In Japan, mercury and its compounds were categorized as hazardous air pollutants in 1996 and are on the list of "Substances Requiring Priority Action" published by the Central Environmental Council of Japan. The Air Quality Management Division of the Environmental Bureau, Ministry of the Environment, Japan, selected the current annual mean environmental air quality standard for mercury and its compounds of 0.04 μg/m3. Long-term exposure to mercury and its compounds can have a carcinogenic effect, inducing eg, Minamata disease. This study evaluates the impact of mercury emissions on air quality in the coastal area of the Sea of Japan. Average yearly emission of mercury from an elevated point source in this area with background concentration and one-year meteorological data were used to predict the ground level concentration of mercury. The annual mean concentration distribution of mercury and its compounds were calculated for the middle part of Honshu Island, which served as a background level of mercury concentration for the coastal are of the Sea of Japan. To estimate the concentration of mercury and its compounds in air of the local area, two different simulation models have been used. The first is the National Institute of Advanced Science and Technology Atmospheric Dispersion Model for Exposure and Risk Assessment (AIST-ADMER) that estimates regional atmospheric concentration and distribution. The second is the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Low Rise Industrial Source Dispersion Model (METI-LIS) that estimates the atmospheric concentration distribution in the vicinity of facilities.


In the article by P. Stevenson and D. E. Jacobs entitled: "Toxocara infection in pigs. The use of indirect fluorescent antibody tests and an in vitro larval precipitate test for detecting specific antibodies" which appeared in Volume 51, No. 2, June 1977 issue of the Journal of Helminthology, pages 150 and 151 were inadvertently transposed.


Before a gathering of the White House Press corps on March 21, 1930, President Herbert Hoover announced his nomination for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy unexpectedly created by the death of Edward T. Sanford. His nominee was forty-four year old native North Carolinian John J. Parker, a member since 1925 of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Within days of the nomination organized labor and its allies in Congress and the press unleashed withering attacks on a single judicial opinion authored by Parker. In the process, the priority of issues raised in that case was dramatically inverted. The foremost issue, federal jurisdiction, became subordinated to the scope of an injunctive decree, an issue of secondary importance. Thus, the nominee's three year old opinion in International Union, United Mine Workers of America v. Red Jacket Consolidated Coal and Coke Company became the catalyst for transforming him from relative obscurity into a symbol of anti-labor conservatism.


The quantization of gauge fields by means of the Dirac–Bergmann Hamiltonian constraint formulation for generalized dynamical systems is criticized. This formulation is shown to be inconsistent with its implicit assumption that all variables are to be varied in Hamilton's principle and is overly restrictive when applied to simple models. It is shown that the Dirac–Bergmann formulation involves an unjustified assumption in addition to the natural assumption that the gauge field is dynamical. An alternative formulation that does not involve the unjustified assumption is proposed. In this, every variable whose time development is not determined by the equations of motion is treated as a reference, rather than a dynamical, variable and not varied in the action. The proposed formulation is applied to some simple examples, including electromagnetism.


Abstract The collapse of a granular column in a liquid is investigated using numerical simulations. From previous experimental studies, it has been established that the dynamics of the collapse is mostly influenced by the Stokes number $St$, comparing grain inertia and viscous fluid dissipation, and the initial volume fraction of the granular column $\phi _i$. However, the full characterization of the collapse in the $(St,\phi _i)$ plane is still missing, restricting its modelling as a physical process for geophysical applications. Only numerical tools can allow the variation over the parameter space $(St,\phi _i)$ that is hardly reachable in experiments as well as a full description of the granular phase that plays a major role in dense granular flows. For this purpose, a dedicated numerical model is used including a discrete element method to resolve the granular phase. The specific objectives of the paper are then twofold: (i) the characterization of the dynamics of the collapse and its final deposit with respect to $(St,\phi _i)$ to complement available experimental data, and (ii) the description of the granular rheology according to these two dimensionless numbers including dilatancy effects. A simple predictive model stems from the obtained results, allowing one to explain the evolution of the final deposit with $(St,\phi _i)$.


This paper reports the preliminary work on extending the concept of collection in is a declarative language that allows the functional de nition of streams and collections In this paper we focuss our interest on a high level programming abstraction which extends the concept of collection in The new construct is based on an algebra of index set called shape and an extension of the array type the eld type The rest of this paper has the following structure Section gives some back ground on collections and arrays Some shortcommings of data parallel arrays are sketeched Section describes the answers to the previous problem and introduces group based shapes and elds Section is devoted to the shape alge bra Section introduces the main eld operations and eld de nitions Section sketches the implementation Related and futur works are discussed in the last section


Foreword by Walter Nugent and Martin Ridge Acknowledgments Introduction One: Prelude Two: The End of Prosperity: 1930 Three: Tried and Found Wanting Four: Hitting Home Five: In Search of Relief Six: Reaching Bottom: 1932 Seven: In Time of Their Greatest Need Eight: No Longer on Their Own: Continuities and Contrasts Epilogue Appendix: Account of Methods Used in Seattle Voter Study: 1928 and 1932 Notes Index


The roll-out of the high speed train (HST) in China during the past decade o ers travelers a realistic choice of rail versus air on overlapping routes. While the HST competes for tra c it also feeds tra c to the non-overlapping air routes that are connected to the HST network. To analyze the e ects of the roll-out of the high speed train on the airline industry, I use a unique hand-collected dataset on airline networks and the timing of the HST roll-out. I exploit the variation in the timing of the HST roll-out across di erent regions to present descriptive evidence that suggests that the HST may have positive spillover e ects on the airline industry. I then estimate a structural dynamic oligopoly model of air route entry and exit over time. The model allows me to quantify the negative and positive spillovers of the HST network roll-out on the airlines' route networks and to understand how airlines respond strategically to the roll-out of the HST by re-positioning themselves (in this case, through new network con gurations). I nd evidence of heterogeneous spillover e ects of HST on air route networks which depend on the routes' characteristics and on their interaction with the HST network. Conditional on the airlines' decisions, the overall contribution of the positive spillovers from HST exceeds that of the negative spillovers, suggesting that airlines reposition their networks to avoid direct competition while taking advantage of the complementarity in routes.


Objective To study the levels of TNF-αin serum and in urine and IL-6 in serum of renal allograft recipients with acute rejection, infection and CsA-induced nephrotoxicity. Methods The sequential monitoring of TNF-α and IL-6 was conducted by ELISA technique in 106 patients before and after renal transplantation. Results The levels of IL-6 and TNF-α increased in the first day posttransplant, decreased and stabilized after 1 to 2 weeks, and increased 1 to 3 days prior to the clinical diagnosis in acute rejection, then decreased with effective treatment. IL-6 and TNF-αincreased in serum in infection and had no difference in urine. TNF-α in serum and in urine and IL-6 in serum had no significant difference in CsA-induced nephrotoxicity. Conclusion It suggests that the sequential monitoring of IL-6 and TNF-α of renal allograft recipients can be used to estimate the function of graft, as markers of the early diagnosis of acute rejection.


AABBSSTTRRAACCTT OObbjjeeccttiivvee:: In this study, it is aimed to investigate the dynamic thiol-disulfide homeostasis which is an indicator of oxidative stress in retinal vein occlusion patients. MMaatteerriiaall aanndd MMeetthhooddss:: Thirty nine retinal vein occlusion patients and 38 age-gender matched control subjects were included in the study. Exclusion criteria for retinal vein occlusion group were: ocular history and symptoms exceeding 3 weeks, any other history of ocular disease except the retinal vein oc- clusion, any previous ocular surgeries or lasers, any previous treatment or intra-vitreal injection for the retinal vein occlusion, any other systemic disease except the arterial hypertension. The control group included patients without any ocular or systemic diseases. Native thiol, total thiol, disul- fide levels were studied in the serum samples of all participants and native/total thiol and disulfide/total thiol ratios were calculated as percentage. RReessuullttss:: Total thiol, native thiol, disulfide, native/total thiol and disulfide/total thiol ratio were not significantly different between the retinal vein occlusion and the control groups. In the control group, age was inversely correlated with the total thiol level, but not with the other serum parameters. In the retinal vein occlusion group, there was no correlation among the age and the serum parameters but the body mass index (BMI) was inversely correlated with the total thiol level. CCoonncclluussiioonn:: There was not any significant difference between the retinal vein occlusion patients and the control subjects for the thiol-disulfide homeostasis. KKeeyywwoorrddss:: Retinal vein occlusion; thiol-disulfide homeostasis; thiol; disulfide ÖÖZZEETT AAmmaaçç:: Bu çalışmada retinal


Summary We consider the case of phase I trials for treatment of cancer or other severe diseases in which grade information is available about the severity of toxicity. Most dose allocation procedures dichotomize toxicity grades based on being dose limiting, which may not work well for severe and possibly irreversible toxicities such as renal, liver, and neurological toxicities, or toxicities with long duration. We propose a simple extension to the continual reassessment method (CRM), called the Quasi‐CRM, to incorporate grade information. Toxicity grades are first converted to numeric scores that reflect their impacts on the dose allocation procedure, and then incorporated into the CRM using the quasi‐Bernoulli likelihood. A simulation study demonstrates that the Quasi‐CRM is superior to the standard CRM and comparable to a univariate version of the Bekele and Thall method (2004, Journal of the American Statistical Association99, 26–35). We also present sensitivity analysis of the new method with respect to toxicity scores, and discuss practical issues such as extending the simple algorithmic up‐and‐down designs.


Miniaturized scale fund through Self gathering is being advanced as an imperative technique for all the while handling both neediness easing and ladies' strengthening .Self gathering is a little willful relationship of 10-20 needy individuals with the end goal of doing some pay era movement through their gathering investment funds and credit from bank. It instills the propensity for obligatory funds among its individuals. The self improvement gathering individuals experience limit building preparing to enhance their certainty level, administrative productivity and entrepreneurial aptitudes to draw in themselves in some salary era exercises, for example, mushroom development, fitting, pickle making and masterpieces. This paper concentrates on dissecting how self improvement gatherings go about as an instrument to upgrade the work of minimized segments of ladies and different difficulties of SHG to participate in salary era exercises. The exploration is led in the provincial zones of Tuticorin locale of Tamil Nadu. The information is gathered from 300 self improvement gathering individuals through poll review. The concentrate likewise breaks down the effect of preparing on salary era exercises of the Self gathering individuals.


The muX project at the Paul Scherrer Institut aims to perform high-resolution muonic atom X-ray spectroscopy for the extraction of nuclear charge radii of radioactive isotopes that can be handled only in microgram quantities. Measurements of the absolute charge radii of high-Z radioactive elements are complementary to the measurements of relative differences in mean-square radii along the isotopic chain available from laser spectroscopy. One of the major limitations of atomic structure calculations is related with the uncertainty of the nuclear charge radius. This is the case for the extraction of the Weinberg angle from atomic parity violation in Ra-226. A new approach to solve previous limitations of muonic atom X-ray spectroscopy experiments is the application of multiple muon transfer reactions in a high-pressure hydrogen gas cell with a small admixture of deuterium. The validity of this method has been demonstrated with a measurement with only 5 mu g of gold.


Magnetic flux generated and intensified by the solar dynamo emerges into the solar atmosphere, forming active regions (ARs) including sunspots. Existing theories of flux emergence suggest that the magnetic flux can rise buoyantly through the convection zone but is trapped at the photosphere, while its further rising into the atmosphere resorts to the Parker buoyancy instability. To trigger such an instability, the Lorentz force in the photosphere needs to be as large as the gas pressure gradient to hold up an extra amount of mass against gravity. This naturally results in a strongly non-force-free photosphere, which is indeed shown in typical idealized numerical simulations of flux tube buoyancy from below the photosphere into the corona. Here we conduct a statistical study of the extents of normalized Lorentz forces and torques in the emerging photospheric magnetic field with a substantially large sample of Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager vector magnetograms. We found that the photospheric field has a rather small Lorentz force and torque on average, and thus is very close to a force-free state, which is not consistent with theories as well as idealized simulations of flux emergence. Furthermore, the small extents of forces and torques seem not to be influenced by the emerging AR's size, the emergence rate, or the nonpotentiality of the field. This result puts an important constraint on future development of theories and simulations of flux emergence.


Abstract This article discusses the national identity of the Yemenite Jews as portrayed in Majdi Saleh's novel The Journey of Buried Secrets. The novel, in addition to being a journey to the ancient past of Yemen, is a journey to the secret life of the Yemenite Jews as well. It is an exploration of their customs, traditions, worries, passions and identity. The writer has been able to dive deep into the depths of Yemeni society, both Muslim and Jewish, depicting the beauty of Yemen architecture, ancient inscriptions and living styles of bygone days. Saleh's novel presents a new perspective of the Yemenite Jew, one who identifies himself with Yemen and feels proud of this attachment to the land of his birth. The article argues that Yemenite Jews have been emotionally and cognitively attached to their motherland and perceived themselves as being Yemenites belonging to the country where they were born and grew up. It asserts that such a sense of belonging is the outcome of religious tolerance and coexistence of the larger Muslim community.


Road connectivity is most important for Developing Nations. A great challenge is to detect road damage which manually causes huge costs by putting different resources, such as instruments (technical devices). The need is to reduce the cost for governing bodies such that their inspection and damage road report should not be delayed. Road damage is of various types, which is an even regular process for the state to allocate budget in all means. The most efficient way which was seen by recent research is to utilize the latest object detection algorithm. A country like India where transportation is a lifeline for the economy. It has seen that most of the road damages arises due to potholes. Cost effective approach has to be considered to detect potholes. CNN has abiltity to extract the relevant features from image or video based datasets. In this paper, pothole image dataset annotated and trained using YOLOv4 and results were evaluated based on recall, preciosion and mAP. The model was validated with different set of images and videos based on potholes.


191 Background: MMC has been traditionally viewed as an educational tool. However, negative associations with MMC include emphasis on individual error and assigning blame, with little attention to improving patient safety and quality of care. MMC at the TCI has been designed to provide an opportunity to discuss MMC cases in an open, non-judgmental setting.

METHODS
Since September 2013, a monthly MMC, open to all caregivers, not just physicians, has been held as part of CME certified oncology grand rounds. Two cases are discussed per session and are obtained from nursing, pharmacy, and physician recommendation through the hospital Safety Event Reporting System or direct communication. Fellows investigate and present cases with patient and provider information de-identified to assure the discussion occurs in a blame-free setting. RCA is performed to determine action items. Process and safety improvements are recommended where applicable. Ongoing follow-up and improvement tracking is reported at future MMCs. The MMC governance committee, composed of the TCI quality officer, quality director, fellow representative, and a multi-disciplinary group of providers, meets quarterly to review cases and follow up action items under the guidance of the TCI MMC charter. The MMC governance committee reports to the TCI Quality Steering Committee.

RESULTS
Cases reviewed to date include chemotherapy dosing/administration errors (23%), hospital acquired medical complications (31%), communication breakdown between caregivers (15%), and end of life care (31%). An average of 3.5 action items has resulted from each case with 75% addressed within 90 days. Physician attendance is 59% higher and 23% more physicians report that they are very likely to change their practice behaviors from MMC than other grand rounds presentations.

CONCLUSIONS
A patient safety driven MMC, delivered in an open setting, can be an effective tool to improve quality of care and caregiver communication in a large academic cancer center. High provider attendance and survey feedback reflects engagement in the process and will be essential to sustaining a meaningful and productive MMC.


Until the middle of 1970s, the roles of biochemical engineers had been to design effective processes for production of industrially important proteins and to control bioreactors under optimal conditions. Many microorganisms were isolated from soils, rivers, and seawater, and their genes were randomly disrupted by mutagenic agents such as 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine to enhance the productivity, which was the best procedure of breeding for a long time. Gene manipulation technology born in the late 1870s was a groundbreaking invention, and the technology drastically changed the world of biotechnology. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method and genome analysis using high-performance DNA sequencers, which were born after gene manipulation technology, enhanced the drastic progress. Recently, a huge number of genes have been cloned from isolated microorganisms, and many excellent vector plasmids and promoters have been developed. Recently, the interest of biochemical engineers shifted from breeding using gene manipulation technology to using the discovered novel biocatalysts and the "directed evolution" technology. The idea of directed evolution was proposed by Arnold et al. They proposed that artificial evolution, which is similar to the natural evolution that slowly occurs in the nature world, can be performed at rapid speed using biotechnology. Based on this concept, many studies have been conducted and have become an important target of biochemical engineers. In the future, such artificial proteins will introduce a next wave in the world of biotechnology [1]. Based on this background, I introduce in this chapter the recent advancements in artificial enzymes. There are other important targets for biochemical engineers, and therefore, I recommend referring to other chapters of this book by other authors.


In order to study the therapeutic effect of vitamin B12 on the retinopathy in juvenile diabetics a daily dosage of 100 γ was given to a group of 15 cases of diabetes with an age at onset less than 15 years. A group of 22 juvenile diabetics having the same dosage of insuline but no B12 were controls. All cases were examined repeatedly during two years.


The invention discloses a clothes weight sensing device for a washing machine and a using method of the clothes weight sensing device. The clothes weight sensing device comprises a weighing device arranged on the washing machine and a weighing circuit connected with the weighing device, wherein the weighing circuit comprises a microprocessor, a varistor and a voltage division protective resistor; the varistor and the voltage division protective resistor are connected in series with each other and are connected with the microprocessor; calculation is performed according to the change of the resistance value of the varistor; and the calculation method is simple.


Departments of Physics and Applied Physics,Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511 USA(Dated: August 24, 2010)We calculate the dynamical decoherence rate and susceptibility of a nonequilibrium quantum dotclose to the delocalized-to-localized quantum phase transitions. The setup concerns a resonance-level coupled to two spinless fermionic baths with a finite bias voltage and an Ohmic bosonic bathrepresenting the dissipative environment. The system is equivalent to an anisotropic Kondo model.As the dissipation strength increases, the system at zero temperature and zero bias show quantumphase transition between a conducting delocalized phase to an insulating localized phase. Withinthe nonequilibrium functional Renormalization Group (FRG) approach, we address the finite biascrossover in dynamical decoherence rate and charge susceptibility close to the phase transition. Wefind the dynamical decoherence rate increases with increasing frequency. In the delocalized phase,it shows a singularity at frequencies equal to positive or negative bias voltage. As the systemcrossovers to the localized phase, the decoherence rate at low frequencies get progressively smallerand this sharp feature is gradually smeared out, leading to a single linear frequency dependence.The dynamical charge susceptibility shows a dip-to-peak crossover across the delocalized-to-localizedtransition. Relevance of our results to the experiments is discussed.


The invention relates to a submerged surface cleaner rolling apparatus comprising drive rolling members, at least one motor (20a, 20b) driving at least one drive rolling member, a filter chamber formed in the hollow body and having a liquid inlet into the hollow body, a liquid outlet from the hollow body, a hydraulic circuit for circulation of liquid between the liquid inlet and the liquid outlet through a filtering device, a motorized device (12) for pumping adapted to generate a flow of liquid between each liquid inlet and each liquid outlet characterized in that it comprises a unit (90) for controlling adapted to control a modulation of the liquid flow circulating between each liquid inlet and each outlet liquid.


Scientific research data on the role of zinc in the processing of insulin in pancreatic β-cells of the islets of Langerhans are presented. It is shown that Zn2+ as a cofactor is not only involved in the synthesis of insulin granules and their depositing in vesicles, but it also serves as a signal molecule for α-cells while releasing into the extracellular space.


It is not unusual for statistical methods to include a MANOVA – a multivariate analysis of variance. MANOVA has many sides to it and in this issue we briefly describe those most likely to be encountered. Usage varies somewhat by discipline and subject matter, but four usages – ordered according to a wild guess about how often they are used in the psychiatric and psychological literature of interest to readers of this journal – are as follows:


On several occasions, I have presented the results of my research on the characteristics and evolution of the qadiship of important cities in al-Andalus during the Almoravid period (e.g. Cordova, Seville, Valencia, Malaga, Granada) and I think that these issues have been sufficiently clarified. In the past I have also presented a few reflexions about the development of justice in Andalusi towns of little importance (i.e. "marginal" or "peripheral" towns) during the same period, such as Algeciras, Jaen, and Alcala la Real. Some of these results are published and others appear in brief. On this occasion, I have chosen the small town of Almunecar to check if the organisation of justice in this town in the Almoravid period was similar to that applied in most of the other towns of little importance or if it was different due to being near the capital, Granada. To this end, this contribution will attempt to address two primary points. On one hand, we present a brief study of information found on Almunecar in the Arabic sources, reviewing how it is presented. Above all, we follow the political evolution of the city and its role in the judicial and administrative changes which befell from the end of the Taifa period until the end of the Almoravid period. On the other hand, we analyse the formation of the qadiship of the town, with the purpose of studying possible changes in the Almoravid period


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of organization leaders, particularly top managers, in building support for and developing behaviors that are consistent with values‐based management, by providing an empirical assessment of the effect of an organization's senior leadership on the values‐based management process.Design/methodology/approach – As part of a program of organization development, a values‐based management approach was implemented in a large manufacturing organization. As part of the process, a system of measuring and evaluating values‐based behaviors was developed. The senior leaders of two groups of the organization were assessed in terms of their values behaviors, and their direct reports were likewise evaluated by the organization using a 360° process.Findings – The results indicated that the leader's values behaviors were significantly related to the values behaviors of subordinates. Subordinates of leaders who strongly demonstrated values‐based management behaviors...


Abstract This essay explores the thematic use of music in the science-fiction writings of two African American authors, Henry Dumas and Samuel R. Delany. Each author visited this theme in more than one work, and in at least one work centered the Afro-technological focus upon a special musical instrument: the "afro horn" in Dumas's story "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" and a machete/flute in Samuel R. Delany's novel The Einstein Intersection. Both writers treat music itself, without regard to a material instrument, as a technology. Dumas depicted black music as a tool that enabled black people to kill their enemies, and Delany represented music as a technology capable of avenging the wrongs committed against the politically and socially marginalized. Whereas Dumas's protagonists were more likely to be social pariahs because of their class or their sexual orientation than because of race, his descriptions specifically reference black music and its attendant rituals. Both writers portray music as a technology capable of creating and healing as well as avenging and destroying.


We present the case of a patient with previously undiagnosed hypopituitarism, it presents whose initial manifestation was a severe hyponatremia secondary to a central adrenal insufficiency, and besides this deficit he had central hypothyroidism and hypogonadism. In his past medical history he had a moderate traumatic brain injury almost 40 years before. The case highlights the presentation of hypopituitarism decades after a traumatic brain injury. An approach to the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of these patients in our environment is proposed.


Abstract Petro-alignment, a quid pro quo arrangement whereby great powers offer security in exchange for oil states' friendly oil policies, is a widely used and yet undertheorized energy security strategy. One consequential aspect of this exchange is that great powers choose different levels of security commitment to keep oil producers friendly. With what criteria do great powers rank oil states? How do we conceptualize different types of petro-alignments? What exactly do great powers and oil producers exchange under each petro-alignment type? I posit that a mix of market power and geostrategic location determines the strategic value and vulnerability of individual client oil states, which then generates four corresponding types of petro-alignment—security guarantee, strategic alignment, strategic favor, and neglect. Two carefully selected case comparisons—Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in 1970–91, and Azerbaijan and Ecuador in 1990–2013—show how great powers created, utilized, and maintained petro-alignments under the unique logic of oil markets and across varying geopolitical settings. The findings have important implications on great powers' grand strategies, strategic behaviors of oil states, and the role of oil in international security.


Based on the demand of knowledge and ability of apparel industry for professional personnel,this paper sums up the reformation of the course on Costume Structure Technology at Suzhou Institute of Trade Commerce. It comes up with the ideas to identify the course on Costume Structure Technology as the core position in the teaching system, builds the curriculum complex system on macroscopic view, reforms the teaching theory and exercises on macrocosmic view. thus achieving the goal to train modern comprehensive application— oriented personne1.


In this work, an electricity distribution system with distributed generation is investigated using a multi-objective optimization technique. The study consists of allocating distributed generation based on technical and economic parameters. The system is investigated considering two interests: on one hand, from the Independent Energy Producer (IEP), which owns the distribued generators, and, on the other hand, from the Electricity Distribution Company (EDC), which operates the system. From the perspective of the IEP, the adopted model seeks to maximize the active power generation of distributed generators and minimize costs associated to this generation. From the perspective of the EDC, the model aims to maximize the valuation of losses, maximize the reliability of the system and minimize costs involved in adaptation of the network due to the instalation of the distributed generators. A multi-objective optimization technique, the Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 (SPEA2), was used in order to generate the non-dominated solutions of the porposed problems. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model, the 135-bar test system was used. The results for the two problems, for the parameters used in this study, were a set of non-dominated solutions, which established a conflict between the IEP and the EDC because the alternative that proved the most promising for the IEP was the less attractive for the EDC. This point constitutes the main contribution of this study, because the set of solutions found using the SPEA2 constitute a flexible environment that allows the IEP and the EDC evaluate each proposed solution and decide on the one that is closest to the interests of both parties.


Due to the ever increasing pressure on cultivated land the importance of intercropping in farming practices has been
recognized. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of intercropping ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum lam) with
fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.). For this purpose, a field experiment was arranged based on randomized
complete block design with three replications at the experimental farm of faculty of agriculture Cairo University at Giza,
Egypt during two seasons of 2015 and 2016. The experimental treatments were planting patterns (sole crop of rye or
fenugreek and intercropping ratios of 1 rye: 1 fenugreek, 2 rye: 1 fenugreek and 1 rye: 2 fenugreek). Results showed that
intercropping system had positive effects on ryegrass yield. Moreover, the planting ratio of 2 rye: 1 fenugreek gave the
maximum values of ryegrass fresh and dry yield in both cuts compared with the other treatments of the sole crop and the
other intercropping ratios in the first and second season, respectively. The application of sole crop had the highest fenugreek
fresh and dry yield and seed yield too in both seasons compared with other treatments, respectively. While, the maximum
significant levels of chemical contents (oil and protein percentage) of fenugreek seeds were found with the sole fenugreek
crop and the intercropping ratio of 1 rye: 2fenugreek, respectively as compared with the other treatments but the differences
between the fenugreek sole crop and the other studied intercropping system in the percentage of trigoniline were
insignificant in both seasons, respectively. The maximum significant values of competitive ratio (CR) and aggresivity (A)
for rye grass crop was found in the pattern ratio of 1rye: 2 fenugreek in both seasons, respectively. While the same situation
was recorded with fenugreek crop in the pattern ratio of 2 rye: 1 fenugreek in both seasons, respectively. The highest total
land equivalent ratio (LER) (3.08 and 2.98 for the first and second seasons, respectively) was obtained by sowing the crops
in the intercrop ratio of 2 rye: 1 fenugreek and the lowest total LER (2.57and 2.48 in both seasons, respectively) was
obtained by using the intercrop ratio of 1 rye: 1 fenugreek. In addition, all intercropping treatments in both seasons,
respectively gave values of LER for rye grass or fenugreek or both of them more than one. These findings suggest that
intercropping of fenugreek and ryegrass increased the total productivity per unit area.


Objectives: Massive rotator cuff tears (MRCTs) are a frequent and challenging entity encountered by for orthopedic surgeons, accounting for up to 40% of all rotator cuff tears (RCT). Furthermore, the efficacy of repair of MRCTs in older patients is questioned by some. The purpose of this study is to report minimum 5-year outcomes after primary arthroscopic rotator cuff repair (ARCR) of MRCT and the effect that age has on outcomes. We hypothesized that there would be low rates of revision and a high patient satisfaction in a mid-term follow up in those patients treated with a primary ARCR independent of age. Methods: Data was collected prospectively and retrospectively reviewed for this IRB approved study. Inclusion criteria was that patients were a minimum of 5 years out from an ARCR of a MRCT by a single surgeon from February 2006 to November 2016. Patients were excluded if they had glenohumeral osteoarthritis (Hamada >2), fatty infiltration (Goutallier >3), or if they had concomitant pathologies such as labral lesions or chondromalacia that led to additional surgical procedures except for biceps tenodesis/tenotomy and subacromial decompression. MRCTs were defined by the Neer Circle's Delphi consensus statement as tendon retraction to the glenoid rim and/or a minimum exposed greater tuberosity of at least 67 percent in combination with the Gerber classification of at least two affected tendons. Patient reported outcome (PRO) data was collected preoperatively and evaluated at a minimum follow-up of 5 years postoperatively using the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons Score (ASES), Single Assessment Numeric Evaluation Score (SANE), Quick Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand Score (QuickDASH), the Short Form 12 physical component summary (SF-12 PCS), and patient satisfaction to assess surgical outcomes at final follow-up. Linear and LOESS regression in addition to correlation was analyzed to assess the effect of age on clinical outcomes. Further, a sub-group analysis of patients over and under 65 was performed. Retears, revision surgery, and surgical complications were recorded. Surgical failure was defined as revision surgery. Results: In total, 188 patients with ≥ 2 tendon RCTs who were at least 5 years out from surgery were identified. After application of exclusion criteria and the Neer Circle's MRCT definition, 61 patients (mean age: 59.5 years, range: 39.6-73.8; 38 males, 23 females) with a mean follow up of 7.9 years (range 5.0-12.1) included in this study. Final follow-up was obtained in 44 patients (76%). At final follow-up, the mean PROs were significantly improved over preoperative levels for all PROs. The ASES scores improved from 59.4 to 95.0 (p<.001), SANE improved from 66.3 to 89.9 (p>.001), QuickDASH improved from 34.2 to 8.3 (p<.001) and SF-12 PCS improved from 41.5 to 51.3 (p<.001). Median postoperative satisfaction was 10 (range 1-10). Linear and LOESS regression analysis as well as correlation analysis showed that no PRO measures (ASES, SANE, QuickDASH, SF12-PCS, or patient satisfaction) were significantly associated with age at time of surgery. In the subgroup analysis of over and under 65, no significant differences between groups were demonstrated for PROs with the exception of postoperative SF-12 PCS (53.6 vs. 49.1; p=.041). Conclusions: The most important finding in this study is that patients undergoing ARCR of MRCTs experience significant improvements in shoulder function irrespective of patient age.


Characteristic curves and absolute sensitivity data are presented for Kodak 101-01 film and for Kodak Pathe SC5 and SC7 film in the 735-2804-A wavelength region. Estimates of the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of these films have been made at 1200 A and 2537 A. The Eberhard effect, reciprocity law failure, and the effect on film sensitivity of evacuation are discussed.


The cdc25 family of phosphatases plays a vital role in cell cycle regulation. The role of CdC25B (one of the isoforms of CdC25) in tumor cell growth is well recognized. All the active site of the CdC25 proteins has the consensus Cys-X5-Arg motif. Based on the three-dimensional structural studies, the role of the cysteine and arginine residues in CdC25B proteins are accurately established. Alteration of either the cysteine and arginine residues of the Cys-X5-Arg motif led to the loss of both reductase and phosphatase activities. R is a highly conserved arginine that hydrogen bonds to the phosphorylated amino acid of the substrate. Structural evidence suggests that the toxic metals like arsenic bind strongly to cysteine the carbonyl group of residue Cys477 in Ccd25B points toward the location where phosphate should bind. Recently Lund et al. [1] have identified two potential inhibitors for CdC25B (PDB ID: 4WH7, and 4WH9). Interestingly these small molecules [2-fluoro-4-hydroxybenzonitrile and 2-[(2-cyano-3-fluoro-5-hydroxyphenyl) sulfanyl] ethanesulfonic acid] bound to a different pocket primarily comprised of Phe386, Leu398, Cys484, Arg488, and Met505 on CdC25B located approximately 15 Angstrom away from the Cys-X5-Arg active site. This alternative active site is relatively more polar and connects well with water hydrogen bonding network. Currently, we have proposed a set of 34 novel compounds, which may be the potential inhibitors for CdC25B. The molecular docking technique has been employed to identify the affinity of the molecules, and all the compounds were docked in all major active sites. The result suggest that 3 ‐ [(pyridin ‐ 4 ‐ yl)methyl] ‐ 3 ‐ azatricyclo[7.3.1.05,13] trideca ‐ 1(12),5,7,9(13),10 ‐ pentaene ‐ 2,4 ‐ dione&8 ‐ bromo ‐ 3 ‐ [(pyridin ‐ 4 ‐ yl)methyl] ‐ 3 ‐ azatricyclo [7.3.1.05,13] trideca ‐ 1(12),5,7,9(13),10 ‐ pentaene ‐ 2,4 ‐ dione ) (-7.1 kcal/mol, -6.4 kcal/mol) has better affinity than the molecules identified by Lund et al. (-5.1kcal/mol) [1]. And these molecules also have better hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions with several amino acids in the secondary active site. The proposed molecules docked at Cys-X5-Arg active site, revealed some interesting protein interactions. In summary, we identified some novel high-affinity inhibitor molecules to block the activity of CdC25b phosphates, which may provide an opportunity to target this important class of proteins.


Rotating modulation for Strapdown Inertial Navigation System(SINS) is an auto-correction technology,by which the position and attitude error caused by bias of gyros and accelerators can be compensated automatically without using navigation information from outside.This technology has been used successfully in foreign submarines and marines.The alignment and systematic calibration of SINS are based on error propagation model.Thus the detailed navigation equations and error propagation models are deduced out,including position/velocity/attitude error propagation model,and the simulation result of error propagation is presented.The simulation result shows that: if single-axle rotating modulation is used,the error caused by bias of gyros/accelerators can be compensated effectively,while navigation error caused by the initial position/velocity/attitude error can not be compensated.


This study was carried out to investigate the relationship among body measurements in indigenous Nigerian chickens sampled in Niger state using principal component analysis with the view of identifying components that best define body conformation in them. A total of 750 birds were used for the study. The parameters recorded were: body weight, body length, body girth, wing length, shank length and shank thickness. The descriptive statistics showed that the mean body weight was 1.69 kg while the body measurements were 38.77 cm, 25.30 cm, 22.23 cm, 11.01 cm and 1.10 mm for body length, body girth, wing length, shank length and shank thickness, respectively. The coefficients of correlation obtained were: r = 0.709 (between body weight and body length), r = 0.448 (between body weight and body girth), r = 0.667 (between body weight and wing length), r = 0.203 (between body weight and shank length) and, r = 0.499 (between body weight and shank thickness) respectively. Principal component analysis with variance maximizing orthogonal rotation was used to extract the components. Two principal components were extracted in the chickens explaining 66.4 % of the total variation in the original variables. Generally, the first principal component had the largest share of the total variance and correlated highly with body weight, body length and wing length while the second principal component had its loadings on shank length. These components could be used as selection criteria for improving body weight of indigenous Nigerian chickens.


In this study the novel integrated anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (A/A/O) and shaft aeration process system which could enhance the nutrient removal efficiency of wastewater with a low carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N) was investigated. Several dissolved oxygen (DO) ratios (1.0-2.0, 2.0-3.0, 3.0-4.0 mg/L) were applied in order to obtain more knowledge on the biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal performances. The experiment was carried out on a lab-scale Shaft-Anaerobic-Anoxic-Aerobic (S/A/A/O) wastewater treatment system. The average removal efficiencies of the total organic carbon, total nitrogen and phosphorus were 84.0%, 82.0% and 93.7%, respectively. The result showed that the proposed system was promising for the treatment of wastewater with a low C/N ratio because that in this system nitrification and denitrification happened simultaneously. Besides, the system had an automatic return system and its floor area was small, which made it energy-saving.


Eragrostis is a large genus in subfamily Chloridoideae of Poaceae. Recent phylogenetic analyses have suggested that the genus may not be monophyletic, that some of its segregate genera may be better placed within Eragrostis, and that current infrageneric classifications may not represent monophyletic groups. We have used molecular sequence data from the plastid locus rps1b and the nuclear gene waxy from a broad sample of Eragrostis species and representatives of six of the seven segregate genera to address these issues. We found that Eragrostis is monophyletic with the inclusion of several of the segregates, including Acamptoclados, Diandrochloa, and Neeragrostis. The placement of Cladoraphis and Stiburus is uncertain. Thellungia does not belong in Eragrostis and is actually more closely related to Sporobolus. These data also suggest that existing infrageneric classifications are inadequate and do not correspond to monophyletic groups within Eragrostis.


Social skills are the skills we use to Communicate and Interact with Each Other, both verbally and non-verbally, through gestures, body language and our personal appearance. Human beings are sociable creatures and we have developed many ways to Communicate our messages, thoughts and feelings with others. Social skills as the cognitive functions and specific verbal and nonverbal behaviors that an individual Engages in when interacting with others, Including both verbal and nonverbal skills. Behavior contained in the learners are not fully passed on just like that. When students think harder to solve problems, ask better questions, explain the answer in a more logical or hear with more attention, means that learners are in the process of learning. Problem inability of learners in social skills can be trained with Superflex® learning model where students are invited to become a social detective invited to do your own search problems regarding their behavior so as to become a social thinker and solve social problems.


The problem of distributed detection of a signal in incompletely specified noise is considered. It is assumed that the noise can be modeled as a zero-mean Gaussian random process with unknown slowly varying covariance matrix. A network of m sensors receiving independent and identically distributed observations in Rp, regarding certain binary hypotheses, pass their decisions to a fusion center which then decides which one of the two hypotheses is true. We consider the situation where each sensor employs a generalized maximum likelihood ratio test with its own observations and a threshold, which is the same for all the sensors. This test is invariant to intensity changes in the noise background and achieves a fixed probability of a false alarm. Thus, operating in accordance to the local noise situation, the test is adaptive. In addition, it is shown that the test is UMPI (uniformly most powerful invariant). The fusion center decision is based on k out of m decision rule. The asymptotic (m yields (infinity) ) behavior of k out of m rules for finite k and finite m-k are considered. For these rules, the error probability of making a wrong decision does not tend to zero as m yields (infinity) , unless the probability distributions under the hypotheses satisfy certain conditions.


In this project, we have developed the general formation for calculating transmission loss of sound waves through multi-layered structures. Full factorial design method has also been used to investigate the relative effect of various geometric and material parameters on the transmission loss. It was found that within the range of practical interest, the most effect way of increasing transmission loss is by increasing either the glass thickness or increasing the inner layer mass density. Experimental measurements of sound transmission loss (in decibels) for four laminated glass samples have been made in accordance to SAE J1400, in third-octave bands between 125 Hz and 8 kHz.


Scientific communication is going through a new era, thus researchers have to revalue communication importance: not only
divulgation, due to its social impact and implications, but even communication between scientists. Graphics is a language able
to increase attention, understanding and memorization. It engage people to overcome noises of other communications. To know
and to handle graphic language rules allows a higher quality communication.


The influence of different dislocations structure inside the ferrite grains on mechanical properties and the development of fatigue failure processes on an example of low carbon (ferrite-pearlitic) sheet steel St3 are considered in the article. Fractographic studies show that in the presence of «knife-like» boundaries inside the ferrite grains, the rate of growth of fatigue cracks increases.


This article review considers the recent book by Jeffrey Stout, Democracy and Tradition, as a response to the work of Stanley Hauerwas and other Christian 'new traditionalists'. The essay presents a brief overview of the book in order to ask questions of both Stout and Hauerwas. The author considers how 'new traditionalists' might respond to Stout with a theological concern for 'participation' in God's triune life as a model for citizenship, recommending that the scriptures play a more central role in public, democratic discourse.


Fundraising campaigns are an essential aspect of hospitality-education programs. While the dean or director is a key member of a fundraising team, fundraising campaigns also require the assistance of development professionals and committed volunteers. The three steps for initiating a fundraising program are: create a written development plan, compose a case statement, and recruit volunteers. The annual fund is the beginning point for most fundraising campaigns and for most donors, as annual-fund gifts are relatively small and are made regularly. Despite the importance of operating an annual fund, the bulk of donated funds come from major gifts, which must be cultivated. Three solicitation methods are direct mail, telephone calls, and personal meetings.


The main result of this paper is a characterization of the minimal surface hull of a compact set $K$ in $\mathbb R^3$ by sequences of conformal minimal discs whose boundaries converge to $K$ in the measure theoretic sense, and also by $2$-dimensional minimal currents which are limits of Green currents supported by conformal minimal discs. Analogous results are obtained for the null hull of a compact subset of $\mathbb C^3$. We also prove a null hull analogue of the Alexander-Stolzenberg-Wermer theorem on polynomial hulls of compact sets of finite linear measure, and a polynomial hull version of classical Bochner's tube theorem.


In the past, many researchers have approached the "Hyperspectral-imagery-anomaly-detection" problem from the point of view of classical detection theory. This perspective has resulted in the development of algorithms like RX (Reed-Xiaoli) and the application of processing techniques like PCA (Principal Component Analysis) and ICA (Independent Component Analysis--algorithms and techniques that are based primarily on statistical and probabilistic considerations. In this paper we describe a new anomaly detection paradigm based on an adaptive filtering strategy known as "signal subspace processing". The signal-subspace-processing (SSP) techniques on which our algorithm is based have yielded solutions to a wide range of problems in the past (e.g. sensor calibration, target detection, and change detection). These earlier applications, however, utilized SSP to relate reference and test signals that were collected at different times. For our current application, we formulate an approach that relates signals from one spatial region in a hyperspectral image to those from a nearby spatial region in the same image. The motivation and development of the technique are described in detail throughout the course of the paper. We begin by developing the signal subspace processing anomaly detector (SSPAD) and proceed to illustrate how it arises naturally from the adaptive filtering formulation. We then compare the algorithm with existing anomaly-detection schemes, noting similarities and differences. Finally, we apply both the SSPAD and various existing anomaly detectors to a hyperspectral data set and compare the results via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves.


This paper is about the model that rates economic effectiveness of production. This paper is applied on selected company, which has problems with economic criteria that are important for economic effectiveness of production. These factors are especially costs, trading income and profitability. The last section of this paper presents proposed model that rates economic effectiveness of production, which could be used (maybe with modification) in production companies.


This paper analyses scattering from dielectric landmines with metal fuze buried in a lossy, dispersive half space using equivalent theory. The calculations are performed using a Method of Moments (MoM) algorithm for bodies of revolution. In the end, this paper compares the theoretical results and the experimental results collected by the vehicle-mounted ground penetrating synthetic aperture radar (GP-SAR). The agreement is good, which shows that the algorithm is efficient.


Approximately 150 specimens of amphibians and reptiles donated by Graf von Borcke in the first years of the museum's existence are still present in the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMB). Based on information published by Blasius Merrem and additional historical sources, it can be determined that a portion of von Borcke's collection was purchased from the estate of Willem Xaver Janssen (= Wilhelm Xaver Jansen) and that this was probably obtained indirectly (possibly via Adrianus van Royen) from the second collection of Albertus Seba, auctioned in 1752. Comparison of the von Borcke material with Seba's illustrations reveals five credible and 18 questionable matches. Most convincing is a specimen of Python sebae partly dissected to show a bird in its abdomen. The Seba figure of this specimen is an iconotype of Python bivittatus Kuhl, 1820. An additional ten ZMB specimens are possible matches to Seba illustrations that have served as iconotypes. The stylized appearance of many of Seba's figures, particularly those of snakes, makes the unambiguous identification of surviving Seba specimens difficult. In addition, five snake specimens are probable matches to specimens from Janssen's collection that were described and figured by Merrem. Three of these are type specimens of subsequently described species, including the widespread and invasive Boiga irregularis (Bechstein, 1802). A combination of historical information and specimen correspondences yields a strong case for the survival of a large part of Seba's herpetological collection in Berlin. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


On December 10, 2009, the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC convened an invitational conference in Washington, DC, to apply state-of-the-art knowledge of resilience to the design of federal policies that will strengthen local communities and their environments to withstand disasters, epidemics, and terrorism. The event was hosted in collaboration with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and the Natural Hazards Center of the University of Colorado at Boulder, with additional support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Among the 140 participants were U.S. government officials, congressional staff, policy analysts, scholars, public health and emergency management practitioners, heads of private and nonprofit initiatives to reduce disaster risk, and members of the media. Meeting highlights are reviewed below; readers are invited to visit the conference website, where they will find videos and synopses of the full day's presentations and panels, along with the conference agenda, speaker biographies, attendee list, summary report, and background readings: www.upmcbiosecurity.org=resilientcommunitiesconf.


An internally frequency‐doubled and synchronously mode‐locked dye laser has been operated. The average power ∼0.13 mW of the second‐harmonic wave with a pulse duration of ∼3 ps has been generated from a thin ADP crystal under pumping by the average power ∼800 mW of a mode‐locked Ar ion laser. The effect of intracavity second‐harmonic generation on the pulse duration of the fundamental wave is discussed.


Semiconducting and metallic metal phosphide nanocrystals have gained increased attention in the materials science and engineering community due to their demonstrated and theoretical promise in both...


Seasoning method of this embodiment is a seasoning method for a plasma processing apparatus having an upper electrode provided to face the oxide spray coating Group 3A element such as Y2O3 to the plasma processing space. Seasoning method first executes a first depot step of plasma of CF-based gas by supplying CF-based gas plasma treatment space. Thereby, fluorine is depot on the surface of the upper electrode. Next, seasoning method, after the first deposition step, performing a reduction step of plasma the hydrogen-containing gas by supplying the hydrogen-containing gas to the plasma processing space. Thus, cutting the Y-O bond to Y-O bond in the upper electrode is reduced with H, by recombining Y and F, to promote the fluorination reaction in the surface of the upper electrode, shortening of the season time the attempt.


The germination and viability of pollen are characteristics required for fecundation when individuals of different or the same species are crossed. For this reason, assessing these parameters in selected individuals to be used in breeding programs will increase the chances for the obtainment of new progeny. In this study, pollen from different accessions of the red-purple tree tomato (Solanum betaceum Cav.) was used: local cultivar (Morado Puntón), two commercial varieties (Large Red and Oratia Red) and six segregants [(Solanum unilobum x Solanum betaceum) x Solanum betaceum]. Three types of flowers were taken (A-day of anthesis, B-one day after anthesis, and C-two days after anthesis). The pollen was conserved in two temperatures (4° and 22° C) and four storage times (0, 5, 10, 20 days). The percentage of germination and pollen viability of the selected individuals were evaluated. It was observed that the commercial materials showed higher germination percentages than the segregants in flower A and B at a temperature of 4 ° C at all storage times, except for the segregants GT7P47 and GT7P48 at the same temperature on day 0. In addition, high percentages of viability were obtained both in flowers A and B, at both temperatures and at all storage times. However, the immediate use of pollen after it is collected is recommended because better germination is achieved. This study is helpful to improve breeding procedures in the initial stages of directed crosses.


Abstract In this article, simple impregnation technique was used to prepare copper oxide nanoparticles supported on nanomagnetite modified with a poly ionic liquid (Fe3O4@IL@CuO-np). The nanoparticles were used in an environmentally friendly method as a novel heterogeneous catalyst in the synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrano[c]chromenes. The results showed that the novel catalyst was very inexpensive and efficient in the reaction and at the end of the reaction, it could easily be separated using an external magnet and reused for other reactions without significant loss of its catalytic activity. Graphical Abstract


This paper presents a statistical approach to 3D texture classification from a single image obtained under unknown viewpoint and illumination. Unlike in prior work, in which texture primitives (textons) are defined in a filter-response space, and texture classes modeled by frequency histograms of these textons, we seek to extract and model geometric and photometric properties of image regions defining the texture. To this end, texture images are first segmented by a multiscale segmentation algorithm, and a universal set of texture primitives is specified over all texture classes in the domain of region geometric and photometric properties. Then, for each class, a tree-structured belief network (TSBN) is learned, where nodes represent the corresponding image regions, and edges, their statistical dependencies. A given unknown texture is classified with respect to the maximum posterior distribution of the TSBN. Experimental results on the benchmark CUReT database demonstrate that our approach outperforms the state-of-the-art methods


Methods. A survey of 151 Gold Coast and Toowoomba community pharmacists was conducted in October 2009. Pharmacists were asked to identify if they should, can or have administered a range of S2 or S3 medicines in an emergency in the pharmacy and if clarification of this role was required. The survey also questioned when pharmacists would administer an S3 medicine and whether they believed the community viewed pharmacists as more skilled in an emergency than a first aider.


The article focuses on the personal contacts between Henry VIII Tudor and Maximilian I Hapsburg and explores symbolic dimension of Anglo-Imperial relations: approaches of both monarchs to political propaganda, images of rule, means of representation of power and their evolutionin the first decade of the 16 century.


Political participation is one of citizens' foundamental rights,as an instinctive action of political creatures.The inquiry into the citizens in towns made about their political awareness by us demonstrates that some people show their awareness of political participation orally,some people's political awareness doesn't match their citizenship,and some have a tendency towards the participation outside the legal political system.In order to improve the situation,the author insists that it is necessary to deepen the reform of,and improve the political system at the basic level,in the meanwhile,to strengthen the education of citizens to enhance their awareness of citizenship.


Background: Emerging development of Spectral CT is expected augment CT angiography by eliminating coronary calcium interference and detecting ruptured coronary plaque with k-edge distinctive molecular imaging agents. Objective The goal of these experiments was to develop a new class of molecular imaging agents, fibrin-specific Spectral CT nanoparticle, to detect microthombus in ruptured atherosclerotic plaque. Methods: A "soft-type" bismuth nanocolloid (BiNC) (200 nm) was developed for Spectral CT imaging. Fibrin-rich clots suspended in PBS in test tubes were targeted with Biotinylated BiNCs (n=3) or the control nanocolloids (n=1) using a fibrin-specific monoclonal antibody (NIB5F3). Spectral CT images were obtained and 3D reconstruction performed. In experiment 2, microthrombus deposits on human carotid artery endarterectomy (CEA) specimens were targeted with biotinylated BiNCs or control nanocolloids and imaged with Spectral CT. Results: The first targeted spectral CT images were obtained uniformly for all BiNC treated clots; no signal was seen in the control. BiNC layer thickness was estimated to be ≤200 μm and the bismuth surface density was 3.5 mass%. In experiment 2, Spectral CT enhancement of the small fibrin deposits in the ruptured carotid plaque treated with BiNC (K-edge=90.5keV) was readily apparent, in contradistinction to the control CEA specimens, and easily differentiated from calcium attenuation (K-edge=4.03keV). As is typical of CT, poorly attenuating soft-tissue detail was lost (Figure). Conclusions: This study reports the first example of Spectral CT molecular imaging agents, which can detect ruptured plaque without Ca interference.


With the recent advances in mobile networking, context‐aware computing, and sensor‐based computing, researchers and game designers are able to explore the potential of combining these new technologies to develop mobile, networked, context‐aware, augmented reality multiplayer games. As part of new research collaboration between Lancaster University, Cisco Systems, Microsoft Research and Orange – MIPv6 Systems Research Lab, such a mobile context‐aware multiplayer game is proposed and explored. The proposed game, Real Tournament, gathers real‐time contextual information, e.g. physical location and orientation, from the players and injects them into the game engine to generate game events.


Larvae of Penaeus japonicus at various stages were exposed by static renewalmethod to different concentrations of ammonia(NH3+NH4(superscript +))in seawaterat 33ppt,pH at 8.10 and temperature at 30℃.The 24-h LC50 values of ammoniafor nauplius third substage(N3),zoea second substage(Z2),mysis secondsubstage(M2),postlarva second substage(PL2)and postlarva twelfth substage(PL12)were 20.88,15.54,17.31,31.68 and 53.37 mg/L ammonia-N(un-ionized plusionized ammonia as nitrogen)and 1.31,0.97,1.08,1.98 and 3.34mg/L NH3-N(un-ionized ammonia as nitrogen),respectively.The 48-h LC50 values of ammonia for Z2,M2,PL2,PL12 were 7.57,15.20,23.80,33.85 mg/L ammonia-N and0.47,0.95,1.49,2.12 mg/L NH3-N.The LC50 values of ammonia-N and NH3-Ndecreased with longer exposure.The"threshold time"was 108h for PL2 andPL12.The"incipient LC50"was 7.80 mg/L ammonia-N and 0.49 mg/L NH3-N forPL2,and 28.29mg/L ammonia-N and 1.77mg/L NH3-N for PL12.Amongthe develop mental stages of P.japonicus larvae tested,zoea was the lowesttolerant and PL12 the highest tolerant.Safe values of ammonia was 0.78 mg/Lammonia-N(0.05 mg/L NH3-N),and 2.83mg/L ammonia-N(0.18mg/L NH3-N)for rearing P.japonicus in the hatchery,and in the nursery,respectively.


COVID-19 attributed to SARS-CoV2 infection has been associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes. COVID-19 has been associated with endothelial cell dysfunction (ECD), which is manifested by entities such as microvascular thrombosis. ECD is quite common in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) where the renal podocyte dysfunction is often an early manifestation of microvascular complication. We explored whether presence of hyperglycemia predisposes to increased SARS-CoV2 infection and whether SARS-CoV2 infection puts an individual at a higher risk of developing cardio-metabolic complications such as kidney disease (DKD), with podocyte damage. We evaluated albuminuria and podocyte protein in urine derived exosomes in urine exosomes from SARS-CoV2 patients at 10 days, 6 months and 12 months post SARS-CoV2 infection.

 Methods:
 Blood and Urine samples from SARS-CoV2 patients post-acute phase of infection were procured. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs) and urine exosomes were isolated and podocyte protein marker Podocalyxin (PODXL) was identified by western blot analysis.

 Results:
 Podocyte specific proteins were examined in urine exosomal fraction such as Podocalyxin and Nephrin (normalized to CD9 exosomal protein band intensities) levels increased significantly compared to urine samples from type-2 diabetes subjects with documented evidence of nephropathy. Podocalyxin levels were significantly high at 12month time point (p=0.001; n=9) and Nephrin levels were noted to be high at 10week (p=0.01; n=8), 6months (p=0.04; n=14 ) and 12Months (p=0.001; n=6) time points. Podocalyxin and Nephrin obtained from urine exosome samples collected from non diabetic subjects who never had COVID-19, showed little or barely detectable corresponding western blot bands. Interestingly, there was no significant differences noted on urine albumin: creatinine (UAR) ratios between the two groups, indicating that urine exosomal protein estimation may be an ideal biomarker to monitor podocyte damage in early phases of CKD.

 Conclusion:
 A persistent high levels of podocyte specific proteins was noted in urinary exosomes even at 12 months post acute Covid which may be secondary to long-standing podocyte inflammation leading to long term renal damage.


Medical device means any instrument, apparatus, machine, appliance, implant, reagent for in vitro use, software, material or other similar or related article, intended by the manufacturer to be used, alone or in combination, for human beings, for one or more of the specific medical purpose. Medical devices are generally classified based on risks; the actual risk-based classification of the medical device depends upon its intended use and purpose. Development of an entirely new device typically begins with a concept by a physician or bioengineer for a solution to a medical problem. If the idea is determined to be workable and practical (proof of concept) an early design of the device, known as a prototype, will be built. A prototype device will undergo a cycle of preclinical testing, redesigning, preclinical testing of the redesign and so forth, until the design has been refined and tested to a point that it is ready for production and testing in humans. Preclinical animal tastings are conducted to provide reasonable evidence that novel technologies and therapies are safe and effective. When studying medical devices, clinical trials are not always required, and whether or not one will be conducted depends on a risk assessment. Post marketing surveillance is the practice of monitoring the safety of a medical device after it has been released on the market.


Objective To explore the effect of quality management model of physical examination center in improving the service level.Methods The quality management was conducted in the physical examination center to heighten the brand consciousness and strengthen the brand construction.Results The comparison between the satisfaction rates of 4 000 physical examinees before and after the application of quality management showed a significant improvement(P0.01).Conclusion Quality management model plays a crucial role in improving the service level,increasing the patients' satisfaction rate and expanding the hospital's influence.


In this interview, Regina Walker dissucess her past experiences dealing with race and social justice in Memphis. Interviewed by Brittney Threatt ('17).


The objective of this study was to evaluate the growth variables of eggplants seedlings produced in substrates with different compositions in agricultural residues. The experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design, with five treatments and ten replicates, with the following treatments: T0= Bioplant commercial substrate (control); T1= 10% of moinha (dried residue of coffee beans) + 15% of coconut fiber + 5% of eggshell + 70% of commercial substrate; T2= 20% of moinha + 15% of coconut fiber + 5% of eggshell + 60% of commercial substrate; T3= 30% of moinha + 15% of coconut fiber + 5% of eggshell + 50% of commercial substrate; T4= 40% of moinha+ 15% of coconut fiber + 5% of eggshell + 40% of commercial substrate. The evaluated variables were electric conductivity of the substrate, number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter; and fresh and dry biomass of shoot, root, and of the whole plant. Growing doses of moinha provide increased electrical conductivity in substrate. The treatment groups containing increasing proportions of moinha in the substrate composition present the highest values of growth variables in relation to the commercial substrate. Except shoot, root and total dry biomass, the substrate with 10 and 20% of moinha have the highest values of analyzed variables in eggplant seedlings.


The shift from classical study monitoring practices to adopting advanced practices is well under way in the pharmaceutical industry. Risk-based monitoring, remote central monitoring, and eSource are already popular and are being largely considered as effective solutions for improved quality, as well as for time and cost savings. This article offers insights on the potential benefits of changes in another aspect of a monitor's responsibilities, in terms of non-onsite work or support work, which can be delegated/outsourced to monitoring support teams in order to save further on monitoring costs.


No two camera sensors are created equal, especially when it comes to DSLRs and camera phones. Every model captures pixels with its own quirks and problems, and some are more apparent than others. The artifacts reduction done through convolution neural network will give timely and accurate classification for the process of disaster rescue and mammography in medical field. However it is very difficult to capture the outline of different objects at the pixel level, Deep learning methods are required for the further classification. By using this concept we can accurately classify the image patterns with high resolution. High level representation which is extracted from ARCNN frame work has been systematically investigated over different configuration.


Objective The aim of the study was to investigate the value of mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADCmean) value in predicting the prognosis of stage IB-IIA cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients after radical hysterectomy. Materials and Methods A total of 126 patients who were with stage IB-IIA cervical SCC and underwent magnetic resonance imaging examination and radical hysterectomy were retrospectively investigated. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to determine the cutoff values of ADCmean for predicting earlier recurrence (2 consecutive increases in the SCC antigen value of more than 1 ng/mL or elevation of greater than 1.5 ng/mL). Disease-free survival and overall survival were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences between the survival curves were examined using the log-rank test. Results Earlier recurrence was observed in 46 patients (36.2%) during a median follow-up of 22 months. The ADCmean value (P = 0.005), parametrial invasion (P = 0.049), and lymphovascular space invasion (P = 0.037) were significantly associated with earlier recurrence. Receiver operating characteristic curve identified that the cutoff value of ADCmean for predicting earlier recurrence was 0.785 × 10−3mm2/s. The ADCmean value, parametrial invasion, and lymphovascular space invasion were significantly associated with earlier recurrence. The hazard ratios were 7.33 (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.854–28.99), 4.88 (95% CI, 1.00–23.73), and 2.53 (95% CI, 1.058–6.052), respectively. Disease-free survival and overall survival rates of patients with the ADCmean less than 0.785 × 10−3mm2/s were significantly worse than those of patients with the ADCmean greater than or equal to 0.785 × 10−3mm2/s. Conclusions Mean ADC was a good biomarker in predicting the prognosis of stage IB-IIA cervical SCC after radical hysterectomy.


This paper presented a low cost flexible electro-dynamic planar loudspeaker (FEPL) with coils on polyimide diaphragm. The structure was very simple to put a flexible thin film diaphragm (electroplated traces of copper coil) above a flexible magnetic (placed in the bottom of cavity), thus forming an integration of electromagnetic actuation and planar flexible structure. The advantages are as follows: (1) the new loudspeaker became a flat flexible one, which could not only directly drive the vibration film to increase the power efficiency, but reduce the total harmonic distortion (THD). (2) It could be used as flexible electronics and easily deployed on the surface of any object with magnetic property or using adhesive transfer tapes. To optimize the performance of sound pressure level (SPLs), this study made detailed analyses on the thickness of cavity, turns of coil, magnet polarization, and diaphragm dimension. Noted as the cavity height increasing, the magnetic flux densities of both vertically and horizontally polarized magnet were decreased. But they were nearly constant over the surface with the same height for the vertically polarized magnet. On the other hand, as the cavity height of the horizontally polarized magnet increased, the magnetic flux densities would be decreased rapidly at the locations moving farther away from the center point. Several kinds of planar-type loudspeakers for the coils wounded in spiral-in, spiral-in and spiral-out, and zigzag shapes and plated with copper and aluminum were applied for performance tests, and the comparisons with the traditional cone-type loudspeaker were also made. Finally, the sound pressure levels (SPLs) were compared for three rectangular coils with different dimensions and number of turns. These effects were not discussed in previous literature of study.


UNHAPPY MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE: Edmund Bergler, M.D. 167 pp., 1946. International Universities Press, New York, or JOURNAL OF SOCIAL CASEWORK. $2.50. It is heartening to read a book in which the author has such conviction that unhappy marriage comes from illness that can be cured. One strength of the book lies in its description of normal, happy marriage and how unhappy or so-called neurotic marriages differ, both in current manifestations and in psychological development. Dr. Bergler develops the thesis that in normal happy marriage one solves unconscious guilt through projection of the ego-ideal onto the partner and development of tender love. The neurotic is incapable of tender love, is guilt-ridden, and attempts to handle his problem through transference, which he mistakes for love. The chapter, An Attempt at a Classification of Neurotic Marriages, is a description of the psychological mechanisms operating in fourteen of the behavior patterns familiar to anyone working with marriage problems. .. Divorce," the author states, .. in most cases, is no solution at all, but only an admission of helplessness to master a situation of inner conflict." Considerable evidence is advanced that .. even neurotic marriages have a reasonable chance of survival because the partners approach at least the mutually desired type." Seldom has such usable diagnostic material been condensed into 167 pages. And not often does one find technical material presented in such understandable and thoroughly readable fashion. DOROTHY V. THOMAS Family Service Association Washington, D. C.


The focus of this research is on investigating and identifying what constitutes a safe software model of a medical clinic that will enable and enhance its protection for healthcare providers and its patients by devising a model of a software system. There is a gap in the published research regarding the understanding of impacting factors of COVID19 in the safe functioning of a medical clinic. This Case Study investigated several impacting factors. The aims of this research project are: increasing the safety effectiveness of both the hospital personnel and patients. Next, to solve the problems with tracking the illnesses of patients, a more rigorous database indexing system was implemented with data provenance. With this technique in the database, it kept track of illnesses (when, why, in whom did it appear or any kind of other developments), login details (when, who is logged in, logged out), which is more important especially for medical systems. Also, which doctors interacted with the patients (what drug have been administered, their performance, percentage of efficacy, successfully or unsuccessfully) and other data mining information. Because this project is envisioned to be continually supported, it should evolve and deal with the problems encountered in modern hospitals. The system has been evaluated on its functionalities and the safety usability, on two groups of users: those with a computer science background and those from a different field. Afterwards regression analyses were used to determine the impact. The research study contributed with identified impacting factors for such systems, analyses of the improvement in conceptual increase of safety and usability. Insights and recommendations are provided.


Solanum sarrachoides Sendtn. is newly recorded as an alien for Australia. A description, and notes on its distribution, ecology and distinction from related species are provided.


> Let me leap out of the frying-pan into the fire; or, out of God's blessing into the warm sun.
>
> Cervantes: Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.*

I sit here writing this almost 7 years from the day that marked my transition from academic cardiologist in New York to a role in the medical device industry, eventually becoming Chief Medical Officer for Rhythm Management at Boston Scientific. Almost every day since, one or another of my colleagues (I will not call them "former colleagues"; more on that later) has asked me 1 of 2 questions: What do you miss most from clinical practice? What surprised you most about the transition? The answer to the first is easy. What I miss most are the emotional bonds I formed with patients and their family members. Clinicians are privileged to share with patients some of their most difficult, most uplifting and, ultimately, most human experiences. It was excruciatingly difficult to give that up, but I find equivalent satisfaction in the thought that, rather than serially impacting 1 patient at a time, my actions can now benefit multitudes.

The second answer is more nuanced and complex. Perhaps you will be as surprised as I was at what surprised me: I discovered that clinicians are far too cynical about how industry operates … but also that industry is far too cynical about how physicians act. In the end, the frying pan and the fire are more similar than different. Practicing physicians and employees in the medical technology industry are equally motivated by the goal of improving patient outcomes, equally challenged by the difficulty inherent in making decisions …


Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is recommended for diagnosis in patients suspected of prosthetic valve dysfunction, but could be limited in its ability to identify the etiology of these dysfunctions and to assess extracardiac structures. Our objective is to examine the usefulness of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in establishing the etiology of the dysfunctions and its clinical utility in preoperative assessment in these patients.


The natural occurrence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and ochratoxin A (OTA) has been surveyed in 47 samples of commercial green coffee beans. Samples were collected in Nagoya City, Japan, during 1988–93. Using a combination of immunoaffinity chromatography and high‐performance liquid chromatography analysis, AFB1 and OTA were quantified with detection limits of 2 ng kg‐1 and 0.1 μg kg‐1 respectively. Positive rates and levels of AFB1and OTA were 32% and 2.0–32.9 ng kg‐1, and 30% and 0.1–17.4 μg kg‐1 respectively. The samples contaminated with AFB1 or OTA were mainly imported from African and Asian countries, and several samples were found to be positive for these two mycotoxins for the first time in Japan, although their levels were low.


Sick of high premiums? If you're willing to control risk in your practice and be involved in decisions, this non-traditional liability insurance option may be for you.


Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technique that requires multiple antennas at both transmitter and the receiver is a key technology to meet the peak data rates and spectral efficiency targets of long term evolution (LTE) systems. MIMO is a widely researched topic, and understanding of MIMO concepts have an interaction with other essential enhancement mechanisms in the system including link adaptation, resource scheduling, inter stream interference, rank of the channel, etc. This paper mainly aims to target the MIMO mode adaptation strategies in LTE systems by considering the rank and other key parameters like antenna correlation, doppler frequency, bit rate, throughput, etc. 3GPP LTE rel-8 has adopted seven MIMO modes and variable modulation and coding schemes (MCS) to effectively utilize the available resources for maximizing the throughput of the system. In this paper, new techniques for obtaining appropriate rank and a new MIMO mode switching algorithm to maximize data rate of the user equipment (UE) for a given channel consider at the receiver with reasonable complexity, and there by improving the average system throughput are proposed. The paper considers only four MIMO modes namely transmit diversity, open loop spatial multiplexing (OLSM), closed loop spatial multiplexing (CLSM) and beam-forming with different modulation levels. MIMO mode switching is done based on throughput value between open loop modes namely transmit diversity and OLSM for high mobility UE in the presence of co channel interference (CCI). Similarly, mode switching is done between closed loop modes namely CLSM and beam-forming for pedestrian UE in the presence of CCI. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the performance benefits of the proposed algorithm. The simulation results reveal that these new techniques improves the system throughput significantly.


Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been explored in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, but with negative or conflicting results. This randomized double-blind study was designed to assess the efficacy of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the presupplementary area. Methods: Forty medication-resistant patients were assigned to 4 weeks of either active or sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation targeting the presupplementary area with the help of a neuronavigation system. Results: According to the Yale-Brown obsessive-compulsive scale, the baseline-week 4 evolution showed no significant differences between groups. Responder rates at week 4 were not different between groups (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation 10.5% vs sham 20%; P=.63). Conclusion: Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation applied to the presupplementary area seems ineffective for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients, at least in severe and drug-refractory cases such as those included in this study. Further research is required to determine profiles of responder patients and appropriate repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation parameters for obsessive-compulsive disorder.


The demand of our society for accounting education directly impacts the reform and practice and the development in this filed. This essay mainly focuses on how to meet the demand in terms of positioning personnel training objectives in accounting education, and how to carry out the reform and practice in teaching correspondingly.


Wild oat populations resistant to triallate have been identified in Alberta. Dose response experiments were conducted in the greenhouse to determine if triallate-resistant wild oat was controlled by other selective wild oat herbicides. Triallate-resistant wild oat populations were effectively controlled by atrazine, ethalfluralin, fenoxaprop-P, flamprop, imazamethabenz, and tralkoxydim. EPTC and cycloate, which are chemically related to triallate, differed in their efficacy on triallate-resistant wild oats. EPTC at the 0.25x field use rate was more efficacious on triallate-resistant than triallate-susceptible wild oat. In contrast, cycloate at the 0.25 to 0.5x field use rate was less efficacious on triallate-resistant than susceptible wild oats. At higher rates, both EPTC and cycloate killed triallate-resistant wild oat populations. Growers have several herbicide choices to selectively control triallate-resistant wild oat in prairie field crops but should plan to rotate herbicides among different chemical families and adopt integrated weed management practices to reduce the risk of these wild oat populations developing resistance to other wild oat herbicides.


There has been a recent resurgence of interest in biproportional adjustment methods for updating and interpreting change in matrix representations of regional structures, most commonly input-output accounts. Although the biproportional method, commonly called the RAS technique in the input-output literature, has been shown to have a number of theoretically appealing properties, various alternatives do exist. In this paper, we develop and empirically assess a number of alternatives, comparing performance and examining the attributes of these adjustment methods. Two of these are sign-preserving updating methods for use when tables contain both positive and negative entries. One of these is shown to generate less information gain than does a generalized RAS method that Junius & Oosterhaven (2003) formulated to deal with matrices with both positive and negative values. Overall, while the RAS method continues to be commonly used and its choice is often rational, alternative methods can perform as well or better along certain dimensions and in certain contexts.


The characteristics of free movement is the elimination of obstacles to trade between Member States and thus by such, create free movement within the entire union. Therefore art 34 in the Treaty of ...


Damage of spermatozoa membrane in sexing procces with albumin gradient can decrease the quality of spermatozoa, thus to solve that need diluents for protect spermatozoa membrane to make good quality. The aim of this research is to know the best diluents between Andromed and CEP2 (cauda epididymal plasma) + 0% of yolk to keep the quality of Limousin Cow's Spermatozoa from sexing procces with albumin's gradient. Parameters measured for the quality of spermatozoa were : spermatozoa motility, spermatozoa viability, spermatozoa abnormality, spermatozoa concentration, and spermatozoa motility, membrane integrity, spermatozoa capacity, and acrosom reaction. Observation of membrane integrity using HOS (Hypoosmotic Swelling Test), observation of capacity and acrosom reaction using fluoresen CTC (Chortetracycline) dye. Result show that Andomed diluents and CEP2 + 10% yolk in top layer and bottom (X) and (Y) layer can keep the quality of Limousin Cow's spermatozoa in sexing procces include spermatozoa motility (X 62,5%, Y 58%,) (X 56,5%, Y 55%), viability (X 91,64%, Y 91,51%) (X 89,87%, Y 93,51%, spermatozoa's concentration (X 643 million /ml, Y518 million /ml) (X648 million/ml, Y517 million/ml), total spermatozoa are motil (X373,60 juta/ml, Y187,80 million/ml) (X 296,03 miliion/ml, Y 187,38 million/ml) , and have low abnormality (X 4,11%, Y 4,38%), (X 6,42%, Y 4,04%). Andromed diluents and CEP2 + 10% yolk can keep the integrity of spermatozoa membrane (X 87,60%, Y 80,26%) (X 79,61%, Y 81,03%), remains well and have the spermatozoa are not yet capacitation(X 87,60%, Y83,71%) (X 79,61%, Y 81,03%) remains high, spermatozoa capacity (X 9,76%, Y 9,92%) (X 13,45%, Y 8,95%), dan acrosom reaction (X 4,11%, Y 4,38%), (X 6,42%, Y 4,04%) remains low. Andromed diluents was not different (P > 0,05) from CEP2 diluents + 10% yolk in keeping the quality of Limousin Cow Spermatozoa from the sexing process with albumin's gradient (egg white). Key W ord s : Semen, Andromed, CEP+10% Yolk, Albumin's Gradient, Sexing


This report discusses Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Australia, Chile, Singapore, and other trading partners in respect to copyrights, data protection, patents, trademarks, and other forms of intellectual property.


Massive Machine-Type Communication (MTC) is one of the main challenges for current and future cellular mobile communication systems as 5G. To overcome the controlling overhead issue of Machine-Type Devices (MTD) with low data rates and long duty cycles, we propose a feedback-less communication scheme with a pure ALOHA channel access scheme. Theoretical analysis of the user capacity of pure ALOHA have been conducted under the assumption that each collision of two or more packets renders all packets undecodable. In this contribution, we investigate the accuracy of this assumption for a Filter Bank Multi Carrier with Offset-QAM subcarrier modulation (FBMC-OQAM) system. Therefore, the effects of a 2 packet collision are measured and the influence of different Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) and packet length values are analyzed. Based on these results, a model for an N-user scenario is developed and validated by measurements. For the investigated scenario the measurement results show, that the capacity of a practical pure ALOHA channel access scheme is up to ≈ 75% higher than theoretically predicted, which renders this scheme a promising approach for massive MTC in 5G.


Clustering a set of points in Euclidean space is a well-known problem having applications in pattern recognition, document image analysis, big-data analytics, and robotics. While there are a lot of research publications for clustering point objects, only a few articles have been reported for clustering a given distribution of obstacles. In this thesis we examine the development of efficient algorithms for clustering a given set of convex obstacles in the 2D plane. One of the methods presented in this work uses a Voronoi diagram to extract obstacle clusters. We also consider the implementation issues of point/obstacle clustering algorithms.


Objective To explore the procedures of isolation, cultivation and identification of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from human peripheral blood, and to provide theoretical foundation for the application in nervous system diseases. Methods Ten milliliters of peripheral blood were collected from healthy male adult volunteers. The mononuclear cells were isolated from human peripheral blood by density gradient centrifugation and were cultured in vitro. The growth and morphological changes were observed by inverted phase-contrast fluorescence microscope. The expressions of EPCs specific markers such as CD133, CD34 and coagulation factor Ⅷ were assessed by immunofluorescent staining. The ratio of fluorescein isothio- cyanate labeled CD133 (CD133-FITC) and phycoerythrin labeled CD34 (CD34-PE) double-positive cells and the ratio of CD34-PE single-positive cells were determined by flow cytometry. Results Under the observation of inverted phase-contrast fluorescence microscope, the cells attached to the wall after 2 d cultivation, ex- hibited the colony after 4-6 d cultivation. There were endothelium-like cells around the colony. The cytoplasm and cell membrane presented red and green bicolor fluorescence, and the cell nuclear presented blue fluorescence. The cells specifically absorbed Dil labeled acetyl-low density lipoprotein (Dil-Ac-LDL) and FITC labeled ulex europaeus agglutinin Ⅰ (FITC-UEA-Ⅰ), and presented epithelial cells function. Immunofluorescent staining showed that the cultivated cells were positive for CD34, CD133 and coagulation factor Ⅷ. The flow cytometry indicated that the ratio of CD133-FITC and CD34-PE double-positive cells was 38.30%, and the ratio of CD34-PE single-positive cells was 82.60%. Conclusion The primary establishment of isolation, cultivation and identification of EPCs from human peripheral blood, indicates that EPCs from human peripheral blood can be isolated, cultivation and identification in vitro. It will be the basis for the re- search on EPCs transplantation.


It is quite challenging to avoid microdefect formation during hydrothermal growths and/or calcination processes, while manufacturing high-quality zeolite membranes in a reproducible manner. Even less than 1% of defects, which generally provide nonselective pathways, will considerably worsen the intrinsic, high molecular sieving-based separation performance of a continuous zeolite membrane. Herein, we propose a simple and reliable method for blocking defects using water-soluble dye molecules, which were originally used for the visualization of nonzeolitic, defective structures in a zeolite membrane. Because the dye molecules are ∼1 nm in size, they cannot diffuse into the zeolitic pores and selectively access the defects. For the demonstration of dye-based defect healing, we chose a siliceous chabazite type SSZ-13 zeolite membrane (pore size = 0.37 × 0.42 nm2) with some degree of defects and investigated the effect of defect healing on the final CO2 separation performance. Because the defects were graduall...


The Article introduces the situation of water temperature structure in cascade hydropower stations built in middle and lower reaches of rivers,analyzes the effects due to cascade hydropower development in river basins,by means of combining field observation with numerical computation.Furthermore,the cumulative temperature effects of discharging water from reservoirs are simulated.The research result indicates that high dams with large reservoir would make significant change of river flow temperature and lead to a big cumulative effects on water temperature.The more a river basin is developed,the larger the effects would be.Some quantitative results are obtained,which would provide a reference for large scale hydropower station operation in order to reduce cold water discharge effects on water temperature.