Gametophytes of Lycopodium obscurum were grown from spores in axenic culture on a medium containing inorganic nutrients and sucrose. The prothalli developed into thick, disk-shaped gametophytes which bore antheridia. No archegonia were observed on these 1-year-old gametophytes. The morphology of the prothalli in culture was essentially that described for prothalli of L. obscurum from nature. However, these Lycopodium gametophytes in culture developed without the endophytic fungus which is necessary for the growth of prothalli of L. obscurum in nature.


Since the beginning of the currently ongoing RHIC run a transverse injection damper is available. The damper is based on a fast kicker module in combination with a HV power supply and fast HV switches. This system can damp one injected bunch at the time with a given kick amplitude ("bang-bang mode") for several hundred turns. This report gives an overview of the injection damping system and summarizes its performance and our experience during the first months of usage.


This paper presents a scalable method to generate close to minimal size test pattern sets for stuck-at faults in scan based circuits. The method creates sets of potentially compatible faults based on necessary assignments. It guides the justification and propagation decisions to create patterns that will accommodate most targeted faults. The technique presented achieves close to minimal test pattern sets for ISCAS circuits. For industrial circuits it achieves much smaller test pattern sets than other methods in designs sensitive to decision order used in ATPG.


This article is to address two manuscripts, i.e. 'Hikayat Perang Setambul' and 'Hikayat Peperangan Al-Maulana Sultan Istanbul Yang Bernama Abdul Hamid Khan Ibni Al-Marhum Al-Maulana Abdul Majid Khan Ghazi Dengan Raja Rushin Yang Bernama Francis Alexander'. Both romances display the history of war taking place between Ottoman Empire and Russia. The writing of these romances points to plots of the war taking place, the war location and the position of the armies engaged. This article argues that the portrayal of the success of Ottoman Empire in the war shows the respect of the authors for the empire. The effort they have done obviously indicates their ability as a Malay author in outlining the history of war between Ottoman Empire and Russia which is to be considered in geographical respect they are far from the Malay World.


Plasma Focus (PF) derived X-ray sources may find potential applications in medicine and industry [4]. It represents a solution at low cost of management, is compact and reliable and offers performances in terms of intensity and of the time of exposure (< 100 ns). The main peculiarity of the PF radiation is represented by a very intense beam and short exposure time together with a strong electromagnetic radio frequency production. So, the usual diagnostics based on wavelength dispersive device or large arrays of NaI and silicon PIN detectors are not suitable because of the high electromagnetic noise. Following the procedure similar to that utilized for X-ray spectrometry from terawatt laser sources an X-ray spectrometric measurement was carried out by means of a differential absorption technique based on calibrated LiF TLD dosimeters which allow a measurement of an attenuation curve at a given time [10]. The energy distribution of the produced X-rays is then calculated, from such attenuation data, using an iterative procedure based on spectral algebra formalism. A systematic comparison of different X-ray beams observed at different PF exit windows is carried out and discussed in terms of the possible mechanisms of X-ray production following electron impact ionization. In addition, in order to have devices industrially competitive, Plasma Focus needs to be operated in the so-called repetitive mode. However, at each pulse, or shot, part of the machine input energy is converted into thermal loads on the structural components of the machine itself, and this can be a major cause for the mechanical failure of a device operated in repetitive mode. The amount of energy converted into heat at Development of diagnostic tools for Plasma Focus derived X-ray source Ergisto Angeli, Claudio Bonifazzi, Andrea Da Re, Michele Marziani, Agostino Tartari, Michele Frignani, Simone Mannucci, Domiziano Mostacci, Federico Rocchi, Marco Sumini


Abstract On 27th October 2013, elections will be held for the South Tyrolean provincial parliament (Landtag). For the governing South Tyrolean People's Party (Sudtiroler Volkspartei SVP), founded in 1945 as an umbrella party for the German- and Ladin-speaking South Tyroleans, these elections will bring a change of generations. They also have a special relevance from a European perspective: Whereas the SVP still sticks to the idea of gradually expanding the – so far quite successful – autonomy, some (German-speaking) opposition parties have asked for the proclamation of the right to self-determination. The current paper discusses the nature of the right to self-determination and – particularly with regard to the case of South Tyrol – its relevance in the history of intergovernmental relations. By this, the author also intends to "bring back to reality certain idealistic ideas" in South Tyrol.


The present invention relates to the field of software testing, in particular to a testing method and system based on a two-dimensional code. The testing method based on the two-dimensional code comprises: enabling a program to be tested to comprise a two-dimensional code scanning module; adopting a certain language compiling testing program and generating a test file; converting the test file, according to a text, into a two-dimensional code; enabling the program to be tested to utilize the two-dimensional code scanning module to scan the two-dimensional code and converting the two-dimensional code into the test file; and storing and operating the test file and executing a test code in the test file. According to the testing method and system based on the two-dimensional code, the two compiling and installing processes when the test file is changed are avoided and the test code can be changed under the condition that an application (i.e. the program to be tested) normally operates.


Latent class (LC) analysis is a clustering method widely used in social science research.Usually the interest lies in relating the clustering to external variables. This can be done using a three-step approach, which proceeds as follows: the LC model is estimated (step 1), predictions for the class membership scores are obtained (step 2) and used to assess the relationship between class membership and other variables (step 3). Bolck, Croon, and Hagenaars (2004) showed that this approach leads to severely biased estimates of the third step estimates, and proposed correction methods, that were further developed by Vermunt (2010). In the current study, we extend these correction methods to situations where class membership is not predicted but used as an explanatory variable in the third step. A simulation study tests the performance of the proposed correction methods, and their practical use was illustrated with real data examples. The results show that the proposed correction methods perform well under conditions encountered in practice. This chapter is published as Bakk, Z., Tekle, F.B. & Vermunt, J. K. (2013). Estimating the association between latent class membership and external variables using bias adjusted three-step approaches. Sociological Methodology, vol.43, 1 pp. 272-311


On September 22, 2000, GYNECARE, a division of ETHICON, INC., undertook a voluntary global withdrawal of the GYNECARE VERSAPOINT Bipolar Electrosurgery System electrodes and handpieces in response to a small number of spontaneous reports of non-fatal air and gas embolism associated with use of the system during hysteroscopic myomectomy procedures. This withdrawal was performed in the interest of patient safety, in order to allow a full and thorough assessment of the technical issues, surgical technique and circumstances associated with these events.


We are developing techniques for studying the Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) and Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instabilities in a planar geometry at high-energy-densities at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In particular, through the improvement of experimental imaging quality, we are progressing toward the study of the turbulent regime of the mixing regions in capsule implosion experiments for inertial confinement fusion, which requires few micrometers resolution. Using 60 NIF beams, a solid shock tube is driven launching a shock wave that crosses the interface between a dense and a light material pre-machined in the target to obtain sinusoidal ripples, which results in RM and RT instabilities that are imaged using the NIF Crystal Backlighter Imager. High-quality images were obtained with a mean resolution of 7  μm and improved contrast. While the obtained resolution does not allow the observation of the smallest scale of the "turbulent" energy spectrum, the generated image encompasses 63% of the total flow energy, a 50% improvement over previous studies, which is observed for the first time a roll-up feature in a high energy density-type RT experiment.


This essay introduces the present situation and features of the sizing technology characteristics of the combination of "two high one low" and prewet sizing, and compared the testings of the two sizing technologies, provided textile enterprises technical reference for the overload sizing which combines the two sizing technologies.


From July, 1992 we surgically treated 12 patients with fractures of the middle third of the clavicle. Ten of 12 patients were treated by internal fixation using a cancellous cannulated screw, and seven of these 10 patients were able to be operated on using a semi-closed technique. The patients' ages ranged from sixteen to seventy-six years. This technique is excellent because postoperative external fixation is not necessary and early elevation of the shoulder joint is possible.


The main purpose of the research is to develop a new methodology, that will allow to create an Integral Index of Reforms, quantitatively assess various reforms that have been implemented for 2012-2017 in 66 countries of the world. In the article with the help of the Integral Index of Reforms, that contains 20 partial indexes, reforms in different areas have been measured. The Integral Index of Reforms was constructed based on principle component analysis; contribution of sub-indexes was defined through panel data regression. Based on this methodology various reforms have been assessed and analysed for 2012-2017 in three Transcaucasian Republics: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.


Bare silica can be used with reversed phase eluents for the chromatographic separation of basic analytes. It provides high surface charge density within a certain pH range, thus generating a high electroosmotic flow (EOF) when applied in electrochromatography. The influence of pore size on EOF velocity and mass transport is demonstrated. High EOF and fast mass transfer were encountered with 100 nm and 200 nm material and related to a pore perfusion mechanism. On a silica with 200 nm average pore size at pH 7, an EOF velocity of 2 mm/s was obtained at 600 V/cm. Silicas with pore diameters between 6 nm and 200 nm, corresponding to surface areas between 500 m/g and 10 m/g (data calculated from inverse size exclusion chromatography experiments), were used for CEC and HPLC separation of strongly basic solutes. On separation of tricyclic antidepressants by CEC, "normal" and "abnormal" efficiencies were achieved and were found to vary with the charge density within the separation column.


Purpose: Business ecosystems substitute more and more the idea of linear value chains as a conceptual idea of economic value creation. There are two conditions to make sense to establish an ecosystem. Firstly, complementarity: the complements of the actors have to be compatible with each other. Secondly, there must be a need for coordination between the economic actors. This is given if the complements have a certain minimum degree of specificity, i.e. if they aren't generic. Specificity provides the link to the transaction cost theory, which knows two extreme forms of coordination: market and hierarchy. In this article we argue why ecosystems are to be placed between the two. Moreover, we consider dominance in ecosystems and the transition to oligopolistic situations. Oligopolies hamper the functioning of ecosystems. The purpose of this article is to provide a clear conceptual view on ecosystems by linking different theories.
Study design/methodology/approach: The study design is conceptual. By linking conceptual considerations about business ecosystems to transaction cost theory their basic analytical categories can be elaborated and considered more focussed. The conceptual clarification leads to new and deeper questions.
Findings: A main finding is the quite clear elaboration of complementarity and the need for coordination as the basic preconditions for business ecosystems to make sense as a form for creating economic value. Moreover, it was shown that oligopolies can hamper the advantages and the function of ecosystems.
Originality/value: The main value is the provision of a clear and overall precise view on ecosystems. The originality lies in clearly showing the basic analytical categories. This provides a clear picture of the basic structure of ecosystems.


The prediction of mechanical properties for WC-Co alloys by evaluation of coercive force and magnetic saturation were studied in relation to their microstructure. The WC-8%Co alloys were prepared using different WC particle size, carbon content and various sintering temperature by PM process. The magnetic properties such as coercive force and magnetic saturation of sintered WC-Co alloys were critically dependent upon their final composition and microstructure. Slight changes of carbon contents and small variation of WC grain size result in marked changes of magnetic properties, hardness and transverse rupture strength of sintered WC-Co alloys. It was found that the coercive force and hardness were increased by fine WC grain size of sinterd alloys, and the coercive force was proportional to hardness. With decreasing total carbon content below the stoichiometric value in WC-8%Co alloys the volume fraction of phase increased steadily, while the magnetic saturation and transverse rupture strength decreased. The magnetic saturation was inversely proportional to the coercive force of WC-Co alloys.


cost length of hospital stay, and mortality of central line-associated bloodstream infection in intensive care department in Argentina: a prospective, matched analysis. Am J Infect Control 2003;34: 475–480. 5. Higera F, Rangel-Frausto MS, Rosenthal VD, et al. Attributable cost and length of stay for patients with central venous catheter venous catheter-associated bloodstream infection in Mexico City intensive care units: a prospective, matched analysis. Infect Control Hospital Hosp Epidemiol 2007;28:31–35. 6. Sulis CA, Walkey AJ, Abadi Y, Campbell Reardon C, Joyce-Brady M. Outcomes of a ventilator-associated pneumonia bundle on rates of ventilator-associated pneumonia and other health care-associated infections in a long-term acute care hospital setting. Am J Infect Control 2014;42:536–538.


Key worzts: Pulmonary hypertension is one of the lethal complications in the antiphospholipid syndrome due to chronic recurrence of embolism or thrombosis. We experienced a 19-year-old man suffering from severe chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension(CTEPH)caused by primary antiphospholipid syndrome. According to the guideline, pulmonary thromboendarterectomy was decided on after combined therapy with warfarin, beraprost and oxygen inhalation had not been effective nough to improve severe CTEPH. By an operation, the mean pressure of the pulmonary artery was decreased from 50 mmHg to 16 mmHg, while his New York Heart Association(NYHA)functional class classification significantly improved from class III to class I. We concluded that pulmonary thromboendarterectomy could dramatically improve hemodynamic indices, NYHA functional status and quality of life in patients with CTEPH. chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, antiphospholipid syndrome, pulmonary thromboendarterectomy. (Received 13 May 2004, accepted 29 June 2004) Correspondence and request ef reprint should be to : Hiromi Tasaki, MD, Second Department ofInternal Medicine, School qf'Medicine, University ofOccupationat and Environmental Health, Japan. i-/ lseigaoka, l2ihatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu 807-8555, Jlipan. 7lel,; +81-93-691-1436, FcL;; +81-93-69J-69i3, E-mait: firstname.lastname@example.com The UOEH Association of Health Sciences NII-Electronic Library Service he OEHAssociati n fHealth ciences 288 F KAMEZAKI et al


Despite the recent breakthroughs in language 001 modeling, their ability to represent numbers 002 is insufficient. Subword tokenization, the 003 standard choice for number representation, 004 breaks down a number into arbitrary chunks 005 thereby failing to explicitly capture the re- 006 lationship between two numbers on on the 007 number-line. To alleviate this shortcoming, 008 alternate approaches have been proposed that 009 modify numbers at various stages of the lan- 010 guage modeling pipeline. These methods can 011 be broadly classified into three categories that 012 make changes to a) the notation (e.g. scien- 013 tific vs decimal) b) vocabulary (e.g. introduce 014 a new token for numbers in range 10 − 100 ) and 015 c) architectural changes to directly regress to a 016 desired number. The contributions of this work 017 are three fold – firstly, we propose vocabulary 018 level changes in the decoding stage and study 019 its behavior. Next, we study the performance 020 of both the proposed approach and existing 021 number representation schemes in the context 022 of masked number presentation. We find that 023 a carefully designed tokenization scheme is 024 both the simplest to implement and sufficient 025 i.e. with similar performance to the state-of- 026 the-art approach that requires making signifi- 027 cant architectural changes. Finally, we evalu- 028 ate the various number representation schemes 029 on the downstream task of numerical fact esti- 030 mation (for fermi problems) in a zero-shot set- 031 ting and find similar trends i.e. changes at the 032 tokenization level achieve near state-of-the-art 033 results while requiring minimal resources com- 034 pared to other number representation schemes.


In 1992, Macraes Mining Company Ltd applied for resource consents in connection with a significant expansion of its gold mining venture at Macraes, Eastern Otago. This paper reviews aspects of the processing of those applications from the perspective of the consent authority.


The performance of Reed-Solomon (RS) and concatenated codes with M-ary noncoherent frequency-shift keying (NCFSK) for threshold detection in any non-Gaussian noise environment is obtained in terms of a probability of error, Ped, expression. For the specific codes used a maximum improvement of 6-8dB at Ped equal to 10−5 can be achieved as compared to the uncoded system. The importance of the above result is that it is obtained at a very low signal/noise ratio (SNR).i.e. —46-5dB.


Institute of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Tumor Microenvironment Responsive Drug Research, Hunan Province Cooperative Innovation Center for Molecular Target New Drug Study, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China †These authors contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence address. Tel: +86-17674708255; E-mail: email@example.com


Chitinase (EC 22.214.171.124) plays a crucial role in chitin degradation, specifically breaking down the 1→4 β-glycosidic bonds of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) to produce its monoor oligomers. This study aims to study the characteristics of chitinase from Vibrio sp. (isolated from tiger shrimp in Indonesia) and explore the role of calcium ions (Ca) in increasing chitinase activity. The optimum condition for chitinase activities is pH 7.5, 45 C of temperature, and 120 min of incubation time. The enzyme activity parameters such as Km and Vmax values were calculated by varying the concentration of Ca, namely: 0 % ; 0.2 % ; 0.4 %; 0.6% ; 0.8 %. The final product of the chitinase reaction, the GlcNAc, is then used to measure the enzyme activity based on the Somogyi-Nelson method. The results showed that chitinase isolated from Vibrio sp. has increasing activity with the addition of Ca. Without the addition of Ca, the Km and Vmax of chitinase were 7.781 μmol mL and 0.066 μmol min, respectively. The treatment of 0.4 % Ca shows optimum activity with the Km and Vmax at 6.723 μmol mL and 0.079 μmol min, respectively. The results showed the potential use of Ca as a chitinase activator to fulfill demands for energy-efficient and economically profitable chitinase usage.


Canada has recently reaffirmed its standing as a Middle Power. By taking an important stance on issues such as peacebuilding and the outlawing of antipersonnel landmines, by promoting a shift to human security, and by supporting the setup of the UN-sponsored international criminal court, Canadian foreign policy has asserted its traditional commitment to a Middle Power role. (1) And it is prepared to go father; in the words of the former Director General of the Planning Secretariat at the Department of Foreign Affairs, "While we have been proud of our respected role as middle power in the past, today, objectively, we are aiming at a global reach. Therefore we think that `global' middle power would fit the bill." (2) This ambitious agenda is supported by arguments that Canada can practice what scholars such as Andrew Cooper and Evan Potter call "niche diplomacy" in areas associated with the exercise of "soft power" (information technology is a telling example of a new "niche"); this would allow Ottawa "to maintain a high profile on the international stage." (3) These hopes are commendable but will need to confront the changes brought upon Canadian foreign policy by transformations in the international system that, in our view, tend to diminish, not increase, the overall leverage Canada has had (and will continue to have) as a Middle Power. In the future, Canada may find it more difficult merely to retain its traditional Middle Power status. In this essay, we ask and address the following questions: Has the end of the Cold War ushered in a promising period for Middle Powers seeking greater influence in matters of international security? Or is the new international context likely to put them at a disadvantage? Will current conditions enhance the influence of Middle Powers committed to multilateralism, mediation, and peacekeeping? Do recent changes in the international system mean that Middle Powers will have more or less freedom to act? Two these may be advanced in response to these questions. The first holds that the evolution of the international system would appear to create new opportunities for Middle Powers such as Canada. "World conditions have changed radically, at least for the moment. Superpowers are more likely to welcome middle power mediation," suggests one former Canadian diplomat. (4) In this view, the growth of multilateralism and international institutions since 1990 has considerably broadened the scope for action of Middle Powers. The reform and enlargement of NATO, the revival of the OAS, the expansion of UN peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peacebuilding missions, as well as the ever more pressing need to rethink the role of the UN, represent new opportunities for countries such as Canada to assert their views. Due to changes in the international situation, a number of key issues promoted by Middle Powers for many years have found a place on the agenda: for example, human rights, environmental protection, human security, preventive diplomacy, and conflict resolution. This new international agenda might suggest that Middle Powers will be called upon to play a leading role in all these different areas. (5) Finally, the fact that these are issues of transnational scope would seem to indicate that the influence of the Great Powers is diminishing, since the latter are less likely to be successful in controlling diplomatic relations between states and in intervening unilaterally when necessary. Seen thus, interdependence could well make traditional middle-power policies influential in shaping coalition diplomacy. A second thesis puts forward a more skeptical view of the possibility that Middle Powers such as Canada can continue to play a significant role in the international system. Thus, Kim Richard Nossal argues that "The kind of diplomacy conducted by such classic Middle Powers as Canada arose from circumstances which no longer exist. It was the rivalry of the Cold War that prompted the best Middle Power diplomacy. …


Author(s): Heiser, Marc | Advisor(s): Schreiner, Christoph E; Merzenich, Michael M | Abstract: Frequency-modulated (FM) are important components of animal vocalizations, human speech, and music. The representation of these important sounds in the auditory cortex of awake animals remains unknown, as do the effect of background noise on the representation of these sounds. Here, we determine the encoding of FM sweeps in primary auditory cortex (AI) of awake squirrel monkeys. We also examine the effects of varying the level of a white noise masker on the responses of AI neurons to FM sweeps. We find that FM sweeps are represented differently in different populations of neurons. Some neurons have sustained responses and a rate code for FM sweeps while others have brief responses and a temporal code. Background noise produced a variety of effects on the responses of AI neurons to FM sweeps. While noise degraded the responses of some neurons, the responsiveness of many AI neurons increased in the presence of noise. These results advance our understanding of the processing of frequency modulations in auditory cortex.


The Yugoslav-Soviet political conflict began in 1948 and lasted for several years, constituting the second phase of the communist revolution in Yugoslavia. The essence of this phase is the de-Stalinization of the country and the emancipation of Titoism as an autonomous form of communism. The aforementioned phenomena are reflected in over a dozen feature films. The first ones were created at the turn of the 1940s and 50s. Though devised as propaganda materials, these works are artistically ingenious anti-Stalinist satires. Another batch of films appeared at the turn of the 1960s and 70s: their authors focus primarily on the victims of the de-Stalinization process. Films shot in the 1980s offer a look at 1948 and its aftermath in a broader time perspective, while at the same time emphasizing the problems of how political events influenced family ties. In the few films about de-Stalinization made after the fall of communism in Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the state, a strong theme of the relationship between politics and religion can be observed.


Microbial contamination is a constant problem, which often  compromises development of all in vitro techniques. The losses caused by contaminating microorganisms, mainly fungi and bacteria, are a serious worldwide problem in numerous laboratories. Thereby, to determine a protocol for the disinfection of nodal segments of Grevillea robusta from sprouts collected from greenhouse plants, different disinfectant solutions were tried (sodium hypochlorite; potassium hydrogen persulfate; hydrogen peroxide; and two fungicides, copper oxychloride and carbendazim), using different concentrations (between 0.5 and 10 g. L-1) and times of exposure (15, 30, and 60 minutes). The explants were cultivated in a basal medium of Murasghige and Skoog. At 28 days of culture, the percentages of contamination, oxidation and survival/establishment of all the explants were determined. Even though all treatments tested allowed establishment between 36.67± 5.77 and 90.00±10 %, the best results were obtained with a pretreatment using NaClO 0.25 g. L-1 and Carbendazim 0.75 g. L-1 for 15 minutes. Thus, this pre-treatment is recommended for a successful establishment, with a minimum percentage of contamination, and phytotoxic effects of blackening or tissue oxidation within reasonable parameters.


A protection layer is required above geomembrane (GM) – geosynthetic clay liner (GCL) landfill liners to limit physical damage (GM strains and GCL thinning) from an overlying granular drainage layer. A 150 mm thick layer of sand has been found to provide excellent protection at a vertical pressure of 250 kPa. However, the use of sand may not be practical in many cases. Experimental results are presented where the effectiveness of alternate protection systems above one particular GM–GCL liner were examined with 50 mm coarse gravel at an applied vertical pressure of 250 kPa. A 150 mm thick layer of compacted clay and a 150 mm thick layer of rubber tire shreds with a nonwoven needle-punched geotextile (570 g/m2) were found to limit the geomembrane strains and GCL extrusion to acceptable levels. Layered geotextiles performed much better than single layers of geotextiles. A layered geocomposite, with a thick nonwoven needle-punched geotextile in the middle to provide cushioning and stiffer woven geotextiles on...


We propose a fingerprint coding algorithm based on directional image,EZW and MRWD algorithm.We first divide a fingerprint image into several blocks according to its directions,and then use different structural elements for morphological dilation according to different directional blocks to extract the clustered significant coefficient in different sub-bands from low frequency to high frequency.The proposed algorithm not only has all the merits of EZW,but also rids some deficiencies in MRWD algorithm.Experiment has proved the validity of the algorithm.


The article analyzes the toponyms "Russia", "Moscow" and "Barnaul" from the point of view of the mental toponymic stereotype in the minds of Chinese students. The aim of the study is to identify the origin of these toponyms, as well as their perception in the minds of Chinese students. The difference in culture and ethnicity makes it inevitable for people who come into contact with the culture of other countries or other ethnic groups to develop stereotypes. So, further study of toponyms associated with the history and culture of Russia will expand the circle of knowledge of Chinese students about Russian culture. The study is based on the results of a survey of 100 Chinese students in order to identify their understanding and identify stereotypes regarding the geographical names "Russia", "Moscow" and "Barnaul". A consistent study of toponyms will help to achieve their understanding. The use of the questionnaire method and associative experiment made it possible to reveal the influence of existing stereotypes among Chinese students in the understanding of foreign (Russian) toponyms "Russia", "Moscow": and "Barnaul". The understanding by foreign students of geographic names that are not nationals is always primarily related to the geographic location in which they are located and some of the features for which the city is famous. In this regard, the impression that Moscow is red is deeply rooted in the minds of Chinese students. Thus, the authors come to the conclusion that toponyms carry an unprecedented amount of information related to historical and socio-cultural aspects. Russian toponyms can help Chinese students learn more about Russian culture and expand their understanding of it. In order to understand the names of Russian toponyms, Chinese students rely on their geographical location, climate, features of the national language and culture, as well as on the study and understanding of various cultural symbols.


Although various organizations have been established for the management and conservation of fisheries and these have contributed to the establishment of common regulations pertaining to the management of fisheries on a global or regional level, current measures for the management and conservation of fish resources do not appear to be very effective. This article attempts to clarify the current problems involved in the management and conservation of fisheries and what kinds of regulations are necessary to manage sustainable fisheries effectively in an era of increasing fish consumption.


The efficient use of renewable resources has become a driving force for the worldwide industry aiming to improve the competitiveness. Considering the available natural raw materials, the lignin present in the lignocellulosic biomass such as trees, is the unique natural polymer that presents aromatic rings in its constitution. In this way, this review details the structure of native lignin as well as the technical lignin, including information on the characteristics that this polymer must have for the most promissory applications as feedstock for bioproducts. Approximately 50 million tons of lignin are produced worldwide annually, of which 98% to 99% is incinerated to produce energy and steam in the pulp mills. Only a small fraction of the lignin, derived mainly from the sulfite pulp mill is recovered commercially in a biorefinery concept. There are many opportunities for producing high value-added products from technical lignin, mainly considering the pulp mills growing, and environmental restrictions using non-renewable raw materials. The currently trend have shown that technical lignin sources may also be used as feedstock for phenol derived products, technical carbons, fuels, and adhesives. On the other hand, there are some technological hurdles must be overcome to make these uses feasible.


dynamics of this process. The first to do so was John Herschel who pointed out, in 1848, that radiant heat when absorbed would heat up the absorbing medium, which in its turn would become radiant and would eventually radiate as much heat as it received. As Harrison points out, however, absorption could provide an effective resolution of Olber's paradox only if the absorbing medium heated up in a time longer than the lifetime of the average star. In recent times the resolution of Olbers' paradox has often been regarded as the consequence of the red-shifts observed in the spectra of the galaxies. Harrison, however, is not happy with this explanation. Instead, he points out that there is insufficient energy in the universe for the sky not to be dark. He attributes the origin of this argument to Kelvin. In its modern form, this solution was obtained by the present reviewer in 1971 (History of Astronomy, 1971, 10, pp. 131-132). In an essay review of Jaki's book, I pointed out that, since the currently accepted approximate value for the mean density p of matter in the universe is 10~to 10~ grams per cc, it follows that if all this were converted into radiation the mean radiation-density pc would be only about 10~ to 10~ ergs per cc and this is about 10 to 10" times less than the radiation density at the surface of the sun. This corresponds to a temperature in the range of about 10 to 30 degrees absolute, taking the energy to be proportional to the fourth power of the temperature. In view of this final solution, it may perhaps be thought that Harrison attributes too much importance to the problem. Be that as it may, he is far too careful an historian to go as far as Bondi did in his Joule Memorial Lecture of 1958, when he claimed that cosmology only became a scientific subject when Olbers published his short paper! Incidentally, it is worth noting that Einstein displayed his usual physical insight when, in replacing the infinite Newtonian universe by his finite relativistic universe in 1917, he referred only to Seeliger's gravitational paradox and made no mention of Olbers' optical paradox.


North China Plain covers an area of 140,000km2.Because of groundwater overpumped for many years,so its level is rapidly fallen.Shallow water-bearing bed seriously drained,and deep one appears many large-scale drawdown cones.The shortage of groundwater resources cause a tense situation in urban,industry and agriculture water-supply.Under this situation,it is a urgent to investigate and evaluate the groundwater useful potentials.The north part of Taihang Mountain front plain is chosen as a test region.Landsat-7TM image and aerial colour infrared image are used in the work..Through a comprehensive analysis and study of satellite and aerial images and other related data,the following results are obtained.①The alluvial and flood deposit fans are exactly delimitated.②The spatial overlapping relations between different fans are defined.③Palaeochannels are interpreted in detail.④Ten shallow-buried areas of groundwater and one groundwater discharge are discovered.⑤All surface sediment types and all kinds of microgeomorphic bodies are interpreted.⑥Six rich groundwater areas are definited,and two of them are confirmed by geological examination.


We present a model of a commodity processing chain with endogenously determined input and output prices and characterize the effectiveness of hedging policies that employ forward contracts on the price of the input. The model illustrates that the variance minimizing hedge ratio depends on operational characteristics, such as the convexity of the production function, and on economic variables – the elasticity of supply and demand and the relative magnitude of input and output risks; i.e., the size of supply and demand shocks. We find that the optimal hedge ratio can change over time as capacity utilization in the industry changes. To gauge the quantitative importance of our implications we estimate a parametrized version of our model for the crude oil to refined products supply chain using the simulated method of moments.


Introduction: We demonstrated that elevated levels ofcirculating microvesicles (MV) in CLL activate CLL bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) with resultant enhanced vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production, a pro-survival factor for CLL B-cells (Ghosh 2009 Blood 113:5568-74). We also detected a phenotypic shift from predominantly platelet/megakaryocyte-derived MV (CD61 + ) in early stages towards a more leukemic B-cell derived MV (CD19 + ) in advanced Rai stages (Ghosh 2010 Blood 115:1755-64). These observations suggest that the MV parameters of their levels and surface phenotypes may predict or be associated with the clinical outcome and/or therapeutic response in a given CLL patient. In this study we therefore designed an approach to being to assess these latter possibilities in regard to MV in CLL. Methods: In vitro stimulation – Purified CLL B-cells were stimulated in vitro using CpG oligonucleotide (n=10) or anti-IgM antibody (n=10) for 72 hours. MV were isolated from the used media, levels measured and then phenotyped by flow cytometry (BD Canto-I) using standard TRUCount beads (BD Biosciences). In vivo (plasma) work – MV were isolated from normal plasma (n=5) or plasma of 17 CLL patients entered onto a previously reported Pentostatin, Cyclophosphamide, Ofatumumab (PCO) clinical trial at their entry to the trial and at 6-months after therapy and then sequentially over a period of 18 months (Shanafelt 2013 Cancer 119:3788-96). We determined the phenotypes and plasma levels of MV as described above. Results Phenotypes of in vitro generated MV: We found that, for the most part, CLL B-cells shed MV upon in vitro stimulation however; some CLL B-cells of unmutated IGHV status, but not mutated status, spontaneously generated MV in culture ( Fig. 1 ). Most interestingly, we found that the surface phenotype of MV generated from CLL B-cells carrying predominantly the CD52 surface marker, not the CD19 or CD5 marker. Interestingly, none of the in vitro generated MV was CD20 + , another known marker of CLL B-cells. We found similar phenotypes of the in vitro generated MV by stimulating two different signaling pathways, Toll-like receptor and BCR, in CLL B-cells. Together these results suggest that CLL B-cells generate predominantly CD52 + MV, but not CD19 or CD5, upon in vitro stimulation. MV phenotypes in pre- and post-therapy CLL plasma: Here we focused on the kinetics of MV levels and phenotype in relation to disease outcome for PCO treated CLL. Thus, we found total MV levels were elevated in all patients compared to normal plasma at entry to the PCO trial and then dropped substantially after therapy when compared to the trial entry. Also most CLL patients (n=11) continued to maintain low plasma MV levels until the end of the follow up period (18 months). Interestingly, in a few cases (n=6) total plasma MV levels decreased initially after therapy but then started to rise. These patients are now being followed for disease status in order to determine if rising MV levels are related to a disease relapse. Of interest on flow phenotyping the plasma MV obtained at entry to the PCO trial we detected predominantly CD52 + MV but not CD19 + MV, similar to the findings of the in vitro MV generated from CLL B-cells. Normal plasma (n=5) does not contain significant levels CD52 + MV or CD19 + MV. Together these results suggest that the malignant B-cells shed preferentially CD52 + MV, but not CD19 + MV. We are currently analyzing the MV levels and phenotypes pre- and post-therapy response levels in relation to the patients' response to therapy in a larger cohort of treated CLL patients (n=60). Conclusion: Current understanding about the phenotypes of MV is based on the concept that MV carry the unique surface marker of the originator cells, e.g., CD19 on B-cell derived MV. However, findings from our in vitro stimulation studies demonstrate that the CD52 but not CD19 is preferentially expressed on CLL B-cell derived MV. We are currently studying the mechanism for such a preferential surface expression on these leukemic derived MV. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing that CLL B-cells generate preferentially CD52 + MV. Our studies are now committed to a more extensive analysis of MV parameters in association with CLL disease progression, depth of clinical response and if the elevation of plasma MV heralds a relapse in responding patients. Disclosures Shanafelt: Genentech: Research Funding; GlaxoSmithKline: Research Funding; Celegene: Research Funding; Cephalon: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics/Jannsen: Research Funding; Hospira: Research Funding; Polyphenon E Int9l: Research Funding. Kay: Genetech: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Hospira: Research Funding; Celgene: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees.


This paper presents a method to reduce the current ripple of the dc link capacitor for the 48V inverter integrated starter and generator. A 48V belt-driven starter-generator with the integrated inverter has a limited space for the inverter. And about 20% of the inverter material cost is from the dc link capacitor. For size and cost reduction of the capacitor, it is important to reduce the ripple current in the dc link. Firstly, this paper applied a six-phase inverter in which two paralleled three phase inverters are phase-shifted by 30 degrees. There are coupling effects between the dual three-phase windings. So the voltage equations of the dual three-phase electric machines are rearranged considering the coupling effect and simulated. Secondly, the interleaving methods for the PWM carriers are studied in terms of the current ripple according to the interleaving angle. Thirdly, a method to reduce the phase current ripples caused by the coupling effect is proposed. The FFT analysis is performed to show the effect of the interleaving.


In the cornerstone document of its conceptual framework, Objectives of Financial Reporting by Business Enterprises (SFAC No. 1), the FASB states that the primary objective of financial reporting should be to [1978, para. 37]: "provide information to help present and potential investors and creditors and other users [assess] the amounts, timing, and uncertainty of prospective net cash inflows to the related enterprise." In order to estimate cash flows, the FASB maintains that users focus on earnings numbers rather than on cash flows themselves [1978, para. 43]. The relationship between estimates of future cash flows and future earnings numbers is highlighted by the FASB in its document, Reporting Earnings [1979, para. 8]: "The relationship may be identified in a two-step process for the assessment of future cash flows: a. Reports of past earnings are used as a basis for the assessment of future earnings. b. An adjustment is then made to the assessment of future earnings to derive an assessment of future cash flows." The present study focused on step one of this twostage process, the assessment of future earnings numbers.


: How citizens behave toward public sector workers is crucial for the well-being and performance of workers. Scholars have mainly focused on understanding negative citizen behaviors, such as aggression. We study a positive behavior, namely compassionate behavior. We study real compassionate behavior in the form of writing positive encouragement messages that are distributed to social workers in the field. We test if showing difficulties faced by public sector workers results in citizens writing more encouragement messages. We also test if bureaucrat bashing results in less encouragement messages. Using a preregistered experiment among a representative sample of Canadian citizens (n = 1,264), we find that showing public sector workers' struggles and imperfections makes citizens almost twice as likely to write an encouragement message. Hence, showing your weakness can be a strength. Bureaucrat bashing, however, has no effect. Results show that citizens can be stimulated to act more positively toward public sector workers.


In this study, a phase-field method adopting Navier-Stokes equations, NS-PFM, is applied to fluid dynamic problems for examining the fundamental capability to simulate motions of incompressible isothermal two-phase fluid in various micro devices. The interfacial modeling is based on the van der Waals-Cahn-Hilliard free-energy theory. Wettability of solid surface is taken into account through a simple boundary condition derived from free-energy increase per unit area on the surface. The numerical simulations are carried out at a high density ratio equivalent to that of air-water system under no gravity. Major findings are as follows: (1) Static contact angle of liquid drop on solid surface is flexibly controlled by a parameter of wetting potential in the boundary condition. (2) Interfacial motion of two-phase fluid in a rectilinear channel is accelerated locally on a hydrophilic region of the solid surface. (3) NS-PFM successfully captures displacement and breakup motions of single liquid drop on a flat solid wall caused by difference between capillary forces on the hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. Introduction Recently, much attention has been paid to many kinds of micro-fluidics devices with channels and cavities, such as biological and chemical micro total analysis systems (μ-TAS) (Northrup et al 2003) separating and mixing multiple fluids at ultra-small volume flow rate (Matsumoto & Tai 2004), heat pipe for cooling electronic devices (Wang & Peterson 2005), and energy-efficient bright display based on electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) technology (Berthier et al 2006, Feenstra et al 2006). In optimizing device performance for accurate and flexible control of the microscopic fluid motions, numerical simulations by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods help us well understand and predict the complex micro fluid phenomena in the devices, because it is difficult to observe them experimentally. The purpose of this study is therefore to develop basic CFD codes based on a new kind of numerical method for two-phase flows, called as Navier-Stokes phase-field method (NS-PFM) hereafter, combining NS equations with phase-field modeling for interface (Anderson et al 1998, Badalassi et al 2003, Jamet et al 2001&2002, Nadiga & Zaleski 1996). Except for basic equations and numerical schemes, NS-PFM we have used (Takada et al 2005, 2006 a-d) is macroscopically equivalent to an isothermal two-phase lattice-Boltzmann method (LBM) (Inamuro et al 2004). In the phase-field modeling, based on the free-energy theory (van der Waals 1979, Cahn & Hilliard 1968), an interface is described as a finite volumetric transition zone across which physical properties vary steeply and continuously. Surface tension is given as an excessive energy per unit area caused by a local gradient of density or molar concentration. In addition, a wetting potential of solid surface yields a contact angle between solid-liquid and gas-liquid interfaces through a simple boundary condition for the order parameter on the solid surface (Briant et al 2002, Seppecher 1996, Yoshino & Mizutani 2006). The phase-field modeling, consequently, simplifies interfacecapturing and tracking calculation by use of standard finite-difference techniques without any elaborating algorithms for advection and reconstruction of interfaces and evaluation of surface tension force in other conventional CFD methods (Kothe 1998). In the previous study, the proposed NS-PFM (Takada et la 2005&2006a-d) was applied to several two-phase flow problems at high density ratio of about 800. From the numerical results, the following findings were obtained: (1) The volume flux driven by a local chemical potential gradient in the CH equation plays an important role in (a) volume conservation, (b) self-organizing reconstruction of gas-liquid interface, and (c) reduction of numerical diffusion and oscillation. (2) The method gives good predictions of pressure increase inside a bubble caused by the surface tension force. (3) Collapse of two-dimensional liquid column under gravity was predicted in good agreement with well-known experimental and numerical data. (4) Single liquid drop falling through a stagnant gas and merging into a stagnant liquid film was simulated sufficiently in three dimensions. In this study, for examining the fundamental applicability of the NS-PFM to micro-fluidics simulations,


1. OK THE CRETACEOUS FLORA of RUSSIAN SAKHALIN. By A. KRTSHTOFOVICH. Journ. of the Coll. of Sci. Imp. TJniv. of Tokyo, vol. xl, art. 8, pp. 73, with 15 text-figures, 1918. 2. MBSOZOIC FLOEAS OP QUEENSLAND. By A. B. WALKOM. Part I continued: The Flora of the Ipswich and Walloon Series, (c) Filicales, etc. Queensland Geol. Surv. Publ., No. 257, 1917, pp. 66, with 10 plates and 12 text-figures. Pa r t i concluded: (rf) Ginkgoales, (e) Cycadophyta, ( / ) Coniferales. Queensland Geol. Survey Publ., No. 259, 1917, pp. 48, with 9 plates.


The six type zeolite membranes and their structure were introduced.The synthesis methods of zeolite membranes were reviewed.The development and applications of zeolite membrane were summarized and assessed.The opinions on the research prospect on this field were also presented.


Adaptive immune responses of (cid:1)(cid:2) T cells during active mycobacterial coinfection of human immunodeficiency virus-infected humans have not been studied. Macaques infected with the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) SIVmac were employed to determine the extent to which a coincident AIDS virus infection might compromise immune responses of mycobacterium-specific V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T cells during active mycobacterial infection. Control SIVmac-negative macaques developed primary and recall expansions of phosphoantigen- specific V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T cells after Mycobacterium bovis BCG infection and BCG reinfection, respectively. In contrast, SIVmac-infected macaques did not exhibit sound primary and recall expansions of V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T cells in the blood and pulmonary alveoli following BCG infection and reinfection. The absence of adaptive V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T-cell responses was associated with profound CD4 (cid:3) T-cell deficiency and subsequent development of SIVmac-related tuberculosis-like disease in the coinfected monkeys. Consistently, V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T cells from coinfected monkeys displayed a reduced capacity to expand in vitro following stimulation with phosphoantigen. The reduced ability of V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to expand could be restored to some extent by coculture of these cells with CD4 (cid:3) T cells purified from PBL of SIV-negative monkeys. Furthermore, naïve monkeys inoculated simultaneously with SIVmac and BCG were unable to sustain expansion of V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T cells at the time that the coinfected monkeys developed lymphoid depletion and a fatal tuberculosis-like disease. Nevertheless, no deletion in V (cid:2) 2 T-cell receptor repertoire was identified in SIVmac-BCG-coinfected macaques, implicating an SIVmac-induced down-regulation rather than a clonal exhaustion of these cells. Thus, an SIVmac-induced compromise of the adaptive V (cid:1) 2V (cid:2) 2 (cid:3) T-cell responses may contribute to the immunopathogenesis of the SIV-related tuberculosis-like disease in macaques. T cells in response to BCG coinfection. These monkeys died from SIV-related BCG dis- ease within 2 months of SIVmac-BCG coinfection. (iii) Macaques were infected sequentially with BCG, followed by SIVmac, and finally BCG again (BCG 3 SIVmac 3 BCG) at 2-month intervals. This group of SIVmac-infected macaques was used to examine the memory immune responses of V (cid:2) 2V (cid:3) 2 (cid:1) T cells in the setting of BCG reinfection. Due to an early stage of SIVmac infection and a high level of SIV RNA in plasma, these SIVmac-BCG-coinfected monkeys developed fatal SIV-related BCG disease 1 to 2 months after BCG reinfection. As controls, healthy, SIVmac-negative macaques were similarly inoculated with BCG to study the primary and memory responses of V (cid:2) 2V (cid:3) 2 (cid:1) T cells in the settings of BCG infection and reinfection. To optimally examine immune responses of V (cid:2) 2V (cid:3) 2 (cid:1) T cells, systemic BCG infection was introduced by intravenous inoculation. BCG coinfection of chronically SIVmac-infected monkeys was introduced by intrave- nous inoculation with 10 6 CFU of BCG, whereas BCG reinfection of SIVmac-infected monkeys and simultaneous SIVmac-BCG coinfection were introduced by intravenous inoculation with 10 8 CFU of BCG. Calif.), designed as previously described (46). The first- and second-round PCR mixtures were amplified for 35 and 15 cycles, respectively, with the following conditions: 95°C for 30 s, 55°C for 30 s, and 72°C for 30 s. One microliter of each reaction product was mixed with deionized formamide and a ROCK-500 size standard and then electrophoresed on a 5% acrylamide gel on a 310 DNA sequencer (Applied Biosystems). Data were analyzed for size and fluorescence intensity with the Genescan software. These lengths were expressed as predicted numbers of amino acids. Statistical analysis. The Student t test and nonparametric methods, as de- scribed previously (39), were employed to examine differences in expansion of V (cid:2) 2V (cid:3) 2 (cid:1) T cells between SIVmac-infected and control macaques after BCG infection and reinfection.


Social network is one of the most important complex networks, which aims to describe the interactive relationship among a group of active actors that represent different kind of structure. Many systems in the real world such as human societies and different types of components can be modeled as social networks. We can represent such a network in terms of graphical community. Social Network Analysis provides inherent research due to success of social media sites and social content sharing facility. Social Network Analysis provides key terms to provide platform for industry to generate survey of product and facilitate to introduce new innovation ideas to public entity. Now a day, as increase the use of social media sites provide the entrepreneurs and user to define new concept of community creation that represents the relationship of users that might be interested in same kind of activity. To create such communities introduce new research area for researcher. This community detection is different from traditional clustering. In This paper, we propose new algorithm for community detection in social network to get some meaningful and important information.


To ensure the integrity of a ground-based augmentation system (GBAS), an ionosphere-free (Ifree) filtering algorithm with dual-frequency measurements is employed to make the GBAS free of the first-order ionospheric influence. However, the Ifree algorithm outputs the errors of two frequencies. The protection level obtained via the traditional Gaussian overbound is overconservative. This conservatism may cause false alarms and diminish availability. An overbounding framework based on a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is proposed to handle samples drawn from Ifree-based GBAS range errors. The GMM is employed to model the single-frequency errors that concern the uncertainty estimation. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed to determine the accuracy of the estimated GMM confidence level obtained by using the general estimation approach. Then, the final GMM used to overbound the Ifree error distribution is analyzed. Based on the convolution invariance property, vertical protection levels in the position domain are explicitly derived without introducing complex numerical calculations. A performance evaluation based on a real-world road test shows that the Ifree-based vertical protection levels are tightened with a small computational cost.


There is scant research-based evidence on the development and adoption of open access (OA) and institutional repositories (IRs) in Africa, and in Kenya in particular. This article reports on a study that attempted to fill that gap and provide feedback on the various OA projects and advocacy work currently underway in universities and research institutions in Kenya and in other developing countries. The article presents the findings of a descriptive study that set out to evaluate the current state of IRs in Kenya. Webometric approaches and interviews with IR managers were used to collect the data for the study. The findings showed that Kenya has made some progress in adopting OA with a total of 12 IRs currently listed in the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) and five mandatory self-archiving policies listed in the Registry of Open Access Repositories Mandatory Archiving Policies (ROARMAP). Most of the IRs are owned by universities where theses and dissertations constitute the majority of the content type followed by journal articles. The results on the usage and impact of materials deposited in Kenyan IRs indicated that the most viewed publications in the repositories also received citations in Google Scholar, thereby signifying their impact and importance. The results also showed that there was a considerable interest in Swahili language publications among users of the repositories in Kenya.


Objective: To discover the efficacy of Vaccariae Semen Carbonisatum nano-components (VSC-NCs) on alcoholic liver injury in mice. Methods: VSC was calcined at high temperature in a muffle furnace, and VSC-NCs were extracted and isolated. Mouse model of alcoholic
 liver injury was used and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bile acid (TBA), oxidative stress and histopathological assessments were done. Results: Characterization and analysis showed that VSC-NCs were spherical, with
 a particle size distribution of 1.0 to 5.5 nm. The results of animal experiments showed that VSC-NCs could significantly reduce the content of ALT, AST, TBA and ALP in mice with alcohol-induced liver injury, and at the same time significantly increase the level of SOD and reduce the level
 of malondialdehyde. These results indicated that VSC-NCs could improve the scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the body. The ability to reduce the production of lipid peroxides, so as to achieve hepatoprotective effect. Conclusion: VSC-NCs were prepared for the first time,
 and was confirmed that it has a significant protective effect on liver injury caused by alcohol. In addition, VSC-NCs can be used as a potential drug for the treatment of alcohol-induced liver injury.


12507 Background: Electrochemotherapy (ECT), consisting of electroporating cytotoxic agents (bleomycin or cisplatinum) in tumors, is effective in inducing destruction of cutaneous or subcutaneous tumors and can be used as a palliative treatment for patients with skin melanoma metastases. Our objective was to combine the antigen release induced by ECT with a potent and adapted stimulation of the innate immune system in order to induce a systemic anti-tumor response.

METHODS
The preclinical work was performed on murine models of skin tumors: fibrosarcoma (LPB) and melanoma (B16F10). We found that electrochemotherapy induced the recruitment of immune cells expressing CD11-c and Mac-1 in the first 48h after the treatment. By quantitative RT-PCR, we showed that this immune cell infiltrate was associated with an increase of TLR9 RNA expression. Therefore, we decided to combine ECT with intra-tumoral injection of TLR9 ligands: unmethylated CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN). The distant and local antitumoral effect of this association (ECT + CpG-ODN) were tested in mice bearing a tumour on the two flanks (fibrosarcoma or melanoma). Animals were treated on the left flank only by a unique ECT course followed by intratumoral injection of CpG-ODN. Tumor growth rates were monitored on both treated (left) and non-treated (right) sides in order to assess direct and systemic antitumor effects of the association respectively. Experiments were also performed on nude mice, in order to investigate the role of lymphocytes in the systemic antitumor effect.

RESULTS
Compared to the separated treatments alone we found an increased local efficacy of the ECT-CpG-ODN, but, more importantly, we demonstrated a clear systemic effect of the combination on the controlateral tumors. In nude mice, no effect was observed in controlateral tumors suggesting a mechanism mediated by T lymphocytes. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


The hollow axle driving system of wheel sets of DF 11 locomotives is a new main component developed for speedup of domestic railway passenger traffic. The bearing capacity of the key system component, the driving bearing, is calculated. It is believed that the bearing chosen can satisfy the requirements of field application. With the help of the calculation and analyses of field application, the maintenance method of driving bearings during application is determined.


Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61; Romances, Op. 40 & Op. 50. Adolf Busch, Violin; Statsradiofoniens Symfoniorkester conducted by Launy Grondahl (Concerto); WOR Radio Orchestra conducted by Alfred Wallenstein (Romances). Radio broadcasts from Radiohusets Koncertsal, Copenhagen, 17 March 1949 (Concerto) and WOR Studios, Newark, 21 February 1942 (Romances). Guild GHCD 2395 (1 CD). At first blush this would appear to be a great "find," a previously unissued live performance by that great master, Adolf Busch (1891-1952), of the Beethoven Violin Concerto from a 1949 Copenhagen broadcast, coupled with the two Beethoven Romances for violin and orchestra, Op. 40 and Op. 50, with the WOR Radio Orchestra conducted by Alfred Wallenstein, from a 1942 broadcast. We seem to have only a handful of preserved live performances by Busch, so a newly released one should be an event for rejoicing. The reality comes up as something less than that. Busch was indisputably the greatest violinist in Germany before abandoning that country in 1933, first for Switzerland and finally the US, following Hitler's rise in his homeland. He was not given a particularly warm reception in the US after moving here in 1939, and contemporary accounts report that his playing declined substantially after his move to the US. However, such flaws are simply not to be heard on his commercial recordings or the small batch of previously available live ones, which instead show a large, commanding tone, fabulous musicianship and impressive (if individualized) technical facility placing him firmly in the pantheon of the greatest violinists of the 20th Century. Busch was far more sparing with vibrato than became the norm in the latter half of the 20th Century, with a technique that was not dependent upon constant vibrating with the left hand as a necessary component of tone production, and his very pure approach and skillful bowing could yield an exemplary steadiness of phrasing and musical exactitude not often encountered today. However, this "old-fashioned" approach to tone production placed him somewhat out of step with the trends of his own time, which I previously assumed is the explanation for the negative things one reads about his playing. This is the first Busch recording in my experience that gives us a view of what the contemporaneous criticism of his playing was all about. Putting aside the usual latitude one must give to occasional imperfections in live recordings, the basic technical level here in the concerto is not as high as that encountered on Busch's other recordings, including in particular the two splendid recordings of the Beethoven Concerto made in 1942 with his brother Fritz Busch conducting the New York Philharmonic, being (1) the live Philharmonic broadcast of 8 February 1942 and (2) the Columbia studio recording made the following day with the same forces. (1) Unfortunately for this reviewer, who unabashedly considers Busch to be one of the outstanding musical "Gods" of the 20th Century, the constant stream of small imperfections and fallibilities in this 1949 broadcast is not overcome by an overriding greatness of musical conception, for which we might have hoped from an illustrious performer who had played this concerto more than 400 times and was highly acclaimed for his interpretation of it. …


Author(s): Greene, D'Artagnan Gene | Advisor(s): Luo, Ray | Abstract: The growing cost of new drugs has become a concern for the biopharmaceutical industry, which depends on innovation to sustain itself. As a result, computational methods have been increasingly implemented into the drug design workflow in an effort to reduce the cost of finding new lead candidates. Here, we focus on several applications and the development of the Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann (MMPBSA) method for its use in rational drug design efforts. Chapter 1 demonstrates the use of computational methods in the analysis and design of anti-A?? antibodies for their prospective use in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. Chapter 2 applies our single dielectric implicit membrane model to MMPBSA calculations of the membrane-bound human purinergic platelet receptor, a prominent target for treating myocardial infarction and stroke. Chapter 3 documents the development, implementation, and application of a new heterogeneous dielectric implicit membrane model for MMPBSA calculations. Chapter 4 shows the validity of our method to parameterize the non-polar terms in a depth dependent manner within our implicit membrane model. This work as a whole demonstrates both the present utility and ongoing improvement of the MMPBSA method for its use in the rational design of new drugs.


A fluid driven reciprocating pump comprises a pair of heads each containing a displaceable member defining a drive chamber and a pump chamber on opposite sides of the diaphragm in one head, and a drive chamber and an inactive chamber on opposite sides of the diaphragm in the other head. A mechanical coupling connects the two displaceable members for reciprocation together; and a control valve assembly connects the drive chambers of both heads to a source of pressurized fluid for driving them through forward strokes, a spring driving the heads through return strokes.


Application of fungal endophytes can be an alternative to control basal stem rot disease in oil palm, caused by 'Ganoderma boninense'. Chitinase is a type of defensive protein synthesized by plants in response to biotic factors. The purpose of this study was to analyze the chitinase activity of oil palm as a defensive mechanism to fungal endophytes and pathogenic 'G. boninense'. Four species of fungal endophytes, 'Trichoderma harzianum' MTP 10 (Th-MTP10), Trichoderma longibrachiatum KBA 31 (Tl-KBA 31), 'Lasiodiplodia venezuelensis' MJP 28 (Lv-MJP 28), 'Dothidiomycetes' sp. MTD 29 (Dt-MTD 29) and one species of fungal pathogen 'G. boninense' and with their each cell wall suspension were introduced to oil palm plantlets in axenic condition. Chitinase activity was observed from the root of oil palm plantlets inoculated with both living cell and cell wall suspension of endophytic fungi and pathogenic 'G. boninense'. Results showed that chitinase activities varied in each fungal treatment and were significantly differed from control. Fungal cell wall elicitors were able to significantly induce chitinase activity after 1 week post treatment (wpt). Statistically, only the chitinase activity from fungal endophyte Lv-MJP 28 was significantly higher from others for 8 and 12 days. Pre-treatment of oil palm plantlet with fungal cell wall suspension for 1 wpt could induce the chitinase activity higher than control when, oil palm infected with fungal pathogen of 'Ganoderma boninense'.


The incidence of chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis in autopsy material from Japanese and British subjects was evaluated. Lymphocytic infiltration in representative thyroid sections from 1826 Japanese cases collected from four different institutions was analysed. The overall incidence of lymphocytic infiltration was significantly higher in females (22·2 per cent) than in males (13·9 percent). In females, the incidence reached 23·2 percent in the fourth decade and showed no increase with age thereafter. The overall incidence of lymphocytic infiltration in thyroid sections from 810 British cases was 42·5 per cent in females and 19·4 per cent in males: an increase in the incidence of thyroiditis from the sixth decade onwards was noted in British females, the figure reaching 50·0 per cent in those aged over 70 years. These findings suggest possible racial differences in susceptibility to chronic thyroiditis. The disorder is not necessarily related to age, increasing severity of disease with age being found only in British females.


Why Is Emotion Regulation Important? Emotional Schema Therapy. Validation. Identification and Refutation of Emotion Myths. Mindfulness. Acceptance and Willingness. Compassionate Mind Training. Enhancing Emotional Processing. Cognitive Restructuring. Stress Reduction. Conclusions. Appendix. Reproducible Forms.


English which is learned by Elementary school students belong to English for young learners since the learners are about 6-12 years old. There is a little difference way to teach English for young learners have different characteristic from adult. In SD 1 Prambatan Kidul Kudus still have some problems. The first, the students still have limited vocabulary because they get difficulties to memorize the meaning. The second, the students have difficulties in pronouncing the words. The third, the students feel shy to ask the teacher when they do not have maximal result in studying. There are some strategies to apply in developing the teaching English vocabulary, especially for the students of Elementary school. One of them that the writer wants to apply is by using Capsule Vocabulary Strategy in teaching English vocabulary.
The objective of this research is to find out whether or not there is a significant difference between the mastery of English vocabulary of the fourth grade students of SD 1 Prambatan Kidul Kudus in the academic year 2015/2016 before and after being taught by using Capsule Vocabulary Strategy.
The design of this research is quasi-experimental research design with one group design. The population of this research is the fourth graders of SD 1 Prambatan Kidul Kudus in the academic year 2015/2016 in even semester and the number of students is 39. The instrument of this research is test.
The result of the mastery of English vocabulary of the fourth grade students of SD 1 Prambatan Kidul Kudus in the academic year 2015/2016 before being taught by using Capsule Vocabulary Strategy has the minimum score is 50, the maximum score is 95, the mean score is 76.6 and the standard deviation is 16.52 from the mean score it can be categorized as good. While the result of the mastery of English vocabulary of the fourth grade students of SD 1 Prambatan Kidul Kudus in the academic year 2015/2016 after being taught by using Capsule Vocabulary Strategy has the minimum score is 65 the maximum score is 100, the mean score is 92.9 and the standard deviation is 8 so, it can be categorized as excellent. The result of experiment shows the calculation of t-test with degree of freedom(df)= 38 and the significance level 0.05, t-obtained is 6.652, it is higher than t-table (t-table=2.021). It makes the alternative hypothesis is confirmed. It means that there is significant difference between the mastery of English vocabulary of the fourth grade students of SD 1 Prambatan Kidul Kudus in the academic year 2015/2016 before and after being taught by using Capsule Vocabulary Strategy. Based on the result of the research, it proves that Capsule Vocabulary Strategy is effective strategy to teach the mastery of English vocabulary.
From the description above, there are some suggestions. Firstly, the teacher should prepare material and media that will be taught teach. Secondly, the teacher must master of the materials. Thirdly, the teacher should know the students' skill in learning vocabulary. And the last is the teacher should give opportunities as much as possible to every students.


Critical reading is an important ability to acquire particularly among college or university students. This study investigated the level of critical reading skills among Malaysian ESL learners at the tertiary level. The motivation for conducting the study is due to the increasing number of claims by employers and educators that most graduates lack the ability to read and think critically. Among the required reading and thinking abilities necessary to read a text critically are the analytical and inference skills. Specifically, this study examined the ESL learners' analytical and inference skills when they read two expository texts.  A self-developed critical reading comprehension test (CRCT) was used to measure their analytical skills in identifying the writer's purpose and the main ideas in the text. The findings indicated that the students lacked the required critical skills, in particular, when they are required to identify the writer's purpose and the main idea in the text which support the observation and experience of many Malaysian educators and researchers. This has direct implications on reading development in Malaysia. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/3L-2014-2002-04 Key words: critical reading; critical thinking; higher-order reading comprehension; analytical and inferential skills; Malaysian ESL tertiary level learners


As an important part of the Paleozoic orogenic belt in northern Xinjiang,the Junggar is characterized by intense and extensive development of Late Paleozoic granitoid plutons together with minor mafic plutons,and it is one of the representative regions for the Phanerozoic continental crustal growth in the Central Asian Orogenic Belt.On the basis of new SHRIMP zircon U-Pb dating on the plutons in the East and West Junggar,in association with the zircon U-Pb ages from the literature,an attempt is made in this study to establish the timing of the late Paleozoic post-collisional plutonism in the region.It is concluded that the Late Paleozoic post- collisional plutonism occurred from middle-late Visean of Carboniferous to the end of Early Permian in accordance to the Geological Time Scale(Gradstein et al.,2004).Temporally,the plutons in the East and West Junggar formed in a period of 65 Ma,from 330 to 265Ma and from 340 to 275Ma,respectively.However,the plutonism in the East Junggar showed two peaks of 330 to 310Ma and 305 to 280Ma,whereas most plutons in the West Junggar were emplaced from 310 to 295Ma.Spatially,the plutonism occurred in all tectonic units separated by ophiolite belts and even some granitoid plutons intruded in ophiolites.Furthermore,the post-collisional plutons can be found not only in the Junggar,but also in the Altai orogenic belt to the north and in the Tianshan orogrnic belt to the south.


Abstract The role of time as a factor in neuropsychological performance has been relatively neglected in the literature to date. Cognitive functioning in 76 male and 67 female alcoholics and 48 male and 49 female controls was examined using overall accuracy measures and time measures on a neuropsychological test battery. Alcoholics as a whole performed poorer than controls on both measures. When accuracy and time measures were combined to form an Efficiency Index (Accuracy/Time), alcoholics were significantly less efficient than controls. Discriminant function analysis of accuracy measures, the measures most commonly used in evaluating neuropsychological performance, significantly predicted alcoholics' performance as did the Efficiency Index. The study illustrates the value of the consideration of time in addition to traditional accuracy measures as a sensitive and significant factor in performance.


A 60-year old previously healthy left-handed man presented to clinic with 6 months of progressive slowness and stiffness on the left side. He described loss of dexterity in the left hand and feeling of "heaviness" in the left leg. On exam, he exhibited mild bradyphrenia and hypophonia, moderate left arm and leg bradykinesia and rigidity, and left leg hesitations and reduced left arm-swing upon walking (video 1). A month prior, he had undergone MRIs of the brain and cervical spine with and without gadolinium that were unremarkable. Initial serum testing including complete blood count, comprehensive metabolic panel, thyroid stimulating hormone, ceruloplasmin, and vitamin B12 levels were all unremarkable. The differential diagnosis at presentation included the spectrum of parkinsonian disorders with Parkinson's Disease being the most likely given his age group and the asymmetric parkinsonism. He was diagnosed with suspected Parkinson's Disease and levodopa therapy was initiated as the he felt his symptoms were functionally-limiting.


In this contribution we report on Particle-In-Cell simulations of ultra-intense laser interaction with nanostructured foam targets. Modern-day ultra-intense laser facilities are able to provide ultra short (~30 fs) laser pulses with a very high contrast (as high as ~10). Although at relativistic laser intensities (I > ~10 W/cm ) any material becomes a plasma in a few laser cycles, the short duration and the high contrast of the laser pulse might allow the nanostructure of a target to survive long enough to influence the interaction The study of ultra-intense laser interaction with nanostructured targets has attracted significant attention recently[1,2,3] (e.g. grating targets have been used to study plasmonic effects at high field intensities, arrays of nanowires have been irradiated to obtain extreme plasma temperatures...). In this contribution we are particularly interested in random nanostructures with a very low average density. This kind of target is one of the very few available options to obtain nearcritical plasmas for Ti:Sapphire laser system. A recent experimental campaign performed at GIST PW-class laser facility [4] has shown that targets consisting in a solid foil coupled with a near-critical foam layer are particularly attractive for laser-driven ion acceleration, leading to higher ion energies and a higher total number of particles with respect to simple flat foils. This effect is attributed to the very efficient laser-target coupling in the near-critical plasma [5]. However a foam target consists of nanoparticles (~10nm radius) aggregated in larger structures, whose scalelength is close to the laser wavelength. Thus with high contrast laser systems, the nanostructure of the foam might play a role during the laser-plasma interaction. In previous numerical simulations, foam targets have been modeled with a simple uniform near-critical plasma.We present results of 3D PIC simulations (performed with open-source piccante[6] code) of laser interaction with a realistic model of nanostructured foam targets, based on the well known Diffusion Limited Aggregation[7] algorithm. These more realistic simulations lead to a better agreement with the experimental results if compared with simulations performed with uniform near-critical plasmas, highlighting also the role played by the nanostructure and suggesting possible strategies to improve the properties of the accelerated ions.


Objective To explore the significance of detection for peripheral blood lymphocyte of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and extra pulmonary tuberculosis. Methods 72 tuberculosis patients were selected,including 41 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis patients( the group A) and 31 cases of extra pulmonary tuberculosis patients( the group B). At the same time,32 healthy people were selected as controls( the group C). Peripheral blood lymphocyte were detected with Flow Cytometry( FCM). Results There was statistical significance among the three groups in the expreesive rate of peripheral blood lymphocyte( P 0. 05).,but the ratio of CD+3CD+4/ CD+3CD+8showed no significant difference( P 0. 05). Conclusion The detection of peripheral blood lymphocyte in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and extra pulmonary tuberculosis has great significance for the analysis of immune state.


In this paper, four projects are compared with. We analyze the projects from technique flow, base construction, running expenditure, and so on. According to these, we adopt the project to remove fluoride with calcium hydroxyl phosphate.


We introduce the concept of the ill-configured object (ICO). An ICO is a geometrical object having a stable (unique) name but varying configurations (shape, size, components, and component layout). In addition, we introduce the concept of the neighbour set representation (NSR) of an object, and show that the NSR is well-fitted to design an algorithm to detect ICOs in images. Two applications of the proposed theory to aerial image analysis are then presented.


Social media, in simple words, means text, words, pictures, video and the like created with the intention of sharing. The act of sharing is often for the purpose of making a better or more informed choice. Social media has a remarkable democratizing effect. Tools like blogs, photo and video sharing inspire and allow us to share our thoughts and contents in ways that we never thought of before. The low cost of social media tools, their user-friendliness and the overwhelming presence of internet have all culminated and resulted in the perfect brew for sharing contents and ideas, create cost effective strategies and campaigns that can have viral effect, power to drive in traffic to publicize content, bind people together to meet at a single point and provide a platform for expressing views. But all the benefits and advantages of social media gets marred and eclipsed when some miscreants use the medium for anti-social propaganda with a view to create upheaval and chaos in the society. The researcher, in this paper, will be dealing with the case of the ethnic violence in Northeastern region of India that was triggered in the year 2012 due to the unethical use of social media. Aggravation of the communal situation through the negative use of social media is a new challenge that the recent disturbances have thrown before us. The researcher focuses on the need to devise strategies to counter the propaganda that is carried out by these new means. Any measure to control the use of such media must be carefully weighed against the need for the freedom to express and communicate.


The energy potential of the osmotic pressure gradient of cyanide waters is evaluated using two membrane modules, horizontal and vertical, operated under dead-end flow. The membrane was characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). The membrane is mainly composed of carbon, oxygen, and sulphur. The properties of the membrane were unchanged and had no pore clogging after exposure to the cyanide waters. Potentials of 1.78×10-4 and 6.36×10-5Wm-2 were found for the horizontal and vertical modules, respectively, using the Van't Hoff equation. Likewise, the permeability coefficient of the membrane was higher in the vertical module. Although the energy potential is low under the studied conditions the vertical configuration has a greater potential due to the action of gravity and the homogenous contact of the fluid with the membrane.


Mutation of the acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) gene and its reduced enzymatic activity is the main cause of the Type A Niemann-Pick disease. Recent advances demonstrated that ASM is necessary and sufficient to control the formation and release of microvesiscles containing the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) by glial cells [1]. Since IL-1β modulates the events caused by nerve damage and repair and seems to act as a neuro-modulator between activated glia and neurons [2], the control of its production and secretion might represent a new strategy in nerve regeneration and in the control of neuropathic pain. In this study we used a well-characterized ASM knockout mouse (ASMKO, [3]) to evaluate, through a multimodal approach, the onset and the course of the morphological and functional nerve damage and of neuropathic pain after sciatic nerve crush. Adult (1 and 5 month-old) male ASMKO and age-matched wild-type (WT) mice underwent sciatic nerve crush lesion. Nerve conduction velocity (NCV), walking track analysis followed by ultra-structural and morphometric analysis of sciatic nerves were performed to evaluate the features of nerve damage. Thermal (Plantar test) and mechanical sensitivity (Dynamic Plantar Aesthesiometer apparatus) were used to measure the severity of neuropathic pain. Moreover, the rotarod test completed the analysis as an indicator of motor impairment. One or two months after the nerve crush motor functional recovery was similar in WT and KO mice and the NCV measures performed in the sciatic nerve demonstrated a moderate and progressive improvement of nerve function. The results of the morphological examination confirmed the expected course of nerve recovery, but also demonstrated defective nerve regeneration, particularly evident in older, but already present in younger ASMKO mice. Behavioral tests suggested that the mutated phenotype in ASMKO might have an effect on the onset and development of mechanical and thermal hyperalgesia after nerve crush in both 1 - month and 5 - months - old groups. In conclusion, these data suggest a possible role for ASM-related microvesicles in nerve regeneration and suggest that targeting the IL-1β production and release may represent a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of nerve damage and neuropathic pain.


Purpose

Assessment of outdoor thermal perception in urban spaces is of particular importance due to its financial, social and ecological consequences. Thermal perception includes four elements: thermal sensation votes (TSV), thermal preference (Tpref), overall thermal comfort (Tc) and thermal acceptability (Taccept). Thermal acceptability can offer a benchmark that specifies the acceptable thermal range (ATR), which is useful for urban planners, designers, and bio-meteorologists. ATR, however, can be defined either using direct or indirect measures. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity of the indirect measures of ATR, which are most commonly used in outdoor thermal comfort assessments.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted in the context of Melbourne, which has an oceanic temperate climate (Cfb). Three sites forming RMIT University City Campus (RUCC) were selected as the case studies, which were located in the heart of Melbourne Central Business District. A field survey was conducted in RUCC during three seasons, from November 2014 (Spring) to May 2015 (Autumn), which consisted of concurrent field measurements and questionnaire surveys from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Findings

In total, 1,059 valid questionnaires were collected from the three sites of RUCC. The results of comparative analysis between the different measures of ATR determination showed that the various elements of thermal perceptions expressed the users' thermal judgements in different ways. Therefore, it was found that the instruction recommended by the thermal comfort standards on the definition of ATR failed to provide an appropriate estimation of ATR for outdoor built environments. The ATR, defined using TSV, therefore, was revised by the direct measure of thermal acceptability. The resulting range showed broader limits in acceptable thermal conditions in RUCC outdoor spaces users. Lastly, the results suggest that in the absence of directly measured acceptability of thermal conditions in field surveys, overall comfort is the most appropriate indirect measure to use.

Originality/value

Some indoor thermal comfort studies have used the alternatives for defining ATR. However, as the applicability of these four methods is yet to be fully explored in outdoor conditions with large weather variations, it is valuable to conduct a comparative analysis among these methods. This study also intended to understand the dynamics of comfort range under non-steady and non-uniform outdoor conditions. The resultant outcome has provided information on the relationship between different measures of thermal perceptions. Ultimately, this research aimed to explore the extent to which the indirect measures of acceptability are considered as a reliable source of information compared to the direct measure.


The current emphasis on identifying empirically supported treatments (ESTs) can distort psychotherapy research by emphasizing the investigation of treatment in an atypical context, with atypical patients, in a contrived treatment contract. An alternative to comparing the efficacy of different types of therapeutic techniques for treating focal symptoms is to seek to identify the factors that facilitate therapeutic change in various types of therapeutic intervention. The emphasis on identifying ESTs also has the potential for distorting clinical training and limiting clinicians' ability to develop the skills necessary for becoming effective therapists.


No abstract available.
Author's note: In our 25+ years in the post-acute care provider industry, we have experienced the value of integrating telehealth and remote patient monitoring into our care delivery model, which has improved our ability to care for patients at a substantially reduced cost of care. We knew that there had to be a way to apply these learnings and telemedicine technologies to assist healthcare providers—long-term acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, hospices, etc.—who often lack access to expert wound care, to deliver evidence-based, efficacious wound care to their patients.


BACKGROUND
The goals of the study were to evaluate the efficacy of two physiotherapeutic procedures: low energy laser therapy and low frequency transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) and to compare these modalities with regard to their therapeutic effects in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Fifty (50) subjects were enrolled into the study and divided into two groups of 25 subjects. Group A received 10 MLS laser therapy sessions with a synchronised laser beam at doses of 12 J per treated site. Group B received ten sessions of low frequency TENS. The procedures were carried out every day for two weeks (5 times a week). All patients completed a personal data questionnaire and underwent an examination of knee joint motion range and circumference. Subjective pain intensity was assessed using the VAS pain scale and the modified Laitinen questionnaire.

RESULTS
An analysis of the results of the treatment demonstrated statistically significant pain reduction in both groups. This improvement was significantly higher in the two-phase laser therapy group vs. the LF-TENS group. No statistically significant improvement was noted in either of the groups regarding the knee joint range of motion.

CONCLUSIONS
1. Synchronised laser beam (MLS) therapy and low-frequency TENS contribute to direct pain relief effects in subjects with knee osteoarthritis. 2. The study confirmed better analgesic effects of two-phase laser therapy vs. LF-TENS.


The phase behavior of hard-sphere particles interacting with a short-ranged potential is studied in the limit of infinite space dimensionality via the Franz-Parisi approach and the replica method of disordered systems. For an attractive square-well potential, the phase diagram exhibits reentrance of the liquid-glass transition, multiple glass states and glass-glass transition. For a repulsive square-shoulder potential no such special features are observed. Our results show that the Franz-Parisi approach can be consistently extended to deal with higher-order glass singularities and that interparticle attraction is crucial for complex glassy behavior in large enough dimensions, at least for monodisperse systems.


Surveys have shown that Spiderplant ( Cleome gynandra ) is among traditional leafy vegetables whose consumption is on the increase in Kenya. Leaf yields for this crop are low, mainly due to lack of improved varieties and lack of fertilizer use. Greenhouse and field experiments were conducted between July 2004 and April 2005 to characterize the plant growth, leaf yield and leaf nitrogen content of spiderplant accessions PSPP 3B , GSGP and GSP at nitrogen levels ranging 0 - 3.12 g N/plant. Measurements were done to quantify growth in terms of number of leaves and plant height. Plants were harvested at 7-10 day-intervals. At each harvest, leaf area, shoot and root dry weight were measured. The accessions, PSPP 3B , GSGP and GSP responded to nitrogen application in more less the same way. Nitrogen increased the leaf yield in terms of leaf area and leaf dry matter production, as well as increasing the overall plant dry matter production and leaf nitrogen concentration especially in the mature plants. The optimum nitrogen level depended on the season and soil conditions. The accessions PSPP 3B and GSGP gave higher leaf yield and overall plant dry matter production as compared to the accession GSP in both the greenhouse and field experiments. It can be generally, concluded that growing spiderplant in soils with a low to moderate nitrogen content will require application of 3.12 g N/plant. PSPP 3B and GSGP are promising high yielding cultivars and their characteristics need to be evaluated over a wide range of agro-ecological conditions. Whereas the GSP accessions appeared to be a slow grower and low yielder, there is need to test it in a wide range of agro-ecological conditions since it may have useful characteristics not established in this study


In this article, we perform a quantitative analysis of the performance of hospital services in a nonmarket environment based on a very complete data set. Evaluating efficiency in a nonmarket system is important since the absence of market mechanisms could yield large inefficiencies. In fact, we show that hospital performance varies greatly across institutions. Specifically, our results suggest that hospitals with high levels of quasi-fixed factors are less efficient than other institutions. In general, hospitals performed very differently even after controlling for differences in services, hospital and patient characteristics. All in all, increased efficiencies could lead to potential savings, for the Québec government, in the hundreds of millions of dollars.


The technique of fractional addressing permits one to construct a digital oscillator with arbitrarily high frequency resolution. However, the technique introduces distortion. The distortion power spectrum may be calculated exactly by borrowing mathematical methods from crystallography, such that the crystallographic unit cell length equals the denominator of the irreducible fractional part of the address increment. The calculation exhibits remarkable mathematical symmetries, which lead to simple closed‐form expressions for the levels of the components in the distortion spectrum and for the total rms distortion. The expressions show how the distortion may be minimized or possibly employed as an alternative to digital FM in the synthesis of complex tones. [Work supported by the NIH.]


Inflammation is associated with the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis, although the mechanisms remain unclear. We investigated whether cytokine secretion by innate immune responses could contribute to the production of proarteriosclerotic Th1-type cytokines in human coronary atherosclerosis. Cytokines were measured by ELISA in the plasma of patients with coronary atherosclerosis undergoing cardiac catheterization. IL-18 was detected in all subjects, whereas a subset of patients demonstrated a coordinated induction of other IFN-γ-related cytokines. Specifically, elevated plasma levels of IL-12 correlated with that of IFN-γ and IFN-γ-inducible chemokines, defining an IFN-γ axis that was activated independently of IL-6 or C-reactive protein. Systemic inflammation triggered by cardiopulmonary bypass increased plasma levels of the IFN-γ axis, but not that of IL-18. Activation of the IFN-γ axis was not associated with acute coronary syndromes, but portended increased morbidity and mortality after 1-year follow-up. IL-12 and IL-18, but not other monokines, elicited secretion of IFN-γ and IFN-γ-inducible chemokines in human atherosclerotic coronary arteries maintained in organ culture. T cells were the principal source of IFN-γ in response to IL-12/IL-18 within the arterial wall. This inflammatory response did not require, but was synergistic with and primed for TCR signals. IL-12/IL-18-stimulated T cells displayed a cytokine-producing, nonproliferating, and noncytolytic phenotype, consistent with previous descriptions of lymphocytes in stable plaques. In contrast to cognate stimuli, IL-12/IL-18-dependent IFN-γ secretion was prevented by a p38 MAPK inhibitor and not by cyclosporine. In conclusion, circulating IL-12 may provide a mechanistic link between inflammation and Th1-type cytokine production in coronary atherosclerosis.