paper recommends how the findings of the DLA-led distribution assessment can be integrated into the training and career development of joint logisticians and into better automated planning tools in order to prevent the establishment of redundant, inefficient, service-specific distribution systems in future conflicts and operations.


K0.405Bi0.865AsO4 is prepared via solid state reaction of a 3:3:4 = K:Bi:As molar mixture of K2CO3, Bi2O3, and NH4H2AsO4 (850 °C, 1 month; cooling to 25 °C at a rate of 5 K/h).


Mrs. Stanhope,* a well-bred woman, accomplished in that branch of knowledge, which is called the art of rising in the world, had, with but a small fortune, contrived to live in the highest company. She prided herself upon having established half a...


This paper is mainly concerned about discussing the image of Brazilian men of letters as a social group distant from the customs and traditions of the low-income workers about which they wrote in the press of the late XIX and early XX centuries. To do so, this study analyzes the attempt to build such an image through a literary quest published in the year of 1905 by the newspaper Diario de Pernambuco. Its consequences show that the autonomy of the journalistic class was made difficult by the internal differences and conflicts in which participated the subjects identified as poor - a class of people not strange to the literate world.


The paper concerns stabilization of an elastic beam subjected to a time-dependent axial forcing. The direct Liapunov method is proposed to establish criteria for the almost sure stochastic stability of the unperturbed (trivial) solution of the structure with closed-loop control. We construct the Liapunov functional as a sum of the modified kinetic energy and elastic energy of the structure. An influence of damping in the finite bonding layer is described by the effective retardation time of the Voigt-Kelvin model. The distributed control is realized by the piezoelectric sensor and actuator, with changing widths, glued to the upper and lower beam surfaces, respectively. The paper is devoted to the stability analysis of the closed-loop system described by the stochastic partial differential equation without a finite-dimensional approach. The effective stabilization conditions implying the almost sure stability are the main results. A fluctuating axial force is modelled by the physically realizable ergodic process. The rate velocity feedback is applied to stabilize the panel parametric vibrations. Calculations are performed for the Gaussian process with given mean value and variance as well as for the harmonic process with an amplitude A.


In this paper, we study the behavior of the particle in the paraelectric phase near the bulk critical temperature (a = 0) (in our units) and near the particle critical temperature (ad) using the fluctuation–dissipation theorem through the power spectrum density S(ω) at zero frequency ω = 0 in the particle. This power spectrum density is found here to have three regimes as concerning the temperature dependence for a given particle diameter. The first one is above the bulk critical temperature, the second one is at the bulk critical temperature and the third is below the bulk critical temperature and above the particle critical temperature. Decreasing temperature fluctuations of the order parameter (polarization) change from the bulk-like to the particle-like due to particle form. Divergency of the bulk spectrum density Sb(0) at the bulk critical temperature a = 0 is compensated in the particle by the contribution ≈a2 due to the particle form. The power spectrum density S(0) near the particle critical temperature diverges with the exponent 2, we obtain , where Tc, d is the particle critical temperature in the temperature variable T. Our results are new and are exact within the model used.


The unmet need in Crohn's disease (CD) exists for new medications with an optimized risk-benefit ratio with avoidance of systemic side effects. This Phase 2 study evaluated the efficacy and safety of the oral, once-daily, gut-selective pan-Janus kinase inhibitor izencitinib as an induction therapy for CD.

 This trial was a multicentre, randomized, double-blind, Phase 2 study of adults with moderately-to-severely active CD (≥220 and ≤ 450 CDAI with SES-CD score of ≥6 [or ≥4 if isolated ileal disease]) who were corticosteroid-dependent or had demonstrated failure to aminosalicylates, corticosteroids, immunosuppressive agents, and/or biologic therapies. Patients were randomised 2:3:3 to receive placebo or izencitinib, 80, or 200 mg once daily for 12 weeks.
 The primary endpoint was change in CDAI score from baseline to week 12 and was analysed using a mixed-model repeated measures analysis. Change from baseline in SES-CD was analysed with an analysis of covariance model and binary endpoints were analyzed using a stratified Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test.

 159 and 145 patients were included in the safety and modified ITT populations, respectively.
 At week 12, the LS mean change in CDAI was -105.6 (SE: 12.7) and -117.9 (12.4) points for patients randomized to izencitinib 80 and 200 mg, respectively, vs -104.86 (SE: 15.496) for those randomized to placebo. There were no improvements observed in change from baseline in SES-CD. There were non-significant numerical improvements in clinical and endoscopic response between placebo and the highest dose 200mg. No improvements were observed in CDAI-based clinical remission or PRO2 (SF/AP)-based remission at any dose of izencitinib relative to placebo.
 As expected, plasma izencitinib exposure was low. Serious adverse events (AEs; n = 13) were well balanced among the treatment groups and not considered related to study treatment; no deaths were observed.
 Exacerbation of Crohn's Disease, headache, rash, abdominal pain and nausea were the most common treatment-emergent AEs observed with izencitinib treatment. No clinically important changes in laboratory values, electrocardiography parameters, or vital signs were noted in patients treated with izencitinib compared with placebo, and no drug-related AEs of special interest were observed.

 In patients with moderately-to-severely active Crohn's Disease, izencitinib treatment for 12 weeks did not demonstrate a statistically significant reduction in CDAI or endoscopic severity. Izencitinib at both doses was well tolerated without a new safety signal.


The present invention provides an image quality improvement processing method corresponding to multiple regions that performs the image quality improvement processing so as to be capable of simultaneously displaying multiple regions of interest that image quality is improved and the entire basis image without generating unnatural edges in boundaries between regions of interest even in the case that multiple regions of interest are set in the basis image. An image quality improvement processing method corresponding to multiple regions that generates an image-quality-improved image from multiple observed images having displacements, comprises a step that extracts multiple regions of interest with respect to a basis image selected from the multiple observed images; a step that performs the registration processing for every region of interest with respect to extracted multiple regions of interest; and a step that performs the image quality improvement processing by simultaneously using the pixel value data of multiple regions of interest that the registration processing is performed and the pixel value data of the basis image and generates the image-quality-improved image.


Abstract: The authors identified foundational components of Doctor of Arts (D.A.) programs nationally through a content analysis of published program descriptions and a survey of dissertation activity. They then compared these components to Ernest Boyer's revisions of graduate education proposed in Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Their findings suggest that Boyer's revisions already operate in most schools that offer the D.A. The history and profile of this nontraditional degree offer insights about preparing a teaching professoriate for the next century.


Total phenol, flavonoid, carotenoid and antioxidant activity of four green macroalgae (Halimeda tuna, Halimeda macroloba, Enteromorpha sp. and Acetabularia acetabulum) collected from South Andaman coast were analysed in this study. The results revealed that methanol extract of Enteromorpha sp. showed maximum phenolic, flavonoid and carotenoid content of 5.72±0.13 mg GAE/g, 21.15±1.05 mg RE/g and 47.78±0.46 μg/g respectively. All the analysed macroalgae species exhibited antioxidant activities in dose dependent manner among which Enteromorpha sp. demonstrated greater antioxidant potential. A. acetabulum exhibited greater ABTS (2, 2-azinobiz-3-ethylbenthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical scavenging ability (92%) as evident by its low IC50 (6.30 mg/ml) in comparison to other species. Based on factor analysis, up to two principal components were chosen to explain variability in 10 independent phytochemicals. The antioxidant potential reveals their potential for future applications in medicine, dietary supplements as well as the natural source of immunostimulants.


The present invention discloses a cattle feed probiotic medicine liquid medium, culture method and feed additive composition comprising: brown sugar, herbal components, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, yeast extract, and water; the total mass ratio of the components as: brown sugar, 5% to 8%; component medicine, 2% to 3%; potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 0.2% to 0.3%; yeast extract, 0.3% to 0.5%; the balance being water. Example active ingredient of the present invention can be significantly improved activity of the active probiotic strain properties and colonization in the intestinal tract, and the feed additive made therefrom rich Chinese medicines, but also to the Chinese medicine pharmacological activity of full play, thereby improving the treatment performance and strength properties, and growth promoting feed additive cows with probiotics, effective treatment and prevention of subclinical mastitis of cows, and thus completely replace the use of antibiotics.


Excited magnetization dynamics in a spin-valve device consisting of an in-plane polarizer and an out-of-plane free layer were studied numerically. In the case where the free layer is assumed to lack any in-plane anisotropy components, a finite external field is required to generate steady-state dynamics, in agreement with previous reports. We demonstrate that this constraint can be removed and precession can be stabilized in zero applied field by introducing an additional in-plane anisotropy axis. Moreover, the in-plane anisotropy offers an additional degree of freedom for tuning the frequency response of the device.


The human amyloid precursor protein (APP) is processed by the nonamyloidogenic and the amyloidogenic catabolic pathways. The sequential cleavage of APP by the β‐ and γ‐secretase activities, known as the amyloidogenic processing of APP, leads to the formation of the amyloid‐β peptide (Aβ). Aβ is the main constituent of the amyloid core of senile plaques, a typical hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. In addition to secretases, other cellular proteolytic activities, like the proteasome, might participate in the metabolism of APP. We investigated the consequence of proteasome inhibition on the amyloidogenic processing of human APP. CHO cells and primary cultures of rat cortical neurons expressing human APP or a protein corresponding to its β‐cleaved C‐terminal fragment (C99) were treated with lactacystin, an irreversible inhibitor of the chymotrypsin‐like activity of the proteasome. Lactacystin significantly decreased the level of Aβ produced from APP in both cellular models, whereas the production of Aβ from C99 was not affected. Lactacystin did not inhibit γ‐secretase activity but was found to inhibit the β‐cleavage of APP, leading to a proportional decrease in Aβ production. Although lactacystin did not inhibit the catalytic activity of recombinant BACE1, a decrease in neuronal β‐secretase activity was measured after treatment with lactacystin. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


approved: Mark A. Daeschel Lysozyme is a natural antimicrobial agent that is effective against many food spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms by disintegrating their cell walls. Immobilization of lysozyme has attractive applications for use in the food industry: (1) The enzyme could be readily separated from treated foods and beverages and re-used while the foods could still be claimed additive-free; (2) It could impart stable antimicrobial capability to the surface of food packaging polymers. In this study, a novel method is described for the preparation of a highly active immobilized lysozyme system. The method addressed three key issues in the covalent attachment of a biological active protein to an insoluble support: 1.) The protein should be attached to the matrix by the fewest possible bonds to minimize conformational change; 2.) The binding site(s) on the enzyme to the supports should be located as far as practical from its active center and be nonessential for its tertiary structure; 3.) The binding method should minimize the steric interference between the support and the immobilized enzyme. Using polystyrene resin beads as support matrix, peptide spacers of various lengths composed of 6-aminocaproic acid were synthesized with the solid phase peptide synthesis method. Then the amino terminals of the spacers were derivatized with bromoacetyl bromide and coupled to the protein's only histidine residue (His-15) that is nonessential for its lytic activity. Immobilized lysozyme with a spacer composed of three 6-aminocaproic acid units displayed the best lytic result against lyophilized M. lysodeikticus cells: 2736 U/g resin with a protein load of 2.21 mg/ resin. Retained activity was 14.2% of that of the free enzyme. Preparations with longer spacers yielded higher protein load yet the retained activity remained at about 14 % level. A control consisted of random coupling of lysozyme to polystyrene beads without spacer gave an activity of 158U/G with a protein load of 1.24 mg/g resin and 1.4% of retained activity, Properties of the immobilized lysozyme system were studied, including stability, effect of pH, surface characteristics of the support. A kinetics study of the system using Eadie-Hofstee plot demonstrated strong external diffusion effects, which resulted in deviation from classic Michaelis-Menton kinetic behavior. Immobilization of Hen Egg White Lysozyme by the Sole Histidine Residue to Polystyrene Beads through Peptide Spacers


Analyzed heuristic possibilities, limits of competence and subject field of biopolitics study are an important fragment of a new complex scientific direction of biophilosophy. The position about its socio-natural character is argued: the integration of biology with the sciences of man and society. The reasons for the actualization of the problems of biopolitics and biopower under the current conditions (the market economy crisis, ecological and anthropological crisis, the progress of global warming) are considered.
It is shown that the planetary issues of migration, rise in inequality and the New Climate Regime are actively involved in the field of biopolitics. The skepticism about expectations for globalization, that is already perceived as «provincial vision, proposed by a few individuals, representing a very small number of interests», that «has been imposed on everyone and spread everyone». (B. Latour). It is emphasized that ecology has made efforts to attract attention to the global problems of humanity and created an «environmental dimension» in everything, including politicum, and yet it has not lived up to the expectations: Greens Parties remain dependent everywhere on the minorities seeking support. It is at the level of biopolitics, one has to be understood that the inaccuracy of the classic contrast the environment with the organism, nature with man and human nature with culture.
It is concluded that biopolitics has to play a pivot role in the decision of the global «survival strategy» and the preservation of life on the planet. It must find support and resilience in a situation of unprecedented destruction of all living things.


According to the "inside depth" and "external expansion" which demands by modern cost management,this paper introduces the idea of activity-based cost control to allocate indirect costs,uses the input-output model to predict the full range of target cost management.It's a effective way to implement the dynamic cost control and improve enterprise cost management level.


The article introduces the application of niche genetic algorithm on district optimum design based on crowding mechanism, which provides a new method for proper district design. The algorithm analysis and field practice show that the niche genetic algorithm can efficiently search various optimum design schemes and is an effective optimum method.


Views expressed do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve System. The U.S. dollar has depreciated by more than 26 percent in trade-weighted terms since its peak in 2002. The lower relative prices paid by foreigners for U.S. goods and services are expanding exports and helping reduce the current account deficit. At the same time, however, there is concern over a potential "firesale" of U.S. firms—i.e., a case in which U.S. firms become so cheap that foreign investors trigger a new wave of international takeovers. Although economic theory has no clear-cut way to forecast the welfare effects of international changes of ownership or entry of new foreign firms, empirical research can shed light on how multinational corporations have contributed to aggregate productivity. And wages—as discussed previously in this publication1—tend to track productivity. Thus, understanding how multinationals affect productivity growth can help to evaluate the impact of foreign acquisitions on the U.S. economy. U.S. labor productivity (output per hour) has increased at an average annual rate of 1.84 percent between 1977 and 2006—faster than most countries, at least since 1995. To help find the source of this impressive productivity, we can separate U.S. gross domestic product and productivity growth into that produced by exclusively domestic firms and that produced by multinational firms (i.e., foreign firms with U.S. production units and U.S. firms with foreign production units). The results of a recent study2 show that private multinational nonfarm, nonfinancial firms contribute only 40 percent of the output of nonfinancial corporations but more than 75 percent of the increase in labor productivity between 1977 and 2000. Moreover, all of this new productivity in nonfinancial corporate sectors in the late 1990s can be traced back to multinationals. How have such large productivity gains been possible? Various studies suggest that the productivity advantage of multinationals is caused by technological and organizational advantages that are specific to these firms, rather than to the country in which they operate. Although similar technologies are available at approximately the same prices to both multinational and non-multinational firms, the management structure of multinationals allows them to use new technologies more efficiently, particularly information technologies (IT). The largest productivity advantages are recorded in sectors that make substantial use of IT, such as retail and wholesale, and sectors with superior people management. As the authors of one of these studies put it: "It ain't what you do...but the way you do IT."3 Hence, even though the ownership of some companies may be transferred abroad because of a "firesale" effect, these firms, along with U.S. multinationals, provide an important contribution to U.S. productivity growth and ultimately to the growth of wages, particularly in ITintensive sectors. —Silvio Contessi


Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the commonest abnormal heart rhythm with significant related morbidity and mortality. Several pathophysiologic mechanisms have been advocated to explain the onset of AF. There has been increasing evidence that abnormalities of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that includes sympathetic, parasympathetic and intrinsic neural network are involved in the pathogenesis of AF. This review will consider the anatomical and pathophysiological concepts of the cardiac neuronal network and discuss how it can be investigated.


: ortable application processors are exceptionally close to supplant desktop processors in the creative way of chip innovation. As of now, these processors have to a great extent drawing nearer the need. supporting out-of-request execution and multi core preparing. Later on, the dim silicon will be the initiator that shows the advancement of these plans. Inside five to ten years corruption of customary silicon scaling and the use divider will expand the amount of dim silicon in both PCs and cellular phones. It is uniquely created to investigate a present Android telephone and figure out which applications, and which CPU circuits the telephone is utilizing.


The toxicity of NPK (15.15.15) and Urea fertilizers on Heterobranchus bidorsalis fingerlings (mean total length, 6.98 ± 0.30cm SD; mean body weight 2.04 ± 0.35g SD) was investigated in the present study. The fingerlings were exposed to increasing concentrations of NPK (0.00g/l 6.25g/l), and Urea (0.00g/l 16.25g/l) fertilizers in the static renewal bioassay for 96 hours. Exposed fish showed initial stress responses such as erratic swimming, restlessness, loss of balance, frequent attempts at jumping out of the tank and quietness. Examinations of water quality showed a reduction in the dissolved oxygen content and increase in total hardness and alkalinity as the concentrations of fertilizers were increased. After 96 hours of exposure, LC50, associated confidence limits and safe concentration values for NPK and Urea fertilizers were (1.09, 0.29-3.86, and 0.11g/l) and (17.84, 11.8813.67, and 1.78g/l) respectively. Mortality rate was noted to be concentration-dependent and death rate in the highest concentrations were significantly higher (P<0.05) than the others. Mortality rate was influenced by both concentration and time. Comparative study on the two fertilizers showed no significant difference between their effects on the fingerlings of H. bidorsalis (P>0.05). The findings from this study show that both Urea and NPK fertilizers could be classified as toxic and highly toxic respectively, to H. bidorsalis fingerlings at certain concentrations.


The creation of a practical-informational guide for teachers on children's sexual education is the purpose of this research project, which was validated in a private school in Quito, Ecuador. The problem in which the following research is based on is the lack of inclusion of children's sexual education in the educational curriculum. That is why throughout this project, the most significant aspects for teachers on sex education of 5 and 6 years old children are been discussed since it allows the easy implementation of class projects on the subject. The research has a qualitative and exploratory approach, so the analysis of documents, interviews, and surveys are the tools used for this investigation. Finally, what was expected to achieve with the proposed investigation is to include class projects based on the topic of sexual education and to recognize the importance of early childhood sexual learning. Although there are laws, plans and programs of sexual education in the country, these are not been applied in educational institutions because of the prejudice generated by the subject, and the lack of knowledge of the educational community about it.


Today, there is an increasing worldwide interest in assessing the potential for maintaining or increasing rice yields by reducing or eliminating the use of chemicals and by decreasing irrigation requirements. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) first developed in Madagascar and now being tested in many countries, is an example of such an approach. The system is based largely on organic farming principles and additional requirements for spacing and the transplanting of seedlings.


Given an order ideal 𝒪 and an 𝒪-border basis of a 0-dimensional polynomial ideal, it was shown by Huibregtse that the liftings of the neighbor syzygies (i.e. of the fundamental syzygies of neighboring border terms) form a system of generators for the syzygy module of the border basis. We elaborate on Huibregtse's proof and transform it into explicit algorithmic form. Based on this, we are able to exhibit explicit conditions on a module term ordering τ such that the liftings of the neighbor syzygies are in fact a τ-Grobner basis. Finally, we construct term orderings satisfying these conditions in an explicit algorithmic way.


The theory of immiscible radial displacement in a Hele-Shaw cell is extended to the case of a porous medium contained between two closely-spaced parallel plates, and experiments are described for the displacement of glycerine by paraffin oil in such a system. Data are presented for the number of fingers, the breakthrough time, and the glycerine recovery, for a range of flowrates varying through three orders of magnitude. Good agreement between theory and experiment is observed.


The in vitro culture of zygotic embryos solves the problems encountered in transporting and storing coconut seeds (Cocos nucifera L.). especially when obtained under field collecting conditions. Embryo sampling and short-term storage methods have been developed. Direct inoculation into culture on media, enabling embryo growth under axenic conditions. has been successfully carried out under field collecting conditions. An alternative method holds embryos in endosperm cores in a salt solution for brief periods before excision and inoculation into culture in a laboratory. The techniques and equipment used are described in this paper, as well as the subsequent development of the ernbryos and the transfer of plants to natural growing conditions.


Abstract : Observation of the near field and far field patterns of a ruby laser operated near threshold is described. In these observations, the beam diffraction effect predicted for diffraction by a small elliptically shaped aperture has been observed. This effect is a 90-degree rotation of the elliptical figure. This result indicates that the far field light intensity distribution need not be identical with the near field distribution. Experimental results are presented that show the presence of many axial modes in the output of the ruby laser operated very close to threshold. Multimode operation is found to be the rule, even when the output of the laser appears as a regularly spaced, exponentially damped series of spikes. Theoretical analysis of the laser oscillations has indicated that the initial laser spike transient should damp out, leaving only the cw oscillation of the laser. This effect has been observed for the first time in a ruby laser operated very close to threshold. In many cases, the initial train of laser pulses appears to damp out and approach a cw level of oscillation. A cw beat frequency is often found to coincide with the cw light output. Thus, the oscillations of the ruby laser are in agreement with observations of other solid-s/atelasers and confirm the theoretical pedictions. (Author)


This paper contains an effective mass‐quantum mechanical investigation of the ionizability of interstitial hydrogen and lithium in germanium and silicon. It is concluded that hydrogen should not ionize while lithium should. This seems in accord with experimental findings.


The effect of temperature preconditioning on the net photosynthesis and dark respiration of four woody desert perennials (Larrea divaricata, Hymenoclea salsola, Encelia farinosa, and Chilopsis linearis) was analyzed. After the establishment of stem cuttings or field transplants in a greenhouse, the plants were preconditioned at daytime temperatures of 15°, 30°, or 40°C in a growth chamber for 7—17 days. Carbon dioxide exchange capacities wer then determined at various temperatures. There were distinct species differences in response to the preconditioning treatments which could be correlated with differences in distribution and ecology. See full-text article at JSTOR


Introduction Targeting of lymphocyte co-inhibitory receptors, such as CTLA-4, PD-1, Lag-3, and Tim-3, has gained intense interest for treatment of cancer. KLRG1 is also a lymphocyte co-inhibitory receptor, expressed predominantly on effector memory CD8+ T cells and NK cells, whose ligands E- and N-cadherin are differentially expressed during epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Targeting of KLRG1 in murine cancer models has not previously been published. Methods We constructed an anti-mouse KLRG1 antibody that neutralized the interaction of KLRG1 with its ligands. Anti-KLRG1 antibody was administered as a monotherapy in a murine metastatic tumor model (4T1 murine breast cancer) and as combination therapy with anti-PD-1 (clone RMP1-14) in a murine primary tumor growth model (MC38 murine colon cancer). Results In the 4T1 murine breast cancer model, anti-KLRG1 antibody reduced lung metastases compared to control antibody as measured by mean lung weights (0.28 g vs. 0.47 g; p=0.04) and nodule count (10.7 vs. 30.1; p=0.002). In the MC38 model, primary tumor growth was inhibited by anti-KLRG1 + anti-PD-1 antibody greater than anti-KLRG1 antibody or anti-PD-1 antibody or control antibody (day 13 tumor volume 582 vs. 1259 vs. 1279 vs. 1461 mm3, respectively). Combination therapy anti-KLRG1 + anti-PD-1 produced synergistic benefit significantly greater than that of anti-PD-1 alone for tumor volume (p=0.01) and survival (p=0.02; day 18 survival 60% of mice alive treated with combination therapy compared to 0% alive treated with anti-PD-1 alone). Ex vivo KLRG1 blockade with anti-human KLRG1 antibodies resulted in human CD8+ T cell proliferation and proinflammatory cytokine secretion. Conclusions Anti-KLRG1 neutralizing antibody demonstrates efficacy in inhibiting metastases in the murine 4T1 breast cancer model and reducing primary tumor volume and improving survival as synergistic combination therapy with anti-PD-1 in the murine MC38 colon cancer model. Anti-KLRG1 blockade with anti-human KLRG1 antibodies results in activation of CD8+ T cells. These data suggest that anti-KLRG1 treatment is a promising new approach for cancer immunotherapy. Citation Format: Steven A. Greenberg, Stefano V. Gulla, Evan Thompson. Inhibition of the co-inhibitory receptor KLRG1 reduces murine 4T1 breast cancer metastasis and MC38 colon cancer primary tumor growth and mortality [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-301.


Extended opioid use results in physical dependence and neural adaptation. Opioid dependence treatment can be carried out with opioid receptor agonists, partial agonists, and antagonists. Conventional treatments have low success rates. Methadone and buprenorphine treatments involve substituting long-duration agonists for the opiate of abuse, essentially substituting one opiate for another. Rapid opiate detoxification is a 3-day process involving large amounts of an opiate antagonist. Both treatments have associated problems. Ultrarapid opiate detoxification (UROD) anesthetizes a patient and precipitates withdrawal while unconscious. It shortens withdrawal, avoiding much of the subjective withdrawal discomfort. Clonidine is critical to reduce catecholamine levels and mitigate central nervous system hyperarousal in acute withdrawal. A UROD advantage is that the withdrawal period is markedly shortened to 8 hours or less versus up to several months for conventional treatments. The patient is anesthetized during the acute withdrawal period and does not experience the unpleasant consequences of acute detoxification.


departure from the traditional breadwinner role of fatherhood to a modern evolution of involved fatherhood. Although we are yet to see such cultural change globally, parental leave has a distinctly high uptake by fathers in Norway (2). The increased participation of fathers in childcare has been attributed to a father's quota of parental leave that was introduced in Norway, which provided a fifteen-week father-only leave entitlement (7). In Designing Parental Leave Policy, Brandth and Kvande explore the reasons underpinning its success and investigate the extent to which the father's quota has provided a work-family balance for fathers, supported the development of father-child relationships and contributed towards a marked shift from hegemonic masculinity to caring masculinity. Brandth and Kvande primarily argue that the provision of an individual right to leave for fathers has altered the external and internal perception of fatherhood to include a caring role. The policy design of a father-only leave entitlement has generated the external societal expectation that fathers undertake care work. Additionally, many fathers who were home alone on leave had internally developed greater competency as carers and particularly acquired a need-oriented care practice where they could read their child in order to identify and meet their needs. Relying upon the data obtained from a series of interviews conducted with fathers in the 1980s before the introduction of the father's quota, in the 1990s after its initial introduction as a 4-week entitlement and in the 2000s after being extended to a 10-week entitlement, Part 1 reveals the importance of the design of the father's quota in increasing paternal involvement in childcare. Unlike shared parental leave which provided parents with the option to decide between themselves who could take leave in 16 or 26-week periods, fathers encountered a greater sense of entitlement to the father's quota as the leave scheme was s


According to the single layer viscoelastic foundation model, the paper starts from the Fourier series of the cyclic loading, concludes the analytical solutions to the viscoelastic one-dimensional consolidation of impeded boundaries under cyclic loading by the consolidation formula, achieves the hole pressure change law for any boundary foundation under the loading along with the time changes, so as to provide the direction for the engineering construction in soft clay areas.


The western Shirvaneh granitoid body is lacated in the NE-Sonqor and in the Sanandaj-Sirjan Zone. Most of the body is made of granitic and alkali feldspar-granitic rocks, while quartz monzonitic and quartz syenitic rocks exhibit smaller volumes. The change of composition from granite to syenite is gradual and main minerals were included quartz, Plagioclase, K-feldspar and amphibole, in various proportion. The geochemical studies indicate the nature of mealuminous (A/CNK = 0.81-0.98). The high content of the LREE, HFSE and Zr (319-571 ppm) suggest the rocks originate from crustal melts and magma belongs to A-type granites and subcategory A2. The petrographical evidences (perthitic and granophryic textures) and geochemical results (anomaly of Eu, the high ratio of (La / Lu)N= 2.16-11.26) imply on a differentiated magma. Based on the tectonic setting discrimination diagrams, the western Shirvaneh intrusions are the product of the process of melting of the continental crust in a subduction regime combined with the presence of local tensions


Application of plant nutrient is one of the most important measures increasing grain yield and yield quality. Excessive application of nitrogen fertilizers leads to nitrogen leaching and it affects the quality of groundwater and surface water. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen fertilizer rate on nitrogen use efficiency in winter wheat after two forecrops. The experiment was conducted at the Research and Study farm 'Pēterlauki' of Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (56° 30.658' N and 23° 41.580' E) in four growing seasons: 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. Researched factors were crop rotation (wheat/wheat and oilseed rape (Brassica napus ssp. oleifera/wheat) and five nitrogen fertilizer rates (kg ha-1): N0 or control, N60, N120(90+30), N180(90+60+30) and N240(120+60+60). Nitrogen fertilizer affected winter wheat grain yield significantly (P < 0.001) and average grain yield increased significantly (P < 0.049) until nitrogen rate N180. But analyzing it after each forecrop separately, yield increased significantly (P < 0.05) until N120 after both forecrops. Nitrogen fertilizer affected nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE), nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) and protein content significantly (P < 0.001). When increasing nitrogen fertilizer rate NUE, NUpE and NUtE decreased, and higher results were observed at the lowest nitrogen rates. Increased nitrogen fertilizer rate also increased crude protein content in grain, and for bread baking suitable grain was obtained only with the highest N rate: N 240. Forecrop did not affect winter wheat grain yield, however, it affected NUtE (P < 0.01), NUE (P < 0.001) and nitrogen harvesting index (P < 0.001) significantly; higher results were observed when wheat was grown after wheat.


The present study was an attempt to investigate the often repeated claim that both verbal and nonverbal communication styles are related to the social and educational background of the parents. The subjects were 40 Finnish first graders and their mothers or fathers. The dyads were divided into equal groups of lower and higher parental education. The videotaped situations consisted of three cooperative tasks. Comparisons were also made between the mother-child dyads and the father-child dyads. No difference was found between the higher and the lower educational group in nonverbal communication. The linguistic aspects of speech were approximately similar in both groups. There were, however, differences between the educational groups in regard to the planning aspects of speech, controlling and conversional turn-taking. Only a few minor differences were found in the communication of mothers and fathers as well as in that of girls and boys.


WT5"BZ]Original strain, Bacillus pumilus ,was mutanted by DES and UV.protoplast irradiation.Finally,a higher D ribose producing strain TJ3 was obtained.It requires shikimic acid as essential growth factor,can grow on culture medium with high concentration glucose,cannot grow on culture medium with ribose as sole carbon source.In addition the theory of Uniform Design was applied to the experiment of the fermentation conditions and the experimental data were analysed with the computer,which greatly raised the work efficiency.Under the optimum culture conditions,TJ3 accumulates average of 30.12 mg/mL D ribose. [WT5"HZ]


The impact of commercial harvest dates on the storage life of four apple cultivars grown in the Aland Islands district of Finland (59-61° N, 19-20° E) was investigated during 1993 -1995. The effective temperature sums (above +5°C) during the growing seasons until the harvest dates were: 1071-1092 (1993), 1174-1274 (1994) and 1299 degree days (1995), and the amounts of rainfall during May-September were 267, 273 and 169 mm, respectively. The commercial harvesting dates of apples were as follows: 23 Sept 1993 and 14 Sept 1994 for 'Raike' and 'Red Atlas'; 3 Oct 1993 and 6 Oct 1994 for 'Lobo' and 'Aroma' and 11 Oct 1995 for all cultivars. Number of days from flowering until harvest was approximately: 130, 120 and 135 for 'Raike' and 'Red Atlas' and 140, 145, and 135 for 'Lobo' and 'Aroma' during 1993, 1994 and 1995, respectively. Apples were stored for 3, 4 and 6 months at +2 to +4°C and 90-95% relative humidity (RH). At harvest, firmness per diameter was highest, diameter smallest and soluble solids content (SSC) lowest in all cultivars in 1993. 'Aroma' showed highest firmness at harvest but after 2-3 months of storage the firmness per diameter of all cultivars declined to the same level. The SSC was highest in the juice of 'Aroma' (1994) and Lobo' (1995), the titratable acidity was highest in the juice of 'Red Atlas' and lowest in the juice of 'Lobo'; and the ratio of soluble solids/acid was highest in the juice of 'Lobo' and lowest in 'Red Atlas'. The titratable acidity and percentage of soluble solids decreased and pH and soluble solids/acid ratio increased after I and 2 months of storage. In 1993 and 1994, the incidence of physiological disorders after 3 month storage was about 10%. In 1993, 'Red Atlas' could be stored for 6 months, but the high incidence of physiological disorders in Raike' and 'Lobo' after 3 month of storage might be related to too early harvest. In 1995, Lobo' could be stored for 6 months. Possibly because of late harvest, however, the other cultivars were susceptible to physiological disorders at an earlier stage of storage.


The hybrid averaging (HA) is an aggregation operator that uses the weighted average (WA) and the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator in the same formulation. In this paper, we introduce several generalizations of the HA operator by using generalized and quasi-arithmetic means, fuzzy numbers and order inducing variables in the reordering step of the aggregation process. We present the fuzzy generalized hybrid averaging (FGHA) operator, the fuzzy induced generalized hybrid averaging (FIGHA) operator, the Quasi-FHA operator and the Quasi-FIHA operator. The main advantage of these operators is that they generalize a wide range of fuzzy aggregation operators that can be used in a wide range of applications such as decision making problems. For example, we could mention the fuzzy induced hybrid averaging (FIHA), the fuzzy weighted generalized mean (FWGM) and the fuzzy induced generalized OWA (FIGOWA). We end the paper with an application of the new approach in a decision making problem.


In recent years, macroscopic and microscopic simulation modelling have become widely used among transportation engineers and planners, and accepted as a means to assess and evaluate existing and future traffic conditions or determine the feasibility of proposed infrastructure. Hybrid modelling, however, is not as commonly used, where macroscopic models are used in conjunction with microscopic models to determine the feasibility of transit infrastructure. This paper presents the hybrid modelling process by incorporating the dynamic user equilibrium technique obtained from EMME/3 macroscopic models and the microscopic simulation results using VISSIM. The objective of the study was to examine potential roadway modifications to facilitate priority transit service along Durham Regional Highway 2 (Highway 2) in Ajax and Pickering. The study is seen as the first step towards a planned bus rapid transit service (BRT) connecting Durham Region to rapid transit in the City of Toronto. The alternatives examined include curbside bus-only lanes, High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, mixed traffic lanes, median transit way and the do-nothing alternative. The study required building a regional road network model that mainly encompassed arterials and collectors in the City of Pickering and the Town of Ajax, including approximately 10 km long Highway 2 where the BRT is planned to run. To conduct the BRT feasibility study, an extensive data collection was undertaken including traffic volumes at key intersections and also 24-hour traffic volumes, speeds, and travel times along Highway 2. The data collected were crucial in the modelling process, that ensuring that VISSIM model accurately replicated the existing traffic conditions at key intersections. The study focused on analysing the PM peak period only rather than the AM Peak and Weekend peak periods, as it was determined to be the critical period. The study horizon years were 2016, which coincides with the opening year for the "Quick Win" and 2021, five years later, to assess the performance of the transit priority measures design concepts. The study results concluded that the preferred design of widening Highway 2 for Quick Win initial BRT service is having the buses running along a dedicated curb side lane. The calibration and validation process was effective and served as a crucial tool in arriving at the preferred BRT design concept. AECOM was the consulting firm retained by the Region of Durham to undertake the study, where the author contributed to this study.


A discussion is presented of the application of two different methods to measure oil in place through casing in a well in which previous work had demonstrated that oil in place can be determined accurately enough from cores and open-hole logs to enable confident engineering decisions. Values for current oil in place is established from resistivity logs and the flow properties of cores. Saturations from an experimental nuclear magnetism log appeared consistent with these values. Residual oil in place, the oil that remains after flushing with water, had been measured from core saturations and from the Electromagnetic Propagation Tool (EPT). 13 refs.


Complexes of 2-(4-aminophenyl) benzimidazole with Zn(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II) chlorides and Cd(II) and Hg(II) bromides have been synthesized. They have been characterized by elemental analysis, conductivity measurements, IR and 1H NMR spectral studies. The results show that the complexes are non-electrolytes, four coordinated and the ligand acts as a monodentate.


The invention relates to a method for producing zeolite-containing anionic surfactants and granules, characterized by the steps DOLLAR A a) mixing zeolite and aqueous sodium hydroxide solution in a mixer, DOLLAR A b) granulation (with the addition of anionic surfactant acid n), DOLLAR A c) optional drying the granules formed in step b), wherein the A DOLLAR Anionentensidgehalt of the resulting granules is adjusted to values> = 50 wt .-% set.


This study primarily focuses on the examination of the role of some work related factors and office and information manager's performance. The major factors investigated are: modern computers, information infrastructure, and office interconnectivity in Yenagoa Metropolis. The study employed the descriptive survey research design. Questionnaire was used as the primary instrument for data collection, after which such data was analyzed using simple percentage and the parametric statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Findings revealed that there is a strong relationship between modern infrastructure and employee task commitment, thereby enhancing performance. It is also found that there is an association between automation of information infrastructure and office and information manager's performance. Finally, it is also discovered that there is a relationship between interconnectivity of systems and office and information manager's performance. It is, therefore, concluded that work related factors are not necessarily financial incentives alone, which stimulate office and information managers' performance in indigenous work organizations. The study recommends that management should ensure proper training of office and information managers to acquire the necessary skills for optimal functioning. Keywords : Job satisfaction, work commitment, incentive DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-20-04 Publication date :July 31 st 2019


Scientific progress in sign language applications has a crucial importance, since it can increase the quality of the lives of deaf and mute people. In this study, frame level distance metric and representation learning problems are studied to represent and classify sign language video frame sequences in an efficient way. For the joint representation and distance metric learning, a Siamese deep neural network is employed. This network is trained with the examples extracted from the automatically acquired transcription of the speech signal found in the sign language videos. The performance of the proposed system is measured by utilizing the same-different sign-discrimination task. Our method considerably outperforms the considered baseline systems that are based on the dynamic time warping (DTW) algorithm used with common distance metrics. This success can be considered as a first step towards an efficient query-by-sign search system.


As a novel technology for food safety risk mitigation, pulsed light (PL) has been shown effective in surface decontamination of fresh blueberries in literature. However, little is known about the effects of PL on the antioxidant capacity and quality characteristics of fresh blueberries. Fresh blueberries from a local farm were treated with PL for 30, 60, 90 and 120 s. Results show that PL exposure enhanced the antioxidant activity (ORAC) and total phenolic content of fresh blueberries 50 and 48% respectively, relative to the control. Pulsed light also significantly increased the total anthocyanin contents, which may be due to the upregulation of Phenylalanine Ammonium Lyase (PAL) enzymes. There was no significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) in the soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, firmness, color and mass of the fresh blueberries within 120 s PL exposure. In conclusion, PL illumination enhanced the antioxidant capacity of fresh blueberries while maintaining other quality characteristics.


The present invention relates to a tire air pressure detecting device. In the tire air pressure detecting means, the receiver (3) based on the power supplied from the battery (8), the IG (9) is turned on, the frame is performed by the power generation control unit (33) radio wave receiving portion (32) the received power to the power state of the receiver as the state of the received frame can be performed to detect the tire air pressure, and IG OFF by intermittently according to a predetermined period (T3), the power control unit generates a radio wave receiving unit receives the frame power to the power state of the receiver as the state of the received frame can be performed to detect the tire air pressure. When the transmitter (2a ~ 2d) based on the sensing portion (21) of the detection signal to determine whether the tire air pressure decrease occurs, and occurrence of tire pressure decreases, shorter than the periodic transmission period of the frame transmission interval (T5) , it is set to be less than during the rest period of the high frequency transmission interval (T4), and compared with the tire to reduce the pressure before the high frequency of the transmission frame.


Introduction: Patients (pts) with CLL may be at particular risk of severe COVID-19 given advanced age and immune dysregulation. Two large series with limited follow-up have reported outcomes for pts with CLL and COVID-19 (Scarfò, et al. Leukemia 2020; Mato, et al. Blood 2020). To provide maximal clarity on outcomes for pts with CLL and COVID-19, we partnered in a worldwide effort to describe the clinical experience and validate predictors of survival, including potential treatment effects.

 Methods: This international collaboration represents a partnership between investigators at 141 centers. Data are presented in two cohorts. Cohort 1 (Co1) includes pts captured through efforts by European Research Initiative on CLL (ERIC), Italian CAMPUS CLL Program, and Grupo Español de Leucemia Linfática Crónica. The validation cohort, Cohort 2 (Co2), includes pts from US (66%), UK (23%), EU (7%), and other countries (4%). There is no overlap in cases between cohorts.
 CLL pts were included if COVID-19 was diagnosed by PCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 and they required inpatient hospitalization. Data were collected retrospectively 2/2020 - 5/2020 using standardized case report forms. Baseline characteristics, preexisting comorbidities (including cumulative illness rating scale (CIRS) score ≥6 vs. <6), CLL treatment history, details regarding COVID-19 course, management, and therapy, and vital status were collected.
 The primary endpoint of this study was to estimate the case fatality rate (CFR), defined as the proportion of pts who died among all pts hospitalized with COVID-19. Chi-squared test was used to compare frequencies; univariable and multivariable analyses utilized Cox regression. Predictors of inferior OS in both Co1 and Co2 were included in multivariable analyses. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate overall survival (OS) from time of COVID-19 diagnosis (dx).

 Results: 411 hospitalized, COVID-19 positive CLL pts were analyzed (Co1 n=281, Co2 n=130). Table 1 describes baseline characteristics. At COVID-19 dx, median age was 72 in Co1 (range 37-94) and 68 in Co2 (range 41-98); 31% (Co1) and 45% (Co2) had CIRS ≥6. In Co1, 48% were treatment-naïve and 26% were receiving CLL-directed therapy at COVID-19 dx (66% BTKi ± anti-CD20, 19% Venetoclax ± anti-CD20, 9.6% chemo/chemoimmunotherapy (CIT), 1.4% PI3Ki, 4% other). In Co2, 36% were never treated and 49% were receiving CLL-directed therapy (65% BTKi ± anti-CD20, 19% Venetoclax ± anti-CD20, 9.4% multi-novel agent combinations, 1.6% CIT, 1.6% PI3Ki, 1.6% anti-CD20 monotherapy, 1.6% other). Most pts receiving CLL-directed therapy had it held at COVID-19 diagnosis (93% in Co1 and 81% in Co2).
 Frequency of most COVID-19 symptoms/laboratory abnormalities were similar in the two cohorts including fever (88% in both), lymphocytosis (ALC ≥30 x 109/L; 27% vs. 21%), and lymphocytopenia (ALC < 1.0 x 109/L; 18% vs. 28%), while others varied between Co1 and Co2 (p<0.0001), including cough (61% vs. 93%), dyspnea (60% vs. 84%), fatigue (13% vs. 77%).
 Median follow-up was 24 days (range 2-86) in Co1 and 17 days (1-43) in Co2. CFRs were similar in Co1 and Co2, 30% and 34% (p=0.45). 54% and 43% were discharged while 16% and 23% remained admitted at last follow-up in Co1 and Co2, respectively. The proportion of pts requiring supplemental oxygen was similar (89% vs. 92%) while rate of ICU admission was higher in Co2 (20% vs. 48%, p<0.0001). Figure 1 depicts OS in each cohort. Univariable analyses demonstrated that age and CIRS ≥6 significantly predicted inferior OS in both cohorts, while only age remained an independent predictor of inferior OS in multivariable analyses (Table 2). Prior treatment for CLL (vs. observation) predicted inferior OS in Co1 but not Co2.

 Conclusions
 : In the largest cancer dx-specific cohort reported, pts with CLL hospitalized for COVID-19 had a CFR of 30-34%. Advanced patient age at COVID-19 diagnosis was an independent predictor of OS in two large cohorts. This CFR will serve as a benchmark for mortality for future outcomes studies, including therapeutic interventions for COVID-19 in this population. The effect of CLL treatment on OS was inconsistent across cohorts; COVID-19 may be severe regardless of treatment status. While there were no significant differences in distribution of current lines of therapy between cohorts, prior chemo exposure was more common in Co1 vs. Co2, which may account for difference in OS. Extended follow-up will be presented.

 Disclosures

 Roeker:
 American Society of Hematology: Research Funding; Abbott Laboratories: Other: spouse with minority ownership interest ; AbbVie: Other: spouse with minority ownership interest . Scarfo:
 Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Abrisqueta:
 Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Eyre:
 AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel support; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel support; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel support; KITE, AZ, Loxo Oncology at Lilly: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Muntañola Prat:
 Roche: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: travel grants; participated in advisory boards; Abbvie: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: travel grants; participated in advisory boards; Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: travel grants; participated in advisory boards. Villacampa:
 AstraZeneca: Other: advisory role; Merck Sharp & Dohme: Honoraria. Leslie:
 AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Bayer: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; ADC therapeutics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AbbVie: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BeiGene: Speakers Bureau; KitePharma: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Celgene/BMS: Speakers Bureau; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Pharmacyclics/Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Epizyme: Speakers Bureau; Karyopharm: Speakers Bureau; TG Therapeutics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Allan:
 Acerta, Genentech, Abbvie, Sunesis, Ascentage, Pharmacyclics, Janssen, AstraZeneca, BeiGene: Consultancy; Celgene, Genentech, Janssen, TG Therapeutics: Research Funding; Abbvie, Janssen, AstraZeneca, Pharmacyclics: Honoraria. Furman:
 Incyte: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Sunesis: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy; Loxo Oncology: Consultancy; Oncotarget: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; TG Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Abbvie: Consultancy; Beigene: Consultancy; AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Research Funding; Acerta: Consultancy; Verastem: Consultancy. Pagel:
 BeiGene, Astrazeneca, Loxo Oncology, Gilead: Consultancy. Hernandez-Rivas:
 Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene/BMS: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; AstraZeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Rovi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Patel:
 Genentech: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Celgene/BMS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BeiGene: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Motta:
 Roche: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria. Lamanna:
 AbbVie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Genentech: Research Funding; Verastem: Research Funding; Bei-Gene: Research Funding; TG Therapeutics: Research Funding; Acerta: Research Funding; Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Roche-Genentech: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Vitale:
 Janssen: Honoraria. Kamdar:
 Roche: Research Funding. Österborg:
 BeiGene: Research Funding; Kancera: Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy; Karolinska Univeristy Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden: Current Employment. Hanson:
 Janssen-Cilag: Research Funding; Gilead: Research Funding; AbbVie: Honoraria. Eichhorst:
 ArQule: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel support, Research Funding; BeiGene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: travel support, Research Funding; Gilead: Consulta


Summary form only given. We are currently investigating the mechanisms of microwave power absorption in an ECR plasma. Relative microwave power measurements are made in the vicinity of the quartz window where 2.45 GHz heating power enters the plasma chamber. One dimensional measurements along the axis have been reported in which Faraday rotation of the incident electric field has been observed. Here, 3-D profiles of the microwave heating power distribution will be presented, as well as profiles of each electric field component. The purpose of this study is to explain how microwave power is absorbed in the plasma, especially the electric field component that is not resonant with electron cyclotron motion. We also try to clarify the transition between the low and high density mode. The low mode is characterized by an E field configuration with peaks and nodes throughout the plasma chamber. This is like a standing wave in a circular cavity with a weak plasma dielectric. In the high mode there is no detectable power beyond the resonance zone. The microwave field intensity is greatest in front of the waveguide opening, 2 to 5 cm from the quartz plate. Finally, the 3-D power distribution will be used in a computer simulation of this ECR reactor to accurately model the electron heat source.


Apigenin is a bioflavonoid with chemopreventive activity against UV‐ or chemically‐induced mouse skin tumors. To further explore the mechanism of apigenin's chemopreventive activity, we determined whether apigenin inhibited UVB‐mediated induction of cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) expression in mouse and human keratinocytes. Apigenin suppressed the UVB‐induced increase in COX‐2 protein and mRNA in mouse and human keratinocyte cell lines. UVB radiation of keratinocytes transfected with a mouse COX‐2 promoter/luciferase reporter plasmid resulted in a threefold increase in transcription from the promoter, and apigenin inhibited the UV‐induced promoter activity at doses of 5–50 µM. Transient transfections with COX‐2 promoter deletion constructs and COX‐2 promoter constructs containing mutations in specific enhancer elements indicated that the effects of UVB required intact Ebox and ATF/CRE response elements. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with supershifting antibodies were used to identify USF‐1, USF‐2, and CREB as proteins binding to the ATF/CRE‐Ebox responsive element of the COX‐2 promoter. Keratinocytes co‐transfected with the COX‐2 luciferase reporter and a USF‐2 expression vector, alone or in combination with a USF‐1 expression vector, exhibited enhanced promoter activity in both UVB‐irradiated and nonirradiated cultures. However, COX‐2 promoter activity was inhibited in keratinocytes co‐transfected with USF‐1 alone. Finally, we present data showing that the suppressive effect of apigenin on COX‐2 expression could be reversed by co‐expression of USF‐1 and USF‐2. These results suggest that one pathway by which apigenin inhibits COX‐2 expression is through modulation of USF transcriptional activity. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Dollfusnema amphisbaenia n.gen., n.sp. is distinguished from all other genera in the Cosmocercinae by the possession of cuticular interlabia between the cephalic lips. These structures are similar to the interlabia and cordons observed commonly in the superfamily Heterakoidea and this provides an additional argument that the Heterakoidea may have evolved from primitive cosmocercoids such as the Cosmocercinae.


In this letter, tungsten nanodots (W-NDs) in silicon nitride formed by a self-assembled nanodot deposition method have been investigated as a floating gate of nonvolatile memory (NVM). Observations from transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction pattern clearly confirm the formation of crystallized W-NDs with a diameter of ∼5 nm. The metal-oxide-semiconductor device with W-NDs in silicon nitride exhibits a larger memory window (∼4.1 V at ±12 V sweep), indicating charge trapping and distrapping between the W-ND and a silicon substrate. The program/erase behaviors and data retention characteristics were evaluated. After 10 years retention, a large memory window of ∼3.4 V with a low charge loss of ∼15% was extrapolated. These results demonstrate advantages of W-NDs in silicon nitride for the NVM application.


Advanced closed loop power generation cycles are under consideration for a variety of terrestrial and aerospace power systems [1]. High pressure closed brayton cycles (CBC) and supercritical cycles (SCS) offer an advantage where the cycle working fluid can also be used as the lubricant for the fluid film bearings that support the high speed turbomachinery. Unfortunately the use of supercritical carbon dioxide as a lubricant is not well understood. In the supercritical condition fluids that are typically thought of as ideal gases take on a significantly different characteristic. While these fluids typically maintain gas-like absolute viscosities, their densities are liquid like. The combination of these effects leads to the emergence of inertial effects in fluid film bearings. In addition to the inertial effects that are brought on by the high fluid density, the temperature of the lubricant cannot be controlled independently of the thermodynamic process. This situation leads to technical challenges in maintaining dimensional stability and clearance control between the rotating and stationary surfaces of the bearings.


The invention relates to a multi-stage impurity removing and refining method in the production process of secondary aluminum. The method comprises the following steps of: (1) pretreating, wherein pure aluminum scraps are obtained for standby; (2) removing paint; (3) preparing material; (4) drying; (5) melting; (6) mixed melting; (7) refining, degassing and deslagging; (8) adjusting components; (9) re-degassing until pinholes are qualified, standing, and removing hydrogen in the melt thoroughly; and (10) when the temperature reaches 680-720 DEG C, casting cast ingots of the secondary aluminum product. According to the method, physical and chemical methods are integrated, from screening in the pretreating process and drying and preheating for removing dirt, corrosion and oils on the surface of the waste aluminum, to the melting process and refining process for removing inserts in the waste aluminum parts, a rare earth type modifier is used, so that not only the mechanical property of aluminum melt can be improved, but also the melt can be effectively purified; and meanwhile, a refining agent and an inert gas combined refining method are adopted to control impurities and hydrogen content, so that the waste aluminum can be gradually purified.


Discusses concern for others as one of the unwritten rules of leadership. Defines caring as a quality tool used by successful leaders, to meet the legitmate work related needs of individuals within the organization. Provides guidance, techniques, and examples that can be used to implement a caring work environment. Positive human interaction by leaders is featured as a primary tool to motivate employees, to increase productivity, and to increase customer satisfaction. The author stresses that manner in which leaders treat their employees is the manner in which the employees will treat the customers. Establishes a sound philosophy for implementing motivational techniques that increase job satisfaction. Includes quotes from contemporary and historical leaders.


This paper summarizes the meaning, purpose and measure of improving medical equipment application quality, and introduces especially electromagnetic interference(EMI) and countermeasures of preventing EMI.


Abstract The problems of implementation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supply systems are related with the fact that they are alternative systems used in engines constructed and optimized for work with other kinds of fuel. So assemblers of the systems have to evaluate power losses and at the same time ecological requirements. The experiment is devoted to the analysis of gas composition of engines working at different modes in order to specify the particularity of LPG system tuning and to obtain data for the evaluation of environmental pollution by numerical car dynamics models. It is estimated that the algorithms of current LPG systems balance between ecological requirements and optimization of external characteristics of engines, and the gas systems are characterized by a great inertia. Also, it is determined that more precise tuning algorithms must be constructed, and more tuning points and tuning, when an engine works in standard modes, must be foreseen.


In this article, beam‐steering of microstrip antenna (MSA) is demonstrated in a cost‐effective manner using a single‐layer, low‐loss passive frequency selective surface (FSS) based on a phase‐shifting surface (PSS). A quasi‐periodic spatial PSS is constructed by arranging four rows of eight split‐ring resonators (SRR) shaped unit cells having different geometrical parameters but identical dimensions and placed adjacent to each other with a periodicity (p) of 0.18λ, where λ is the wavelength corresponding to the resonant frequency (4.5 GHz) of the fundamental unit cell. The geometrical parameters of the SRRs are tailored to control the surface impedance and the transmission phase across the surface area to reshape the phase front of the transmitted waves. A directive MSA operating at 5.5 GHz, is also designed and integrated with this PSS to demonstrate the beam‐steering capability. On rotating/shifting the PSS over the MSA, beam‐steering in the elevation plane is accomplished across −30° to +30° without degrading its reflection coefficient characteristics, with a maximum gain of 8.9 dBi. The best antenna performance in terms of beam tilt and gain is achieved when the PSS is vertically placed and fixed above the MSA. The MSA integrated with the non‐uniform metasurface exhibits 75% radiation efficiency with a front to back ratio of 55.5 (17.4 dB). A prototype is fabricated and measured as a proof of concept. The measured results are consistent with full–wave simulation results.


Context. The double cluster NGC1850 in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the nearest young massive cluster of the Local Group with a mass similar to those of Galactic globular clusters. Recent studies have revealed an extended morphology of its main-sequence turn-o ff (MSTO), which can be interpreted as a spread in either age or internal rotation. In spite of its proximity, an accurate spectroscopic determination of its chemical properties is still missing. Aims. We aim to investigate the general chemistry and the kinematics of this stellar system to test whether possible signs of multiple populations are observable in this cluster. Methods. We analysed the spectra obtained with MUSE in adaptive optics mode of 1167 stars in both components of this cluster (NGC1850A and NGC1850B). Thanks to this data set, we were able to measure accurate global metallicities, Ba abundances, and radial velocities for a sample of 38 red supergiants and a guess of the oxygen abundance in the brightest turn-o ff stars belonging to NGC1850A. Results. We find an average metallicity of (cid:104) [M / H] (cid:105) = − 0 . 31 ± 0 . 01, a mean Ba abundance of (cid:104) [Ba / Fe] (cid:105) = + 0 . 40 ± 0 . 02, and a systemic radial velocity of (cid:104) v LOS (cid:105) = 251 . 1 ± 0 . 3 km s − 1 . The dispersion of the radial velocities suggests a dynamical mass of log( M / M (cid:12) ) = 4 . 84 ± 0 . 1, while no significant systemic rotation is detected. We detect a significant bimodality in O i line strength among the turn-o ff stars of NGC1850A with ∼ 66% of stars with [O / Fe] ∼ − 0 . 16 and the rest with no detectable line. The majority of O-weak stars preferentially populate the red side of the MSTO and show H lines in emission, suggesting that they are Be stars rotating close to their critical velocity. Among normal MSTO stars, red stars have broader line profiles than blue ones, on average, suggesting a correlation between colour and rotational velocity. Conclusions. The mean metallicity of this cluster lies at the metal-rich side of the metallicity distribution of the Large Magellanic Cloud following its age-metallicity relation. The Ba and O abundances agree with those measured in the bar of this galaxy. The correlation between line broadening and colour suggests that the observed colour spread among turn-o ff stars can be due to a wide range in rotational velocity covered by these stars.


Existing magnetically actuated soft robots require an external magnetic field to generate motion, limiting them to carefully controlled laboratory settings. Here, we introduce an electromagnetically actuated soft robot that can locomote without an external magnetic field. The robot is designed to carry its own magnet, which it alternately retracts and repels. Friction-biased feet transform this back-and-forth linear motion into forward locomotion, mimicking an earthworm gait. We demonstrate a characteristic velocity of 1.5 body lengths per second (31.3 mm/s) and actuation speeds over 150 Hz. This work paves the way for fully autonomous, untethered magnetic soft robots.