Tubular microactuators (TMAs) fabricated by photodeformable liquid crystal polymers (LCPs) pave a significant way for smart microfluidic applications with contactless, spatial, and precise manipulation of liquids. To realize liquid transportation in these TMAs, LCPs should have excellent photodeformation property and suitable mechanical properties. Herein, linear liquid crystal polymers (LLCPs) with different mesogen orientations are used to prepare TMAs to study their liquid transportation behaviors. The mesogen orientation in each LLCP is formed spontaneously and varies with the spacer length, leading to different deformations of LLCP films. It is found that only LLCPs with mesogens oriented out‐of‐plane realize self‐support of the TMAs, whereas the TMAs with mesogens oriented in‐plane are so weak that they collapse in the radial direction, indicating the importance of mesogen orientation in fabricating three‐dimensional structures. Upon attenuated 470 nm light irradiation, the TMAs deform to an asymmetric conical structure, leading to the motion of liquid slug toward the narrow side. The liquid motion is accelerated in the TMA with longer spacer, showing the control of liquid speed by the mesogen orientation. These photocontrolled TMAs are expected to be applied in biological applications, such as whole blood analysis and flow cytometry, for precise liquid manipulation.


YULIZAH, RAHAJOE, J. S., FEFIRENTA, A. D. & NUGROHO, A. D. 2022. The population and distribution of agarwood producing tree (Aquilaria malaccensis) in Riau Province. Reinwardtia 21(1): 1–11. — Riau Province is one of the largest agarwood producers and supplier of Aquilaria malaccensis species in Indonesia, based on the data of trade quota that was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in 2018. The quota data will be used for monitoring the sustainability of the population agarwood producing trees in the wild. The aimed of the study were to determine the natural population distribution and habitat preference of wild agarwood-producing trees in Riau Province. The agarwood population census carried out by making random plots in the study sites, soil moisture, soil pH, temperature and the humidity recorded, and the macronutrients data also used to support the habitat preferences for the agarwood producing taxa tree. Seven locations of agarwood producing trees were selected for the study sites including Taman Hutan Raya (TAHURA: Forest Park Garden) Sultan Syarif Hasyim (SSH), three community forests in Siak Sri Indapura District (Gosib, Perincit and Dosan), and three community forests in Bengkalis District (Langkat, Pangkalan Jambi, and Duri Km 13). The density of agarwood producing trees in TAHURA SSH recorded for about 38 plants ha-1, with an average diameter distribution was 15 cm, and the tree height was 9.51 m. Perincit data showed the highest density, with 8.13 plants ha-1  with an average distribution of tree diameters was recorded for 20.8 cm and the tree height was 9.11 m. While the lowest tree density was recorded for 0.58 plant ha-1 in Gosib, the average diameter and tree height were recorded for 40.15 cm and 14.70 m, respectively. Environmental parameters and soil chemistry were the main factors to support the tree growth of agarwood. The result was necessary for the conservation program of A. Malaccensis, and support data for providing potential seeds source and seedling. The nutrient content preference from the finding of this research will also be used as the necessary information of the needs of nutrient content in the natural habitat of agarwood plantations.


Globally competing firms are increasingly dependent on information systems (IS) for managing and monitoring their international businesses. To utilize IS effectively, the need for IS planning is critical. This research-in-progress examines IS planning autonomy in U.S.-based subsidiaries of foreign (based outside the U.S.) firms and organizational variables that might influence this autonomy. It aims to determine if IS planning autonomy is a predictor of effective IS planning for these firms.


This research discusses nationalism in Garin Nugroho's Soegija, a biopic that premiered in 2012. The film is chosen because it presents Soegijapranata, an intellectual who is not from dominant nationalist groups during the era of the independence movement; he is neither a prominent military figure nor a figure from the largest religious group in Indonesia. This film is analyzed to investigate its position in ideological contestations emerging after the Reformation, particularly after the 2000s. Seymour Chatman's postulates regarding story and discourse in the narrative structure of fiction and film (1978) is used as a theoretical framework for this research. The results show that discourse of nationalism is presented in the narrative structure of the film in the form of arguing the idea of universal humanity in Indonesia as a nation. This effort is portrayed by the main character's intellectual struggles against shallow primordialism that influences Indonesian people's perspectives during independence movement era and foreign people's point of view, the colonizers, which are represented by subversive actions of the Dutch and Japanese in Indonesia. The values of universal humanity that have been adopted into the spirit of nationalism are stated through the main characters' statements and actions. It can be concluded that the concept of nationalism in Indonesia was born from a long struggle against oppression and injustice. This concept has become a dominant ideology that remains relevant, as


Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality (VAMR) applications and trainings have gained traction across business sectors, including healthcare, all around the globe. VAMR training allows the healthcare provider or student to learn and perform in a low-risk environment, while VAMR applications allow for distributed assessment and work. Ideally, the VAMR environment precisely resembles the environment where the real performance has to be executed, i.e., the physical reality (PR), to optimize transferability and enable precision control. Yet, while technology has made huge jumps towards displaying photo-realistic environments and applications, non-visual feedback (auditory, haptic, olfactory) is still evolving. In PR, humans are processing their environment multi-modally and base their actions on those multi-modal perceptions. Thus, it remains unclear if human action dynamics in information-reduced, visionheavy VAMR of today resembles that in PR [1]–[3]. Typically, human performance and VAMR training impact is assessed post training as successful transfer to PR, or with respect to improved situation awareness or reduced cognitive load during control. However, if movement execution in VAMR spaces differs from behavior in PR, this may have long-term implications not only for the healthcare industry, but also for the industrial, military, and civil sectors, who currently invest into transferring ever more executive control to often remote digital twin applications in VAMR (or the metaverse). We therefore present a pilot study in a simple human-robot co-action paradigm investigating dynamic performance differences between VAMR and PR during task performance. Fifteen students from the University of Cincinnati participated under UC IRB #2012-2827. Participants were instructed to carry a lightweight yet bulky box between two tables 30 cm high, 7m apart, as quickly as possible without running (see Fig. 1). Halfway, participants had to pass a Kuka LBR iiwa14 robot arm on a workbench (robot base at 1m height). A VR replica of this PR setup was created in Unity, including the sound of the robot moving [3]. The real and the virtual robot were operated with the exact same ROS code, ensuring trajectories are the same. Two HTC Vive tracker were strapped to the top of the box and participants waist to collect movement data. They wore an HTC Vive headset in VR trials. Each participant walked 20 times, 4 times when the robot arm did not move, and 16 times with


Aiming to extend part design model for process,the concept of part manufacturing model was presented based on analyzing the part process chain.The framework of part manufacturing model was constructed with an example of complex aircraft integral panel part.The composition of part manufacturing model was presented.Part state in process was regarded as the component of part manufacturing model,and it was divided into model for workpiece and model for process.The information hierarchical structure of the model was set up and the method to represent model information which was oriented to integrated manufacturing was provided.The data organization structure based on shape control node was described.The definition process of the part manufacturing model was described based on Petri net.It was indicated that digital definition,management and integrated application methods could be further developed based on this framework to realize precise,rapid and economic part manufacturing.


The invention relates to the field of fiber sensing and biological microfluidic detection and provides a fiber sensor with high sensitivity and small coupling loss. A technical scheme employed in the invention is as follows: the surface plasma resonance sensor based on photonic crystal fiber comprises a continuous broadband light source, a fiber coupling output assembly, an SMA905-to-FC interface jumper, a fiber coupling assembly, a photonic crystal fiber and a spectral detection unit, wherein, one end of the photonic crystal fiber is connected with the fiber coupling assembly, the other end of the photonic crystal fiber is connected with the spectral detection unit, the end of SMA905 interface of the SMA905-to-FC interface jumper is connected with the continuous broadband light source and the fiber coupling output assembly, and the end of FC interface of the SMA905-to-FC interface jumper is connected with the fiber coupling assembly through a flange. The invention is mainly applied for biological microfluidic detection.


Philip Carr frames the central question of his monograph as follows: 'Can we reasonably speak of linguistic realities?' (1). In answer to this question, Carr proposes a Popperian metatheory for theoretical linguistics or, as he calls it, 'an autonomist metatheory for the generative enterprise'. Propounding such a metatheory is quite an ambitious undertaking, especially if the metatheory is meant to be superior to such relatively well-articulated alternatives as Chomskyan mentalism. The product of Carr's metascientific labours, accordingly, invites close critical scrutiny. Here, I can deal with a number of main points only. (For a more systematic discussion, see Botha, forthcoming.) Carr pursues the question stated above by breaking it down into two subquestions, an 'epistemological question' and an 'ontological question'. The methodological subquestion, discussed in Part 1 of his monograph, reads as follows: ' do theoretical linguists devise accounts of a reality which exists outside of their theories?' (1). In reply to this question, Carr, taking Popperian falsificationism as his background, rehearses some of the arguments in defence of the realist position (1):


The mixing method to measure solid specific heat capacity generally uses steam heater to heat the measured metal block.But the measuring temperature of metal block is not accurate,so a new method,the water bath method,is used to heat the metal block,which can get a temperature value of the thermal equilibrium.


After having written extensively on Afro-Americans, Thomas Sowell, an economist housed at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University, obtained notoriety as a student of American ethnic groups. His book Ethnic America (1981) was one of the best-selling books on American ethnicity to have appeared in recent years (Sowell, 1981). It seemed, therefore, only natural that Sowell would attempt to engage the ethnic issue on an international scale. His book The Economics and Politics of Race: An International Perspective purports to do just that. Sowell has chosen to focus on race and ethnicity in an international perspective because it offered him the chance to &dquo;test competing beliefs and theories in a way that cannot be done in a given community.&dquo; Sowell asks, &dquo;How much of any minority group's economic state depends upon their own culture and how much depends upon the way they are treated by the larger society around them?&dquo; By investigating the lifestyles of German immigrants and their descendants in Brazil, Australia, and the United States; Chi-


Based on gaining privileged access to interview senior representatives of audit firms, regulatory bodies, financial institutions, universities and other organisations in mainland China, Hong Kong and the UK, this exploratory study presents a range of informed views about the rapid development of China's auditing profession over the last 25 years. It explores the emerging roles of the firms in the 2nd-tier international networks and among the larger stand-alone firms as challengers to the Big 4, nationally and internationally. It identifies national and international institutional interactions that have shaped and are being shaped by this rapid growth, with particular reference to the overarching role of the State's shifting strategies to create a domestic profession in China that can compete internationally. The potential consequences, given China's unequalled size and its expanding global influence, could change the nature and structure of the global profession. A significant contribution of this exploratory empirical study has been to deconstruct the continuing conventional political and academic rhetoric that dichotomises firms into 'foreign vs local' and 'Big 4 vs other'. It contributes new voices and alternative perspectives to the emerging literature on the glocalization of large professional services firms and suggests new opportunities for future auditing research.


Simply super! The perfluoroalkylfullerene C(60)(C(2)F(5))(5) H is the first structurally characterized perfluoroalkylated fullerene-based acid and is also predicted to be the first gas-phase fullerene-based superacid.


To investigate the co-infection situation of porcine torque teno virus(TTV) and porcine circovrius(PCV),a total of 280 tissue samples from 14 areas was detected by PCR.The results indicated that the positive rate for TTV1 and TTV2 infection were 51.8% and 28.2%,respectively,and the co-infection rate for TTV1 and TTV2 was 18.2%.The positive rate of PCV1 and PCV2 infection was 41.1% and 37.5%,respectively,and co-infection rate of PCV1 and PCV2 was 19.6%.In addition,the co-infection rate of TTV1 and TTV2 reached up to 75% in PCV2 positive samples.Moreover,two TTV1 isolate genomes were cloned and sequenced,and the similarity of genomic nucleotide acid was 67.3% to 95.1% compared with 6 TTV1 genomic sequences of GenBank.Four TTV2 genomes were cloned and sequenced,the identity of genomic nucleotide acid was 84.7% to 90.4% compared with 4 TTV2 genomic sequences in GenBank.However,the similarity of genomic nucleotide acid between TTV1 and TTV2 was only 44.0% from the genomic alignment data.The high variation regions of TTV1 and TTV2 were located at 520 nt to 2,594 nt and 720 nt to 2,170 nt,respectively.The conserved region of TTV1 genome was located at 1 nt to 520 nt and 2,595 nt to 2,800 nt and while the conserved region of TTV2 genome was located at 1 nt to 719 nt and 2,171 nt to 2,800 nt.The co-infection of TTV and PCV exists in pig herds of China,they maybe contributed to clinical diseases cooperatively,and high variation and genetic diversity are present in the different TTV1 and TTV2 strains.


Recently, inorganic cesium–lead halide perovskites with high thermal stability have attracted much attention as promising light‐emitting material for research of perovskite‐based light‐emitting diodes (PeLEDs) toward high‐definition displays. However, the CsPbI3‐based red PeLEDs still suffer low external quantum efficiency (EQE) and poor device stability due to the spontaneous phase transition from cubic CsPbI3 (α‐CsPbI3) to nonradiative orthorhombic phase (δ‐CsPbI3) under ambient conditions. Here, a feasible approach is reported on phase engineering by incorporating the long‐chain cation (e.g., 2‐(naphthalene‐1‐yl)ethanamine (NEA)) in CsPbI3 for stable and high‐performance CsPbI3‐based red light‐emitting diodes (LEDs). A high EQE of 8.65% is successfully achieved for the characteristic red emission at ≈682 nm representing the highest value among Cs‐based red PeLEDs up to now. More importantly, the corresponding PeLEDs exhibit outstanding stability with EQE retaining 90% after 3 months of storage. These results verify the potential of using cesium‐based inorganic perovskite as viable alternatives to methylammonium (MA)‐ or formamidinium (FA)‐based perovskite for desirable practical applications.


A composite TiO2 photoelectrode structure is explored to optimize the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) properties. The composite TiO2 photoanodes consist of two nanoparticular TiO2 layers with different size and thickness. The impact of film thickness on the performance of DSSCs was also investigated. In the optimized composite photoelectrode structure with large sized TiO2 nanoparticle as light scattering layer, the significantly improved performance of DSSC with 25% increase of current density and 13.1% increase of conversion efficiency was experimentally demonstrated.


A total internal reflection (TIR) spatial light modulator (SLM) employing the organic electrooptic crystal 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (MNA) is discussed. The design configurations and performance characteristics are presented and compared with devices using inorganic electrooptic crystals such as LiNb03. It is estimated that the diffraction efficiency of a TIR SLM using MNA is enhanced by a factor of more than six compared with that using LiNb03, and, correspondingly, the driving voltage of the very large scale integration (VLIC) circuit is reduced approximately by a factor of two and half.


S— The Ear . . . . . . . 750 Arcus Lipoides of the Ear-drum. J. Berberich ; Defective Hearing and Nutrition in Children. P. M. Tookey Kerridgc ; Tuberculous Oto-mastoiditis with Periphlebitis of the Sigmoid Sinus. Cesare Baccarini ; Lesions of the Internal Ear caused by Decompression. E. Chiappe ; A Clinical Study of Caisson Disease. A. Crespi Leghizzi. The Nose . . . . . . 753 Regional Anaesthesia in the Nasal Cavity. Dott. Gatti-Manacini. The Mouth . . . . . . 754 Osteoma of the Hard Palate. A. Magnoni. The Larynx . . . . . . 755 The Distribution of the Laryngeal Nerves to the Extra-laryngeal Regions. Enrico Rubaltelli ; On the Treatment of the Narrow Glottis in Recurrent Palsy. \V. Krainz ; Treatment of Trigeminal Neuralgia by Silver Clips. E. Ertl ; A Ventriculocele in an Infant. L. Abbate; Endothelioma of the Larynx. M. Cherubino. M i s c e l l a n e o u s . . . . . . 7 5 9 Pathogenic Staphylococci, their Incidence in the Nose and Throat and on the Skin. E. H. Gillespie, E. A. Devenish, and S. T. Cowan ; Agranulocytic Angina as a complication of Arsenobenzole Treatment. Giarma Saibene. GENERAL NOTES . . . . . . 762


AbstractReforecasts produced by the ECMWF Integrated Forecast System (IFS) were used to study heating and moistening processes associated with three MJO events over the equatorial Indian Ocean during the Dynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign. Variables produced by and derived from the IFS reforecast (IFS-RF) agree reasonably well with observations over the DYNAMO sounding arrays, and they vary smoothly from the western to eastern equatorial Indian Ocean. This lends confidence toward using IFS-RF as a surrogate of observations over the equatorial Indian Ocean outside the DYNAMO arrays. The apparent heat source Q1 and apparent moisture sink Q2 produced by IFS are primarily generated by parameterized cumulus convection, followed by microphysics and radiation. The vertical growth of positive Q1 and Q2 associated with the progression of MJO convection can be gradual, stepwise, or rapid depending on the event and its location over the broader equatorial Indian Ocean. The time for con...


The theoretical part deals with the contemporary offer of backpacks, general properties of backpacks and the history of the company TOPGAL, a.s. This part also includes the results of my research among grammer school students. The practical part of my thesis describes the process of design of a notebook backpack for high school students.


Information Centric Networking (ICN) is a novel future network architecture that is focusing on content distribution. Its ubiquitous caching schemes can improve network performance. In this paper, we propose a node importance to community based caching scheme with network coding in ICN, which is named as NICNC. For each community, content router makes cache decision depending on its node importance to community to make content cached more reasonable in temporal and spatial distribution. Moreover, by applying network coding into ICN, one coded blocks containing information of multiple chunks can satisfy multiple interests for different chunks sent by different consumers. This can significantly enhance cache diversity and cache hit rate without increasing cache capacity. Experimental results show that our scheme can improve the network performance at many aspects, such as average download time, cache hit rate, and instantaneous hop reduction rate.


The process of reduction of the number of births, accompanied by longer life expectancy, will have serious consequences for the supply of labor force (shrinking of the working age population) on the future labor market. Labor market participation of the Visegrad Group residents is increasingly higher. In this situation, promoting labor market participation among the elderly seems a significant solution to mitigate the effects of population ageing. In view of the above, the aim of the paper is to present the impact of demographic changes on the size of labor force in the Visegrad Group countries.


Since the 1970s, the implementation of community forestry (CF) programs in Nepal has recognized that local involvement is a prerequisite for sustainably managing forests and fulfilling local resource needs. Although this devolution policy of active local participation has halted and in many cases reversed forest degradation, a comprehensive research on attributes of CF and its impact on local community livelihoods, especially among the rural populations in the low-lying Terai region- is lacking. Hence, using an institutional analysis approach, this research attempts to understand changes in forest management and governance. More specifically, this paper explores major attributes of CF, i.e. the forest, dependency of local people on the forest, institutions that govern local people interaction with the forest and other actors as well as economic and tree cover outcomes. The overall results indicated that most respondents were highly dependent on local forests for economic, ecological and cultural purposes and were collectively involved in creating rules and regulations that defined access to and distribution of CF benefits. The results also indicated that locals' main priorities were to improve their income generation capabilities, whereas CF management primarily emphasized forest protection and local development, as CF-generated funds were used to improve local infrastructure. Hence, the main constraints to CF sustainability were identified to be the CF committee's lack of transparency in fund expenditure and the exclusion of poor and disadvantaged households in the decision-making process. The study concludes that CF implementation is feasible in the Terai region and that equal decision-making participation is critical toward future CF sustainability.


Beneficent institutions are responsible for half of all the healthcare services provided by the brazilian public healthcare system, the Unified Health System (SUS). In many cities, philanthropic hospitals are the only available option for the local population. Recently these institutions have experienced financial difficulties. In order to keep them working, the Ministry of Health proposed a set of actions designed to tackle this issue. In this context, BNDES have supported the charities that provide services to the SUS through the "BNDES Saúde" program, financing debt restructuring operations. The program's goal is to maintain the services to the SUS improving the institutions economic-financial sustainability with the Bank's support. In return, the program requires the beneficiaries to present an operational optimization plan with proposals for organizational changes with medium and long-term impacts. This article evaluates the effects of those projects on the program's clients among the period 2009-2016. Data were obtained from answers to a form, over previously defined indicators. The article's methodology is a descriptive version of an Event Study which analyzes averages before and after the Bank support. The results show that institutions improve their debt profiles, but some variables related to the SUS service show an unexpected declining behavior. 127 Saúde | Os efeitos do apoio do programa BNDES Saúde à reestruturação financeira das entidades filantrópicas: uma análise de Event Study


New legislation, most notably the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) has brought more stringent requirements on the operational energy consumption of buildings. However, the energy and emissions corresponding to the construction and maintenance of buildings are often significant as well. The life-cycle of building materials, building constructions or whole buildings "from cradle to grave" can be evaluated using the method of life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a tool for measuring the environmental performance of products, such as building materials, building constructions or whole buildings. Measures like the change of windows or additional insulation of the envelope aim at the reduction of operational energy, but at the same time result in an increase of embodied energy for production and maintenance. Future amendments to the Building Regulations are expected to further cut energy and CO2 emissions, and approach the level of passive houses in 5-10 years. This paper describes a methodology developed for the environmental analysis of residential buildings. The use of the methodology is presented and demonstrated for single-family houses and typical building systems in Hungary. The contribution of the life cycle phases is determined and the effect of increased thermal performance is analysed. The paper analyses whether thermal insulation has ecological limitations for conventional homes. The optimum point of thermal insulation is sought in an example.


Spiral waves of intracellular Ca2+ have often been observed in Xenopus oocytes. Such waves can be accounted for by most realistic models for Ca2+ oscillations taking diffusion of cytosolic Ca2+ into account, but their initiation requires rather demanding and unphysiological initial conditions. Here, it is shown by means of numerical simulations that these spiral Ca2+ waves naturally arise if the cytoplasm is assumed to be heterogeneous both at the level of the synthesis and metabolism ofd- myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate [Ins(1,4,5) P 3] and at the level of the distribution of the Ins(1,4,5) P 3receptors. In such conditions, a spiral can be initiated in the simulations after an increase in Ins(1,4,5) P 3concentration, with the direction of rotation being determined by the position of the region of high receptor density with respect to the locus of Ins(1,4,5) P 3production.


A composite clast of ferroan-anorthosite-suite rocks from lunar breccia 64435 is shown to contain three lithologies. The results suggest that the structures of the 64435 composite clast were produced in an early deformation that consisted of extensive granulation followed by pervasive recrystallization, and that some granulitic breccias are nearly monomict. The REE concentrations in the coarse-grained troctolitic anorthosite are explained in terms of mass balance among the equilibrated phases.


The kiwi berry, Actinidia arguta Planch is gaining importance in temperate Europe. Warm transient intervals during the winter season can initiate cold deacclimation and bud break of woody plants. Most A. arguta cultivars are characterised by an early bud burst which may result in horticultural limitations due to a high sensitivity to spring frost of these young shoots/inflorescences.
The evolution of bud dormancy was observed in two Actinidia arguta 'Weiki' and 'Geneva' cultivars. From September through mid-October the final 30-day shooting percentage (FS) was low. Between mid-October and mid-December a steep rise in FS indicates that bud endodormancy was broken. 'Weiki' appears to have a lesser need for cold exposure in order to release it from dormancy.
The seasonal pattern of cold acclimation and deacclimation was determined for both cultivars using the electrolyte leakage test. Maximal cold tolerance was achieved in midwinter. In early spring cold tolerance of the buds declined again. 'Geneva' was more cold tolerant than 'Weiki'.


Core promoters of eukaryotic genes are composed of conserved DNA elements that surround the transcription start site. These elements bind the basal RNAP II transcription machinery, directing the position and rate of transcription initiation. Dikstein reviews the current knowledge about core promoter elements, focusing on several unexpected links between core promoter structure and certain gene features, such as gene length, gene structure, gene function, evolution rate and transcription elongation.


This report is a product of the International Arctic Seas Assessment Project (IASAP), instituted in 1993 by the IAEA and endorsed by the Consulting Parties of the London Convention. IASAP was set up following the 1992 revelations of radioactive waste dumping in the Kara and Barents Seas by the Former Soviet Union. These were later detailed in Yablokov's famous `White Book'. IASAP was constituted as a Coordinated Research Programme, with additional contacts and consultancies, coordinated with the Norwegian-Russian Expert Group investigating contamination in northern areas. Its objectives were to assess the risks to human health and, at the request of the LD's Contracting Parties, to consider possible remedial actions and their justification. The present report contains only some of the results of the study. An earlier IASAP report provided predictions of release rates from dumped marine reactors (IAEA TECDOC-938, 1997) and two further TECDOCS are in preparation on: `Anthropogenic radionuclides in the Arctic Seas' and `Modelling of the radiological impact ... '. The report opens with a 7-page Executive Summary, providing a condensed and reassuring assessment of the current and future radiological situation and the feasibilty, cost and justification for remediation. It concludes that leakage from dumped wastes has been small, with negligible doses when compared with those from natural sources. Future doses to `typical' local human population groups are predicted to be low. Doses to marine organisms are predicted to be orders of magnitude below levels at which detrimental effects at a population level would be expected. Remediation is not justified on radiological grounds although controls on beach occupancy and the utilisation of marine resources will have to be maintained. The remainder of the report provides more detail on the methodology, assumptions and databases which were used to support the conclusions. It is divided into 8 main chapters with the following content: (1) Introduction; (2) Radiological protection and decision making; (3) The Arctic environment; (4) The radioactive source term; (5) Environmental modelling for radiological impact assessment; (6) Possible remedial action; (7) Analysis of the need for remdial action; (8) Conclusions and recommendations. The bibliography contains 120 references (up to 1997) and there is a list of contributors to the drafting and review. Each chapter is further subdivided to three levels of hierarchy, allowing the reader to navigate quite effectively. Overall the text is easy to follow and there are useful illustrations provided of data sets and technical information. For example, the food web and potential food sources for humans in the Kara Sea are well presented graphically. However, those interested in a more critical examination of some of the data, or some of the modelling assumptions made, will have to consult the primary sources cited in the text. A minor irritation was the presentation of much of the geographic information, such as distributions of radionuclides in seawater, on a rectangular grid, where some form of polar projection would have been more appropriate. The report provides an excellent summary of an important international collaborative project. It is presented in a style which should encourage a wide readership, amongst students, scientists, NGOs and decision makers. It demonstrates, in a logical sequence, how a complex radiological assessment is undertaken, taking into account the environmental setting, the nature of the waste, potential pathways of human exposure and how conclusions and recommendations are arrived at.


EBV-driven lymphoproliferative disease remains a significant clinical problem following HSCT. In this issue of Blood , Heslop and colleagues report their 15-year experience using EBV-specific T cells to prevent or treat this disease.[1][1]

Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in


The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method. To ensure that the region of interest on the fundus image and a tomographic image of subject's eye in a corresponding manner to each other is displayed on the image of the eye to be inspected is an image processing apparatus for processing comprises: a subject's eye fundus image unit for acquiring ; means for designating an arbitrary point on the fundus image unit; means for obtaining a tomographic image of the subject's eye; means for calculating a tomographic image on an arbitrary point corresponding to the point; and based on the arbitrary point and position of a point corresponding to the coordinate system for displaying a tomographic image and a fundus image in association with each other conversion units.


Laser is in the particles that make up the material, with different number of particles distribution on different level, on the high level of particles by a photon excitation, the energy level jump (transition) from high to low level, at this time will radiate this light is the same and stimulate the nature of light, and in a certain state, can appear a weak light inspired a strong light. In this paper, we put forward the Chen's laser communication theorem, it is a development on Shannon communication theory and a new challenge for Marconi's radio communication. Our theory is, in practice it can be over Marconi invented radio communication for the development of the revolutionary is to produce at a faster rate than new way of communication of communication. It allows this laser Communication Theorem to implement will bring a new communication engineering revolution.


Upon harvest, lily (Lilium speciosum Thunb. cv. Rubrum) bulblets generated in vitro under standard conditions (11 weeks at 20°C) were dormant and needed a cold treatment prior to planting. During culture in vitro at 20°C, the bulblets proceeded through three phases: (1) at first they were non–viable and non-dormant (up to 5 weeks), (2) then viable and non-dormant (5–9 weeks) and (3) finally viable and dormant (from 9 weeks onwards). At 15°C, the bulblets became viable but did not develop dormancy, even after protracted culture. The results suggest that the development of dormancy depends upon an accumulation of'heat units'occurring at temperatures higher than 15°0. At 25°C, the succession of the three phases occurred more rapidly than at 20°C and heat units were accumulated more rapidly. During the third period, the chilling requirement increased showing that heat units continued to be accumulated during this period.

Dormancy connotes an arrest of growth. In lily bulblets, however, the number of scales continued to increase after the induction of dormancy at 20 or 25°C. Many of the scales initiated before the onset of dormancy were formed by swelling of a petiole, whereas, after the onset of dormancy, all scales were formed directly from a primordium. We conclude that the development of dormancy corresponds to a switch in the development of the primordium. Thus, after the induction of dormancy the primordium lost the ability to become a leaf and always developed into a scale.


This project was conducted to determine the national state-of-practice in assessing the vulnerability of local government highway infrastructure. The objective was to find an existing methodology or to create a new methodology appropriate for Alabama local governments. The most appropriate of these models was developed for state departments of transportation by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). It consisted of six steps: identify critical assets, conduct a vulnerability assessment, conduct a consequence assessment, determine countermeasures, estimate countermeasure costs, and review operational security planning. This research project adapted the AASHTO procedures by identifying portions that were difficult or seemed inappropriate for local governments, or for which local government personnel might lack sufficient knowledge or experience to implement. The modified procedures were tested in an Alabama county and city. For each case study, a two-day workshop was conducted. First, a preliminary meeting was conducted to identify a local leader, to identify assessment team members, to obtain a preliminary list of critical assets, and to assemble background materials for the workshop. The first day of each workshop concentrated on applying the first three steps of the AASHTO procedure, and the second day consisted of selecting potential countermeasures for the critical assets. Both case studies were overwhelmingly successful and the participants enjoyed the experience. The case studies identified several characteristics of the methodology that were difficult for local governments to readily use. Most of these were remedied by providing additional background information to bring assessment team members to the necessary state of knowledge to use the AASHTO procedure. At the conclusion of the project, the research team documented the methodology, as supplemented and modified, and developed a plan, time frame and cost estimate to systematically apply the procedure to Alabama local governments.


We developed a 0.35-V inductorless DC-DC converter using non-SOI CMOS technology. To activate a ring oscillator circuit at an input voltage of 0.35 V, we deployed depletion-mode NMOS transistors in a ring oscillator. Generated 0.35-V clock signals were boosted to nominal 0.7-V clock signals by voltage doubler circuits using depletion-mode NMOS transistors. Finally, these clock signals were used in a boosted-gate charge pump circuit. Through SPICE simulations, we verified that our DC-DC converter generated an output voltage of 3.8 V at an input voltage of 0.35 V. The load current was 1.6 uA, and the total power consumption was 56 uW.


English as foreign language (EFL) writers are often found to have weaker control of their academic writing, among which presenting an effective authorial stance has been reported as particularly challenging (Hyland, 1998a; Schleppegrell, 2004). In particular, student writers tended to deploy a stronger stance and be less effective with tentative claims. The study investigated a small group of EFL doctoral students' conceptions, which, as hypothesized, may affect their presentation of stance in academic arguments. Twelve doctoral candidates were recruited from two disciplines, soft and hard sciences. They answered questions and made judgments related to authorial stance, adapted into two 'extreme' versions, assertive and tentative, in academic texts taken from both domain-specific and domain-neutral journal articles. The results revealed that the doctoral participants' conceptions pertained to three dimensions, Stance as linguistic construct, as cognitive or behavioural entity and as institutional norm. Their conceptions generally lacked sophistication and depth and instead were reductive and polarized. Assertive claims obtained more favourable considerations than tentative claims, and students from both disciplines varied considerably in their views of language. The results can inform academic stance instruction to allow for more exposure to nuanced presentations of stance and engagement with explicit discussions of the nuances of stance-taking.


Orthotropic piezoelectric fiber composite is used as a functional material for new phased array transducer, which can be applied in a wide range of fields such as natural gas, power industry, aerospace and other nondestructive evaluation fields. The backing layer of the transducer affects the pulse width and axial resolution directly. In order to find transducers with good sensitivity and short pulses, the pulse shape and frequency response for orthotropic piezoelectric fiber composite elements have been studied both theoretically and experimentally. The acoustic impedance of velocity testing criterion has been provided, and the relative theory and experiment have also been researched. The results show that orthotropic piezoelectric fiber composite has lower acoustic impedance and higher mechanical coupling factor. Also, the sensitivity and bandwidth of orthotropic piezoelectric fiber composite ultrasonic actuator have been improved.


IP address lookup is an important function in a router to settle overall performance of the router. Binary search on range is a useful algorithm based on binary search for IP address lookup. However, this approach requires a lot of memories for adapting binary search to variable-length prefixes. We propose the improved algorithm to reduce memory requirements than binary search on range dramatically by a different view of a range. It reduces the number of entries and the memory requirements for pointers by about 21 % and 52% on average, respectively.


Tumorigenesis is a serious process with a multiple pathogenesis, which threats the life seriously. Progression of tumor is associated with several hallmarks comprised of cell signaling, angiogenesis, sustained growth signals and other characteristics. Several investigations shown, many biological agents involved in the tumor differentiation are termed as marker genes, there expression plays a vital part in the tumor microenvironment fallout with tumor aggressiveness. Several markers such as, HIF-1α, VEGF, TGF-β, Vimentin, NF-κB etc., are obeying the rules during tumor metastatic cascade. To investigate, the role of tumor markers in-vivo, animal models help to understand the molecular mechanism in the establishment of tumor. Because, various types of tumor shows numerous characteristic behavior in the expression of genes that altered in normal condition. The tumor environment includes a set of marker genes, it describes a group of ABSTRACT


Abstract Pematang Bow Field is located near the southeastern termination of a strike-slip fault system in central Sumatra. Structurally, the field is a northwest-plunging anticline, bounded on the southeast by a normal fault system. This anticline is masked on seismic data by a complex velocity gradient, and early attempts to seismically map Pematang Bow met with limited success, resulting in several dry holes. A 4.3 kilometer by 3.6 kilometer 3-D seismic survey was shot, processed, and interpreted from August, 1988 to August, 1989, and a two-layer model (each layer with its own velocity gradient) was used to convert from time to depth. The cost of the 3-D survey was comparable to the cost of a single dry hole in Pematang Bow. The low cost resulted from four factors: careful planning and surveying, a sparsely populated location (which allowed surveying to be done months in advance of shothole drilling), the hiring of extra drilling crews, and a shooting technique which allows the recording instruments to operate almost continuously. As a result of the survey, significant updip reserves were revealed, and several potential dry hole locations were avoided. The conclusion drawn is that at Pematang Bow Field, 3-D seismic was a very effective reservoir management tool.


The academic rigour of autoethnographic studies should be established and safeguarded to enhance the credibility and value of this form of research. This paper appraises the views of published autoethnographers on the rigour, validity and scientific accountability of such research. These insights are supplemented by the views of a sample of established autoethnographers determined through a qualitative survey. The criteria used to ensure trustworthiness in autoethnographic research must be judiciously determined and applied. From the research findings, criteria to establish rigour in autoethnographic research are proposed.


Staplers are common mechanical devices prevalent within institutions that frequently handle paper and paper products. This is due to their effectiveness in binding paper and paper products together and their relatively simple operation. The most common staplers is the manual desktop stapler, which have a mean paper binding capability of M = 20 pages, 99% CI (18.0, 21.9) and loads staples of 1⁄4 inch lengths. The typical construction of a stapler includes the pin, spring, magazine cartridge, carriage, spring steel and tooth, base, and arm [1]. Combined with their aesthetically pleasing design and ergonomic functionality, staplers are used by millions each day in the United States and by billions of millions each month in the United Kingdom [1]. In recent years staplers have been consistently abused, broken, or destroyed at Tutt Library, and instances of aggressive and psychopathic behaviour in individuals using staplers or near staplers have increased, particularly towards the end of the block [2]. Some observed behaviours include, violent stapling, resulting in sound levels of 80 dBs, indignant facial expressions, and suspicious muttering. These behaviours are problematic as they can be socially contagious like depression, spreading aggression and psychopathology across campus, and may lead to increased violent expression among young adults [3]. While social psychologists and other similar lay theorists argue for situational explanations of such behaviours (e.g. the frustration-aggression relationship or social learning theory) and other researchers argue that such behaviours are "normal", these explanations are inadequate and intellectually bankrupt. We present the current study which compares fMRIs of students who use staplers and students who do not use staplers and find that students who use staplers have higher activations of the amygdala and cingulate cortices when compared to students who do not use staplers. Additionally, surveys were conducted to determine testosterone levels and alcohol usage, with the results subsequently correlated with fMRI scans. Subjects were recruited from Tutt Library through a convenience sample with a total of five (N = 5) subjects; however, a 40% attrition before the study began reduced the total sample size to three (N = 3). Subjects were asked to complete a survey of their alcohol usage for the week and self-estimated weekly testosterone levels before being scanned. Due to an incompatible pineal gland resonance during fMRI scanning, one subject was unable to proceed in the study, nor able to further participate in medullary functions. The final subject sample size was two (N = 2) with one male in the stapler group and one female in the nonstapler group.


Precise definition of the mitral valve plane (VP) during segmentation of the left ventricle for SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) quantification often requires manual adjustment, which affects the quantification of perfusion. We developed a machine learning approach using support vector machines (SVM) for automatic VP placement. Methods: A total of 392 consecutive patients undergoing 99mTc-tetrofosmin stress (5 min; mean ± SD, 350 ± 54 MBq) and rest (5 min; 1,024 ± 153 MBq) fast SPECT MPI attenuation corrected (AC) by CT and same-day coronary CT angiography were studied; included in the 392 patients were 48 patients who underwent invasive coronary angiography and had no known coronary artery disease. The left ventricle was segmented with standard clinical software (quantitative perfusion SPECT) by 2 experts, adjusting the VP if needed. Two-class SVM models were computed from the expert placements with 10-fold cross validation to separate the patients used for training and those used for validation. SVM probability estimates were used to compute the best VP position. Automatic VP localizations on AC and non-AC images were compared with expert placement on coronary CT angiography. Stress and rest total perfusion deficits and detection of per-vessel obstructive stenosis by invasive coronary angiography were also compared. Results: Bland–Altman 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for VP localization by SVM and experts for AC stress images (bias, 1; 95% CI, −5 to 7 mm) and AC rest images (bias, 1; 95% CI, −7 to 10 mm) were narrower than interexpert 95% CIs for AC stress images (bias, 0; 95% CI, −8 to 8 mm) and AC rest images (bias, 0; 95% CI, −10 to 10 mm) (P < 0.01). Bland–Altman 95% CIs for VP localization by SVM and experts for non-AC stress images (bias, 1; 95% CI, −4 to 6 mm) and non-AC rest images (bias, 2; 95% CI, −7 to 10 mm) were similar to interexpert 95% CIs for non-AC stress images (bias, 0; 95% CI, −6 to 5 mm) and non-AC rest images (bias, −1; 95% CI, −9 to 7 mm) (P was not significant [NS]). For regional detection of obstructive stenosis, ischemic total perfusion deficit areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the 2 experts (AUC, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.7–0.87]; AUC, 0.81 [95% CI, 0.73–0.89]) and the SVM (0.82 [0.74–0.9]) for AC data were the same (P = NS) and were higher than those for the unadjusted VP (0.63 [0.53–0.73]) (P < 0.01). Similarly, for non-AC data, areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the experts (AUC, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.69–0.89]; AUC, 0.8 [95% CI, 0.72–0.88]) and the SVM (0.79 [0.71–0.87]) were the same (P = NS) and were higher than those for the unadjusted VP (0.65 [0.56–0.75]) (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Machine learning with SVM allows automatic and accurate VP localization, decreasing user dependence in SPECT MPI quantification.


The present invention is the treatment of disorders related to impaired glucose metabolism and impaired insulin action such as syndrome X and type 1 and type 2 diabetes, in particular, for use as a medicament for the treatment (non-autoimmune) diabetes mellitus type 2 the formula for the (I) [Formula 1] Wherein, The present invention also relates to food and pharmaceutical compositions containing these compounds. .BACKGROUND


Data deduplication, an efficient space reduction method, has gained increasing attention and popularity in data-intensive storage systems. Most existing state-of-the-art deduplication methods remove redundant data at either the file level or the chunk level, which incurs unavoidable and significant overheads in time (due to chunking and fingerprinting). These overheads can degrade the write performance to an unacceptable level in a data storage system. In this paper, we propose P-Dedupe, a fast and scalable deduplication system. The main idea behind P-Dedupe is to fully compose pipelined and parallel computations of data deduplication by effectively exploiting the idle resources of modern computer systems with multi-core and many-core processor architectures. Our experimental evaluation of the P-Dedupe prototype based on real-world datasets shows that P-Dedupe speeds up the deduplication write throughput by a factor of 2~4 through pipelining deduplication and parallelizing hash calculation and achieves 80%~250% of the performance of a conventional storage system without data deduplication.


A serological survey for antibodies to minute virus of canines (MVC) by use of a hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) test was perfbrmed on sera collected from dogs in the [[bkai area ofJapan, Forty-one of266 (15.4%) serahad positive titers of 1 : 40 or higher against the MVC. Results suggest that 1uvC may have been present in dogs in Japan since, at least, 1990. From this serosurveM MVC appears to be established in the dog population in Japan. MVC may have a role as a newly recognized viral pathogen of dogs in Japan.


The popularity of Location-Based Services (LBSs) have resulted in serious privacy concerns recently. Mobile users may lose their privacy while enjoying kinds of social activities due to the untrusted LBS servers. Many Privacy Protection Mechanisms (PPMs) are proposed in literature by employing different strategies, which come at the cost of either system overhead, or service quality, or both of them. In this paper, we design privacy-preserving strategies for both of the users and adversaries in service quality aware LBSs. Different from existing approaches, we first define and point out the importance of the Fine-Grained Side Information (FGSI) over existing concept of the side information, and propose a Dual-Privacy Metric (DPM) and Service Quality Metric (SQM). Then, we build analytical frameworks that provide privacy-preserving strategies for mobile users and the adversaries to achieve their goals, respectively. Finally, the evaluation results show the effectiveness of our proposed frameworks and the strategies.


Sever, D. M. and Siegel, D. S. 2006. Sperm aggregations in the spermatheca of the red back salamander ( Plethodon cinereus ). — Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 87 : 331-340 The spermatheca of Plethodon cinereus is a compound tubular gland that stores sperm from mating in early spring (March-April) to oviposition in summer (June-July). The seasonal variation of sperm storage in this species has previously been studied by light and transmission electron microscopy. In this paper, sperm aggregations, interaction of sperm with the spermathecal epithelium, and spermathecal secretions are studied using scanning electron microscopy. Within spermathecal tubules, relatively small groups of sperm are aligned along their entire lengths in parallel arrays. This pattern is similar to other plethdontids with complex spermathecae. Lumina of spermathecal tubules are filled with secretory material in April prior to the arrival of sperm, and after sperm appear, a coating of secretory material persists on the apices of the spermathecal epithelium. Sperm peripheral to the central luminal mass can become embedded in the secretory matrix or pushed deeper into the spermathecal epithelium. The spermathecal secretions may serve to attract and prolong the viability of sperm, but sperm that become enmeshed in the secretions or epithelium are phagocytized. Sperm and spermathecal secretions are largely absent after ovulation and in summer months, and new secretory vacuoles are formed in fall, although mating does not occur until spring.


[Objective] The aim was to investigate the influence of Myzus persicae in different host plants on the biological characteristics of Diaeretiella rapae M′Intosh.[Method] Thirty heads of young M.persicae bred on host plants,such as radish,Chinese cabbage,Brassica campestris,mustard and Chinese kale,were selected resp.,one mated female D.rapae and them were introduced,and parasitizing one hour,then the M.persicae were reared on the original host plant till the M.persicae became stiff.The host plant was replaced periodically and the newly produced M.persicae were removed.The occurrence time and quantity of stiff M.persicae and the emergence number and sex ratio of D.rapae were recorded.[Result] The influence of M.persicae eating different vegetables on developmental duration of generation of D.rapae was as follows: Chinese kale Chinese cabbage radish B.campestris mustard.The parasitizing rate and emergence rate of D.rapae eating M.persicae in radish were highest,being 50.00% and 92.97% resp.The female ratio of later generations of D.rapae eating M.persicae in B.campestris was highest,being 82.81% and that of D.rapae eating M.persicae in Chinese kale was lowest,being 45.29%.[Conclusion] The developmental duration of generation,parasitizing rate,emergence rate and sex ratio of later generations of D.rapae showed significant difference due to the difference of host plants of M.persicae.


[1] Ozone measurements from SABER on the TIMED satellite form a unique data set. They provide global information over the range of local solar times, from the lower stratosphere into the lower thermosphere, from the beginning of 2002, by one instrument. On the basis of zonal means of these data, we present new results from 20 to 100 km in altitude and from 48°S to 48°N in latitude, of ozone diurnal variations over 24 h in local solar time and over an annual cycle. While some of the results are new for the stratosphere, such comprehensive results for the mesosphere and lower thermosphere have not been available before. The diurnal variations generally become increasingly significant from the upper stratosphere into the lower thermosphere and provide information on the photochemistry of ozone and effects of transport over a diurnal cycle. Over most altitudes in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT), our estimates show the expected decrease in ozone after sunrise, with smaller variations during the day, and the increase near sunset. Outside of a small altitude near 80 km, the nighttime mixing ratios are generally larger than the daytime values. The diurnal variations themselves appear to exhibit variations over an annual cycle, including semiannual and annual variations. We compare the SABER results with data obtained about 10 years earlier by the MLS instrument on UARS, and with results by others based on data from HRDI on UARS, from the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME), from selected space shuttle experiments, and from ground-based measurements. From the middle mesosphere to higher altitudes, departures from local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) can be significant, and the uncertainties can be larger than those at lower altitudes.


Supercritical fluid techniques continue to grow in importance in analytical chemistry, especially supercritical fluid chromatography. Accompanying this growth is the development of postcolumn detection methods, including flame ionization detection, inductively coupled plasma emission, mass spectrometry, and supersonic jet spectroscopy. In each of these detection methods, the behavior of the fluid at the point of decompression especially in regard to nucleation processes, can severely affect the performance of the detector. Solute aggregation is the major contributor to the spiking which has been observed with flame ionization detection, but, as the authors discuss later in this paper, erratic spitting of large aerosol droplets can occur with extended restrictors and will also produce noise spikes. However, even fine aerosol mists can severely interfere with spectroscopic detection, not only increasing the noise level but also inhomogeneously broadening spectral lines; thus the characterization of aerosol formation has been particularly important to their investigation of supersonic jet spectroscopy with supercritical fluid carriers. They report here the conditions for aerosol formation in the effluent jet, as monitored by laser-light scattering, for five fluids, which cover a wide range of critical constants and chemical properties.


Integrated investigation and research on the marine geological environment and hazards in the Shenzhen sea area of the Dapeng Bay were carried out by the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey. According to the data of seawater chemistry, seafloor sediments and seabed engineering geological conditions (including potential geohazards) obtained during the investigation, combined with surveys of seafloor topography and geomorphology, single-factor evaluation and multi-factor integrated evaluation were made of the marine geological environment in the bay. According to the evaluations, the authors think that on the whole the marine geological environment in the Dapeng Bay is good. Then valuable suggestions about marine development engineering construction in the Dapeng Bay are put forward.


Machine learning techniques have been extensively studied for mask optimization problems, aiming at better mask printability, shorter turnaround time, better mask manufacturability, and so on. However, most of these researches are focusing on the initial solution generation of small design regions. To further realize the potential of machine learning techniques on mask optimization tasks, we present a Convolutional Fourier Neural Operator (CFNO) that can efficiently learn layout tile dependencies and hence promise stitch-less large-scale mask optimization with limited intervention of legacy tools. We discover the possibility of litho-guided self training (LGST) through a trained machine learning model when solving non-convex optimization problems, which allows iterative model and dataset update and brings significant model performance improvement. Experimen-tal results show that, for the first time, our machine learning-based framework outperforms state-of-the-art academic numerical mask optimizers with an order of magnitude speedup.


the receiving group toward immigrants. In Canadian communities, for example, immigrants are welcomed, yet simultaneously perceived as threats. It may be, that favorable attitudes are expressed or positive action is directed toward immigrants because of their usefulness in helping the group achieve its goals, e.g., exploiting natural resources or creating higher consumer demand; while, on the other hand, there will be unfavorable attitudes or negative action because immigrants threaten the status system, or represent status competition, or introduce threats to solidarity because they possess different values. It remains, of course, for research49 to demonstrate if the explanation of the various expressions of ambivalence lies in the differential significance of the immigrant to the functional problem pressures of the system.0 Finally, the generality of the approach provides a perspective on the relation between new members and a receiving group which is applicable to a variety of empirical problems. It should allow sociological analysis of the response of families to natural increase, the relations between old and new workers, the characteristic treatment of recruits in the services, and any other relationship which involves new and old members. Research, formulated in terms of the interaction significance of new members to the equilibrium pressures of social systems and undertaken in a variety of empirical contexts, may yield dependable generalizations concerning the relations of new and old members.


Recent development in neural networks (NNs) has led to their widespread use in critical and automated decision-making systems, where uncertainty estimation is essential for trustworthiness. Although conventional NNs can solve many problems accurately, they do not capture the uncertainty of the data or the model during optimization. In contrast, Bayesian neural networks (BNNs), which learn probabilistic distributions for their parameters, offer a sound theoretical framework for estimating uncertainty. However, traditional hardware implementations of BNNs are expensive in terms of computational and memory resources, as they (i) are realized with inefficient von Neumann architectures, (ii) use a significantly large number of random number generators (RNGs) to implement the distributions of BNNs, and (iii) have a substantially greater number of parameters than conventional NNs. Computing-in-memory (CiM) architectures with emerging resistive non-volatile memories (NVMs) are promising candidates for accelerating classical NNs. In particular, spintronic technology, which is distinguished by its low latency and high endurance, aligns very well with these requirements. In the specific context of Bayesian neural networks (BNNs), spintronics technologies are very valuable, thanks to their inherent potential to act as stochastic or as deterministic devices. Consequently, BNNs mapped on spintronic-based CiM architectures could be a highly efficient implementation strategy. However, the direct implementation on CiM hardware of the learned probabilistic distributions of BNN may not be feasible and can incur high overhead. In this work, we propose a new Bayesian neural network topology, named SpinBayes, that is able to perform efficient sampling during the Bayesian inference process. Moreover, a Bayesian approximation method, called in-memory approximation, is proposed that approximates the original probabilistic distributions of BNN with a distribution that can be efficiently mapped to spintronic-based CiM architectures. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, the memory overhead is reduced by 8× and the energy consumption by 80×. Our method has been evaluated on several classification and semantic segmentation tasks and can detect up to 100% of various types of out-of-distribution data, highlighting the robustness of our approach, without any performance sacrifice.


SOURCE AND DESCRIPTION OF CLONE : The 0.8 kb Eco RI / Bam HI fragment of lambda HuHITI-9 (1) used as a probe codes for human heavy chain H2 of the inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor (2). POLYMORPHISMS : Kpn 1 (GGTAC/C) identifies one invariant band at 8.5 kb and a diaJlelic polymorphism with DNA fragments at 26.0 kb or 20.0 kb. Msp I (C/CGG) identifies three invariant bands at 2.35 kb, 2.1 kb and 1.0 kb and a diallelic polymorphism with DNA fragments at 5.0 kb or 2.8 kb and 2.2 kb. CHROMOSOMAL LOCALISATION : The ITIH2 gene has been mapped to 10pl5 by in situ hybridization (iT. MENDELIAN INHERITANCE : Codominant segregation (fig.) was found for each polymorphism in two informative families.


Renewed interest in green infrastructure as a stormwater management tool has focused attention on the effects of diverse landscape elements such as urban tree canopy, bioretention facilities, and rain gardens. However, ordinary urban landscapes—such as street medians, grounds of commercial and residential properties, and school grounds—make up much of the nonimpervious surface in urban watersheds and can be managed to increase their ability to receive and store rainfall. We propose that exploiting this potential creates an opportunity for a more holistic strategy for stormwater management where every portion of the landscape performs optimally, rather than solely relying on small, hyper-functioning cells. On average, urban soils are characterized by compacted soil, slow infiltration, and low hydraulic conductivity. Consequently, all such open soil areas are typically assumed to have lower stormwater management potential than their less disturbed rural counterparts. Soil preparation, root distribution, and selection and maintenance of surface treatments such as mulch, however, can strongly affect these characteristics, enhancing the ability of some urban landscapes to capture rainfall. We describe the potential of certain soil and vegetation management strategies to alter this "typical" behavior of urban landscapes. Although some of these practices are acknowledged as best management strategies, many are not or are infrequently implemented. Broader creation and adoption of such Better Management


Let X be a vector space and Y be a Banach space over the real field,R.A mapping f:X2→Y from X2into Y is called a mixed quintic functional equation of tw o variables if it satisfies that f(x 1 + x 2,2y 1 + y 2) +f(x 1 + x 2,2y 1-y 2) + f(x 1-x 2,2y 1 + y 2) + f(x 1-x 2,2y 1-y 2) =4f(x 1,y 1 + y 2) + 4f(x 2,y 1 + y 2) + 4f(x 1,y 1-y 2) + 4f(x 2,y 1-y 2) + 24f(x 1,y 1) +24f(x 2,y 1) for all x 1,x 2,y 1,y 2 ∈X.The general solution of the mixed quintic functional equation of tw o variables is obtained and the Hyers-Ulam-Rassias stability for it is proved.


Deformation effects in neutron scattering from isotopically enriched Sm/sub 2/O/sub 3/ samples have been studied at an incident neutron energy of 7 MeV where a maximum of the deformation effects was observed in total cross section measurements on the same isotopes. Differential cross sections for elastic scattering and inelastic scattering (first 2/sup +/ state) were measured for /sup 148/Sm and /sup 150/Sm and for /sup 146/Nd, which was included in this study to aid in separating isospin effects from deformation effects. Cross sections for the sum of elastic and inelastic scattering (first 2/sup +/ state) were determined for /sup 152/Sm and /sup 154/Sm. Experimental cross sections are compared to the results of non-spherical optical-potential coupled-channel calculations. 4 figures (auth)


At the present stage of development, the diagram method for calculating rod elements made of reinforced concrete has a number of disadvantages, which is due to the lack of a single holistic theory. The paper attempts to propose its foundations. For this purpose, the most General structure of the theory has been developed, and a three-level computational model has been proposed, hierarchically built on the principle of the computational scheme discretization: level 1 - "element" - the rod design model, built according to the well-known rules of construction mechanics; level 2 – "cross" – enhanced non-linear (discrete) deformation model, adopted by BC 63.13330 with some significant author's clarification; level 3 – material – the standard samples' analysis model of concrete and rerod subject to the axial compressive action or tensile static short-term load or under static short-time load, pure shear (to describe proposed Jenny more deformation curve of concrete). A detailed algorithm for the relationship of models at all three levels is described.


The quantum mechanical correspondence of the Kepler problem in R3 and the free-particle motion on spaces S3 and S31 is found by using the fact that the Higgs algebra is a finite W-algebra obtained by embedding of algebra sl(2) into sl(4).


: The article is related to the phenomenon of trust during communication between a police officer and various groups of citizens. Trustful relations between police officers and citizens normally exist within the framework of cultural traditions, running upon values and senses, and in situations of sense bearing interaction they function in the form of sense manifestation activity of the parties.


Although the pituitary-gonadal relationship involved is not entirely clear, it is generally held that after exposure of the mouse ovary to x-rays estrogen output is impaired (Furth and Boon, '47; Lick e t al., '49). Consequently the normal check on gonadotrophic hormone release is eliminated, and, as a result, the ovaries are subjected to continuous heightened stimulation. In time, under induced hormonal imbalance, ovarian neoplasms appear. Previous experience has shown that application of an antigonadotrophic serum at intervals of 0 to 24 weeks after exposure to x-rays leads to a decided modification of the usual response (Ely, '57a). The present study deals with the effect of gonadotrophic antiserum when applied at longer intervals after exposure of mice to total body irradiation.


In summing up what can we learn from the experiences of Argentina Brazil Chile and Ecuador as reported in the country reports published by this journal? First we need to acknowledge that the systematic and sustained use of quality assurance and quality improvement methods is in an early stage of introduction and development in Latin America with start up and implementation in the 1990s. Second hospital accreditation seems to have developed and taken a stronger foothold in the two countries (Argentina and Brazil) that have a large private hospital sector. Third QA programs tend to be initiated and promoted by the public sector--often with external seed money financing--except for hospital accreditation where the private sector seems to assume the leadership. Medical schools scientific societies and professional associations have been more involved in Argentinas national QA program than in the other three countries reviewed here. Fourth external finding by bilateral and multilateral agencies has helped in starting up and building support for QA programs; however it is the allocation of a countrys own resources that ensures expansion and institutionalization of the measurement and the continuous improvement of the quality of health services. Fifth there seems to be a relationship between health sector leadership and especially continuity of leadership at the top and the allocation of internal financial resources for quality assurance and quality improvement programs. Sixth the incipient development and use of QA in Latin America merits support from the international QA community to ensure that Quality Assurance and Improvement become permanent and sustainable parts of each countrys health care delivery system. (excerpt)


The introduction of large scale structures in space is currently limited by the size of the transport vehicle as well as time and labor intensive assembly once in space 1 . Accordingly, investigation of methods to facilitate the further advancement of large scale structures in space is essential. One such method is the design and development of a large scale truss that can be stowed at a fraction of its size and launched into space. Once it reaches its intended destination, the truss can then be deployed and expanded to its full size. The objective of this project was to design a three dimensional, folding truss using a shape memory polymer (SMP) composite material for the hinges. The truss will be launched to a near space environment, via a high altitude balloon (HIBAL). It will be launched in a folded state, approximately 2 feet in length, to near space, approximately 70,000 feet, where it will be deployed by providing power to heating elements attached to each of its hinges. Heating the hinges will cause them to revert to their original shape, thereby extending the truss to approximately 10 feet. Introduction


During the last decades of the 20th century, the environmentalist movement came of age. As it developed into a mass movement, it gradually changed its arguments and strategies for persuading the pu ...


This paper proposes a novel efficiency measurement method without dynamometer. In case of small motor, the measurement of efficiency is not easy because the percentage of mechanical loss is comparably huge and the mechanical loss is not easy to be measured. In this paper, the authors proposes a method which can measure the efficiency with two test motors. This method can be useful to engineers who study small electrical motors.


This paper proposes a novel and simple orthogonal faster than Nyquist (OFTN) data transmission and detection approach for a single input multiple output system. It is assumed that the signal having a bandwidth <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is transmitted through a wireless channel with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula> multipath components. Under this assumption, this paper provides a novel and simple OFTN transmission and symbol-by-symbol detection approach that exploits the multiplexing gain obtained by the multipath characteristic of wideband wireless channels. It is shown that the proposed design can achieve a higher transmission rate than the existing one [i.e., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)]. Furthermore, the achievable rate gap between the proposed approach and that of the OFDM increases as the number of receiver antennas increases for a fixed value of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. This implies that the performance gain of the proposed approach can be very significant for a large-scale multi-antenna wireless system. The superiority of the proposed approach is shown theoretically and confirmed via numerical simulations. Specifically, we have found upper-bound average rates of 15 and 28 bps/Hz with the OFDM and proposed approaches, respectively, in a Rayleigh fading channel with 32 receive antennas and signal-to-noise ratio of 15.3 dB. The extension of the proposed approach for different system setups and associated research problems is also discussed.


Abstract A case is reported in which an inhaled sewing needle, stuck fast in the trachea, became displaced through the tracheal wall during attempted removal via flexible bronchoscopy. The inherent risks and pitfalls of this procedure are highlighted.


Conservation of power in time-stepping finite-element (FE) simulation of electrical machines is studied. We propose a method for accurately obtaining the instantaneous time derivative of the FE solution, from which the instantaneous eddy-current losses and the rate-of-change of the magnetic field energy are calculated. The method is shown to be consistent with different time-integration schemes, unlike the typically used backward-difference (BWD) approximation, which is only accurate if the BWD method is also used for the time integration. We first formulate the FE equations for a locked-rotor induction machine as a differential-algebraic equation (DAE) system. An approach called the collocation method is then used to derive the BWD, trapezoidal (TR), and implicit midpoint integration rules in order to show how these methods approximate the solution in time. We then differentiate the constraint equations of the DAE to form a system from which the time derivative of the solution can be solved. The obtained derivative is shown to satisfy the power balance exactly in the collocation points. In case of the TR rule, the losses calculated with the proposed method are shown to be less sensitive to the time-step length than ones obtained with the BWD approximation for the time derivatives. The collocation approach also allows studying the power balance continuously during the time step.


The ϵ4 isoform of apolipoprotein E (Apo-E) may confer genetic susceptibility for familial and sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). Because dementia in AD and Parkinson's disease (PD) share many biologic and clinical features, we determined the Apo-E genotypes for 79 patients with PD, 22 of whom were demented, and for 44 age-matched healthy elderly controls from the same community. We hypothesized that if the dementia was similar to AD, there would be a higher allele frequency of apolipoprotein ϵ4 (Apoϵ4) in demented PD patients compared with nondemented PD patients and controls. The ϵ4 allele frequency for PD without dementia was 0.132, for PD with dementia, 0.068, and for controls, 0.102. There was no association between Apoϵ4 and dementia in the PD patients. We conclude that the biologic basis for dementia in PD may differ from that of AD.


With the increase in access to the media, mainly the internet and TICS, several business platforms have migrated to this format. However, the reality of countless social actors is still the exclusion of information and communication technologies, modern means of communication. In this sense, this article aimed to analyze the difference between the right to information and access to the means of communication, within the scope of family farming, aiming to point out the weaknesses in the realization of this right. The investigation focused on verifying access to the media, as well as the participation of these social actors in institutional sales, a means of accessing important and voluminous public policies for direct purchase. The chosen methodology was the review of analytical literature, looking for other articles, dissertations, and theses on access to information, and also, the crossing of information obtained with secondary data from official bodies on the subject. As a result, we realized that free access to the means of communication, in the Brazilian rural areas, is still a distant reality, albeit in constant Evolution. In this way, countless farmers find themselves in the commercial invisibility of their products, reinforcing the participation of large corporations, and strengthening the bases of agribusiness and monoculture. The contribution of this article points to intersectoral public policies as a means of achieving greater coverage for this population and to guarantee democratic access to the media as a form of exercising citizenship and freedom.


Abstract Beyond demonstration of conceptual relevance and synthetic feasibility of aryl/alkyl-substituted representatives, carbo-benzene molecules started to gain prospects of broader impact through the emergence of alkynyl derivatives. This is first illustrated by examples of di- and hexaalkynyl-carbo-benzenes, a carbo-naphthalene, a carbo-biphenyl, and two carbo-terphenyls. A focus is then given to dialkynyl derivatives by reference to the peripherally C2-extruded parents. In the centrosymmetric quadrupolar series, the C2 expansion or ethynylogation effect is more particularly considered for 9H-fluoren-2-yl, tris(O-n-alkyl)pyrogallyl, indol-3-yl, 4-anilinyl, and tetraphenyl-carbo-phenyl substituents on the following respective properties: two-photon absorption, chemical stability, columnar mesogenicity, on-surface photoinduced charge separation vs single-molecule conductance, and reduction potential. Topical results and prospects of application are discussed on the basis of crystallographic, spectroscopic, and electrochemical analyses vs DFT-calculated nuclear and electronic structures. For the sake of the discussion consistency, complementary experimental and computational results are disclosed in the dianilinyl series. Overall, it is shown that combined advances in strategy, protocols, and substrate scope of acetylenic synthesis remain crucial for the development of yet poorly explored but promising types of molecular materials. 1 Introduction 2 Hexaalkynyl-carbo-benzene 3 ortho-Dialkynyl-carbo-benzene 4 para-Dialkynyl-carbo-benzenes 4.1 Bistrimethylsilylethynyl-carbo-benzene 4.2 Bisfluorenylethynyl-carbo-benzene 4.3 Bistrialkoxyarylethynyl-carbo-benzenes 4.4 Bisindolylethynyl-carbo-benzene 4.5 Bisanilinylethynyl-carbo-benzene 5 Carbo-oligo(phenyleneethynylene)s 6 Conclusions


Based on Khokhlov-Zabolotkaya-Kuznetsov (KZK) equation in frequency-domain, an approach to study the three-dimensional asymmetric nonlinear ultrasonic field is developed in this paper. The ultrasonic nonlinear field distribution behind the simulated rib-like barriers is investigated by numerical simulation and compared with the measured results. In addition, the influence of the barriers on the spatial-and-time-averaged intensity is discussed, which is helpful for future study on the HIFU treatment behind the ribs.


Objective To estimate the cost of maternal morbidity for all 2019 pregnancies and births in the United States. Methods Using data from 2010 to 2020, we developed a cost analysis model that calculated the excess cases of outcomes attributed to nine maternal morbidity conditions with evidence of outcomes in the literature. We then modeled the associated medical and nonmedical costs of each outcome incurred by birthing people and their children in 2019, projected through five years postpartum. Results We estimated that the total cost of nine maternal morbidity conditions for all pregnancies and births in 2019 was $32.3 billion from conception to five years postpartum, amounting to $8,624 in societal costs per birthing person. Conclusion We found only nine maternal morbidity conditions with sufficient supporting evidence of linkages to outcomes and costs. The lack of comprehensive data for other conditions suggests that maternal morbidity exacts a higher toll on society than we found. Policy implications Although this study likely provides lower bound cost estimates, it establishes the substantial adverse societal impact of maternal morbidity and suggests further opportunities to invest in maternal health.


The possibility of dolphin's auditory system to solve the complex problem of identifying and classifying noise-like signals according to certain invariant features is considered under conditions of spatial uncertainty of their simultaneous presentation. There was studied the ability of bottlenose dolphins, which were trained to recognize and classify such signals, to select a certain class of signals from several that sound simultaneously. The dolphin had to recognize a positive class signal with a pair of simultaneously sounding signals: positive-negative (alternative choice) and with simultaneously sounding three signals: positive-negative-negative (multiple choice). It's shown that the dolphin effectively solves the problem with a simple alternative choice of two signal sources, at the limit of reliability when choosing from three sources and unreliable when choosing from more sources.


The sensitivity of 10 extraverts, 10 ambiverts, and 10 introverts to auditory stimuli was determined by a signal detection procedure. Under the low-frequency condition, introverts were significantly more sensitive than extraverts. Under the high-frequency condition, extraverts showed a significant increase in sensitivity, the introverts tended to show a relative decrease in sensitivity. Results endorse Eysenck's proposed relation of extraversion and the reticular formation arousal system.


Insulin resistence, obesity and metabolic sindrome. Cohort CDC Canarian in Venezuela Obesity is a chronic disease, a public health problem, with high morbidity associated to the insulin resistance (IR). Metabolic syndrome (MS), predicts cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, being obesity and IR the main risk factors. HOMA, is a simple validated marker for IR, non invasive and inexpensive. The objective was to estimate IR and its relation with the nutritional status of canarian-venezuelan adults with and without MS. The sample was comprised of 67 adults (20-84 years old), born in canaries islands and their children older than 19 years of age living in Venezuela, 23 with MS and 44 controls. Anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, fasting glucose, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin were performed in each individual. Subjects with obesity showed significantly higher values of HOMA (3,63 ± 1,27 vs 2,33 ± 0,52, p<0,001) as well as abdominal circumference, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, glucose, insulin and triglycerides/HDLcholesterol, when compared to the eutrophic subjects,. The Chi² test showed a highly significant association (p<0,001) between HOMA and MS. MS subjects had 4.7 times more risk for IR, being this finding statistically significant. To establish the correlation between variables was performed Pearson analysis demonstrating a significant correlation between HOMA and body mass index (BMI), abdominal circumference, triglycerides and triglycerides/ HDL-cholesterol. Obesity showed a high association with insulinresistance. Concluding that obesity, hypertriglyceridemia and high index triglycerides/HDL-cholesterol are high parameters for RI.


© 2022 Jonathan Williams – WGS Ministries Earthquake in the Empire – Prisoner Paul Writes to Master Philemon Jonathan Williams Was N.T. Wright stretching the point when he said this about Paul's letter to Philemon: "If we had no other first-century evidence for the movement that came to be called Christianity, this letter ought to make us think: 'Something is going on here. Something is different. People do not say this sort of thing. This isn't how the world works,'"? Wright was comparing Paul's letter to Philemon with Pliny the Younger's letter to Sabinianus, a young friend dealing with a freed slave who has sought help from Pliny. Writing about 50 years after Paul penned Philemon, Pliny appeals to young Sabinianus to show mercy. Both letters speak of friendship. Both speak of obedience of the younger to the elder. But there, the similarities cease, and it is in the dissimilarities that theological digging will find evidence of an ancient societal earthquake. Indeed, something was going on! Paul's letter follows the basic epistolary structure: • Salutation – 1:1-3 • Thanksgiving – 1:4-7 • Body of Letter and Paraenesis – 1:8-22 • Final Greeting with a Benediction – 1:23-25 In the body of the letter, one finds six seismic shock waves in the ancient world that reverberate to this day. The first shock wave pertains to status. Paul, like an aristocrat, writes to Philemon, and one can hear his authority and understand that Philemon would respect it. But the authority does not come from a position. Rather, it comes from a moral example. Paul has touched Philemon's life and alludes to this in 1:19 when he says, "not to mention to you that you


In the present study, HPTLC method was developed and validated for the determination of a Emodin (anthraquinone) and Quercetine (flavonoid) in Cassia fistula and Cassia tora (family: Cesalpineceae) flower and stem extract. Appropriate mobile phases were found as n-hexane: ethyl acetate (7:3V/V) for Emodin (Compound 1) and toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid (2.5:2:0.3V/V) for Quercetine (Compound 2). The densitometric determination was carried out for both compounds. These plates were scanned at 437nm & 254 nm absorbance / reflection mode respectively as Compound 1 & 2. Validation parameters such as linearity range, limit of detection and limit of quantification, regression analysis, sensitivity etc. Regression analysis shows the calibration data is in the range of 0.5 to3 μg for Compound 1, with correlation coefficient (r) value 0.977 whereas 2 to10 μg for Compound 2 with correlation coefficient (r) value0.991.The equation indicates that a unit increase in the concentration of Compound 1& 2 results in an increase in the detector response. Low magnitude of residual values indicates a good agreement between observed and calculated values. The accuracy of the proposed method is determined by performing replicate analysis, which indicates high accuracy as actual amount obtained close to theoretical amount. The robustness of proposed HPTLC method was checked with chamber saturation, as it has a pronounced influence on saturation profile.


The present invention relates to a method for checking data sequences, comprising a protection step of the method and a checking step (1) is formed according to a recognition sequence in the protection step a control sequence (2), which includes a recognition sequence for identifying the data to be protected identification value (D) sequence and the control sequence comprises control values (w), at least a portion of the control value is formed in accordance with an operation value, and manipulated value is obtained (F) data sequence is identified as the identification values from the and the check data according to the control value in the sequence of checking step. According to the present invention, in combination with a previous control value relating to operation of the value (C) to control values in order to obtain by identifying value (d). The present invention is particularly applicable to the verification data file.


Music education becomes more important in Indonesia recently. Parents become aware that music education is essential for children's development, and this awareness has triggered the growth of schools for music education in Indonesia. Music functions to stimulate prior memories that can encourage objective and subjective experiences, in order to create feeling of relaxation to the children. Unfortunately, many schools of music are not supported by quality improvement in curriculum and are not yet certified, hence the teaching and learning process are not yet optimal. This research aims to explore the service quality of schools of music which can impact customers' satisfaction in learning music. Theoretical foundations of this research are theory of service quality and customer satisfaction. The results gained through linear regression show that service quality affects the customers' satisfaction in learning music.


A growing number of researchers are investigating the impact of exotic plant invasion on soil ecological processes.This includes the mechanisms of feedback,especially in litter degradation and nutrient cycling.Recent studies indicate that the litter of exotic plants potentially decomposes faster and releases more nutrients if they are nitrogen-fixing plants,or if their leaves have a higher specific leaf area and maintaining higher concentration of nutrients.But slower decomposition of alien species than native species is found when alien plants have higher lignin content,higher C/N ratio and/or unique secondary compounds.However,few studies have concentrated on the comparison between native plant species and different levels of invasive exotic plant such as non-invasive alien species or invasive alien species.In addition,it is not clear whether local soil organism present consumption differences in their litter and food preference.Nor is it clear if generalist decomposers show any associations with the invasion status or particular plant traits. Therefore,we tested leaf litter palatability for ten native plant species,five non-invasive alien species and five invasive alien woody plant species in Switzerland by a selective food-feeding experiment in the laboratory.The generalist consumer used was Porcellio scaber(Isopoda) which is typically employed as a primary generalist decomposer in forest leaf litter decomposition.Each plant species underwent 42 times replications during the test,and the percentage of mass loss determined the consumption rate.Meanwhile,initial traits including lignin,cellulose,hemicellulose,carbon and nitrogen for each plant species were measured for comparison with their consumption rates.Leaf litter compounds were analyzed for the percentage of dry matter and the C/N ratio was calculated afterwards. First and most importantly,our results showed that there are no significant consumption differences(P0.05) among native,non-invasive alien and invasive alien species as food resources for the woodlice in our study.However,taking the architectural form as a functional group,the consumption rate was significantly higher in shrubs than in trees(P0.01).However,the comparison of lignin,cellulose,hemicellulose,carbon and nitrogen content among native,non-invasive alien and invasive alien species or between trees and shrubs did not show any significant differences.And over all the traits,only nitrogen concentration of litter was positively correlated with consumption rate(R2=0.358). Our conclusion therefore emphasizes that the consumption rate of woody species is not necessarily associated to the plants′ invasion status.But nitrogen content or any forms of nitrogen composition may play an important role and may affect the biological processes of invasion to in some extent. Functionally speaking,an increasing presence of alien woody plants should not influence the decomposition of plant material and matter flux negatively.Ecosystem dynamics are altered through a variety of interacting,mutually reinforcing mechanistic pathways,and additional studies on the ecosystem-scale impacts of invasions are needed.


The article describes how the boundary between necessary and unnecessary consumption items was defined in Finland in the years following World War II. On the basis of extensive comparative data, it focuses on the history of two items: the washing machine and the cellular phone. The data consist of press coverage and material published by manufacturers and consumer counseling organizations. The need for household appliances was invented, shaped, normalized, and legitimized through a social interaction process in which the media were a central vehicle. The data suggest that the need for novelties is interpreted though similar types of cultural modes, no matter what the product or type of cultural text. Thus, the entry of technology into the home in the postwar years was accompanied by a discussion flavored not only by technological determinism, but also by a form of social and cultural determinism manifested in deep-grounded conceptual distinctions, such as tools versus toys. The world-record pace at which Finnish consumers took up new technology in the postwar period provides illustrative evidence and new stimuli for evaluating the potential for digitalizing the home in the twenty-first century.