Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) induces the expression of many pro-inflammatory genes, including cytokines and chemokines. In the past decades, a wealth of clinical as well as animal model-based studies have demonstrated the association of the deregulated NF-κB signaling pathway with the progression of various inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), multiple sclerosis (MS), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Given the conserved role of the NF-κB pathway as the pivotal regulator of pro-inflammatory gene expression, different components of the NF-κB pathway are proposed as major therapeutic targets against these diseases. The ongoing coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has posed a significant public health crisis regarding inflammation-related diseases. A robust inflammatory response is associated with COVID-19-infection-related complications, including muti-organ failure and death. This review summarizes the past and current state of knowledge on the role of the NF-κB signaling pathway in the innate immune response and inflammatory diseases with the objective of potential therapeutic use in developing effective treatment options for COVID-19.


Problems encountered in the radiation stability of high polymer material, radiation crosslinkage and cracking, radiation polymerization of monomers, radiation linking of high polymers, and photochemistry are discussed with respect to their future peacetime applications. (OID)


This paper presents an analysis and synthesis of historical data on outsiders in the Persian Gulf region. The history of outsiders (Portugal, Dutch, Britain and United States) in the Persian Gulf region is reviewed, from the earliest possible references to the 16th century. Outsiders chose to occupy areas of influence in the Persian Gulf according to Imperialism designs. The economical advantages of the region due to the abundant energy resources (oil and gas) and also the geographical situation increased the importance of the Persian Gulf region and attracted the outsiders. The energy resources will be to continue to violent conflicts by the outsiders in the Persian Gulf region in 21th century.


Photodetectors based various nanostructures and plasmon enhanced solar cell s e investigated in this dissertation. The motivation of the dissertati on rise is driven by urgent need of both high efficiency photodetectors and solar cells. First, quantum dot infrared photodetectors have been intensely investigate d due to their promise in high performance photodetectors. However, the strain-driven growth of quantum dots has hindered the progress of quantum dot photodetectors. The presence of strain in the device presents complexity in designing as well as defects. Therefo r , in this project, new designs of quantum dot photodetector structures are presented to improve the control over detection wavelength. Moreover, strain-free nanomaterials are incorporate d in the photodetectors for the first time in order to replace conventional strained quantum dots. By using the novel designs and nanomaterials, multicolor photodetector has been demonstrated. Based on t hese studies, high efficiency photodetectors may be achieved. Second, the increasing energy consumption of limited natural energy r sources has brought urgent requirement of sustainable and renewable energy resour ces. Solar energy directly from the Sun is promising in solving current energy crisis. In orde r to serve as a primary energy source, solar energy has to be harvested efficiently and be cost ef fectiv . Therefore, increasing the conversation efficiency beyond current technologies is high prio rity n current photovoltaics field. In this project, surface plasmonic effects are investiga ted for possible application in high efficiency quantum dot solar cells. Quantum dots have been widely us d to implement high efficiency intermediate band solar cells. Due to the low absorpti on in quantum dots, the performance of quantum dot solar cells has been unsatisfying. In t his dissertation, potential applications of surface plasmon in implement of intermediate band s olar cell are experimentally studied. Significantly, overall conversion efficiency of quantum dot sol ar cell has been improved for over 2%. More importantly, further enhancement is expected afte r op imization of design of plasmonic quantum dot solar cells. This dissertation provides a way t o effectively harvest the solar energy in the infrared wavelength region. This dissertation is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council Dissertation Director: ____________________________________ Dr. Omar Manasreh Dissertation Committee: ____________________________________ Dr. Simon Ang ____________________________________ Dr. D. Keith Roper ____________________________________ Dr. Shui-Qing Yu DISSERTATION DUPLICATION RELEASE I hereby authorize the University of Arkansas Libraries to duplic ate this dissertation when needed for research and/or scholarship. Agreed ________________________________________ Jiang Wu Refused ________________________________________ Jiang Wu ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents for their love and support. The thanks to them are beyond any words. I would like to thank my wife, Sil u Li, for her constant love, support, patience, and confidence in me. Without her, I can not have moved so far. I express my deepest gratitude to my parents-in-law and grandparents for the ir l ve. I would like to express my gratitude to my chair advisor and project director, Dr. Omar Manasreh, for his guidance throughout my graduate project. The resear ch tr inings I have received in the Optoelectronics Research Lab directed by Dr. M anasreh have been and will be valuable for my career. The knowledge I have learned from Dr. M anasreh is beyond research fields. I am extremely grateful of Dr. Simon Ang, Dr. Keith Roper, and D r. Shui-Qing Yu for being in my committees and helping me to complete this project. I a m gr teful for the valuable support from my doctoral committee members, Dr. Simon Ang, Dr. Keit h Roper, and Dr. ShuiQing Yu. I would like to express my special thanks to my research collea gues, Dr. Brandon Passmore and Dr. Eric DeCuir, Jr., for the all the help and support dur ing my graduate study. Sincere thanks go to Dali Shao, Scott Mangham, Seungyong Lee, Dr. Va nga Reddy, Rick Eyi, David Fryauf, Shibin Li, Xin Yan, Da Zhuang, and James Gilboy for their help during my study. I would also like to thank other group members who might be omitted here for their help. I would like to thanks Dr. Bradly Weaver at Naval Research Labor atory for his collaboration with us. I would like to thanks Dr. Salamo, Dr. Zhiming W ang, Dr. Vasyl Kunets, and Dr. Zhaoquan Zeng for training me on MBE. I would also like to t hank Dr. Mourad Benamara for the training of electron microscopes and helps in my project. The work at University of Arkansas is supported by the Air Forc e Office of Scientific Research (grant no. FA9550-10-1-0136), the National Science Foundation (gr ant no. EPS1003970), Arkansas Science & Technology Authority, and collaboration with N aval Research Lab which is supported by a grant from the Naval Research Office. Finally, I would like to thank the University of Arkansas Graduate S chool for the Doctoral Academy Fellowship during this project.


Trade liberalization as opposed to trade restriction and unguarded protectionist policies of some nations have no doubt, substantially accounted for increase in nations' economic development, growth and emancipation. The anachronistic practices of mercantilism of centuries ago, have given way to the concept of free trade and comparative advantage, which have subsequently propelled interdependence, trade corporations and collaborations among nations of the world. There is freedom of trade between and within sub-regions all over the globe. The European Union (EU) has free trade-zones, the United State of America, the Arab world, Asia and African Union (AU) are not left out. Regional and sub-regional bodies form alliances which result in trade treaties that guarantee uninterrupted free-flow of trade between nations. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which is constituted of countries in the West African sub-region has since its formation enveloped itself into a formidable international collaborative trade unionism for the purpose of effective economic governance, which translates into overall economic development and emancipation in the sub-region. It is the considered view of this paper that trade liberalization has a direct positive implication for national economic development and emancipation, particularly in Nigeria. Keywords: Trade, Liberalization, Mercantilism, Protectionist Policies, Globalization, Economic development and emancipation, European Union, (EU) African Union (AU).


62 species of genus Lactarius of Phallomycetidae (Agaricomycetes) from the family Russulaceae (Russulales) have been recorded in Estonia. A checklist of these species with ecological, phenological and distribution data is presented.


Background : From the standpoint of mortality &morbidity, cancer is by far the most important clinical problem that concerns the breast today .The age adjusted incidence of new cases has been increasing steadily with increase in the incidence among the Iraqi women during the last few years . Materials &method : A prospective study was arranged to assess the occurrence of postsurgical loco-regional recurrence of breast carcinoma in the Iraqi female patients , a total number of 91 female patients were assessed during period from Dec.2000 to Dec.2002, the median period of follow up was two years . J Fac Med Baghdad 2007; Vol. 49, No.2 Received June 2006 Accepted Oct. 2006 Result : Loco-regional recurrence developed in 20 patients (22%). Chest wall and axilla were the main sites of loco-regional recurrence seen in 12 (60%) and 6 (30%) patients respectively. Significant association were found regarding the duration between first complaint and surgical management (latency period), the size of primary tumour , the number of lymph nodes involved , staging , histopathology & grading of primary tumour . While the association between the rate of loco-regional recurrence and age ,education level ,socioeconomic status ,contraception history, marital state , lactation state , family history , parity , type of adjuvant therapy, type of surgery were in-significant . Conclusion: Carcinoma of the breast affecting Iraqi females at younger ages in a high & increasing rate than other studies with a higher Loco-regional recurrence rate. Significant association were found regarding latency period, staging, histopathology & grading of primary tumour . Aims Of Study: 1. To assess the incidence of post operative loco regional recurrence of breast carcinoma in Iraqi female patients. 2. To determine the significance of certain variables that may affect the loco regional recurrence rate .


: Corners, highly important local features of images and corner finding, play a crucial role in computer vision and image processing, such as object tracking and vehicle detection. Proposing effective and efficient corner detectors is the aim of corner detection. In this study, the authors first present a new measure of corner sharpness termed as the point-to-centroid distance (PCD) and then examine its behaviours, which display beneficial characteristics that help distinguish corners from non-corners. Based on PCD behaviours, the authors propose a novel corner detector. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the PCD technique is effective and simultaneously efficient for corner detection compared with six other contour-based corner detectors in terms of two commonly used evaluation metrics – average repeatability and localisation error.


Inside Out is a kinetic installation that expresses the pointlessness of boundaries. We humans draw lines to write letters and sketch pictures. It can be said that drawing lines is an essential part of our culture and art making. However, we also draw lines to divide people by nationality, ethnicity and religion. These lines rely on ephemeral and constantly shifting social contexts. Although such lines are not consistent, the boundaries they create have become the baseline for violence and discrimination.


The present invention discloses a voice identification method for cellular phone, which comprises the following Steps: asking a user to input his voice through a microphone in a cellular phone when the cellular phone is used first time; analyzing and drawing out the Voiceprint characteristics of the Voice and then Storing it in a memory as a voiceprint password; asking the user to input his voice when the cellular phone is turned on every time afterwards, compar (22) Filed: Mar. 26, 2003 ing the input voice with the Voiceprint password Stored in the cellular phone; then the cellular phone is ready to function (30) Foreign Application Priority Data if the input voice conforms to the Voiceprint password. Thereby, burglarproof effect and data Security can be Nov. 26, 2002 (TW).......................................... 91134293 achieved.


A study on the movement of the gas jet is shot in real-time by the high speed photography and disposes the images with the professional software Image-Pro6.3. The author selects the vertex of the gas jet as a subject investigated to research the variation of the jet penetration, the jet dispersion angle and the jet velocity along with the jet time according to the theory of the free jet. The results show that: the gas jet development process is divided into two stages: the initial section and the main section. When the rotational speed of the engine is a definite value along with the jet time, the jet penetration increases, the jet dispersion angle remains unchanged and the jet velocity decreases. When the rotational speed increases, the jet penetration and jet velocity reduce, but the jet dispersion angle raises, then determines the mathematical model between the jet velocity and the jet penetration on this basis.


The following study is part of a larger community-based project that began in 2007 to document Halq'emeylem language and cultural transmission among Elders, family members, and teachers in the Sto:lō First Nation located in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada (MacDonald et al., 2010; MacDonald et al., 2011). Within the larger project, this article focuses on Halq'emeylem language and literacy transmission and the ways that literacy practices, including the creation of a Halq'emeylem orthography, and theories of school-based second language acquisition have influenced language revitalization within a British Columbia Aboriginal Head Start program. Using ethnographic methods and grounded theory, findings illustrate how a lack of teacher fluency has influenced the transmission of Halq'emeylem by creating the need to rely on a unique bi-/multiliteracy base where environmental print, translated names, translated songs, and interactive text-based computer games are used to support Halq'emeylem language development among parents and teachers who are jointly and concurrently learning and teaching their ancestral language. The study is anchored in a critical perspective on multilingualism (Creese & Blackledge, 2010) that moves away from ideologized beliefs that linguistic systems should be strictly separated, including within second language classrooms (Cummins, 2008; Ludi, 2003; Ludi & Py, 2009; Moore & Gajo, 2009; Swain & Lapkin, 2005). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


Berenty Reserve, a fully protected gallery forest beside the Mandrare River is renowned for its lemurs, but the continuous canopy of the main forest is shrinking, fragmenting and degrading. The aim of this study, before any restoration can be considered, is to investigate why canopy-cover is declining and define the forest's vegetation status and composition. Our study includes analysis of tamarind age (the dominant species) and regeneration, forest extent, climate and soil. Measurement of trunk circumference and annual rings indicated a median age of 190 years, near the accepted maximum for tamarinds. There is no regeneration of tamarind seedlings under the canopy and an invasive vine, Cissus quadrangularis suffocates any regeneration on the forest margins. A vegetation survey, based on fifteen transects, broadly characterized three forest areas: continuous canopy near the river, transitional canopy with fewer tall trees, and degraded dryland; the survey also provided a list of the 18 most common tree species. Ring counts of flood-damaged roots combined with measurement to the riverbank show that erosion rates, up to 19.5 cm/year, are not an immediate threat to forest extent. The highly variable climate shows no trend and analysis of forest soil indicates compatibility with plant growth.


: The purpose of the study was to establish the effects of head teacher leadership styles on teacher performance in public primary schools. Despite measures taken to capacity build head teachers in leadership and management, teachers have cried foul at the delivery of leadership styles used by their head teachers. Performance of public primary schools in Kenya has been inconsistent due to the inability of teachers to record better performance and also inability of head teachers to sufficiently utilize leadership styles which may be hypothesized as being a hindrance to teacher performance. A causal-comparative research design was employed for the study.Stratified random sampling technique was applied to select 177 teachers and 44 head teachers. Data was collected using questionnaire and document Analysis guide. The obtained data was analyzed using means, percentages and frequencies; hypotheseswere tested using ANOVA.The results showed that there was significant relationship between leadership style and performance of teachers in public primary schools in Turkana Central Sub County. The style adopted by the head teacher defined the school's work and social culture in the school, which in turn influence the teachers' commitment to work and to the school activities. principles are not actively involved in creating learning opportunities for teachers in school. The study findings also revealed that Principals in schools are involved in supervision because they are concerned with person-to-person skills which are necessary in school leadership. Another 59% of respondents were of the opinion that principals are involved in giving counselling in forms of advice giving and wisdom sharing thus helping to enhance teacher performance. sampling researcher use and random


Hemolysis is a sporadically reported but potentially serious side effect of the proteasome inhibitor carfilzomib. We aimed to investigate the frequency of hemolysis in an unselected cohort.


This article develops and tests a causal model of campaign intensity in U.S. Senate elections. Although campaign intensity has received a considerable amount of scholarly attention in recent years, no study has explicitly attempted to model the factors contributing to varying levels of intensity across campaigns. This article draws on data from the NES 1988-1992 Pooled Senate Election Study, a content analysis of newspaper coverage of Senate races, and a data set of candidates' positions across a wide variety of issue dimensions to develop and test a model of intensity. Results indicate that aspects of incumbent vulnerability, challenger quality, and the political environment all significantly influence intensity levels.


This study aims to determine the effect of the Think Pair Share cooperative learning model on student confidence in one of the universities in Indonesia for the 2019/2020 academic year. This research hypothesizes that there is a positive and significant effect of the Think Pair Share cooperative learning model on the self-confidence of students of one of the universities in Indonesia in the 2019/2020 academic year. The population of this research is all students of one university in Indonesia, as many as 143 people. The sample of this study was 25% of 143 = 36 people. The significance test of the effect is known to be Fh> Ft (16,360> 4,11). Thus there is a significant influence between the Think Pair Share Cooperative Learning Model on Student Confidence of One University in Indonesia for the 2019/2020 Learning Year. The results of the study concluded that there was a positive and significant influence between the Think Pair Share Cooperative Learning Model on Student Confidence at One University in Indonesia for the 2019/2020 Academic Year.


We discuss the T.O.M (Term Omission Method) to estimate the distribution parameters that have not single exponential family of exponential family with one single distribution parameter, and compare it with different methods using Mean Square Method (MSE).


The relevance of the topic under consideration is not in doubt because in modern conditions the world labor market is not stable for various reasons. And if at the present stage in this market there is a decline due to the development of the pandemic, then in the period before its occurrence there were other destabilizing factors.
The purpose of the study is to consider the problems of the development of the labor market in the conditions of the current crisis (on the example of the countries of South-Eastern Europe).
In the process of writing the study, comparative and analytical methods of research were used. A certain body of literature was also analyzed within the framework of the research topic.
According to the results of the study, the author notes that the solution to the problem of economic development and, consequently, the improvement of labor market conditions in the countries of the region is investment and, as a result, the creation of jobs. Thus, the main task of policy makers in the South-Eastern European region is to attract more investment by creating incentives for firms to enter the market, reducing red tape, developing infrastructure, and investing in human capital to increase productivity. Even though all countries are trying to implement active labor market policies, their share of GDP is significantly lower than in other European countries.
In conclusion, the author notes that significant changes in the labor markets of the SEE countries are impossible without external financial resources, but the main problem is the lack of public consensus due to constant political instability.


When methods of dispensing the synthetic sex pheromone of female cabbage looper, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner) in traps equipped with blacklight lamp were tested, mixtures of sand and pheromone in glass jars and cloth bags, and squares of carpet impregnated with the pheromone effectively increased the catches of male cabbage looper moths. However, their periods of peak attractancy were short. A wick dispenser equipped with a dust shield was as effective as other methods and remained highly attractive for longer periods.


It has been reported that the acceleration control method realizes a fine and fast motion control. The acceleration control method has an ability to suppress the effects of dynamical nonlinearities rapidly. Moreover, the acceleration control method has an accurate output response for each motion reference. However, when the conventional acceleration control system is designed, it is often difficult to define both its nominal parameters and its frequency characteristics systematically.This paper proposes the new model following acceleration control system using the auto-tuning fuzzy filter. The structure of the proposed system has no nominal mechanical parameter of actuator. Its frequency characteristics is determined by the auto-tuning fuzzy filter. This fuzzy filter is constructed by the new auto-tuning algorithm based on the simplex design method. Therefore, the proposed acceleration control system is designed automatically, and it realizes a fine motion control easily.


More than 40 stellar and solar occultation of Saturn have been obtained so far with the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) onboard Cassini. We explore here 14 solar occultations obtained with the UVIS EUV channel, spanning low,medium and high latitudes on both hemispheres. The transmission curves in the 1046-1113 A bandwidth are mainly sensitive to the H2 absorptions and allow derivation of the stratospheric H2 structure through the temperature profile. Comparisons between synthetic and observed transmissions reveal that the temperature profile is significantly different in low/medium latitudes compared to high latitude cases. The derived exospheric temperatures lie in the range 450-700 K, which is significantly higher than the previous values obtained from Voyager occultations. The high latitude temperature profiles are compared with the constraints determined from HST-ACS, Cassini-UVIS and VIMS auroral observations and implications for auroral characteristics are discussed. Acknowledgements The PRODEX program managed by the European Space Agency in collaboration with the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) provided financial support for this research. J.-C.G. is supported by the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS). This work is supported by the Cassini Project.. EPSC Abstracts Vol. 7 EPSC2012-53 2012 European Planetary Science Congress 2012 c © Author(s) 2012 EPSC European Planetary Science Congress


A guide to resources related to Environmental Education, and video tutorials for distance education on the basics of using the library's website to find books, articles and other resources. Tutorials designed to introduce users to the UWSP library online resources


This research study examines the voices of six first year university students as they encounter the formal structured learning environment of an Australian university. The study is situated within a context of the changing landscap


This article provides a description of absence-of-voltage testers (AVTs) and their use, listing requirements [as defined in Underwriters Laboratory (UL) 1436], and application considerations. It includes is a discussion of how AVTs can be used to support National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 70E work practices, and the advantages and limitations of AVTs are addressed.


Berlex Pharmaceuticals (NJ, USA), a US affiliate of Schering AG (Berlin, Germany), has discovered that a receptor protein molecule, CCR1, usually found on the surface of white blood cells is also present in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients, but not in normal brain tissue. Furthermore, increasing levels of CCR1 in the brain correlate with disease progression. The investigators hope that this may lead to the development of an Alzheimer's-specific brain imaging biomarker for early diagnosis and tracking of disease progression. "Our research has demonstrated that CCR1 is evident in the brains of patients very early in the disease process, even in patients with mild cognitive impairment," said Meredith Halks-Miller, Head of Pharmacopathology for Berlex and the study's lead investigator. "CCR1 is present in swollen neuronal fibers that are associated with a molecule called amyloid β 1-42 (Aβ-42), a sticky peptide that builds up and creates the senile plaques that are the hallmark pathological sign of Alzheimer's. As the disease progresses, the number of abnormal CCR1-containing neuronal fibers also increases." Using the data from this discovery, Schering AG has begun Phase I/II clinical trials to investigate the safety and efficacy of BX471, a radiolabeled small molecule targeted to CCR1, which could be utilized as a highly specific brain imaging biomarker for detection and tracking of Alzheimer's. "Today there are no well established, specific diagnostic tests or validated surrogate markers for Alzheimer's," said Edgar Salazar-Grueso, Vice President, Clinical Development for Central Nervous System and Cardiovascular, Berlex. "We believe that targeting CCR1 has the potential to provide the medical community with a specific diagnostic test that can identify Alzheimer's even at early stages of mild cognitive impairment and provide physicians with a validated surrogate marker to track disease progression." It is estimated that in 2003, 4.5 million people in the USA have Alzheimer's and by 2020 this number will increase by 20% and by 300% by the year 2050.


Visual search is an important part of human-computer interaction. It is critical that we build theory about how people visually search displays in order to better support the users' visual capabilities and limitations in everyday tasks. One way of building such theory is through computational cognitive modeling. The ultimate promise for cognitive modeling in HCI it to provide the science base needed for predictive interface analysis tools. This paper discusses computational cognitive modeling of the perceptual, strategic, and oculomotor processes people used in a visual search task. This work refines and rounds out previously reported cognitive modeling and eye tracking analysis. A revised "minimal model" of visual search is presented that explains a variety of eye movement data better than the original model. The revised model uses a parsimonious strategy that is not tied to a particular visual structure or feature beyond the location of objects. Three characteristics of the minimal strategy are discussed in detail.


Introduction: Low blood levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) have been shown to have strong positive associations with diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and stroke. However, the underlying pathways remain unclear, given limited data to systematically examine associations of DHEAS with CVD risk. In exploratory analyses we tested the association between CVD risk factors and DHEAS levels in a large population of Latinos. Methods: Among 1,450 participants in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study between the ages of 45-75 years at baseline, socio-demographic, behavior, medical history, anthropometric and blood pressure data were collected at in-home interviews conducted by trained staff. A certified phlebotomist collected fasting blood samples. All samples were assayed for DHEAS, lipids, and C-reactive protein (CRP), HbA1c, insulin and glucose (GL). Spearman correlations were estimated between DHEAS and continuous CVD risk factors (lipids, systolic blood pressure [SBP] and diastolic blood pressure [DBP], CRP, GL, HbA1c, insulin, body mass index [BMI], waist circumference, physical activity and alcohol consumptions). We used robust multivariable linear regression models adjusted for potential confounders and intermediates with α=0.05 to estimate the association selected CVD risk factors and DHEAS levels. CVD risk factors were identified from a set of potential candidate predictors (age, female gender, history of heart disease, diabetes status, SBP, DBP, total and high density cholesterol [TC, HDL], triglycerides [TG], GL, CRP) using stepwise linear regression with an entry criterion of α=0.20 and exit criterion of α=0.10. Results: The mean DHEAS concentration among women was 70.7 μg/dL (s.d. 53.9; median=70.7) and among men was 119 μg/dL (s.d. 87.7; median=100). In age and sex adjusted Spearman correlations, TC, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, physical activity and alcohol were positively significantly correlated with DHEAS, while BMI and waist circumference were inversely correlated. In robust multivariable linear regression adjusted for potential confounders, age (-8.3; 95%CI:-10.0,-6.5; per 5 yrs), sex (β=-32.5; 95%CI:-38.4,-26.6) and TG (β=-0.5; 95%CI:-0.7,-0.2; per 10 mg/dl) were significantly inversely associated with DHEAS concentration, while TC (β=0.9; 95%CI:0.2,1.6;per 10 mg/dL) and GL (β=0.7; 95%CI:0.2, 1.2;per 10 mg/dL) were positively associated, albeit non-statistically significant. Adjustment for history of CVD, diabetes and BMI, only marginally attenuated these associations. Conclusions: Our data provide support for a significant association between TG levels and DHEAS concentrations even after adjustment for potential confounders and intermediates, which has been previously untested. These results suggest that DHEAS may work through lipid pathways.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a difference exercise type on growth hormone, DHEA-S and physical fitness in elderly person. 30 older females were divided into aerobic dance group and abdomen breathing group. Also, aerobic dance group and abdomen breathing group was trained for 12 weeks (4 days/week, 60 min/day). All data were expressed as mean and standard deviation by using SPSS/PC+ program, and data were analyzed by Paired t-test. The concentrations of growth hormone and DHEA-S were significantly (p<.05) increased in aerobic dance group and abdomen breathing group after 12 weeks comparing to the 0 levels. Cardiopulmonary fitness were significantly (p<.05) increased in both aerobic dance group and abdomen breathing group, muscular endurance were significantly (p<.05) increased in aerobic dance group, flexibility were significantly (p<.05) increased in abdomen breathing group, static balance and agility were not significantly increased in both aerobic dance group and abdomen breathing group.


The Future of NATO Expansion: Four Case Studies. By Zoltan Barany. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 278 pp., $65.00 (ISBN: 0-521-82169-X).

Despite the outwardly placid front associated with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion in the post-Cold War era, many strategic and political issues simmer behind the facade of consensus among alliance members and designated new members. In The Future of NATO Expansion , Zoltan Barany sets out to evaluate systematically and in considerable detail the preparedness of four states for full NATO membership in the second enlargement round. The emphasis is on comparative analysis with no attempt at constructing or testing theory. The book is a contribution to scholarship on alliance operations and politics, offering much for an understanding of NATO's challenging project to reconfigure itself and its mission in the altered security environment that emerged after 1989.

Barany argues in broader terms that NATO should indeed expand into Eastern Europe but that the prospective states should satisfy the alliance's membership criteria before acquiring full member status. NATO's first round of expansion came in 1999 with the accession of three erstwhile Warsaw Pact members—the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland—forming a nineteen-state alliance. Barany admits that, at that time, he had criticized the expansion because it was not essential to the alliance and potentially provocative for Russia. However, Barany shifted his stance once the process had commenced, advocating further enlargement. The second round of expansion, announced at NATO's Prague Summit in November 2002, slated Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for membership. Barany has chosen to focus his study on the first …


The objectives of this paper are to expand on the existing theories of de-branding and rebranding by analyzing the reasons, drivers, and enablers of de-branding and re-branding in the United Arab Emirates' Islamic financial services organizations. The analysis of relevant theoretical and empirical studies on de-branding and re-branding enabled the reflection on the relevant elements, facilitating factors and synergistic linkages in a specific organization experience. An analysis of de-branding and re-branding existing studies enabled the extraction of proposals, which could be used in future Islamic financial services de-branding and re-branding research. This study opens up a new line of research into the de-branding and re-branding phenomena and, despite the subject having been somehow analyzed in conceptual and empirical terms, de-branding and re-branding in Islamic financial services organizations remains unexplored. The terms de-branding and re-branding have been extensively used in the business press but scarcely in academic publications (Griffin, 2002; Kaikati & Kaikati, 2003; Stuart & Muzellec, 2004). It is however, becoming a significant phenomenon deserving academic attention. The first part of this research proposes a definition that highlights the differences between branding, de-branding and re-branding. The literature review then elaborates on some de-branding and re-branding theories and models. The second part of the paper examines the case of a de-branded and re-branded Islamic bank in an effort to identify de-branding and rebranding reasons, drivers as well as critical success factors and enablers that qualified Noor bank to effectively manage the de-branding and re-branding change process.


Communicating the presence of pedestrians or bicyclists to drivers can lead to safer interactions with these vulnerable road users. In a connected vehicle environment, it is conceivable that when vehicle sensors detect a vulnerable road user along an unexpected location, that information can be communicated to other drivers. A full-scale driving simulator experiment was designed to study scenarios in which drivers receive advance knowledge of a pedestrian or bicyclist presence. Impact of Cues on Pedestrian Detection On average, cues were found to result in subjects detecting pedestrians sooner (in terms of distance). However, when the behaviors observed as a result of a cue were analyzed by group, no statistically significant difference was found.


This chapter provides important empirical evidence to support the role of individual knowledge management processes and separate innovation types within firms. Specifically, knowledge acquisition and knowledge application are analyzed and empirically tested in relation to product and process innovation as well as business performance. The results support the direct impact of product and process innovation on business performance. In addition, the results show the indirect effect of knowledge acquisition and knowledge application on firm business performance through product and process innovation.


Today, the advent and adoption of social media changed the way brands and consumers interact. Social media enable consumers to have more influence on the products and services that marketers create to meet their needs. Therefore, to explore attitude of Indian consumers' behaviour to affiliate with brands and engage in eWOM, this study carried out a survey of 181 social media users. Results of the study identified three factors-interpersonal influence, trust and endangerment that facilitate eWOM behaviour. Further, the study established the relationship between brand affiliation factors and purchase intention of social media users. The present study is the first research in India which performed segmentation of eWOM users.


In this editorial, the Editor considered the importance of spatial thinking skills to STEM careers, provided examples of ways scientists use spatial thinking, noted sex and socioeconomic differences in spatial skill proficiency, and reviewed ways that activities included in articles in this issue involved spatial thinking. Brief summaries and preview images were provided for the articles in the issue. The four-component spatial thinking classification scheme with categories of intrinsic-static, intrinsic-dynamic, extrinsic-static and extrinsic dynamic was applied to the activities from this issue of the Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions. All categories of this classification scheme were addressed, providing examples for practitioners and parents to consider implementing with youth.


Parasitic infection becomes an unsolved problem in using of automated instruments for urinalysis. Most common parasitic infections described in literature are Trichomonas vaginalis, Schistosoma hematobium and Microfilaria. Other rare organisms are Balantidium coli and Paramecium. The main purpose of this article is to raise the awareness in pathologists and clinicians on the importance of cytological evaluation of urine. This study was done to find the associations between the age and point prevalence of organisms in our zone in the last 6 years. Identification of parasites in centrifuged deposits of urine sediment is a relatively rare occurrence in clinical practice. A fairly wide morphological spectrum of parasites may be diagnosed through microscopic examination of centrifuged urine sediment. They may present with symptoms like pyuria, hematuria, diarrhoea, burning micturition, itching and morphological awareness helps in prompt and effective management in most cases.


In this work we show that the systems of balance equations (balance systems) of continuum thermodynamics occupy a natural place in the variational bicomplex formalism. We apply the vertical homotopy decomposition to get a local splitting (in a convenient do- main) of a general balance system as the sum of a Lagrangian part and a complemental \pure non-Lagrangian" balance system. In the case when derivatives of the dynamical fields do not enter the constitutive relations of the balance system, the \pure non-Lagrangian" systems coincide with the systems introduced by S. Godunov (Soviet Math. Dokl. 2 (1961), 947{948) and, later, asserted as the canonical hyperbolic form of balance systems in (Muller I., Rug- geri T., Rational extended thermodynamics, 2nd ed., Springer Tracts in Natural Philosophy, Vol. 37, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1998).


A we know, Chirped Pulse Amplification (CPA), a kind of time-spectrum encoding, has scaled the femto-second pulse to several petawatts. Here we report a novel technology; we call it spectrum-polarization encoding (SPE) for broadband pulse. SPE can originate from the optical rotatory dispersion of some optical active materials, e.g. quartz crystal, and can be compensated by inducing equal value of the rotatory dispersion but with opposite sign. By using Ti:S as a polarization-dependent gain, our calculations show proper SPE allows an amplifier to boost an 800 nm pulse up to mJ level with a bandwidth to support few-cycle pulse duration. Further, M. Kalashnikov claimed that SPE might open a way to produce PW few-cycle laser pulses in a CPA system. We also find SPE may be able to tune output spectrum of a tunable laser with a polarization-dependent gain medium, to shape the ultrashort pulses by inducing polarization-dependent loss, to manipulate the nonlinear frequency conversion by encoding the refractive indices via the frequent components of the pumping pulses in a birefringent crystal and so on.


This article examines the staff development needs of UK higher education providers of continuing education and training for industry. It discusses industry's need for CET, how HE can provide it, the importance of staff development for CET providers, and the part industry can play in this.


Introduction: Lunar meteorite PCA 02 007 was recently discovered in the Pecora Escarpment in Antarctica. We were allocated one thin section (PCA 02 007,27), one polished thick section (PCA 02 007,24), and 0.535 g powdered rock sample (PCA 02 007,13) by the Meteorite Working Group (MWG) for carrying out mineral and geochemical investigations. This sample was originally described as a basaltic lunar breccia [1]. However, the polished thickand thinsections that we have examined are of a regolith breccia consisting of many highland clasts and a few basalt clasts of VLT affinity and a multitude of monomineralic basaltic clasts, all set within a finegrained, brownish glassy matrix, made almost opaque by myriads of native Fe grains. Several regolith clasts are also present containing partially devitrified glass spheres and a network of fine-grained native Fe grains from the accompanying agglutinates. Mineralogy and Petrography: Clasts: The majority of the lithic clasts have high plagioclase contents, mostly representing highland impact-melt products, but a few basaltic clasts also exist, sans appreciable ilmenite – i.e., VLT (Figure 1). Few troctolitic and noritic clasts are also present. Some of the clasts are of metamorphosed regolith, as evidenced by the glass beads and abundant 1-2 m native Fe grains throughout. The remaining clasts are mostly pyroxene and a few olivines from coarsegrained basalts. In terms of appearance and clast compositions, PCA 02 007 is similar to QUE 94281 [2]. Pyroxenes: The compositions of the pyroxenes shown in Fig. 2 are misleading in that the majority of them come from single pyroxene grains as clasts. The points that are in the ferropyroxene region come from 5 monomineralic clasts (50-100 m in size). Some of the suspected highland clasts have the most Caand Mgrich pyroxene compositions, common for HMS highland rocks. Some of the pyroxene grains possess exsolution lamellae. Fig. 3 depicts a traverse across one such grain. Notice the Wo contents of the two pyroxenes and the thickness of the lamellae. Such features are interpreted to be indicative of slow cooling, such as may occur in a thick (~10 m) flow or shallow hypabyssal situation. Olivine: The olivine compositions (Fig. 2) are mostly from clasts of comminuted basalt. The Fo content in the majority of the cases varies between 50 and 80, with some values below Fo 40 down to Fo 5. Similarly, there are some olivine grains that occur in partially melted HMS clasts with Fo content ranging between 80 and 90. The Fe to Mn ratios in the olivines and pyroxenes (Fig. 4, after [3]), presence of a myriad of FeNi metal grains, and agglutinates are indicative of lunar source for this sample. Plagioclase: The plagioclase compositions are all extremely rich in An component, most above An 95 and in the range of 95-99. Only in one case, An contents of 70-75 have been measured from a plagioclase grain. The high An contents in plagioclases are common for highland rocks, but also for VLT basalts. Other Minerals and lithologies: Spinels and ilmenite are rare in PCA 02 007. Spinels have both chromite and ulvöspinel


In the light of the long-term trend and cyclical fluctuation of China's phosphate fertilizer out puts during the period of 1978~2005,the development of phosphate fertilizer industry in China is predicted,and some suggestions are proposed for improving this industry.


A model of an ongoing interruption location master framework fit for recognizing break-ins, entrances and different types of PC mishandle is portrayed. The model depends on the speculation that security infringement can be identified by checking a framework's review records for unusual examples of framework utilization. The program on interruption discovery will have the capacity to distinguish whether a site, which for instance requires our client ID and secret word, is dependable or not. The model is autonomous of a specific framework, application condition. Framework defenselessness, or sort of interruption, in this manner giving a structure to a broadly useful interruption recognition master framework.


References to fascism are cropping up with increasing frequency in discussions of American politics. Whether it's our leaders' sense of impunity, the horrors of Guantanamo Bay or the National Security Agency's spreading web of surveillance, the likenesses to the earlier regime are getting hard to miss. That they have not been missed is clear from the growing number of articles considering the comparison, the appearance of novels like Philip Roth's Plot Against America, and scholarly forums like the panel at the 2005 American Political Science Association meetings in Washington, DC, titled, "Is it Time to Call it Fascism?" Is it time? Are such references accurate? Is America really going fascist? These are the questions I want to consider in the following inquiry. But however the answers come out, the very fact the question is being raised reveals an increasing sense among many Americans that their government has lost its constitutional bearings and that the famous governmental design celebrated in civics textbooks and political essays is being breached and gutted as effectively as the levees of New Orleans were swamped by Hurricane Katrina. More, the fascist reference registers the suspicion that as a result we are drifting toward tyranny.


These days, the student of analysis usually learns at most three things about "'summability theory" (="divergent series"). The first is that the Fourier series of an L' function is Cesaro summable to the function almost everywhere. The second (in a course in functional analysis) is the Silverman-Toeplitz criterion that characterizes "regular" methods of summability. The third, for the advanced student (in a course in Banach algebras), is Wiener's Tauberian theorem, but usually so dressed up that its applications to divergent series are lost in the shuffle. It is too bad that so little is taught about summability theory, since it remains a valuable tool in the armamentarium of the practicing analyst. In this note, I will point out three honest applications in the hope of rekindling some interest in the subject. Of course, the classic work in the field is Hardy's book [3]. As an afterthought, I will mention the paper [2] which applies summability theory to mathematical logic! First of all, let us consider Borel summability. We say that s, s (s1 converges to s in the sense of Borel) if


An algorithm based on correlation analysis was adopted to estimate the probability of the presence of damage in aluminum plates using Lamb wave signals from an active sensor network. Both finite element analysis and experimental evaluations were presented. The Shannon entropy optimization criterion was applied to calibrate the optimal mother wavelet and the most appropriate continuous wavelet transform scale for signal processing. The correlation coefficients for individual sensing paths between the present state (with damage) and the reference state (without damage) were calculated, and the probability of the presence of damage in the monitoring area enclosed by the active sensor network was estimated to identify the damage. A concept of virtual sensing paths (VSPs) was proposed to enhance the performance of the algorithm by increasing the number of sensing paths in data fusion. The results identified using both simulation and experimental Lamb wave signals from different groups of sensing paths at diffe...


Abstract Current epoxy based stereolithography materials are highly hygroscopic. However, the diffusion of moisture into these materials and the effect this has on the mechanical performance of manufactured parts have not been thoroughly investigated to date. The first part of this paper will discuss the transport of moisture into representative stereolithography materials and the second part of the paper will describe the effect of the absorbed moisture on mechanical performance. Moisture transport in three different epoxy based stereolithography materials has been investigated using mass uptake experiments. The results show that anomalous (non-Fickian) diffusion occurs to varying degrees in all three materials, the characteristic uptake appearing to be pseudo-Fickian. Anomalous uptake models based on dual sorption, diffusion–relaxation and a dual Fickian model were all shown to provide an excellent fit to the data. The effects of relative humidity and sample thickness are also investigated in the paper.


The protective device comprises a protective cone (13) of plastics material, fixed by one axial end to a mounting device (12). At its second axial end (16) it carries a guide ring (18). Between its ends are provided folds (15). The guide ring (18) is arranged by means of a hollow spherical inner surface (19) on a spherical outer surface (26) of a mounting ring (25), the latter being mounted in a mounting groove ( 7) of the double yoke (2) of the gasket double spider (1) by means of a sliding ring (30). The guide ring (18) is maintained by means of folds (15) of the protective cone (13) under prestress in contact with the outer surface (26). It is mobile by releasing the mounting arrangement, so that the components of the double cross joint are accessible for maintenance, for example for lubrication.


This data set includes data from a Qualtrics survey assessing college students' attitudes towards behaviors constituting virginity loss, importance of virginity, and degree of religiosity.


OBJECTIVE:To analyze secondary structure of the fusion protein with software, and to establish a recombinant secretory anti-hepatocellular carcinoma single-chain bi-functional antibody gene. METHODS: DNAssist and ANTHEPROT V5 were used to analyze their sequence, their secondary structure, and their physical and chymic character. By the technology of directional cloning, the sequenced genes were subcloned into corresponding restriction sites of PLxSN in turn to generate co-expression vector. PL(ScFv-TNF-α)SN was packaged with PA317 and selected in G418 to obtain the positive clones, which were able to produce stable retrovirus, and then HCC9204 cells were infected by the recombinant retrovirus. The positive clones were obtained after G418 selection and were termed HCC/ScFv-TNF-α, and fusion protein were identified by Western blotting in the transfected HCC9204 cells. RESULTS: On the fusion genes, the obtained sequence was analyzed with DNA ssist and ANTHEPROT V5. The inserted fragments in all constructed plasmids were structurally confirmed to be consistent with that of the published data. Similarly, the G418 selected vector PL(ScFv-TNF-α)SN was confirmed to be successful in the stable expression of the objective proteins in the target cells, and expression of recombinant protein was confirmed by Western blotting. CONCLUSIONS: The softwares should be fully used to analyze biologic information, and the approach may have application in a gene therapy context.


The effects of solid solution treatment and ageing on the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of a new corrosion resistant casting aluminum alloy were introduced.By means of metallographic observation and EDAX,it was suggested in consideration of phase diagram that the full dissolution and homogeneous precipitation of Mg 2Si phase determine the combined properties of Al 2Mg 3Si alloy in adominant way.In view of the actual application requirements,the corresponding heat treatment system for this alloy was finally established.


Rate constants and kinetic isotope effects for the 1,2-H shift of methoxyl and benzyloxyl radicals were studied in the presence of water molecules. The electronic structure calculations were carried out at the UB3LYP/6-31G* level, and the dynamics calculations were performed using the variational transition state theory with semiclassical multidimensional corrections for tunneling. The study deals with 1:1 and 1:2 radical−water complexes in the gas phase. It was found that water catalyzes these rearrangement reactions by forming a bridge containing two water molecules. The dynamics calculations show that the methoxyl−water complexes react only very slowly. The rate constants for 1:2 complexes with the benzyloxyl radical are in relative good agreement with the results of laser flash photolysis. The kinetic isotope effects calculated using heavy water indicate that tunneling makes an important contribution in the 1:1 complex, whereas the contribution due to vibrations is more important for the 1:2 complexes...


Execution intervals are commonly used in high-level synthesis systems to identify the relation between operations and the cycle steps in which they possibly can be scheduled. These intervals are normally based on the ASAP (as soon as possible) and ALAP (as late as possible) values of operations under the assumption of unlimited resources. In this paper a novel and much more accurate execution interval analysis is presented for designs on which resource constraints are imposed. The analysis prunes the search space of schedulers without limiting the solution space and therefore enhances the quality of schedulers. The method is based on a bipartite graph matching formulation and runs in polynomial time. Well-known benchmarks show the positive effects of the approach on scheduling results and run times.


Developments in recent years have shown that the disposal of sewage sludge on landfill sites is no longer generally acceptable today, while its use in agriculture is increasingly exposed to criticism. All the more support is therefore being lent to the incineration of sewage sludge, for which lignite power stations and waste incineration plants are becoming increasingly available, alongside the classic mono-incineration plants for sewage sludge. The VERA incineration plant for sewage sludge has been in operation in Hamburg for nearly six years now. The plant not only incinerates the domestic sewage sludge of the city of Hamburg, but also that of other municipalities plus industrial sludge, screenings as well as animal bone and meat meal. In the paper, it will be shown which residues are produced in the incineration process and which disposal channels have been chosen for them. The specific properties of the input and residual substances and the resultant special methods of treatment of them will also be outlined. In particular, the work-safety measures implemented and the findings of the works medical service will be explained.


MAPPE-Global modeling tool belongs to the group of the global box models for environmental fate and transport of POPs. The development of MAPPE-Global for atmosphere includes the relocation of chemical masses exported outside of each grid cell as a proxy of diffusive or advective transport, as well as the accounting of the eventual impact of the long range transcontinental transport in terms of globally "exported or imported" air emissions. In addition, the present version of the model improves the surface water compartment by introducing a global map of travel times to sea which parameter was considered earlier as a fixed value for a given river basin. Besides, the soil- air gas exchange in the soil compartment was bettered by accounting differences in the global land cover. No further improvement is done in the marine part of the model. The estimated error level of MAPPE-Global is about a factor of two, which suggests that the model could be considered as a tool for a screening or initial evaluation of chemical risk for POPs at global scale. The verified MAPPE-Global is applied in practical assessments of chemical loads to the European regional seas. The PCBs case study relates to a sum of 22 congeners and considers two emission scenarios: first the current status relative to the 2010 year; second – a future projection corresponding to the 2020 year. The total amount of 22PCBs released to air equals to 101.03 t for year 2010 and to 50.2 t for year 2020, respectively. The Baseline scenario for Lindane assumes, for the reference year 2005, 86.6 t atmospheric emissions only from European sources and omits the impact of the long range atmospheric transport. The second scenario for Lindane aims to targeting the situation in the year 2020. This scenario (denoted as LRT) suggests no emissions to atmosphere from any European origin due to the banning of this substance but admits that Europe is affected by an unavoidable 'import" of 5.4 t Lindane through trans-continental air transport. According to the MAPPE-Global model, the extended European area is exporting to the marine water 3.7 t of 22PCBs in 2010 and 1.9 t in 2020, respectively. The observed reduction of 49% of the riverine load from year 2010 to year 2020 reflects the difference in the 22PCBs emissions. The riverine load represents about 4% of the total air emissions of 22PCBs. In both scenarios, the most affected seas are the Mediterranean Sea (ca.35% from the total) followed by Northern (ca. 21.5%) and Black sea (ca. 19%). It was estimated that the European seas receive by atmospheric deposition about 7.9 t of 22PCBs in 2010 and ca. 4t in 2020. This is two times more when comparing to the entire riverine discharge of 22PCBs for these years. MAPPE-Global forecasts 10.1 t riverine sea load of Lindane under the Baseline scenario and 0.26t in the case of LRT meaning 97% reduction compared to the baseline option. The riverine loads represent 11.7% and 5%, respectively, from the total air emissions of Lindane. The highest discharges are observed for Atlantic Ocean – in Baseline scenario 2.2t (21.8% from the total) and for LRT 0.06t (23%); and Mediterranean Sea Baseline 3.5t (34.7%) and LRT 0.04t (15.4%). For the gamma-HCH, likewise for the PCBs, it is found that the atmospheric deposition over the European seas dominate the river input to the coastal zone. Under the Baseline scenario, the total air deposition (50.2t/y) is about 5 times higher than the riverine component of the sea load. However, in the case of LRT scenario, probably due to the very low amount of Lindane present in the atmosphere, the air deposition (in total 0.2 t/y) is equivalent to the riverine load of Lindane. Potentially the outcome of MAPPE-Global model could serve in the assessments of different policy options related to the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) or Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) as well as to support the implementation of the European sea conventions as HELCOM (Baltic Sea), OSPAR (North-East Atlantic), MEDPOL (Mediterranean Sea) and BSC (Black Sea). ius eriorio. Itaquis eos aut maximus, quiaepudam imeni tem res eati occumque nullaut vel molluptur? Quia num nam faccab intur alit as ut dolupta temquia aceribustius re optatur, ium accaerc ipsapicatiis inima cume sapersp edipis.


In premodern Japanese poetry, Nō plays, confessional 'recluse literature,' and the iconography of painting, reclusion and deviant behavior have long stood as expedient means of acquiring moral currency. Deviance had little intrinsic significance of its own; its literary interest lay in its utility for actualizing the detachment necessary for proper Buddhist practice. Works like the Hosshinshū, for instance, a collection of setsuwa usually credited to Kamo no Chōmei (1153-1216) about pious individuals seeking inner purity through seclusion from society, align the strange and the mad with Buddhist salvation. Following the Chinese practice of including biographies of recluses in official dynastic histories, several such works were produced in early Tokugawa Japan, such as the monk Gensei's Fusō in'itsuden (Biographies of Japanese Recluses, 1664) and the Kindai yasa inja (Modern Stylish Recluses, 1686) compiled by Ihara Saikaku's disciple, Sairoken Kyōsen. Such works were the antecedents of a genre of


To the Editor The development of an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) despite anticoagulant therapy has been called an 'anticoagulation failure' (1). In their case report, Tabata et al. (2) reviewed the literature pertaining to the use of intravenous thrombolysis in patients on the new oral anticoagulant (NOAC), dabigatran, presenting with AIS. Their article illustrates the challenges that clinicians face in trying to treat patients in situations where there are no evidence-based recommendations. Given the rapidly growing popularity of the direct oral anticoagulants, stroke neurologists are likely to be confronted with scenarios of this sort more frequently in the near future. All in all, the available case reports about thrombolysis in stroke patients on dabigatran paint a mixed picture, and indicate that there is still a significant risk of bleeding. In a recent review, Epple and Steiner expertly discussed the practical issues inherent to this therapeutic dilemma (1). The authors advised caution and concluded that "it is unlikely that patients on NOAC who experience an AIS would be suitable for thrombolysis, unless they have missed their NOAC dose for the last 24-48 hours". For this reason, we would like to point to a different treatment option. We and others (3, 4) have shown that neurointerventional recanalization might constitute a promising treatment alternative in centers with high neuroradiological expertise. An endovascular approach using mechanical clot extraction devices does not expose patients to thrombolytic agents. Hence, a lower risk of intracranial hemorrhage is conceivable. All three cases reported so far showed a good clinical outcome. An asymptomatic intimal tear with transient extravasation of contrast medium was deemed likely in the first patient, and represents the only complication reported. As rightly commented by Hankey (5), such a "simple solution" remains unproven in terms of whether it is a safe and effective alternative to thrombolysis. Nevertheless, physicians occasionally face complex clinical situations and patient subgroups for which information derived from controlled clinical trials cannot be applied. We believe that case reports like those by Moey et al. and our group could form the basis of future observational studies. In our opinion, endovascular revascularization might emerge as a valuable treatment option for AIS patients on treatment with dabigatran, and possibly other novel oral anticoagulants.


Aided by its consultant, the US Geologic Survey (USGS), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviewed ''Seismic Hazard Methodology for the Central and Eastern United States.'' This topical report was submitted jointly by the Seismicity Owners Group (SOG) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in July 1986 and was revised in February 1987. The NRC staff concludes that SOG/EPRI Seismic Hazard Methodology as documented in the topical report and associated submittals, is an acceptable methodology for use in calculating seismic hazard in the Central and Eastern United States (CEUS). These calculations will be based upon the data and information documented in the material that was submitted as the SOG/EPRI topical report and ancillary submittals. However, as part of the review process the staff conditions its approval by noting areas in which problems may arise unless precautions detailed in the report are observed. 23 refs.


[Objective] The study aims to discuss the optimal conditions for removing and recycling phosphorus from wastewater.[Method] By using calcium,iron and aluminum salts,phosphorus was removed from the wastewater with high content of phosphorus from a pharmaceutical and chemical plant in Taizhou City,and phosphorus was recycled in the form of struvite.Moreover,the effects of pH and molar ratio of N,Mg and P on struvite generation were analyzed.[Result] Through controlling pH,dosage of calcium,iron and aluminum salts,phosphorus concentration in effluent wastewater was greatly reduced,and the removal rate of phosphorus reached 98.66%.At normal temperatures,95% of phosphorus was transformed into struvite when pH was 10.0 and molar ratio of N,Mg and P was 1:1:1.[Conclusion] The research could provide references for the treatment and recycling of wastewater with high content of phosphorus.


It was billed as a range tour, but it turned out to be a reunion of sorts. And the guest list included some familiar names. The Bureau of Land Management invited range scientists, ranchers, and others to check the progress of allotment plans they had helped develop more than 20 years ago. They gathered on the green and lonely hills of western South Dakota in June 1991 to tour the Crago and Moreau Allotments. In the late 1960's, the BLM worked with the Crago family and the newly formed Moreau Grazing Association to develop allotment management plans (AMPs) covering nearly 64 thousand acres of federal, state, and private lands. These Crago and Moreau AMPs were among the first in the nation. Prior to the development of the AMPs, many drainages in the two allotments were devoid of the plant species needed to impede runoff, increase water absorption, provide wildlife habitat, and control erosion. Large pastures with few water sources resulted in poor grazing distribution. Areas adjacent to water sources showed excessive use, reduced productivity, and in some cases, reduced ecological condition. The condition of the watersheds, along with design flaws in some of the dams, resulted in reservoir failures that further compounded the erosion problems. The plans sought to reduce erosion, improve forage for livestock, and improve wildlife habitat through better management of vegetation and livestock. The main feature of both plans was the establishment of rotation grazing systems. Watering facilities and cross fences were planned and constructed where they were needed to implement the rotation systems. Each plan had specific objectives for plant cover, species composition, and productivity improvements. Flexibility was built into the plans to accommodate the needs of the livestock operators and to make necessary adjustments for unplanned conditions such as drought, fire, or hail. For example, while the plans included maximum livestock numbers and specific periods of use, they also included provisions for ranch managers to deviate from those limits during emergency situations. Deviations were not to exceed ten percent of surveyed or authorized carrying capacity. Today, range managers have concluded that the range has improved from the standpoints of productivity, watershed condition, and vegetative characteristics. Permanent photo points, transects, and observations of users indicate that productivity has improved as much as 25


In this paper we describe a novel approach for engineering process representation based on the application of formal ontologies. We illustrate components of a framework that comprises domain abstractions, design interfaces and meta-data in the engineering design domain in the form of process-, artefactand task ontologies. A concrete application and use case of the framework components is detailed in order to demonstrate the capabilities for representation of design processes on a high level of abstraction. The realm of Planning is employed to showcase workflow decomposition. We show, how the framework can be applied to perform workflow consistency checking and point out some scenarios where the developed framework can provide support in the task of engineering design analysis and improvement.


I wish to. thank Dr. Frank M. Carpenter of Harvard University for the opportunity to study the. following two species .of most interesting f.ossil flies. The. asilid from the Miocene shales of Colorado is particularly interesting because of the information that it affords as to the narrow extent .of change in Recent related flies. The syrphid in Baltic amber represents the third species belonging to its genus and is unusually well preserved. Both are from the collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology.


Unit for monitoring a welding process taking place into a working area by means of a television camera arranged outside the working area and an optical filter arranged in front of the camera to weaken the radiation emanating from the working area, an illumination device being preferably provided to lighten the working area with a lighting power sufficient to enable a television image to be produced when the welding process is not in operation, the unit being characterized in that the filter is transparent substantially only in an infra-red spectral range and in that the camera is sensitive within said spectral range.


Over 300 million surgical procedures are performed annually, with de-mand for surgery likely to increase in the coming years with an aging population. 1 Although medicine has made many advances, major non-cardiac surgical procedures still carry a significant risk of cardiac complications and death. The 2022 ESC 'Guidelines on cardiovascular assessment and management of patients undergoing non-cardiac sur-gery' have endorsed use of cardiac troponin (cTn) T and I, to help improve perioperative outcomes. 2 The guideline recommends


The outstanding achievements in China's early sociological and anthropological research are closely related to the scholars' great attention to and exploration of Chinese experience. On this basis, works such as Home Forever, applying category comparative method, conduct an expanding research on the pattern of difference, and establish methodologically the relationship between field experience and the holistic study of China's social and cultural structure. These works also show that giving experiments a place of honor is of great significance in terms of cultural self-awareness to the sociological and anthropological field study of China.


AbstractThat the Arikara were characterized by seasonal economic activities accompanied by varying settlement patterns during the Late Prehistoric and EarlyContact Periods is amply documented in th...


The paper aims to introduce our research on optimizing the parameters of biodegradating nitrobenzene by means of improving its orthogonal layout. As is known,biodegradation is one of the best ways to treat nitrobenzene contamination. However,since it is complicated and inconvenient to be treated,it is necessary to take the trouble to optimize the parameters of degradation,that is to say,it is necessary to isolate a number of strains of bacteria that can degrade nitrobenzene from the contaminated sludge of chemical plants. In doing so,we have inoculated eight of those strains for the experiment. At the same time,orthogonal design has been built up to determine the degradation effect of nitrobenzene at different levels of four factors,including the original concentration of nitrobenzene,pH value,heavy metal and concentration of NaCl. To avoid the complex process of pretreatment,the concentrations of nitrobenzene were detected simply and accurately by using the UV-spectrophotometer. The standard curve and the linear equation about absorbency and the nitrobenzene concentration were constructed by detecting the standard samples of nitrobenzene. We have analyzed the results of experiments by using SPSS software,which have shown that all the four factors,the original concentration of nitrobenzene,pH value,heavy metal and concentration of NaCl,have brought about very significant effect on the degradation rate of nitrobenzene. The sequential order of the respective effect from strong to week can be illustrated as:original concentration of nitrobenzenepH valueconcentration of NaClheavy metal. While the degradation rate of nitrobenzene is highest,the original bulk rate of nitrobenzene was 1 000 μL/L,value of pH was 8,the mass concentration of NaCl is 50 mg/L; the mass concentration of ZnCl2 was 50 mg/L. Therefore,it can also be concluded that the presence of some heavy metals in certain concentrations tends to promote the degradation process of nitrobenzene.


Osteoarthritis is a multifactorial disease, with relevant influences of genetic, static, physical, biochemical and nutrical factors. The pathophysiology of osteoarthritis reveals the eminent relevance of inflammatory processes for the destruction of cartilage. These processes are targets for omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and phytochemicals. Nutritional relevance is elicited by compounds with limited availability, either because of insufficient biosynthesis or deficient dietary supply. Of potential relevance are chondroitin, glucosamines, vitamins and minerals. Since, in most cases, the development of osteoarthritis is slow and causes are variable, the effect of one nutrient on this process is hard to prove. This is reflected by the ambiguous ranking of the available studies. High ranking, GCP-conform clinical studies with nutrients are rare, because of technical and financial reasons. Frequently, surrogate parameters are used for the proof of efficacy. The bias of this approach has lately become evident for antioxidants. This review presents data from the literature relating to nutritional factors with relevance for the development of osteoarthritis.


Part I of this project has established that fossil hydrocarbons can be distinguished from biogenic hydrocarbons in living organisms. Hydrocarbons are stable in marine organisms and sediments and can move unaltered through several trophic levels. Only very low levels of organic stimuli are necessary for chemical communication--a mechanism especially prone to interference by pollutants. Part II has established that a low level of crude oil (0.9 milliliters/liter) interferes with the timing of feeding behavior in the lobster (Homarus americanus). Water soluble fractions (in the 50 ppb range) did not affect feeding behavior. Added oil reduced the lipids as well as alkane and alkene-aromatic content of aquaria. Degradation of added oil followed the usual pathways of evaporation, dissolution, oxidation, polymerization, and metabolism. (Modified author abstract)


Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are increasingly used in bathymetric survey, maritime surveillance, and maintenance applications. However, detecting obstacles in the maritime environment poses significant challenges due to sea clutter, background variability, and other factors. Although various sensors such as radar, AIS, LiDAR, and camera have been used for obstacle detection, they have limitations in terms of range and effectiveness, especially at different USV speeds. In this paper, we present a real-time obstacle detection system for USVs in the maritime environment by explaining the used sensors, the architecture and the implemented algorithms. We focus on evaluating the performance of the YOLOV7 network, which forms the basis of our fusion algorithm. Our results demonstrate that our system can effectively detect maritime objects in real-time, providing improved safety and efficiency for USV operations. Additionally, we provide an open solution for visualizing the detected targets on a chart plotter navigation.


In an emergency situation, each response agent must act quickly and accurately. The support of a mobile device that can provide an appropriate insight of the surroundings and that allows users to exchange information with the other members of the emergency teams, can prevent harm and even save many lives. This paper presents a mobile application that integrates a georeferenced system with augmented reality techniques, in order to serve the needs of the operatives in emergency situations. The work intends to introduce solutions which optimize the performance with which the user takes advantage of the mobile application, such as the organization of the data flow that is displayed and the augmentation of the surrounding area. User studies were conducted with members of the National Navy. The results were positive although there are still some aspects that should be improved.


Discriminative approaches for word alignment have gained popularity in recent years because of the flexibility that they offer for using a large variety of features and combining information from various sources. But, the models proposed in the past have not been able to make much use of features that capture the likelihood of an alignment structure (the set of alignment links) and the syntactic divergence between sentences in the parallel text. This is primarily because of the limitation of their search techniques. In this paper, we propose a generic discriminative re-ranking approach for word alignment which allows us to make use of structural features effectively. These features are particularly useful for language pairs with high structural divergence (like English-Hindi, English-Japanese). We have shown that by using the structural features, we have obtained a decrease of 2.3% in the absolute value of alignment error rate (AER). When we add the cooccurence probabilities obtained from IBM model-4 to our features, we achieved the best AER (50.50) for the English-Hindi parallel corpus.


Location spoofing and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) propagation are two leading reasons of serious localization errors in wireless networks. Previous studies have managed to identify these two factors separately. However, when present in the same system, these two factors can cause localization errors in a similar manner, making the identification difficult. In this paper, we address the problem of identifying location spoofing in NLOS conditions. We first carry out a geometric analysis on NLOS and derive a bound that can be used to differentiate NLOS from location spoofing. Based on the bound, we propose an identification method. We show that the proposed method is secure against different types of spoofing attacks including those from individuals and from multiple collaborative attackers. In particular, it can be used to identify the well-known "perfect location spoofing." Simulation in wireless sensor networks indicates that our method can achieve a high accuracy with 0 false positive on identifying individual attacks and perfect location spoofing in NLOS conditions.


Bryophytes represent favourable habitats for many arthropods, but their utilisation as a food source is marginal. While one of the largest monophyletic groups that represent obligatory bryophyte consumers are the Byrrhidae, host ranges for species in this group of beetles remain largely unknown due to their cryptic appearance and rarity. The occasional notes of 'associated' moss species that do exist are related to where Byrrhidae were found and not to diet analysis. Because the majority of Byrrhidae are stenobionts with limited dispersal, the assumption that associated moss species are also used as food is a useful hypothesis. To test this hypothesis, 328 individuals were sampled from the species: Cytilus sericeus, Byrrhus fasciatus, Byrrhus pilula, and Byrrhus glabratus. Mosses from both the stomachs and the immediate microhabitats of beetles were determined with the aim of (i) identifying their host range and (ii) testing whether the moss species from microhabitats in which beetles were collected were also found in their stomachs. Almost 40 bryophyte species were found in beetle stomachs and accumulation curves for all beetle species failed to achieve asymptotes, together showing that all species are highly polyphagous. Although a strong general correlation existed between moss consumption and occupation, discrepancies were present at the individual level with there being considerably higher moss species richness in beetle stomachs than in their immediate microhabitats. Our results question the assumption that bryophyte occupancy and consumption can be used interchangeably when studying host use in these insects.


Cancer registries are one of the most important assets we have in improving the care of individual patients and in developing effective programs of cancer control. The hospital-based registry, through the accession and analysis of cancer cases seen in that hospital, provides information leading to the improvement of patient care. Information from the registry permits the evaluation of care given in that institution, serves as the basis for the continuing education of health care professionals in that hospital and stimulates the improvement of diagnosis and treatment. Second, the population-based central cancer registry accessions all cases of cancer in defined populations, allowing us to determine cancer patterns among various populations, monitor trends over time, guide the planning and evaluation of cancer control programs, help prioritize health resource allocations and advance clinical, epidemiological and health services research (1). Both types of registries are essential parts of the current system of cancer registration in the United States and in turn are critical elements in local and national cancer control programs.


This paper proposes a new crosstie overlay slow-wave structure for a traveling-wave electro-optical modulator. This structure can be designed to satisfy the phase velocity and impedance matching conditions simultaneously over a broad spectral bandwidth. This idea can be applied to a number of electrode structures for broadband traveling-wave optical modulators.


A 68-year-old man presented with new-onset angina 15 years following coronary artery bypass grafting. Cardiac catheterization revealed slow flow through a saphenous vein graft to a diagonal branch. The patient temporarily had cardiogenic shock. A 64-slice computed tomographic angiography showed basal–lateral rupture of the left ventricular free wall (Figs 1 and 2, Supplementary Videos 1 and 2). Supplementary material is available at EJCTS online.


Multiple sclerosis is a disabling autoimmune disease in which immune cells target central nervous system (CNS) antigens, leading to demyelination, glial activation, and subsequent loss of neurons and axons.1 There are three main subtypes of multiple sclerosis: relapsing–remitting, in which patients recover partly or fully from attacks but go on to have others; secondary progressive, in which patients with relapsing–remitting disease have progression of disability between attacks; and primary progressive, in which patients have continual progression from the time of onset of the disease.2 Over the past two decades, a remarkable number of new therapies have been developed that reduce . . .


The research is carried out in order to give a diagnosis for the use and rehabilitation and maintenance strategies of the road network in the city of Bogotá, providing a sustainable environmental initiative through recycled materials resulting from the asphalt layer removed from the demolition for the maintenance of the roads and from which MBR (recycled bituminous material) is obtained, which through a production process is transformed and mixed with other products, becoming an environmentally friendly alternative and the final product is used for rehabilitation and maintenance of rural roads within the city.


This study aims to examine from the fiqh perspective the power of the head of the state, as defined by the Hanafi and the Shafii Madhhab according to Najm ad-Dīn aṭ-Ṭarṣūṣī's (d. 758/1357) work, Tuhfat al-Turk (Gift for the Turk). Tarṣūṣī claims, that the Hanafis legitimize compared to the Shafii Madhhab more presidential authority and tries to justify his claim through many different individual cases. In this paper, the assertion of Tarṣūṣī will be discussed and his claim will by means of three research issues from his text be examined. These are dealing with the questions, if the implementation of had-punishments requires the approval of the head of the state, if he is responsible for indemnity when the tazir-punishment ends with death and if he has the authority of confiscation.


In this paper, a stability control strategy with two levels is presented for vehicle systems with crosswind disturbances. In the high level, the controller is designed to get the resultant forces (moments), which achieve the motion control targets. At first, the method of diffeomorphic mapping is used to achieve coordinate transformation, and a state feedback is introduced to realize the conversion from the original nonlinear system to the linear system. Then, a disturbance rejection controller is designed to maintain the stability of the vehicle when the external disturbances exist and achieve the tracking of the control objectives keeping a $L_{2}$ performance. In the low level, considering the constraints of actuator physical constraints and road adhesion conditions, an effective control allocation algorithm is proposed to make sure that the actual forces (moments) distributed to the wheels are closer to the expected ones calculated by the high level. The control strategy has been implemented in MATLAB/Simulink environment. A more realistic vehicle system simulation model is established in AMEsim. The results show that the vehicle stability control strategy proposed in this paper can maintain the stability of the vehicle when crosswind disturbance exists.


193nm immersion lithography is the most promising lithography candidate for 45nm node technology and beyond. However, immersion specific issue, such as the immersion specific defect and the leaching of resists compound into immersion fluid, still exists without any effective countermeasure. To realize a productive 193nm immersion lithography process, we have to develop a cost effective material that might be immersion dedicated resist. In this paper, we investigated the leaching with different polymer protective agents and hydrophobicity. It was found that the leaching amount was strongly related to the activation energy of the protective agent and hydrophobicity of the polymer. Higher activation energy of protective agents and higher hydrophobicity of polymer showed less amount of leaching. In this paper, newly developed developable type topcoat TILCTM-031 demonstrated the excellent ability of immersion defect prevention.


Cerebral aneurysms (CA) affect nearly 6% of the US population and its rupture is one of the major causes of hemorrhagic stroke. Neurointerventionalists performing endovascular therapy (ET) to treat CA rely on qualitative image sequences obtained under fluoroscopy guidance alone, and do not have access to crucial quantitative information regarding blood flow before, during and after treatment – partially contributing to a failure rate of up to 30%. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a powerful tool that can provide a wealth of quantitative data; however, CFD has found limited utility in the clinic due to the challenges in obtaining hemodynamic boundary conditions for each patient. In this work, we present a novel CFD-based simulated angiogram approach (SAA) that resolves the blood flow physics and interaction between blood and injected contrast agent to extract quantitative hemodynamic parameters which can be used to design real-time parametric imaging analysis. The SAA enables correlating contrast agent transport to the underlying hemodynamic conditions via time-density curves (TDC) obtained at several points in the region of interest. The ability of the TDC and the SAA to provide critical hemodynamic parameters in and around CA anatomies, such as washout and local flow changes is explored and presented. This provides invaluable quantitative data to the clinician at the time of intervention, since it incorporates the physics of blood flow and correlates the contrast transport to hemodynamic parameters quantitatively – thereby enabling the clinician to take informed decisions that improve treatment outcomes.


A technology of alternately discharging and rolling was developed because the volume size and heating capacity of two furnaces are different in ASP line of Anshan Iron Steel Group Co.The ration of discharing of two furnaces can be optimized by this technology based on heating capacity of furnaces,casting speed and charging and discharging temperature.Meanwhile,the reheating time and discharging temperature can be kept even,and the discharging rhythm can be increased.


Indian Journal of Community Medicine/Vol 37/Issue 3/July 2012 Surveillance, a fundamental tool of public health, is the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health data and the timely dissemination of this data to policymakers and other stakeholders for initiating action for control and prevention of diseases.(1) Good quality health information is essential for planning, implementing and evaluating public health activities in any nation. Surveillance provides timely health information so that countries are prepared to take remedial action in the face of any challenge.


Research on implicit and explicit prejudice has treated implicit prejudice as a unitary construct characterized by automatic access to negative concepts. The present article makes the case that tasks purported to measure implicit prejudice actually assess 2 different processes. Some assess the extent to which prejudice is activated automatically on the perception of a member of the target group. Other implicit tasks assess the extent to which prejudice is automatically applied in judgment. In the reported study, participants completed 4 implicit and 2 explicit measures of prejudice against women. Factor analysis yielded a 3-factor solution. The solution provides support for the distinction between explicit prejudice and 2 types of implicit prejudice corresponding to automatic activation and automatic application of prejudice. Prejudice appears to be a multifaceted construct, different aspects of which are measured by different tasks.


In the introduction the authors state ' ...... this book exclusively discusses some of the mathematics that currently seems relevant to management'. It must be emphasised that the book is not a text on management science nor is it a book that covers in depth the mathematical topics considered. However, as an introduction to the mathematical techniques required for OR it is excellent. It covers such diverse topics as set theory, boolean algebra, difference and differential equations, probability, vector and matrix algebra. It is well laid out with good diagrams and plenty of worked examples, which necessarily are much smiplified examples of those met in management practice.


Method for providing supplemental information 226 for video program is provided, the method comprises receiving the supplemental information 226 for video program. Query is received from the consumer. Query is related to the specified portions of the supplemental information 226. Based on the specified portion of the supplemental information 226, query response is provided to the consumer.


Boron nitride (BN) microtubes were synthesized in a vertical induction furnace using Li2CO3 and B reactants. Their structures and morphologies were investigated using x-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. The microtubes have diameters of 1–3 µm, lengths of up to hundreds of micrometers, and well-structured ultrathin walls only ∼50 nm thick. A mechanism combining the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) and template self-sacrificing processes is proposed to explain the formation of these novel one-dimensional microstructures, in which the Li2O–B2O3 eutectic reaction plays an important role. Cathodoluminescence studies show that even at room temperature the thin-walled BN microtubes can possess an intense band-edge emission at ∼216.5 nm, which is distinct compared with other BN nanostructures. The study suggests that the thin-walled BN microtubes should be promising for constructing compact deep UV devices and find potential applications in microreactors and microfluidic and drug delivery systems.


Abbreviations: SDB, sleep disordered breathing; OSA, obstructive sleep apnea; ME, maxillary expansion; RME, rapid maxillary expansion; ESS, epworth sleepiness scale; SOS, snore outcomes survey; SPBS, spouse/bed partner survey; MPT, maximum palatal thickness; PAS, posterior airway space; R, retrospective; C, child; A, adult; S, study; Co, control m-RCS, retrospective children study group; -RAS, retrospective adult study group; RCCo, retrospective children control group; RACo, retrospective adult control group


We prove an invariance principle for the bridge of a random walk conditioned to stay positive, when the random walk is in the domain of attraction of a stable law, both in the discrete and in the absolutely continuous setting. This includes as a special case the convergence under diffusive rescaling of random walk excursions toward the normalized Brownian excursion, for zero mean, finite variance random walks. The proof exploits asuitable absolute continuity relation together with some local asymptotic estimates for random walks conditioned to stay positive, recently obtained by Vatutin and Wachtel and by Doney.We review and extend these relations to the absolutely continuous setting.


Abstract Since the discovery that certain disorders such as rickets in children, dogs, rats, etc., and leg weakness in chicks could be corrected by irradiation with light containing ultra-violet rays, a great deal of experimental work has been carried on. The practical application of the knowledge resulting from these investigations has opened up a new field of poultry production, which up to a short time ago had been a series of unsuccessful attempts to raise chicks in confinement. Following the discovery that window glass filtered out these necessary rays, attempts were made to find substitutes for glass which would allow these short invisible solar light waves to pass through. Quartz glass was found to allow sufficient transmission of these rays to protect rats against rickets, but the expense in manufacturing made this kind of glass prohibitive to commercial poultrymen, for such uses as equipping brooder houses with quartz glass windows to . . .


To control a quantum system, not only may an ancillary system be introduced, but unitary operations and quantum projective measurement can also be performed on the quantum system or the resulting composite system. As a quantum system may be "physically" controllable even if the quantum system is not open-loop controllable, it is, therefore, necessary to go beyond the limitation of open-loop controllability for quantum systems. By studying the link between quantum generalized measurement and generalized pure state reachability, we further clarify the rationality of redefining the concept of generalized controllability from a view point of physical operation. It is also demonstrated that applying unitary operations, performing quantum projective measurement and introducing ancillary systems can play important roles in controlling quantum systems. Therefore, instead of adopting the concept of open-loop controllability for quantum systems, we need to define and discuss the concept of generalized controllability from a view point of physical operation. This is in marked contrast to the fact that the "physical" controllability for classical systems can only be discussed in the sense of open- loop control.


To study the effect of polysaccharides from Platycodon grandiflorum A.DC(PPS80) on immunosuppressive mice induced by cyclophosphamide(CTX).60 male kunming mice were randomly divided into six groups: normal control,model group,PPS80 low-dose treatment group(100 mg/(kg·d)),PPS80 middle-dose treatment group(200 mg/(kg·d)),PPS80 high-dose treatment group(400 mg/(kg·d)) and positive control group treated with levamisole hydrochloride(LMS).Immunosuppressive model was established by intraperitoneal injection of CTX at the dose of 80 mg/kg,once a day for 3 d.After administrated with drugs for one week,thymus index and spleen index were determined by weight.Concentrations of IL-2 and TNF-α in serum were determined by sandwich ELISA assay kits.Results PPS80 significantly increased thymus and spleen index and the concentrations of IL-2 and TNF-α of the serum in a dose-dependent manner.PPS80 has obvious immune-improving effects on immunosuppressive mice induced by CTX.


It discloses compounds useful as fluorescent dyes or colored dyes. The compound has the following structure (I): including stereoisomers, salts, and tautomers, wherein R1, R2, R3, L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, L6, M1, M2, A, q, w and n are as defined herein. Preparation and also provides related methods of using such compounds.