The objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate different applications of ssNMR, with particular emphasis on uses in polymeric and biosciences. First, dynamics investigations on two polymers will be discussed: (1) disulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone)s /poly(ethylene glycol) blends (BPS-20_PEG), which are under development as chlorine-resistant reverse osmosis (RO) membrane alternatives to aromatic polyamide (PA) technology, and (2) poly(arylene ether sulfone)s modified with 1,4-cyclohexyl ring units to improve processability. Simple cross-polarization magic-angle-spinning (CPMAS) experiments compared the chlorine tolerance of BPS-20_PEG and PA. Techniques capable of detecting motional geometries and rates on timescales from nanoseconds to seconds, including relaxation time measurements, were applied. Correlations were established between relaxation time and water permeability for the RO membranes, and between relaxation time and polydispersity in the 1,4cyclohexyl ring modified polymer. Next, 31 P and 2 H static ssNMR experiments evidencing the formation of toroidal pores and thinned bilayers in oriented zwitterionic and anionic phospholipid bilayers, (biomembrane mimetic systems), by the antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) magainin-2 and aurein-3.3, will be mentioned. The toroidal pore geometries induced by magainin-2 were different than those produced by aurien-3.3. The most prominent features were observed in 2 H spectra, implying greater interaction of the peptides with hydrophobic lipid acyl chains. Following this, a new two-dimensional homonuclear dipolar recoupling MAS experiment, capable of correlating long range 13 C13 C spin pairs in a uniformly/ extensively 13 C-labeled biomolecule, will be introduced. This technique was demonstrated on 13 C-labeled versions of Glutamine and Glycine-Alanine-Leucine. Experiments involving the recoupling of all 13 C13 C spin pairs, and experiments with


: Diabetes mellitus, a chronic metabolic disease affects various organs of the body on a long-term basis. Diabetes results in haematological changes that lead to development of complications such as hypercoagulability, anemia and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Hematological parameters play an important role in the treatment and follow up of diabetic patients. Hence, the objective of the study is to compare the mean levels of hematological parameters namely Platelet Distribution Width (PDW), Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) and Plateletcrit (PCT) between the type 2 diabetic patients with HbA1c ≥ 6.5 with the non-diabetic controls (HbA1c < 5.4) and to correlate the HbA1c values with the haematological parameters among type 2 diabetes patients. The case-control study was conducted for 6 months on 50 participants between the age group of 25-50 years. Case group includes 25 patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetic patients with HbA1c ≥ 6.5 and controls were healthy participants with HbA1c < 5.4. The serum samples were analysed for the haematological parameters namely PCT, PDW and MPV by electrical impendence method and HbA1c by immunoturbidimetric method. Increased levels of PCT, PDW, MPV were found among cases with HbA1c ≥ 6.5 when compared with the controls with HbA1c < 5.4. There was a significant association between platelet PCT, PDW and MPV with HbA1c among type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Increased mean levels of platelet indices (PCT, PDW and MPV) were found to be significantly associated with glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Hence, diabetic patients during their routine biochemical investigation, hematological investigation can also be done which helps in easy recognition of increased platelet indices that helps in treatment and prevention of disease progression among type 2 diabetes patients.


The technique based on hierarchical bounding spheres is an elementary technique in collision detection. It is sample to be implemented and has great speed but it is not accurate. A novel algorithm was proposed to detect the real-time collisions of objects. The sphere textures for objects were generated, and the programmable graphics hardware to mapping texture was used and the depth of different objects was checked to detect the collision. The algorithm was implemented and it was compared with CULLIDE. The result shows that the algorithm is more effective than CULLIDE and has fixed executive time to suit for real-time applications.


Background: Rosemary is widely found along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Its leaves or extract were found to have a high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. It is also used as an antispasmodic, analgesic, anti-rheumatic and expectorant. These actions are mainly due to its content of essential oils. Azathioprine (AZA) is an immunosuppressive drug. It is widely used in many diseases. A major drawback is the occurrence of side-effects, especially acute pancreatitis. Aim of the work: This work was done to study the effect of dietary supplement of rosemary leaves as a strategy for amelioration of the side-effects of azathioprine. Material and Methods: Thirty-two adult male albino rats were used in this study. They were equally divided into four groups. Group I: control group, group II: rosemary group, the animals were given a daily oral dose of rosemary leaves extract. Group III: azathioprine group, the animals were given a single dose of AZA intraperitoneally. Group IV: rosemary azathioprine group: the rats were given daily doses of rosemary leaves extract then azathioprine in the last day of the experiment as in the previous regimen. The experiment continued for ten days. Blood samples were taken from all groups and examined for tumour necrosis factor alpha, serum amylase enzyme, C-reactive protein and renal function tests (serum urea and creatinine). Results: Rosemary significantly decreased the levels of tumour necrosis factor alpha, serum amylase enzyme and serum urea and C-reactive protein in rosemary AZA group compared to AZA group . Conclusion: The aqueous rosemary leaves extract has the ability to ameliorate the biochemical pathways of the side-effects of azathioprine, so it is advisable to give it concomitantly to patients treated by azathioprine.


The time when the debate around climate change was predominantly a scientific issue is gone. With the observed impacts of global warming becoming increasingly and rapidly obvious, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report marks the start of a new period where the focus needs to be on the social, cultural, and political dynamics. Climate change is a global justice issue, inextricably linked with the processes and problems associated with corporate globalisation. The Fourth Assessment report makes it clear that 28C mean average temperature increase is a limit that cannot be exceeded if we are to avoid runaway climate change. International negotiators must agree to keep global temperature rise as far below 28C as possible and commit to the necessary binding targets to reduce emissions. Within this overall commitment, policy makers should address a number of priorities.


Raman spectra of a large variety of amorphous silicon–carbon films prepared by magnetron sputtering at different technological conditions are studied. Great emphasis is given to the bands in the region 200–450 cm−1. The position of the well‐defined dip between the bending mode band and the bands in the central region is used as a quantitative measure of the position of the bands in the central region. The relative carbon content in the films is estimated by infrared spectroscopy. It is shown that the changes in the central region of the Raman spectrum with the carbon atoms incorporation are due to the formation of a new bond type, but not due to increased disorder. It was found that the position of the above‐defined dip could be used for comparison of the alloying atom content of nonhydrogenated amorphous silicon alloys. This is also applicable for hydrogenated samples having approximately one and the same hydrogen content.


Time-dependent electron-transport processes are often studied in the wide-band limit. In this paper, a generalized Floquet approach beyond the wide-band limit is developed for the general treatment of memory effect on the virtually unexplored multiphoton (MP) coherent destruction of tunneling (CDT) phenomenon of periodically driven electrode-wire-electrode nanoscale systems. As a case study, we apply the approach for a detailed analysis of the electron-transport dc current in the electrode-quantum double dot-electrode system, showing the significance of memory effect as well as illustrating the origin of the MP-CDT phenomenon.


"Energy available in a useful and readily controllable form is the essential ingredient in man's progress. By using other forms of energy than his own physical resources, man amplifies his efforts, so that he can rise above a bare physical existence, and enjoy the fruits of his labors. Electric energy provides that need in the most versatile and easily controlled form, and the present living standards would be impossible without it. The AIEE, as the foremost organization for the dissemination of technical information in this held, provides the medium for continued and expanding progress. Every electrical engineer who hopes to make a contribution to the world in which he lives needs the help proof the AIEE and it, in turn, needs the support of every progressively minded electrical engineer."


Abstract Background: Despite the increases in the aged population in Japan, there are little data on geriatric patients with traumatic injuries. A prospective clinical study was carried out to evaluate the use of the emergency medical services (emergency medical services) system, mechanisms of injury, and prehospital assessment and triage of elderly victims of trauma. Patients and Methods: From July 1996 through June 1997, a group of geriatric trauma (Group G, n = 22) and a control group of younger trauma patients (n = 173) were compared with respect to transfer method to an Emergency Center (direct or indirect), Revised Trauma Scores on the scene of the accident (revised trauma score-l) and on admission to the Emergency Center (revised trauma score-2), and outcome (survival). Results: The mean values for revised trauma score-l in the Control Group (Group C) were not different from those in Group G, but revised trauma score-2 of the indirect-transfer patients (indirectly transported patients) in Group G were significantly lower than were those for Group C. Group G mortality rates were significantly higher than were the control rates (p = 0.0001). The mortality rate of the indirectly transported patients subgroup was significantly lower than that of the direct transfer subgroup (directly transported patients) (30/68 vs. 5/70, p<0.0001) in the Group C, but mortality rate of the indirectly transported patients subgroup exceeded that of the directly transported patients subgroup of Group G (8/14 vs. 5/8). Conclusion: The data suggest that in geriatric-age patients, direct transfer patients have a lower mortality rate than do indirect transfer patients when controlled for injury severity score. Therefore, it seems that a different set of triage criteria should be developed and implemented for geriatric-age victims with trauma-induced injuries and that those who meet these more stringent criteria should be transferred directly to a Trauma Center.


Wireless sensor network when data are transmitting between devices may cyber attackers interfere and try to hack the data, In order to avoid attackers we are proposing fusion center monitoring, which finding the attackers and communicating the information to cluster head. Through cooperative detection method fusion head is alarming the neighbor nodes to avoid the congestion. This proposed methodology is enhanced prevent the deduction for attack in wireless sensor networks.


J. Kor. Oral Maxillofac. Surg. 2004;30:465-473) 이 종 호 110-768, 서울특별시종로구연건동 28 서울대학교치과대학구강악안면외과학교실 Jong-Ho Lee Department of OMFS, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University 28 Yeongun-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, # 110-768, South Korea Tel : 82-2-2072-2631 Fax : 82-2-766-4948 E-mail : firstname.lastname@example.com PERIPHERAL NERVE REGENERATION USING POLYGLYCOLIC ACID CONDUIT AND BRAIN-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR GENE TRANSFECTED SCHWANN CELLS IN RAT SCIATIC NERVE Won-Jae Choi, Kang-Min Ahn, En-Feng Gao, Young-Min Shin, Yoon-Tae Kim, Soon-Jeong Hwang, Nam-Yeol Kim, Myung-Jin Kim, Seung-Woo Jo, Byung-Soo Kim, Yun-Hee Kim, Soung-Min Kim, Seung-Jae Oh, Sung-Jun Kim, Jeong-Won Jahng, Jong-Ho Lee Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Dentistry, Seoul National University Department of Pharmacology, Yonsei Medical School, Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University Department of Biology, Kyung-Hee University Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, College of Dentistry, Kangnung National University School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Seoul National University Purpose : The essential triad for nerve regeneration is nerve conduit, supporting cell and neurotrophic factor. In order to improve the peripheral nerve regeneration, we used polyglycolic acid(PGA) tube and brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) gene transfected Schwann cells in sciatic nerve defects of SD rat. Materials and methods : Nerve conduits were made with PGA sheet and outer surface was coated with poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) for mechanical strength and control the resorption rate. The diameter of conduit was 1.8mm and the length was 17mm. Schwann cells were harvested from dorsal root ganglion(DRG) of SD rat aged 1 day. Schwann cells were cultured on the PGA sheet to test the biocompatibility adhesion of Schwann cell. Human BDNF gene was obtained from cDNA library and amplified using PCR. BDNF gene was inserted into E1 deleted region of adenovirus shuttle vector, pAACCMVpARS. BDNF-adenovirus was multiplied in 293 cells and purified. The BDNF-Adenovirus was then infected to the cultured Schwann cells. Left sciatic nerve of SD rat (250g weighing) was exposed and 14mm defects were made. After bridging the defect with PGA conduit, culture medium(MEM), Schwann cells or BDNFAdenovirus infected Schwann cells were injected into the lumen of conduit, respectively. 12 weeks after operation, gait analysis for sciatic function index, electrophysiology and histomorphometry was performed. Results : Cultured Schwann cells were well adhered to PGA sheet. Sciatic index of BDNF transfected group was -53.66±13.43 which was the best among three groups. The threshold of compound action potential was between 800 to 1000μA in experimental groups which is about 10 times higher than normal sciatic nerve. Conduction velocity and peak voltage of action potential of BDNF group was the highest among experimental groups. The myelin thickness and axonal density of BDNF group was significantly greater than the other groups. Conclusion : BDNF gene transfected Schwann cells could regenerate the sciatic nerve gap(14mm) of rat successfully.


The auxiliary frame (1) has the junction plates (2, 3, 4, 5) are formed by casting in an aluminum-based material, remote from each other and fixed by profiled elements (6, 7, 8 , 9). Said elements (6, 7, 8, 9), presenting themselves as steel hollow profiles, through said gussets (2, 3, 4, 5). They form a frame (12) open or closed, that is inserted into a casting mold and is embedded peripherally in regions to form said gussets (2, 3, 4, 5).


Executive functions are (EF) top–down control processes involved in regulating thoughts, ignoring distractions, and inhibiting impulses. It is widely believed that these processes are critical to self–control and, therefore, that performance on behavioural task measures of EF should be associated with individual differences in everyday life outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to test this assumption, focusing on the core executive function facet of inhibition. A sample of 463 undergraduates completed five laboratory inhibition tasks, along with three self–report measures of self–control and 28 self–report measures of life outcomes. Results showed that although most of the life outcome measures were associated with self–reported self–control, only one of the outcomes was associated with inhibition task performance at the latent–variable level, and this association was in the unexpected direction. Furthermore, few associations were found at the individual task level. These findings challenge the criterion validity of lab–based inhibition tasks. More generally, when considered alongside the known lack of convergent validity between inhibition tasks and self–report measures of self–control, the findings cast doubt on the task's construct validity as measures of self–control processes. Potential methodological and theoretical reasons for the poor performance of laboratory–based inhibition tasks are discussed. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology


In this work, I will present a new model of organization for enterprises in the social economy at the level of local communities. The main purpose of the research was to find an answer to a simple question, which became the research question: "humans are the only beings able to manage their socio-economic life efficiently, or does nature offer us better alternatives to the human model of management†? Looking around to the natural living systems for an answer to the question, I found some seemingly tiny creatures characterized by great solidarity. The behavior's rules of these creatures, strictly respected, appeared to be similar to the values promoted, in the human society by the social economy: solidarity, responsibility, communion of interests, autonomous management etc., reason for I was tempted to use their behavior as model for a new concept of social economy enterprises management. The main working assumption of the scientific research, validated in the past published work-papers, was focused on a series of issues concerning the lack of knowledge of social economy and its representative organizations in Romania, as well as the major "gaps†regarding the approach of organizing social economy enterprises at the level of local Romanian communities. This context has facilitated to prefigure a new conceptual model of social economy enterprises, adapted to local Romanian communities but not necessarily limited to this geographical area: social economy enterprise, type honeycomb network. This original and innovative model describes a socio-economic organization as a network of individuals and relationships that follows the pattern of the fractal organization of nature at all levels. The working methodology consists of a content analysis of the scientific literature and social network analysis tool Ucinet6 and VisuaLyzer 2.2.


N4‐Hexadecyl‐1‐β‐d‐arabinofuranosylcytosine (NHAC) is a new lipophilic derivative of 1‐β‐d‐arabino‐furanosylcytosine (ara‐C) with strong antitumour activity. The interactions of NHAC incorporated into small unilamellar liposomes of different compositions with blood components were evaluated.


Two prime engineering focuses are concerned with what might be termed 'materialism', and with structural reliability. This paper discusses the interconnections between these in the context of the historical development of engineering capability, highlighting the associated risk in application and use of this capability, and the accrued benefits for mankind. As successful engineering rests on communication skills, as well as analytical skills, the paper starts by considering word power and status as a precursor to defining mechanical engineering and the 'design paradox' associated with innovation. It then considers the mutuality between sound design and effective materials usage, before outlining the advances in materials engineering and design philosophies related to crack growth phenomena. These advances currently allow extremely complex structures to operate with known, and statistically defined, probabilities of failure.


Contributions by relatives are an important factor in the process of stroke rehabilitation. Besides giving social support, they save costs for the health system by supplying informal care. Stroke-related changes may have a great impact upon the relatives' life situations, and cause various forms of strain depending on the phase of the rehabilitation process. When the patient is discharged home, relatives must often give support in many practical aspects of daily life, thereby limiting and reducing their own leisure activities. Depending upon the patient's handicaps, communication and interaction within the family may be disturbed and the family structure dysbalanced. These burdens and strains have negative effects upon relatives' emotional state, their quality of life and their physical health. In order to give relatives better support, various intervention programs have been investigated. However, proof of their effectiveness is largely lacking. Education programs, individual advice and coaching and task-specific training seem to be superior to the mere passing on of information. Support strategies that combine various components also seem suitable to reduce relatives' strain.


For mobile installations the time and expense of setup operations must be kept to a minimum, and this often means that earthing systems will also be minimal. This article discusses numerical simulations and tests on real-life radio installations, conducted to determine whether installations afford sufficient protection against lightning strikes. The results of this work were compared against limits defined for these studies.


This article aims to examine the social imaginary toward nationalism from theoritical and bibliographical perspectives. Recently, there has been lack of study on imagined nationalism, after Bennedict Anderson had published Imagined Communities . This study by looking at social imagination and cultural memory, will describe the development of imagined nationalism in Nusantara. It will also survey several literatures on concept of nationalism in the region. It is believed that imagined nationalism in Nusantara has been influenced by many concepts from Western scholars. Thus, study on on this issue by emphasing on cultural memory is still needed. It is argued that it is necessary to conduct more research projects on imagined nationalism in Nusantara by focussing on spirit, cosmol-ogy, system of knowledge, and values among socities.


A total of 45 verocytotoxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) strains obtained from diarrhoeic cattle and buffalo calves were serotyped. These strains were classified into 27 'O'-groups, many of them being associated with VT for the first time. The frequently isolated VTEC serotypes were O86:H26, O128:H31, and OX6:H2. However, the great diversity of VTEC O-groups is to be noted, those associated with VT production being O3, O5, O6, OX6, O7, O20, O21, O49, O75, O76, O80, O84, O86, O88, O103, O116, O117, O118, O137, O153 and O159. It is interesting that 11 of the 41 O-groupable strains belong to well recognized human enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) O-groups.


The invention relates to a process and a device for forming a NiTi Dimple orthodontic tooth arch wire. Compared with a general orthodontic tooth arch wire, the NiTi Dimple orthodontic tooth arch wire has the characteristics that a raised part is arranged in the middle of the NiTi Dimple orthodontic tooth arch wire, the NiTi Dimple orthodontic tooth arch wire has a special function, the problems of treatment failure caused by difficult accurate positioning during mounting of the orthodontic tooth arch wire by a doctor and lateral displacement of the orthodontic tooth arch wire under the action of a deformed tooth in a treatment process, and the like are solved, and the chair-side working time of the doctor is greatly shortened. The basic process for the NiTi Dimple orthodontic tooth arch wire comprises the following steps: 1, drawing a wire; 2, performing ageing treatment, namely winding the drawn wire on the specially-made device, putting the device in a heating furnace, controlling the ageing temperature to be 500-580 DEG C, keeping the temperature for 30-180 minutes, taking out, and cooling by water; 3, performing surface treatment. With the process and the device, batch production of the NiTi Dimple orthodontic tooth arch wire is realized.


College student cadres are important bridge and link in promoting students' healthy growth,who are also important assistants of college student workers and good models in learning,life and work. They play an irreplaceable role in student education,management and service work. The exertion of their enthusiasm lies on the degree of their understanding and implementation of their role consciousness. So college student education management teachers should focus on cultivating the role awareness of student cadres,guiding and helping them plan their role growth properly.


Michael and Louisa Kiely founded Australia's Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming in February 2006. It is now often abbreviated to the Carbon Coalition. The intention is to lobby for the right of Australian landholders to trade on the emissions offset market the credits that they can earn by sequestering carbon in their soils. Is soil carbon the new cash crop? asks Kiely. He speaks with the zeal of an evangelist and calls himself a 'carbon farmer'. "Carbon farming is not a new practice. It is a new way to describe a collection of techniques which can increase soil organic carbon in agricultural land ... It's about changing the way we farm ..." says Kiely. Carbon farming is managing the land to sequester carbon and farming techniques that can meet this end include organic farming, biodynamic farming and natural sequence farming.


Four single-chain bolaamphiphiles, in which the hydrophobic chain was made of the flexible dodecamethylene unit and the bissalicylideneimine unit, were designed and synthesized. These bolaamphiphiles can form two types of stable ordered monolayer membranes in dilute aqueous solution, linear and curved monolayers (vesicles), which have been characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The aggregate structure and thermal behavior of monolayer membranes from these bolaamphiphiles have been investigated by variable temperature 1H NMR, Fourier transform infrared and UV−vis spectra, and differential scanning calorimetry. The results indicated that the large rigid segments (bissalicylideneimine unit) in the middle stacked densely to establish ordered packing backbones for these bolaamphiphiles to form monolayer membranes, and the alkyl chains packed loosely in dilute aqueous solutions. Also, the problem of these bolaamphiphile monolayers possessing no marked gel-to-liquid crystalline ...


In the conventional heart rate measuring device, when a living body is low in the level of the heart rate waveform signal obtained from the sensor can not perform the peak is determined, and this simplicity lacked by the operation processing complex. In the present invention, the maximum value (M) of the heart rate signal that is obtained at a predetermined time interval is detected by the maximum value detection means, S11, and in the processing of S14, the detected maximum value (M) is larger than the maximum value (M) is a predetermined time (T1 case) is not detected in the, in the S15 process, the maximum value (M) detected by the maximum value detection means is determined by the peak value (P). Then, based on a time interval (T2) between successive peak values (P) which is determined by the peak determination means, the heart rate is calculated by the calculation means. Furthermore, a predetermined time (T1) based on a time interval (T2) between successive peak values (P) which is determined by the peak value determining means, one of a plurality of time predetermined based on a time interval (T2) between the peak (P) time a, it is sequentially changed in the process of S3 ~ S10.


COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge in front of the world contributed mostly by social distancing and lockdown. Among several other effects this pandemic has wreaked havoc on the psychology and cognition of people across the globe. In this paper we attempted to find out the impact of lockdown and social isolation on the cognition and emotion of young healthy adults with high education (n=43) by means of a questionnaire sent through email. We found that more than 50% of the participants had some kind of emotional or cognitive (dysexecutive) symptoms, as calculated through emotional symptom index (ESI) and cognitive symptom index (CSI). The correlation between cognitive and emotional symptoms was also found to be moderately strong (0.59). Although it is a pilot study and larger samples are required to draw firm conclusion, the results argue in favor of a negative impact on the cognition and emotion of healthy educated young people caused by the COVID-19 related lockdown. It can be conjectured that, if taking an older sample with a lower education, emotional and cognitive changes would be more evident.


Structural induction is a proof technique that is widely used to prove statements about discrete structures. Students find it hard to construct inductive proofs, and when learning to construct such proofs, receiving feedback is important. In this paper we discuss the design of a tutoring system, LogInd, that helps students with constructing stepwise inductive proofs by providing hints, next steps and feedback. As far as we know, this is the first tutoring system for structural induction with this functionality. We explain how we use a strategy to construct proofs for a restricted class of problems. This strategy can also be used to complete partial student solutions, and hence to provide hints or next steps. We use constraints to provide feedback. A pilot evaluation with a small group of students shows that LogInd indeed can give hints and next steps in almost all cases.


The calculations of the multiparticle dynamics that stimulate the important stages of relaxation of an ultracold laser plasma (N{sub e} {approx}2x10{sup 9} cm{sup -3}, T{sub e} {approx}0.1 K, T{sub i} {approx}10 {mu}K) are presented. The initial electron heating, the formation of highly excited electrons, and the confinement of electrons in a small plasma bunch are considered. Based on a previously developed analytical recombination theory of a metastable plasma, it is shown that the limiting moderation of the three-body recombination may amount to 3-4 orders of magnitude. (interaction of laser radiation with matter. laser plasma)


The direct metal/metal sliding contact causes a severe wear with a high friction coefficient and an important wear rate. Applying magnetic field into the rotating sliding steel Fe360 B/steel Fe360 B modifies the friction and the wear behavior of the contact. The experimental tests were conducted in three different environments such as: ambient air, pure oxygen at 105 Pa and high vacuum at 5.10−5 Pa. In ambient air and without magnetic field, the metal/metal contact is ductile. When a magnetic field is applied, the formation of oxide layer evolves progressively with the number of sliding cycles. This contact has a low friction and mild wear. Under oxygen, the oxide film appears in wear track with and without applied magnetic field. The wear rate under oxygen is lower than that in ambient air with a ratio roughly equals to 10. In oxygen, the average value of friction coefficient µ decreases from µ = 0.41 to µ = 0.30. In vacuum, the increase of surface hardness causes a transfer of particles from the disc towards the pin. This transfer modifies the morphology of the wear track, increases the surfaces roughness and leads to a strong adhesive wear. The different analysis obtained with: microscopy, micro-harness, wear losses, EDX and friction evolution explains the effect of applied magnetic field on the friction behavior of Fe360 B steel.


they were covered, and the mist hid the scene as ' before, till it parted again, this time in front ; and there was blue sky, and against the blue sky a vision of glittering snow-peaks. So it went on, peep after peep, rift after rift, here a little and there a little, till at last, as if worked on unseen pulleys, the mist curtain slowly drew up, and from east even unto west there stretched the chain of


This paper introduces a concept of configuration patch (C-patch) for representing configurations of a polyhedral robot in a point-point contact with polyhedral obstacles, and proposes an approach called inverse mapping method for computing an approximate representation using cubic cells of a configuration space (C-space). A configuration patch has a simple geometry if it is represented in a local coordinate system defined in this paper. The inverse mapping method constructs the approximated C-space by quantizing the C-patches in the local coordinate system and mapping the discrete points to configurations of the robot. It never checks any intersection among the robot and the obstacles. The only process in this algorithm is a coordinate transformation from discrete points on the C-patches to configurations of the robot. Finally, its efficiency is shown by simulations.


As far as I know, medical educators have been most concerned about clinical externships engaged in by medical students during regular school terms. The traditional view of the medical educator about such clinical externships for medical students has been quite clear. The medical school faculty knows what is best for the medical student and has designed the best possible sequence of experiences to facilitate his learning in a logical and sensible way. It is disruptive when a student deviates from the prescribed program because he may learn something too early and not pay attention to more elementary things presented to him later in the regular curriculum of his school. There is the distinct possibility that a student trying to learn something outside the pure environment of the university medical center will run into some kind of sinister environmental pollution which will partially paralyze his intellectual and ethical


Heart failure (HF) is a cardiovascular disease with a complex pathological pathway and influenced by many factors. Such a complex pathological mechanism would impair cardiac function and structural stability. One that plays a role in maintaining the function and structure of the heart is the extracellular matrix (ECM), and disruption in the extracellular matrix has a role in causing cardiac dysfunction. ECM regulation is associated with matrix metalloproteinase (MMP). Overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases can lead to ECM degradation process which leads to cardiac remodelling. The role of MMP in heart failure is also related to the increased inflammatory response, which is one of the pathways for progression of heart failure. The close association of MMP with the development of heart failure makes MMP a potential biological marker. This article aims was to understand the role of MMP and its mechanisms in cardiac remodelling pathways leading to heart failure. This narrative review suggests that overexpression of MMP can lead to heart failure. Inflammation is one of the factors triggering the expression of MMP. Inflammation will increase the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, thereby triggering MMP expression. MMP expression imbalance can damage collagen tissue through ECM degradation and damage the structure and function of the heart. MMP can also be used as a biological marker in heart failure cases. The application of MMP as a biological marker can be used to assess the degree of disease severity as well as a predictor of heart failure. In conclusion, MMP has an important role in the development process of heart failure and can be a biological marker in cases of heart failure.


To combat the epidemic increase in Type-2-Diabetes (T2D), risk factors need to be identified. Diet, lifestyle and the gut microbiome are among the most important factors affecting metabolic health. We demonstrate in 1,976 subjects of a prospective population cohort that specific gut microbiota members show diurnal oscillations in their relative abundance and we identified 13 taxa with disrupted rhythmicity in T2D. Prediction models based on this signature classified T2D with an area under the curve of 73%. BMI as microbiota-independent risk marker further improved diagnostic classification of T2D. The validity of this arrhythmic risk signature to predict T2D was confirmed in 699 KORA subjects five years after initial sampling. Shotgun metagenomic analysis linked 26 pathways associated with xenobiotic, amino acid, fatty acid, and taurine metabolism to the diurnal oscillation of gut bacteria. In summary, we determined a cohort-specific risk pattern of arrhythmic taxa which significantly contributes to the classification and prediction of T2D, highlighting the importance of circadian rhythmicity of the microbiome in targeting metabolic human diseases.


RFC 3177 argued that in IPv6, end sites should be assigned /48 blocks
in most cases. The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) adopted that
recommendation in 2002, but began reconsidering the policy in 2005.
This document revisits and updates the RFC 3177 recommendations on the
assignment of IPv6 address space to end sites. The exact choice of how
much address space to assign end sites is an issue for the operational
community. The role of the IETF is limited to providing guidance on
IPv6 architectural and operational considerations. This document
reviews the architectural and operational considerations of end site
assignments as well as the motivations behind the original 3177
recommendations. Moreover, the document clarifies that a one- size-
fits-all recommendation of /48 is not nuanced enough for the broad
range of end sites and is no longer recommended as a single default.
This document updates and replaces RFC 3177.


This paper discusses the results of a questionnaire survey of cartographic personnel and academic curricula in Nigeria. The analysis shows that cartography and GIS are subsumed under geography and surveying disciplines, and that Nigeria and other developing countries have not yet responded positively to the new requirement to create awareness of specialization in cartography, remote sensing, and GIS in the university curricula. Also, the study reveals that both personnel and students are making greater demands for a cartography discipline. It is concluded that trained personnel in cartography, GIS and map-use awareness through improved academic curricula should be given greater attention in order to improve the status of maps, cartographic professionalism, personnel efficiency, and participation in national policy decisions on mapping and environment. Etude de l'etat de la cartographie et des systemes d'information geographique (SIG) dans les universites du Nigria Cet article prsente les rsultats d'une en...


Mathematical learning that is done does not achieve maximum learning outcomes. This is caused by their lack of learning activities, and the monotonous way of learning. The objectives of this study are to 1) produce inquiry-based mathematics lesson plans and worksheets for grade IV elementary schools with valid criteria, 2) produce inquiry-based mathematics worksheets and worksheets for class IV elementary schools with practical criteria, 3) produce inquiry-based mathematics worksheets and worksheets for inquiry Class IV Elementary School with effective criteria. This study is an educational research model design research that develops a product. This research procedure 1) preliminary analysis stage, 2) design phase, 3) assessment stage. Data collection instruments for interview guidelines, observation sheets. The data analysis stage uses practicality results and effectiveness test data. The results showed that 1) the results obtained illustrated that the developed Mathematics Worksheets were valid and could be used in learning Mathematics, 2) the practicality of inquiry-based Mathematics Worksheets provided that the Inquiry-based Mathematics Worksheets were very very practical to use and could increase student interest in Mathematics learning, 3) the effectiveness of using Inquiry-based Math LKS, student learning activities while learning to use LKS are very high and student learning outcomes in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains also show good results. These observations provide an illustration that the use of Inquiry based Mathematics Worksheet has been effective.


Preliminary results of a research program to determine energy partitioning in spacecraft thermal protection materials due to atom recombination at the gas-surface interface are presented. The primary focus of the research is to understand the catalytic processes which determine heat loading on Shuttle, Aeroassisted OTV, and NASP thermal protection surfaces in nonequilibrium flight regimes. Highly sensitive laser diagnostics based on laser-induced fluorescence and resonantly-enhanced multiphoton ionization spectroscopy are used to detect atoms and metastable molecules. At low temperatures, a discharge flow reactor is employed to measure deactivation/recombination coefficients for O-atoms, N-atoms, and O2. Detection methods are presented for measuring O-atoms, O2 and N2, and results for deactivation of O2 and O-atoms on reaction-cured glass and Ni surfaces. Both atom recombination and metastable product formation are examined. Radio-frequency discharges are used to produce highly dissociated beams of atomic species at energies characteristic of the surface temperature. Auger electron spectroscopy is employed as a diagnostic of surface composition in order to accurately define and control measurement conditions.


Recently golf tourism is recognised as one of representative leisure tourist activities. Nevertheless in tourism researches it is less studied than in leisure sports fields. Obviously themes about golf users` behavioral patterns go into the tourism study field because they act samely as leisure travelers. From this perspective this study was to analyse importance-satisfaction of service quality attributes of golf sites by segmenting golf tourism motivation. For this aims the study was performed by empirical methods. A total of 242 were collected and used to segment golf tourism motivation and analyse importance-satisfaction of service quality attributes by segmented groups. Exploratory factor analysis ANOVA and paired sample t-test were conducted to achieve research goals. As a result it was verified that golf tourists are divided into 4 subcategorized groups i e actively motivated family oriented passively motivated novelty oriented. Also EFA has showed that service quality attributes of golf sites are as follows operation management field design price caddy service subsidiary facility foods service green management accessibility. For all segmented groups price was estimated to be most important. It is confident that the information from this study would be useful information to develop customer oriented marketing strategy in order to increase competitiveness in golf sites. And also theoretical and managerial implications were discussed in conclusion.


1991 breakup of the Soviet Union (that is the end of the Cold War confrontation), the international situation seems to be entering the era Chengping, the world will therefore reduce the defense budget is ? This is a topic worthy of in-depth study. Another many studies have documented that economic strength of a state impacts its size of defense. However, in accordance with the spirit of the budget system, the defense budget should be to scale military threat for the premise according to the economic capacity into account provision. Based on this, this study will attempt to clarify the Cold War confrontation and the military threat, the economic capabilities and the relationship between the defense budget. Study compared the use of the average of independent, paired samples T-test method and Hierarchical Regression, then the threat of military type, the economic capacity in the defense budget as a model to explain variable. By 145 countries from 1981 to 2006 years of test data, study results showed that: (1) close to the former Soviet Union countries in the Cold War before and after the period of its defense budget, there is no obvious difference (2) whether the Cold War before and after the period of threat Sea from the country of its national defense budget were higher than the demand for land from the threat of the country, military threat to the national defense budget is the type size of the primary considerations, (3) the right to national per capita personal income landing rights for national per capita personal income of 2.13 times, which is the country's right to national economic capacity than land and the right country is strong (4) military threat and economic capacity will be individual, and also the impact of the defense budget and national defense budget by two interactive Effect of. The empirical results also pointed out that the economic capabilities of the military threat have a strong positive interference, resulting in patterns of the military threat the interpretation of the defense budget can not be highlighted. Also, according to the findings put forward some suggestions for future reference for similar studies.


A novel technique is described to use the magnetic-loading effect of a film on a strip transmission line as a means for measuring the magnetic properties (anisotropy and coercivity) of a thin film. This technique is easy to implement and is particularly useful for film arrays where strip transmission lines are of sufficient length to permit a clear resolution of the film-loading effect.


Mechanical reliability is an important test in the reliability examination of LCD module.In this paper,the structure of LCD module and the mechanical reliability test including vibration test,impact test and drop test were introduced.The bad phenomena of LCD module that may be happened in the mechanical reliability test were described,such as the deformation of bezel,rubbing scratch,small light dot and crackle of components,etc.The relevant reasons of the bad phenomena were analyzed and the improving methods were given.


In this paper, we propose a novel robotic action/observation planning method for playing" Yamakuzushi"game which is a Japanese board game selecting one Shogi piece from the randomly stacked pile and sliding it off the board. In our proposed method, we first select one of the pieces from the pile by referring a human operation characteristics. We use the CNN trained by using the depth image of the pile and the result of human operation. To successfully slide the selected piece off the board without making collision with the neighboring pieces, we formulate the action/observation planning based on the partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP). We select the view pose to obtain enough visibility of the pile around the selected piece. After obtaining the visibility, we determine the direction of piece's motion to avoid the contact with the neighboring objects. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by experiments.


: Imaging techniques have become an important element in the field of oral oncology. Continued research has led to technical progress in the existing modalities and addition of newer, exiting and highly accurate techniques. Although this is a boon, it has created differences of opinion regarding the ideal choice of imaging techniques. Inappropriate choice of imaging modality can result in delay in diagnosis and treatment thereby inducing more suffering for the patients. This problem is more so with imaging of oral cancers and responsible decisions of oral clinicians and radiologists is of paramount importance. In developing nations, problem is compounded by various other factors like affordability, availability and awareness. Thus, an imaging protocol needs to be devised that helps a clinician choose the best imaging modality for a particular clinical situation. This review illustrates the imaging protocol in the form of a decision tree, describes the various imaging techniques, their utility in evaluation of oral cancers and practical problems associated with these techniques. [R Jigna NJIRM 2016; 7(1):112-119]


In the LIC algorithm process, symmetrical streamline tracing is used to symmetrically convolve the original values of all the primitive values that pass by to obtain the resulting texture. In this process, streamline tracking and convolution consume a lot of computing resources. To generate more expressive textures for vector fields with less time consumption, a novel method named random increment streamline (RIS) is put forward, which can generate streamline textures without convolution calculations. First, the mesh unit filling preprocessing (MUFP) method is presented to transform an undressed irregular grid into a special kind of regular grid named a "texture pixel", and the point location and interpolation processes of all sampling points in the texture pixels are calculated before streamline tracking. Second, the random increment streamline method is used to generate line integral convolution style textures without any convolution calculations, thus greatly reducing the algorithm's time consumption. Third, the vector directions at each point in the static vector field are clearly expressed using the periodic cyclic animation method. Finally, several simplifications of the RIS algorithm are discussed, which help to achieve a better visual effect with faster speed. The programming results show that the method is faster and more applicable than the traditional LIC method and provides clearer expression of the vector field.


Lipid management in primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic coronary heart disease(CHD for short)reduces cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.Lowering of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels with statins remains the primary goal of therapy.For secondary prevention patients,those with coronary heart disease or coronary heart disease risk equivalents,intensive low-density lipoprotein cholesterol lowering is recommended,although the precise target value is stillin discussion.For primary prevention,reduction in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels is based on patient risk for coronary heart disease.In clinical outcome trials to date,statins benefit those who are at moderate to high risk and appear to have less clinical benefit for those at low risk.


The pangenome contains all genes encoded by a species, with the core genome present in all strains and the accessory genome in only a subset. Coincident gene relationships are expected within the accessory genome, where the presence or absence of one gene is influenced by the presence or absence of another. Here, we analysed the accessory genome of an Escherichia coli pangenome consisting of 400 genomes from 20 sequence types to identify genes that display significant co-occurrence or avoidance patterns with one another. We present a complex network of genes that are either found together or that avoid one another more often than would be expected by chance, and show that these relationships vary by lineage. We demonstrate that genes co-occur by function, and that several highly connected gene relationships are linked to mobile genetic elements. We find that genes are more likely to co-occur with, rather than avoid, another gene, suggesting that cooperation is more common than conflict in the accessory genome. This work furthers our understanding of the dynamic nature of prokaryote pangenomes and implicates both function and mobility as drivers of gene relationships. Data summary All Supplementary Data files and the Python scripts used in the analyses are available at doi.org/10.17639/nott.7103. Impact statement The pangenome of a species encompasses the core genes encoded by all genomes, as well as the accessory genes found in only a subset. Much remains to be understood about the relationships and interactions between accessory genes; in particular, what drives pairs of genes to appear together in the same genome, or what prevents them from being in the same genome together, more often than expected by chance. How these co-occurrence and avoidance relationships develop, and what effect they have on the dynamics and evolution of the pangenome as a whole, is largely unknown. Here, we present a springboard for understanding prokaryote pangenome evolution by uncovering significant gene relationships in a model Escherichia coli pangenome. We identify mobile genetic elements and the sharing of common function as possible driving forces behind the co-occurrence of accessory genes. Furthermore, this work offers an extensive dataset from which gene relationships could be identified for any gene of interest in this E. coli accessory genome, providing a rich resource for the community.


If develop the eco-tourism resources,we can promote the relative backward regions to being in sustainable development.On the basis of defining relative backward regions and eco-tourism resources,utilizing cluster analysis to divide Guangxi into middle part relative advanced regions,east part relative backward regions and west part basically backward regions,and grade the eco-tourism resources in Guangxi.The space distribution is"the middle part-many,the west part-common,the east part-less",the main reasons are geological ground form character and the direction of industry.


In this study, an alternative ratio type estimator is proposed. Expressions for the bias and the mean square error of this proposed estimator are obtained. This proposed alternative ratio type estimator was found to be more efficient than the conventional estimators considered in this study with respect to their estimated biases and mean square errors. Six of the fifteen data set used in this study supported this claim.


Biennial visual inspection with acetic acid (vinegar) screening by trained public health workers significantly reduced cervical cancer mortality in a large cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted among thousands of women from poor neighborhoods in Mumbai, India.


A commercial software package has been used on a personal computer for the conversion of the Anglo-Australian Observatory card library catalogue. The software is sophisticated but has proven to be extremely flexible and easy to use for any library management task. The software is available at three levels; the AAO has the top level which allows for eight different databases on the one system. Each record may contain up to nine pages or screens of information and there is also a thesaurus facility. Although a multi-user system was preferred the cost of the software was out of the question. The flow-chart (Fig 1.) describes how a multi-user system was created from software designed for a single-user PC. The main files have been down-loaded in accession number order onto the VAX 11/780 minicomputer and these may be accessed on any terminal either at the laboratory headquarters at Epping in Sydney or at the telescope site at Coonabarabran 500 kms north-west of Sydney. The 'read-only' files can be searched using the VAX edit commands and a VAX sort facility is available for a listing of selected items if required. As a substitute measure this is proving to be most useful. Later when the files are too large and searching becomes slow it may be possible to purchase additional copies of the commercial PC software which allows more sophisticated search procedures.


Electron beam lithography has been implemented with a commercially available DUV chemically amplified positive resist. Post exposure delay stability in vacuum was found to be non-critical. Post exposure delay after removal from vacuum in our clean room is a critical variable, with a change in critical dimension of approximately 0.6 nm per minute of PEB delay. This result was achieved without amine filtration. Wafers were transported in cassettes from the e- beam exposure tool to an FSI Polaris 2000 photocluster tool. The PEB delay effect on critical dimensions can be significantly reduced by using a water soluble protective top coat with a slight change in nominal does. E-beam lithography was performed with a Leica VB6 operating at 50eV, using a n 800 micrometers field, and a 12.5 nm minimum grid size. The original CAD had a negative bias added to compensate for any proximity effect, to take advantage of dose control to achieve targeted line width, and to optimize exposure latitude. Characterization with a dual beam FIB/SEM to obtain cross-sectional SEM images, typically demonstrate a foot on plated structures from the initial resist profile. A 30 percent decease in nominal dose was observed on device wafers compared to scout wafers. Device wafers have metal structures buried below the approximate 100 nm thick plating seed layer that also cause profile changes. This is presumably due to the back scattering of the electrons from the initial area of exposure. Plating rates in isolated trenches also show a strong dependence o n the critical dimension of the narrow resist trench. Plated structures with critical dimensions of 80 nm in 0.65 microns of resist were fabricated.


Collision-enhanced Hanle resonances in the 3 $^{2}S_{1/2}$ electronic ground state of Na atoms have been studied in a phase-conjugate four-wave light-mixing geometry. Narrow resonances in zero magnetic field have been observed at very high inert-buffer-gas pressures, with a width of 21 mG, or less than 10 kHz, full width at half-maximum. The intensity and the width of these resonances has been studied as a function of buffer-gas pressure, of alkali-metal vapor pressure, of detuning from the ${D}_{1}$ and ${D}_{2}$ Na resonances, and of the intensity of the incident light beams. Saturation phenomena and power broadening are observed. The results are explained theoretically in terms of transversely pumped optical gratings. The equivalence of this description with collision-induced coherence gratings in the limit of low light intensities is demonstrated.


We examine the variation in condition of ten exploited fish species as an indicator of large-scale habitat quality in the north-western Mediterranean. To determine fish condition, we used morphometric (Fulton's K) and physiological (hepatosomatic, HSI; digestivesomatic, DSI; and gonadosomatic, GSI) indices. Generalized linear models (GLMs) were applied to assess the influence of depth, latitude, length, year, sex and reproductive status on condition. The GLMs incorporating all independent variables accounted for between 25 and 74% of the variance in Fulton's K condition factor, 15-77% of the variance in HSI, 14-35% of the variance in DSI, and 77% of the variance in GSI. The mean condition factor of the species studied showed considerable interannual fluctuations along with an increasing trend over the time series (1994-2001). Length is an important explanatory variable in explaining condition of fish species. Condition typically increased with fish length and explained 72% of the deviance in GSI of M. barbatus. For some species, there were differences in condition due to sex and reproductive status, with adults being usually better in condition than juveniles and, among adults, females better than males. The influence of latitude and depth on condition of a given species varied according to the index used to assess condition. When there was a significant effect, fish with the highest condition factor, HSI and/or DSI inhabited the shallowest and northernmost parts of the area of study. Considering that condition influences growth, reproduction and survival of fish, our results support the importance of shallow habitats to productivity of demersal stocks in the Mediterranean Sea.


A critical factor in industrial competitiveness is the ability of firms to exploit new technological developments. We term this ability a firm's absorptive capacity and argue that such a capability not only enables a firm to exploit new extramural knowledge, but to predict more accurately the nature of future technological advances. We develop a stylized model in which we focus exclusively on firms' decisions to invest in their absorptive capacities. We first examine a monopolist's investment decision, analyzing the path dependence of its investment and the effect of uncertainty. We then consider the effect of competition by modeling the impact of entry on an incumbent's investment behavior. Implications for management and public policy are then discussed.


Introduced some of the results of the application of flat dilatometer test (DMT) to evaluation in the loess foundation. Under the flat dilatometer test results, the soil type classification, weight density, constrained modulus, the bearing power of ground estimated, and compared with the results of laboratory test and other in situ tests, and analyzed the factors causing the differences between the results. The results showed flat dilatometer test to better reflect the soil continuity, there are some reference value for estimating the physical and mechanical properties. The results can offered reference value for application of flat dilatometer test in the loess region of China.


This paper presents the design and construction of an EEG (a low-cost alternative teaching) but also a number of issues on monitoring brain activity. They are also presented and brain waves with their most important characteristics.


Abstract A convenient protocol for stereodivergent hydrogenation of alkynes to E‐ and Z‐alkenes by using nickel catalysts was developed. Simple Ni(NO3)2⋅6 H2O as a catalyst precursor formed active nanoparticles, which were effective for the semihydrogenation of several alkynes with high selectivity for the Z‐alkene (Z/E>99:1). Upon addition of specific multidentate ligands (triphos, tetraphos), the resulting molecular catalysts were highly selective for the E‐alkene products (E/Z>99:1). Mechanistic studies revealed that the Z‐alkene‐selective catalyst was heterogeneous whereas the E‐alkene‐selective catalyst was homogeneous. In the latter case, the alkyne was first hydrogenated to a Z‐alkene, which was subsequently isomerized to the E‐alkene. This proposal was supported by density functional theory calculations. This synthetic methodology was shown to be generally applicable in >40 examples and scalable to multigram‐scale experiments.


Parallel Session 1C Technology Scientometric Indicators and Machine Learning-Based Models for Predicting Rising Stars in Academia Omar Bin-Obaidellah (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia), Ashraf E. Al-Fagih (King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia) 1 Improving Neural Machine Translation Using Rule-Based Machine Translation Muskaan Singh (Thapar Intitute of Engineering and Technology, India), Ravinder Kumar (Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India), Inderveer Chana (Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology(Deemed to be University), India) 8 Road Accident Analysis and Prediction of Accident Severity by Using Machine Learning in Bangladesh Md. Farhan Labib (East West University, Bangladesh), Ahmed Sady Rifat (East West University, Bangladesh), Md. Mosabbir Hossain (East West University, Bangladesh), Amit Kumar Das (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh), Faria Nawrine (East West University, Bangladesh) 13 Named Entity Recognition in Bengali Text Using Merged Hidden Markov Model and Rule Base Approach Mah Dian Drovo (East West University, Bangladesh), Moithri Chowdhury (East West University, Bangladesh), Saiful Islam Uday (East West University, Bangladesh), Amit Kumar Das (University of Dhaka, Bangladesh) 18 Second Order Difference Plot to Decode Multi-class Motor Imagery Activities Niraj Bagh (Indian Institute of Technology, India), RamasubbaReddy Machireddy (IITM, India) 23


Aspergillosis is a fungal infection mainly affects the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses in maxillofacial region. Aspergillus infection can be seen in three clinical forms as non-invasive, invasive and allergic. The non-invasive form of aspergillus also called as aspergillus mycetoma, aspergilloma or fungus ball, commonly seen in healthy individuals. Maxillary sinus aspergilloma may occur after treatments of antral teeth. Although usually asymptomatic maxillary sinus aspergilloma in some instance may exhibit clinical symptoms such as swelling, purulent discharge, chronic sinus pain, nasal congestion, headache which are similar to the other sinus infections in symptomatic patients. This case report presents the diagnosis and surgical management of maxillary sinus aspergillus infection that occurs after tooth extraction.


Advancements and the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have revolutionized the treatment of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), achieving unprecedented success rates and expanding their applications to various neoplasms. However, the use of TKIs is not without its drawbacks. Skin, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems are particularly susceptible to adverse effects, including a higher incidence of autoimmune responses in treated individuals. In this report, we present a unique case of bullous pemphigoid, a rare autoimmune disease, which has not been previously associated with TKI therapy as an adverse effect, particularly appearing after discontinuing Imatinib® treatment.


In the present paper, we evaluate the analytic condi- tional Fourier-Feynman transforms and convolution products of un- bounded function which is the product of the cylinder function and the function in a Banach algebra which is dened on an analogue of Wiener space and useful in the Feynman integration theories and quantum mechanics. We then investigate the inverse transforms of the function with their relationships and nally prove that the analytic conditional Fourier-Feynman transforms of the conditional convolution products for the functions, can be expressed in terms of the product of the conditional Fourier-Feynman transforms of each function.


The objective of this project is to increase our understanding of EOR processes as they relate to realistic reservoir settings for increased efficiencies and decreased risks in known reservoirs in the State of Texas. The primary activities of the Project will include: (1) systematic reservoir characterizations, (2) modeling and scaleup of chemical flooding techniques, and (3) gaining a broader understanding and providing fundamental information on CO{sub 2}-surfactant phase behavior. Progress is discussed. 11 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.


The mobile Ad hoc networks are the self configuring type of network in which the mobile nodes can move freely in the environment, even when they are communicating with the other mobile nodes. Due the mobility in nature of mobile nodes the problem of link failure will cause. When the route is established between the mobile nodes and intermediate mobile nodes when change its path. The route will be broken and packet loss may cause .Due to this problem the efficiency of MANET will be reduced. In this paper, we are proposing the new technique in which we are enhancing the traditional AODV protocol, to cope up with the problem of link failure. Index Terms—Mobile nodes, AODV, link Failure, Signal strength. ——————————  ——————————


This study identifies the reasons for practicing and the impact of yoga in yoga practitioners among different yoga centers in Kawasoti Nawalpur. Yoga is a part of mainstream culture today, with major medical centers, community healthcare centers, and neighborhood yoga studios offering yoga as a mind-body practice to support health and healing. The significance of this research is to study the physical and mental impacts of yoga on daily yoga practitioners at yoga centers in Kawasoti Nawalpur. For this, the researcher went to various yoga centers and met the people who practice daily yoga, and inquired about the causes and impact of yoga. This study shows that the main reasons for practicing yoga among yoga practitioners were; backache, joint pain, or muscular pain (33.33 percent) and abdominal problems including gastritis and uterine problem (38.88 percent). Yoga practitioners experienced the positive effects and achievements of yoga are; backache, joint pain or muscular pain (29.16 percent) improve, and abdominal problem including gastritis and uterine problem (50.00 percent) improve. So, after identifying the positive impacts of yoga, the researcher suggests that more emphasis or public awareness can be given to yoga practice for minimizing chronic health problems. The findings will help the individual, teachers, scholars, career, and counseling centers.


PURPOSE: α-keto-acids useful as raw materials of pharmaceuticals are economically prepared by the cultivation of specific microbials having deamination capability in a medium containing amino acids. COPYRIGHT: (C)1977,JPO&Japio


Abstract The relation between the circulation calculated from averaged hydrographic data (such as the Levitus data), and the actual time average circulation is examined using a CTD dataset which provides both time and space coverage of a region of the Mediterranean Sea. The connection between eddy mixing coefficients calculated from hydrographic data and the eddy fluxes (u′T′) they are intended to parameterize is also considered. An inverse model is used to calculate circulation and mixing coefficients from the time average data. Then, the actual time averaged circulation is estimated by averaging six realizations of the instantaneous velocity field, and mixing coefficients are calculated by directly parameterizing the eddy fluxes of heat and salt. Comparing the results obtained by the different procedures, it is concluded that the horizontal time average circulation can be reliably estimated from averaged and smoothed climatological data, but that it is nearly impossible to obtain physically meaningful m...


AP A method o individual instructor classroom research is proposed, and demonstra d in this paper. By capitalizi g on baseline data collected from a similar, prior class and fo using treat-tent on difficult est items, the instructor can devel p Sensitive Within cla designs for the detection of-treatment effects. An experi ant using written objectives given to the,Students to aid their le -fling and using the single classroom design shows that 'objective significantly improve learning. Written objectives are also skein to interact with item' difficulty. Zhe experiment leads to the_petommendation that instructors engage in personal imam, into their efforts to influence student'learning and that such %,,,a inquiry be added to the educational research literature. JAuthory"


The problem of designing memory tests is to establish a relevant set of fault models only consisting of those faults which are shown to be possible to occur in practice. Thereafter, it is a challenge to the test designer to design an optimum test covering the faults of the established fault models. A new fault model, the disturb fault model, is introduced. The notation of linked faults is established and it is shown that march tests can only detect a subset of all linked faults. Thereafter, the universe of linked faults is reduced to the set of realistic linked faults. Last, the effectiveness of the realistic linked fault model is shown via new tests with a higher fault coverage and a shorter test length.


Marine plastics (MPs) are recognized as an emerging contaminant of growing concern in the marine environment. This paper documents the MP in the mid-water column of data scarce North Indian Ocean. The study utilized data from seven expeditions during 2018 and 2019 in the monsoon, pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The microplastics samples were collected along three sampling transects in the open ocean waters of Bay of Bengal meridional (BoB), Arabian Sea meridional (AS), International shipping route (IS) and stations near selected river discharge areas (Coastal locations). At each station, samples collected using vertical haul of the multi-plankton net (MPN) are analyzed for microplastics more prominent than 300 micrometers in the top 100 m of the water column. The present study shows that microplastics are observed in almost all the locations in the Open Ocean sample of 100m water column in different seasons.


Abstract Granular heptachlor applied with the seed caused mortality in larvae of the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Nort., in wheat stems. Half a pound of actual heptachlor per acre gave less control than either 1 or 2 pounds, although the latter two rates did not differ in effectiveness. Formulations with attaclay were more effective than with vermiculite. The insecticide was most effective in the lower internodes of the stem where it caused considerable mortality of early-instar larvae but was less effective on more mature larvae. To be effective, heptachlor evidently required light sawfly infestations restricted mainly to the lower internodes of the stems such as had occurred in 1960. In that year heptachlor gave its best control although it was no more effective than a moderately sawfly-resistant wheat. Lack of control in 1961 was related to the heavy sawfly infestations in that year. The poor control in 1962 was related to the concentration of most of the sawfly eggs in the top two internodes where the insecticide had little effect on newly-hatched larvae. Only later, when they were more mature, did the larvae reach the lower internodes.


The common mistake has been to confuse the values which parents might wish to instill in their children with the personality traits which result from their childrearing practices. Hence the failure to recognize that attempts to raise children as 'puritans,' encouraging deferred gratification and emotional restraint, may actually give rise to both day-dreaming and suppressed passion, thereby providing the conditions necessary for the development of a romantic personality. To this extent the psychological links between Puritanism and Romanticism can be said to reflect the historical ones (p. 222).


Past experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of using acoustic emission analysis to detect stress corrosion crack growth during proof testing have been performed for Type 304 stainless steel. There was little or no acoustic emission at operating stress levels, where the operating stress intensity factor was 58.0 ksi in.$sup 2$, but emission increased to a maximum at the proof stress intensity factor of 73.0 ksi in.$sup 2$ for specimens that were given stress relief anneal and at a proof stress intensity factor of 102.0 ksi in.$sup 2$ for specimens heat treated at higher temperatures.


Abstract Increased blood plasma concentrations of the sulphur amino acid homocysteine ("homocysteinemia") have been brought into context with neurodegenerative and arteriosclerotic symptoms and diseases. We recently reported on biochemical model reactions on the prooxidative activity of hom ocysteine including the desactivation of Na+/K+-ATPases and hemolysis of erythrocytes (Preibisch et al., 1993). In this communication we extend our model reactions including the oxidation of methionine, metabolization of pyridoxalphosphate and dihydroxyphenylalanine, desactivations of transaminases and peroxidation of low density lipoprotein


In the area of micro-robotics, control problems have to cope with a number of issues not found on macro-scale robotics. Micro robots moving in the micro-world have limited capabilities and frequently must cooperate in large numbers. In this paper we focus at an object carrying task performed by a number of micro-robots. We study a number of combinations, of agent-object contact types and agent motion principles in order to find algorithms of decomposing a given object trajectory to agent trajectories.


X-ray observations of M81 made with the Einstein satellite are analyzed, and the results are reported. Eight bright sources other than the nucleus were detected, with luminosities in excess of about 2 x 10 to the 38th ergs/s. These are probably young, massive, accreting binary systems. A comparison of M81 with the morphologically similar galaxy M31 shows that the former is overluminous in both the radio continuum and the X-ray emission and to a lesser extent the far-infared emission, relative to the optical luminosity. This points to a difference in the star-formation histories of the two galaxies. The individual X-ray sources detected in M81 are all more luminous than the most luminous sources of M31. The nuclear source in M81 has a very soft and absorbed X-ray spectrum which cannot be explained by either inverse Compton radiation of the compact nuclear radio source or by an extension of the radio synchrotron emission. 89 references.


Chinese college students' comprehensive quality is evaluated by using a number of indicators. The students' comprehensive quality indicators are nonlinearity and uncertainty which can not be measured accurately. The BP network model can be a good solution to this problem. For this purpose, the BP neural network integrated assessment model for students has been established to effectively judge the quality of all aspects of the university students, and evaluate the reliability of the analysis. Research on the BP network model, its function can be achieved true judgment, made out of the heavy information inquiry, summarizing work out.


The spin-wave spectrum of Heisenberg spin clusters of various structures (bcc, fcc, and disordered) ranging in size between 9 and 749 spins is calculated by a self-consistent diagonalization of the equation of motion of ${\mathit{S}}^{+}$ in real space. The spin-wave spectrum of the clusters is strongly modified relative to the bulk, and the consequent neutron-scattering cross section exhibits discretely spaced wave-vector-broadened eigenstates. The implications of the finite size on thermodynamic properties, like the temperature dependence of the magnetization and the critical temperature, are also elucidated. We find the temperature dependence of the cluster magnetization to be well described by an effective power law, ${\mathit{M}}_{\mathrm{mean}}$\ensuremath{\propto}1-${\mathit{BT}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\alpha}}}$, with a size-dependent, but structure-independent, exponent larger than the bulk value. The critical temperature of the clusters is calculated from the spin-wave spectrum by a method based on the correlation theory and the spherical approximation generalized to the case of finite systems. A size-dependent reduction of the critical temperature by up to 50% for the smallest clusters is found. The trends found for the model clusters are extrapolated to the size regime of nanoscale particles.


Cloud Computing has an expanding future in both business and Information Technology. With the expanding hybrid cloud model offering better services and convenience there are also a number of security problems associated with cloud standardization, multi-tenancy third party privity/sub-contracting, data-controller, outages, availability, monitoring and the service level agreements. This paper focuses on Hybrid Cloud Computing security in the context of a Tenant-Vendor-Third-Party environment and service level agreements. Limitations, opportunities and suggestions to mitigate the security risks are discussed and summarized.


A motor driving device (1) has a plurality of Motoransteuerbauteilen (11, 12) and a control unit (50). The control unit (50) performs a first and a second error detection processing for the Motoransteuerbauteile (11, 12), before it starts to drive the motor (10) or to operate. If it is determined by the first error detection processing that the first Motoransteuerbauteil (11) has an error, a first power supply relay (61) for the first Motoransteuerbauteil (11) is turned off and the second error detection processing for the first Motoransteuerbauteil (11) is prevented. If it is determined by the first error detection processing and then the second error detection processing that the second Motoransteuerbauteil (12) has no error, is started to operate the engine (10).


A tree representation of a combinational network is developed. An algorithm is proposed for finding the functional expression realized by the network. The tree representation has storage requirement linear with respect to the number of input-output paths in the network. It is shown that rmding the complementary function and generating network SPOOF can be performed efficiently on the tree structure.


Abstract Suicide is defined by the World Health Organization as an act in which an individual ends his or her own life. Suicidal behavior is a major public health problem worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, the global suicide rate is 10,5/100.000 – 13,5/100.000 in case of men and 7,7/100 000 in case of women and is the 2nd most common cause of violent death. Suicide is a multifactorial phenomenon that can be approached from different perspectives. In Romania, this rate is similar to the global rate: in 2016, the estimated suicide rate was 10.4/100,000, well below the European average. Suicide rates vary by region, age group, gender, ethnicity, and registration of mortality statistics. The aim of the present study is to investigate the psycho-socio-demographic indicators of a cohort of patients with suicidal thoughts emergency referred to a particular psychiatric ward in one year. In our research, we performed a case-control, analytical, randomized, observational study at the Clinical Hospital of Neurology and Psychiatry Brasov among adult psychiatric patients admitted during 2014. The following data on patients were processed: demographic data (age, gender, place of residence), psychosocial data (social background, marital status, education), chronic somatic comorbidities, family history of psychiatric illness, pre-existing psychiatric illnesses, previous suicide attempts and their characteristics. The risk of suicide was assessed by the Modified Scale for Suicide Ideation - Miller et al. Questionnaire and distinguished 3 categories. In our sample of 77 cases we identified 14 patients with low suicide risk, 17 with moderate risk and 46 with high suicide risk. The focus of our study was on suicidal behavior. Suicide attempt, as a complex clinical problem with a waste complexity of ethiology, has high demands on psychiatric care. Being familiar with the different psycho-socio-demographic profiles by gender is proved to be a useful tool in both "screening" and in subsequent case management. These principles can facilitate decision-making, can increase adherence to treatment, and reduce the risk of repetitive attempts.


This paper analyzes Lindahl's phenomenological coordinates and thereby his understanding of the delimitation of legal orders as normative orders. In particular, by drawing on the legal and political-philosophical mainstay of important authors such as Hart, Arendt and Waldenfels, it inspects the extent to which Fault Lines of Globalization accurately frames and discloses the constitutive relation between legal and social normativity.


The present invention relates to a kind of preparation method treating type ii diabetes medication mitiglinide calcium raw material drug.The present invention improves prior art, instead of the sodium Metal 99.5 of prior art with sodium methylate, and make reaction conditions become more friendly, suitability for industrialized production more easily operates; Decrease the consumption of phenyl aldehyde simultaneously, and eliminate argon shield, be conducive to environment protection, and improve reaction yield; And decrease the consumption of palladium catalyst carbon (Pd/C), the environmental pollution that the excessive use reducing heavy metal palladium brings, reduce cost simultaneously.


Abstract Background Studies investigating a potential association between hypothyroidism and non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) showed conflicting results and large‐scale population‐based data from Germany on this topic are currently missing. Objective It was the aim of this analysis to investigate the impact of thyroid gland disorders on the prevalence of NAFLD in Germany. Methods In this case‐control study, using the German disease Analyzer database (IQVIA), NAFLD patients were matched to patients without NAFLD by age, sex, index year, treating physician, diabetes mellitus type II, and obesity. The main outcome of the study was an association between thyroid gland disorders (hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism and autoimmune thyroiditis) and incident NAFLD and was evaluated using logistic regression analyses. Results 57,483 patients with NAFLD were matched to 57,483 patients without liver disease. Mean age of the cohort was 60.3 years (±14.1) and 52.3% were men. In regression analyses, hypothyroidism (OR 1.17, 95% CI 1.10 ‐ 1.24, p < 0.001) as well as autoimmune thyroiditis (OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.35–1.73, p < 0.001) were associated with a higher risk of NAFLD. In contrast, hyperthyroidism was associated with a lower risk of NAFLD (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.77–0.94, p < 0.001). The effect of hypothyroidism on the prevalence of NAFLD remained significant across men (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.15–1.48) as well as women (OR 1.12, 95% CI 1.05–1.21). Conclusion Hypothyroidism seems to be a risk factor for incident NAFLD.


Myalgia of the masticatory muscles is the most common temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Although previous work has explored risk factors, and central and peripheral mechanisms of TMD myalgia (mTMD), the etiology of chronic mTMD pain remains poorly understood. This project aimed to determine whether chronic mTMD is associated with structural abnormalities of the temporalis muscle. We hypothesized that chronic mTMD is associated with a smaller aponeurosis-tendon complex (ATC) of the temporalis. T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of 34 chronic mTMD patients and 34 sexand age matched healthy controls from two cohorts were studied. The volumes of the temporalis muscle and its ATC were measured via software. In both cohorts, mTMD patients had smaller ATC volumes than controls (all p<0.05), but similar muscle volumes (all p>0.05). This study demonstrates that chronic mTMD is associated with structural abnormalities of the


Limited research exists on how amphetamine and nicotine, drugs with potent influences on feeding behaviors, impact the rewarding and pleasurable aspects of feeding. As the rewarding aspects of feeding are thought to be significant drivers of the ongoing obesity epidemic, we sought to test 1-whether amphetamine or nicotine affect the rewarding aspects of food, and 2whether there were sex differences in these effects. In these studies, we tested whether amphetamine or nicotine altered sucrose self-administration using an FR3 schedule. Amphetamine elicited a dose dependent decrease in responding for sucrose, whereas nicotine also decreased responding, but only with the highest dose tested. Furthermore, males and females showed similar responses to both drugs. These results suggest that the mechanisms regulating the addictive qualities and appetite-suppressing effects of these drugs may be distinct, indicating potential targets for future obesity therapeutics. INDEX WORDS: Amphetamine, Nicotine, Food self-administration, Hedonic feeding, Sex differences, Dose dependency, Dopamine Copyright by Cameron Louis Fulco 2023 Nicotine and Amphetamine Decrease Sucrose Self-Administration


With the growing population aging,the morbility of Alzheimer′s disease(AD) increases gradually,which causes a great threat to human health and the society.The pathogenesis of AD is not clear at present.Latest studies demonstrated that AD has relationships with disorder of neurotransmitter,gene mutation,free radical damage,neural cells apoptosis,amyloid β-protein deposition,disordered phosphorylation of tau proteins and so on.The research on Chinese herbs and their extracts on anti-AD has attracted much attention and gained great progress in recent years.Research advances on extracts of Chinese herbs on anti-AD are reviewed in this article.


The structure of pentachlorotoluene, which is isostructural with most other C6Cln(CH3)_{6-n} derivatives, has been redetermined at 294 (1) K. The methyl group is distributed almost randomly among six sites; there is little discrimination between the Cl and CH3 substituents. The TL thermal-motion description suggests that the in-plane libration is moderate ( = 13 deg2); the barrier to in-plane rotation is estimated as 35 (3) kJ mol−1. Compositional disorder is a possibility.


Abstract In this paper, new oscillation criteria are obtained for all solutions of the odd order neutral differential equation [ x ( t )− P ( t ) x ( t −τ)] ( n ) + Q ( t ) x ( t −σ)=0, where P ∈ C ([ t 0 , ∞),  R ), Q ∈ C ([ t 0 , ∞),  R + ), τ∈(0, ∞), σ∈[0, ∞), and n is odd. Our results do not need the usual hypothesis ∫ t 0 ∞ s n −1 Q ( s )  ds =∞. Some examples are given to demonstrate the advantage of our results than existing ones in the literature.


This study examines variable h-epenthesis in the interlanguage of francophone ESL learners. Epenthetic segments are by definition absent from (and hence unfaithful to) underlying forms. Hence, h-epenthesis should result from a highranking markedness constraint, such as ONSET (Prince & Smolensky, 1993). The finding of greater frequency of h-epenthesis as a function of greater formality, however, contradicts the ONSET hypothesis given that, cross-linguistically, the more formal the speech, the higher ranked the faithfulness constraints (Oostendorp, 1997). Our proposed solution is that in interlanguages output is sometimes generated not from the speaker's own input, but rather from the prestige-variety native-speaker (NS) output that the learner strives to duplicate faithfully, especially in more formal contexts. Hypercorrect h-epenthesis results because, rather than accessing NS output forms directly, speakers formulate an inaccurate and overly permissive output generalization. English [h] is highly problematic for francophone ESL learners, with two processes being observed in their interlanguage (IL): h-deletion (e.g., I 'urt my ankle) and h-epenthesis (e.g., I hurt my [h]ankle). H-deletion is quite frequent in francophone speech, especially in the early stages of acquisition (where it may even be categorical). Since h-deletion also occurs in English loanwords to French (Paradis & LaCharité, 2001), including Paul John and Walcir Cardoso 77 'old-up, 'ot-dog and 'igh-end, it is best characterized as a process transferred from the L1. Eventually, francophones generally start to produce [h], but even at higher proficiency levels, h-production remains variable. Interestingly, once learners develop the ability to produce the elusive phoneme, they also start to produce instances of h-epenthesis, involving the insertion of [h] at the beginning of vowel-initial words. The processes of h-deletion and h-epenthesis do not represent discrete stages in L2 phonological development, since they can sometimes be observed side-byside in learner speech (e.g., I 'urt my [h]ankle). Nonetheless, h-epenthesis in some sense follows h-deletion in the course of L2 acquisition and is best characterized as a developmental process. This process of epenthesis of a non-underlying phoneme in the IL of francophone ESL learners is the object of the research study presented here. The process of h-epenthesis is variable. Under the assumption that linguistic variation is systematic, the primary aim of our study is to identify the linguistic and extralinguistic factors that trigger a higher frequency of h-epenthesis, in other words, that condition the process probabilistically. The second aim is to provide a principled account of the process within the framework of Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993). One assumption underpinning the study is that IL is not simply a deficient, error-riddled or random version of the target language, but is itself a bona fide and systematic language which shares features with fully-fledged natural languages. Across the stages of its development, IL is also a dynamic system that to varying degrees incorporates elements of the learner's L1, elements of the L2, and elements that are derived neither from the L1 nor the L2 and that can be termed developmental. To represent this systematic dynamism, Major (2001) has proposed the Ontogeny Phylogeny Model (OPM) of language acquisition and change. In terms of second language acquisition (SLA), the model posits that learners progress from an initial IL stage with a prevalence of L1 features, to a final stage with a prevalence of L2 features, via medial stages, during which L1 features gradually decline, L2 features gradually rise, and developmental features steadily rise, peak and then fall again (see Figure 1, where the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis, frequency). In francophone IL, according to the OPM, h-epenthesis rates should initially rise to a summit of frequency and subsequently decline over time as a function of increased proficiency. Developmental features such as h-epenthesis often involve unmarked features reflecting language universals. In Optimality Theory (OT), the Francophone ESL learners and h-epenthesis 78 occurrence of developmental features in IL can be considered a case of the "Emergence of the Unmarked" – that is, unmarked forms, which can be accounted for neither by the L1 nor the L2 grammar, appear in the IL, sanctioned by markedness constraints that surface in the process of acquisition (see, for example, Broselow, Chen, & Wang, 1998; Cardoso, 2007, to appear). With this view in mind, our question concerning hepenthesis in the IL of francophone ESL learners is: can the phenomenon be attributed to one or more universal markedness constraints which, although not necessarily visible in either the L1 or the L2, emerge in the process of constraint re-ranking? The ONSET constraint ("Syllables have onsets") would seem to be a promising candidate. ONSET is responsible for the universal preference for syllables to start with a consonant, as well as for numerous cross-linguistic phonological processes that insert a consonant at the beginning of a vowel-initial syllable. Time/Frequency: Time/Frequency: Time/Frequency: L1 Transfer Features L2 Features Developmental Features Figure 1. The Ontogeny Phylogeny Model (Major, 2001) In the end, however, the results of our study do not support the hypothesis that h-epenthesis in francophone IL is due to a high-ranking markedness constraint, whether ONSET or any other such constraint. Crucially, we found greater frequency of h-epenthesis in the more formal speech of our participants. As a result of this finding, h-epenthesis paradoxically should be attributed to a high-ranking faithfulness constraint. This conclusion is motivated by van Oostendorp's (1997) finding that, cross-linguistically, the higher the level of formality, the greater the faithfulness of output (surface forms) to input (underlying forms). Attribution of h-epenthesis to a faithfulness constraint is paradoxical given that by definition an epenthetic segment is one which is absent from the underlying representation and hence unfaithful to input. We resolve this contradiction by proposing the presence in francophone IL Paul John and Walcir Cardoso 79 of a special form of faithfulness constraint, which demands that output be faithful not to the input itself but rather to the output of native speakers of English. This output-output faithfulness constraint thus requires faithful reproduction (essentially, imitation) of native speakers' forms rather than of the L2 learners' underlying forms. The output-output faithfulness constraint in question is MAX-OO-[h]: "An output [h] in native-speaker (NS) English has an output correspondent in IL output." This outputoutput constraint eventually emerges in francophones' IL grammar after they come to realize that their output, with its many instances of hdeletion, diverges from that of NSs. Importantly, h-deletion, a particularly salient feature of francophone speech, is generally stigmatized, and as a result, francophones devote considerable effort to overcoming the problem. Despite these efforts, h-deletion proves to be an enduring problem for francophones. We propose that h-deletion is so resistant to correction because francophones have difficulty developing a phonemic representation for [h]. Until they acquire the phoneme category, they cannot include a representation for [h] in the lexical entries of h-ful words. H-deletion would, in other words, be due to an absence of [h] in francophones' underlying representations of English words. Francophones' input, therefore, cannot be relied upon to generate [h] in output. In order to introduce [h] into their speech, francophones make an effort to emulate NS English (i.e., they re-rank MAX-OO-[h] in the grammar). The attempt to imitate sometimes misfires due to the learners' having an imprecise representation of NS output. The result is occasional epenthesis of [h] at the beginning of vowel-initial words. H-epenthesis is more frequent in formal speech since the output-output correspondence constraint (as with other faithfulness constraints) is ranked more highly here than in informal speech. A few observations on francophones' perception of English [h] are in order to support our claim that learners fail to encode this non-native phoneme in underlying representations. In SLA, when learners encounter a non-native phoneme such as [h], there is an overwhelming tendency for the L2 phoneme to be assimilated to a native category. Francophone ESL learners, however, do not assimilate [h] to a native phoneme category, as evidenced by their tendency to delete it in their speech and never to substitute another phoneme for [h]. Deletion as opposed to substitution is a very unusual strategy for L2 learners to apply to a novel phoneme. Paradis and LaCharité (2001) attribute h-deletion in loanwords to the absence in French of the Pharyngeal node, the articulator which assigns place to [h], arguing that this lack blocks [h] from being treated Francophone ESL learners and h-epenthesis 80 phonologically (i.e., undergoing the featural changes necessary for substitution). Moreover, Brown (1997, 1998) argues that the degree of difficulty in developing a new phoneme category is determined by the feature needed to distinguish the phoneme from others in the inventory. Learners more readily acquire a new phoneme if its distinguishing features are also operative in the L1. Without access to the Pharyngeal node in their L1, francophones would have great difficulty developing a phoneme category for [h]. At the beginning stages of ESL acquisition, therefore, francophone learners are probably impervious to [h] in the auditory signal, filtering it out as linguistically irrelevant noise, and simply leaving it out of the lexicon such that hear and ear are both stored as [ir].