Wetness loss of a steam turbine seriously affects the security of the unit when operating in deep peak regulation. To obtain the distribution characteristics of the high wetness loss area under different working conditions, especially low-load conditions, the last two stages of the low-pressure cylinder (LPC) of a 600 MW steam turbine were simulated using the non-equilibrium condensation model proposed in this study. The nucleation rate distribution, supercooling degree, and steam velocity droplet were analyzed. Consequently, the diameter distribution of coarse water droplets under 100%, 50%, 40%, 30%, and 20% THA conditions and the distribution of the thermodynamic loss and water droplet resistance loss were obtained. Thermodynamic loss mainly occurred at the front end of second-stage stator blades and trailing end of the last-stage stator blades. The water droplet resistance loss mainly occurred at 40% of the blade height and at the tip of the last-stage stator blades. Moreover, with a reduction in the unit load, the thermodynamic loss continued to decrease, but the water droplet resistance loss continued to increase.


Summary This study presents the results of combining rock physics, seismic inversion and multiattributes transforms to estimate rock reservoir properties of Cretaceous aged sandstones deposited in a fluvial-deltaic environment (Caballos Formation) from The Balcon Field. This study, which developed out of a need to better understand the significance of seismic amplitude variations at the reservoir level and their relationship with rock properties, determined that acoustic related seismic attributes (velocity and acoustic impedance) are sensitive to changes in rock porosity and lithology. In spite of the high scatter observed in the cross-plots, due to factors such as composition, clay content, diagenesis and texture of the rock, two main rock physics trends are recognized. Thus, the lower stratigraphic unit, which is composed of poorly sorted dirty sandstones deposited in a fluvial environment with high clay content, has higher velocity and lower porosity than the upper stratigraphic unit, which is composed of well-sorted and clean deltaic sandstones. Cross-plots also indicate that the porosity-velocity and porosity-acoustic impedance relation are greatly improved when stratigraphic constraints are used. It is demonstrated that the acoustic impedance attribute derived from model-based inversion can be used as the main seismic attribute to estimate spatial distribution of rock properties in the Balcon Field. If this attribute is combined with other seismic attributes in linear or non-linear mode, the match between well-attribute log derived properties (Porosity and Gamma Ray log) and the predicted values is improved to a great extent.


Abstract A superaustenitic stainless steel was friction stir welded using a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride tool, and then effect of microstructure on properties in the weld was examined. Friction stir welding resulted in a fine equiaxed grain structure in the stir zone, which raised the hardness, but a banded structure with a high density of intermetallic phases was yielded in the bottom of the stir zone. The amount of intermetallic phases in the bottom of the stir zone was significantly large at high rotational speed. The high rotational speed drastically reduced mechanical and corrosion properties of the weld due to the high density of intermetallic phases, while the reduction of the properties was not significant at low rotational speed. Findings of the present study suggest that low heat input friction stir welding is an effective method to produce a weld with relatively good properties in superaustenitic stainless steels.


When analyzing the blood of newborn piglets before they are fed colostrum one observe the low intensity of ALAT, AsAT, LDG and CPhK, as well as the low level of cholesterol and triglycerides which testifies to the insufficient development of their synthesis in the bowels mucosa and liver. The increased activity of GGTP, phosphatase content seromucoid and inorganic phosphorus testify to the presence of the stress factor under the birth of animals and the development of compensatory mechanisms.


Tougher environmental legislations related to the usage of hexavalent chrome are forcing industries to search for new alternatives to replace conventional hard chrome plating [European Union, Off. J. Eur. Union 56, 1–5 (2013)]. In addition to the environmental aspects, the typical requirements of the coatings are smooth surfaces with high resistance to wear and corrosion [R. Weil and K. Sheppard, "Electroplated coatings, friction, lubrication, and wear technology," in ASM Handbook, ASM International, edited by S. D. Henry (ASM International, Metals Park, OH, 1992), Vol. 18, pp. 834–839]. Furthermore, to be attractive to any high volume industrial application, a replacement solution must not only have technical, but also cost benefits. High-speed laser cladding is such a process that can replace hard chrome plating [T. Schopphoven, A. Gasser, and K. Wissenbach, J. Laser Appl. 28, 022501 (2016); T. Schopphoven, A. Gasser, and G. Backes, Laser Tech. J. 4, 26–29 (2017)]. If compared to conventional laser cladding, where the layer thickness normally ranges between 0.5 and 1.5 mm, the high-speed laser cladding process can produce layers between 25 and 500 μm in thickness. The resulting heat input as well as the dilution with the substrate is very low [T. Schopphoven, A. Gasser, and G. Backes, Laser Tech. J. 4, 26–29 (2017)]. Until now, nickel based alloys have mostly been used as hard chrome replacement with high-speed laser cladding [T. Schopphoven, A. Gasser, and K. Wissenbach, J. Laser Appl. 28, 022501 (2016); O. Raykis, Laser Tech. J. 1, 28–30 (2017)]. However, there is a need for new innovative coating materials. The novel iron-based alloy in this study, consisting of 18% Cr and 2.5% Ni, features very good wear properties and high corrosion resistance. In combination with high-speed laser cladding, this alloy delivers an environmentally friendly and cost effective solution with complete metallurgical bonding to the substrate.Tougher environmental legislations related to the usage of hexavalent chrome are forcing industries to search for new alternatives to replace conventional hard chrome plating [European Union, Off. J. Eur. Union 56, 1–5 (2013)]. In addition to the environmental aspects, the typical requirements of the coatings are smooth surfaces with high resistance to wear and corrosion [R. Weil and K. Sheppard, "Electroplated coatings, friction, lubrication, and wear technology," in ASM Handbook, ASM International, edited by S. D. Henry (ASM International, Metals Park, OH, 1992), Vol. 18, pp. 834–839]. Furthermore, to be attractive to any high volume industrial application, a replacement solution must not only have technical, but also cost benefits. High-speed laser cladding is such a process that can replace hard chrome plating [T. Schopphoven, A. Gasser, and K. Wissenbach, J. Laser Appl. 28, 022501 (2016); T. Schopphoven, A. Gasser, and G. Backes, Laser Tech. J. 4, 26–29 (2017)]. If compared to conventional laser clad...


As can be seen from the title, this dissertation focuses on implementation of controlling tools into one specific company. With regard to the fact that this company is small by its size I will concentrate mainly on the tools for financial controlling. A practical implementation of these tools will be based on the theoretical part of this dissertation. Core of the practical part will be execution of the financial analysis in the company SAXO, Ltd. and the results of this financial analysis will be used for utilization of the chosen tools of the financial controlling in this company. According to the requirements of this company the feasible tools for the management of cash-flow, outstanding and for scheduling will be chosen. In the whole dissertation I will try to make the most out of the usage of the new informative system of the company.


Bananas are tropical fruits mostly eaten in Malaysia. The banana peels are high in organic, and putrescible caused the odour and leachate problem where it has been a dump. In practice, banana peels considered as a waste product that has been combined with municipal solid waste and dumped into the landfills. However, banana peels are bountiful in organic matter and high with moisture content. Thus, it could be a convincing substrate for biogas production through anaerobic digestion so that the major concerns of environmental protection is achieved aside from producing energy in a sustainable way. Therefore, this study was initiated to estimate the ultimate methane yield from the unripe banana peel (UBP) and ripe banana peel (RBP). Besides that, the assessment on the kinetics of the methane production from UBP and RBP is conducted using Modified Gompertz and first-order kinetic modelling. In this study, the anaerobic digestibility of banana peels measured in a batch reactor for 25 days each fed by UBP and RBP. The batch reactors operated at an inoculum to substrate ratio (I/S) of 1.0 and at a mesophilic temperature (37°C). The ultimate methane yields from UBP and RBP digestion were 847.57mLCH4 /gVS and 1405.31mLCH4 /gVS, respectively. The higher bioavailability (in term of COD, and solid) in RBP resulted in the higher methane production rate. Two first-order and modified Gompertz kinetic models were compared for the prediction of organic degradation, and the results indicated that the first-order kinetic model of the RBP fitted the experiment best. It concluded that ripe banana peels are the most preferable feedstock for the anaerobic digestion.


This paper analyses the suitable seasonal reduction coefficient and rainwater runoff initial abandon coefficient in Zhangjiakou city, which is selected as a study area and is in upstream of Yongding River. And it analyses the achieve volume of rainwater-resources utilization. Through the analysis on the regional precipitation in study area, it obtained the suitable calculation formulas for the rainwater-storage-pool volume per year in rainwater collecting-reusing system of this area .


Guava fruit (Psidium guajava) is a mainstay commodity in Bogor – Indonesia. Its production reaches 15 tons per ha per harvest at every three day interval. Nevertheless, one of the obstacle in securing the productivity is fruit flies pest (Bactrocera spp.) which can cause 50% or even up to 100% yield losses. So far, the control measures done by the farmers is by using synthetic insecticide spraying, wrapping fruits, and fencing garden with nets nearly as high as 3 meters to deter attack of fruit flies. Such control measure is expensive and causes problems with insecticide residues in fruits and environments that adversely affect human health and the environment. A technique control that is considered environmentally friendly is by using an organic insecticide made from plants (botanical insecticide), such as basil plant (Ocimum spp) and Tea tree (Melaleuca bracteata). The use of organic insecticides derived from the distillation of basil (Ocimum spp) and tea tree (Melaleuca bracteata) leaves containing methyl eugenol (C12H24O2) is effective to control fruit flies in guava orchard, is able to decrease substantively pest attack and consequently increase the farmers income. Since organic insecticide is considered environmentally friendly, therefore its application in organic farming practice is strongly encouraged.


This paper presents some preliminary results of a project concerned with identifying and analyzing a number of Arabic metaphors used in political discourse to conceptualize the "Arab Spring." It investigates how Modern Standard Arabic deals with new political and social issues. The study also deals with how particular metaphors were created. This requires examination from two directions: first, what kinds of language resources were used to communicate and evaluate what was happening and, second, what type of knowledge and experience was utilized as a source for the metaphors employed in the texts. Many of the metaphors are strongly connected with specific traditions, the Islamic context, and general cultural experi-ence, and some details concerning these areas are supplied. Key words: Arab Spring, political discourse, metaphor.


In host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDS), anomaly detection involves monitoring for significant deviations from normal system behavior. Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) have been shown to provide a high level performance for detecting anomalies in sequences of system calls to the operating system kernel. Although the number of hidden states is a critical parameter for HMM performance, it is often chosen heuristically or empirically, by selecting the single value that provides the best performance on training data. However, this single best HMM does not typically provide a high level of performance over the entire detection space. This paper presents a multiple-HMMs approach, where each HMM is trained using a different number of hidden states, and where HMM responses are combined in the Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) space according to the Maximum Realizable ROC (MRROC) technique. The performance of this approach is compared favorably to that of a single best HMM and to a traditional sequence matching technique called STIDE, using different synthetic HIDS data sets. Results indicate that this approach provides a higher level of performance over a wide range of training set sizes with various alphabet sizes and irregularity indices, and different anomaly sizes, without a significant computational and storage overhead.


The seismic disturbance causes great damages to the local ecological environment,which leads to the changes of species composition and structure of vegetation community. The present paper investigated and analyzed the species composition and structure of vegetation community after earthquake disturbance in Qingshui Gully,Wudu District,Longnan City of Gansu Province from August to September of 2013 using the methods of belt transect combined with altitudinal gradient. The results showed that there were 34 plant species which belong to 30 genera,16 families in the study area although the main vegetations were Gramineae and Compositae plants. There was obvious vertical structure of vegetation community which could be divided into three layers. The perennial herbs were dominant which had the highest species number in the community. The shrub and vine followed and no arbor was observed. The Shannon-Wiener index( H') and Pielou evenness index( E) decreased in the following order: middle slope lower slope upper slope,and Simpson dominance index( D) decreased in the following order: upper slope lower slope middle slope.


PATIENTS
The frequency of retinal detachment has been studied in 107 consecutive patients suffering from pigmentary glaucoma. The frequency of retinal detachment in pigmentary glaucoma is 12%, while in the normal population is only 0.001%. Pigmentary glaucoma is a disease which may manifest itself for the first time either as a retinal detachment or with symptoms of pigmentary glaucoma.

CONCLUSION
Therapy with miotics affecting accommodation is completely contraindicated.


The role of autotrophic and heterotrophic nitrifying microorganisms in the oxidation of atmospheric ammonium in two acid and one calcareous location of a Dutch woodland area was investigated. In soil slurries nitrate formation was completely inhibited by acetylene, a specific inhibitor of autotrophic ammonium-oxidizing bacteria. A survey of nitrifiers in the forest soils showed that both autotrophic ammonium- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria were present in high numbers and evidence was obtained that autotrophic bacteria are able to nitrify below pH 4. These results show that autotrophic nitrifying bacteria may account for most of the nitrification in the examined soils. To assess the contribution of heterotrophic nitrifiers, about 200 strains of heterotrophic bacteria and 21 morphologically distinct fungal strains were isolated from the acid soil locations and tested for their ability to nitrify. Only one Penicillium strain produced nitrate in test media, but its nitrate formation when added to acid soils was poor. These findings indicate that in the investigated soil heterotrophs are of minor importance in the oxidation of atmospheric ammonium.


Over the past fifty years, a huge amount of labour and funding has been deployed for the introduction of digital technology in museums. In the course of this process, the nature of museums has been transformed. However, little is understood of the processes or the outcome because the history of the digitization of museums in the Netherlands, the projects, policies, funding and people involved, remain unknown. This study aims to fill this gap by providing an overview of the history of digitization between the 1960s and 2010s, by analyzing what constitutes the process of "becoming digital" and by describing the consequences of the choices made during the adoption of a digital work practice. Analysis of the five case studies, 63 interviews and literature review, focused on the value of information, network theory, and the social relation between users and the adopted technology. This study documented four main changes in museums: (1) collection registration had a marginal and supporting role prior to the adoption of a digital work form, digitization positioned collection information processes at the core of the organization, overarching and supporting all other processes; (2) these processes were exclusively institutional in nature, eventually expanding to become cross-institutional collaborating processes; (3) digitization changed the goal of all information processes from controlling content to communicating with the user; and (4) information production, dissemination and, to a certain degree, use was monopolized by professionals, digitization enabled a democratization of participation by all types of users.


The article describes results of the study of non-traditional hydrocarbon deposits. Reservoir properties of rocks with various types of pores, the dependence of quality of raw materials on the natural conditions of rock formation were analyzed. Problems of exploration and exploitation of non-traditional deposits were identified.


Objectives: Staphylococcus aureus is the most common bacterium cultured from infected wounds. We hypothesized that diabetes mellitus (DM) and/or peripheral arterial disease would be patient predictors of severe outcomes, defined as amputation, sepsis, or death, and infections caused by resistant strains would be bacterial predictors of severe outcomes.

Methods: With IRB approval, 50 S. aureus strains (45 wound, 5 central line) were isolated during routine clinical care. Investigations included antibiotic resistance (>5 mcg/ml), and PCR for STAR elements. Chart review included wound type, location, relevant comorbidities, antibiotic resistance, and outcome.

Results:

   Outcome n(%of outcome total)
   Severe All others Total

No non-DM patient with arterial disease (n = 6) had a poor outcome.

Diabetic 7 (70) 6 (17) 13 (29)
Non-diabetic 3 (30) 29 (83) 32 (71)
MRSA STAR groups 2 (20) 8 (23) 10 (22)
All other STAR 8 (80) 27 (77) 35 (78)
MRSA 4 (40) 8 (23) 12 (27)
MSSA 6 (60) 27 (77) 33 (73)
Total patients 10 (22) 35 (78) 45

Conclusions: The strongest predictor of outcome was the presence of DM. Patients with severe outcomes were slightly more likely to have MRSA infection, although only 33% of patients with MRSA had severe outcomes. Although STAR/arsRBC groups have been shown previously to predict antibiotic resistance, in this collection there was no correlation between these molecular markers and outcome. This study shows that the strongest predictor of clinical outcome in wound infection is patient-dependent, while bacterial factors appear to play a lesser role.


In this paper, I discuss Spinoza on the proper methods and content of physical science. I start by showing how Spinoza's epistemology leads him to a kind of pessimism about the prospects of empirical and mathematical methods in natural philosophy. While they are useful for life, they do not tell us about nature, as Spinoza puts it, "as it is in itself." At the same time, Spinoza seems to allow that we have some knowledge of physical things and their behavior. So I go on to outline and critique a few of the accounts of how Spinoza thinks we can do this, focusing on the role of the common notions in physics. In the third section, I discuss the possible contents of physics, for Spinoza, and argue that they are not, as is usually thought, fundamentally Cartesian. I conclude by pointing to some promising directions for future research and suggesting a few heuristics for such research.


e14017 Background: Brain tumors present a unique challenge to immunotherapeutic success, as immune responses in patients with brain tumors are suppressed both within the tumor microenvironment and peripherally. The systemic immunosuppression observed in brain tumor patients limits the capacity of the immune system to respond to immunotherapy. Brain tumor patients, particularly those with primary brain tumors like glioblastoma, represent a population in dire need of more thoughtful, targeted treatment approaches. Through this work we present an immunosuppressive axis specifically activated in the context of intracranial malignancies that inhibits immunotherapeutic success in these patients. We demonstrate that overactive adrenergic signaling is a major barrier to immunotherapeutic success. More specifically, beta-adrenergic signaling is known to suppress immune responses in various contexts. Our data indicate that combining beta-adrenergic blockade with immunotherapy provides a survival benefit in the setting of brain tumors, where immunotherapy alone has proven ineffective. Methods: Using the SEER Medicaid database, we retrospectively examined outcomes in patients with melanoma and lung adenocarcinoma brain metastasis who received checkpoint blockade therapy alone vs those concurrently on beta-blocker therapy. Results: We found that patients receiving combination therapy showed increased overall survival compared to those receiving checkpoint blockade alone. We then validated these findings in preclinical models of both glioma and melanoma brain metastases, demonstrating that combining immunotherapy and propranolol, a highly-prescribed FDA-approved beta-blocker, extended survival. Conclusions: Moving forward, we suggest that combination therapy with propranolol and immunotherapy, particularly checkpoint blockade, represents a promising translational treatment platform for patients with primary or metastatic intracranial malignancies.


Overlaying visual cues on diagrams and animations can help students attend to relevant areas and facilitate problem solving. In this study we investigated the effects of visual cues on students' eye movements as they solved conceptual physics problems. Students (N=80) enrolled in an introductory physics course individually worked through four sets of problems, each containing a diagram, while their eye movements were recorded. Each diagram contained regions that were alternatively relevant to solving the problem correctly or related to common incorrect responses. Each problem set contained an initial problem, six isomorphic training problems, and a transfer problem. Those in the cued condition saw visual cues overlaid on the training problems. Students provided verbal responses. The cued group more accurately answered the (uncued) transfer problems, and their eye movements showed they more efficiently extracted the necessary information from the relevant area than the uncued group.


The performance of the all-wheel-drive electric vehicle is inseparable from the energy management strategy (EMS). An outstanding EMS could extend the cycling mileage, coordinating the power output of the battery and exerts the advantage of the motor comprehensively. However, the current EMS has poor performance in real-time, and this paper proposes the dynamic programming coordination strategy (DPCS) to solve the problem. Firstly, the EMS based on a rule-based control strategy (RBCS) is applied in a different driving cycle. Secondly, the dynamic programming algorithm (DP) is proposed in the process. The DPCS cooperated the advantage of RBCS and DP, extracting the boundary parameters along with the demand power and vehicle speed. Finally, the number of motors joined in the driving condition is elucidated and the method obtains the optimal torque split ratio through a partly-known driving cycle. By incorporating the thought of a basis of rules, the DPCS determines the torque of each motor that confirm the motor working in an efficient range that incorporates the mind of dynamic programming. The method is validated through the simulation. The results show that the strategy can significantly improve the mileage of the driving cycle, with comprehensive performance in energy distribution and utilization.


A comprehensive analysis of file access behavior of several commercial production VAX/VMS environments, based on detailed I/O traces, is presented. The characterization focuses on file control operations (such as opens and closes) which are often expensive in both processing and I/O requirements. The motivation for this analysis is the need to design good data management algorithms for distributed file systems. These algorithms are particularly important for managing client caches. Most of the operations for managing client caches are performed on file opens and closes. The authors present quantitative data on the number of file opens and closes, their timing characteristics, and their declared intent to allow sharing or have exclusive access. The precise dynamic sharing of files is examined.<<ETX>>


Xinjiang is a multi national area,to strengthen the learning ability and innovation ability of minority students,collages and universities in Xinjiang should adjust the major courses,teaching plans and scientific research plans for engeering in time and teaching plans should be made aginst the charactoristic of minorty students.This text analyses the existing problems during training of minority engeering talents and rises concretet contents and meassures of cultivation of innovation ability during practical teaching.


While an operational definition for the term disease is lacking in traditional medicine, consensus indicates that it infers observable and measurable abnormalities in anatomy, chemistry, and physiology as causative for an observed cluster of symptoms. However, the term disease in psychiatry and psychology has a very different historical usage. It has been used when no systemic etiology has been indicated, it has been used politically for addictions, it has been used for the mere belief that a cluster of symptoms must be a disease because the symptoms are bizarre, and it has been used to justify crude medically based treatments, such as electroshock, lobotomies, involuntary commitments, and the sale of powerful drugs. With the advent of new medical machines, such as CAT scans, PET scans, and MRI's, a large volume of poorly conducted and questionable research has been pouring fourth to find diseases as a justification to promote psychotropic drugs. Politics and economics has replaced quality science. This article attempts to operationally define the term disease in order to promote qualitative and ethical research in psychology and psychiatry. The implications for such a definition will hopefully mean improved research, diagnosis and treatment in the mental health sciences.


The different proportions mixed microstructure(M+BL) of chain outer sleeve and dowel in chain bucket discharging machine made of 55SiMnVB steel were obtained by heat treatment.The abrasion experiments show that the microstructure(50%M + 50%BL) can be obtained in the 55SiMnVB steel after heated at 880 ℃ and austempered at 285 ℃ in salt-bath for 5 min,which have the lowest abrasion loss and best abrasion resistance.


: Re-entry vehicles must possess a heat shield system, comprising an ablator, fibrous insulation, and so on, that can be attached to their body surface. Under atmospheric pressure, a high effective thermal conductivity value may be applied to the development of certain heat shield systems . The fibrous insulation employed by this design approach is thick and heavy. In this study, it was shown that the effective thermal conductivity measured by steady measuring methods, such as the guarded hot plate (GHP) method, could be applied to detailed temperature forecasting of an aluminum silica fibrous insulation material under a re-entry environment . Furthermore , this study clearly showed that effective thermal conductivity forecasting of the insulation material can be realized for both the viscous-flow (10 5 Pa) and the Knudsen-flow regions (100 Pa). The results demonstrated that the forecasting method of the heat conduction of the fibrous insulator was good; this enabled establishment of a thin insulator.


Interest in spatial omics is on the rise, but generation of highly multiplexed images used in many spatial analyses remains challenging, due to cost, expertise, methodical constraints, and/or access to technology. An alternative to performing highly multiplexed staining is to register collections of whole slide images (WSI), creating a collection of aligned images that can undergo spatial analyses. However, registration of WSI is two part problem, with the first being the alignment itself, and the second being the application of the transformations to huge multi-gigapixel images. To address both challenges, we have developed the Virtual Alignment of pathoLogy Image Series (VALIS) software, which enables one to rapidly and easily generate highly multiplexed images by aligning (registering) any number of multi-gigapixel whole slide images (WSI) stained using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and/or immunofluorescence (IF). Benchmarking using the publicly available 2019 ANHIR and 2022 ACROBAT Grand Challenge datasets indicates that VALIS provides state of the art accuracy, being one of the most accurate publicly available methods in the ANHIR challenge, and the most accurate opensource method in the ACROBAT challenge. VALIS is able to read, register, and save multi-gigapixel images as ome.tiff, thereby addressing the second challenge. In addition to the benchmarking datasets, the generalizability of VALIS has been tested with 273 IHC samples and 340 IF samples, each of which contained between 2-69 images per sample. In total, VALIS has therefore been tested with 5,138 images. The registered WSI tend to have low error and are completed within a matter of minutes. VALIS is written in Python, requires only few lines of code for execution, is readily available and fully documented. VALIS therefore provides a free, opensource, flexible, scalable, robust, and easy to use pipeline for rigid and non-rigid registration of multi-gigapixel WSI, facilitating spatial analyses of prospective and existing datasets,breathing new life into the countless collections of brightfield and immunofluorescence images.
 Citation Format: Chandler Dean Gatenbee, Ann-Marie Baker, Sandhya Prabhakaran, Mark Robertson-Tessi, Trevor Graham, Alexander R. Anderson. VALIS: Virtual Alignment of pathoLogy Image Series for multi-gigapixel whole slide images [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 2078.


A novel problem setting where a defender seeks to stop a downstream user for training an effective GCN over an arbitrarily selected set of protected nodes of a graph is proposed and explored. A robust graph data protection method, Selective Learnability Lock (SLL), is developed to address the novel problem setting. SLL uses a surrogate GCN to approximate the downstream user and optimizes the topology of the graph to maximize loss on the protected nodes while minimizing loss on the other nodes. A gradient guidance optimization is implemented in SLL to allow it to be more robust and efficienct with regard to dataset size. SLL is experimentally Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from email@example.com. SIGKDD-UC '22, August 14–18, 2022, Washington, D.C. © 2022 Association for Computing Machinery. ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-XXXX-X/18/06. . . $15.00 https://doi.org/XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX effective, providing a better solution than existing possibilities such as simplistic solutions or random noise, and can be extended to apply to multi-task scenarios.


A new balance-type isokinetic sampler for measuring stack dust has been developed, incorporating a thimble filter with the nozzle. The nozzle diameter is enlarged at the tapping for the inside static pressure. Since the pressure loss in front of the nozzle is compensated by measuring the inside static pressure at the point where the velocity decreases, measurements can be carried out isokinetically without the need for any other compensation. The theoretical basis for the design of the nozzle is described and is compared with experimental data. This method provides a way for automatic sampling based on gravimetric measurement of the stack dust.


The biomechanics of running on level surfaces has been extensively researched, but there is limited knowledge on the biomechanical adaptations of curvilinear running. The purpose of this study was to investigate the electromyographic activity (EMG) of the lower leg muscles while running at two speeds (3.8 and 7.0 m/s) under three conditions (straight-away, flat curve, and banked curve of 11 degrees). Seven male elite track runners participated. Surface electrodes were placed bilaterally on the tibialis anterior (TA), peroneus longus (PL), and gastrocnemius lateralis (GL) muscles. In general, there was greater EMG activity and body lean at the higher speeds for each muscle (p< 0.05); however minimal differences in EMG between the three surface running conditions (except for the second peak of TA). No bi-lateral asymmetry in muscle activation occurred during curved running, whether flat or banked. Future study should address more proximal segment and trunk muscular adaptations.


Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas and stable product of incomplete hydrocarbon combustion. CO is toxic, and the topic of CO poisoning is timely because it is still a common accidental poisoning in the United States. There are many ways to be poisoned, particularly by inhaling exhaust fumes from internal combustion engines. CO's high chemical stability at physiological temperatures is a major point of emphasis because this property determines its biochemical activity and toxicity in the body (1). And recently, the apparent capacity of CO to serve as a signaling molecule in basic cellular processes has renewed scientific interest in the gas. This presentation, however, focuses primarily on the toxic effects of CO in the brain, because the brain is the major organ in which lasting effects of CO do occur. If one examines the brains of people who die from CO poisoning, a diverse neuropathology is found. Different brain regions are also affected differently, but all types of structures in the brain, including the basal ganglia, hippocampus, white matter, and cortex are susceptible to injury by CO. This complicated neuropathology suggests that CO poisoning produces a multifaceted mechanism of brain injury.


Olive tree is a well-known source of polyphenols. We prepared an olive leaf extract (OLE) and characterized it via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. OLE was blended with different polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), namely, poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBHV) and polyhydroxybutyrate/poly(hydroxyoctanoate-co-hydroxydecanoate) (PHB/PHOHD), to produce fiber meshes via electrospinning: OLE/PHBV and OLE/ (PHB/PHOHD), respectively. An 80–90% (w/w%) release of the main polyphenols from the OLE/PHA fibers occurred in 24 h, with a burst release in the first 30 min. OLE and the produced fiber meshes were assayed using human dermal keratinocytes (HaCaT cells) to evaluate the expression of a panel of cytokines involved in the inflammatory process and innate immune response, such as the antimicrobial peptide human beta defensin 2 (HBD-2). Fibers containing OLE were able to decrease the expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines at 6 h up to 24 h. All the PHA fibers allowed an early downregulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines in 6 h, which is suggestive of a strong anti-inflammatory activity exerted by PHA fibers. Differently from pure OLE, PHB/PHOHD fibers (both with and without OLE) upregulated the expression of HBD-2. Our results showed that PHA fiber meshes are suitable in decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines and the incorporation of OLE may enable indirect antibacterial properties, which is essential in wound healing and tissue regeneration.


In this paper we examine the cardinal structure of inner models that satisfy GCH but do not contain 0#. We show, assuming that 0# exists, that such models necessarily contain Mahlo cardinals of high order, but without further assumptions need not contain a cardinal κ which is κ-Mahlo. The principal tools are the Covering Theorem for L and the technique of reverse Easton iteration. Let I denote the class of Silver indiscernibles for L and 〈iα ∣ α ϵ ORD〉 its increasing enumeration. Also fix an inner model M of GCH not containing 0# and let ωα denote the ωα of the model M[0#], the least inner model containing M as a submodel and 0# as an element.


We prove a quantitative version of Oppenheim's conjecture for generic ternary indefinite quadratic forms. Our results are inspired by and analogous to recent results for diagonal quadratic forms due to Bourgain.


Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of caudal block (CB) versus periprostatic nerve block (PPNB), both with intrarectal local anesthesia (IRLA), in reducing pain during transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS)-guided prostatic biopsy. Materials and methods: This study included 532 patients: 266 patients received CB with IRLA and 266 patients PPNB with IRLA. A visual analogue scale (VAS) was applied to prospectively evaluate pain (1) at induction of anesthesia, (2) at insertion of the TRUS probe, (3) at needle penetration to the prostate, and (4) throughout the biopsy procedure. Pain scores were compared to evaluate differences between groups. The secondary endpoint of serious complication rate was also evaluated. As a subanalysis, the pain scores were compared in patients with high body mass index (BMI ≥25 kg/m²). Results: Overall, the pain score in the PPNB group was significantly lower than in the CB group at induction of anesthesia (mean ± SD: 2.0 ± 1.9 vs 2.9 ± 2.1, p = .0001) but higher at insertion of the TRUS probe (2.7 ± 2.5 vs 1.9 ± 1.7, p = .009). The pain score did not differ significantly between groups at needle penetration or throughout the biopsy. Univariate analyses indicated no significant association between VAS scores and patient demographics. Overall rates of serious complications did not differ between the two groups (5.6% vs 5.3%, p = .85). In patients with high BMI, the pain score was significantly lower in the PPNB group than in the CB group throughout the procedure (2.5 ± 2.0 vs 3.5 ± 2.5, p = .03). Conclusions: Both procedures were equally effective in reducing pain, and the incidence of serious complications was similar. PPNB with IRLA may be more applicable than CB with IRLA in obese patients.


In our research we focus on the modeling of portfolio returns with fat-tailed distributions that have the property to exhibit extreme large skewness and kurtosis. We focus on the normal-inverse Gaussian distribution and analyze the impact of higher moments on the optimal choice of the portfolio composition. We consider a dynamic stochastic model of Bellman type and discuss the problem of optimal choice of portfolio composition with different level of risk dependent on proportion of risky to non-risky assets, especially in application to pension management. We propose a numerical scheme for calculation and perform a sensitivity analysis of the descriptive statistics of asset returns on the accumulated sum at the final time as well as in each time step during the saving. We compare the results considering the normal distribution and NIG distribution with different skewness and kurtosis and discuss the distribution of accumulated sum at the final time.


As well as low jitter performance, modern wireless communication standards also require low-spurious PLLs, since spurs cause the violation of emission masks and worse inter-carrier interference (ICI) in OFDM systems like 5G. Cascaded PLLs have been recently exploited for low-jitter frequency synthesis with a large frequency multiplication ratio N [1]. Previous fractional cascaded PLLs use a 1st-stage fractional-N PLL and a 2nd-stage integer-N PLL [2] or a 1st stage integer-N PLL and a 2nd-stage fractional-N PLL [3]. Similar to single-stage PLLs, fractional spurs are degraded at near-integer channels in the conventional cascaded PLLs since those spurs appear at too low offset frequencies to be filtered by PLL loop function. To meet the ever-growing demand on low spur levels, the fractional spurs in cascaded PLLs must be suppressed.


Haoyu Guo and Subir Sachdev Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge MA 02138, USA (Dated: March 5, 2021) Abstract Motivated by recent experiments on the phonon contribution to the thermal Hall effect in the cuprates, we present an analysis of chiral phonon transport. We assume the chiral behavior arises from a nonzero phonon Hall vicosity, which is likely induced by the coupling to electrons. Phonons with a non-zero phonon Hall viscosity have an intrinsic thermal Hall conductivity, but Chen et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 167601 (2020)) have argued that a significantly larger thermal Hall conductivity can arise from an extrinsic contribution which is inversely proportional to the density of impurities. We solve the Boltzmann equation for phonon transport and compute the temperature (T ) dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity originating from skew scattering off point-like impurities. We find that the dominant source for thermal Hall transport is an interference between impurity skew scattering channels with opposite parity. The thermal Hall conductivity ∼ T d+2 at low T in d dimensions, and has a window of T -independent behavior for T > Timp, where Timp is determined by the ratio of scattering potentials with opposite parity. We also consider the role of non-specular scattering off the sample boundary, and find that it leads to negligible corrections to thermal Hall transport at low T .


Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) gains growing popularity in datacenter networks. The state-of-the-art congestion control scheme is DCQCN. However, DCQCN has performance problems when large-scale incast communication happens. DCQCN uses fixed period and steps for rate increase when probing for available bandwidth and this scheme is not scalable. Our key insight is that: senders should be aware of the scale of each incast, so that they can adjust their aggressiveness accordingly. The challenges come from different aspects. The scale of congestion is not easy to estimate while the control scheme should be cautiously designed. In this paper, we propose DCQCN+ to improve performance for large-scale incast congestion in RDMA networks. DCQCN+ adapts the rate control mechanisms to different scenarios. DCQCN+ can deal with incast congestion of at least 2,000 flows both in simulation and testbed. The scale is 10 times larger than that of DCQCN in simulation and 4 times larger in testbed. DCQCN+ also has 10 times smaller latency.


A 75-year-old male patient presented with a penile swelling noted 1 year previously and gradually increasing in size. The swelling was painless. He also had symptoms of urinary frequency and hesitation for the past 6 months. On examination, a penile swelling was noted on the dorsal aspect of shaft of penis measuring 5 · 5 cm. It was firm and non-tender. The overlying skinwas intact without any ulceration or other secondary changes. Ultrasonography of the penile swelling showed an echogenic mass with focal necrosis. Rectal examination of the patient revealed an enlarged prostate. A clinical diagnosis of carcinoma penis with benign hyperplasia of prostate was made. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) attempted from the penile swelling yielded a blood-mixed whitish aspirate processed for Giemsa staining. During the procedure, the patient experienced sharp pain. The smears were cellular and comprised predominantly cohesive clusters of elongated cells with indistinct cytoplasm, few scattered cells and occasional metachromatic stromal fragments in a haemorrhagic background (Figure 1). The nuclei were plump, spindle to oval with many of them showing tapering ends. There was mild pleomorphism with few giant cells. No mitoses or necrosis were seen. Few cells also showed clear intranuclear pseudoinclusions. Occasional fragments showed nuclear pallisading. A diagnosis of mesenchymal tumour of neurogenic origin, possibly schwannoma, was offered. The patient subsequently underwent partial penectomy and prostatectomy. The gross specimen of partially amputated penis revealed a circumscribed growth on the dorsum of the shaft measuring 4 · 3 · 3 cm and reaching up to the glans penis. The cut surface was lobulated and grey-white with focal congestion (Figure 2a). Microscopically, the tumour was composed of distinct, variably sized bundles and fascicles made of spindle cells with focal mild pleomorphism. The cells had poorly defined cellular borders in association with a fine fibrillary background. There was no mitosis. Pallisading of these fibres and the nuclei of these cells was noted. These fascicles were separated by thick collagenous strands, among which plump fibroblasts and a few capillaries were seen (Figure 2b). The majority of nodules were composed entirely of Antoni A-type tissue. There was no evidence of haemorrhage or necrosis. The tumour cells were diffusely positive for S-100 immunostain (DAKO, Glostrup, Denmark). A final diagnosis of penile plexiform schwannoma was made. The patient was investigated to rule out neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF-2). Computed tomography revealed no CNS tumours. No café-au-lait spots were found. The patient is under follow-up after surgery and has not shown any signs of recurrence. Correspondence: Dr Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, B-1/226, Yamuna Vihar, New Delhi 110053, India. Tel.: +91 1122 910216; Fax: +91 1122 912864; E-mail: email@example.com


Stochastic categorial grammars (SCGs) are introduced as a more appropriate formalism for statistical language learners to est imate than stochastic context free grammars. As a vehicle for demonstrating SCG estimation, we show, in terms of crossing rates and in coverage, that when training material is limited, SCG estimation using the Minimum Description Length Principle is preferable to SCG estimation using an indifferent prior.


Objective To analyze the relationship between clinical pathology character and expression of five immunohistochemistry indexes in breast cancer in order to evaluate the clinical significance.Methods The immunohistochemical SP method was used to detect the expression of ER,PR,C-erbB-2,P53 and ki-67 in postoperative paraffin blocks of 338 breast cancer cases,and the positive expression rate was compared among the different subgroups.Results The positive expression rates of ER,PR,C-erbB-2,P53 and ki-67 among 338 breast cancer cases were 51.75%,34.9%,36.7%,53.80% and 91.1%.Compared with the groups with large tumors,the positive expression rates of ER and PR were both the highest in the groups with the small tumors(≤2 cm),and that of C-erbB-2 was the lowest.The expression of p53 and ki-67 was positively correlated with C-erbB-2 expression,whereas the positive expression of p53 and ki-67 was negatively correlated with ER expression.Conclusion There is a definite correlation of the expression of ER,PR,C-erbB-2 with p53 and ki-67 expression in the breast cancer tissue.Unified detection can be used to give diagnosis,choose treatment and forecast prognosis in clinical work.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the evolution of a tailored university induction program over time to establish the change in the nature and content of the program. Design/methodology/approach – The induction program is pitched against the conceptual backdrop of academic norms and conventions, language, integration and the role of mentoring. As an exploratory study of a unique and complex induction program it reports on the basis of discourse analysis over time (from 2009 to 2012). Findings – The paper establishes that consideration of feedback by students, university staff (academic and professional) and external stakeholders has allowed the program to morph to a balanced content of academic; social; and socio-academic integration activities. Research limitations/implications – The paper confirms the framework proposed by Zepke and Leach (2005) and renders a further level of validity to the model when applied in a cross-cultural higher education context. Practical implications – Practi...


This thesis analyses the situations in which human rights protection is shared between the ICC and its States Parties. In particular, it looks at the obligations of the ICC and States to protect the rights of accused and witnesses involved in ICC proceedings. Throughout the course of ICC proceedings, the Court has important functions to carry out: it must conduct investigations, arrest suspects, protect witnesses, and so on. Some functions the ICC can carry out independently, whereas for others it requires the assistance of a State. For instance, when it comes to apprehending suspects, the ICC relies on States to arrest individuals on its behalf. Each of the ICC's functions touches upon human rights in some way. Arrest involves the right to liberty, witness protection involves the right to life, etc. Wherever the ICC relies on a State to help it carry out a function, it must also rely on that State to help it protect the rights that are affected by that function. Just as it cannot carry out the function alone, so too it cannot protect human rights alone. This is the phenomenon of sharedness explored in this thesis, and in these situations, the protection of human rights is said to be shared. The thesis concludes that the shared protection of human rights at the ICC is inadequate, either because the law itself is problematic, or because, due to the circumstances surrounding a given situation, the law is unlikely to be properly implemented. The thesis closes with a number of recommendations as to how this inadequacy could be tackled.


Sam Shepard is gradually becoming recognized as one of America's foremost playwrights. An indication of his dramatic power is his continuing ability to create mythic meanings on several simultaneous levels. Analysis of the mythic levels in True West, for example, demonstrates that even though, as most critics realize, Shepard has moved from a relatively mysterious, mythic, surreal theatre to a more realistic and conventional one, he continues to draw on the resources of myth. Moreover, this investigation may put to rest the canard that, compared to the early, the later Shepard is flatter, less complex, less exciting. Ruby Cohn has rightly pointed to the recent tendency to oversimplify Shepard's plays by reducing them to themes. Reviews of True West, for example, tend to focus on themes of sibling rivalry or role reversal to the exclusion of other possibilities. To be sure, Shepard said in a 1974 interview, "I'd like to try a whole different way of writing now, which is very stark and not so flashy and not...


The anionsubstituted solid solutions of the MnSe 1- xTe x system have been synthesized. The crys� tal structure and magnetic properties of the synthesized solid solutions have been investigated. It has been shown that, in the concentration range 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4, the solid solutions have a facecentered cubic structure. It has been revealed that an increase in the concentration of the substituting element in the MnSe 1- x Te x system leads to an increase in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the sample. The investigation of the magnetic properties has been carried out at temperatures in the range 80 K < T < 1000 K in a magnetic field up to 8.6 kOe. It has been experimentally found that the type of antiferromagnetic order (the second type of order� ing) remains unchanged over the entire concentration range up to x = 0.4 and that the paramagnetic Curie temperature and the Neel temperature decrease within the limits of 20%. Theoretical calculations have been performed using the Monte Carlo method, and the model of nanoclusters with an uncompensated antiferro� magnetic moment has been proposed.


■ GLOBALIZATION IS GOOD: Amartya Sen talks about a popular theme by saying, "[Globalization] is, in fact, neither new nor necessarily Western; and it is not a curse. Over thousands of years, globalization has contributed to the progress of the world through travel, trade, migration, spread of cultural influences, and dissemination of knowledge and understanding (including that of science and technology). These global interrelations have often been very productive in the advancement of different countries. They have not necessarily taken the form of increased Western influence. Indeed, the active agents of globalization have often been located far from the West." Sen, A. "Global interchange is good; but the present set of global rules needlessly hurts the poor." The American Prospect, Special Supplement, Winter 2002, pp. 2-6.


Poverty, especially in rural parts of developing countries like Nepal persists despite of decades of development efforts. This study intends to analyze the major determinants of rural poverty. A two stage sampling method was applied to generate cross sectional data by randomly selecting 279 households from one Village Development Committees of six districts of Western Development Region of Nepal. In this study area thirty three percent of households were lying below poverty line as per the poverty scoring method. By applying binary logistic regression, the study identified age of household head, size of land holding, female's involvement in service, family occupation and caste as major determinants of rural poverty. Contrary to general view, re mittance do not show any significant effect on rural poverty as per this study. So we can infer that poverty in rural parts of Nepal is entangled in structural and cultural web, and the remittance sent by migrant family members to rural households might have been siphoned off to urban pocket areas. With large chunk of young rural population engulfed by international labor market and existing socio-economic structures, the policy makers need to address the rural poverty via social and cultural aspects.


Methods previously developed for determining the electric field dependence of the mobilities of gas phase protonated monomers [(MH + (H 2 O) n ] and proton bound dimers [M 2 H + (H 2 O) n ] of ketones were extended to organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) to evaluate a model of ion behavior in field-dependent regimes. Field dependence was described as a function, α(E), and was obtained from the measurements of compensation voltage versus field amplitude in a planar differential mobility spectrometer (DMS). Alpha functions were characterized at E/N values between 0 and 140 Td at ambient pressure in air with moisture between 0.1 and 15,000 ppm. This provided insights into the mechanism of ion separation by differential mobility spectrometry. The alpha function for protonated monomers to 140 Td was constant from 0.1 to 10 ppm moisture in air with onset of effect at ~50 ppm. Alpha increased 2-fold from 100 to 1000 ppm at all E/N values and for all OPCs. At moisture values between 1000 and 10000 ppm, a 2-fold increase in α(E) was observed. In a model proposed here, field dependence for mobility occurred through changes in collision cross sections as governed by the degree of solvation of the protonated molecule by neutral molecules. Water was the principal neutral above 50 ppm moisture in air and nitrogen was proposed as the principal neutral below 50 ppm. The process of ion declustering at high E/N values was consistent with the kinetics of ion-neutral collisional periods and the duty cycle of the waveform applied to the drift tube.


Let be a triangular algebra over a commutative ring and be the centre of . Suppose that is an -bilinear mapping and that is a trace of . We describe the form of satisfying the condition for all . The question of when has the standard form will be addressed. Using the aforementioned trace function, we establish sufficient conditions for each Lie triple isomorphism on to be almost standard. As applications, we characterize Lie triple isomorphisms of upper triangular matrix algebras and nest algebras. Some further research topics related to current work are proposed at the end of this article.


The networking and cyber security degree program at Wayne State College will prepare you for a career in information technology, in areas such as network systems, cyber security, database administration, and more.


Guillaume Lajoie, 2 Kevin K. Lin, Jean-Philippe Thivierge, and Eric Shea-Brown 6 University of Washington Institute for Neuroengineering Formerly at Max Plank Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Dept. of Nonlinear Dynamics University of Arizona, School of Mathematics University of Ottawa, School of Psychology University of Washington, Dept. of Applied Mathematics University of Washington, Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics (Dated: April 27, 2016)


This study asks how social movements have been worked on party politics in South Korea, one of newly democratized countries in the Third Wave of Democratization. Today, South Korea is Known as one of the countries with active social movements. Meanwhile, because of historical legacy of authoritarian rule, regional antagonism, and factionalism, party politics in South Korea has been unstable compared with other democracies. Though the state has attempted to grow 'healthy political party culture by laws and administrative guidance, the efforts havenot contributed to stable party politics. As a result, political parties in South Korea have had insuggicient capacities to connect the state and the civil society. Instead of the unstable organizations of political parties, loosely organized social movements have made the efforts to connect the state and the civil society. More exactly, social movements have pressured political parties mobilizing street actions, mass media, and social networking services. In the case of the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye in 2016, for example, social movements oromoted opposition party lawmakers to prosecute the President. The result of the analysis in this study indicates that social movements can play the role to cover the malfunction of political parties. Though traditional models of party politics see parties as actors to connect the state and the society, South Korea's ones havenot worked as the connecting actors. Instead, social movements have connected the parties and the society. This is one the reasons why South Korea has sustained democratic party politics in spite of the malfunction of individual parties. Extendedly, the result of this study can be applied to other democracies where de-organization of politics and society proceeds.


Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the world's leading cereal crops and the most important food grain (Sleper and Poehlman, 2006). According to FAO (FAO, 2014) global wheat production in 2013-14 was 713.2 million metric tonnes, thereby making it the third most produced cereal crop after maize (872.79 million metric tonnes) and rice (719.74 million metric tonnes). In Pakistan, wheat was cultivated on 9.03 million hectares with production level of 25.3 million tons and contributes 10.3% value addition in agriculture and 2.2% GDP of the country (Anonymous, 2014). It is a staple food of 35% the world's population (Ogbonnaya et al., 2013). It is among the most important food crops and is one of the most traded commodities in the world markets (Curtis and Halford, 2014). Its demand has been increasing with the ever increasing population since the times of its domestication in 15,000-10,000 BC. It is expected that its demand will increase by 40% by the year 2030 (Dixon et al., 2009). Wheat crop is prone to many biotic and abiotic stresses. Among biotic stresses diseases like rusts, smuts, bunts, leaf spots etc. can cause serious losses whereas rusts i.e. stem rust, leaf rust and yellow rust are the most devastating fungal diseases continuously posing threat to world wheat production due to emergence of new identifiable virulent races through mutation and genetic recombination (Roelfs et al., 1992; Dadkhodaie et al., 2011) and their intercontinental movement. Leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina Eriks., is a severe fungal disease in most of the wheat growing areas (Park et al., 2007). Leaf rust has potential to cause losses up to 50% and because of its more frequent and widespread occurrence, leaf rust probably results in greater total annual losses worldwide than stem and stripe rusts (Huerta-Espino et al., 2011). The wheat leaf rust fungus can adapt to diverse climates and due to interruption in photosynthesis and translocation of photosynthates, it affects the overall quality, productivity and market value of wheat due to decreased numbers of kernels per head and lower kernel weight depending on the stages of crop development when infection occurs (Kolmer, 2005). In 1978, a major leaf rust epidemic in Pakistan caused 10% yield loss that cost a national loss of US $86 million (Hussain et al., 1980). Genetic resistance is most efficient system of reducing yield losses caused by leaf rust (Kolmer, 1996). The resistance to leaf rust disease in wheat is the most economical and environmental friendly and preferable method to tackle this Pak. J. Agri. Sci., Vol. 52(3), 691-700; 2015 ISSN (Print) 0552-9034, ISSN (Online) 2076-0906 http://www.pakjas.com.pk


Given a Cantor-type subset Ω of a smooth curve in R, we construct random examples of Euclidean sets that contain unit line segments with directions from Ω and enjoy analytical features similar to those of traditional Kakeya sets of infinitesimal Lebesgue measure. We also develop a notion of finite order lacunarity for direction sets in R, and use it to extend our construction to direction sets Ω that are sublacunary according to this definition. This generalizes to higher dimensions a pair of planar results due to Bateman and Katz [4], [3]. In particular, the existence of such sets implies that the directional maximal operator associated with the direction set Ω is unbounded on L(R) for all 1 ≤ p <∞.


We consider a class of degenerate nonlinear elliptic fourth-order equations in divergence form. Coefficients of the equations satisfy a strengthened ellipticity condition involving two weighted functions. Existence of solutions of Dirichlet problem for equations of the given class in the case where these equations have L 1-right-hand sides depending on unknown function has been established in our recent article. In the present article we prove some results which show the improvement of summability of solutions of the same problem under additional conditions on right-hand sides of the equations under consideration.


With the development of the Internet, the amount of data expressed by users worldwide has increased. Detecting hate speech in social media, preventing harmful language and promoting safe online communities is an important task. Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) is a popular language model that performs well in natural language processing tasks. In this study, the BERT-Base model is used to detect hate speech in the comments of Twitter users in Turkey. It was trained with a dataset of examples labeled as harmful and harmless and achieved 92.53% test accuracy. The developed model was presented to users in a live environment.


Mobile edge computing system provides cloud computing capabilities at the edge of wireless mobile networks, ensuring low latency, highly efficient computing, and improved user experience. At the same time, computationally intensive components are offloaded from mobile devices to edge servers and distributed among the servers. Due to the special constraints (mobile devices' battery capacities, limited computing resources of one single edge server, inevitable edge server failure, etc.), there emerges a following problem. 1) How to guarantee the reliability of the offloaded computing? This problem brings in the following two other problems. 2) How to find the appropriate offloading point in the mobile program such that the computing tasks offloaded to cloud can be maximized, while the transmission energy consumption is minimized? 3) What is the achievable minimum latency tasks allocation strategy among multiple users' mobile devices and multiple edge servers? In this paper, we try to address the aforementioned problems. First, for the appropriate offloading point problem, we consider the offloading valuable basic constraint and propose a task merging strategy based on mobile program component call graphs to minimize the computational complexity of the program partition. Second, we formulate the second problem as a combinatorial optimization problem and transform it into an n-fold integer programming problem by mapping the remaining computing resources to a virtual component. Third, we design a reliable shadow component scheme between multilevel severs for the reliability problem. Finally, we develop a fast algorithm for the mix problem and analyze its performance and conduct experiments to prove the accuracy of our theoretical results.


The paper presents the problem of etiopathogenesis of nasal polyps, presentation the role of eosinophilic infiltration in nasal polyps genesis as well as description of the current partition of them. The paper also presents the discussion on the role of polyps' factor creation, which causes the increase of inflammatory cells proliferation — interleukin-5 as well as stimulation of their chemotaxis — eotaxin-2.


In the present work, solar powered desiccant air conditioning system (SPDAC) is operated for two different modes (a) cooling & dehumidification (b) heating & humidification under summer and winter climatic conditions, respectively. The SPDAC consists of evacuated tube solar water heater, silica gel coated heat exchanger, heat exchanger and direct & indirect evaporative cooling unit. The performance of the SPDAC is evaluated in terms of energy & exergy cooling/heating capacity, COP and economic & exergoeconomic feasibility. The energy & exergy cooling capacity and energy & exergy COP of the SPDAC during cooling and dehumidification modes are 648.2 W & 254.1 W, and 0.45 & 0.35, respectively. Whereas, the energy & exergy cooling capacity and energy & exergy COP of the SPDAC during heating and humidification mode are 847.4 W, 427.9 W, 0.87, and 0.45, respectively. The economic and exergoeconomic analysis indicates the reliability of the SPDAC system and also proves to be efficient in terms of payback period (43.8 months). The outcomes demonstrate that the SPDAC is more compelling in heating & humidification mode under winter climatic conditions. The overall results of the system confirmed that the use of silica gel coated heat exchanger is practicable to run the system in both seasons.


Abstract Background : It is unclear whether screening of relatives of C282Y and H63D heterozygotes (other than compound heterozygotes) for hemochromatosis will detect sufficient numbers of cases to justify introduction of this screening strategy.


Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems guarantee transmissions free from intersymbol interference (ISI) and interchannel interference (ICI) over frequency selective channels, provided that the channel delay spread is less than the duration of the cyclic-prefix (or the zero-padding guard interval). However, it is realistic to consider practical implementation scenarios in which the channel delay spread exceeds this limit so that both ISI and ICI do arise. We show that in such cases, the objective of symbol synchronization should be to maximize the ratio of the total useful received power over all subcarriers to the total power of ISI and ICI for the given channel realization, and that this aim can be achieved through a proper choice of the symbol timing. We also present a practical low-complexity synchronization scheme for this case and show that its performance tops the results obtained by the best existing correlation-based timing estimators. Furthermore, we determine upper bounds on the achievable signal-to-interference ratio based on the ideal assumptions of either perfect channel state information or at least knowledge of the channel statistical description, and show that they are very closely approached by the proposed method.


Objective To investigate the effect of hospice care for the anxiety and depression in aged mortal inpatients.Methods 76 aged patients were selected and divided into two groups,the control group and the intervention group.The patients in the intervention group were given the hospice care for more than one month,and the patients in the control group accepted the routine nursing care.The level of anxiety and depression of aged people were tested in the two groups before and after intervention.Result The anxiety and depression level of the patients who were in the intervention group was decreased.There is the statistic significance between the two groups( P0.05 or P0.01).Conclusion It's an effective way to decrease the negative mood for aged mortal patients,such as anxiety and depression with hospice care,which helps to improve their quality of life.


We have isolated 5 strains of Yersinia enterocolitica with biotypes from 803 fecal specimens of the patients for detection of enteric bacteria from November, 1980 to April, 1981 at Kyung Hee Medical Center. AIl the rectal swabs was inoculated in MacConkey, SS and Selenite broth and again streaking in MacConkey and S-S agar plates after 18 hours cuItivation of Selenite broth. AII the agar plates were put into the room temperature. After detecting the suspected colonies through first screen Urea ~ agar, SIM and K.I.A. Media. It was given final identification of API Kit. aII the strains were determined by NiIehn & Wauters method for biotypes. and The susceptibility tests were performed by National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standard (N.C.C.L.S) regulation. The typical biochemical properties of the organisms were urea and ornithine positive, dextrose (no gas) and xylose were fermentative, lactose was oxidative, and indol & V.P. were variable at the room temperature, motility was negative at 35 C and positive at 25 C. The pinpoint of colorless colonies showed red color after 72 hours at room temperature. It was difficult at times to detect the organisms. because of the size and color change of the colonies. As the result of susceptibility test, all the strains were highly susceptible to Gentamycin, Kanamycin, Amikacin, Chloramphenicol, Oxytetracycline but two strains (No 1 & 5) were susceptible to Ampicillin & Carbenicillin (Biotype 2). All the strains were resistant Cephalothin. Three of 5 strains was identified as biotype 3 and the rest as biotype 2 by Nilehn & Wauters method.


Distributed Denial-of-Service attacks are an effective means to make a service unavailable, mask other attack activities and generally degrade or disrupt network functionality. The key characteristic is that analysis of and defence against this attack type is difficult because of the high number of attacking hosts and large amount of attack traffic that can be generated. The emerging Peer-to-Peer filesharing systems have characteristics that turn them into an attractive infrastructure that can be used as attack platform. Attackers that can compromise a P2P system can expect benefits such as a large number of participants, easy hiding of attack control traffic and good, global distribution of participating hosts. This gives attackers high flexibility and at the same time a smal risk of being identified. This paper explains these characteristics in detail and concludes that further research into this threat and into possible countermeasures is urgently needed.


A method of modeling and simulation of switched reluctance motor drive(SRD) based on Simplorer and Maxwell was presented.Taking the common four-phase 8/6 switched reluctance motor(SRM) for example,first uses Ansoft/Rmxprt for the initial structure design of motor and its performance verification,and then Ansoft own interface is used to make the geometry model into Maxwell 2D,which can carry out finite element method calculation by both transient and magnetostatic solution type.Finally,commutation and power converter circuit are built based on Simplorer to form mechatronics system,simulation analysis and experimental study verify the accuracy of the model respectively,and system-level co-simulation enables results closer to the actual motor operating conditions and accurately reflects the operating performance,which provides an effective tool for the study and design of SRD control system.


Abstract Bioactive acylhydrazone samples prepared by condensation of 1-phenyl-4-acylhydrazide pyrazole with benzaldehyde were analyzed by 1H NMR, mass spectrometry and High Resolution Gas Chromatography (HRGC), utilizing a glass capillary column coated with SE-54 (1%vinyl-5%phenyl-94%methylpolysiloxane). HRGC was shown to be a valuable tool for the routine analysis of the acylhydrazones, and determination of the diastereomeric ratio, without need of derivatization and purification. As an example, HRGC was employed to follow the kinetics of formation at the imino double bond level, of both diastereomers of hidrazone (1a) during a synthetic procedure.


The Charter of the United Nations is based on the principles of the dignity and equality of all human beings and seeks, among other basic objectives, to achieve international cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set out in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, in particular as to race, colour or national origin. Any doctrine of racial differentiation or superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous, and that there is no justification for racial discrimination either in theory or in practice. All forms of racial discrimination are based on the prejudice of racial superiority or on racial hatred.Keywords: human rights; racial differentiation; United Nations; Universal Declaration of Human Rights


In this paper, we present a novel skeletonization based fast direct solver for analyzing electromagnetic scattering from electrically conducting objects. The contributions of the present algorithm involve two aspects: reducing the cost for filling proxy matrices and enhancing the inverse process. To reduce the filling time of proxy matrices, the proxy surface is discretized by a series of points. The number of the points is considerably small compared with conventional method. Consequently, the dimensions of the proxy matrices for each group can be reduced remarkably in this way. On the other hand, a multiplicative factorization technique, recursive skeletonization factorization, is utilized in the inverse process. The projection matrices obtained by interpolative decomposition can be used directly with high efficiency. The remained block diagonal matrices after factorization can be easily solved by LU decomposition. The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method will be validated by numerical results.


According to TIMAN (1954), the electrostatic interaction of ions in an ionized gas tends to favour ionization and at sufficiently high pressures the degree of ionization will start to increase with pressure. By using some recently developed improvements of the Debye-Huckel theory, it is shown that, while in the case considered by TIMAN this effect does not occur at any pressure for which the theory is valid, it does occur at somewhat lower temperatures. One thus obtains a type of `pressure ionization' from a classical model without invoking volume-dependence of energy levels or similar effects.


Theognostus' On Orthography , based on Herodian's On Prosody , shows the steps that Theognostus took in order to convert a tract on accent into one on spelling, in an age of changed pronunciation.


We deal with the utility maximization problem in optimal stopping problem, such as the generalization of the duration problem which is a variation of the secretary problem. In Ferguson, Hardwick, and Tamaki (1993) , the problem of maximizing the duration of owning the relatively best object is solved for various settings in both no-information case and full-information case. Tamaki, Pearce, and Szajowski (1998) shows the optimal strategy for multiple stopping duration problem. In the original problem, the duration is defined as the time period when the selected relatively best object remains to be relatively best, that is just before it becomes second-best. In other words, the decision maker is interested in the object only when it is a relatively best, and when the next relatively best arrives, the former relatively best is useless. Here we extend the duration to be the time period starting from accepting the relatively best and ending at the moment when the selected object becomes relatively third-best. When the object arrives, the decision maker is also interested only in the relatively best object, but it is still useful when it becomes relatively secondbest. We will show the optimal stopping rule for this problem both in no-information case and fullinformation case.


Introduction Computers have been used in schools for many years to improve various aspects of education. Recently, Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in the form of electronic mail and bulletin boards has been used to improve education and to increase sharing of information among parents, teachers, and students (Bajard, 1989; Collis, 1992; Galvin, 1987; Rogers, et al., 1987). In addition, schools have begun using Group Decision Support Systems (GDSSs), a specific type of CMC, to improve education and communication (Aiken, 1992; Klemm & Snell, 1994). A GDSS is a computer-based system implemented on a local area network with software for the support of meetings and other group work (Dennis, et al., 1988). These systems have been proven in many studies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of meetings which require the exchange of information among participants by (Ellis, et al., 1991; Martz, et al., 1992; Nunamaker, et al., 1991): 1. Increasing participation: Group Decision Support Systems typically allow participants to exchange comments or vote anonymously. As a result, group members often participate more because they are not as fearful of what others may think of their comments. Similarly, participants are not as subject to group think or conformance pressure, the reluctance to criticize the comments of others due to politeness or fear of reprisals. Participation also is increased because each group member has more time to contribute ideas. In verbal meetings, people must take turns to speak and may have only a few minutes in which to contribute; in a GDSS, all participants may communicate in parallel by simultaneously writing or reading comments. 2. Automatically recording comments and votes: A GDSS records onto a computer disk all comments generated during the meeting, and consequently, the group participants may not need to take notes. In a verbal meeting, group members have to remember comments (rather than thinking of new ones) until they have a chance to speak. Participants may forget what has been said before, or they may not understand what was said. 3. Imposing more structure: A GDSS also provides a certain amount of structure to the meeting. With this structure in place, it is far more difficult to deviate from the problem-solving cycle and make incomplete or premature decisions. The group has a more concentrated discussion, and they focus on the issues throughout the meeting. 4. Providing other benefits: As a result of more participation, record keeping, and structure, many groups have been able to accomplish more in about half the time necessary for traditional, non-automated meetings. Also, these factors have contributed to higher group satisfaction with the meeting process. Finally, the new technology has enabled larger groups to meet, resulting in more information, knowledge, and skills that are brought to bear to the task at hand. Group Decision Support Systems have been used for many years for the support of business meetings (Kraemer & King, 1988), but they have only recently been used for the support of education. These systems can be used directly in the classroom (for example, in seminar classes), or they can be used in administrative meetings. 1. Use in a Seminar: Perhaps the most obvious application of GDSSs for education is in a seminar (Aiken, 1992). Currently, GDSSs are used for exchanging ideas in a group meeting; the same situation exists in a classroom seminar. Students may not have to take notes when a GDSS is present since all comments are recorded onto a computer disk by the system. With the greater number of ideas being exchanged with the use of a GDSS, it would be impossible to manually record everything. Using a GDSS, students will no longer have to raise their hands to speak, interrupt each other in order to talk, or forego making a comment because somebody else is talking. 2. Use for Administrative Support: A few educational administration meetings have been conducted using the technology. …


List of Plates Introduction 1. A real and mythological place 2. Post-war cultural politics 3. The Formists 4. The Poznan Expressionists 5. The Young Yiddish group 6. Polis Futurists 7. A new beginning Biographies of Polish artists, poets and writers Selected Bibliography


Background Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques continue to improve in manifold ways. Besides field strength and sequence optimization, technical advances in coil design and sensitivity yield to increase the signal detection and therefore improve image quality. Purpose To evaluate the performance of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and parallel acquisition technique (PAT) acceleration of a dedicated 32-channel head coil compared with a standard 12-channel head coil. Material and Methods In a clinical 3T setting, spatial resolved SNR values for unaccelerated imaging and PAT with acceleration factors of 2–6 of a 32-channel head coil were evaluated in relation to a 12-channel head coil. SNR was determined quantitatively using proton-density-weighted in-vivo examinations in five healthy volunteers. Quantitative SNR maps for unaccelerated and PAT imaging were calculated using unfiltered MR raw data. Results Up to three-fold higher SNR values were achieved with the 32-channel head coil, which diminished towards the center to an increase of 40% compared with the 12-channel head coil. When using PAT, the 32-channel head coil resulted in a lower spatial-dependent quantitative noise enhancement, varying between 0% at R = 2 and 33% at R = 5. Conclusion The 32-channel head coil provided superior SNR both with and without PAT compared with a 12-channel head coil, especially close to the brain surface. Using PAT, the unavoidable noise enhancement is diminished up to acceleration factors of 6 for the 32-channel head coil. Therefore, the 32-channel head coil is considered as a preferable tool for high-resolution neuroradiological imaging.


Having decided to engage in climate-aware planning and action, how should we go about it? As with vulnerability assessments, there is a rich literature categorizing approaches to adaptation planning and a multiplicity of categorization schemes. The key is to keep the focus on overarching goals and objectives (fig. 6.1), and to build or use an approach that works best within your ecological, climatic, and sociopolitical context. If your current goal is not to solve all the problems arising from climate change, that does not have to be your future goal either.


The enhancement by vanadium compounds of insulin-mediated signaling in RBL-2H3 cells was investigated. The studies were based on preliminary studies in which a hydrophobic vanadium compound facilitated the translocation of the insulin receptor into plasma membrane rafts. Such results led to the studies of a vanadium compound known to be insulin-enhancing in animal model studies. The proof of concept, namely that vanadium compounds could interact directly with lipid bilayers made up of amphipathic lipids, was supported by results in a very simple model system based on cholesterol-doped AOT reverse micelles. Studies adding vanadium compound to this simple model system demonstrated that the presence of the vanadium compound resulted in lipid reorganization.


This article recounts the main nature on animal mitochondria and the structure characteristics and the polymorphism and the evolution on animal mitochondria DNA and the study methods to animal mtDNA,In the end,introduces the application of animal mtDNA to the study on fish population genetic structure.


Syzygium bharathii, a new species from Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Tamil Nadu, India is described. This species is closely allied to Syzygium benthamianum and Syzygium agastyamalayanum but differs from both by having a cylindrical stem with red young shootlets, glabrous leaves with wavy margin, quadrangular peduncle, large sized flower, inwardly curved filaments, narrow pyriform hypanthium, obovate, subglobose, ellipsoid fruits and ovate-obovate seeds. This combination of characters makes determining the relationships of S.bharathii difficult.


The peculiar properties of the 2'-2 dimensional generators of unitary bordism (the 2-primary Milnor generators) are related to the 2'-3 dimensional indecomposable torsion classes of Alexander. This result is then used to confirm a conjecture of Ray concerning the generalised homology spectral sequence for MSp*(MU). Finally it is noted that Ray's conjecture to the effect that all classes in MSp* are detectable by KO-characteristic numbers must fail. 1. Halving the Milnor manifolds. We consider the cofibration sequence of spectra (1.1) MSp MU MU/MSp; MU/MSp will be the Thom spectra for (U, Sp) relative bordism. Recall that MU*=Z[x1, x2, * * *, xi) ... ], xi E MU2i and that for i=2k_ 1 the xi (the 2-primary Milnor generators) have the peculiarity that, if h* is the Hurewicz map, then h*(xi) is divisible by 2 in H2i(MU; Z) although of course xi is not divisible in MU*. We will now shed some light on this peculiar behavior. J. C. Alexander [1] has defined a series of indecomposable torsion elements Pui E MSp8i-3, 2yui=O. Let a, be the generator of MSp. In all that follows n will be equal to 2k-2. Let a: MU/MSp->SMSp be the cofibre of p. Sincej*y,u=O, we can choose /in e (MU/MSp)8.-2 such that * Let fk: S8n-3 MSp; gk: S8n-2 MU/MSp classify yun, fin respectively; a o gk-Sfk. Let U2 e HO(MSp; Z2) be the Thom class and si e Hi(Si; Z2) the generator. Then Alexander has shown thatfk is detected by a functional cohomology operation, namely,


In this paper, both the design and hardware of Fault Detection (FD) in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) was implemented using FPGA NI myRIO kit, wireless temperature sensors network with small size, low cost, and low power consumption. Work data processing was performed using pattern recognition methods to detect residual generation. LabVIEW software environment was employed for system performance. In this paper. The design of the hardware circuit NI myRIO kit received temperature from the sensors. The examined system showed an ability to monitor and track any fault or fire that may occur; based on the results, if collected data is exceeded predetermined threshold, then the system is responding, a direct connection is using WIFI to process this data by LabVIEW.


The Emmy Noether Programme funding junior research group leaders is one of the most prestigious funding programmes for promoting excellent young postdoctoral researchers in Germany. While the traditional academic career path involved postdoctoral researchers working in research projects chosen usually by faculty members, this research group funding programme offers financial resources for a research project of personal choice. This provides a high degree of research autonomy for comparatively young and strongly performing postdoctoral researchers. This full autonomy and freedom of research contrasts sharply with substantial uncertainty concerning the status that this new category of academic staff has among teaching staff at the faculty. The paper investigates the relative advantages and disadvantages of such funding instruments by using and comparing various methods in a triangulation design. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.


The conventional eigensystem realization algorithm with data correlation (ERA/DC) combines the impulse response or free response data of a structural system with the concept of correlation function to identify the modal parameter of the structural system. Previous studies have shown that the modal parameters of structural systems subjected to stationary white noise excitation can be estimated by ERA/DC from the ambient response without excitation data. This concept is extended in this paper for output-only modal identification for the structural system with complex modes under ambient excitation as a nonstationary process in the form of a product model. Numerical simulations and experimental verification are used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method for response-only modal estimation, and the stabilization diagram is used with modal assurance criterion (MAC) to distinguish structural modes from fictitious modes.


A differential, nonlinear model of patients under hemodialytic treatment has been used to analyze the patient's state during the dialysis and to evaluate the optimal temporal course to be assigned to the dialysis variables (ultrafiltration rate and dialysate sodium concentration) in order to obtain prescribed changes in the patient's biological variables. Examples show how the model is able to predict the effect of a given seance policy and to determine how to obtain the desired changes in biological variables.<<ETX>>


Due to the superiority of high corrosion resistance of FRP materials, more and more attentions have been attracted to the retrofitting of corroded reinforced concrete (RC) columns with FRP. This paper thus presents an experimental study on mechanical performances of corroded RC columns strengthened with FRP, focusing on the effects of different corrosion rates of the reinforcements and the retrofitting scheme. The effectiveness of externally bonded FRP to the corroded RC column to increase its load capacity and ductility is tested; the mechanical performances of the strengthened columns are theoretically investigated. The results indicate that the effectiveness of retrofitting the existing corroded RC columns with FRP jackets is much more significant than that of retrofitting the newly built columns with FRP jackets and externally wrapped with FRP jackets is much more effective to improving the structural performances of heavily corroded columns.


Creating the feeling of material in virtual reality (VR) remains a challenge. The Velvet Hand Illusion (VHI) produces a virtual smooth and soft texture sensation to the hand. In this study, we investigated whether or not a typical haptic device such as a tactile display facilitates VHI. First, as a psychophysical experiment, we employed magnitude estimation to evaluate the quality and intensity of the VHI generated on the tactile display by comparing three VHI setups and using a real velvet cloth as the reference sensation. The experimental results showed that the tactile display produces virtual smoothness in the hand. Furthermore, using the paired comparison method, our results demonstrated that the VHI strength generated by our tactile mouse can be controlled in the range of r/D = 0 to 1.5, where r and D are the stroke and distance between the virtual wires, respectively.


Histochemical study of larvae and freshly settled juveniles of the Caribbean tire sponge Tedania ignis (Tedaniidae, Poecilosclerida) reveals evidence of serotonin-like immuno-reactivity, a possible indication for the presence ofprecursors ofnerve cells in this species. Already in the earliest stages of its life, T. ignis is made up of two discernable cell types: monociliated cells arranged in quasi-epithelial fashion and covering the larva and the developing settled organism, and mesohylal cells (archeocytes). In the adult sponge, several mesohylal cell types can be distinguished which form a complex connective tissue. Serotonin-like immuno-reactivity demonstrated by us occurs only in two cell types: in sorne archeocytes ofthe parenchymella larvae, and in similar archeocytes and in a second, bipolar cell type ofthe settled, juvenile sponge. The discovery ofa neuroactive substance in cells of developing sponges before and after metamorphosis provides new insights into the origin and evolution of nerve and muscle cells in the Eumetazoa. 0 Pori/era, histochemistry, serotonin, Tedania ignis, larval development, evolution.


The Beckmann-Black problem asks whether every Galois extension E/K is the specialization of a Galois branched cover of I~1 defined over K with the same Galois group. E. Black conjectures this is indeed always possible. We give three results about this conjecture. The first one is that it implies the Regular Inverse Galois Problem. The second one considers a "mere" form of the problem which requires that the realizing Galois cover be defined over K only as mere cover (i.e., without the Galois action). This mere form is shown to hold if K contains an ample field, e.g. K contains a complete valued field. Our last result is a proof of the original Beckmann-Black condition in the case K is a PAC field.


son, M. J., F. R. S. E., Professor of Midwifery in the University of Edinburgh, etc. Edited by W. 0. Prie stly , M. D., Edinburgh, formerly Vice-president of the Parisian Medical Society, and Hor at io R. Stor er , M. D., Boston, U. S., one of the Physicians in the Boston Lying-in-Hospital, Members of the Medico-Chirurgical and Obstetric Societies of Edinburgh, etc., etc. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1855.


This work deals with the study of the influence of turbulence promoters in the hydrodynamic and mass transport behavior of a pilot-plant filter-press electrolyzer (a homemade UA200.08 with a 200 cm2 electrode area) in an undivided configuration. A simple experimental arrangement was used to generate data from electrolytic conductivity measurements in a series of impulse−response experiments. The presence and type of turbulence promoters influence the flow distribution inside the reactor. A new design of a model (presented in a previous work) has been used to analyze the residence time distributions. In this study a new parameter, the turbulence factor, given as NαΦβ, was employed to classify the turbulence promoters. The optimization of the parameters indicates that the correct model is dispersed plug-flow behavior with a low axial dispersion that considers exchange between the dead and main zones of the reactor. It is also very interesting to highlight that the information obtained by means of the turbul...


• In this volume of Biomedical Reviews, Rogers and Hermann (1) present an interesting model for the regulation of gastrointestinal function by two peptides, neuropeptide Y (NPY), and peptide YY (PYY), both of which belong to a related group of peptides known as the pancreatic polypeptide (PP)-fold family of peptides. In this review, largely of their own innovative work, they develop the hypothesis that PYY, acting as a humoral (hormonal) agent, may be a maj or inhibitory factor in the regulation of the upper gastrointestinal tract. In contrast, NPY would appear to be a maj or excitatory transmitter. How can two structurally homologous peptides produce such divergent actions?


The potential of lignocellulosic biomass as a sustainable biofuel source is substantial. The development of an ef fi cient and cost effective pretreatment approach remains challenging. In this study, we have explored a new, relatively cheap pretreatment option that works at ambient temperatures. By using microbubbles generated by fl uidic oscillation, free radicals around the gas-liquid interface of the microbubble readily attack and degrade lignocellulosic biomass, rendering it more amenable to digestion. The combination of microbubbles and Pseudomonas putida d a robust deligni fi cation and cellulolytic microbe, further improved biomass degradation and consequently, increased glucose production from wheat straw in comparison to solo pretreatment of the biomass with microbubbles and Pseudomonas putida respectively. The microbubble-microbe approach to make biomass more amenable to sugar production is potentially a valuable alternative or complementary pretreatment technique.


Around 3.8% of the UK population are registered as having diabetes according to the prevalence data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QoF). There is a strong evidence base that good control of blood glucose levels, blood pressure levels and the use of statin therapy reduces the risk of developing microvascular complications (retinopathy, nephropathy and foot problems) and macrovasular complications (heart attacks and strokes).