Osmotic dehydration is a process of partial water removal by immersing foods, mostly fruits and vegetables, in hypertonic solutions. During osmotic dehydration, the removal of water from plant tissue is accompanied by the counter diffusion of solutes from the osmotic solution into the tissue. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal conditions for osmotic dehydration of sugar beet cossettes using desirability function approach. The optimum operating conditions were found to be a temperature of 50 °C, a sucrose concentration of 70 % (without salt) and a treatment time of around 125 min. At this optimum point, a water loss of 46.9 % and a solid gain of 1.4 % were recorded. Relative to temperature minimization, the following optimum point values were determined: a temperature of 30 °C, a sucrose concentration of 61.4 %, a salt concentration of 8 %, and a treatment time of 240 min. In this instance, a water loss of 40.3 % and a solid gain of 0.04 % were recorded, indicating a significantly lower solid gain value compared to the first optimization results.


Our previous studies on electroinitiated polymerization for formation of coatings on metal surfaces have all been in stationary cell systems. The feasibility of using either a packed bed or a fluidized bed cell in electroinitiated polymerization is now demonstrated, the objective being to form polymeric coatings on metallic and metal-coated nonmetallic particles. The metallic particles that have been used are aluminum and stainless steel and the monomer-electrolyte system used is DAA-sulfuric acid. A comparison of current densities under various cathode potentials for the packed and fluidized bed systems is presented. The coatings obtained are analyzed through IR to establish the polymer functional groups. Additionally, both elemental analyses and thermal neutron activation analyses have been carried out to establish the compositions of the polymer coatings.


BACKGROUND: Cesium-131 (Cs-131) brachytherapy is used to reduce local recurrence of resected brain metastases. To ensure dose homogeneity and reduce risk of radiation necrosis, interseed distance and cavity volume must remain stable during delivery. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of the "seeds-on-a-string" technique with intracavitary fibrin glue in achieving cavity volume stability. METHODS: We placed intraoperative Cs-131 brachytherapy in 30 cavities postresection of brain metastases. Seeds-on-a-string were placed like barrel staves within the cavity with fibrin glue. Serial magnetic resonance imaging occurred postoperatively. Preoperative tumor volumes were compared with postoperative cavity volumes to evaluate volume stability. Thirty patients who underwent postresective stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) were used as a control group for volumetric comparison. RESULTS: Cs-131 and SRS patients exhibited consistent cavity shrinkage over the median 110-day follow-up (P < .001), with total median shrinkage of 56.5% (Cs-131) and 84.8% (SRS). During the first month when ≈88% of Cs-131 dosage is delivered, however, there was nonsignificant volume decrease in the Cs-131 group (median 22.0%; P = .06), whereas SRS patients showed significantly more shrinkage (46.7%; P = .042). No events of radiation necrosis occurred in either group. CONCLUSION: Cs-131 patients exhibited significantly less cavity shrinkage than SRS patients during the first critical month with 88% Cs-131 dose delivery. This significant difference in shrinkage suggests that the intracavitary seeds-on-a-string technique facilitates increased cavity stability, promoting more homogenous dose delivery. ABBREVIATIONS: Cs-131, Cesium-131 FLAIR, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery I-125, Iodine-125 SRS, stereotactic radiosurgery WBRT, whole brain radiotherapy


The objectives were: to obtain selected instruments which were not standard equipment on the Portable Automated Mesometeorological (PAM) and Data Control Platform (DCP) stations; to assist in incorporation of these instruments onto the PAM and DCP stations; to help provide routine maintenance of the instruments; to conduct periodic instrument calibrations; and to repair or replace malfunctioning instruments when possible. All of the objectives were or will be met soon. All instruments and the necessary instrument stands were purchased or made and were available for inclusion on the PAM and DCP stations before the beginning of the IFC-1. Due to problems beyond control, the DCP stations experienced considerable difficulty in becoming operational. To fill some of the gaps caused by the DCP problems, Campbell CR21-X data loggers were installed and the data collected on cassette tapes. Periodic checks of all instruments were made, to maintain data quality, to make necessary adjustments in certain instruments, to replace malfunctioning instruments, and to provide instrument calibration. All instruments will be calibrated before the beginning of the 1988 growing season as soon as the weather permits access to all stations and provides conditions that are not too harsh to work in for extended periods of time.


The Architecture of BPNN's A population P of objects that are similar but not identical allows P to be partitioned into a set of K groups, or classes, whereby the objects within the same class are more similar and the objects between classes are more dissimilar. The objects have N attributes (called properties or features) that can be measured (observed) so that each object can be represented by its N-dimensional feature vector


Metastatic Iesions involving the spine may cause vertebral body collapse, resulting in either spinal instabiIity or neural compression or both. Pathological fracture and instability involving the Iower thoracic and Iumber Ievels may be adequately reduced and stabilized by decompressive Iaminectomy with Harrington rod+sleeve application. We recently had an opportunity to treat such a patient- Details of this case are described and the pertinent Iiterature is reviewed.


Traveling to Zambia and working with local staff allowed me to explore various aspects of conducting research in a global setting. The trip provided important insight to potential dissertation topics and a future career goal to conduct research on maternal and child health in low income countries. Background Zambia has an estimated 1,400 maternal deaths annually, resulting largely from preventable complications.4 Mothers Shelters have been identified as a potentially lifesaving and economically viable solution to address some of the preventable causes such as long distance and lack of transportation to reach a health facility for childbirth. The mothers shelters were instituted with context appropriate Income Generating Activities (IGAs), such as oil press and grinding mills, to ensure sustainability of the shelters. Community members can use these services for a small fee, and the profit is used to support the Zambian Mothers' Shelters (ZaMS). Local staff from Africare, a nongovernmental organization, have been working with University of Michigan on the ZaMS project and provided translation and field support throughout the trip. Purpose The primary purpose of this trip was to examine how the various IGAs are financially supporting the on-going operational costs of the ZaMS. We also gathered various end line data including individual surveys and focus group interviews to analyze and compare with previously collected baseline data. Outcomes We were able to collect data on start-up costs, fixed and variable operational costs, and recurrent costs of the IGAs and ZaMS. Furthermore, we were able to identify common challenges and successes of the various IGA operations. All the individual surveys and focus group data were collected, entered, organized, and are in the process of being transcribed, translated, and analyzed.


Along with deep development of leadership theories,'invisible leadership' has been inducing much interest of more and more researchers in leadership theories.As a kind of cultural power,'invisible leadership' is the soul of leadership.As a kind of influence power,'invisible leadership' is the essence of leadership.As a kind of populace leadership,'invisible leadership' is the basis of a harmonious society.Socialist leaders should give full play to the role of 'invisible leadership' in building socialist harmonious society.


Mentalizing is the capacity to understand ourselves and others in terms of intentional mental states, such as feelings, desires, wishes, attitudes, and goals. It is a fundamental capacity in our complex social environment. This paper reviews our current understanding of the neurobiology of mentalizing. We first summarize the key assumptions of the mentalizing approach to normal and disrupted development. This is followed by discussion of the multiple dimensions of mentalizing and our emerging knowledge of the neural circuits that underlie these dimensions. We then consider the neurobiology of attachment and arousal regulation in relation to mentalizing, and summarize relevant studies in this area. Finally, we discuss the limitations of extant research and outline implications for future research. THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF MENTALIZING 3 Mentalizing is the capacity to understand ourselves and others in terms of intentional mental states, such as feelings, desires, wishes, attitudes, and goals. It is a fundamental capacity in our social environment: Without this capacity, we would be completely lost in a world that is determined by complex and ever-changing interpersonal relationships that require a high degree of collaboration and mutual understanding (Fonagy, Luyten, & Allison, 2014). Although it is to a certain extent "pre-wired", our capacity for mentalizing is not a given; it is largely a developmental achievement. Research findings suggest that the capacity for mentalizing is first acquired in the context of attachment relationships, and that the extent to which our early and later environment fosters a focus on internal mental states is crucial for its development (Allen, Fonagy, & Bateman, 2008; Fonagy et al., 2010). The past decade has witnessed a veritable explosion of research on mentalizing. A quick search in Web of Science, for instance, shows an exponential increase in the number of studies in this domain, from only a handful of studies on the topic published in the 1990s to more than 4,000 in 2014. The increasing popularity of the mentalizing approach to understanding both normal and disrupted development is explained not only by the growing realization that this capacity is central in human normative development; it is also explained by the recognition that temporary or stable disruptions in this capacity are one characteristic of almost all forms of psychopathology – ranging from autism and psychosis (Chung, Barch, & Strube, 2013) to major depression (Cusi, Nazarov, Holshausen, Macqueen, & McKinnon, 2012; Ladegaard, Larsen, Videbech, & Lysaker, 2014; Luyten, Fonagy, Lemma, & Target, 2012), eating disorders (Kuipers & Bekker, 2012; Skarderud, 2007), and personality disorders, most notably borderline personality disorder (BPD) (Fonagy & Luyten, in press). THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF MENTALIZING 4 The great upsurge of interest in the role of mentalizing in development is paralleled by an ever-growing interest in the neural underpinnings of this capacity in the field of social and cognitive neuroscience (Herpertz, Jeung, Mancke, & Bertsch, 2014; Lieberman, 2007; Schurz, Radua, Aichhorn, Richlan, & Perner, 2014; Van Overwalle, 2009; Van Overwalle & Baetens, 2009). These studies have fundamentally informed and shaped the mentalizationbased approach to psychopathology. Among the many contributions within cognitive and affective neuroscience, two major findings stand out, and these form the backbone of this paper. The first of these is the finding that mentalizing is not a unitary construct, but consists of several dimensions that can be organized along polarities. As we discuss in more detail in this paper, one of the most remarkable and important contributions of neuroscience is that features of mentalizing that were thought to be unitary turned out to be dissociable, which may explain the specific imbalances in mentalizing that can be identified in various psychiatric disorders. The second major finding is from neuroscience studies which suggest that two interacting factors largely determine the quality of mentalizing: (a) stress or arousal and (b) the individual's attachment history. These findings have led to considerable changes in our understanding of the normative development of mentalizing and the mentalizing impairments seen in various types of psychopathology, as well as in the nature of interventions aimed at fostering mentalizing. This also illustrates the growing dialogue between neuroscience and clinical practice (see Fonagy, Luyten, & Bateman, this issue). In this paper we set out where our current understanding of the neurobiology of mentalizing stands. We first briefly outline the core assumptions of the mentalizing approach to normal and disrupted development. Next, we consider the multiple dimensions of mentalizing and our emerging knowledge of the neural circuits that underlie these dimensions. We then focus on the neurobiology of attachment and arousal regulation in relation to mentalizing and outline implications for future research on the role of mentalizing THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF MENTALIZING 5 in normal and disrupted development. Finally, we finish by pointing to where the field may


With the development of national strategies (such as Industrial 4.0 and Made in China 2025), how to build digital enterprises and cultivate innovation capabilities of enterprises has become a critical problem to Chinese manufacturing enterprises. However, the literature on the specific path of information technology (IT) capabilities to the innovation of enterprises is still lacking a body of relevant empirical research. In particular, it has not yet thought to explore the information technology capabilities, digital transformation, and then innovation performance of manufacturing enterprises. By performing a questionnaire investigation for 138 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, this study adopted both a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the set relations of the conjunctions and conditions and the statistical associations by studying the relationships among information technology capabilities, digital transformation and innovation performance. The results show that the positive impacts of information technology capabilities on the process innovation performance and the digital transformation, as well as the positive impacts of digital transformation on both process innovation performance and product innovation performance. Specifically, digital transformation takes on a new function of partial mediation of IT capabilities and process innovation performance, and digital transformation functions as a complete mediator for IT capabilities and product innovation performance. The combinations of causal recipes related to innovation performance are provided by a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Through the analyses of SEM and fsQCA, this research develops the formation mechanisms of both process innovation performance and product innovation performance, and provides guidance for both IT and innovation management of manufacturing enterprises in China.


In the context of the modern transition of the knowledge system of national culture, the criticism text on the modern Chinese historical drama in the 20th century advocates the use of "modern drama" by playwrights and points out that historical drama should look at history in modern sense and through typical artistic techniques grasp the historical authenticity beneath the historical surface. However, the realistic needs and others have often led people to deem the historical authenticity monism, which has objectively restricted the pluralistic pattern of the development of modern historical drama. At the same time, although people are positive that the creation of modern historical drama can reveal the historical authenticity, the issue as to whether the authenticity belongs to the historical category or artistic category caused an extensive debate. From the narrative angle, however, the nonfiction of the historical text hinges on the historical events. Similarly, the historical literary works are also based on them. Because of the similarity there is in such narration, the historical literary works have been confused with the historical texts for a considerably long time, especially in terms of the Han nationality that sets store by history. Since the wellknown historian Sima Qian created the narrative style of historical biographies, it has become one and the only way for all literary and artistic creation in the eyes of many. This national cultural psychology has more or less influenced the criticism on the modern Chinese historical drama in the 20th century. That the historical authenticity is far more important than the artistic fiction has remained an important principle of the criticism on the creation of modern historical drama. In fact, the creation of historical literary works should be based on the three dimensions of aesthetic narration, aesthetic knowledge, and aesthetic ideology respectively. The first dimension refers to all possible artistic means to be used in writing a text, including narrative style, narrative structure and narrative aesthetic ideology. The second dimension in historical literary works mainly refers to the choice of the interpretative practices of historical materials - notably antiquarianism and existential historicism up to date. The first two dimensions depend on the third dimension. So, the writer's choice as to aesthetic narration and aesthetic knowledge is a reflection of his belief, values, and experience, which are concretized through his artistic creation. During the modern Chinese culture movement, historical drama embodied the new change in aesthetic ideology through the new change of aesthetic narration and aesthetic knowledge. In the time that there was a radical change of different ideologies as in the traditional and the modern, and the western and the eastern, and survival or peril of the Chinese nation, it was impossible that historical drama could exist beyond the cultural transition and remain inside an ivory tower. Instead, It must embody the modernism in its aesthetic narration and aesthetic knowledge, through which is clearly reflected the pursuit of aesthetic ideology.


In this paper, we present the results of our work on the development of a phrase-based statistical machine translation system from Japanese to Uyghur - an agglutinative language with productive inflectional and derivational morphology. We experiment with different morpheme-level representations for Japanese-Uyghur parallel texts. We improve from our baseline 2.61 BLEU points for our phrase-based baseline model to 7.03 BLEU points for an improvement of 4.42 points.


Impurities effect on plastic flow stress and activation volume as functions of strain, strain rate and temperature in molybdenum crystals


This paper present recurrence formulas allowing the calculus of the marginals and the normalizing constant of a Gibbs distribution π.The numerical performances of different methods are evaluated on several examples, particularly for an Ising model on a lattice.


Flexure-based mechanisms like compliant actuation system embed complex dynamics which will reduces the control bandwidth and limit their dynamic positioning precision. This paper presents a theoretical model of a leaf flexure hinge with damping layers using strain energy method and Kelvin damping model. The free vibration signals of the hinge in three different damping configurations are measured. The experimental modal analysis also is performed on the three kinds of damped leaf flexure hinges in order to evaluate their 1st bending natural frequency and vibration-suppressing effects. The experimental results indicate that the constrained layer (CL) damping can enhance the structure damping of the hinge even if only single damping layer each side, and it is necessary that the dimensional parameters of the damping layers and basic layer of the hinge should be optimized for simplification in the mechanism's design stage.


Abstract The aim of this study was to examine the reliability of performance measures in the different phases and sub-phases of the countermovement jump (CMJ). Seventeen male athletes competing at a regional level completed 204 valid trails consisting of the execution of maximal hands-on-waist CMJs performed on a force platform. The vertical ground reaction force (VGRF) data obtained at a sampling frequency of 1000 Hz were used to calculate performance-derived variables and determine key points and jump sub-phases. The relative reliability of 92 variables was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) from a two-way mixed effects model analyzing the time, force, power, velocity, and displacement variables across the different phases and sub-phases of the jump. The contact phase serves as a consistent approach (range ICC = .806 to .987), providing reliable information about the jump as a unit. Mean force was the only measure that presented high reliable values throughout all sub-phases (ICC = .931 to .963). The power and velocity variables were reliable from the point where force turned into an increasing value while displacement from minimum velocity was reached. Net impulse and ratios of force development showed high and acceptable values, respectively. Time-related variables were the least reliable measures (ICC = .587 to .720), showing acceptable reliability only in the contact phase and propulsive sub-phase. In conclusion, VGRF may be used to determine specific parameters during CMJ execution, although the appropriate variables should be selected based on acceptable levels of reliability.


This study evaluates studio infrastructure/facilities for teaching and learning of Fine and Applied Arts in public Colleges of Education in Southeastern Nigeria. The evaluation research design was adopted in the study. The design was chosen because of the evaluative nature of the study. The population of this study was made up of all the facilities in FAA departments in all Federal and State-owned Colleges of Education in the Southeast. Through simple random sampling six public colleges of education were obtained from eight colleges of Education in the zone. All the facilities in these six colleges were studied. The instrument used to collect data for the study was an Observation Schedule (OS) for ascertaining availability and adequacy of facilities. This Observation Schedule (OS) was face-validated by two experts, one from Measurement Unit and Evaluation Unit and the other from Fine and Applied Arts Department, both in Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri. The reliability of the instrument was established using Cohen's Kappa. Kappa co-efficient of 0.83 was obtained. Data were analyzed using percentages and mean. Findings show that facilities were available in the colleges but not adequate. The study recommends among others that the school managements should make studio facilities adequate for the attainment and achievement of the lofty objectives of fine and applied arts.


Sepsis affects around 100,000 people in the United Kingdom annually. Early recognition of this time critical medical emergency is vital to prevent the condition developing into life threatening septic shock. Paediatric mortality is between 13-34% in septic shock. Pre hospital recognition and treatment by paramedics is inconsistent. Education of the Sepsis Six pathway for pre hospital care providers, GP's and community care practitioners is vital for the rapid treatment and increased survival rates for the septic patient.


Studies aimed at understanding and explaining the determinants of violence and crime in Brazil have gained importance in the economic and social literature, especially in the so-called crime economy. Given this, this study has as main problem to analyze, understand and explain the main determinants of violence in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. For that, the method of counterfactual inferences Propensity Score Matching (PSM), pioneered by Rosenbaum and Rubin (1983), was adopted. According to the extract from the database, 83.01% of homicide victims are brown, black and indigenous people. And approximately 90.12% of the firearm victims in the RN are males. In addition, it is verified that the greater the individual education the less the possibility of composing this sad statistic. It is worth noting that the main results are corroborated by the Atlas of Violence 2016.


The distribution of total forms of heavy metals Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, Zn, Co, Hg, and As in technogenic soils has been evaluated using geochemical research methods. Diagnostic indicators of damage of soil natural properties in the area of technogenesis are revealed. Statistically significant empirical dependences toxic elements migration on the buffer properties of soils (pH, N, Corg) and salinity factor of the territory are obtained. It is shown that in the zone of industrial objects in the soil surface layer, lateral technogenic geochemical pollution modules can be formed at depth down to 30-50 cm. This should be taken into account when evaluating the environmentalrisk of a territory and in the environmental control of soil pollution.


An E8 Physics model based on Nested Real Clifford Algebras is described. V4 adds material about relationship between Hamiltonian Heisenberg structure and Lagrangian structure within Cl(16). V5 adds material about first, second, and third Grothendieck universes. V6 revises neutrino mixing based on Daya Bay observations of March 2012. V7 adds material about F4 in Cl(8) and E8 in Cl(16) = Cl(8)xCl(8) as well as intermediate Jordan Algebra Structures of E6, E7, and E7.5. V8 adds spinor growth physics of octonionic inflation. V9 adds Kerr-Newman Fermion picture for E8 26D String with Monster Group symmetry. VA adds intoductory outline sketch. VB adds 3 Fermion Generations from Conformal Gravity/Higgs. VC adds Fermi LAT Higgs observations. VD revises introductory overview. VE adds E8 Physics and 3D QuasiCrystals. VF discusses structure of 8 E8 lattices. VG revises and expands E8 lattice material. VH incorporates LHC results of Moriond 2013. VI adds more detailed ATLAS ZZ to 4l histogram from animated gif. VJ discusses physics of Massless Phase. VK adds discussion of Jitterbug transformation for Dark Energy BSCCO JJ experiment. VL discusses Hawking-Pope CP2 spin structure. (References are included in the body of the paper and in linked material.)


The results of this study indicate that the driving factors for acceptors to use family planning are, first, external factors, which are driving factors that arise outside of the condition of a family where the role of the government and related institutions plyas an active role in various outreach socializations and the second is internal factors, factors based on in a situation or condition that exists in one family, namely because you want to delay pregnancy, due to economic factors where the acceptors in the family have a low economic level and work factors where the acceptors are busy in their, apart from that, the driving factor for the acceptors to do family planning is to keep their distance births because families prefer to regulate the birth spacing of children and participate in family planning programs to reduce population growth rates. From the research result it can also be concluded that the position of women in reproductive rights in choosing contraceptive methods is based on a joint decision between husband and wife, but there is also a decision made by one party only.


Traditional monitoring system has the disadvantages of high cost, low intelligence. It is difficult to achieve remote monitoring. A miniaturization, intelligent remote monitoring and alarm system based on ARM platform is designed. Using temporal difference and background subtraction method to detect moving objects, when illegal objects invade, it can trigger video recording, alarm and call the user through the GPRS module. The system is stable and can be used for anti-theft occasion.


The sequential extraction and single step extraction procedures were used to assess potentially bioavailable selenium from Slovak soils. The used sequential extraction allows to differentiate live forms of selenium bound in soils (exchangeable fraction and fraction bound to carbonates, fraction bound to manganese-iron oxides, fraction bound to organic matter, fraction bound to humid compounds, fraction bound to sulfides) and residual fraction. The single step extraction of soil with 0.1 mol dm-3 KH2PO4 + K2HPO4 (pH 7.0; P-buffer) releases different forms of selenium: soluble, adsorbed, ligand-exchangeable, and plant protein-bound. Application of the P-buffer to soils resulted in a low recovery of selenium (3-12 %) when compared to the total selenium content of the respective soils. The total selenium was determined after total decomposition using HNO3 and HF acids. The determination of selenium in the individual fractions and total selenium was performed by now injection hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (FI-HGAAS).


The article highlights some of the difficulties in organizing the assessment of students ' knowledge in the country's universities. An analysis of the results of a sociological survey on this issue with the participation of the faculty of the university. The authors note the importance of applying the system of criteria assessment in accordance with the requirements of the updated education system. They also emphasize a number of factors that prevent an objective assessment of students ' knowledge. According to the authors, a well-organized system of knowledge assessment will be the key to strengthening the authority of the University.


This work presents a resistive frequency-locked loop on-chip oscillator with a double chopper stabilization technique to improve the temperature stability and long-term stability. The negative feedback topology achieves both a low temperature coefficient (TC) and good energy efficiency. A prototype device is fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS technology and exhibits a 24.7 ppm/°C temperature stability and 2.73 ppm long-term stability while consuming just 293 nW under an oscillation frequency of 250 kHz. The use of the double chopper stabilization technique effectively eliminates the TC-sensitive non-idealities, including the current mismatch and offset voltage of the amplifier. Moreover, the low-frequency flicker noise is also mitigated; resulting in a 16X improvement in the long-term stability.


It is common for ethnic Malay in Indonesia and Malaysia to use Nepenthes ampullaria as food containers. However, the use of Nepenthes as part of a cultural tradition has been found only in Kerinci Regency, Jambi. This study explores the local wisdom in utilizing and maintaining the presence of N. ampullaria in Kerinci. Data collection through open-ended and deep interviews through participatory observation methods. Data analysis and presentation are delivered descriptively. Lemang is a compulsory item to be served in traditional ceremonies of kenduri sko. There are two types of lemang in Kerinci, lemang bamboo and lemang kancung beruk. The latter is found only during the kenduri sko tradition in Kecamatan Gunung Raya and Bukit Kerman. Therefore, the existence of lemang kancung beruk in these two sub-districts has become obligatory and has no other comparable substitute. In Gunung Raya and Bukit Kerman, the Kenduri sko is held four times a year. The need for N. ampullaria for kenduri sko in these two sub-districts is enormous. For the event, each household needs at least 500 to 2000 pitchers of N. ampullaria. The people of Kerinci harvest N. ampullaria directly from the wild to fulfill the need. The population of N. ampullaria that still survives in its natural habitat is evidence of the success of the local community in maintaining the existence of N. ampullaria in Kerinci. Method and schedule arrangements can allow the population of N. ampullaria to recover.

Key words: Nepenthes, Kenduri sko, Lemang kancung beruk


A new type of suspension strut consisting of an air spring and a single drum hydraulic shock absorber is proposed. A gas-liquid mechanical coupling mathematical model of the suspension strut was built based on fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. The relationship between suspension strut acting force and stroke as well as piston velocity was studied. Additionally, the influence was evaluated which the main air spring chamber's original air pressure and absorber's damping gears can be made for the suspension strut acting force. It was found in simulation and experiment that the non-linearity of the strut acting force is obvious and the property of this strut helps to restrain heeling, pitching and 'suspension breakdown' under bumpy road conditions, and to keep a good wheel bouncing. This paper provides theories and technical foundation for the application of this suspension strut in the passive suspension system and semi-active suspension system.


Radar target classification is examined from the viewpoint of improving classification performance through the use of spatial diversity. Improved radar target classification has been demonstrated previously by using at least one additional perspective in a generic environment but the impact of sensor placement has been less studied. In this paper, we examine the use of multiple high range resolution (HRR) profiles to demonstrate how selection of sensor locations can improve classification rates. Specifically, performance improvements are demonstrated after identifying the optimal set of perspectives and employing a simple decision fusion network (DFN) algorithm for defined signal-to-noise (SNR) levels. We show percentages of correct classification (PCC) can be maintained in scenarios where SNR has been reduced by up to 9 dB on a single sensor basis.


Purpose – This paper aims to examine what elements in online environments promote engagement, learning and repeated visits for children aged 6‐12 years.Design/methodology/approach – An in‐depth textual analysis, exploring components such as navigation, construction of site, character choice and development, style of text, types of questioning, animation, color and other factors, of six English‐language web sites, describing themselves as "educational and fun", was carried out against a background of literature available on web site design for children, relying particularly on media text analysis and an evaluation method produced in relation to children's motivation and web site use.Findings – The analysis of the six web sites resulted in a number of usability requirements for children's web sites, including the following: web sites should have an understanding of the community of users they serve; web sites should offer dynamic forms of learning; web sites should encourage interaction between users and si...


A process for the operation point shift in an electrodynamic direct gear for a hybrid transmission with a first partial transmission with a first transmission input shaft (4) and a second partial transmission with a second transmission input shaft (5) and an output shaft (3), said transmission (1) having a direct gear and with is connected to an electric machine (2) and a planetary gear of a planetary stage (PG2), wherein the sun gear (SR2) of the planetary stage, the electrical machine (2) and the web (ST2) of the planetary stage (PG2) with the first transmission input shaft ( 4) and the ring gear (HR2) of the planetary stage via a switching element (S6) of the planetary stage switched into a second switching position (J) with a housing part or in a first switching position (I) to the second transmission input shaft (5) can be connected, wherein a highest gear of the first transmission section is inserted, the switching element (S6) of the planetary stage of the z wide switching position (J) is laid out and into its first switching position (I) is brought to prepare the electric machine (2) for the electro-dynamic drive, where then a switching element for the direct gear (S3) is interpreted by the electric machine (2) and the internal combustion engine to make a load adjustment without the output torque to the output shaft (3) to change, with a dynamic torque adjustment will now be given.


American Revolution has been long overdue, and Cosimo Sgarlata, David Orr, and Bethany Morrison are to be commended for assembling this volume specifically focused on the Revolutionary War encampments associated with GeorgeWashington's army in the central colonies. The 10 chapters of the book discuss investigations of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and Morristown, New Jersey—two of the most fabled winter encampments of Washington's army; the lesser-known camps near Redding, Connecticut; and the temporary camps of the French army as it marched through Connecticut on the way to Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781 and back in 1782. Following Scott and Fox, the methodologies in these studies are often metal-detecting surveys, but formal hand excavations and ground-penetrating radar are also used. One chapter is devoted to experimental archaeology. In Chapter 1, Wade Catts and Joseph Balicki interpret the finding of a cluster of 140 fired lead shot as a target line (the impact zone at a target range) at Valley Forge. The balls were apparently fired from both muskets and rifles, with rifle balls being recovered in larger numbers. The feature is reflective of the training taking place at the camp as Washington transformed his ragtag army into an effective fighting force, and it demonstrates the importance of rifles within an army largely utilizing muskets. While this training was taking place, Washington was forging his officers into a cohesive team. One practice with which he promoted this cohesion was dining regularly with his officers in a specially built small "dining hut" he had constructed in the rear of his headquarters, at a house rented from Isaac Potts. Joseph Blondino discusses excavations of this hut and major finds in Chapter 2. In Chapters 3 and 4, Jesse West-Rosenthal, Julia Steele, Douglas Campana, and David Orr discuss archaeology of the enlisted soldiers camp at Valley Forge.West-Rosenthal describes the excavations in the Washington Memorial Chapel grounds, whereas the others describe work at Wayne's Woods, both located within the Valley Forge National Historical Park. These chapters discuss in detail the remains of wooden huts, camp kitchens, and camp activity areas. They also provide good descriptions of the types of artifacts found in such camps and the interpretive significance of these kinds of material culture. Mathew Grubel makes unique contributions from experimental archaeology in Chapter 5, in which he discusses using authentic tools to reconstruct huts such as those occupied by soldiers in Washington's army at Morristown, New Jersey. The chapter combines history and experimentation and makes for a fascinating read. As Sgarlata later notes, Grubel learned there was more than one way to accomplish individual tasks, such as roofing and door framing. Morrison and Sgarlata report in Chapter 6 on archaeological finds at the 1778–1779 winter camp at Redding, Connecticut. They note that African American and Native American women were present at these camps, a point that is emphasized and elaborated by Laura Weinstein, Diana Hassan, and Samantha Mauro in Chapter 7. In Chapter 8, Mary Harper describes field surveys and analyses of contemporary maps to find the 1781– 1782 march route and associated camps of General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau's French army in Connecticut. The project was highly successful and has led to efforts to preserve those camps. In Chapter 9, Daniel Cruson discusses results of excavations of two enlisted men's huts and a field officer's quarters at Redding, Connecticut, which revealed different construction techniques, possibly due to different construction traditions by soldiers from different regions. The volume begins with a foreword by David Starbuck and an introduction by editor David Orr. When it comes to understanding the lives of soldiers, they point out that examining campsites provides more holistic perspectives than does a focus on battlefields, which are staging grounds for episodic and dramatic events rather than settings for long-term experiences. Sgarlata's concluding chapter adeptly summarizes highlights from the book, including its illustration of the importance of applying multiple independent lines of evidence as well as considerations of data at multiple geographic scales to reconstruct what life was like for soldiers during the American Revolution. Overall, Historical Archaeology of the Revolutionary War Encampments of Washington's Army is a worthy contribution to the global literature in conflict archaeology.


The results of the psycholinguistic experiment aimed at the detection of the 'motherland' concept components relevance in consciousness of 6th grade pupils are declared in the article. The results are contemplated in the scope of the T.F. Kurdyumova literature textbook for 6th grades. For 11-12-year-old teenagers the value component of the 'motherland' concept is the most actual.


Following the publication of A. V. Sokolov entitled as «Determinism and deontology in document communicational system» (published in Vestnik ChGAKI No. 4, 2008) the article considers the issue of using constructivist ideas in library science and offers the authors wording of a number of principles including that of a library as a social institution.


I have two patients in the hospital today. Both have sickle cell disease, and questions about the hazards of transfusion therapy have been raised in both their cases. Two articles in this issue of the Journal explore such questions but do not provide the answers. A 53-year-old woman with sickle cell disease needed a hip prosthesis revised — a moderately long operation during which she would be expected to receive three or four units of blood. Had such a procedure been available 15 years ago, the risks would have been very high. Today they are acceptable, partly because of the . . .


Purpose – Drawing on social exchange and similarity attraction theories, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of soft attributes (e.g. social and relational attributes) on hard attributes (e.g. core attribute performance) in a high contact service context, namely in the hair care service environment.Design/methodology/approach – This research extends the key mediating variable model (KMVM) of Morgan and Hunt by hypothesising that, while trust fully mediates the effect of soft attributes on loyalty, trust only partially mediates the effect of hard attributes on loyalty. Data were collected using the critical incident technique from 176 students.Findings – Supports the fully mediating role of trust for soft attributes and a partially mediating role of trust for hard attributes.Research limitations/implications – Future research should test the model in contexts that involve less employee‐customer contact and interaction.Originality/value – The study underscores the practical importance of inve...


Structures of the superelectrophilic fluorooxonium dications FOH 3 2+ and F 2 OH 2 2+ were calculated at the QCISD(T)/6-311G** level. Proton affinities of their precursor monocationic species were estimated by using G2 theory. For comparison, the parent oxonium dication H 4 O 2 + was also calculated at the same level. The O,O- and O,F-diprotonated HFO structures 2c and 2d, respectively, were found to be energy minima. However, the oxonium dication 2c is less stable than the oxonium-fluoronium dication 2d by 14.9 kcal/mol. On the other hand, O,O-diprotonated F 2 O 3c was found to be the only minimum for the analogous system. All of these superelectrophilic, dicationic species have substantial kinetic barriers for deprotonations. The possible existence of these dicationic species in either superacidic media or the gas phase is implicated from these studies. The 1 7 O and 1 9 F NMR chemical shifts of the mono- and dications were also computed by the GIAO-MP2 method.


In 1994 the ABC announced that it would screen an edited telecast of the forthcoming Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. This proposal stimulated a major public campaign by opposing groups. Some opposed the timing of the telecast and others opposed a screening at any time. This campaign was distinguished by its scale, the vehemence of some of the views expressed and by their generally uncompromising character. Amongst other issues, the legitimacy of homosexuality as a lifestyle was challenged, as were the claims of homosexuals to social and political standing. This paper considers the task facing those—in this case the ABC board—who must respond to such campaigns. The empirical core of the paper is an analysis of the approximately 5000 protest letters received by the ABC. This covers the gender and occupation of the correspondents, their postal districts and their interest group affiliations. Further, the arguments of correspondents are analysed to identify the principal themes and propositions. How this c...


We propose a new method for the multiple attribute decision making problem. In this problem, the decision making information assembles multiple source data. Two main advantages of this proposed approach are that (i) it provides a data fusion technique, which can efficiently deal with the multisource decision making information; (ii) it can produce the degree of credibility of the entire decision making. The proposed method performs very well especially for the scenario that there exists conflict among the multiple source information. Finally, a traffic engineering example is given to illustrate the effect of our method.


A literature survey was performed to establish the prevalence of second and third degree AV block among patients with permanent atrial pacemakers because of sinus node disease. This study reviews data from 28 different studies on atrial pacing with a median follow‐up of 36 months. The collected data shows a median annual incidence of second and third degree AV block of 0.6%, range 0%–4.5% with a total prevalence of 2.1%, range 0%–11.9%. There was no significant difference in follow‐up time between studies that showed a low, compared with a high incidence of AV‐block. Patients with sinus node disease treated with atrial pacing have a low risk of developing clinically important conduction disturbancies.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy of reconstrutive human granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (rhGM-CSF)treatment on radiotherapy-induced esophagitis.Methods Thirty-one patients with grade 3 esophagitis induced by chest radiotherapy were given a mixture of 300μg rhGM-CSF, 5ml water and 75% glycerol 20ml, 4 times per day for 5 consecutive days. Results Regression of dysphagia to grade 0/1 was observed in 13 of 31(41.94%) patients,to grade 2 dysphagia in 15 of 31 (48.39%) patients with a total effective rate of 90.32%.Conclusion Oral administration of rhGM-CSF in 75% glycerol solution exerts a significant therapeutic effect against radiotherapy-induced esophagitis.


Phase-contrast x-ray imaging techniques can detect density gradients in low-Z matter with the sensitivity and spatial resolution necessary to characterize High Energy Density Laboratory Plasma (HEDLP) experiments. The Talbot-Lau interferometer measures x-ray beam angular deviations due to refraction index gradients along its path, thus making it an attractive plasma diagnostic. The Talbot-Lau interferometer can simultaneously provide x-ray attenuation, refraction, and scatter images which may offer a simple diagnostic for micro instabilities. We extend the Talbot-Lau method used for medical applications to lower x-ray energies, high magnification and high spatial resolution HEDLP experiments require. We study and develop single image based phase-retrieval techniques. The experimental and simulated results obtained show a clear advantage of the Talbot-Lau Moiré technique over the attenuation and propagation methods. The Moiré technique can detect both sharp and smooth density gradients, using extended, polychromatic, incoherent, line and continuum x-ray sources, thus allowing for less demanding backlighters than those typically used in HEDLP radiography.


The multi-channel semiconductor device is disclosed. Such multi-channel semiconductor devices, the first die and, for the functions as the second chip has an independent second channel to the first channel, wherein the first storage capacity and the size having a first channel to serve as a first chip first die and a second die same. First and second dies are arranged in a single package, and adds the first die and the second die for interconnection between the transmitting signals to the chips relative to each other is present in said single package. According to the present invention is to improve the production yield increases the cost burden is minimized or reduced.


Honeycomb sandwich structures are increasing being used to replace traditional materials in highly load applications. In the present work two cases are studied one with face sheets (skin) of 0.5mm thickness and the other with 0.9mm of the aluminum (AA3003) hexagonal honeycomb. The numerical investigation to the different core angles (60°, 90°, 120°)of hexagonal honeycomb are made and submitted to free vibration by ANSYS. It is clear that angle 120° gives a higher natural frequencies than other core angles. Designing and manufacturing the die and punch of the hexagonal honeycomb panel with core angle 120°is made. An experimental and numerical works of the three point bending test is used to evaluate the stiffness of the honeycomb panel. Two punch velocities are used (0.1mm/sec and 0.01 mm/sec) .it is concluded that the stiffness of honeycomb panel increased with increasing the thickness of the face sheets with ratio 30% where punch velocity 0.1mm/sec and 81.78% with 0.01mm/sec. A comparison of the results are made and a good agreement is evident.


According to Joseph Nye, who introduced the concept of soft power in the 1980s, soft power is a form of political influence that allows one to achieve the desired results based on voluntary participation, cultural cooperation, and the attractiveness of the country as a whole. This article examines the soft power policy of the United States of America and Russian Federation in Vietnam, examines the historical events of the 20th century, the Vietnam War, its consequences and the subsequent development of relations between the countries. The strengths and weaknesses of both countries are analyzed. The causes and consequences of the decline of Russian influence in Vietnam since the 21st century are revealed. As a result of the analysis, the author identifies the reasons for the low efficiency of Russian soft power in Vietnam, and the reasons for the high efficiency of US soft power. Author have analyzed such areas as (political, economic, cultural, etc.) in which the Russian Federation and the United States cooperate with Vietnam. In conclusion, the author draws conclusions about the effectiveness of the soft power of Russia and the United States in Vietnam, based on the analysis of bilateral relations between Russia-Vietnam and the United States-Vietnam.


The land cover relate with physical feature of land surface. Land cover can be
categories such as development area, vegetation areas, rural area, urban area and
anything rely on the land surface. Remote sensing have been used to detect the
changes of the land covers occurs by human activity. In this project, the objective is to
generate supervised classification SPOT 7, to determine the accuracy of classification
using maximum likelihood, minimum distance, mahalanobis distance and spectral
angle algorithm and to produce the land use map. The algorithm were used to perform
the supervised classification. The landuse were classified into six classes i.e. shrub,
forest, paddy, cropland, build up and water. The accuracy assessment using error
matrix method were done. A total of sixty (60) ground data were used to validate the
accuracy of the classification. The result shows that maximum likelihood algorithm
has the highest value for overall accuracy and overall kappa statistic which is 87%
and 84% respectively. The lowest value shows by minimum distance algorithm is
68% and 61% respectively.


Patterns abstract good practices to define basic models that can be used to build new systems and evaluate existing systems. Security patterns join the extensive knowledge accumulated about security with the structure provided by patterns to provide guidelines for secure system requirements, design, and evaluation. We built a catalog of over 100 security patterns, which is still growing. We complement these patterns with misuse patterns, which describe how an attack is performed from the point of view of the attacker and describe how it can be stopped. We integrate patterns in the form of security reference architectures (SRAs) and we extend them to their ecosystems. We show how to build a SRA for clouds and their ecosystems. The use of patterns can provide a holistic view of security, which is a fundamental principle to build secure systems. The patterns and reference architectures are shown using UML models and examples are taken from my two books on security patterns as well as from my recent publications.


Monosomic sugar beet/wild beet addition lines (2n = 19) with full resistance against the beet cyst nematode have been characterized in different ways. Within the B. procumbens and B. webbiana addition lines three groups could be classified according to their isozymes pattern, growth habit, transmission rate, and resistance level. It is assumed that B. procumbens and B. webbiana each possess three different chromosomes which carry genes for nematode resistance. In the offspring of the addition lines diploid translocation types appear at very low frequencies, Isozyme pattern or growth type of the resistant plants were used for selecting diploid types in the offspring of monosomic addition lines. Effective selection could be made in progenies of susceptible sugar beets pollinated by addition lines because the pollen transmission of the alien chromosome is very low. Using these methods 7 nematode-resistant sugar beet lines could be selected. The transmission rates of the resistance gene ranged from 70.6% to 100%. Threw heterozygous progenies showed a 1:1 segregation indicating monogenic dominant inheritance of resistance. The level of resistance was as high as in the addition lines.


ABSTRACT This article provides a considered response to all the contributions in this special issue on 'Refiguring the Postmaternal'. It reflects on the new possibilities of postmaternalism as advanced and extended by each contributing author. It also attempts to reassert the idea of the postmaternal as a cultural anxiety about care and dependency and the need for 'maternal thinking'. These are reinforced as important interpretive frames, while at the same time as paying particular attention to the limitations of these conceptions. Some of the recent literature on maternalism is discussed and this in turn raises questions about the widespread feminist discomfort around maternalism and its many historical and contemporary associations. A notion of the maternal as limit is introduced as a possible rich area for further investigation. The article ends with some policy examples of what a re-maternalised public sphere might look like. It calls for a cultural remembering of maternalist activism, alongside striving to develop alternative feminist visions for these postmaternal times.


We consider degenerate elliptic equations of second order in divergence form with a symmetric random coefficient field a. Extending the work of the first author, Fehrman, and Otto [Ann. Appl. Probab. 28 (2018), no. 3, 1379–1422], who established the large-scale C regularity of a-harmonic functions in a degenerate situation, we provide stretched exponential moments for the minimal radius r∗ describing the minimal scale for this C 1,α regularity. As an application to stochastic homogenization, we partially generalize results by Gloria, Neukamm, and Otto [Anal. PDE 14 (2021), no. 8, 2497–2537] on the growth of the corrector, the decay of its gradient, and a quantitative two-scale expansion to the degenerate setting. On a technical level, we demand the ensemble of coefficient fields to be stationary and subject to a spectral gap inequality, and we impose moment bounds on a and a. We also introduce the ellipticity radius re which encodes the minimal scale where these moments are close to their positive expectation value.


The fact that many potentially productive pastures have grown up to brush and wood land and the general interest in improving permanent pastures tend to make important any factors which will assist in reclaiming such land. For these reasons, it is deemed advisable to publish a t this time a brief progress report on an experiment a t the Storrs (Connecticut) Agricultural Experiment Station to measure the effects of time of cutting on the growth of bushes. The experiment in question was started in the early spring of 1925, when seven plats, each 40 by 150 feet, were laid out on some


The Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) is a diverse partnership covering eleven states involving the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB) an interstate compact; regulatory agencies and/or geological surveys from member states; the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI); academic institutions; a Native American enterprise; and multiple entities from the private sector. Figure 1 shows the team structure for the partnership. In addition to the Technical Team, the Technology Coalition, an alliance of auxiliary participants, in the project lends yet more strength and support to the project. The Technology Coalition, with its diverse representation of various sectors, is integral to the technical information transfer, outreach, and public perception activities of the partnership. The Technology Coalition members, shown in Figure 2, also provide a breadth of knowledge and capabilities in the multiplicity of technologies needed to assure a successful outcome to the project and serve as an extremely important asset to the partnership. The eleven states comprising the multi-state region are: Alabama; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Louisiana; Mississippi; North Carolina; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; and Virginia. The states making up the SECARB area are illustrated in Figure 3. The primary objectives of the SECARB project include: (1) Supporting the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Carbon Sequestration Program by promoting the development of a framework and infrastructure necessary for the validation and deployment of carbon sequestration technologies. This requires the development of relevant data to reduce the uncertainties and risks that are barriers to sequestration, especially for geologic storage in the SECARB region. Information and knowledge are the keys to establishing a regional carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) storage industry with public acceptance. (2) Supporting the President's Global Climate Change Initiative with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas intensity by 18 percent by 2012. A corollary to the first objective, this objective requires the development of a broad awareness across government, industry, and the general public of sequestration issues and establishment of the technological and legal frameworks necessary to achieve the President's goal. The information developed by the SECARB team will play a vital role in achieving the President's goal for the southeastern region of the United States. (3) Evaluating options and potential opportunities for regional CO{sub 2} sequestration. This requires characterization of the region regarding the presence and location of sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), primarily CO{sub 2}, the presence and location of potential carbon sinks and geological parameters, geographical features and environmental concerns, demographics, state and interstate regulations, and existing infrastructure.


BACKGROUND
The growing complexity of data systems in health care has precipitated increasing demand for clinical informatics subspecialists. The first board certification exam for the clinical informatics subspecialty was offered in 2013. Characterizing trends in this novel workforce is important to inform its development.

METHODS
We conducted an exploratory analysis of American Board of Medical Specialties data on individuals certified in clinical informatics from 2013 to 2019 to review trends and demographic characteristics of current subspecialists.

RESULTS
2018 physicians were certified in clinical informatics from 2013 to 2019. The annual number of awarded certifications declined after 2016. The majority of primary certifications held by clinical informaticians were in broad-based medical specialties relative to primarily procedural specialties.

CONCLUSIONS
Disparities may exist within the clinical informatics physician workforce with respect to primary specialty certifications and geographic distribution. There remains a need for the creation of fellowship programs to sustain the growth of this workforce.


Objective To explore the drug sensitivity and resistance mechanisms of staphylococcus vitulinus from pa tient's blood.Methods Three strains of staphylococcus vitulinus including strain 31937,strain 32612,and strain 80708 derived from patient's blood were identified by phoenix TM 100 automatic bacterial identification/drug susceptibility instrument and NMIC/ID-55 identification/MIC drug susceptibility panel as well as the drug sensitivity test of 21 antibacterial agents.The β-lactamase,and resistant phenotypes of macrolides and mupirocin were detected in nitro cefin test(NT) by NMIC/ID-55 identification/drug sensitivity panel.Results Three strains of bacteria were all identified as staphylococcus vitulinus by phoenix TM 100 bacterial identification instrument,and the reliability all reached up to 90%.The outcomes of drug sensitivity test in 3 strains of staphylococcus vitulinus were extremely similar,they all susceptible to tobramycin,amikacin,amoxicillin/clavulanic acid,compound sulfanilamide,vancomycin,teicoplanin,macrodantin,rifampicin(only to 80708 strain),tetracycline,linezolid,and fusidic acid.Besides,they were all resistant to gentamicin,ampicillin,penicillin,oxacillin,erythrocin,clindamycin,quinupristin,mupirocin,and ciprofloxacin.The NT tests of 3 strains were all positive,which displayed high resistances of macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B(MLSb) phenotype and mupirocin phenotype.Conclusion The drug sensitivity outcomes from these 3 strains of staphylococcus vitulinus in the article show multi-resistance,whose mechanism is speculated as β-lactamase,plasmid code of mupA,and core gene of erm.After going through China national knowledge internet(CNKI),China medical current contents(CMCC),wanfang data,and PubMed database,we believe this is the first time to report the drug resistance mechanism of staphylococcus vitulinus in China before April 9th,2013.


Objective: This study aims to analyze COVID-19 hospitalization and death rate in the Asian population of a predominantly Asian-serving multi-hospital system (ASMHS).Methods: The COVID-19 patient information was collected electronically from March 1 to November 12, 2020, including demographics, insurance, mortality, ICU admissions, and length of stay (LOS). Demographic characteristics were compared with the county-level and national data. A comparison of hospital LOS between Asians and non-Asians was conducted.Results: The prevalence ratio of deaths in Asians at ASMHS was 1.29, which was 53% higher than the county and 77% higher than the nation. The ICU admission for ASMHS Asian patients was 11.8% compared to 5.6% for non-Asian. Overall Asians and Asians aged > 65 had significantly longer LOS than non-Asians (p < .001).Conclusions: High prevalence ratio of deaths was noted in ASMHS's Asian patients which may be related to older age, higher ICU rate, and longer LOS.


Windblown sand flux and dune field evolving toward the oasis have been a common ecological and environmental threat confronted by many countries. Meanwhile, it is also a kind of complex dynamical process involving multiple temporal and spatial scales which is still out of accurate description through current field observations. Available models and reliable quantitative simulations are of significant value to predict the spreading rate of desertification and provide an optimal design for sand prevention. This paper presents a "triple-jump" method to realize quantitative simulations to the formation and evolution of an aeolian dune field from an arbitrary initial configuration. Simulated results achieve a satisfactory agreement with observations qualitatively and quantitatively, which also reveal the characteristics and dynamical behaviors of dunes and dune field. Such a paradigm is of a good level of generality, which provides an exploratory probe into the subject of multi-scale physics.


In this study, the authors considered the effect of soil moisture in the emanation process of radon and thoron gases. Weathered granite soil was selected as the test soil and it was packed in a polypropylene container (275 × 210mm2 and 100mm in height), up to 50mm in depth from the bottom. The container was covered with the exhalation rate measuring instrument adopting the accumulation method and γ-particles were counted at 30 s intervals for 30 min to estimate the exhalation rates. A sporadic increase in the radon and thoron exhalation rates was caused by the increase in the moisture content up to 8%. However, the exhalation rates showed a decreasing tendency with the increase in moisture content over 8%. Although the measured radon exhalation rate was about 25% of the calculated one, both measured and calculated radon exhalation rates had similar trends with an increase in the moisture content in the soil. The measured thoron exhalation rate agreed well with the calculated one. When the moisture content was in the range of 3.5–18%, it was considered that applying the correlation between the moisture content and the measured thoron exhalation rate is useful for estimating the thoron effective diffusion coefficient.


Manual hyperinflation (MHI) is used by physiotherapists as a treatment technique in intubated patients. This study investigated the effect of three different MHI techniques using a Mapleson-C circuit configuration with a CIG Medishield valve on volume delivered (Vt), peak inspiratory (PIFR) and expiratory flow rates (PEFR), and peak airway pressure (PAP) in a test lung model. The protocols differed in the degree of valve closure and inclusion of an inspiratory pause. For protocols 1, 2 and 3 the measures were Vt—1.33 (0.21), 2.74 (0.13), 3.55 (0.12) litres; PAP— 14.30 (0.82), 24.00 (0.47), 30.20 (0.92) cmH 2 O and PIFR—1.13 (0.05), 1.51 (0.15), 1.32 (0.09) l/s respectively. All pair comparisons were statistically significant except for PEFR (l/s), which was significantly lower for protocol 1 [1.62 (0.06)], compared to protocols 2 [2.01 (0.25)] and 3 [2.10 (0.19)] but not between protocols 2 and 3. Circuit and technique choice should be considered in relation to the specific therapeutic aim of treatment.


A new process for the crystallization of amorphous films on chemically dissimilar substrates, solid phase heteroepitaxy (SPHE), is described. Unlike SPE in Si, it is found that the kinetics can be modeled by nucleation and multi-dimensional growth with Johnson-Mehl kinetics modified for the effects of a finite film thickness and nucleation initiated at the interface with the substrate.


A MAJOR health and safety landmark has been achieved by a North Yorkshire civil engineering and construction business. A total of 500,000 hours free ...


A series of hydroxyl ammonium ionic liquids was synthesized by using the water-bath microwave method and characterized with ethanol amine,diethanol amine,triethanol amine and N,N-dimethylethanolamine for cation and lactic acid,acetic acid and formic acid for anion.The reaction conditions of water-bath microwave synthesis of 2-hydroxyethylammonium lactate(HEL) were optimized by orthogonal experiments.Under the conditions of reaction time of 30 min,reaction temperature of 65 ℃,microwave power of 300 W,molar ratio of 2-hydroxyethylammonium to lactate of 1∶1.1,the yield of HEL can reach 92.74%.It shows that the HEL is selective towards SO2 and has a very broad absorption temperature area.Meanwhile,microwave-assisted can accelerate the desorption speed and shorten the desorption time.Moreover,solvent-added HEL also shows better solubility.This study establishes the foundation for further industry application of ionic liquids.


Purpose – This study seeks to explore the existential meaningfulness of HR managers' work. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of four existential attributes that are death, responsibility, alienation and meaningfulness, on the work of HR managers. The study also asserts that the work of HR managers has an existential dimension to it. It also argues that HR managers have human qualities. They react to human predicament and need emotional identification with their work and organization. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the responses of HR managers developed on the basis of an interview guide specifically designed for this purpose. The data have been collected through extensive and in-depth field interactions with HR managers working in diverse organizations. The research approach taken here is to focus on the discrete moments of role performance of HR managers that represent microcosms of the larger complexity. Those moments are windows into the multiplicity of fact...


Title of thesis: THE ECOPHYSIOLOGY OF THE FISH ASSOCIATED DINOFLAGELLATE CREPIDOODINIUM CYPRINODONTUM Sean Kevin Cooney, Master of Science, 2008 Thesis directed by: Professor Diane K. Stoecker Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences I assessed the occurrence of Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum on cyprinodontid and fundulid species in Maryland and Florida waters. Comparison of epibiont load across host taxa revealed Fundulus majalis as the preferred host of C. cyprinodontum. Crepidoodinium cyprinodontum infecting Fun. majalis reached a seasonal peak in epibiont load in summer in Maryland, and winter in Florida. Epibiont density decreased with increasing host (Fun. majalis) length, indicating smaller fish are more prone to colonization by C. cyprinodontum. Both numbers per fish and growth of C. cyprinodontum were influenced by light availability. Biomass based calculations of doubling time indicated that growth of C. cyprinodontum on fish gills appeared to below at optimum irradiances, suggesting refuge from predation may be a major factor in driving this dinoflagellate to colonize the opercular region of fish. Finally, I documented infections in two previously unknown host species (Fun. similis c.f. and Floridichthys


Based on previous studies on comprehension-monitoring,our study focused on comprehension-monitoring abilities of the students with comprehending disabilities.The results indicated that(1) Share the same aims of reading with normal students,comprehension difficulties students tend to acquire meaning from the information of the text;(2) Comprehension difficulties students' intensity of reading aims drop behind normal students,which lead to a lower comprehension monitoring level.However,the ability of comprehension monitoring is not different between normal students and comprehension difficulties students.


The present article reviews wetland resources present situation, declining cause of the wetland ecological functions and the advantageous conditions of wetland eco-environmental restoration in Heilongjiang Reclamation Region.In addition, we also probe into the restoration measures of the wetland eco-environment and the sustainable utilization strategy.


Ts.K. Medsantrud under the general editorship of A.S. Aluf, 544 pages, Moscow. 1925. The editors of the calendar in its present edition in many ways accomplished the goals outlined by it in the preface.


Background: Human fascioliasis is an important health problem in the province of Gilan, at the Caspian Sea, Iran. There is the overlapping of both fasciolid species, Fasciola hepatica and F. gigantica. Recent studies on both domestic animal and lymnaeid infection furnished evidence suggesting that F. gigantica and Radix gedrosiana may be the main fasciolid and lymnaeid involved in the disease in that province, controversy still being there concerning the presence and importance of F. hepatica and other lymnaeid species. The present paper includes the results of studies on Galba truncatula and the first finding of natural infection by F. hepatica in Gilan proved by molecular studies. Methods: Snail collections were carried out in summer, when their populations present the highest densities. Surveys on lymnaeids furnished the finding of a lymnaeid snail infected by trematode rediae and cercariae in the mountains of Talesh, in the Asalem district, western Gilan. Results: Nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS-2 sequences proved that they were F. hepatica and G. truncatula. The liver fluke ITS-2 sequence was identical to that of F. hepatica from Spain and the Northern Bolivian Altiplano and that of G. truncatula to the haplotype H-2 known in Portugal, Spain, France and The Netherlands. Conclusion: This genetic characterization suggests that both may be also involved in human fascioliasis infection in Gilan.


Introduction: Sickle Cell disease (SCD) affects approximately 100,00 Americans and occurs in about one in every 365 black or African American births.  SCD caregivers could utilize health technology such as mHealth to assist them with appointment reminders, medication management, education, and pain management as it relates to better managing this disease process.
Methods: A mixed-methods approach was utilized to explore the perceived influential factors that impact the caregivers' ability to care for the children with SCD and utilize mHealth and simulation. A 33-question survey was administered which included questions on: demographics, SCD, mHealth and simulation, General Self-Efficacy, Adult Hope, and four opened-ended questions.
Results: In total, 36 SCD caregivers completed the survey and three of them provided an additional interview. Sixty nine percent of the caregivers were mothers (n = 25) of the children with SCD and all the caregivers were African American. Self-Efficacy (p=.568) and Adult Hope scores (p=.762) were not a predictor for willingness to use mHealth or simulation.
Conclusions: SCD caregivers are using some forms of technology to help them however an all-inclusive (one-stop location) mHealth app along with simulation training would allow these caregivers to better manage their patient's/loved ones SCD.


The IP networks are faced today with difficult task of satisfying the needs of connections requiring different QoS by sharing the same physical resources, e.g. bandwidth and buffers. Buffers are a key component of packet-switched network, as they absorb burst arrivals of packets and hence reduce losses. Larger buffers can absorb larger bursts but they tend to build up high load and increase queueing delays. The traditional technique for managing delay is to set a maximum length for each buffer queue, accept packets in the queue until the maximum length is reached. Distributed computational grids depend on TCP to ensure reliable end-to-end communication between nodes across the wide area network (WAN). In the core of network (routers), it is believed that random early detection (RED) will alleviate problems related to synchronization of flows and also provide some notion of QoS by intelligent dropping. In this paper we develop simple Markovian model for the RED buffer management schemes, and use these models to quantify the benefits brought about by RED. In particular we examine the impact of RED on the loss rate and the mean delay. We analyse the transient and stationary states, using Markovian model. We show that the loss probability is the same for TCP and UDP traffics if RED algorithm is used. This loss rate of a flow going through a RED router does not depend of the burstiness of this flow, but only on the load it generates.


To describe a technique (subcutaneous onlay laparoscopic approach -
SCOLA) for the correction of ventral hernias combined with the
Diastasis of the Rectus Abdominis muscles (DMRA) plication and to
report the initial results of a case series with outcome and followup.


In the wireless LAN based on IEEE802.11, each wireless terminal can obtain fair communication opportunity using CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance). However, because each terminal has MAC parameters such as Contention Window (CW) and Distributed InterFrame Space (DIFS), it is possible that these parameters are manipulated for throughput improvement. This study refers to the terminal using manipulated MAC layer parameters for throughput improvement as a selfish terminal. If the selfish terminal exists, it affects the throughput of normal terminals using default parameters. Therefore, a mechanism to detect the selfish terminal has become one of important technologies. The existing methods try to detect the selfish terminal that always uses the manipulated MAC parameters. However, they did not consider the case when the selfish terminal tries to hide the manipulation (i.e., adaptive cheating). Therefore, in this paper, we propose a detection method for the selfish terminal using adaptive cheating. Next, we evaluate the proposed method by simulation experiments. As a result, we found that the proposal can be used for detection of the selfish terminal with adaptive cheating in the specified environment.


PLC at the beginning of his birth is known as a Programmable Controller (PC), known as theproduct of a project with a view to obtaining a compact instrument that can be programmedand direprogram like computers, do not take place as well as energy-based digital technology,which can replace a relay circuit complex, rigid (hard-wired, inflexible) and takes place aswell as a large energy. Meanwhile, a series of relays in question are the backbone ofindustrial control systems and manufacturing processes. In other words, today's PLC productsis actually departing from the need to run the industry to be more cheaply and efficiently.


Summary form only given. Clustering is an architectural technique that allows the design of wide superscalar processors without sacrificing cycle time, but at the cost of longer communication latencies. Simultaneous multithreading architectures effectively tolerate instruction latency, but put even more pressure on timing-critical processor resources. We show that the synergistic combination of the two techniques minimizes the IPC impact of the clustered architecture, and even permits more aggressive clustering of the processor than is possible with a single-threaded processor. Additionally, we show that multithreading enables effective instruction steering policies unavailable to a single-threaded clustered architecture. We explore the impact of aggressively clustering four complex processor structures, (1) instruction window wakeup and functional unit bypass logic, (2) register renaming logic, (3) the fetch unit, and (4) the integer register file, on a simultaneous multithreading processor.


'Pen 1 ' and 'kh (cid:1)(cid:1) 1 ' in Thai have traditionally been regarded as copular verbs comparable to 'be' in English. Appearing in a copulative sentence, the two Thai copula verbs, however, differ in polarity-sensitivity. The present study demonstrates that the difference in polarity-sensitivity of the two Thai copulas cannot be accounted for within the theory of polarity-sensitive items previously proposed. Investigating the aspectual properties of the two Thai copulas in comparison with those of English copula, this study suggests that an explanation for the difference in polarity-sensitivity of the two Thai copulas might involve their aspectual properties. Contributing to the study of aspect and polarity-sensitivity, the present study reveals differences between Thai and English copulas and provides additional support for the idea that the macro-category of so-called copular verbs is to describe cross-linguistic variation.


Two rates of crop residues (-CR and +CR) and six rates of P fertilizer (0, 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 kg superphosphate fed) were applied each growing season (corn and clover) in a long-term field experiment started at the Experimental Farm of Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt. The crop residues were added to the soil at the end of each growth season at rates of 5.45 and 3.71-ton fed corn stover and Egyptian clover straw. The response of soil P fractions to both CR and superphosphatr fertilizer was small at the very beginning of the experiment, however it became more pronounced starting from the year 1999 up to the year 2003. Resin-P accounted for 0.810.93%; and 1.301.52% of total P in soil after 5 and 16 years of continuous application of CR and SP, respectively. At zero level of SP and no addition of CR the resin-P fraction was markedly decreased from 6.5 to 5.65. The size of inorganic (Pi) and organic (Po) phosphorus forms of the NaHCO3 fractions were increased with the continuation of applying the P fertilization management for 16 years and ranged from 2.73 to 3.13 and from 1.84 to 2.19 for P i and Po forms, with and without crop residues, respectively. Five years after continuous application of SP and without application of CR, the relative concentrations of NaOHPi and NaOH-Po increased from 3.69 to 4.44% and from 1.60 to 2.00% of total P, respectively. Also, increasing the application level of SP from zero (P0) to 500 kg SP fed (P5) each growth season for five years increased the HCl-P and residual-P fractions linearly and significantly. The path analysis showed that both resin-Pi and NaHCO3-Pi were mainly and directly affected by P fertilization. In soil that received P fertilization management with CR, resin-P was largely controlled by added-Pi, NaHCO3-Pi and HCl-P fractions.


: CHROMagar Candida (CA) is a new differential culture medium that allows selective isolation of yeasts and simultaneously identifies colonies of Candida albicans, Candida. tropicalis, , Candida parapsilosis and Candida krusei. In comparison with conventional medium i.e. sabrauads dextrose agar (SDA), we evaluated 50 isolates directly on CHROMagar and SDA from oral samples. Over 95% of clinical isolates of Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis and Candida krusei were correctly identified on the basis of colony morphology and pigmentation on CHROMagar as compared to SDA. CHROMagar is extremely useful in making a rapid presumptive identification of common yeast species. This capability plus the ability to detect mixed cultures of Candida spp. promises to improve and streamline the work flow in the mycology and clinical microbiology laboratory.


Objective:To explore the relationship between testicular spermatogenesis deficiency and its tissue cell apoptosis in nonobstructive azoospermic patients by studying the expressions of Fas and FasL system in testicular Sertoli, Leydig and spermatogenic cells.Method:All the 20 patients with nonobstructive azoospermia were operated with testicular openning biopsy and routine pathological examination, and evaluated the degree of normal and deranged spermatogenesis according to Johnson score method. The expression of Fas and FasL System was detected by SABC method of immunohistochemistry in Sertoli, Leydig and spermatogenic cells.Result:According to Johnson score method, 14 cases were 8 scores, 2 cases were 3 scores, 4 cases were 6, 5, 4 and 2 scores respectively. Fas/FasL expressed in all testicular Sertoli, Leydig and spermatogenic cells in 20 patients with nonobstructive azoospermia. The expressive rate of Sertoli cells was more higher than that of Leydig or spermatogenic cells with positive and strong positive expression of Fas/FasL system.Conclusion:The high expression of Fas and FasL in testicular Sertoli, Leydig and spermatogenic cells was consistent with testicular spermatogenesis deficiency in nonobstructive azoospermia. Nonobstructive azoospermia may be closely related to the overapoptosis of germ cells.


Ecological civilization construction has become an important part of national development. We must establish and practice the idea that clear water and green mountains are mountains of gold and silver, adhere to the basic state policy of resource conservation and environmental protection, form a green way of development and a way of life, firmly follow the path of civilized development with production development, a prosperous life and a sound ecology, and build a beautiful China. This article introduces the practice of green highway construction in Jiangxi Province from the connotation of green highway, promotion of green technology application, green construction technology and innovative management. Finally, the future development direction of green highway in Jiangxi province is prospected.


Sixty patients with persistent palmoplantar pustulosis (PPP) were treated with clomocycline (Megaclor) in a double‐blind, cross‐over trial in an attempt to establish whether the condition responds to tetracycline. Each patient received 3 months each of clomocycline and placebo in random order. Forty patients completed the trial. Twenty‐two failed to respond to either treatment, fifteen improved on clomocycline, two improved on placebo and one improved on both treatments. These results are highly significant (P= 0‐003) d suggest that clomocycline may suppress pustulation in some patients. The twenty‐two'non‐responders' were compared with the eighteen'responders' for sex, age, length of history and associated psoriasis but no significant differences were found. Difficulties in assessment and the possibility of improvement being due to spontaneous remission are discussed. Further follow‐up of both groups suggested that clomocycline used over long periods favourably influenced the course of the disease in the'responder' group.


The electron-impact excitation of nitromethane has been studied at incident electron energies of 25, 55, and 90 eV, at scattering angles from 6° to 80°. The lowest-lying inelastic process which is observed is a previously unreported feature with a maximum intensity at 3.8 eV energy loss. This feature represents at least one singlettriplet transition. It is likely that this 3.8 eV triplet feature plays a central role in the gas phase photolysis of nitromethane. A weak inelastic process with a peak at 4.45 eV has also been observed, as has a strong transition at 6.23 eV. Both of these excitations are well known from optical spectra, and they are generally believed to represent spin-allowed n→π* and π→π* transitions, respectively. Their assignments are discussed in detail. In addition, seven other transitions, several of which have not been reported previously, have been detected in the 7–12 eV energy-loss range. Three of these transitions, at 8.3, 8.85, and 11.73 eV energy loss, are tentatively assigned to Rydberg excitations of increasingly tightly bound electrons into a 3s Rydberg orbital.


Objective To develop a gas chromatography-mass spectrometric method(GC/MS) for simultaneous determination of environmental estrogens including 4-nonylphenol,bishphenol A,diethylstilbestrol and 17α-ethinylestradiol and endogenic estrogens including 17α-estradiol,17β-estradiol,estriol and estrone in mutton. Methods Mutton samples were extracted using a mixture of acetonitrile-ethyl acetate(3∶2,V/V) and cleaned up by florisil cartridge. Derived with pentafluoropropionic anhydride(PFPA) ,the derivatives were determined by GC-MS. Results The linear range of determination was 0.2-5.0 μg/kg. The intraday relative standard deviations of the peak area were 1.25%—5.85% and the detection limits ranged from 0.024 to 1.40 μg/kg,and the rates of recovery ranged from 71.5%—111.0% except for 17α-ethinylestradiol( 55.4%) . Conclusion This method is simple,rapid,accurate and applicable to the determination of trace environmental estrogens in mutton


Abstract The reaction of 5-protected α,β-unsaturated γ-lactone 4 with trialkylphosphite gave 3′-C-dialkylphosphono-erythro lactone 5 in high yields. The lactone 5 was reduced with DIBAL to the corresponding lactol, which was converted to the acetate 6 by treatment with acetic anhydride in pyridine. The acetate 6 was coupled with silylated thymine in the presence of TMS-triflate and the resulting anomeric mixture of nucleotides could be separated chromatographically and after desilylation using TBAF in THF the 3′-C-dialkylphosphono nucleosides 7 and 8 were obtained.


T cells of the small intestine, including Th17 cells, are critically involved in host protection from microbial infection, and also contribute to the pathogenesis of small bowel inflammatory disorders. Accumulating evidence suggests that mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) play important roles in gut‐tropic T‐cell generation, although it is still unclear if MLNs are involved in the pathogenesis of small intestine inflammation. To address this issue, we analyzed the roles of both MLNs and Peyer's patches (PPs) by evaluating MLN‐ or PP‐deficient mice in an experimental model of small intestine inflammation, induced by CD3‐specific mAb injection. Interestingly, MLNs, but not PPs, were essential for the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation, in particular the accumulation and infiltration of CD4+ T‐cell populations, including Th17 cells, from the blood. In addition, CD4+ T‐cell accumulation was dependent on the function of the α4β7 integrin. Furthermore, MLN removal led to a significantly reduced number of peripheral α4β7+ CD4+ effector memory T cells under normal conditions, suggesting that MLNs may play a role in maintaining the number of gut‐tropic CD4+ effector memory T cells circulating in the blood. Taken together, the present study highlights the important role of MLNs in contributing to the pathogenesis of small intestine inflammation.


Picture Archiving and Communication System(PACS) is the main innovative trend for medical industry of the new 21st century. Through the introduction of basic elements and how the DICOM(Digital Image Communications in Medicine) standard works on the digital medical image. With the contenr of every digital medial image, it is hoped that the gap between IT domain and medical domain will be shortened in order to promote the PACS industry in Taiwan.


The complex of the pathological implications developing at an infectious endocarditis includes implications of a sepsis, a heart and multiorgan failure, and also from an orientation and expression of immune reactions of an organism. The purpose of the study was to compare preoperative markers of immunological reactivity and to reveal their predictive value in adult surgical patients with infective endocarditis. The data of 246 patients was studied, native valve infective endocarditis was in 223; prosthetic valve infective endocarditis was in 23 patients, acute native valve infective endocarditis occurred in 56, subacute in 190 cases. The control group consisted of 20 patients without infection. Significant changes in immunological parameters were found in all groups: cellular immunity has shown the decrease of the majority of cellular subpopulations and activation of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, changes in humoral immunity included the reduced number of B-lymphocytes and rise of immunoglobulin G level. Different ranges of immunological parameters were revealed in patients with acute and subacute in-infective endocarditis, and infective endocarditis of native and prosthetic valves: in subacute and prosthetic infective endocarditis, lower activities of inflammatory markers and another ranges of T-cells subpopulations were found. Differences between groups were also revealed in levels of phagocytosis, circulating immune complexes and immunoglobulins.


There is no research currently exist about the use
of ceftriaxone as perioverative antibiotics for appendicitis
patient in Haji General Hospital Surabaya, so its
relationship with the surgical wound after appendectomy is
remain unknown. This research is conducted to determine
the suitability and efficacy of ceftriaxone, also to identify
other factors that influence the surgical wound. This was a
prospective cohort study of 25 patients (a
ge ≥ 15 years old)
between June
–
August 2015. The specimens culture
demonstrated that 12 bacteria were E. coli, 1 ESBL-
producing E. coli and 12 negative. Antibiotics susceptibility
testing showed that 41,67% E. coli was susceptible to
ceftriaxone. There was no significant relationship between
suitability of postoperative antibiotics and surgical wound
after appendectomy in non-perforated cases (p=0,505),
while perforated case defined a significant relationship
(p=0,011). The factors which significantly related with
surgical wound were gender (p=0,014) and duration of
surgery (p=0,017). Ceftriaxone was still effective as
perioperative antibiotics. Postoperative antibiotics were
only required for perforated appendicitis, whereas
prophylactic antibiotic was known to be adequate in the
case of non-perforated.


Spatio-temporal graph neural networks (STGNN) have become the most popular solution to traffic forecasting. While successful, they rely on the message passing scheme of GNNs to establish spatial dependencies between nodes, and thus inevitably inherit GNNs' notorious inefficiency. Given these facts, in this paper, we propose an embarrassingly simple yet remarkably effective spatio-temporal learning approach, entitled SimST. Specifically, SimST approximates the efficacies of GNNs by two spatial learning techniques, which respectively model local and global spatial correlations. Moreover, SimST can be used alongside various temporal models and involves a tailored training strategy. We conduct experiments on five traffic benchmarks to assess the capability of SimST in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Empirical results show that SimST improves the prediction throughput by up to 39 times compared to more sophisticated STGNNs while attaining comparable performance, which indicates that GNNs are not the only option for spatial modeling in traffic forecasting.


For total system performance of a potential radwaste repository, a hypothetical site is assumed with feasible boundary conditions. Assuming a coastal repository, the sensitivity of the depth and the location of a repository along with the distance to a joint on groundwater transport pathways is studied. Results from Connectflow analysis could be used as input of the MASCOT-K, the probabilistic safety assessment code.


Due to the importance of skyline query in many applications, it has been attracted much attention recently. Given a k-dimensional dataset D, a point p is said to dominate another point q if p is better than q in at least one dimension and equal to or better than q in the remaining dimensions. However, in some real applications, users are more interested in the detail of the general dominant relationship in a business model, i.e., a point p dominates how many other points and is dominated by how many others, which is called general dominant relationship (GDR). In this paper, we explore how to efficiently analyze the GDR query. We show that the framework proposed before can not efficiently solve this problem. We find the interrelated connection between the partial order and the dominant relationship. Based on this discovery, we propose efficient algorithms to answer the GDR queries by querying the partial order representation of spatial datasets. Extensive experiments illustrate the effectiveness and efficiency of our methods.


Purpose Ophthalmic disorders are among the most prevalent Down syndrome (DS) comorbidities. Therefore, when studying mouse models of DS, ignoring how vision is affected can lead to misinterpretation of results from assessments dependent on the integrity of the visual system. Here, we used imaging and electroretinography (ERG) to study eye structure and function in two important mouse models of DS: Ts65Dn and Dp(16)1Yey/+. Methods Cornea and anterior segment were examined with a slit-lamp. Thickness of retinal layers was quantified by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Eye and lens dimensions were measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Retinal vasculature parameters were assessed by bright field and fluorescent imaging, and by retinal flat-mount preparations. Ganzfeld ERG responses to flash stimuli were used to assess retinal function in adult mice. Results Total retinal thickness is significantly increased in Ts65Dn and Dp(16)1Yey/+ compared with control mice, because of increased thickness of inner retinal layers, including the inner nuclear layer (INL). Increased retinal vessel caliber was found in both chromosomally altered mice when compared with controls. ERG responses in Ts65Dn and Dp(16)1Yey/+ mice showed subtle alterations compared with controls. These, however, seemed to be unrelated to the thickness of the INL, but instead dependent on the anesthetic agent used (ketamine, tribromoethanol, or urethane). Conclusions We provide evidence of retinal alterations in Ts65Dn and Dp(16)1Yey/+ mice that are similar to those reported in persons with DS. Our ERG results are also a reminder that consideration should be given to the choice of anesthetic agents in such experiments.


The Penang Avalokitesvara Statue is a gigantic statue, just like the Tiantan Buddha Statue in Hong Kong and Lingshan Buddha Statue in Wuxi. Though it is less voluminous in scale than the other two, its more slender in figure and more complicated details, bring about a lot of difficulties in the design. By comprehensive analysis and rational structural framing, we have, on the whole, achieved a satisfactory design of such a particular structure.


The present paper describes yet another new species (Yangchuanosaurus hepingensis sp. nov.), represented by a complete skeleton from the Sichuan Basin.