Stress is a known contributor to immune system suppression associated with higher illness susceptibility, including acute infectious respiratory illness, or the common cold. Sleep quality, shown to impact immunity, is an additional mechanism that may underlie the association between stress and cold symptomatology. Although the associations between stress and sleep and cold symptomatology have been examined separately, little is known about the mechanistic role of sleep in these associations. The present study examined sleep quality as a potential pathway between stress and cold symptomatology difference scores.

 Archival data from the Common Cold Project (Pittsburgh Cold Study 3) were utilized for the present study. Participants were 213 adults (Mean Age=30.1 yrs., SD=10.9 yrs., 42.3% female) who completed a 5-day viral challenge and self-report measures of cold severity (Jackson Symptom Score; measured from beginning to end of viral challenge), baseline sleep quality (PSQI), and perceived stress as part of study participation. SPSS v 27 and Hayes' PROCESS mediation macro were used to assess study aims. Age and sex were included as covariates.

 Greater perceived stress was significantly associated with worse sleep quality [B=.15, 95% CI .10, .21]. Sleep quality fully mediated the association between stress and changes in symptomatology; better sleep was associated with larger changes in cold severity [B=-.23, 95% CI -.43, -.04], defined as differences in symptomatology from beginning to end of the viral challenge, beyond stress alone. Zero-order correlation analyses revealed a trend level (r=.04, p=.06) association between sleep quality and aggregate cold severity, suggesting that as sleep improves, symptoms decrease.

 Within the present sample, sleep quality surfaced as an indirect pathway linking stress to changes in cold severity. Better sleep was associated with greater changes in cold severity above perceived stress. These findings, together with the trend level, positive association between sleep quality and cold symptomatology, suggest that better sleep may be associated with less severe symptomatology. Future research should attend to mechanisms underlying the associations between stress, sleep, and cold symptomatology.
 Support (if any):


The design of surge protection devices is a practical issue for the management of pressurized pipeline systems. Depending on the flow status, dimension, material, and fluid properties of a particular pipeline, the generation of hydraulic transients and their interactions with surge protection devices have been explored considering different conditions for various pipeline systems. The resonance between the pipeline elements and surge energy absorption function of the hydraulic structure should be adaptively considered for each pipeline system. To comprehensively address surge generation and surge alleviating process, this study introduced dimensionless equations of fluid motion and continuity, and their solutions were developed in the dimensionless frequency domain. The impact of the surge tank, pressure accumulator, and its connector were also developed in terms of dimensionless operators. The impact of distinct flow conditions and pipeline properties was successfully addressed by an integrated parameter, dimensionless resistance, which also provided a unified condition for water hammer similarity in reservoir pipeline surge tank pipeline valve (RPSPV) systems. The development of dimensionless hydraulic impedance expressions along a pipeline system and its conversion into a response function provides a normalized pressure response in the dimensionless time domain. Excellent agreement was found between transient simulations using the developed method and those obtained using existing methods. The integration of a dimensionless approach into a metaheuristic engine provides a general platform for surge tank (ST) design in the comprehensive bounds of flow and pipeline conditions.


Abstract Background HIV-ASSIST is an online, clinical decision support tool that helps HIV clinicians select antiretroviral (ARV) regimens for patients with HIV by accounting for individual patient characteristics. Concordance between HIV-ASSIST recommendations and expert opinion has been reported to be as high as 89% in treatment-experienced patients. We evaluated the utility of the HIV-ASSIST tool for a heavily treatment-experienced, complex patient population at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) by comparing regimens recommended by HIV-ASSIST with regimens recommended by HIV experts. Methods We identified 14 patients through a routine HIV drug resistance teaching conference at our clinic. Each case was reviewed by 5 HIV clinical experts who independently recommended an ARV regimen. A consensus "best" regimen was agreed upon among the 5 experts for each patient. Consensus regimens were compared for concordance to the top 5 regimens recommended by the HIV-ASSIST tool. HIV-ASSIST regimens were also reviewed to determine if any were high or moderate risk for virologic failure due to patient or resistance characteristics, or drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Results The patients analyzed were medically and psychosocially complex, with a high rate of multi-class resistance (Table 1). Expert-recommended regimens were concordant with one of the top five regimens recommended by the HIV-ASSIST tool for 4/14 (28%) patients (Table 2). We further classified 20/70 (29%) regimens as high risk for virologic failure and 12/70 (17%) regimens as moderate risk for virologic failure (Figure 1). Table 2. Expert-recommended consensus regimens compared to the top 5 HIV-ASSIST regimens for 14 patients with HIV and a history of drug resistance, multimorbidity, and polypharmacy.Figure 1 Classification of HIV-ASSIST regimens by HIV clinical experts as either acceptable, moderate risk or high risk for virologic failure. Conclusion Compared to prior reports, we found lower concordance between ART regimens recommended by HIV experts vs those recommended by the HIV-ASSIST tool in patients with HIV drug-resistance and/or complex comorbidities and potential DDIs. Moreover, several HIV-ASSIST regimens were considered at risk for virologic failure. We recommend caution in using the HIV-ASSIST tool for complex patients with significant drug resistance. Disclosures Lucas Hill, PharmD, AAHIVP, Gilead Sciences: Speakers Bureau.


100,000 across all timepoints for SLE and DM with peak mortality reaching 55.6 and 4.9, respectively (Figure 1). For SSc, Asian patients had the highest mortality at 2 years only (3.2), then White patients had the highest mortality in the following years, peaking at 18.8 at 10 years. Among males, Black patients with SLE had the highest mortality across all timepoints, peaking at 11.0 at 10 years. Additionally, for males with SSc, the highest standardized mortality per 100,000 was observed in Black patients, reaching 5.8 at 10 years. For DM, Asian patients exhibited increased mortality from 3–5 years (2.8), with White patients exhibiting the highest 10-year mortality (2.9). These findings from a large, national database demonstrate the racial and gender-based differences in prevalence and mortality for three CTDs: SLE, SSc, and DM. Our study shows that Black males had highest mortality in SSc and SLE, and Black females in DM and SLE compared to White counterparts. While mortality curves frequently cross at earlier timepoints, differences observed at the 10-year timepoint and overall increasing trends in standardized mortality suggest the need for additional research to determine underlying causes of mortality disparities and develop targeted interventions to reduce the mortality burden.


This text includes papers covering topics in geometry processing applications, such as surface-surface intersections and offset surfaces. Present methods fundamental to geometric modelling are highlighted.


* Abbreviations:
 CT, : computed tomography
 IVH, : intraventricular hemorrhage
 MRI, : magnetic resonance imaging

A 33 4/7 weeks' gestation, 1,900-g female infant was born to a 21-year-old mother whose pregnancy was complicated by hypertension. The mother was admitted to the hospital and given magnesium sulfate 5 days before delivery. After a course of antenatal corticosteroids, the obstetrician induced labor because of worsening hypertension. Spontaneous rupture of membranes occurred 4 hours after oxytocin was started. Variable decelerations occurred, for which the obstetrician ordered an amnioinfusion. The obstetrician retained by the plaintiff was critical of the amnioinfusion, stating that the salt load given to the mother during this procedure was contraindicated because of the mother's hypertension. Nine hours after oxytocin was started, when the cervix was completely dilated, the mother had 2 brief seizures. The fetal heart tracings were normal during the seizures. Ten minutes later, the obstetrician placed a vacuum device on the fetus and delivered the infant. The plaintiff's obstetrical expert pointed out that the literature and the manufacturer's guideline state that a fetus of less than 34 weeks' gestation should not have a vacuum-assisted delivery. The treating and defense obstetrician said that the vacuum extraction was warranted because of the mother's seizures. The Apgar scores were 8, 9, and 9 at 1, 5, and 10 minutes, respectively.

The infant's physical examination showed molding, cephalohematoma, facial bruising, retinal hemorrhage, a normal head circumference of 32 cm, and a low blood pressure of 53/21 mm Hg with a mean of 31 mm Hg, for which a 20-mL bolus of normal saline was given. The initial hematocrit was 63.9%. The magnesium level was 3.8 mEq/L (1.9 mmol/L). The infant began having more apnea and required intubation at 9 hours because of increasing severity of apnea. The treating and defense neonatologist said the apnea was secondary to the magnesium and/or apnea of prematurity. The plaintiff neonatologist said …


A drive system for a human powered vehicle includes: at least input member; a transmission system configured to change movement of the input member to rotation of an output member; and a lock mechanism including at least a driving member for selectively locking the driving wheel to the output member to make it rotate along with the output member, wherein the transmission system includes: a first pulley driven by the input member; a second pulley driven by the output member; and a flat transmission belt for transmitting drive between first and second pulleys, wherein the flat transmisson belt has a first end fixed to the first pulley and a second end fixed to the second pulley and is wound on first and second pulleys; and an elastic device for biasing rotation of the second pulley to wind the flat transmission belt on the second pulley.


After reviewing the affine group $AX+B$, its representation on $L^2(R_+)$, and its coherent states, we define the Wehrl type conjecture for $L^p$-norms of these coherent states (also known as the Renyi entropies). We give the proof of this conjecture in the case that $p$ is an even integer and we show how the general case reduces to an unsolved problem about analytic functions on the upper half plane.


The branch of artificial intelligence known as computer vision focuses on developing and utilizing digital systems to process, examine, and interpret visual data. Computer vision aims to make it possible for computing equipment to accurately recognise an object's digital image and perform the necessary action.The field of transportation and artificial intelligence includes vehicle discovery, which is pivotal. Intelligent transport system (ITS) is a fashion used to produce an effective road transportation system. The Automated Driving System which has made significant advancements in recent times, heavily relies on vehicle identification in its armature. The fashion of detecting vehicles on the road is used for objects similar as vehicle shadowing, counts, and average speed of each vehicle, business analysis, and vehicle categorization and can be applied in a variety of settings. A wide, active, and grueling field of computer vision is real- time object discovery. This recognizes semantic objects of a particular class in digital prints and pictures. For face recognition, vehicle recognition, rambler counting, web image analysis, security systems, and tone- driving motorcars, object discovery is constantly employed. Key Words: Vehicle dataset, ITS, Vehicle detection, Highway management


Introduction Sarcoidosis is a systemic disease of unknown etiology characterized by granuloma formation in the affected tissues. The pathologically activated macrophages are causatively implicated in disease pathogenesis and play important role in granuloma formation. Chitotriosidase (CHIT1), macrophage-derived protein, is upregulated in sarcoidosis and its levels correlate with disease severity implicating CHIT1 in pathology. Methods CHIT1 was evaluated in serum and bronchial mucosa and mediastinal lymph nodes specimens from sarcoidosis patients. The therapeutic efficacy of OATD-01 was assessed ex vivo on human bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) macrophages and in vivo in the murine models of granulomatous inflammation. Results CHIT1 activity was significantly upregulated in serum from sarcoidosis patients. CHIT1 expression was restricted to granulomas and localized in macrophages. Ex vivo OATD-01 inhibited pro-inflammatory mediators' production (CCL4, IL-15) by lung macrophages. In the acute model of granulomatous inflammation in mice, OATD-01 showed anti-inflammatory effects reducing the percentage of neutrophils and CCL4 concentration in BALF. In the chronic model, inhibition of CHIT1 led to a decrease in the number of organized lung granulomas and the expression of sarcoidosis-associated genes. Conclusion In summary, CHIT1 activity was increased in sarcoidosis patients and OATD-01, a first-in-class CHIT1 inhibitor, demonstrated efficacy in murine models of granulomatous inflammation providing a proof-of-concept for its clinical evaluation in sarcoidosis.


Abstract : A complete description is given of the Pendulum Facility which was designed and constructed to investigate the loading characteristics of various hydrofoil designs. Pendulum test data is presented on hydrofoils and struts which were previously tested. The comparison of such data established Pendulum accuracy. (Author)


The invention relates to a pellet medicine combination containing valsartan, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide, which is characterized by simultaneously containing three active ingredients, namely valsartan, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide. The active ingredients of valsartan, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide and medicine acceptable additives are together prepared into pellets, and the pellets containing medicines are coated with coating layers with different colors. Each pallet is composed of a pellet core and a coating layer, and the pellet combination can be further made into pellet capsules. The pellet medicine combination has the advantages that the medicine can be scattered in gastrointestinal tract fast, has low thrill on the gastrointestinal tract and is even and complete in absorption and high in bioavailability, a pellet capsule casing is free of bitter taste and the like. The obtained preparation can be controlled in quality easily and is good in stability and suitable for industrial production.


In 2010, I wrote an article for the Tokoha Gakuen University Research Review entitled, 'Cultural Differences in the Classroom: What do Tokoha University Students Think About Their Oral Communication Classes?' For that research, I gave ninety-four students a questionnaire to gauge their feelings about oral communication classes taught by native-English teachers. Previous studies had reported that cultural differences between Japanese students and native-English teachers could cause frustration due to differing expectations and opinions about how to run an effective class (Rockelman, 1995; Saito and Ebsworth, 2004; Simpson, 2008). Saito and Ebsworth (2004) even noted that in a study of Japanese university students, fifty-six percent said they preferred English classes taught by Japanese teachers. Two of the main reasons for this were some students felt Japanese teachers could better relate to the English learning process, and some students felt more comfortable if they could use Japanese to ask and get explanations for difficult questions (Saito and Ebsworth, 2004, p. 119).


High resolution HF radar observations of ULF waves in the ionosphere are possible by artificially generating irregularities using the EISCAT heater at Tromsø, Norway. The line‐of‐sight velocities from the CUTLASS radars have been combined for the first time to form bistatic flow vectors during a ULF wave, generating ionospheric electric field measurements with a higher accuracy than ever previously recorded by any instrument. A high‐m wave observed in the ionosphere exhibits a frequency which is a harmonic of that of a low‐m field line resonance which is observed simultaneously in the ionosphere and at the ground. The high‐m pulsation resembles a class of particle driven wave previously recorded on VHF radars. These results are consistent with recent HF radar observations of small scale waves possessing similar characteristics to field line resonances and with the theory that the low‐m wave may be driving the high‐m wave through a non‐linear Kelvin‐Helmholtz instability.


Human liver aldehyde dehydrogenase has been found to be capable of hydrolyzing p-nitrophenyl esters. Esterase and dehydrogenase activities exhibited identical ion exchange and affinity properties, indicating that the same protein catalyzes both reactions. Competitive inhibition of esterase activity by glyceraldehyde and chloral hydrate furnished evidence that p-nitrophenyl acetate was hydrolyzed at the aldehyde binding site for dehydrogenase activity. Pyridine nucleotides modified esterase activity; NAD+ accelerated the rate of p-nitrophenyl acetate hydrolysis more than 5-fold, whereas NADH increased activity by a factor of 2. Activation constants of 117 pM for NAD+ and 3.5 pM for NADH were obtained from double reciprocal plots of initial rates as a function of modifier concentration at pH 7. The kinetics of activation of ester hydrolysis were consistent with random addition of pyridine nucleotide modifier and ester substrate to this enzyme. Several NAD+-dependent dehydrogenases are capable of catalyzing the hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl acetate, an exten- sivcly employed model substrate for esterases (l-4). Such a dual reaction specificity, associated with an enzyme not primarily classified among the hydrolases, was first reported for glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in 1961 (1). Detailed kinetic studies of the esterolytic activity of this enzyme contributed to the elucidation of the nature of a key acyl intermediate formed during the dehydrogenase reaction (1, 2). More recently, horse liver aldehyde dehydrogenase (3), and a-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase (4) also have been shown to hydrolyze p-nitrophenyl acetate. The hydrolysis of this ester by glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase and by horse liver aldehyde dehydrogenase has been shown to take place at the same catalytic center which is responsible for dehydrogenase activity. Human liver aldehyde dehydrogenase, which catalyzes the oxidation of both aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes to their corresponding carboxylic acids, also pos- sesses the ability to hydrolyze p-nitrophenyl esters. This paper reports on the properties of this esterase activity and their implications with respect to defining a probable intermediate common to both the dehydrogenase and esterase reactions.


The status of women in developing countries has become widespread. In our country, women are also trying to emulate their hidden talents and capabilities in the community and gain their true status. Altogether, these changes have led to many areas, including the rate of women's crime. The changes influenced by the process of development in societies have led to changes in the pattern of social life of women, which has led to an increase in the rate of committing crimes among women and a reduction in the ratio of sexual offenses to crime. Iran's society has faced widespread socio-economic transformations since the 40's. It also includes changes in the sphere of women's lives, in which the role and role of women in the labor market and socio-economic activities has increased. Based on the defendant's defense rights, the most important of these rights is the right to take charge of the victim, the right to compensation for the loss and the right of women to security and information in the criminal process. Also, his security in prison and his martyrdom is considered to be the most important supporting element. In some cases, the support of female prisoners is required in the non-public way of martyrdom and trials. In the process of enforcing the imprisonment, the need for support is also needed. The financial burden on the accused, as well as the reduction of the consequences of imprisonment in prisons, is also one of the rules laid down in the Iranian legal system.


This paper provides an empirical interpretation of organizational isomorphism and diversity in global industries. We will consider how the ongoing internationalisation process has affected leading multinational enterprises from various home-countries. Our main aim is to investigate whether leading multinational enterprises have gradually lost their national characteristics and have become similar in terms of their strategies and structures. Empirical research is directed towards a number of leading enterprises in the international dataprocessing industry.


With the increasing opportunity of international community,the English level becomes an important respect of weighing students' ability. English teaching is a very important part in the high technological institute's education. According to the current situation of students' poor English bases,the writer puts emphasis on synchronous review in the teaching course of specialized English.


The transcription of the majority of the ribosomal protein (rp) genes of Saccharmoyces cerevisiae is activated by cis‐acting elements, designated RPG boxes, which specifically bind the multifunctional protein RAPI in vitro.


The effects of microscopic discontinuities on reducing the fatigue strength of steels are well known. This paper will attempt to quantify the reduction of fatigue strength due to measured quantities of microvoids, oxide inclusions, and sulfide inclusions of the fatigue strength of wheel steels. Murikami and Endo have derived a model that relates the effects of void and inclusion area and hardness on the fatigue endurance limit. In the present work is presented a unique analysis where the effect of microcleanliness is investigated. The Murikami model was used for simplicity and because the goal in this publications is to demonstrate that inclusions play an important role on wheel performance. This work summarizes the microcleanliness analysis of 113 wheels; most of such wheels were removed from revenue service due to failure. The nature of the failure indicates that the wheels failed due to a fatigue related problem. For these reason, it is of paramount interest to determine the effects of defects (i.e. voids or inclusions) on wheel performance. For this reason a simple model (Murikami) was employed to quantify the effect of defects that were measured using the microanalysis.Copyright © 2007 by Transportation Technology Center, Inc.


There is considerable evidence that stress causes an increase in plasma cortisol concentrations in sheep (Stephens, 1980). Stress had deleterious effects on female reproductive efficiency (Christian, Lloyd & Davies, 1965) possibly, in part, by suppression of gonadotrophin release by increased pituitaryadrenal activity (Wagner & Li, 1982; Moberg, 1984). Previous experiments from our laboratory (Dobson, Essawy & Alam, 1988) have shown that administration of synthetic adrenocorticotrophin hormone (ACTH 1–24) results both in increased cortisol release and suppression of the luteinizing hormone (LH) response to gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH). The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate whether LH release is suppressed in ewes subjected to an environmental stressor.


Treatment of mice with guanethidine sulphate every 48 h from birth until 14 days produced a 64.2 and 68.0 per cent reduction in perikarya of the superior cervical and coeliac ganglia, respectively, at 15 days after birth and 78.9 and 81.3 per cent at 30 days. The growth rate of mice between 21 and 30 days after birth was significantly reduced. At 15 and 30 days after birth, C3H]-thymidine was injected into control and sympathectomized mice, and labelling indices for the inner enamel epithelium, outer enamel epithelium, stratum intermedium, stellate reticulum, odontoblasts, and pulp and periodontal ligament fibroblasts determined from autoradiographs. A statistically significant decline in labelhng index was found in the inner enamel epithelium, stellate reticulum, and odontoblast cell populations at 30 days as compared to 15 days in controls. Sympathectomized mice demonstrated a significant decline in labelling index in the inner enamel epithelium, stratum intermedium, odontoblasts, and pulp fibroblasts at 30 days as compared to 15 days. The sympathetic nervous system, therefore, has only a minimal role in regulation in incisor eruption and cellular proliferation. The effect of sympathectomy on the stratum intermedium and stellate reticulum may be due to increased tissue pressure resulting from loss of vasoconstrictive sympathetic control.


Information security is the security of information environment of the person, the society and the state from deliberate and unpremeditated threats and influences. Ensuring of information security of the Russian Federation is closely interconnected with decision of internal questions of the country: problems of political, economic, military, social and other kinds of national security. For ensuring of external aspect of information security the great role should be devoted to interaction with informational bodies of other countries


Potential heirs can make informed choices about whether or not to accede to leadership positions by entering into a pre-decision period consisting of systematic and rigorous self-examination aimed at evaluating the personal and professional implications of accession for themselves, their families and their families' firms.


Non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and non alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) correspond to frequent causes of liver disease nowadays. Changes in l i festy le, inc luding unheal thy feeding and sedentarism, among others, have promote the increasing prevalence of the mentioned, associated with its risk factors, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insuline resistance and dianetes. The increasing burden for the social and economic systems makes urgent to find solutions, early diagnosis, promp treatment and prevention of progression. Cientific research, public policies, education are requiere to work together in this problem. In this review we present an overview of the disease, mechanisms involved, risk factors, diagnostic and treatment available, along with a critic analysis of the current knowledge.


Flooding is an annual disaster for Indonesia. Jakarta is a city that each year nearly always experienced by flooding. The rapid development made the impervious area dropped drastically. Micro drainage is not capable of passing the volume of direct runoff. It makes many regions in Jakarta experienced by floodwaters. The aim of this research is to analyze the micro drainage capacity in Cakung Lama River. Simulations are performed with HEC-RAS 1D. The flood data is maximum rainfall on 2013 and 2014. Two scenarios normalization is done for reducing the inundated area around the river. Based on the simulation results, the existing conditions are not able to accommodate the discharge due to maximum rainfall 2013 dan 2014. Normalization of the river will give good results if the width of the river 5 m and the depth of the river is 3 m.


Abstract A theme of interest in the process of democratic consolidation among comparative politics scholars is how political and nonpolitical variables, including economic and class issues, interrelate. Whereas the "transitions to democracy" literature conceptualizes the emergence of democratic regimes to be primarily an elite-driven political process, the actual consolidation of a democratic regime requires the active organization of civil sectors that then learn to live by and accept the outcomes of uncertain democratic governance. This "granting of stakes" in the new regime is perhaps best accomplished by the aggregation and articulation of interests among labor and business sectors in "civil society"—a term usefully defined by Alfred Stepan (1988) as manifold social movements from all classes organized to promote their interests. It is in this area that the interplay of political and economic interests is most clearly visible. Indeed, although elites can make decisions about the institutional, politic...


We discuss the properties of the Seyfert 1.5 galaxy LB 1727 based upon the analysis of two ASCA observations, a two-month Rosat monitoring campaign, and optical data. The target is identified with the HEAO-A1 source 1H0419-577, so it has been observed by ASCA and ROSAT in order to obtain better X-ray variability and spectra data. Only modest (20%) variability is observed within or between ASCA and BeppoSAX observations in the approximately 2 - 10 keV band. However, the soft X-ray flux increased by a factor of 3 over a period of 2 months, while it was monitored daily by the ROSAT HRI instrument. The hard X-ray continuum can be parameterized as a power-law of slope Gamma approximately 1.5 - 1.6 across 9.7 - 11 keV in the rest-frame. We also report the first detection of an iron K(alpha) line in this source, consistent with emission from neutral material. The X-ray spectrum steepens sharply below 0.7 keV yielding a power-law of slope Gamma approximately 3.2. There is no evidence for absorption by neutral material, instrinsic to the nucleus. If the nucleus is unattenuated, then the break energy between the soft-excess and hard component is 0.7+/-0.08 keV. An ionized absorber may produce some tum-up in the spectrum at low energies, but a steepening of the underlying continuum is also required to explain the simultaneous ASCA and HRI data. We cannot rule out the possibility that a significant column of ionized material exists in the line-of-sight, if that is true, then the continuum break-energy can only be constrained to lie within the approximately 0.1 - -0.7 keV band.


Chronic, open wounds about the elbow frequently require flap coverage. Skin grafts, local transposition flaps, muscle transposition flaps, and two‐staged pedicled flaps from the chest and abdomen as well as free tissue transfers have all been reported. Recalcitrant elbow defects in patients in whom these previous flaps have failed are especially challenging to the upper extremity reconstructive surgeon. We have successfully employed pedicled radial forearm flaps in three patients in whom one or more previous flaps have failed.


Simmel, Durkheim, and Ratzenhofer show a common concentration of purpose upon a coherent statement of social facts without intrusion of other elements: their philosophical or psychological foundations may be stripped away without hurt to their work. Ratzenhofer's groups, with their interests, represent the activities and energies of society. Durkheim's exteriority and constraint represent the same thing, if taken without an assumed opposition to a posited individual. Simmel's forms give us an actual analysis of the social process more delicate and subtle than ever elsewhere attempted, and need only the transfer of the form from a Euclidean to an Einsteinian analogy to assume all the energy and activity features of the other two investigators. The practical trend in this direction is seen in culture studies.


Skin cancer is a kind of cancer that is usually diagnosed by images from dermoscopy. In recent years, researchers have attempted to utilize deep learning technology, especially convolution neural networks (CNN), in the recognition of skin cancer images. Many CNN models have already performed great applicability, like DenseNet, Inception, and Xception. This paper carried a comparative experiment on ISIC 2019 challenge dataset which includes 25,331 skin cancer images of 8 different kinds. On the classification task on the ISIC 2019, it introduced 6 models, VGGNet19, ResNet50, ResNet152, DenseNet201, Inception-v3, and Xception, then conducted a comparative analysis of their performance involving 2 methods (data enhance and transfer learning) and 2 optimizers (Adam and SGD), aiming to explore the impact of different methods and structures on the accuracy, in order to find traits for potential models of higher accuracy. In the 24 groups of results, Xception with data enhance, transfer learning (pretraining) and Adam optimizer had the highest accuracy of 83.8%, while VGGNet19 without transfer learning had the lowest of 66.67%. The influence of transfer leaning is positive on all models, both on accuracy and training time; similar to Adam optimizer, except for a noticeable enhancement effect on Inception-v3 and Xception. The data enhance method applied in this paper had a weak, non-directed impact. Possible reasons for this phenomenon are discussed in depth in the study.


2495 3. Prendergast TJ, Luce JM: Increasing incidence of withholding and withdrawal of life support from the critically ill. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1997; 155:15–20 4. Cohen S, Sprung C, Sjokvist P, et al: Communication of end-of-life decisions in European intensive care units. Intensive Care Med 2005; 31:1215–1221 5. Wendler D, Rid A: Systematic review: The effect on surrogates of making treatment decisions for others. Ann Intern Med 2011; 154:336–346 6. Azoulay E, Pochard F, Kentish-Barnes N, et al: Risk of post-traumatic stress symptoms in family members of intensive care unit patients. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2005; 171:987–994 7. Kentish-Barnes N, Lemiale V, Chaize M, et al: Assessing burden in families of critical care patients. Crit Care Med 2009; 37(10 Suppl):S448–S456 8. Pochard F, Azoulay E, Chevret S, et al: Symptoms of anxiety and depression in family members of intensive care unit patients: Ethical hypothesis regarding decision-making capacity. Crit Care Med 2001; 29:1893–1897 9. Shalowitz DI, Garrett-Mayer E, Wendler D: The accuracy of surrogate decision makers: A systematic review. Arch Intern Med 2006; 166:493–497 10. Majesko A, Hong SY, Weissfeld L, et al: Identifying family members who may struggle in the role of surrogate decision maker. Crit Care Med 2012; 40:2281–2286 11. Daly BJ, Douglas SL, O'Toole E, et al: Effectiveness trial of an intensive communication structure for families of long-stay ICU patients. Chest 2010; 138:1340–1348 12. Heyland DK, Allan DE, Rocker G, et al: Discussing prognosis with patients and their families near the end of life: Impact on satisfaction with end-of-life care. Open Med 2009; 3:e101–e110 13. Heyland DK, Cook DJ, Rocker GM, et al: Defining priorities for improving end-of-life care in Canada. CMAJ 2010; 182:E747–E752 14. Mack JW, Block SD, Nilsson M, et al: Measuring therapeutic alliance between oncologists and patients with advanced cancer: The Human Connection Scale. Cancer 2009; 115:3302–3311 15. Mack JW, Weeks JC, Wright AA, et al: End-oflife discussions, goal attainment, and distress at the end of life: Predictors and outcomes of receipt of care consistent with preferences. J Clin Oncol 2010; 28:1203–1208


Based on engineering case,it introduces the advantages of underground continuous wall support,and respectively illustrates the construction procedures and construction points of underground continuous wall.According to settlement detection results,it points out that: underground continuous wall support has idealistic effect,and is worth further promoting.


Research aims : Sloan (1996) finds that investors mispriced the stock. They could not detect differences in earnings persistence. Such a phenomenon is called an accrual anomaly. This study aims to find out the existence of accrual anomalies in the Indonesian capital market. Design/Methodology/Approach : The accrual anomaly phenomenon is supported by testing whether there is a negative effect between accrual and abnormal returns. The research sample consisted of manufacturing companies from 2014 - 2017, which were tested using the Ordinary Least Square. Research findings : First, the results show that the company's accrual rate negatively influenced the abnormal returns, both before and after the use of control variables. Second, this article also discovered that companies having low accrual rates were consistent over four years and had greater returns compared to companies with high accrual rates. Theoretical contribution/ Originality : This article contributes to financial literacy and accounting, especially to the theory of efficient market hypotheses. There was evidence of accrual anomalies indicating that the Indonesian capital market was inefficient. Practitioner/Policy implication : Indeed, the results of this study contribute to investors and financial analysis to consider and reevaluate their long-term investment strategies in purpose to avoid mispricing in the earnings component. Research limitation/Implication : This research is inseparable from limitations, one of which is the presence of shares that were not actively traded in the study sample. Second, this article only used a sample of companies that did not experience a loss.


The article discusses the originality of national picture of the world, which is determined not least by the central part of literature in Russian culture. We found confirmation of this in the works of philosophical and philological orientation of the last two centuries.


The authors propose a fuzzy logic controlled implementation of the backpropagation training algorithm for layered perceptrons. The heuristics for adjusting the value of the learning rate eta are incorporated into a simple fuzzy control system. This provides automatic tuning of the learning rate parameter depending on the shape of the error surface. The application of this straightforward procedure was shown to be able to dramatically improve training time in some problems.<<ETX>>


Sleep disorders causing excessive daytime sleepiness are estimated to affect six percent of the population and has traditionally been under diagnosed. Sleep disorders symptoms may lead to an increased likelihood of suffering work and vehicle related accidents as well as affecting the physical and mental well being of the sufferer. A sleep diary documenting sleep hygiene habits over a period of time is an important tool in the diagnoses of sleep disorders. This project was to develop an online sleep diary, bringing benefits of presenting the information earlier to the physician in a format which allows the quick assimilation of information from the diary. The information is also in an electronic format facilitating the transmission to an electronic health record and the building of a database of sleep patterns. An online sleep diary allows a patient to self-monitor their condition allowing them to assess treatment and lifestyle changes on sleep patterns.


Based on the study of LA-ICP-MS zircon U-Pb geochronology and whole-rock geochemistry for theLuojiazhuang diorite porphyries in Menying , western Shandong , the analyzed zircons exhibit oscillatory zoning in the cathodoluminescence images and have high Th/U ratios (0. 15-1.53) , indicating a magmatic origin.In addition, most of the zircons have narrow metamorphic edges, suggesting that late metamorphic eventsmay exist. The youngest group of magmatic zircon 207Pb/206Pb ages rangng from 2 384 Ma to 2 234 Ma, yieldinga weighted mean age of 2 353 ± 14 Ma, which represents the forming age of the diorite porphyries, as theEarly Paleoproterozoic. Geochemically , the samples are characterized by low Si〇2(54. 54% and 55. 47% ),high MgO (5.22% and 5.49% ) and Mg# values (58 and 59) . Moreover , they show enrichment of light rareearth elements and large ion lithophile elements ( Rb , Ba and K) , depletion of heavy rare earth elements andhigh field strength elements (Nb, Ta , Zr and Hf) , positive anomaly of Pb , and negative anomaly of Ti. Thefact implies that the Luojiazhuang diorite porphyries might derive from partial melting of mantle and mixed with an amount of continental crust material. In summary , they may tectonic setting that stretching along the east-"west direction at the North China Craton in the Early Paleoproterozoic.


Provided are a method and apparatus for treating scrubber effluent that do not require large-scale equipment or complex maintenance, and facilitate solid-liquid separation of floc once formed. A magnetic powder is added to scrubber effluent, a bound substance of the magnetic powder and floating matter contained in the scrubber effluent is induced to form, and the substance is magnetically separated to clean the effluent. In this method for treating scrubber effluent, it is preferable to further add a flocculant in addition to the magnetic powder. The apparatus for treating scrubber effluent is provided with: a magnetic powder addition apparatus 9 for adding the magnetic powder to the scrubber effluent; and a magnetic separation apparatus 11 for magnetically separating the bound substance of the magnetic powder and floating matter contained in the scrubber effluent. The apparatus for treating scrubber effluent is preferably further provided with a flocculant addition apparatus 10 for adding a flocculant to the scrubber effluent.


The goals of carbon emission peak in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 were put forward by China in 2020. However, the production of Tarim Oilfield reached 33.1 million toe(tonnes of oil equivalent) in 2022, with total energy consumption of 2.46 million tce(tonnes of coal equivalent) and total carbon emission of 2.2985 million tCO2e(tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent). And the production is expected to exceed 40 million toe by 2025. Energy consumption and carbon emission remain increasing if effective measures are not taken, therefore, and low carbon transition of Tarim Oilfield is urgent.
 In this context, greater goals that carbon emission peak by 2025 and carbon neutrality by 2040 have been proposed, and some measures have been taken. According to energy saving and consumption reducing, technical means like process optimization and torch extinguishment are adopted to strictly control energy consumption of new projects. As for substitution of clean energy, distributed photovoltaic, waste heat utilization and other measures are used to decrease carbon emission of the established production system. Meanwhile, CCS/CCUS pilot projects are carried out. Energy conservation, carbon emission reduction and substitution of clean energy are promoted by demonstration area. According to clean energy supply, large amounts of land such as deserts and Gobi in western China can be utilized, and many factors like natural resources, consumption market and power grid structure are also considered to develop new energy power generations which may be photovoltaic power station, solar thermal power plant.
 Results of the net zero transition of Tarim Oilfield were remarkable last year. As for energy conservation and carbon emission reduction, two demonstration areas, the first zero carbon desert highway in China and Lunnan Oilfield were built with carbon emission of -14,000 tCO2e and 6,600 tCO2e respectively. And total energy consumption decreased by 0.46%, energy use decreased by 8.41% in intensity, and carbon emission decreased by 0.57% in intensity. As for clean energy supply, two 100 megawatts(MW) photovoltaic power stations have been built, generating electricity of 400 million kWh and reducing 311,700 tCO2e per year. And photovoltaic power stations with total capacity of 1100 MW are under construction, which are expected to generate 1.919 billion kWh and reduce 1.4955 million tCO2e annually. And the clean energy will not only meet its own demand, but also be provided for other enterprises.


Hu shi's experimentalism is characterized by his method of "bold hypothesizing and careful proving".The three most important components of his experimentalist method are suspecting,hypothesizing,and proving.Hu Shi's experimentalist method underwent a forming process,namely,the earlier stage,the experimental stage,and the theoretical age.At the same time,Hu Shi went through a progress in logical thinking from unconscious thinking to self-conscious thinking.


Tropical Severi Varieties and Applications Jihyeon Jessie Yang Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Mathematics University of Toronto 2012 The main topic of this thesis is the tropicalizations of Severi varieties, which we call tropical Severi varieties. Severi varieties are classical objects in algebraic geometry. They are parameter spaces of plane nodal curves. On the other hand, tropicalization is an operation defined in tropical geometry, which turns subvarieties of an algebraic torus into certain polyhedral objects in real vector spaces. By studying the tropicalizations, it may be possible to transform algebro-geometric problems into purely combinatorial ones. Thus, it is a natural question, "what are tropical Severi varieties?" In this thesis, we give a partial answer to this question: we obtain a description of tropical Severi varieties in terms of regular subdivisions of polygons. Given a regular subdivision of a convex lattice polygon, we construct an explicit parameter space of plane curves. This parameter space is a much simpler object than the corresponding Severi variety and it is closely related to a flat degeneration of the Severi variety, which in turn describes the tropical Severi variety. We present two applications. First, we understand G.Mikhalkin's correspondence theorem for the degrees of Severi varieties in terms of tropical intersection theory. In particular, this provides a proof of the independence of point-configurations in the enumeration of tropical nodal curves. The second application is about Secondary fans. Secondary fans are purely combinatorial objects which parameterize all the regular subdivisions of polygons. We provide a relation between tropical Severi varieties and Secondary fans.


Upon annealing anodic films the rate of solution of the film in decreases and the x‐ray diffraction pattern from the film becomes sharper. The activation energy for the process responsible for changes in solution rate is approximately the same as those observed for changes in ionic conduction upon annealing and for ionic conduction itself. It is believed that changes in local ionic configuration are the cause of these property changes. The rate at which these changes occur appears to be controlled by the rate of tantalumion motion.


Material and methods: We investigated 126 pts suffering from Hodgkin's disease after a follow up of at least 5 years from the completion of the combined therapy. Sixty two pts have been treated with ABVD-RT, 40 with ABVD-MOPP-RTand 24 with VEBEPRT. Median dose of RT to mediastinum was 36 Gy. Patients were submitted to respiratory function evaluation, 2D-Echocardiography before exercise and to the determination of cardiac output by acethylene rebreathing method before and during symptom limited exercise on cycloergometerusing an incremental protocol.


The thermal decompositions of 1,3-diphenylpropane (1), dibenzyl ether (2), and phenethyl phenyl ether (3) have been found to proceed by free radical chain processes. 1 gave toluene and styrene with a reaction order of 1.55, E/sub A/ = 51.4 kcal/mol, and log A = 12.5. The reaction could be initiated by benzyl phenyl ether but not by 1,2-diphenylethane. 2 gave toluene and benzaldehyde with a reaction order of 1.43, E/sub A/ = 48 kcal/mol, and log A = 12.6. The reaction could be initiated with benzyl phenyl ether. 3 gave phenol and styrene with a reaction order of 1.21, E/sub A/ = 50.3 kcal/mol, and log A = 12.3. The reaction could be initiated by benzyl phenyl ether. All of the data are consistent with free radical chain processes with the reaction order determined by the termination reaction. No evidence for concerted reactions has been found. The thermal chemistry of three-atom links is best described by free radical chain processes. The products are consistent with a free radical chain process involving a ..beta..-scission reaction, and the reaction orders range between first and three-halves order depending upon the nature of the chain termination reaction. Activation parameters are readily estimated from thermochemicalmore » kinetic data on the individual reactions with log A approx. = 12 and E/sub A/approx. = 50 kcal/mol. Unlike the one- and two-atom linkages, reactions of the three-atom linkages are promoted by free radical initiators. The potential for inhibition of free radical chains also exists and is currently being studied. 4 tables.« less


Dark solitons in superfluid Bose gases decay through the snake instability mechanism, unless they are strongly confined. Recent experiments in superfluid Fermi gases have also interpreted soliton decay via this mechanism. However, we show using both an effective field numerical simulation and a perturbative analysis that there is a qualitative difference between soliton decay in the BEC- and BCS-regimes. On the BEC-side of the interaction domain, the characteristic snaking deformations are induced by fluctuations of the amplitude of the order parameter, while on the BCS-side, fluctuations of the phase destroy the soliton core through the formation of local Josephson currents. The latter mechanism is qualitatively different from the snaking instability and this difference should be experimentally detectable.


This paper reports research on people who live in housing that is defined as non-permanent by policy makers in England, and focuses on two particular groups: residents of park homes and residential boaters. The paper emphasises how the distinctive environments in which such housing is set may facilitate particular lifestyles, contributing to residents' identities. The notion of liminality is used as a framework to help understand the views of residents, highlighting the diversity of their experiences. Both park home residents and residential boaters ascribed a range of positive qualities to the environments in which they lived, underscored by the perception that the spaces that such accommodation occupied were often associated with leisure. Nevertheless, the nature of tenure relations in both settings potentially leads to vulnerabilities in the way that some people can maintain these lifestyles. These positive and negative facets were reflected in ambivalent feelings towards home both between groups of respondents and within individuals.


foreign nature. Don Juan, in effect, bursts into Aminta and Batricio's wedding as if he had fallen from the sky. The same might be said of his appearance to Tisbea, who rejects her local suitors but succumbs-like Aminta-to the mysterious outsider. With noblewomen, Don Juan prefers to maintain his anonymity by resorting to a disguise. The disguise does not fool Ana (it is interesting that the "trickster" only fails in his native city of Seville and when his rival is another Don Juan, Mota), but it succeeds with Isabela, who, curiously, only asks Don Juan who he is after she has been seduced. In short, women feel attracted to the stranger, to the enemy of social order or the alien. Once Tirso had created the Don Juan myth, other Don Juans-among them Zorrilla's-benefited from the prestige of the name, a constant trait that they all inherited. The hero need only present himself as Don Juan, that is, pass for Don Juan. Thus, the character develops an awareness of the myth encoded in the name of Don Juan. The tension be-


JENNINGS, DIANNE BROOKS. The Role of Mannitol and Mannitol Dehydrogenase in Plant-Pathogen Interactions. (under the direction of John David Williamson and David Mason Pharr.) Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are known to act as both signaling molecules and direct antimicrobial agents in plant defense against pathogens. Many plant pathogens have the ability to synthesize mannitol, a potent ROS quencher, and there is growing evidence that at least some phytopathogenic fungi use mannitol to suppress ROS mediated defenses. Here we show that mannitol production and secretion in the phytopathogenic fungus, Alternaria alternata is induced in the presence of host plant extracts. Additionally we demonstrate that the catabolic enzyme mannitol dehydrogenase (MTD) is induced in a non-mannitol-producing plant in response to both fungal elicitor and specific inducers of plant defense responses. This indicates a mechanism whereby the plant can counteract fungal suppression of ROS-mediated defenses by catabolizing mannitol of fungal origin. To further clarify this interaction, tobacco plants were transformed with celery Mtd cDNA under a constitutive promoter, resulting in production of an enzymatically active MTD protein. This constitutive MTD expression conferred enhanced resistance to A. alternata, and this resistance did not correlate with expression of PR1a, a protein often used as an indicator of systemic acquired resistance. Constitutive Mtd expression did not enhance tolerance to two non-mannitol secreting pathogens, the fungal pathogen Cercospora nicotianae and the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that MTD plays a role in plant resistance to mannitol secreting fungal pathogens by catabolizing mannitol of fungal origin. The Role of Mannitol and Mannitol Dehydrogenase in Plant-Pathogen Interactions by Dianne Brooks Jennings A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Horticultural Science and Plant Physiology Program


Objective To identify recombinant plasmid pSG5-pp71,observe the expression of pp71 gene in human foreskin fibroblast(HFF),and to purify and identify pp71 gene.Methods On the basis of human foreskin fibroblast cell culture,the gene recombinant plasmid was screened by molecular cloning technique and then identified by gene engineering methods.Results pSG5-pp71 gene recombinant plasmid was proved to highly express in human foreskin fibroblasts.Conclusion pp71 gene can be expressed stably in human foreskin fibroblasts,which contributes to constructing and screening the specific antibody against anti-HCMV pp71 humanized genetically engineered antibody library in the future.


A survey reveals a high incidence of job mobility among business faculty, with many changing academic positions after serving only 2 years. Job changes appear to be motivated by economic reasons, b...


Two classes of methods are typically used in …nancial volatility forecasting: time series and option implied. Currently there is still no consensus about which method is superior in terms of forecasting accuracy. This paper, building on a two-step procedure advanced by Giacomini and White (2006), proposes a time-varying combination that takes into account the comparative advantage of each class. It shows that the proposed method works well in practice by analyzing one-day-ahead volatility forecasts for the Mexican peso US Dollar exchange rate from January 2nd, 2004 to October 18th, 2007. The actual value is taken to be the realized volatility measured using intra-day observations at …ve minutes time intervals. The best forecast in terms of MSE is a combination of a GARCH and an option implied that changes the weights according to information contained in past realized volatility and in past forecasting performance. KEYWORDS: Composite Forecasts, Forecast Evaluation, GARCH, Option Implied Volatility, Regime-Switching. JEL Classi…cations: C22, C52, C53, G10. We thank seminar participants at Banco de México, CEMLA and Universidad del Valle de Mexico for helpful comments, and Antonio Sibaja and Pablo Bravo for helping us with the exchange rate intraday data. Andrea San Martín, Gabriel López-Moctezuma, Luis Adrián Muñiz and Carlos Muñoz Hink provided excellent research assistance. The opinions in this paper correspond to the authors and do not necessarily re‡ect the point of view of Banco de México. yMailing address: Av 5 de Mayo #18, Centro, México, D.F., CP. 06059, México. Tel: (+52)-55-5237-2000 Ext. 3877. Fax: (+52)-55-5237-2559. Email: email@example.com. zMailing address: Av 5 de Mayo #18, Centro, México, D.F., CP. 06059, México. Tel: (+52)-55-5237-2484. Email: email@example.com.


Collodi's nineteenth-century tale ofthe puppet has had a long afterlife both in literature and in film. This artiele surveys some of the twentieth-century texts and films that have found inspiration in Le avventure di Pinocchio, in the fonn of remitings, adaptations, and allusions to the originaI story. Disney's film version is discussed in some detail, given its importance as one ofthe best-lmown versions, and the ways in which ltalian miters such as Calvino, Celati, Manganelli, Malerba, and Eco have made use of the puppet's tale are also considered. Pinocchio is indeed a "persistent puppet," whose world-wide fame and use value do not give any signs of diminishing in the twenty-first century, as seen in Benigni's film adaptation as well as in literature and mass media fonns such as advertising. The endurance of the wayward puppet attests to the transnational and transtemporal appeal ofCollodi's tale, which was mitten in the post-unification era when ltaly and ltalians were seeking to consolidate a national identity, but which far transcends its Tuscan origins of more than one hundred years ago.


Kant's relation to religion and theology is complex since he tries both to delimit theology's influence and to inherit its discursive power. The essay explores the different critical strategies and rhetorical means that Kant uses to deal with theology: theological analogies and metaphors in his systematic thought, a new kind of ,philosophy of religion,' a political theology of civil society, and finally a specific way of reading the Bible.


Lunar thermal history modelling is used to demonstrate that a realistic computer simulation can be used to predict major and minor element concentrations, thickness of the lunar crust, and intensity of volcanic activity as a function of time. The models which are most consistent with the observations include: (1) a high surface temperature and low interior temperature during the very early lunar history; (2) high near-surface radioactivity and relatively low radioactivity in the interior; and (3) a molten zone formed at or near the surface which gradually migrates downward with time. Lunar magnetic anomaly calculations show that large anomalies measured at some of the landing sites and above some points on the surface cannot be caused by mere basalts but are consistent with valley fillings of Cayley-like material with a remanent magnetization of about 0.0002 emu/gm.


The serious health issue of liver fibrosis causes significant morbidity and mortality. Hepatic fibrosis does not currently have a conventional treatment due to its complicated pathophysiology. Statins are well-known by their Pleiotropic effects such as anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic and antifibrotic actions. This investigation aimed to mark whether rosuvastatin could prevent the rat liver fibrosis caused by thioacetamide (TAA). Following two weeks of TAA injection, ROS (5 and 10mg/kg, daily) was given orally concurrently for further four weeks. ROS markedly decreased the upsurge in serum aminotransferase activities (AST and ALT) and restored albumin level. The increased hepatic glutathione (GSH) content and super oxide dismutase (SOD) activity, along with the declined malondialdehyde (MDA) level, showed ROS antioxidant capabilities. Further, heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) were both upregulated by ROS treatment while decreased the levels of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), p-NF-κB, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and Interleukin 6 (IL-6). Additionally, ROS upregulated considerably the gene expression of Nrf2 and downregulated PI3K gene expression. Moreover, expression of alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) was reduced while Nrf2 protein expression was elevated by ROS. Thus, it can be concluded that rosuvastatin could protect liver tissue against progression of TAA-induced fibrosis. This can be at least partially due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects via activation of Nrf2/HO-1 pathway and downregulation of NF-κB.


The objective of the investigation is to carry out the flow routing in the natural channel of the experimental basin of the Ichu river, by means of the Artificial Intelligence technique of ANNs (Artificial Neural Networks). Generally, hydrological and hydraulic methods require different parameters of the river channel, while the ANNs method simplifies the amount of data. The study area is located in the experimental basin of the Ichu river, upstream of the city of Huancavelica in an area of 607 km. A calibrated and validated model of the rain-runoff process was developed, with data recorded in 6 automatic meteorological stations (rainfall) and one hydrological station (runoff). The model HEC-1 was used to model the rain-runoff process and the Muskingun-Cunge method for the flood rounting, generating historical records for 5 stretches of the Ichu riverbed and obtaining 39 maximum historical records in the 2016 periods and 2017. The model obtained values of Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficients (E) equal to 0.851 and 0.828 for the calibration and validation stage, respectively. The ANNs were built with different architectures to train and obtain the architecture that best fits the historical phenomena. Finally, the architecture 1-5-1 presented a better fit, whose statistical E was values of 0.881 and 0.859 in the training and validation stage respectively.


A theoretical study of the droplet deposition and heat transfer of a vertically heated tube cooled internally by a turbulent air-water dispersed flow has been performed. In the analysis of the droplet deposition on the wall, an equation for the dimensionless droplet deposition velocity kd/u* is proposed, and the calculated results show good agreement with experimental data measured by many authors. In the heat transfer analysis, a model is proposed taking into account the presence of an initial liquid film on the wall that flows uniformly until the dryout point. The calculations of wall temperature distribution and heat transfer enhancement are performed and compared with experimental values measured by other authors, and a satisfactory agreement is obtained. The heat transfer enhancement is found to be caused mainly by the evaporation of the liquid film on the wall, which is quite different from the case of a single-component mist flow. It is assumed that in an actual case, the liquid film on the wall breaks down nonuniformly before the dryout point, depending on the wall heat flux and the liquid film flow rate.


The Emilia-Romagna region is excellent in European pear production. CREA Centro di Ricerca Olivicoltura, Frutticoltura e Agrumicoltura leads a breeding project co-founded by New Plant (a consortium of three growers'associations Apofruit, Apoconerpo, and Orogel Fresco) whose main objective is to improve fruit quality and nutraceutical parameters. The purpose of this study is to describe the qualitative characteristics of some new genotypes obtained by this breeding activity after cold storage, in comparison with the main cultivated varieties, 'Abbé Fétel', 'William's B.C' and 'Doyenne du Comice'. In 2013, 2014, and 2015, fruit samples, stored in a normal refrigeration room and after 100 dd, reaching the consumption ripening (2.5–3 kg/0.5 cm2), were analyzed to quantify the qualitative parameters: average weight, caliber, titratable acidity, soluble solids contents, skin color and overcolor, sugar and organic acids content, the antioxidant capacity, the total polyphenols, and ascorbic acid content. The results showed that the selection 'CREA 171', with red skin and yellow-cream flesh, outstood for the high antioxidant capacity due to the high content of polyphenols and ascorbic acid.


ABTRAcT.-Both unlimited and fixed-radius point counts only provide indices to population size. Because longer count durations lead to counting a higher proportion of individuals at the point, proper design of these surveys must incorporate both count duration and sampling characteristics of population size. Using information about the relationship between proportion of individuals detected at a point and count duration, we present a method of optimizing a point-count survey given a fixed total time for surveying and travelling between count points. The optimization can be based on several quantities that measure precision, accuracy, or power of tests based on counts, including (1) mean-square error of estimated population change; (2) mean-square error of average count; (3) maximum expected total count; or (4) power of a test for differences in average counts. Optimal solutions depend on a function that relates count duration at a point to the proportion of animals detected. We model this function using exponential and Weibull distributions, and use numerical techniques to conduct the optimization. We provide an example of the procedure in which the function is estimated from data of cumulative number of individual birds seen for different count durations for three species of Hawaiian forest birds. In the example, optimal count duration at a point can differ greatly depending on the quantities that are optimized. Optimization of the mean-square error or of tests based on average counts generally requires longer count durations than does estimation of population change. A clear formulation of the goals of the study is a critical step in the optimization process. Received 7 February 1992, accepted 25 November 1992.


Linear drive system is widely applied in mid-low speed Maglev, subway transportation, etc. It is composed of two principal components, high power converter and linear induction motor. The converter and motor are designed separately, whole drive system usually use circuit simulation by extracting the mathematical model of linear induction motor. However, LIM has complex electromagnetic field, which needs to considerate the transverse and longitude end effects [1-. This makes LIM mathematical model inaccurate, hard to simulate the real dynamic characteristics of LIM.


Abstract— Currents induced by illumination can be recorded from Limulus ventral photoreceptors by a voltage‐clamp technique. Several assumptions underlying the analysis of these currents are discussed and recent experiments designed to examine these assumptions are reviewed.


The influence of a yam extractive nozzle on the apparent loss of twist or "residual twist" has been studied for rotor open-end acrylic staple spun yarns. Four factors were studied: two quantitative factors - yam linear density at three levels and yarn twist multiplier at five levels, and two qualitative factors - three nozzle types and four rotor types. The analysis of results showed that both rotor type and extractive nozzle type exert a significant influence on residual twist, which tends to increase when the nozzle produces an increasing false twist effect on the yam and to decrease when yarn friction against the rotor increases. Residual twist increases significantly in a linear manner with both yarn linear density and twist multiplier. The nozzle type interacts significantly with all other factors (rotor type, yam linear density, and twist multiplier). An inter action between yarn linear density and twist multiplier has been also detected. Generally both nozzle type and twist multiplier exert a significant influence on the residual twist coefficient of variation.


Mossbauer spectra of helvine group have been measured at various temperatures. The quad-rupole splittings increase with lowering of the temperature; 0.369 mm/s at 321 K to 2.740 mm/s at 4.2 K (danalite from Hirako mine, Hiroshima Pref.), 0.243 mm/s at 290 K to 0.734 mm/s at 78 K (helvine from Yagisawa mine, Gunma Pref.). The widths at half height of the quadrupole doublets also increase with lowering of the temperature ; 0.455 mm/s at 321 K to 1.000 mm/s at 57 K (danalite from Hirako mine), 0.345 mm/s at 290 K to 0.654 mm/s at 78 K (helvine from Yagisawa mine). These phenomena are explained by the small splitting of the energy level between dx2-y2 and dz2 orbitals at the tetrahedral crystal field.


Introduction Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) has been connected with development of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Aim To evaluate the serum concentration levels of IGF-1 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP-2) in patients with chronic pancreatitis (CP) and PDAC. Their values in diabetes mellitus (DM) were also assessed. Material and methods The study included 83 patients with CP, 92 patients with PDAC, and 20 subjects as a control group. The concentrations of IGF-1 and IGFBP-2 were estimated with ELISA (Corgenix UK Ltd, R&D Systems). Results The IGF-1 was higher in CP compared with PDAC (81.11 ±57.18 ng/ml vs. 53.18 ±36.05 ng/ml, p < 0.001), and both CP and PDAC were different from controls (81.11 ±57.18 ng/ml vs. 70.66 ±16.57 ng/ml, p < 0.001 and 53.18 ±36.05 ng/ml vs. 70.66 ±16.57 ng/ml, p < 0.001). CP without cysts have lower IGF-1 compared to those with CP and cysts (60.35 ±34.68 ng/ml vs. 93.55 ±64.78 ng/ml, p < 0.05). IGF-1 in CP without DM was higher compared to IGF-1 in PDAC without DM (91.13 ±65.48 ng/ml vs. 54.75 ±40.41 ng/ml, p < 0.001). In CP and DM the IGF-1 was elevated in comparison to PDAC and DM (62.20 ±32.38 ng/ml vs. 48.45 ±24.88 ng/ml, p < 0.05). IGFBP-2 was higher in CP compared to PDAC (512.42 ±299.77 ng/ml vs 301.59 ±190.36 ng/ml, p < 0.001). In CP and PDAC the IGFBP-2 level was elevated compared to the control group (512.42 ±299.77 ng/ml vs. 51.92 ±29.40 ng/ml, p < 0.001 and 301.59 ±190.36 ng/ml vs. 51.92 ±29.40 ng/ml, p < 0.001). IGFBP-2 in CP without DM was higher compared to PDAC without DM (559.39 ±281.43 vs. 296.53 ±196.93, p < 0.001). Conclusions IGF-1 and IGFBP-2 may be biomarkers of CP and PDAC. IGF-1 may be an indicator that signals whether pancreatic diabetes is from CP or PDAC.


An evolutionary process is frequently modeled as a sequence of the four bases A,C,G,T, each of them changing independently following a Markov process. The main goal of this project are two: first of all, we wanted to understand and explain, from a mathematically rigorous point of view, the modeling of an evolutionary process as a continuous Markov process, and why Lie Markov models are an adequate option for this task. Secondly, we explain how we tried to improve a previous implementation of Lie Markov models in IQ-TREE, an algorithm for inferring phylogenies.


We present a general framework for studying intrinsic fluctuations in gene expression that arise from RNA post-transcriptional splicing. In particular, we decompose the coefficient of variation for the full system into terms that capture the effects from the various stochastic processes that make up the model. Our analysis reveals that the pre-mRNA conversion to mature mRNA stochastically deletes the steady state correlation between the involved chemical species. Moreover, the noise decomposition suggests that under constitutive gene expression the pre-mRNA conversion is capable to restore the Poissonian limit of the downstream chemical species. Finally, interesting biological insights were found suggesting the role of splicing factors in altering the stochastic noise of the chemical species.


In a special number on the revival of urban utopias (Futuribles 414, Sept-Oct. 2016), the rise of smart cities was seen as an important strand in future urban development, given the technological developments involved. More than 20 years after the appearance of this concept, the aim of which is to make cities 'smart' through the application of digital technology and the optimized management of local data, how is this idea faring today? Have the most notable experiments of recent years borne fruit? Has the phenomenon proliferated? How are we to reconcile the establishment of 'smart city' projects with respect for citizens' rights and data? How does the governance of cities work in cities where private companies have control of residents' data?Jean-Francois Soupizet, who has been following the development of smart cities for many years, offers an interim assessment here. After providing an update on several emblematic projects, he firmly outlines the drivers of these projects and the factors holding them back, showing how the smart city is evolving under the pressure to combine technological performance, pursuit of the collective interest and transparency with regard to data use.


A patient with von Recklinghausen syndrome presented with multiple attacks of pancreatitis. Evaluation using computed tomography, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, and endosonography revealed an ampullary carcinoid. The patient underwent a pylorus-sparing Whipple resection, and is doing well after 30 months of follow-up. This is the second reported case of ampullary carcinoid presenting with pancreatitis in a patient with von Recklinghausen syndrome.


A neutron field is produced by bombarding a lead brick with 500 and 800 AMeV deuterons. The incoming deuterons break up into protons and neutrons mainly due to Coulomb interaction with the high-Z target nuclei. The resulting charged products are deflected by a strong dipole magnet behind the target. The spectrum of the remaining neutrons in forward direction is measured from 0.1 MeV to 1.5 GeV with the time-of-flight method.


Attacking is best defense.Aimming at the problem of offensive defense to surface ship,the concept and precondition of offensive defense to surface ship are discussed and the advantage of offensive defense is demonstrated in theory by way of comparing the passive defensive.In the end,the application principles of offensive defense are proposed based on the demonstrate results,data emulation and campaign practices.


Dental implant, in order to enhance the osseointegration of the dental implant into the surrounding bone, at least a part is manufactured of a highly porous biomaterial, such as tantalum porous. For example, a head having an abutment interface, a dental implant comprising a core and a shaft portion extending from the head is provided. Tantalum sleeve perforated is disposed around the shaft portion, it occupies part of the interface between the implant or implant and the bone. After implanting the implant, bone tissue is osseointegrate to tantalum of porous of the sleeve, to lock the implant to the surrounding bone. Other embodiments of the implant is provided. Each implant is to improve the osseointegration, at least a portion is formed of a porous tantalum.


A low-voltage depletion-load inverter consisting of oxide transistors gated by nanogranular phosphorosilicate glass electrolytes has been fabricated. An indium-zinc-oxide electric-double-layer (EDL) transistor shows a threshold voltage (Vth) of approximately -0.1 V and acts as a load. An indium-gallium- zinc-oxide EDL transistor shows a Vth of ~0.3 V and acts as a driver. The depletion-load inverter shows a high voltage gain of 40 and a narrow transition width of <;0.2 V at low supply voltage of 2 V. The proposed low-voltage inverter may find potential applications in portable electronics and biosensors.


Although phenolic compounds produced by lichens have been widely investigated in antitumor assays, only a small number have been evaluated for mutagenicity and genotoxicity. This study evaluated protocetraric, hypostictic, psoromic, and salazinic acids for their potential genotoxic or antigenotoxic activity against somatic cells of Drosophila melanogaster . These compounds were isolated from the lichens Parmotrema dilatatum, Pseudoparmelia sphaerosphora, Usnea jamaicensis, and Parmotrema cetratum , respectively, collected from the Brazilian Cerrado biome. The compounds were evaluated at 0.75, 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 mmol L –1 using the SMART test, employing standard and high-bioactivation crosses of Drosophila melanogaster. Doxorubicin (DXR) was the positive control. Psoromic and salazinic acids proved toxic at 6.0 mM. None of the compounds evaluated exhibited mutagenicity, but each of them significantly reduced genetic damage caused by DXR, proving antigenotoxic when tested on somatic cells of D. melanogaster . DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v9i1.897


In Physics, there are two main threads in our search for the ultimate constituents of the world. They are in some senses in competition. One thread views the world as being made of atoms, while the other views the world as being made of relationships. One or the other of these worldviews is found in other contexts, including the ancient Greeks, Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, and Chinese classifications of the world. I review these two approaches and their historical and cross-cultural reflections. The view of the world being made of relationships is found to be echoed in Leibnizian thought. This echo may not be a coincidence or even an archetype, but may have an historical cause.


I teach the story "Nineteen Fifty-five" by Alice Walker in my class "Elvis as Anthology" at the University of Iowa. The story is narrated by Gracie Mae Still, an African American singer, who, though initially cautious, develops a close relationship with the singer Traynor.2 Critics such as Greil Marcus, Todd Rheingold and more recently Michael T. Bertrand assume that the narrator is a thinly disguised Big Mama Thornton (real name Willie Mae Thornton) who sang the original version of "Hound Dog" in 1953, a song which Elvis recorded in 1956 and which was a no. 1 hit for him on the rhythm & blues (later called Soul or Black Music) charts (as Big Mama Thornton's version had been) and on the pop charts. Traynor seems to be Elvis because Gracie Mae says he comes to see her in 1955, sings and records her song, is in the army in 1960, believes he has made a lot of "dumb movies," makes a comeback in 1968, and dies in 1977, all events and dates that connect with Elvis's life and death. Furthermore, although the song is not named, there is a reference to "hound dogs" in the story. Traynor says to Gracie Mae:


Forty-six adult patients with inguinal hernia except recurrent or incarcerated cases have been operated on under local anesthesia in the hospital. The operation under local anesthesia was possible in all cases. Compared to operations under lumbar anesthesia, operations under local anesthesia offered stable hemodynamics during surgery and no patients demanded any pressor agent. As to intraoperative pain, pains of 88.2% of those patients were rated as 1 or 2 according to Wong-Baker's face scale, and the operations were relatively easily performed. The frequencies of analgesics prescribed after the operation that would correlate with the strength of postoperative pain were 13% and 38.1% (p<0.01) on the day of operation and 37% and 4.8% (p<0.01) on the next day of operation in local and lumber anesthesia groups, respectively. In terms of postoperative complications and complaints, few patients complained of headache or constipation or needed urethral complaints, few patients complained of headache or constipation or needed urethral catheterization in the local anesthesia group, compared to the lumbar anesthesia group. Hospital stay came to 8.2days in the local anesthesia group or 9.2days in the lumbar anesthesia group, that was certainly accompanied with low cost for hospitalization. Local anesthesia had less anesthesia-relating affect to the patients, and hence it enables them to leave their beds early, shortens the duration of hospital stay together with leading to the cost benefit. It is thought that the local anesthesia should be selected as standard anesthesia for adult patients with inguinal hernia in future.


PERSISTENT BILATERAL TRADE DISPUTES have clouded Japanese-American relations for the past twenty-five years. Despite repeated affirmations about the virtues of a "global partnership," legions of commentators suggest that the two governments are on a political collision course, unable to devise adequate mechanisms for joint consultations and stymied over how best to coordinate policies or settle long-standing economic disputes. At a time when the cold war no longer provides a larger inducement for political restraint and as the United States under the Clinton administration moves more threateningly towards results-oriented "managed trade," the two countries are headed towards new political frictions which could damage their overall relationship of trust.' On both sides of the Pacific it is agreed that bilateral negotiations on trade-related disagreements are not working especially well. Stripped to their essentials, have negotiations been a riskless strategy of "aggressive unilateralism" practised by the United States, amounting to little more than a bully-boy tactic of extracting one-way concessions from a fragmented and vulnerable government in defiance of standard economic theory on balance of payments deficits?2 Has American pressure been the most important source for change in Japan's trade policies or are bilateral negotiations more a dubious process of "artful brinkmanship," a predictable series of moves and countermoves aimed mostly at forging a


The territorial dispute over the Spratly Island archipelago threatens to disrupt an era of unprecedented peace in Southeast Asia. Strat egic position, on the one hand, and development rights to the offshore resources of much of the South China Sea, on the other, are the real stakes in this dispute. And China appears to be headed for open conflict with Vietnam over offshore development rights in nearby waters. Technology, in the form of offshore oil drilling techniques, advanced military hardware and recently codified concepts of ocean law, offer China new capabilities in this dis pute. China's use of military force to consolidate its position in the Spratlys would have serious implications for both the United States and ASEAN.


The first leopard (Panthera pardus) from the Pleistocene of Poland was discovered in the sediments of Biœnik Cave. Bones show morphological and metric similarity to large specimens of the modern leopard. This finding provides evidence for the existence of the leopard in late Middle and early Late Pleistocene in Europe north of the Carpathian arch.


Cereal grains on global scale provide more energy than other types of crops. They are a rich in carbohydrates and are the main source of this nutritional substances. Cereal and products made of it supply half of daily carbohydrate intake for average person. Over 80% of the worldwide grain production constitutes maize, wheat and rice. The main crops cultivated in Poland are wheat, rye, barley, oat and maize, because there are most conformed to the climate. The chain of agri-food production might be divided into three stages: the cultivation period, storage time and processing activities. At each of these stages there are different hazards in the production process including mycological contaminations. An severe issue is the contamination by the Fusarium species and production of mycotoxins by them. Fusarium species are capable of infecting the cultivated crops and may lead to decline the grain quality. The aim of this study was to determine the degree of contamination of grains and the storage area by Fusarium species during four storage periods. The study was conducted in four periods of research in two warehouses. The analysis included following assessments: the composition of the mycological bioaerosol from the warehouses, the number of microorganisms on the walls of the warehouses, the number of fungi in the fraction which settle on the surfaces of the warehouses and the microbiological quality of stored grain. Fusarium species were an insignificant part of the isolates from the surfaces of the warehouses. Microbiological quality of stored grain depended on the raw material and was different in each of the warehouses. The degree of grain contamination by Fusarium species decreased during the storage period.


The principal expression form of collusive bidding criminal behavior was introduced,its generation reasons were discussed and some suggestions and measures to regulate collusive bidding were proposed,so as to regulate and decrease collusive bidding behavior,therefore promoted sustainable development of architectural market.


Dust accumulation on the surfaces of PV panels causes significant losses in the harvest generated energy. Different methods for cleaning the surfaces of photovoltaic panels are available in the market, including automatic and manual cleaning approaches. However, most of the implemented active methods utilize additional electrical energy to operate the mechanical components for the cleaning system, which directly affects the net power for these solar systems. The presented paper introduces an innovative method that uses thermal energy to generate effective mechanical motion necessary for the cleaning system by utilizing the promising thermo-mechanical property in shape memory alloy (SMA) such as the Nitinol wire actuator. Thus, the SMA wire actuator can benefit from the available thermal energy in solar firms and thereby produces adequate mechanical energy in the form of recovery forces and strain of about 5 % of its original length. In addition, the presented numerical study shows the promising feasibility for a scissor-like lift manipulator design to be integrated with an SMA wire actuator for the development of effective mechanical motion. The numerical results highlight the optimal operating region for the SMA wire actuator with the scissor-like manipulator design to produce the necessary actuation forces and displacements to operate a self-cleaning PV system.


The present study uses photodynamic therapy (PDT) for the treatment of IH in the rat carotid artery model. PDT is a relatively new cancer treatment technique which utilizes light-activated photosensitizers (PS) to produce injury to targeted cells. PS have no cytotoxic effects unless they are activated by the appropriate wavelength of light. Upon absorption of a photon, the activated PS can either by directly cytotoxic or give rise to cytotoxic oxygen species, commonly singlet oxygen, via energy transfer to the ground state molecular oxygen. Singlet oxygen then becomes the mediator of cellular injury by affecting cellular membranes and subcellular organelles.


STUDY DESIGN: More than 72 million couple in the world are sterile and over half of them are looking for a cure for infertility. Nowadays the literature available is almost exclusively based on a population that has already started  a MAP path rather than in the early stages of diagnosis.

Infertility evaluation and treatment is challenging both physically and psychologically for the couple and often suggesting an hysteroscopic exam affects negatively patients, especially for the incomplete or inadequate information received by the medical staff.

RESULTS: We conducted a study on the population of the hysteroscopic office of the Gynecological Obstetrics Clinic of Sassari with the aim of improving information channels. There were 196 subjects between 25 and 45 years. 16% of patients reported lack of information received, but overall we observed a prejudice in almost all subjects about the pain during the examination. In the 41% of the patients, even if with a normal US, we found endometrial, cervical or, myometrial anomalies locally treated.
CONCLUSION: Our data, albeit partial, show the technical feasibility and good compliance during the exam. Furthermore we observed that a a good agreement between the report and the histological examination, due to the continuous updating of the endoscopic staff, improve the patients-doctor relationship and the compliance to any treatment.


Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of organic compounds that are composed of aromatic rings containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms. They are one of the widespread environmental pollutants in the world. In recent years, many scholars have focused on the inhibition, formation mechanism, content of active components, and biodegradation effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. They summarized the research progress of pretreatment methods for detection, but rarely discussed the experimental dataset for comprehensive analysis of pollution sources and the impact of different pretreatment technologies on the extraction of different substrates. What is more, computer simulation has not been mentioned. In this study, the pollution sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are reviewed, and the related applications of various pretreatment methods such as gel permeation chromatography (GPC) are summarized. Finally, the computer simulation of the response surface method is introduced. The concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is tested or predicted by combining the neural network with the alternating trilinear decomposition (ATLD) algorithm, artificial population algorithm (ABC), and hierarchical genetic algorithm (HGA). Its future development trend is discussed and prospected, which provides a reference for solving the pollution problem. We look forward to providing help for the follow-up research of scholars in this field.


The Maxwell Museum of Anthropology has a policy of accepting all offered human remains into its collections. These remains come from law enforcement agencies and private persons. By accepting Native American and other human remains, the museum assumes all associated legal, ethical, and financial obligations, including complying with NAGPRA regulations and state laws regarding archaeological human remains. However, many museums are ill equipped to accept responsibility for—or have policies against—accepting human remains. There are costs and benefits associated with accepting human remains and associated objects that each museum must consider. We explain the perspective of the Maxwell Museum in its continuing policy of accepting human remains and NAGPRA objects, and explore the consequences of that decision. We also present the results of a survey concerning museums' policies on and experiences with accepting new collections of human remains and artifacts.


Biscuits are low moisture, flat crispy cakes usually produced from chemically leavened and baked wheat dough. Like many other wheat-based goods, biscuits are the foremost snack that drives modern civilization, a phenomenon associated with sprouting of new urban centers, heightened crave for refined cereals, convenient foods, eat-aways and city ward migration [1]. Biscuits come in different sizes, shapes, and composition and mostly produced from refined soft wheat flour. Biscuits are noted for high sugar, high fat and low dietary fibre contents [2-3], therefore contemporary biscuits in the markets are energy-dense highly flavoured foods which are consumed by all classes of people, the tendency to over consume is high and therefore the incidence of malnutrition is also high among the children, adolescents and youths who are the main biscuits consumers.


The behaviour of reproductive ant females and males was examined in mating experiments in laboratory conditions. The aims were to identify mechanisms affecting sexual selection in ants in general, and to explore more specific issues applicable to the reproductive strategies present in ants like F. aquilonia characterized by a multinest/multiqueen (polydomous/polygynous) organisation of colonies. The mating process was described from video recordings. Multiple mating by both sexes was demonstrated and the observed mating frequency was in good agreement with results for the effective number of matings based on allozyme mother-offspring analyses. For females and males random mate choice was indicated. In choice experiments neither differences between the frequencies of intra- and interpopulation copulations occured, nor did the mating status of males and females affect the pattern of random mating. However, the number of preceding copulations affected the duration of different parts of the mating process in both males and females. Thus, female mating resistance tends to increase after several matings, whereas in males the duration of genital contact increases with the number of previous copulations. Also, male mating experience reduces the time used to get into genital contact, except when multiple copulations occur within a short time. The operational sex ratios in the experimental chamber did not affect the pattern of random mate choice. Spermathecal sperm counts correlated with the number of female matings and were comparable with both the estimated number of sperm for virgin males, and the spermathecal counts for old and young queens collected in the field. The findings are discussed in relation to general patterns of sexual selection in ants. Selection acting on male mating behaviour might drive both female and male multiple mating in F. aquilonia.


A patient with a ruptured internal iliac artery aneurysm who presented with acute urinary retention and tenesmus is described. Obliterative aneurysmorrhaphy was performed, and thrombus in the sac was removed and an in-situ drain was placed in the sac. The patient's urinary symptoms resolved postoperatively.


(1–x)K0.5Na0.5NbO3–xCa0.3Ba0.7TiO3 [abbreviated as(1–x)KNN–xCBT] lead-free piezoelectric ceramics were prepared by a solid state reaction method.The effects of the content of CBT(x = 0–0.08) on the phase,microstructure,dielectric,and piezoelectric properties of samples were investigated.The results show that all the samples possess a perovskite structure.The phase structure of the samples at room temperature changed from orthorhombic symmetry to tetragonal symmetry,and the piezoelectric constant d33 and planar coupling factor kp of samples both first increased and then decreased,and the Curie temperature decreased with increasing the amount of CBT.In addition,a polymorphic phase transition from orthorhombic to tetragonal symmetry located in the composition range of 0.03≤x≤0.04.The ceramic sample in the composition when x = 0.03 had optimal piezoelectric properties(d33 = 142 pC/N,kp = 40%),and its dielectric losses were stable(i.e.,0.05) in the temperature range from room temperature to 380 ℃,indicating that the ceramic in the composition when x = 0.03 was a promising lead-free piezoelectric material.


Executive Summary Until recently the root zone of the Domain Name System (DNS) has enjoyed two important stabilizing properties: • it is relatively small— currently the root zone holds delegation information for 280 generic, country-code, and special-purpose top-level domains (TLDs), and the size of the root zone file is roughly 80,000 bytes; and • it changes slowly—on average, the root zone absorbs fewer than one change per TLD per year, and the changes tend to be minor. The root system has therefore evolved in an environment in which information about a small number of familiar TLDs remains stable for long periods of time. However, the type, amount, and volatility of the information that is contained in the root zone are expected to change as a result of the following four recent or pending policy decisions: • support for DNS security (DNSSEC), or " signing the root " ; • the addition of " internationalized " top-level domain names (IDN TLDs); • support for the additional larger addresses associated with Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6); and • the addition of new TLDs. This report presents the results of a study that was undertaken to determine if, how, and to what extent " scaling the root " will affect the management and operation of the root system. The principal results of the study are qualitative and quantitative models of the root system that show how its different parts are related and how it responds to changes in the parameters that define its environment. These models enable the static analysis of popular " what-if " scenarios—e.g., " what would happen if the size of the root zone increased by three orders of magnitude (assuming that everything in the system remained as it is today)? " —but also a far more useful dynamic analysis of the way in which the system responds and adapts to changes in the DNS environment over time. The insights available from this dynamic analysis will allow the community to anticipate the consequences of scaling the root; identify and recognize " early warning signs " of system stress; and plan ahead for the mitigations that may be necessary to keep the system running smoothly if and when those signs appear. The root is a highly decentralized dynamic system. The geographic and organizational decentralization of the root system arise from a deliberate design decision in favor of diversity and minimal fate-sharing …


Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is an efficient algorithm for extracting distinctive features from images. It is used in many computer vision applications such as object recognition, motion estimation, robot mapping and navigation. Although it has an outstanding performance, its implementation requires extensive computations, and it is very difficult to achieve near real-time feature extraction using software implementation only. Hence, there is a clear advantage in exploring the feasibility of implementing the algorithm using customized hardware with the intent of achieving real-time performance. In this paper, a parallel hardware architecture is proposed to accelerate the SIFT features extraction. The proposed approach is viable and yields promising results in terms of accuracy, speed, and hardware resources.


Dr. Kerry Kelly is a professional engineer, an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Director of the Program for Air Quality, Health, and Society at the University of Utah. She has a PhD in Environmental Engineering and a BS in Chemical Engineering, and she just completed 8 years of service on Utah's Air Quality Board. Her research focuses on air quality and the evaluation of emerging energy technologies including consideration of their associated health, environmental, policy and performance issues. Most recently she has been focusing on combustion particles, their associated health effects, lowcost air-quality sensing, and community engagement.