In the present studies, the long term effects of IFNa on thyroid function and thyroid autoantibodies were evaluated in 42 patients with chronic viral hepatitis type C treated with IFNa for at least 4 months. Before IFN treatment, 41 patients tested were all euthyroid. Five (12%) out of 24 patients tested had positive tests for thyroid autoantibodies. MCHA/TPOAb was detected in all 5 and TGHA/TGAb in 3 out of these 5 patients. Six to 10 X 106 units (U) of recombinant or natural IFNa were given intramuscularly daily for the first 2 to 4 weeks, followed by 3 to 10 X 106 U thrice weekly for the subsequent 14 to 22 weeks. Thyroid dysfunction and/or rises in titers of thyroid autoantibodies were observed in 6 patients during IFNa treatment; clinically overt thyroid dysfunctions, destructive thyroiditis and thyrotoxicosis of unidentified etiology, developed in 2 patients 4 to 5 months after start of IFN treatment, subclinical hypothyroidism with a slight increase in serum TSH concentrations but no serum thyroid hormone alternations was observed in 2 patients, and increases in titers of thyroid autoantibodies without thyroid dysfunction were found in 2 patients. Thus, IFNa exacerbated thyroid autoimmunity exclusively in all patients with positive tests for thyroid autoantibodies prior to treatment, but did not induce thyroid autoimmunity in thyroid autoantibody-negative patients. These data suggest that the prolonged IFNa therapy can lead to exacerbation of thyroid autoimmunity in susceptible (thyroid autoantibody-positive) patients. Key words; Thyroid autoimmunity, Interferon, MHC class II (Endocrine Journal 41: 565-572,1994) VARIOUS types of interferons (IFNs) are now widely used for treatment of viral infections and malignancies [1-4]. However, because of undesirable adverse effects of IFNs on the immune system besides their antiviral and antiprolif erative activities [5], immunological abnormalities can be induced by IFN treatment [6-28]. For example, autoantibodies to thyroid antigens [thyroid microsomal antigen, which is now recognized as thyroid peroxidase (TPO) [29], and thyroglobulin (TG)], gastric parietal cells, nuclear proteins, smooth muscle cells, mitochondria, cytoskeleton, vascular endothelial cells and also to IFN itself are reported to be elicited by IFN administration. Autoimmune diseases such as autoimmune thyroid disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, Raynaud's syndrome with/without cryoglobulinemia, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenic purpura, parotitis and epididymitis can also develop during IFN therapy. Among these, thyroid autoimmunity appears to be the most Received: January 28, 1994 Accepted: May 20, 1994 Correspondence to: Dr. Yuji NAGAYAMA, The First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852, Japan


Abstract : Methods of representing Korean and Chinese characters are presented, using a limited number of keystrokes on a standard keyboard. Various attempts have been made to find the most efficient way to represent these characters such as enumeration methods, 16-bit coding for Korean character syllables, and the meaning of these are explained with a brief introduction to some general properties of Korean and Chinese characters currently used in Korea. Originator-supplied keywords include: Bit, Byte, Code, Keyboard, Keytop, Bit-map, Matrix printer, CRT, Resolution, Quality, and Enumeration.


Music in an essential part of life and the emotion carried by it is key to its perception and usage. Music Emotion Recognition (MER) is the task of identifying the emotion in musical tracks and classifying them accordingly. The objective of this research paper is to check the effectiveness of popular machine learning classifiers like XGboost, Random Forest, Decision Trees, Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest-Neighbour (KNN) and Gaussian Naive Bayes on the task of MER. Using the MIREX-like dataset [17] to test these classifiers, the effects of oversampling algorithms like Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) [22] and Random Oversampling (ROS) were also verified. In all, the Gaussian Naive Bayes classifier gave the maximum accuracy of 40.33%. The other classifiers gave accuracies in between 20.44% and 38.67%. Thus, a limit on the classification accuracy has been reached using these classifiers and also using traditional musical or statistical metrics derived from the music as input features. In view of this, deep learning-based approaches using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) [13] and spectrograms of the music clips for MER is a promising alternative.


The principle of party autonomy gives the parties the right to act in accordance with their interests. Under this principle, the parties may enter into an arbitration agreement that will allow them to resolve their disputes through arbitration rather than through the national judicial system. The Arbitration Agreements is the only document for initiating arbitration proceedings. In this case, the wishes of the parties may prevail over the national judicial system. The scientific study examined the application of the principle of party autonomy in the drafting of arbitration agreements. The article analyzes the use of this principle by the parties in the preparation of contracts. The issue of the wishes of the parties was discussed as the only basis for the development of arbitration agreements. The legal definitions and features of an arbitration agreement are analyzed based on the laws of many countries. The main function of agreements is to allow the parties to choose the applicable law for their disputes, so the process of choosing the applicable law is discussed. Ways of solving problems are presented when the choice of applicable law is not indicated in the contracts.


The "Aozora Bunko" is the Japanese electronic text archives via Internet, and it contains mass electronic text by wide and diverse authors. For that reason, the "Aozora Bunko" is a rich repository of Japanese electronic text resources. The purpose of this paper is to develop and introduce the 「AJ-Aozora Tool」. And It is a program for building "Aozora Bunko database". We will be able to used "Aozora Bunko" more widely and efficiently for the study of Japanese by using the 「AJ-Aozora Tool」. Its main functions and features are as in the following. 1) The 「AJ-Aozora Tool」 allows to download all the Japanese electronic text of "Aozora Bunko" at once, and automatically handle or change all the text you downloaded too. (e.g. Plain test,XHTML text) 2) And we can automatically analysis morpheme of all the electronic text of "Aozora Bunko" as well as other electronic text. 3) Moreover it allows us to build our own database of "Aozora Bunko" by using the electronic text you downloaded or analysis morpheme before.


Aldehydes and siloxanes form methyl esters in a single step through mild oxidative esterification in the presence of a palladium catalyst or, alternatively, afford secondary alcohols via TBAF-promoted arylation in the absence of a catalyst at increased temperatures under otherwise identical reaction conditions.


Abstract New liquid crystalline substance, (S) 4-(1-methylheptyloxycarbonyl)-3-chlorophenyl 4′-(4-butanoiloxybut-1-oxy)biphenyl-4-carboxylate, exhibiting ferroelectric and antiferroelectric phases have been studied by means of frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy. DSC calorimetric and electrooptic measurements were done to study its phase transitions and electrooptic behaviour. In the antiferroelectric SmCA* phase one of the dielectric relaxation modes exhibits a non-Arrhenius behaviour. The plots of critical frequencies and dielectric increments vs. temperature show an anomalous behaviour of the relaxation processes in the neighbourhood of the ferroelectric — antiferroelectric phase transition. Reversal current method reveals one current peak in the ferroelectric phase and two in the antiferroelectric one. Temperature dependencies of tilt angle, spontaneous polarization, switching time and transmittance are also presented and discussed in scope of the mean-field theory.


The 48 V system combined with a highly efficient internal combustion engine has already been demonstrated as an established, CO2-reducing drive system in the Continental/Schaeffler Gasoline Technology Car [1]. On this basis, this article presents promising synergies that can be achieved from the interaction of a 48 V EcoDrive hybrid system and the electrically heated catalyst (EHC). The conflict of objectives between the increasingly widespread and fuel-efficient "engine-off" phases and heating the catalyst is resolved by taking into account various driving scenarios:


IN an earlier study by T. Palva and Pulkkinen (1959) on the frequency of mastoid infection in acute otitis media during a 5-year period from 1956-9, there were, out of a total number of 12,781 patients, 365 patients with acute or subacute mastoiditis admitted to hospital for treatment. Cortical mastoidectomy was performed on 58 of these 365 patients, i.e. 15 per cent, of the admitted patients or 0 • 3 per cent, of the total number of patients with acute otitis media. It has been concluded that when acute otitis media did not subside within 3 weeks following myringotomy and antibiotic treatment, in some cases mastoidectomy had to be considered, as persistent mastoid infection might cause severe pathological changes in the middle ear associated with loss of hearing. principal changes noted at operation were the there were and thick or glue-like in the cells. Only a small number of specimens, however, could be examined histologically showing microscopical evidence of various stages of acute or subacute mastoiditis.The present paper The


A landscape analysis based on a combination of several proxies including pollen analysis, loss on ignition, radiocarbon dating, sediment analysis and tephra analysis was undertaken on samples from ...


ABSTRACT Post-indenture has largely been neglected in historical examinations of Chinese indentured labour in colonial contexts. We know little about what happened to workers after their contracts expired. Through the life of one Chinese man, Chi, and his small farming community in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Illawarra, New South Wales, Australia, I consider this issue. Drawing chiefly on church and other records usually used for research into local and family history, sources in which Chi's voice is often audible, this paper highlights a continuity between indenture and post-indenture. Indeed, Chi's 'freedom' after indenture was qualified. This indicates, I argue, that further attention to post-indenture could enable us to better understand indenture itself, as a system that may have endured well beyond the expiration of the labour contract. Concentrating on the individual and small community, I also contend, holds value in this respect, as a way of further exploring the continuity between the two states, and as a means of incrementally forming a fuller picture of post-indenture in its own right.


Thank you very much for reading sexual practice textual theory lesbian cultural criticism. As you may know, people have search numerous times for their chosen novels like this sexual practice textual theory lesbian cultural criticism, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some infectious bugs inside their desktop computer.


At the National Bureau of Standards a flexible data handling system for use with the NBS Linac has been built. In developing this system the need for ease of modifications, ease of coding, and lexibility were carefully considered. The NBS system is designed around a building block concept. Certain of these building blocks represent the necessary interface between the specialized input-output devices and the computer while the remainder of the blocks represent specific devices such as analog-to-digital converters, scalers, and other devices to facilitate man-machine communication at both local and remote stations. The modular concept of both hardware and software development has allowed for great flexibility in the devices connected to the computer at any time and in the programs required for use with these devices. New hardware building blocks can be added to the system with no difficulty and with no change in existing programs. The general building-block approach to the NBS system together with examples of specific units will be described.


Objective We conducted a public health risk assessment program for the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for typhoon disaster, to provide scientific evidence for public health emergency response and preparedness. Methods The public health risk assessment model for natural disaster is established through literature reviews, brainstorming, Delphi's expert consultation and evaluation, based on theories of management, sociology and epidemiology. Basic data related to natural disasters and public health were extensively collected before the risk assessment. 34 public health experts from different professional fields identify the risk factors based on the basic data, conduct risk analysis according to the scoring criterion, calculate the risk values of risk factors according to the evaluation model, and then conduct the risk evaluation. Results 20 major public health risks which could seriously affect the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for typhoon disaster, were identified and assessed. The results of risk analysis showed that trauma, typhoid or paratyphoid, cholera, infectious diarrhea and hepatitis A were the top five high risk factors. Conclusion This study is the first time to apply the risk assessment theory for public health emergency preparedness before the natural disaster. Try to establish assessment index system, and then calculate risk value by semi-quantitative assessment method. This study provides a technical support for early warning surveillance and dynamic risk assessment of public health events. It will eventually improve capacity of public health emergency preparedness and response on natural disaster.


Background: Although cleft lip and palate deformities are the most common facial birth defect (1 in 600 births), only a few genes, IRF6 (associated with Van der Wounde) and transforming growth factor-beta 3 (TGFB3), have been implicated in the disease. Dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) have similar developmental process with neural crest migration into core mesoderm and ectoderm and may be used to gain insight into the cell matrix interaction of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) during palatogenesis. Previous microarray comparative analysis of cleft dental pulp stem cells identi ed candidate genes (MMP3, ACAN, COL4A1, COL4A2, and COL15A1) known to be involved in cell matrix interaction of the EMT during palatogenesis.


The CBF gene cloned from cotton was transformed into tobacco so as to study its impacts on tobacco.The PCR results showed that the CBF gene was successfully transferred into tobacco,and the transcription and expression of the exogenous CBF gene in transgenic tobacco were indentified by RT-PCR.Then the physiological indexes of stress resistance in the transgenic tobaccos were determined.The results showed that the soluble sugar content and POD activity of transgenic tobacco were significantly higher than the wild-type tobacco,reaching to 1.22~7.91 times and 3.35~5.73 times,respectively.And the MDA content was obviously lower than that of the wild type,taking 36.1% ~ 81.1% of the wild-type.These results indicated that CBF gene transformation had indeed improved the stress resistance of tobacco.


Since the discovery of the Raman effect in 1928, extensive studies of light scattering in gases, liquids and solids have had a major impact on our knowledge of the structure of matter. New developments in technique and theory have continuously extended the application of light scattering to problems in physics, chemistry, and more recently in biology. The recent use of laser sources has caused a revolution in the field of light scattering, with promise of more precise measurements of molecular structures and of molecular dynamics, and important new applications and knowledge.


This paper demonstrates the application of a feedback linearization control technique with a state observer on an industrial multiple-effect evaporation system of an alumina refinery. The nonlinear controller consists of a state feedback controller, single-input single-output (SISO) proportional-integral (PI) controllers, and a reduced-order observer. The simulation study serves to verify the performance of the nonlinear controller on the evaporation system by comparing the existing multiloop PI control system. Closed-loop simulation results showed that the nonlinear controller provides smoother operation for the evaporation despite significant model mismatches between the controller model and the simulated evaporator. A computer algorithm, consisting of the sequential execution code for the state feedback control law, SISO PI controllers, and a reduced-order observer, has been developed for implementation on the evaporator on-site.


This paper is devoted to investigating the stability and stabilisation problems for discrete-time piecewise homogeneous Markov jump linear system with imperfect transition probabilities. A sufficient condition is derived to ensure the considered system to be stochastically stable. Moreover, the corresponding sufficient condition on the existence of a mode-dependent and variation-dependent state feedback controller is derived to guarantee the stochastic stability of the closed-loop system, and a new method is further proposed to design a static output feedback controller by introducing additional slack matrix variables to eliminate the equation constraint on Lyapunov matrix. Finally, some numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


We studied experimentally and theoretically the substrate-orientation impact on carrier transport and capture in InGaN multiple quantum well (MQW) laser diodes (LDs) with emission in the aquamarine-green spectral range. A new simulation approach was developed to analyze this behavior of LEDs and LDs emitting at these wavelengths. We show that due to deep carrier confinement, the thermal escape from a QW in such devices is negligible. The carrier distribution among QWs is therefore determined by the carrier transport and capture rates. We also show that the ballistic transport mechanism is dominant in this type of MQW active region. In c-plane structures, this mechanism is tunneling-assisted, and therefore, the transport is much slower than in nonpolar and semipolar structures. Because of this, a strong carrier injection nonuniformity observed in c-plane LDs, causes the threshold current increase when number of QWs is >;2. This effect is not observed in semipolar LDs because the carrier transport rate is faster than the capture rate.


Malaysia has now become one of the important developing countries having many regional languages. The study has aimed to analyse the linguistic significance of Tamalay language in Malaysia. A survey approach has been used for collecting data about the Tamalay language. The transforming behavior status of English in Malaysian communities, "Malaya" has renamed as "Bahasa Malaysia", and become the official language of Malaysia and replaced English as a major source of instruction in colleges and schools. As a consequence of deterioted command on English in rural areas, the emergence of code-switching, Manglish and other variations are significantly seen in Malaysia. The Malay language is unquestionably an appropriate language within Austronesian vernacular or Malayo-Polynesian family. This article is meant to talk about Tamalay as a growing language within Malaysia. There are millions of Tamils living in Malaysia; therefore, it is necessary to identify the significance of Tamalay language. The article has also contributed to evaluate the usage of Tamalay language and its effects on the transparency of English language for the speakers in Malaysia and their cultural phenomenon.


Necessity of regionalization of the domestic education is considered as basic counterpart to globalization, unity and contradiction of which ensures resolving Russia's problems of integration into economical and educational european space alongside with reservation of national interests as well as several aspects of its realization in the field of training of specialists in physical culture and sports.


Abstract This article argues that the teaching of practical management skills could, with advantage, be given more prominence in post‐graduate and post‐experience courses. If transference of learning is to take place, then the context in which the skills are practised on the job has to be discovered. Six items, selected from a previous research study of what managers do, were given to students enrolled for management courses. The results suggest that trouble shooting, forward planning, and briefing subordinates are important aspects of many managers'jobs. Teachers could ask their own students these questions, (or others of a similar nature) and formulate their practical skills objectives in response to the answers received. Suggestions on how this might be done are provided. If followed, the customer appeal of courses would be considerably enhanced.


Celestial bodies,such as the sun,the earth and the moon,play great impacts on geostationary satellites.This paper discusses their influences on the satellite's orbit and attitude.Also their negative impacts,such as attitude interference from the sun or the moon,eclipse and the communication interruption caused by the sun are studied deeply here.Algorithms to predict these events are presented too.These strategies are successfully used in managing Chinese geostationary communication satellites.


Norovirus is one of the most common causes of viral gastroenteritis in the world, causing significant morbidity, deaths, and medical costs. In this work, we look at stochastic modelling methodologies for norovirus transmission by water, human to human transmission and food. To begin, the proposed stochastic model is shown to have a single global positive solution. Second, we demonstrate adequate criteria for the existence of a unique ergodic stationary distribution ℜs0>1 by developing a Lyapunov function. Thirdly, we find sufficient criteria ℜs < 1 for disease extinction. Finally, two simulation examples are used to exemplify the analytical results. We employed optimal control theory and examined stochastic control problems to regulate the spread of the disease using some external measures. Additional graphical solutions have been produced to further verify the acquired analytical results. This research could give a solid theoretical foundation for understanding chronic communicable diseases around the world. Our approach also focuses on offering a way of generating Lyapunov functions that can be utilized to investigate the stationary distribution of epidemic models with nonlinear stochastic disturbances.


The present invention relates to a pressurized aerosol container comprising a valve and to be specific to their use of a dispensing adapter for dispensing pressurized liquid contained in said container together with the liquid is preferably a moisture reactive of the composition. Such a valve comprises a central hole provided with (1C) of a stem (1), which has an internally threaded central bore portion (1F), thereby allowing a disposable dispensing adapter (5) is fixed and connected to the disposable dispensing adapter includes a connection end provided with a matching external thread portion (5F) of.


The vigorous development of higher vocational education in our country in recent years helps to train a large number of quality and skilled talents,which has contributed a lot to mass higher education.With China taking a new road of industrialization,higher vocational colleges enjoy favorable opportunities to develop,but also encounters tough challenges which lies in how to further expand themselves in the course of development,and achieve the goal of leap-frog development.In the course of higher vocational colleges' leap-frog development,connotative construction seems to be essential for achieving educational goal.The paper,on the basis of the analysis of the concept and characteristic of connotative construction,and with Medical College of Yale University as reference,puts forward the school running concept of connotative construction.It also discusses connotative construction in higher vocational colleges from innovating the notion of running a school,defining the goal of running school,innovating system and mechanism,strengthening management process,making full advantage of specialty,organizing research teams,creating professional brand,and paying close attention to training quality.


The extraction of metal ore in the poor leads us to look for techniques and methods to extract a good amount of it (metal) low cost without passing the gangue in the solution.
For this purpose, to determine leaching parameters seen to recover the metal in a low grade ore, we proceeded to test leaching guidelines heap ore preceded by size analysis and chemical different slices to determine the working parameters that can give satisfactory results. After these analyzes guidance, we opted for crushing the ore to determine the correct job settings for a good recovery of the metal contained in the ore poor and know the slice for perfect contact between the etching solution and ore for metal recovery.
During testing after leaching, we noticed that when we respect the following parameters: a constant acid concentration of 70 g / l, a time of 64 hours, a particle size of 1,700 micron; we dissolved a good amount of metals or a yield ranging between 37.9 to 74.9% when the particle size of the ore pass 9423-850 micron.
However, leaching of the composite sample of the same ore, gives a neighbor leach performance to which is recorded with the fine ore 70.8%.


Digital technology allows photography unprecedented changes occurred in the field,but also to the teaching photography has had an impact.In this article,the status of teaching photography,combined with many years of teaching practice of photography resources for the construction of teaching the art of photography,teaching content,teaching methods and other aspects of reform are explored in order to adapt to the digital environment the challenges of teaching the art of photography.


According to the viewpoint of control,evolution and synergy, a kind of enterprise strategies decision-making model is submitted which can be used for the enterprise improvement applying some new appropriate techniques, such as JIT,TQM,ABCS,BPR and PI. The main steps for implementation the strategies decision-making are stressed,and some specifics and key facts of applying these new techniques are proposed too. It provides useful reference model for enterprises to realize scientific strategic decision-making under different practical situations.


Kenya Methodist University (KeMU) is facing challenges like duplication of work due to lack of a central repository for knowledge retention, loss of knowledge through expertise leaving the institution without knowledge being captured and over reliance on a few known subject matter experts as others have not been identified. Utilising the Knowledge Retention Strategy framework, this study sought to assess knowledge retention practices at KeMU, with a view to entrench the culture of sharing knowledge. The ultimate aim of this study was to develop a model for knowledge retention at institutions of higher learning which KeMU could adopt. The study relied on mixed method research (MMR) with qualitative and quantitative data mixed at collection, analysis, discussion and reporting levels. The study triangulated data collection tools which encompassed a questionnaire, interview, observation and review of documents to collect data from 106 respondents and
11 heads of departments respectively. These two groups were purposively selected as they play a key role in knowledge retention at KeMU. The study disclosed a variety of informal knowledge retention practices but formal practices like: documented work processes; training and development for specific job tasks; orientation for general and job specific; knowledge repositories; communities of practice; knowledge retention policies; knowledge recovery initiatives; and human resources processes and practices for knowledge retention were lacking. Considering the value placed on the above list of lacking essential practices for knowledge retention, KeMU is indeed in dire need for a solution to help retain operational relevant knowledge. The study formulated a KR model for institutions of higher learning that would help KeMU leverage its knowledge assets. The study recommends that KeMU should work out a knowledge retention policy on how to implement the best knowledge retention practices. A
further study on measuring KM in an academic institution is recommended.


A pervasive belief in market efficiency, especially in self†correcting financial markets, was damaged by the 2007–8 financial crisis. A vision of functional, not dysfunctional, markets nonetheless remains at the heart of the economics profession. The result is a degree of unclarity.


Phenyl benzyl ketone was prepared from phenylacetonitrile and benzoic acid methyl ester.In the reaction process,the intermediate phenyl-1-nitrilebenzylketone obtained by Claisen condensation in basic condition was not separated from the reaction mixture,but used directly to synthesize the targeting molecule by hydrolyzing in 48% HBr solution.The yield was 92.3%.The targeting compound was characterized by MS, 1HNMR and FT-IR.The method had some advantages of gentle reaction conditions,high yield,cheap raw materials and simple operation.


New evidence is reported on the empirical success of structural models in explaining changes in corporate credit risk. A parsimonious set of common factors and company-level fundamentals, inspired by structural models, was found to explain more than 54 percent (67 percent) of the variation in credit-spread changes for medium-grade (low-grade) bonds. No dominant latent factor was present in the unexplained variation. Although this set of factors had lower explanatory power among high-grade bonds, it did capture most of the systematic variation in credit-spread changes in that category. It also subsumed the explanatory power of the Fama and French factors among all grade classes. We provide new evidence on the empirical success of structural models in explaining corporate credit-risk changes. The basic factors used in the model were a set of common factors—the equity market return, change in prospects for company growth (proxied by change in the price-to-book ratio, or P/B), change in aggregate idiosyncratic equity volatility, the slope of the term structure, and change in the spot rate—and a set of company-level characteristics—the stock return (as a proxy for leverage), stock momentum, change in idiosyncratic equity volatility, and change in the P/B. We also examined the three Fama–French factors (for beta, size, and value–growth) and whether Federal Reserve Board policy was expansionary or recessionary. Studying 2,375 U.S. corporate bonds that were diverse in credit quality (ranging from AAA to D) in the 1990–2003 period, we found that a structural model with our set of factors was impressively successful in explaining credit-spread changes in the medium- and low-grade bond segments. Specifically, we found the model explained more than 54 percent of individual-bond credit-spread changes in the medium-grade group and 67 percent of changes in the low-grade group. In the highest-grade group, the explanatory power was about 36 percent. Explanatory power differs among bond classes partly because of the different roles played by company-level fundamentals, such as volatility, leverage, and growth opportunities. These variables are particularly important in the low-grade segment but play little role in the high-grade segment. Moreover, the common factors captured twice as much variation in the low-grade group as in the high-grade group. No dominant latent factor was present in the unexplained variation. Principal-components analysis applied to bond portfolios revealed no latent factor in the residual variation of low- or medium-grade portfolios but a strong latent factor in high-grade portfolios. Analysis of individual regression residuals revealed no variation, however, common to all the credit-risk groups, which provides solid evidence that structural models capture essentially all systematic variation in individual credit-spread changes for all credit-risk classes. We provide new evidence that idiosyncratic volatility and the P/B are important in empirical corporate bond pricing. The P/B and idiosyncratic volatility are both driven by uncertainty about a company's future profitability, which affects default probability in a structural model framework. We show that changes in idiosyncratic volatility and the P/B at both the aggregate and company level are economically and statistically significant in explaining the time-series variation in corporate credit-spread changes. Our parsimonious set of variables subsumes the explanatory power of the Fama–French factors, which have traditionally been used in equity pricing. We found the Fama–French factors on their own to be significant and to explain about 26 percent of the variation in credit-spread changes, but when added to our proposed set of structural model variables, the Fama–French factors lost significance and did not increase overall explanatory power. This finding suggests that structural model factors capture the systematic risk in credit-spread changes better than do the Fama–French factors.


We have performed 40–80 ns-long molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the GCN4 leucine zipper and synthetic coiled coils using the GROMOS96 (43a2) and OPLS-AA force fields, with the aim of predicting coiled coil stability. Starting with an initial configuration of two peptides placed in an ideal coiled coil configuration, we find that changing the amino acid sequence modestly or decreasing peptide length can lead to a decrease in the final α-helicity of coiled coils, although for peptides as long or longer than 16 residues, the values of helicity do not decrease to the low values seen in the experimental results of Lumb et al. (Biochemistry. 1994, 33, 7361–7367) or of Su et al. (Biochemistry. 1994, 33, 15501–15510), presumably because the simulations are not long enough. We find, however, that helicity correlates positively with the number of close hydrophobic interactions between the two peptides, showing that stable coiled coils in the simulations are tightly packed. The minimum interhelical distances are 0.50–0.66 nm for charged groups, indicating that favorable charge interactions are also important for the stability of the coiled coil.


Thermocompression (TC) flip chip (FC) bonding enables packaging of the most advanced semiconductor devices by allowing finer pitch and higher I/O interconnect while minimizing warpage and stress on low-K dielectrics [1, 2] Adoption of thermocompression bonding is accelerating, especially in the high-end memory devices such as Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC), High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) and Wide I/O 2. In these Through-Silicon-Via (TSV) stacked die devices, thermocompression bonding is the only option that allows exceptionally short die-to-die interconnects and the associated device performance improvements. Interest in die-to-substrate bonding is also increasing for high-end applications processors and graphics processors. Especially for thin die stacks, i.e. memory stacks, the use of a pre-applied Non-Conducting underfill Film (NCF) to provide stress relief and package reliability is very attractive. One of the challenges has been somewhat low throughput, in particular because of large bondhead temperature excursions forced by a requirement for sub 100°C temperatures during the transfer of the die to the bondhead. This paper focusses on the method of optimizing NCF processes and introduces a novel method for avoiding the low handover temperature. The results show the ability to reach very high UPH and attractive cost-of-ownership for an NCF process.


The characteristics of thermal stresses in a five-stacked memory dies containing through-silicon vias (TSVs) were measured with synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction. The measurements were performed in and around the Cu vias for both the top and bottom dies. With scanning white beam x-ray microdiffraction, high resolution mappings of stress distribution were obtained. The results provided a direct observation of the local plasticity in Cu TSV and the stress and deformation in the surrounding Si. Thermo-mechanical modeling using finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out for the stacked structure. Results from the modeling analysis were correlated to the synchrotron observation to examine the effect of the die stacking on the stress behavior of the TSV at different die levels. Overall, the stress distribution obtained by FEA showed good agreement with the synchrotron measurement. The presence of plasticity was predicted by FEA and confirmed by the synchrotron observation. The implication of the residual stress on reliability of the memory structure was discussed. The results from this work demonstrate the capability of synchrotron based x-ray technique in studying the stress characteristics of multi-stack TSV structures.


Full wavefront control by photonic components requires that the spatial phase modulation on an incoming optical beam ranges from 0 to 2π. Because of their radiative coupling to the environment, all optical components are intrinsically non‐Hermitian systems, often described by reflection and transmission matrices with complex eigenfrequencies. Here, it is shown that parity or time symmetry breaking—either explicit or spontaneous—moves the position of zero singularities of the reflection or transmission matrices from the real axis to the upper part of the complex frequency plane. A universal 0 to 2π‐phase gradient of an output channel as a function of the real frequency excitation is thus realized whenever the discontinuity branch bridging a zero and a pole, that is, a pair of singularities, is crossing the real axis. This basic understanding is applied to engineer electromagnetic fields at interfaces, including, but not limited to, metasurfaces. Non‐Hermitian topological features associated with exceptional degeneracies or branch cut crossing are shown to play a surprisingly pivotal role in the design of resonant photonic systems.


The aim of this paper is to explore the semantic properties and distributions of the various predicates involving cutting and breaking in Korean. I...


A head positioning control system based on domestic laying head is introduced.Opening position of laying head nozzle and wire velocity were measured in realtime.Through algorithm,flying shear and laying head were unitedly controlled.Adaptive control function was achieved according to specification of wire.Application results show that the control system reaches design requirement and good economic benefit is obtained.


The objective of this study was to improve the accuracy of calculation and estimation of solar radiation and duration of sunshine, which are the most important variables of photovoltaic power generation in deciding the location of photovoltaic facilities efficiently. With increasing interest in new and renewable energies, research on solar energy is also being conducted actively, but there have not been many studies on the location of photovoltaic facilities. Thus, this study calculated solar duration and solar radiation based on geographical factors, which have the most significant effect on solar energy in GIS environment, and corrected the results of analysis using diffuse radiation. Moreover, we performed ordinary kriging, a spatial statistical analysis method, for estimating values for parts deviating from the spatial resolution of input data, and used variogram, which can determine the spatial interrelation and continuity of data, in order to estimate accurate values. In the course, we compared the values of variogram factors and estimates from applicable variogram models, and selected the model with the lowest error rate. This method is considered helpful to accurate decision making on the location of photovoltaic facilities.


Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in the world [1]. Deep learning has been a tremendous success in computer vision and also has some applications in medical imaging. We trained and evaluated several convolutional neural networks for mammogram classification and tumor detection. We used the MIAS database which contains 322 mammograms. Before the training, we performed data augmentation including cropping, rotating and flipping, followed by discarding part of images without significant information according to several thresholds. We modified the VGG16 and SSD algorithms to fit our dataset, and obtained mAP of 0.842 in tumor detection. In addition, some trials of changing hyperparameters and model structure are made to accelerate the training process. Our implementation is available at: https://bitbucket.org/EDKLW/ medical-images-2019-a/


This work demonstrates the total dose effects of novel Al/TiO2/n-Ge MIS contacts under gamma-ray irradiation. After gamma-ray irradiation, both the forward and reverse current density for the MIS contacts degraded. Electrical and XPS results indicated that the irradiation induces large amount of oxygen vacancies in TiO2, but this will not degrade the characteristic. Thus, a conclusion may draw that the degradation is attributed to the inter-diffusion of TiO2 and Al, forming high resistance interface between TiO2 and Al.


The environment is a place or room that can influence the student learning process. Without a clean environment, student learning motivation is also less than optimal. This study aims to determine the implications of school cleanliness on students' learning motivation at SDN 2 Loktabat Utara. This research method is qualitative research with data collection techniques using observation, interviews and documentation. teachers who might be able to become material to support research and some students at SDN 2 Loktabat Utara. The results of this study indicate that with a clean school environment, that children's learning motivation can develop quickly, that students are more comfortable with school conditions and clean class. It can be said that SDN 2 Loktabat Utara has a clean environment, so it is able to increase student learning motivation, students are more comfortable when the school environment and class are clean, so learning activities in class will be more enthusiastic and maximal.


Abstract The kinetics of the sputtered atoms from the metallic target as well as the time-space distribution of the argon metastable atoms have been investigated for DC and high power pulse magnetron discharge by means of Tunable Diode – Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TD-LAS) and Tunable Diode – Laser Induced Fluorescence (TD-LIF). The discharge was operated in argon (5-30 mTorr) with two different targets, tungsten and aluminum, for pulses of 1 to 20 μs, at frequencies of 0.2 to 1 kHz. Peak current intensity of ~100 A has been attained at cathode peak voltage of ~1 kV. The mean velocity distribution functions and particle fluxes of the sputtered metal atoms, in parallel and perpendicular direction to the target, have been obtained and compared for DC and pulse mode.


INTRODUCTION: Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) is the most common hip disorder of adolescent children [1]. It results in fracture of the growth cartilage, separating the proximal femoral epiphysis from the metaphysis, due to hormonal and mechanical factors [2]. The most widely accepted treatment for stable SCFE (defined by the ability to bear weight on the affected limb) has been a single centrally placed cannulated cancellous bone screw. The treatment of unstable SCFE (defined as the inability to bear weight) is more controversial with some advocating double-screw fixation [3]. A torsional component has been suggested for the mechanical basis of SCFE fractures [4,5]. If this is true then single-screw fixation would be less resistant to torsional loading than double-screw fixation. The objective of this study was to determine the relative torsional strength of the femoral capital growth plate after singleor double-screw fixation in an in vitro pig model of SCFE.


Flood risk was reported to increase in the future due to climate change and population growth. While recent and earlier studies have derived plausible climate change impacts on global flood risk, dams have never been explicitly implemented into simulation tools. Currently, about half of major river systems worldwide are regulated by dams and more than 3,700 major dams are planned or under construction. Consequently, to realistically assess population exposure to present and future floods, current and future dam landscapes must be integrated into existing flood modeling frameworks.


A recipe based on physical principles employs the observed equivalent widths of 10 spectral lines to model the photosphere of a target star. Coupled with the visual magnitude and an absolute flux calibration, the recipe yields the angular radius, effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity. With the addition of a parallax, a linear radius and a mass estimate are added to the results. The method is applied to a sample of 26 G and K stars that span luminosity classes V to IIIa. The recipe-determined angular radii agree with the interferometer radii and have comparable errors. But unlike interferometers, the recipe is not limited to sizes ≳1 mas. The veracity of the other recipe-derived parameters is supported by numerous comparisons with previously published values.


Read/write characteristics of the composite media, consisting of perpendicular anisotropy top layer and longitudinal anisotropy underlayer, were investigated focused upon the effect of underlayer magnetization. It was found that the underlayer magnetization affected not only the output but also the mode of remanent magnetization. The reproduced voltage was enhanced well by using the medium with larger magnetization underlayer, whereas the recording density characteristics were better with the thinner underlayer medium. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the underlayer properties according to the recording density region of operation in order to realize excellent read/write characteristics.


Results of experimental work at the IBM Research Division, Yorktown Heights, New York, to fabricate sub-micron structures for electronic devices were reported in a recent issue of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, published by the American Institute of Physics. The work involves the use of short wavelength radiation–ranging from far ultraviolet light in the range 2000 to 2600 angstroms through x-rays (typically 100 to less than 1 angstrom) to electron beams (much less than one angstrom)–to define circuit patterns for silicon integrated circuits and magnetic bubble devices.


The objective of the research was the find out whether or not of animal videos increases vocabulary mastery in PGRI Bulucenrana kindergarten students. This study uses an experimental design. The population of this research is one group, group B in TK PGRI Bulucenrana. In the academic year 2018/2019 with a total population of 12 students. The sample of this study was 12 students. The sample of this study was 12 students or a total sample. This study used media animals video in class. Researchers found that the use of animal videos can increase vocabulary mastery in Bulucenrana PGRI kindergarten students. The average value of the initial test (21,08) is lower than the average value of the final test (77,50), it is also evidenced by the P-Value (0,000 < 0,05) a significant level of 0,05. So the researchers concluded that H0 was rejected and H1 was accepted. Based on data analysis, the researcher concludes that: animals video media is effective in increasing vocabulary mastery in Bulucenrana PGRI kindergarten students


Axial age civilizations, over a relatively short period of time surrounding the first century C.E., developed radically new conceptions of the relationship between the mundane and the transcendental. These conceptions became defining elements of these civilizations, giving rise to new conceptions of the accountability of rules to a higher, transcendental principle. Prophecy played an important role in the crystallization and dynamics of these civilizations. Delivered as the keynote address of the conference, 'Political Hebraism: Jewish Sources in the History of Political Thought,' Jerusalem, December 26–29, 2006, this paper connects these dynamics with the development of constitutionalism through an analysis of the Jewish case. It thereby emphasizes the importance of axial age civiliza tions, and in particular the Jewish case, in forming modern understandings of law, legal frameworks, and constitutionalism.


Conclusion The average consumption of fluid milk in India is only about 57 g per day and much of this is used in tea and coffee. Considerable progress in processing has been made during the past 15 yr and some dairy plants are as modern as any in the world today. There are no insurmountable problems in developing a satisfactory industry. ]=Iowever, when raw milk costs Rs. 2640.00 per maund ($6.50 to $10 per 80 lb) and bottled toned milk costs Rs. 120 (25c) per liter, this places milk outside the budget of the common South Asian, who has a yearly income of about Rs. 400. Consequently, the economic factors far outweigh the environmental factors.


In domestic colleges and universities,the current fundamental of computer teaching is relatively limited.The popular courses about computer game designing and developing for ordinary university students are not many.In this paper,we introduce some experience of our novel course "Computer Game Design",which is established for the students who do not major in computer.We compare the similarities and differences of the popular game courses and the special game courses,and explore the teaching content,teaching methods and teaching practice of the popular computer game design course.


Empowerment ability, which centers on patients, can promote patients to actively participate in the decision-making and change their behavior so as to enhance their health through helping them to rebuild themselves, stimulate the potential and exhibit their unique social values and spiritual values. Researches on the empowerment ability of diabetic patients in China started late and developed slowly. This paper reviewed relative researches and pointed out the concept, diabetes authorization scales, research status of diabetes empowerment ability and way to improve the empowerment ability, so as to provide references for the clinical establishment of measures to improve the empowerment ability of diabetic patients in China.

Key words:
Diabetes mellitus; Empowerment ability; Review


Fisher Equation, asserted by Irving Fisher in his celebrated book 'The Theory of Interest', reveals that nominal interest rate adjusts with the inflation rate at the same rate in order to keep real interest rate constant. Using yearly time series data from Bangladesh for the period 1987 – 2020, this paper tested the validity of the Fisher effect considering the variables- Nominal Interest Rate (Advance Rate), Real Interest Rate and Inflation Rate. With a view to rationalizing the existence of structural break, Clemente - Montanes – Reyes (1998) unit root test was performed to identify the integration order of the variables of interest. After controlling structural break, Gregory- Hansen (1996) cointegration test applied for detecting the long run relationship by adopting ARDL framework. As the results revealed, Partial Fisher effect prevails for Bangladesh in short run. More specifically, keeping the real interest constant the impact of inflation rate on nominal interest rate is 0.16 percent with a lag effect in both ARDL model but parameters are stable only when we address structural break in the model. Thus, establishing that empirical identification of short run relationship among variables and existence of Fisher effect is subject to proper consideration of structural break.
Social Science Review, Vol. 38(2), December 2021 Page 175-196


Modernization of educational activities determines the necessity for the formation of educational and developmental environment. Today, the development of students' self-organization in an educational and developmental environment is one of the main demands that modern society puts forward to the system of primary education. The purpose is to study the features of the educational and developmental environment, its classification; development of didactic games at the lessons of Writing and Mathematics that promote the development of pupils' self-organization in an educational and developmental environment. Research methods: a logical method; methods of system analysis; comparative analysis has made it possible to compare phenomena in order to establish similarities or differences between them. The academic paper has highlighted the essence of the concepts "educational and developmental environment", "self-organization of educational activities". The components of the educational and developmental environment of primary school and its classification have been formed. The basic types of primary pupils' self-organization under the influence of the educational and developmental environment have been considered. The stages of the ability of self-organization of primary schoolchildren's educational activity within the conditions of educational and developmental environment have been determined. Examples of Writing lessons in grades 1 and 4 have been given at the above stages, which contribute to the formation of skills of self-organization of pupils' learning activities. Thus, types of didactic games at the lessons of Writing and Mathematics have been offered, which make it possible to provide material in accessible, interesting form, form skills of self-organization of schoolchildren in educational environment.


The Caribbean spiny lobster Panulirus argus is susceptible to infection by Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1), the only virus known to naturally infect any lobster species. However, P. argus is able to mitigate PaV1 transmission risk by avoiding infected individuals. White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) has a particularly wide host range. WSSV has not been documented in wild populations of spiny lobsters, but has been experimentally transmitted to six other lobster species from the genus Panulirus spp. While WSSV has been detected intermittently in wild populations of shrimp in the Caribbean region, the risk to P. argus has not been evaluated. Potential emergence of the disease could result in fisheries losses and ecological disruption. To assess the risk to P. argus, we tested its susceptibility to WSSV via injection and waterborne transmission. We also tested whether healthy lobsters can detect and avoid conspecifics with qPCR-quantifiable WSSV infections. We found P. argus to be highly susceptible to WSSV via intramuscular injection, with mortality reaching 88% four weeks post inoculation. Panulirus argus was also susceptible to WSSV via waterborne transmission, but WSSV burden was low after four weeks via qPCR. Behavioral assays indicated that P. argus can detect and avoid conspecifics infected with WSSV and the avoidance response was strongest for the most heavily infected individuals – a response comparable to PaV1-infected conspecifics. Panulirus argus is the first spiny lobster found to be susceptible to WSSV in the Americas, but it is possible that a generalized avoidance response by healthy lobsters against infected conspecifics provides a behavioral defense and may reduce WSSV infection potential and prevalence. Such avoidance may extend to other directly transmitted pathogens in spiny lobster populations preventing them from becoming common in their population. Author Summary Erica P. Ross is a PhD candidate at the University of Florida, studying the disease ecology of the Caribbean spiny lobster, with a focus on chemosensory ecology. Donald C. Behringer is an associate professor at the University of Florida and his research focuses on disease ecology, epidemiology, and fishery ecology, with a focus on crustaceans and other marine invertebrates. Jamie Bojko received his PhD from the University of Leeds and is currently a post-doctorate associate at the University of Florida studying experimental and systemic crustacean pathology.


Asymptomatic hyperlipemia occurs in a significant number of American children. It is important to recognize the condition during childhood because of its role as a risk factor in the early onset of coronary artery disease and because early dietary modification may prevent changes leading to premature heart disease. A predisposition to heart attack exists within families, and now there is significant documentation of familial aggregations of coronary atherosclerosis as a concomitant of genetically determined risk factors such as hyperlipemia, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. 1 3 Of these three conditions, hyperlipemia, which often displays a clearly genetic component, is related most directly to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The following review will present the characteristics of juvenile hyperlipemia, note the known genetic influences, document its prevalence in children in the United States, and present recommendations for diagnosis and management. Hyperlipemia is the manifestation of a variety of biochemical abnormalities producing hypercholesterolemia and/or hypertriglyceridemia, both of which are associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease in adults. Because hyperlipemia occurs in early childhood and may lead to coronary atherosclerosis, the identification and treatment of children with hyperlipemia should receive more attention than it does at present. The definition of hyperlipemia is indistinct; normal blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides are defined statistically by measurements in apparently healthy children. Although the levels can vary geographically and may be influenced by diet and other factors, "normal limits" have generally been based on 90th percentile fiducial limits calcu-


Several new solution‐processable organic semiconductors based on dendritic oligoquinolines were synthesized and were used as electron‐transport and hole‐blocking materials to realize highly efficient blue phosphorescent organic light‐emitting diodes (PhOLEDs). Various substitutions on the quinoline rings while keeping the central meta‐linked tris(quinolin‐2‐yl)benzene gave electron transport materials that combined wide energy gap (>3.3 eV), moderate electron affinity (2.55‐2.8 eV), and deep HOMO energy level (<‐6.08 eV) with electron mobility as high as 3.3 × 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1. Polymer‐based PhOLEDs with iridium (III) bis(4,6‐(di‐fluorophenyl)pyridinato‐N,C2′)picolinate (FIrpic) blue triplet emitter and solution‐processed oligoquinolines as the electron‐transport layers (ETLs) gave luminous efficiency of 30.5 cd A−1 at a brightness of 4130 cd m−2 with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 16.0%. Blue PhOLEDs incorporating solution‐deposited ETLs were over two‐fold more efficient than those containing vacuum‐deposited ETLs. Atomic force microscopy imaging shows that the solution‐deposited oligoquinoline ETLs formed vertically oriented nanopillars and rough surfaces that enable good ETL/cathode contacts, eliminating the need for cathode interfacial materials (LiF, CsF). These solution‐processed blue PhOLEDs have the highest performance observed to date in polymer‐based blue PhOLEDs.


The main objectives of the study are: 1) to identify the types of figurative language employed in English ads in in-flight magazines; and 2) to analyze the roles played by different types of figurative language in certain categories of English ads found in in-flight magazines. Based on the main theoretical frameworks of McQuarrie and Mick (1996), Thorn (2008), and Wells, Moriarty, and Burnett (2006), content analysis (Berg, 2004; and Coffey and Atkinson, 1996) was mainly employed in this qualitative study. 172 ads with the employment of figurative language found in Sawasdee and Fah Thai in-flight magazines were analyzed. The findings revealed that five common types of figurative language were alliteration, metaphor, parison, personification, and rhetorical questions. The most popular types of figurative language for writing headlines and body texts were alliteration and metaphor, whereas alliteration and parison seemed to be fashionable for creating slogans. Considering the employment of figurative language in connection with advertising components, these five common types in headlines could gain more attention from the readers. In body texts, they could make the readers know, understand, imagine about the selling points advertised, and stimulate decision making. Finally, they could make slogans more memorable. In addition, regarding the relation between the employment of these five common types and advertising categories, the most two popular types, namely alliteration and metaphor, were commonly found in three main types of products: 'travel/hotel', 'real estate/home', and 'airline/airline service and promotion'. These five types of figurative language were obviously seen to promote the themes of 'privacy', 'comfort, relaxation, and happiness', 'natural surroundings', and 'introducing/guaranteeing products'. In sum, figurative language appeared to be an effective tool in advertising. To illustrate, these five common types shared similar roles to successfully convey the message objectives in advertising including creating perception, delivering/developing cognition, creating affection, and stimulating readers' behaviors in consuming the products.


This study on code switching is conducted to find out the kinds of code
switching used in online shopping through Facebook and Blackberry in Semarang
region and the English words the online sellers mostly used. This is a qualitative
study as it investigates a special case of online shopping in Semarang. The data were
collected from online shopping broadcasts in the writer's Blackberry Messenger and
Facebook. Based on the data from the broadcast of ten online shops the writer found
that sellers used intra-sentential code switching (79.45 percent) more frequently than
inter-sentential codeswitching (20.54 percent). Further analysis of the intra-sentential
code switching revealed out of 141 English words, nouns are the most common parts
of speech (43.97 percent), noun phrases (19.86 percent), adjectives (14.89 percent)
and verbs (12.06 percent). Besides, it is found that the use of English words can be
classified into three: Borrowed words, online shopping jargons, and other random
words commonly used in online interaction.
In this research, the writer found 15 inter-sentential code switching and most
of the sentences are imperative. In other words, the advertisers code switched to give
instructions to the readers or customers. Among the words used in online shopping,
the words order and sold are used more often than other words. This is due to the
fact that the words are very essential in trading or business.


The relation between the magnetostatic surf'ace wave (MSSW) propagation loss and the lattice mismatch was measured at 7.3 GHz using samples of pure YIG ( A a"=-0.0076), (LaY)IG-I (Aa*=O), (LaY)IG-II (Aa'=+0.014), and Ga:(LaY) IG (4 71 Ms=800 Oe, A a'=-0.0065). insertion loss of 8.6 dB was obtained by (LaY)IG-I for the path length of 8 mn, while that of Ga:(LaY)IG was too large to be measured due to a large group delay time.


With the extensive application of computer technology,the dependence of people on university library is gradually decreasing. Facing this situation,university library only insist on the value orientation of people oriented,serving society,emphasizing benefit.It can adapt the demand of the times and perform proper functions.


The increased level of interdisciplinarity, in the field of neuropsychology, has led to the shift from the idea that walking represents an automatic and simple gesture, to the notion that it is a complex task involving several cognitive abilities. This appraisal occurred by the increased use of Cognitive and Motor Dual-Task paradigms, and by the growing interest in quantitative gait analysis. In this framework, we aim to investigate the relationship between cognition and motor skills, and to apply insights gathered from this study to the diagnostic process of Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment. Here it is proposed an innovative technological tool able to quantify gait parameters while providing for a Motor and Cognitive Dual-Task. The results of this research show a significant statistical difference between subjects suffering from Mild Cognitive Impairment with and without planning deficits.


Abstract : This paper reports a study designed to test the assumption that the LPC score can best be considered as an attitude score. One hundred seventy-nine male Ss listed what they believed to be the characteristics of their 'least preferred co-worker,' indicated how strongly they held these beliefs, and evaluated each of the characteristics. In addition each S rated his 'least preferred co-worker' on Fiedler's Standard Esteem Scale, and responded to several personality questionnaires. Through a consideration of each Ss beliefs about his 'least preferred co-worker,' estimated LPC scores were computed, and these estimated scores were correlated with the obtained LPC scores. The results provide strong support for the conceptualization of the LPC score as an attitude score. Further, a consideration of the 'types' of beliefs elicited by high and low LPC Ss suggested that these individuals have markedly different types of least preferred co-workers. Some of the implications of this latter finding are discussed. (Author)


Computer programs for encoding canonical representations of stereochemical substructural environments are presented. Applications of these substructure codes in the study of relationships between molecular structure and chemical shifts observed in 13C NMR spectra are described, using natural products as examples. The utility of the codes for the detection of erroneous spectral assignment is illustrated.


ABSTRACT Rapid urbanization is one of the global issues. This significant social and economic phenomenon has brought about much debate in the past twenty years. Understanding its dynamics and patterns is important to develop appropriate policies and make more informed planning decisions. Many dimensions to the urban land growth have been identified in related literature, including drivers, relationship with other factors, such as population, impacts, and methods of measurement. In this study, urban growth in the Edwardsville/glen carbon, Illinois is analyzed spatiotemporally using remote sensing and population change data from 1990 to 2015. The objectives of this study are to (a) identify the major land use changes in the Edwardsville area; (b) analyze the rate of urban growth and its relationship to population change in the study area; and (c) identify the spatial pattern of urban growth in the study area. Using multi-temporal satellite images to classify and derive changes in land cover classes, the results show that the land cover classes with major changes are the urban/built-up land and agricultural/grassland, with a steady increase in the former and steady decrease in the later. Also, landscape expansion index calculation for each study period shows that outlying growth type is the dominant pattern.


The Brownstones form the highest Lower Old Red Sandstone in South Wales and the Welsh Borderlands. Sections from the Brecon Beacons of Central South Wales consist of laterally extensive sheets of interbedded sandstone and siltstone. Facies sequence A consists of parallel laminated sheet sandstones and siltstones and is interpreted as a sandy sheetflood and distal muddy floodflat association. Facies sequence B comprises sheet sandstones composed of multistorey channel fills, small calcrete-clast filled channels and massive siltstones with thin interbedded sandstones. This sequence is interpreted as low sinuosity channel deposits merging laterally and downslope into a muddy flood-basin, with calcrete clasts infilling intrabasinal channel systems. Facies sequence C consists of multistorey sandstones and is interpreted as a proximal low sinuosity channel system. The Brownstones of the Brecon Beacons formed on an extensive alluvial plain with low sinuosity sand-bed channels merging downslope into sheetfloods and muddy floodflats, in a system broadly analogous to that of the Eyre Basin of South Australia.


Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb. has long been used for a useful natural agent ameliorating inflammation related symptoms in the folk medicine recipe. This study was performed to investigate effects of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb.(AP) on the expression of inflammation related genes such as the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7 cells. The AP (whole plants) was extracted with 80% ethanol and sequentially partitioned with solvents in order to increase polarity. Among the various solvent extracts of AP, the n-butanol (BuOH) fraction showed the most powerful inhibitory ability against nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cells without affecting cell viability. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis revealed that the BuOH fraction provided a primary inhibitor of the iNOS protein and mRNA expression in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells. The DPPH and OH radical scavenging activities of the several fractions of 80% ethanol extracts of AP significantly increased by EtOAC and BuOH fractions. Thus, the present study suggests that the response of a component of the BuOH fraction to NO generation via iNOS expression provide an important clue to elucidate anti-inflammatory mechanism of AP.


Domino liver transplantation has been performed routinely from livers procured from patients with Familial Amyloidosis (FA). Some technical modifications have been made on the recipient of Amyloid Hepatic Allograft (AHA) to overcome the cuff limitation such as the use of side to side cava-caval anastomosis with closure of the suprahepatic and infrahepatic cava. These technical innovations in the recipient AHA however have no benefit for the FA patient undergoing the hepatectomy and may in fact adversely affect the safety of the harvesting procedure by requiring high dissection of the IVC into the diaphragm. In addition the IVC is removed with the liver, therefore requiring complete supra-renal vena caval clamping and the use of veno-venous bypass. We describe a safe and simple technique to recover the AHA without the IVC.


Recent work in similarity searching have suggested that significant improvements in retrieval effectiveness can be achieved by combining results from multiple reference structures or multiple molecular descriptors. Recently, the Bayesian inference network model (BIN) has been introduced for performing molecular similarity searching using a single and multiple reference structures. One of the important characteristics of the inference network model is that it permits the combination of multiple reference structures and multiple molecular descriptors. This paper introduces an inference network model developed for molecular similarity searching that integrates into a single framework, multiple reference structures and multiple molecular descriptors. The inference network model of similarity, which was designed from this point of view, treats similarity searching as an evidential reasoning process where multiple sources of evidence about reference and compound content are combined to estimate similarity scores. Our results show that, the BIN with multiple descriptors is notably more effective than BIN with a single descriptor in searches for structurally diverse sets of actives molecules.


At the turn of the twenty-first century, public universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) gained momentum across the United States as a widely popular public policy goal. More recently, however, implementing high-quality UPK has been hampered by federal disengagement from the issue, fiscal constraints, and conflicting state policy approaches. This chapter examines the growth of UPK as an important policy goal on the federal and state levels; the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and a new presidential administration on federal policy disengagement from the issue; and varying degrees of state fiscal support and state and local policy approaches in thwarting the full realization of UPK's promise. This examination notes the urgent need for a policy focus on the equitable delivery of high-quality programs if UPK is to improve future educational outcomes and help close opportunity gaps. Universal access will not achieve pre-kindergarten's benefits without high-quality programming. If universal pre-kindergarten's promise is to be achieved, the federal and state governments must work in tandem to ensure that all children, starting with those most in need of early education, have access to high-quality, age-appropriate UPK. Because ESSA limits federal policy prescriptions, advocacy must focus on the state level, using evidence-based lessons from research and experience.


Most existing unsteady flow visualization techniques concentrate on the depiction of geometric patterns in flow, assuming the geometry information provides sufficient representation of the underlying physical characteristics, which is not always the case. To address this challenge, this work proposes to analyse the time‐dependent characteristics of the physical attributes measured along pathlines which can be represented as a series of time activity curves (TAC). We demonstrate that the temporal trends of these TACs can convey the relation between pathlines and certain well‐known flow features (e.g. vortices and shearing layers), which enables us to select pathlines that can effectively represent the physical characteristics of interest and their temporal behaviour in the unsteady flow. Inspired by this observation, a new TAC‐based unsteady flow visualization and analysis framework is proposed. The centre of this framework is a new similarity measure that compares the similarity of two TACs, from which a new spatio‐temporal, hierarchical clustering that classifies pathlines based on their physical attributes, and a TAC‐based pathline exploration and selection strategy are proposed. A visual analytic system incorporating the TAC‐based pathline clustering and exploration is developed, which also provides new visualizations to support the user exploration of unsteady flow using TACs. This visual analytic system is applied to a number of unsteady flow in 2D and 3D to demonstrate its utility. The new system successfully reveals the detailed structure of vortices, the relation between shear layer and vortex formation, and vortex breakdown, which are difficult to convey with conventional methods.


This paper analyzes the characteristics and requirements for bank credit management,and puts forward a method to carry out the management by using computers,and this system software for bank credit management is the bank of peoples need.


Export is considered as the backbone of a country's economy. Export plays a vigorous role in the economic growth of a country. But a company's decision of becoming an export firm has certain constraints. This paper examines The International Quality Standard Certification (IQSC) and the firm's participation in the export market of Egypt and Ethiopia. By considering the volume, Egypt is one of the top exporters in Africa, while Ethiopia is considered an average exporter. We tend to find why some country's firms try to export more while others are less. Does the International Quality Standard Certification (IQSC) matter for firms' participation in the export market? How different are the characteristics of exporting firms in different countries? What other factors determine the firms' participation in the export market. We found that firms having IQSC export more than the firms that don't have IQSC and they have a comparative advantage. Due to economies of scale and higher efficiency, large firms have an advantage over small and medium firms on exporting to international markets. The firm's age is not an important factor for the probability to export. Productive, aged, foreign-owned and large firms usually export more than their counterparts.

KEY WORDS: IQSC (International Quality Standard Certificate), International Trade, Export Decision, Probit model analysis, IV regression.


This report focuses on the execution of multithreaded programs and finding bugs and errors in those programs. Testing is done to determine if the code written runs correctly or not. The report also covers comparison of traditional testing tools with the new and efficient systematic testing tool called CHESS. The repost explains in detail about the testing technique of CHESS including how it identifies and handles bugs in multithreaded programs. The various experiments performed using different outputs have also been discussed and their respective results have also been shown in order to determine the behavior of CHESS tool when it is provided random inputs. Using this input did not lead to non-deterministic test and the execution time increases exponentially.


ABSTRACT The United Nations (UN) has developed a complex and interconnected system of committees, representatives, and missions in support of its peace and security mandate. This article introduces the United Nations Peace Initiatives (UNPI) data set, which provides information on 469 UN initiatives aimed at conflict prevention and crisis management, mediation, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding. The data encompass all initiatives mandated by the UN Security Council, the General Assembly, as well as Secretary General between 1946 and 2015. This includes diplomatic, technocratic, political-development, and peacekeeping missions. UNPI data provide an empirical basis to assess the relative contributions of various UN subsidiary bodies to prevent, manage, and suppress the outbreak and recurrence of conflict. This article discusses the underlying rationale of the data collection, the coding rules, and procedures, and shows how UNPI can be combined with conflict data. Initial analyses show the increased use of different types of UN peace initiatives over time. The UN regularly deploys multiple peace initiatives to a dispute, often with significant periods of overlap. Ongoing hostilities and economic development are found to be key determinants of mission choice. In line with the theme of the Special Issue, the UNPI data set underscores the importance of, and provides a tool through which to examine the, interdependencies between various conflict management efforts.


In this paper the implementation of the two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulation model TELEMAC-2D in the reach km 410-452 of the Lower Paraná River, using an irregular triangular mesh, is presented. Two constitutions were created from bathymetric surveys carried out in 20042006 and 2010-2012 years, and steady and unsteady flow simulations were performed. In steady flow, measured discharges between 11640 m/s and 28600 m/s were used, whereas in unsteady flow the series of discharges registered in the period 01/01/2004 to 31/12/2004 and in the period 16/03/2015 to 15/03/2016 were considered for each model constitution respectively. The variables of adjustment were the water levels observed at Rosario (ROS-km 416) and Puerto San Martin (PSM-km 448), using the Manning roughness coefficient as a calibration parameter. Moreover, the flow partitions in the four bifurcations of the reach were compared with available measurements, along with the variations of the wetted areas and the distributions of specific discharges in different cross sections, observing a variation in the first two parameters, while the third remains practically stable. PALABRAS CLAVES: ríos aluviales de llanura; río Paraná; modelación hidrodinámica bidimensional; Telemac-2D.


PURPOSE
To assess the cytotoxicity of varying concentrations of Brilliant Blue Green (BBG) on human retinal pigment epithelial (HRPE) cells exposed to metal halide surgical endoilluminator (SE) at varying distances of illumination.

METHODS
HRPE (ARPE-19) were exposed to 2 concentrations (0.25 and 0.5 mg/mL) of BBG and illuminated with SE for 1, 5, and 15 min. Illumination (measured with light meter) was positioned at varying distances (1 and 2.5 cm) to mimic surgical distance of illumination. Cell viability (WST-1 assay) as well as structural changes in cells was quantified.

RESULTS
At 1 cm distance of illumination, 0.25 mg/mL BBG decreased viability of HRPE to 89.6%±4.3%, 83.9%±10.9%, and 38.9%±5.1% of controls after 1, 5, and 15 min of exposure, respectively. Similarly, 0.5 mg/mL BBG at 1 cm distance of illumination reduced the viability of HRPE to 93.7%±2.8%, 59.6%±16%, and 34.7%±3.5% of controls. At the distance of 2.5 cm, HRPE showed improved viability; cells exposed to 0.25 mg/mL BBG maintained 98.85%±3.3%, 95.31%±7.12%, and 62.07%±3.0% of viability compared with controls after 1, 5, and 15 min of exposure. Morphometric evaluation of RPE cells showed increased width (swelling) of HRPE.

CONCLUSION
BBG at its clinically used concentration (0.25 mg/mL) during vitreoretinal surgery is safe and not toxic to HRPE for up to 5 min under focal illumination (1 cm) and up to 15 min under diffuse illumination (2.5 cm) from the commonly used SE. RESULTS of our study are useful in establishing safety parameters for the use of BBG dye in vitreoretinal surgery.


Introduction: Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) can promote and accelerate the tissue regeneration as it causes the early healing of extraction sockets but the accurate mechanism is unknown. Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the effect of LLLT which was applied in a single session immediately after odontectomy of impacted lower wisdom tooth on pain, swelling, and trismus. Patient and Methods: This study was done on 24 healthy patients who required surgical extraction of impacted lower third molar. The patients were randomly selected and randomly divided into two equal groups, each consisted of 12 patients for group, group I received LLLT immediately after surgical extraction of impacted lower third molar, group II was subjected to routine surgical extraction of impacted lower third molar without application of LLLT. LLLT was applied at ten points: four intra-oral beside to the extracted socket and six extra-oral along the masseter muscle. Laser energy was applied at 100mW for a total of 150 sec, 15 sec for each point. Results: The results showed the effect of a single session of LLLT in control of postoperative pain on the day of surgery and reduction of swelling and trismus after surgical removal of impacted lower third molars (p<0.05). Conclusion: LLLT could represent a viable tool to control pain in patients who are contraindicated to the medications.


The focus of this paper has been to consider the task facing us in delivering traffic information (TI) to the public and visitors to our country. The destination may be getting clearer but the route is as yet indistinct. Last year in my article 'Integration, what's all the fuss about?' there was a consideration of the challenges and pitfalls of public sector IT procurement. A key concern of that piece is the tendency to accept delay and failure in public funded projects and how that might be overcome fairly quickly. The concerns raised there remain, unchanged. The article can be obtained either through the ITS office or by a request to email@example.com. In this article a number of issues are raised including: A public that is becoming more and more Internet and mobile device 'aware'. Public demand in the UK as use of the National Rail Enquiries website and to some car route planning services attest ;Fully integrated TI itself needs developing to provide a comprehensive service ; TI must be presented on widely differing platforms and must be accessible to all; developments in interfacing and bringing together disparate feeds of information may mean that powerful one-stop shops are on the way. For the covering abstract see ITRD E134522


The internal designs of two tundish nozzles A and B to deliver liquid steel in a slab mold are characterized by a full‐scale water model and the scale‐adaptive simulation (SAS) turbulence model. The internal flows in the nozzles determine the flow patterns in the slab mold and their clogging tendency. The SAS model predicts well the sub meniscus velocities measured through ultrasound signals and the unsteady flows of a given nozzle. The turbulence structures in the sub‐meniscus region yield slow descending rates of velocity–time autocorrelations leading to flow turnovers of low frequency using both nozzles. However, nozzle A (a bore with one expansion and one contraction) yields larger power density spectra than nozzle B (designed with internal flow deflectors) in the sub meniscus region, indicating that this latter nozzle dissipates more the turbulent energy, effect due to its internal flow deflectors. Four clogging criteria, wall‐shear, Q =12(ΩijΩij−SijSij) , turbulence eddy frequency, ω = ε/k, and the instantaneous velocity in the boundary layer, together with the flow structure, prove to predict the propensity of a given nozzle design to clog by alumina inclusions in a particular region. This analysis reveals that nozzle B has a lower tendency to suffer clogging during industrial operation.


Broadcast spawning, wherein gametes of both sexes are released for external fertiliza- tion, is a common mode of reproduction in marine organisms. Despite its importance in the life histo- ries of many species, discovery of its timing is often based on chance observations. Here we report on the spawning of 2 shallow-water brittle stars in southern Taiwan known to have spawning induction, i.e. ovary homogenates induce spawning of conspecific males. The gonad index of both species exhibited an annual cycle with peaks from mid-spring to early summer. Successful induction of spawning in male Ophiocoma scolopendrina (Lamarck) inhabiting the intertidal zone was limited to low tides. After manipulating the depth of the water inhabited by brittle stars, we discovered that suc- cessful induction of spawning was not sensitive to the actual water level. However, males could con- sistently be induced to spawn at the time of low tides even when deprived of tidal influences in the laboratory. Therefore, an endogenous clock mechanism entrained by tide-associated phenomena may control the inductivity of mature male O. scolopendrina. Time of the day, i.e. day versus night, had no effect in this species. In O. dentata (Muller and Troschel) living in the shallow subtidal zone in the same area, male induction was successful during both high and low tides and in both day and night.


Background: The purpose of this study was to determine whether hand-measured carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) was a reliable and simple tool that could be used to evaluate the severity of stable coronary artery disease (CAD) with normal high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP). Material and Method: We examined left carotid IMTs in 688 patients with stable CAD and excluded 121 patients with abnormally elevated hs-CRP (≥0.5 ㎎/dL). We sought to determine the association between risk factors and the severity of stable CAD and carotid IMT in 567 patients who were divided into lower and higher groups based on the median value. Patients underwent a coronary artery angiogram and had at least significant stenosis (>50% of the original luminal diameter involving one or more major coronary artery). Result: Of the 567 patients, 300 (52.9%) were in the lower IMT group and 267 (47.1%) were in the higher IMT group; the median value was 0.76 mm. By multivariable logistic regression analysis, the following groups were different: older age (~49 vs. 70~ years, respectively; OR=6.552), high FBS (~99 vs. 120~ ㎎/dL; OR=1.713) and severity of CAD (1 vessel vs. 2 vessel disease; OR=1.711, 1 vessel vs. 3 vessel disease; OR=1.714). Conclusion: We conclude that there are correlations between increased carotid IMT and severity of CAD in stable angina patients with normal CRP levels.


ABSTRACT Silver-coated ZrO2 and individual ZrO2 nanoparticles have been synthesized using the simple reduction and co-precipitation methods, respectively. The synthesized products were examined using the X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray and UV–visible spectroscopy, which confirmed the successful synthesis of materials. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealed the round-shaped nanoparticles of both materials. The cyclic voltammograms revealed the well-defined redox peaks and recommended the pseudocapacitive nature of the electrodes. The silver-coated zirconia showed higher specific capacitance of 792 F/g at 10 mV/s as compared to individual zirconia (10.22 F/g). Silver-coated ZrO2 also showed good power density of 274.5 W/kg at current density of 5 mA/cm2 through the galvanostatic charge discharge profile. Hence, the results suggest that silver-coated ZrO2 showed improved electrochemical performance as compared individual ZrO2 due to higher electrical conductivity and specific surface area. Hence, silvercoated ZrO2 nanoparticles can be employed as an electrode material for supercapacitor applications.


Introduction: Synovial Sarcoma (SS) is a rare and aggressive disease that predominantly occurs in young adult. SS are characterized by a pathognomonic t(X:18) translocation leading SS18: SSX1/2/4 fusion. Small studies (n<100) described molecular background beyond this fusion in patients and the transcriptomic profile of SS remains poorly known. The aim of our study is to provide a large cohort analyzing transcriptomic and co-alterations to better understand and treat SS.
 Methods: We present a clinico-biological cohort study including all adult patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of afvanced SS from January 2000, registered in the French Sarcoma database (NETSARC+) and with available formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) archival tumor samples and clinical data. FFPE tumor samples were analyzed by dedicated whole-exome RNA-sequencing (WERS) to assess transcriptomic, small nucleotide variation (SNV) and fusions.
 Results: 122 patients (133 samples) met the study criteria, including 11 patients with paired primary-metastatic tumor samples. Clinical characteristics (age, sex, tumor grade, primary and metastasis site distribution) were consistent with expected SS population. The SS18:SSX1/2/4 fusion was found in all patient (90% by WERS and if negative, by FISH). Unsupervised analyses of transcriptomic data by principal component analyses, hierarchical sample clustering or UMAP revealed heterogeneity in gene expression. Clinical factors (age, sex, grade, tumor type, complete response to treatment, survival) did not correlate with transcriptomic profiles. Immune cell analyses confirmed a low infiltration of immune cells, notably poor in CD8+ T cells. Cancer testis antigens such as NYESO-1, MAGE-A4 were both expressed with a heterogeneous co-expression of other CTAs across samples. In the 11 primary-metastatic paired- samples, no gene pathway was found differentially expressed between primary and metastatic samples cohort with the exception of lung tissue specific genes. Comparing chemotherapy-naïve versus pre-treated samples did not identify differential expression of specific genes across samples. Single Nucleotide Variant analyses was reliable on 84% FFPE samples and revealed an overall low Tumor Mutational Burden with some samples harboring canonical oncogene pathogenic mutations of BTK, RAS, NF1, RB1 as well as in DNA repair pathway(15% spanning over ATM ATR,CHK2, BRCA1/2 PALB2 CHK2, FANCM, RAD51), PI3K pathways (PI3KCA E545K) and other poorly described in SS.
 Conclusion: Investigating the largest cohort of metastatic SS by whole-exome RNA-sequencing, revealed Synovial Sarcoma, usually classified as "simple genomic sarcoma" is a translocation-related sarcoma harboring heterogeneous transcriptomic and numerous SNV co-alterations including targetable mutations.
 Citation Format: Helene Vanacker, Mehdi Brahmi, Yannick Le Meitour, Julien Bollard, Valery Attignon, Alexandra Meurgey, Myriam Jean-Denis, Laurie Tonon, Shibani Pokras, Erika Klohe, Michael Nathenson, Kristin Blouch, Ioanna Eleftheriadou, Jean-Yves Blay, Franck Tirode, Armelle Dufresne. Whole-exome RNA sequencing of metastatic synovial sarcomas reveals heterogeneous transcriptomic profile and targetable co-alterations: Cohort study from the French Sarcoma Group. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6071.


The isolated blastoderm cells from the stage X embryos of chicken were cultured on feeder layer of chicken embryonic fibroblasts and DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum,2% chicken serum,2 mmol/L L-glutamine,5.5×10-5 β-mercaptoethanol,1 mmol/L sodium pyruvatel,with 1 000 U/mL LIF,10 ng/mL bFGF and 5 ng/mL SCF. Mouth sucker method, clone link method and cell limiting dilution method were compared in order to prepare single-cell clone from stage Ⅹ ES cells of chicken. Special markers of single-cell clone were detected by cytochemistry and histoimmunochemistry. The results showed that ES were subcultured to 5th to 6th generation. The cultured ES cells maintained characters of stem cells by AKP and SSEA-1 differentiation experiments. The different isolation methods and different digesting time were compared,the result showed spoon method could easily obtain blastoderm and the cells digested 5 to 8 min grew better. Rates of single-cell clone of mouth sucker method,cell limiting dilution method and clone link method were 0,4.2% and 1.0% respectively. Single-cell clone was positive to AKP and SSEA-1. The results indicated that cell limiting dilution method was the best method of preparation for single-cell clone among three methods.


A franchise store in Malaysia has brought new competition to the current market competition. The objective of this research is franchise convenience store. Franchise convenience store known as a small retail business that provides groceries, snack foods, soft drinks, tobacco products, toiletries and newspaper. Since the business operates for 24 hours, the business operating expenses are costly. As the result, the franchise convenience store their products are expensive than stores. However, the numbers of franchise convenience store have been growth rapidly such as 7-Eleven and Kk mart. In this research analyzes what is most influence factor affect consumer willingness to visit franchise convenience store. This research is purposed to find the relationship between the consumer behavior variables (cultural factor, social factor, personal factor, psychological factor, and retail image factor) to the consumer willingness to visit franchise convenience store. According to the findings, there is weak significant between cultural and willingness to visit franchise convenience store. Compare with retail image, it have a strong significant between the retail image and willingness to visit franchise convenience store. There are moderate significant between social, personal, and psychological with willingness to visit franchise convenience store. The research found that all the independents variables which is cultural, social, personal, psychological, and retail image can explained the dependent variables which is cultural, social, personal, psychological, and retail image can explained the depend variable which is willingness to visit franchise convenience store due to the high of R2. The implications from this research, franchise convenience store can be able to easily identify the willingness of customer in which improvement is needed in the future and the result can be implement by franchise convenience store in order to gain profit and become the perfect one in franchise industries.


Abstract The planning and development of residential estates on the edge of metropolitan areas is a topic that generates much debate and discussion. This paper‐provides, from the perspective of a town planner and development manager, an overview of the pianning and development of master planned city‐edge residential estates, with a focus on South East Queensland. It is necessarily broad and will examine some of the key drivers of edge development as well as issues and planning responses that are being or could be delivered. The contextual framework is ecological sustainability, as defined in the Queensland Integrated Planning Act 1997(IPA).