We propose a new mechanism of high-order harmonic generation during an interaction of a high-intensity laser pulse with underdense plasma. A tightly focused laser pulse creates a cavity in plasma pushing electrons aside and exciting the wake wave and the bow wave. At the joint of the cavity wall and the bow wave boundary, an annular spike of electron density is formed. This spike surrounds the cavity and moves together with the laser pulse. Collective motion of electrons in the spike driven by the laser field generates high-order harmonics. A strong localization of the electron spike, its robustness to oscillations imposed by the laser field and, consequently, its ability to produce high-order harmonics is explained by catastrophe theory. The proposed mechanism explains the experimental observations of high-order harmonics with the 9 TW J-KAREN laser (JAEA, Japan) and the 120 TW Astra Gemini laser (CLF RAL, UK) [A. S. Pirozhkov, et al., arXiv:1004.4514 (2010); A. S. Pirozhkov et al, AIP Proceedings, this volume]. The theory is corroborated by high-resolution two-and three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.


Lithospermum officinale was used traditionally as a remedy in diseases of the urogenital tract and as a spasmolytic, antidiarrhoeal, diuretic and lithotriptic, anti-gout, antitoxic, antiovulatory, febrifuge, for the stimulation of the digestion, for the elimination of foreign objects from the eyes and for the treatment of smallpox, measles and as antipruritic. Lithospermum officinale contained fatty acids, proteins, carbohydrates, pigments, minerals, shikonin, shikalkin, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, lavonoids and many other biologically active ingredients. The pharmacological studies revealed that it possessed endocrine, anticancer, burns healing, antimicrobial and antiparasitic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and protective effects. The current review discussed the traditional uses, chemical constituents and pharmacological and therapeutic effects of Lithospermum officinale.


Small crack kinking in functionally graded materials (FGMs) subjected to a constant initial strain resulting from stress relaxation is studied. The FGMs are modeled as simply nonhomogeneous materials; that is, the effect of microstructure is neglected and the material property variation is considered to be continuous. The material gradation in the FGMs is taken to be of a power-law type. Systematic finite element calculations are made for the energy release rate of the crack. With regard to the local homogeneity, the toughness is taken to be independent of direction; therefore, the crack propagates along the direction of the maximum energy release rate. It is shown that the crack length and the thickness of the surface zone subjected to the initial strain have a strong effect on the kink direction, whereas the material gradients have little effect.


Modern society relies very much on readily available cooling. Magnetic refrigeration based on the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) has become a promising competitive technology for the conventional gas-compression/expansion technique in use today. The magnetocaloric effect is the change in temperature of a material as a result of the alignment of its magnetic spins that occurs on exposure to an external magnetic field. The phenomenon forms the basis for magnetic refrigeration. Since the 1930s magnetic refrigeration has been a standard technique in lowtemperature physics. In 1976 Brown constructed the first magnetic refrigerator to work at room temperature. Subsequently a number of patents describing such refrigerators were registered. In this seminar the history of discovery and use, the theoretical basics of the phenomenon and the current state of the development for room-temperature applications is described.


: Area ~~T ~~~~t': ~-~~?~-'.~,~I~~t~I~~~3.. ~ .:; . been in apparent good health but while on a trip in Mexico he developed tonsillitis, ear infection, abdominal pain and vomiting. He was treated with aspirin and sulfisoxazole. Two days later he experienced the sudden onset of an itchy rash of the knees and lower legs. The rash gradually spread to involve the entire legs and buttocks. Two days after that he complained of pain in the knees and refused to walk. There was no


This paper analyzed the current situation of health examination and reflected on the ways of carrying out health education in the process of health examination. The paper analyzed five problems of carrying out health education in the process of health examination and put forward the countermeasures for every problem in order to arouse people's attention to health examination and im- prove their understanding of health education.

Key words:
Health examination;  Health education;  Problem;  Countermeasure


The main issue of this article is justifying of the civil liability effects on possession and ownership of the immovable ownership. There are three essential elements to fulfill this civil liability in the ownership and possession of the immovable properties which are as follow: The loss, the harmful acts and the causality relationship. Civil liability among all the other liabilities concerning the harmful acts is investigated under the other liability acts. According to the permission given to the civil law by the people, it can prefer the society interests over individuals ones whenever it is incompatible with its interests and plan and perform according to two people"s social rights. Although this type of thinking is not applicable nowadays, it is believed that every loss should be recompensed and the decision to recompense according to the law of "without loss" should be perused in its best way. The purpose here is not to exempt the government from all the civil liability and the importance of its loss compensation. The aim of this article to some extent is to clarify the bases and principles of the civil liability. Of course talking about the civil liability requires its own different dimensions. Issues such as contractual and non-contractual responsibilities, the denying or limiting responsibilities, disintegration of responsibility requirements or intervention causes or the other causes of loss and other forms of


Three cases of disputed paternity in dogs are reported. An identification or exclusion of a sire was possible in all families with the help of genetic markers. Attention is drawn to the lack of communication between dog-breeders, veterinarians and medico-biological research workers all of whom would benefit from an intensified co-operation in the field of dog genetics.


Decoupling of equations for the diagonal and nondiagonal elements of the density matrix of laser radiation is used in an analysis of the interaction of the radiation field with an active medium. An algorithm for the calculation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors is proposed for the diagonal elements describing the radiation field statistics. The first minimal (in respect of the magnitude) eigenvalues are calculated and nonequilibrium distribution functions are found for the dynamics of a transition from a vacuum to an equilibrium state; the results agree well with those obtained in machine (numerical) experiments. The equations for the nondiagonal elements of the density matrix are used to find the characteristic times of changes in these elements and to determine the emission line width.


Purpose - This paper aims to investigate how sell-side analysts form expectations on, analyse, and communicate the effects of corporate acquisitions. Design/methodology/approach - The paper reports on case studies of three listed firms who are frequent acquirers. The case data comprise semi-structured interviews and content analysis of analyst reports and corporate reports. Findings - The paper reports three sets of findings. First, the analysts viewed acquisitions as heterogeneous events and, therefore, also treated acquisitions differently depending on factors such as size and acquisition strategy and the perceived "authenticity" of the acquisition (i.e. whether parts of the acquisition would be more accurately described as organic growth and regular capital expenditure (CAPEX) investments). Second, the authors find that analysts struggle with analysing the effects of acquisitions at the announcement date because of a mismatch between the analysts' need of and the analysts' access to relevant information. Although clients demand evaluations of announced acquisitions, relevant accounting information is not published until much later and the information at hand only allows for cursory analyses. Finally, the authors find that the analysts' valuation models were too inflexible to fully incorporate the effects of the acquisition. In sum, the analysts, therefore, developed acquisition-driven investment cases without supporting accounting information and without converting expected acquisitions into forecasts. Originality/value - By adopting a qualitative case study research design, the paper contributes to the ongoing efforts to open the "black-box" of sell-side analyst behaviour. In particular, the unique research design focusses on effects related to specific corporate events (acquisitions) rather than analysts' everyday work.


This review includes a comparison of selected characteristics of light and electron microscope; an introduction of transmission and scanning electron microscope and their sample preparation methods. Hopefully that electron microscopic techniques will be widely applied in horticultural researches.


Multilabel classification is an important problem in a wide range of domains such as text categorization and music annotation. In this paper, we present a probabilistic model, Multilabel Logistic Regression with Hidden variables (MLRH), which extends the standard logistic regression by introducing hidden variables. Hidden variables make it possible to go beyond the conventional multiclass logistic regression by relaxing the one-hot-encoding constraint. We define a new joint distribution of labels and hidden variables which enables us to obtain one classifier for multilabel classification. Our experimental studies on a set of benchmark datasets demonstrate that the probabilistic model can achieve competitive performance compared with other multilabel learning algorithms.


The paper considers the features of modern automation control system designs in terms of the coal preparation plant «Matyushinskaya» (Prokopyevsk). The functional and technical structure of the factory is described. The used basic software, as well as designed dataware of coal preparation plant is presented.


10529Background: PM sites (nasopharynx/nasal cavity, the middle ear, the paranasal sinuses, and the infratemporal fossa/pterygopalatine space) are considered as unfavorable factor in RMS. Due to th...


The study utilizes social network theories to examine the impact of mobile social capital on IT usage. We propose that mobile social capital is embedded within user-IT artifact interaction, thus di...


Kernel nonnegative matrix factorization (KNMF) is an extension of NMF designed to capture nonlinear dependence features in data matrix through kernel functions. In KNMF, the size of the kernel matrices is closely associated with the input data matrix, of which the calculation consumes a large amount of memory and computing resource. When applied on large-scale hyperspectral data, KNMF often meets the bottleneck of memory and may cause the overflow of memory. And when dealing with dynamically acquired data, KNMF requires recomputation of the whole data set when newly acquired data arrived, which produces huge memory and computing resource requirements. To reduce the usage of memory and improve the computational efficiency when applying KNMF on large scale and dynamic hyperspectral data, we extend KNMF by introducing partition matrix theory and considering the relationships among dividing blocks. The decomposition results of hyperspectral data are derived from much smaller scale matrices containing the formerly achieved results and the newly data blocks incrementally. In this paper, we propose an incremental KNMF (IKNMF) to reduce the computing requirements for large-scale data in hyperspectral unmixing. An improved IKNMF (IIKNMF) is also proposed to further improve the abundance results of IKNMF. Experiments are conducted on both synthetic and real hyperspectral data sets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed methods can effectively save memory resources without degrading the unmixing performance and the proposed IIKNMF can achieve better abundance results than IKNMF and KNMF.


Trigeminal neuralgia, also called tic douloureux, causes extreme, sporadic, sudden burning or shock-like face pain that lasts from few seconds to several minutes and can be physically and mentally incapacitating. Most cases are still referred to as idiopathic, although many are associated with vascular compression of the trigeminal nerve. A minority of cases are symptomatic to other diseases. The aim of this review is to show rare causes of trigeminal neuralgia described so far in the medical literature.


The Woodford Shale and Barnett Shale have emerged as prolific gas plays in the US midcontinent. However, the intrinsically low permeability of these gas shales hinders profitable pro-duction unless horizontal well drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing are employed. The success of these operations depends on accurate de-terminations of the anisotropic elastic and poroelastic properties of these shale formations.


The cerebrovasculature plays an essential role in neurovascular and homeostatic functions in health and disease conditions. Many efforts have been made for developing vascular thrombosis methods to study vascular dysfunction in vivo, while technical challenges remain, such as accuracy and depth-selectivity to target single vessel in the cerebral cortex. Herein, we first demonstrates the evaluation and quantification of the feasibility and effects of Rose Bengal (RB)-induced photothrombosis with 720-1070 nm ultrafast lasers in raster scan. A flexible and reproducible approach is then proposed to employ a 1070 nm ultrafast laser with spiral scan for producing RB-induced occlusion, which is described as precision ultrafast laser-induced photothrombosis (PLP). Combine with two-photon microscopy imaging, this PLP displays highly precise and fast occlusion induction of various vessel types, sizes, and depths, which enhances the precision and power of the photothrombosis protocol. Overall, the PLP method provides a real-time, practical, precise, and depth-selected single-vessel photothrombosis technology in cerebral cortex with commercially available optical equipment, which is crucial for exploring brain vascular function with high spatial temporal resolution in brain.


Spectrometers for Earth Observation require inflight radiometric calibration, for which the sun can be used as a known reference. For wide field instruments, a diffuser is placed in front of the spectrometer, scattering incoming sun light into the entrance slit and ensuring a homogenous illumination. As drawback, the diffuser induces a specific radiometric error caused by interference, which is called Spectral Features. The scattering of the incident light at the diffuser induces a random path difference yielding a specific interference pattern at the entrance slit, known as speckle pattern. These speckles are propagated through the disperser to the detector plane and further integrated by the detector pixels. The resulting feature can yield a significant signal error contribution, whose spectral variation is referred to as spectral features. The magnitude of this error is evaluated in terms of the Spectral Features Amplitude (SFA), the ratio of the signal standard deviation with its mean value over a specific wavelength range. There have been several ways implemented to measure the SFA of a spectrometer, e.g. end-to-end measurements with representative instruments. Typically the measurement accuracy is not sufficient to isolate the SFA from other radiometric errors. As a consequence, the instrument layout can hardly be optimized to suppress Spectral Features. We propose a novel characterization technique for Spectral Features based on the direct acquisition of monochromatic speckle patterns at the entrance slit. This allows the observation of Spectral Features below the level of the spectrometer spectral and spatial resolution. The Spectral Features are derived from various observed speckle patterns by properly mimicking the real spectrometer in the data analysis. With this measurement technique we are able to gain insight into the mechanism behind speckle induced Spectral Features. This insight will be used to develop a parameterized model facilitating the design of future space based spectrometers.


out that when someone of the stature of Ms. Callwood contetlnpl:uouSJIV dismisses of racism in the manner she as well as """.tJg .... ,, abusive to a Black woman; such behaviour license for individuals such as that caller to do what he did. its. frivolous treatment of the with the Globe's treatment of this incident in its editorial 'PEN Pals' pr()blE~m. It that Ms. Callwood was torme:nted, mation on the excuse her response pr()tel§telrs was sufficient to nr/,ur\!($3 to Jfuck


The effect of different parameters on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator with two phase flow is investigated by three-dimensional numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. The basic parameters contain the dimension of generator, void fraction, magnetic field intensity, inlet velocity, load factor and mixture of fluid. The results show when the load factor is 0.5, the electric power output becomes largest. The power output increases with the increasing of magnetic field intensity, inlet velocity and the electrical conductivity of mixture fluid, and it decreases while the void fraction increasing. Moreover, the results show also that the larger the size of the MHD generation channel, the greater the output power is, but the generator efficiency for a smaller channel is greater than that of larger channel because of velocity in the sidewall boundary layer developed rapidly and electric current gathered.


According to a recent report from the United States of America published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists could prove with certainty which person was the source of an HIV infection. However, international experts have disputed the claim.


The middle reach of Heihe River in Gansu Province is faced with serious problem of soil salinization.It is necessary to study the content of salt and the correlation among the soluble ions in salted soils further.Based on the field observation and the GPS technology,the salted soil and the groundwater samples were taken along the Heihe River in Gaotai County,Zhangye District.This study adopted the pit prospecting method.In each pit,the groundwater level was disclosed.Within 5 cm from the surface and when soil particle changed at the vertical profile,the samples were taken.If one single soil layer was more than 50 cm,the samples were taken at 30 cm intervals.After the groundwater reached to the static level,the groundwater samples were taken.The total pits,groundwater samples and the soil samples are 15,15 and 90,respectively.The analysis results of the contents of salt and ions show that the surface soils are intensely salinized,and the primary compound is sulphate,the secondary is chloride.The depth of salt accumulation layer is about 20-30 cm from the surface.In most of layers,the total salt content has strong correlation with sulfate ion,summation of potassium ion and sodium ion,chloride ion and magnesium ion,as well sulfate ion and chloride ion has strong correlation with summation of potassium and sodium ions,whereas on layer of 90-100 cm,each type of correlation attenuated.On the vertical soil profile,the layer with fine particles has higher salt content and the layer with coarse particles has lower salt content.Furthermore,the layers with coarse particles are thicker,the surface salinization is less intense,and the layers with fine particles are thicker,the surface salinization is more intense.


The present invention discloses a method for preparing aqueous coating and fluorocarbon. The aqueous coating formulation of the material comprising the fluorocarbon mass percentages of components: an aqueous emulsion of fluorocarbon 16.0 to 51.0%, hydroxyethyl cellulose 1.2 - 3.2% 10.7 - 19.0% inorganic pigment, filler 17.2 ~ 31.2%, the ozone resistance agent, 3.0 to 5.0% of wetting and dispersing agent, 0.5 to 2.2%, 0.4% to 0.9% multifunctional additives, 0.2 to 0.6% antifoaming agent, 0.2 to 3.3% thickening agent, 0.4 to 4.0% biocide, co-deposition agent, from 0.5 to 2.9%, 0.8 to 4.0% of antifreeze and water 13.9 - 19.9%. The aqueous coating material of the present invention having fluorocarbon ozone resistance, excellent water resistance and other properties, with a very broad market prospect.


books it includes non-German works. Horst might have included George Wilson's Corporate Human .Activity and Divine .Assistance in the Process of InfalUble Definition: The Leading Dominican Theologians from 1450 to 1650 (unpublished dissertation at the Pontifical Gregorian University, 1963). F. X. Bantle is misspelled in most places as F. X. Bantele. This work is an important contribution. In unfolding the past, it unlocks future possibilities of a more developed teaching on infallibility.


A differential feature of this work was the use of a type of glass that is little used as fine aggregate in concrete – flat glass powder. This study involved an analysis of the influence of the incorporation of waste glass from the grinding and polishing operations of the glass heat treatment process on the void content, water absorption (W/A) and specific gravity of Portland cement concrete. The coarse and fine aggregates used here were crushed stone and sand, respectively. The concrete was produced using 5%, 10% and 20% of waste glass in place of sand, and water-to-cement (w/c) ratios of 0.50, 0.55 and 0.58. The test specimens were cured for 28 days. The results indicated a reduction in the void content when the percentage of waste glass increased to w/c ratios of 0.55 and 0.58. The reduction of the void content reduced the concrete's W/A and increased its specific gravity. The waste glass used in this study shows a promising potential for use as fine aggregate in Portland cement concrete. However, other variables must be taken into consideration in the subsequent publications.


This study aims to measure and to analyze the characteristics of thermal environment of the various permeable pavement materials such as a break stone pavement (Green block cubic), soil protection pavement (Soil tector), soil cement pavement and ceramic brick pavement under the summer outdoor environment. The thermal environment characteristics measured in the study includes the changes of surface temperature during the day, and long and short wave radiation of each pavement surface. The experimental condition is based on the data on the hottest temperature (August 9, 2006, ) of the year. The albedo was the highest on the break stone pavement(0.8) from 12:00 to 14:00. The albedo of the ceramic brick pavement, a soil tector pavement and soil cement pavement were 0.35, 0.29 and 0.27 from 12:00 to 14:00, respectively. The peak surface temperature and long wave radiation was the highest on the soil protection pavements(/627 W/). The peak surface temperatures and long wave radiation on the ceramic brick pavement, a stone brick pavement and soil cement pavement were /627 W/, /607 W/ and /582 W/, respectively. The heat environment was better on the break stone pavement than on the other pavements. This is mainly due to the high albedo of the break stone pavement(0.8) while the albedo value of a ceramic brick pavement, a soil tactor pavement and soil cement pavement were 0.35. 0.29 and 0.27. Large heat capacity() of the stone brick pavements also contributes to this difference. The heat environment was better on the soil cement pavement than the soil tector pavement. This is mainly due to the evaporation of the soil cement pavement while the active evaporation of the soil tactor pavement was not continued after two days from the rainfall event. To improve the thermal environments in the urban area, it is recommended to raise the albedo of the pavements by brightening the surface color of the pavement materials. Further studies on the pavement materials and the construction methods which can enhance the continuous evapotranspiration from the pavements surface are needed.


With over 70 million living outside the island of Ireland, the Irish are today one of the largest diaspora communities in the world. Their influence on contemporary Ireland can hardly be overstated: central to topical facts and fictions, the Irish diaspora prompts questions on a variety of aspects to which the 9th issue of Studi Irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies is dedicated. Aiming for a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, the present call encourages contributions that engage with, reflect on and give prominence to narratives of homeland from "the diverse array of people throughout the world for whom Ireland is a place of origin".


The utilization of pre-harvest conditions as crop management tools to control post-harvest weight (water) loss had been studied. Studies on two model crops i.e. leek and pak choi had shown some promising uses of these production conditions in regulating weight loss from harvested leafy vegetable. Pre-harvest conditions such as environmental (temperature and light) and cultural (mineral nutrition, density of planting, salinity and irrigation) had been investigated. Water retention during storage was improved in pseudostems from leeks grown with adequate water supply, high light level, lower temperatures and K supplement in the growing media. Pseudostems from salinized plants conserved more water than non-salinized plants and leeks grown at 35 plants m־² retained water better than the other three plant densities (17.5, 22 and 44 plants mm־²). There were significant (p<0.001) interactions between temperature, salinity and water stress and cultivars on water loss from shoots of pak choi with shoots produced at 25°C, moderate salinity and water stressed being more resistant to water loss.


One of the potential products that the Thousand Islands have as a maritime destination north of Jakarta is its seaweed products, of the highest quality and a mainstay of seaweed exports in Indonesia. Basically, not a few of the MSMEs in the Thousand Islands already have production permits, business licenses


Chronic pyothorax with bronchopleural fistula and thoracic malignant lymphoma was successfully treated by omental pedicle flap and chest wall muscles. A 61-year-old man who had had an episode of pulmonary tuberculosis treated with artificial pneumothorax 37 years ago was admitted with chronic empyema. After tube drainage, open thoracotomy was performed. A soft tumor on the empyema cavity wall was biopsied and found to be a B cell malignant lymphoma. Following after the tumor had disappeared (CR) the chemotherapy (VEPA-B), muscle and omental flap closure of the empyema space and thoracoplasty were performed. The omental flap was pulled into the empyema cavity and fixed over the bronchopleural fistula. The patient is alive eight months after surgery.


The invention discloses a rim waterproof system, which comprises a first annular closed-loop water chute arranged in a sidewall of a rim. The first water chute is used for preventing water from flowing into an inner ring of the rim. According to the rim waterproof system, the first annular closed-loop water chute, which is arranged in the sidewall of the rim, is capable of leading water flowing or dripping down from a surface of a tire or an internal surface of a wheel casing away from the rim and preventing water from flowing into the inner ring of the rim. Such a waterproof structure has a good waterproof effect.


We read the comment by Dr. Mormile (1) and thank her for sharing her insight about a potential role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in glucose and skeletal metabolism. Our study did not look into the underlying mechanisms, which are a subject of warranted future research. miR-146a deregulation, besides being linked to bone (2) and potentially to diabetes (3 …


The aim of this study was isolation, identification and characterisation of lactic acid bacterial strains from soy yoghurt. Four soy yoghurt samples were prepared. Sample A consisted of 100% soy milk, sample B consisted soymilk and 1.5% skim milk, sample C consisted soymilk and 3% skim milk and sample D consisted soy milk and 4.5% skim milk using starter culture Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. The sample A had pH 5.37 ± 0.1 which was statistically insignificant with sample C (5.38±0.1) and sample D (5.4±0.02). The pH of sample B (5.43±0.1) was statistically significant with sample A but statistically insignificant with sample C and D. The water holding capacity of sample A (28.53±0.4), sample B (24.51±0.01), sample C (27.39± 0.20) and sample D (30.11± 0.01) were statistically significant. It was observed that bacteria isolated from sample A, sample B and sample C were creamish white in colour while as bacteria isolated from sample D were yellowish in colour. Catalase test was negative whereas oxidase test was positive. Gram staining detected that isolated bacteria were Gram positive. The glucose fermentation test was positive. NaCl tolerance test showed that isolated lactic acid bacteria were able to tolerate 10% and 15% NaCl solution.


Food consumption trends change continuously. A noticeable trend in Sweden and the western world is consumers' need for knowledge about the food they consume and where it originates from. Moreover, ...


CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFTing (CABG), aided by a heartlung machine to pump blood while the heart is temporarily immobilized, is one of the great medical advances of the 20th century. But some researchers are saying bypass surgery without such mechanical assistance may be even better in terms of reduced morbidity and cost. The heart-lung machine, which provides the cardiac surgeon with a stable and bloodless environment in which to operate, is currently used for about 77% of all heart bypass cases. But there is morbidity associated with "on-pump" CABG, including heart damage, stroke, and wound infection. As an alternative, some surgeons are performing "off-pump" CABG, in which a stabilizing device is used on the beating heart, allowing the surgeon to work without any need for the heart-lung machine. Advocates for off-pump CABG argue that it costs less than on-pump CABG and may be better tolerated by patients, as evidenced by shorter lengths of stay in the hospital. However, critics counter that subsequent revascularization rates may be higher for those undergoing off-pump CABG, nullifying the benefits of cost and patient satisfaction because the procedure may have to be repeated.


This article will focus primarily on how the adaption-process into a Danish environment has provided a local śākta-cult from Sri Lanka with a special narrative, and with symbols and text that it, most likely, would not have had if it were still in Sri Lanka. This is important with regards to understanding religion as a dynamic phenomenon, but also in relation to understanding how a tradition not only survives in a new setting but also expands in new environments.


Summary: Gall-inducers are a special guild of endophytic herbivores generating distinct structures known as galls. Gallers are species-specific, as the galls they induce: each gall morphotype is unique. The relationship between plants and gallers is close, and some of the hypotheses to explain galling diversity consider plants directly; others do not. Here I review current diversity hypotheses on galls and their hosts, adding ideas on the interpretation of galler host plant data. The example comes from an ongoing standardised inventory of galls and hosts in Rio Grande do Sul (RS) state, southern Brazil. The questions addressed here are whether: a) galls occur consistently on some plant taxa in different areas, b) these taxa are important for vegetation composition, and c) taxon size influences galling richness. Families harbouring more gallers are usually the same throughout the Neotropics (Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, and in RS, Asteraceae), which is not unexpected as these are important components of vegetation. Larger plant families have more galls, a pattern driven by Asteraceae. At lower taxonomic levels, the dominance of a few taxa in galler richness («super-hosts») is higher. Mikania and Eugenia, for example, hold much more galls than others in the RS survey. Resumo: Diversidade de plantas e diversidade de artropodes galhadores. procurando padroes taxonomicos numa interacao animal-planta nos Neotropicos. Os galhadores sao uma guilda especial de herbivoros endofiticos geradores de estruturas distintas, as galhas. Galhadores sao especie-especificos, como as galhas que induzem: cada morfotipo de galha e unico. A relacao entre plantas e galhadores e estreita; algumas das hipoteses para explicar a diversidade de galhadores consideram as plantas diretamente; outras nao. Aqui sao revistas as correntes hipoteses sobre a diversidade de galhadores e suas hospedeiras, adicionando ideias sobre a interpretacao de dados dos hospedeiros. Os exemplos advem de um inventario de galhas no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS), sul do Brasil. As questoes aqui sao: a) as galhas ocorrem consistentemente em alguns taxons de planta em diferentes areas?, b) esses taxons sao importantes para a composicao da vegetacao?, e c) o tamanho do taxon influencia a riqueza de seus galhadores? Familias apresentando mais galhadores sao usualmente as mesmas nos Neotropicos (Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, e, no RS, Asteraceae), o que e esperado uma vez que sao importantes componentes da vegetacao. Familias de planta maiores possuem mais galhas, padrao influenciado por Asteraceae. Em niveis taxonomicos baixos a dominância de poucos taxons em riqueza de galhadores («super-hosts») e maior. Mikania e Eugenia, por exemplo, tem mais galhas que outros generos no inventario do RS. Palavras-chave: galha, riqueza de especies, hipotese do tamanho do taxon de planta, Fabaceae, Myrtaceae, Asteraceae.


With the development of computer technology, computer graphics technology has been widely used. Especially, the success of object-oriented technology and multimedia technology promotes the development of graphics technology in the computer software system. Therefore, the computer graphics theory and application technology have become an important topic in the field of computer, while the computer graphics technology becomes more and more extensive in various fields of application. In recent years, with the development of social economy, especially the rapid development of information technology, the traditional way of communication resource management cannot effectively meet the needs of resource management. In this case, the current communication resource management is still using the original management tools and management methods, resource management equipment management and maintenance, which brought a lot of problems. It is very difficult for non-professionals to understand the equipment and the sit...


In writing of children's escapades, the author's keen and ready wit coupled with an overflowing love for youngsters produces a group of whimsical poems that are a joy to read. The words are chosen with a sense of their actual as well as their rhythmical value. The final portion of poetry, "Gardens," will be a favorite of all flower-lovers. With delicate artistry the author takes the reader by the hand to see the splendors of sunflowers; to feel uplifted by the beauty of a friend's garden; and to share thoughts of love and hope. These poems are written by one who has remained close to God through all the experiences of birth and death, pain and beauty. In this complex world Mrs. Carver maintains a refreshing delight in simple things which makes this book one to be enjoyed again and again. Mrs. Theron D. Price


Ideal accountant image in Rēzekne found, in author research process are establishing main characteristics of accountant and characterizing his functions and skills. Found accountant pleasure providing the necessary work circumstances. Analyzing motivation factors and ethics norms of accountant works and professionalism of modern accountant.


Abstract: The present paper examined the pattern of employment and emoluments in manufacturing industries of Punjab. From the basis of primary survey, it can be concluded that the workers play an important role in small scale units, but 'supervisors and managerial staff ' plays the crucial role in the large/medium scale units, relatively to run the modern industry. Further, it is also concluded that there were relatively better 'wages and salaries' and other benefits available for the employees in large/medium scale units than that of small scale units. On the basis of this study it can be said that the Government and other financial institutions should provide help to the small scale industries of Punjab in the form of subsidy on input cost, exemption from tax, etc. It will help in increasing their profitability and would further boost up the employment of workers in such units as these are the labour intensive units. Here again the Government and its agencies should come forward not only to provide financial help but also training to the manpower to handle the machinery with new technology. Moreover, the government should provide the social security to labour by reducing the hire and fire practice.


This study investigated the effects of fetal treatment with dexamethasone on ovine fetal cardiovascular defence responses to acute hypoxaemia, occurring either during or 48 h following the period of glucocorticoid exposure. To address the mechanisms underlying these responses, chemoreflex function and plasma concentrations of catecholamines, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and vasopressin were measured. Under general halothane anaesthesia, 26 Welsh Mountain sheep fetuses were surgically prepared for long‐term recording at between 117 and 120 days of gestation (dGA; term is ∼145 days) with vascular catheters and a Transonic flow probe around a femoral artery. Following at least 5 days of recovery, fetuses were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups. After 48 h of baseline recording, at 125 ± 1 dGA, half of the fetuses (n= 13) were continuously infused i.v. with dexamethasone for 48 h at a rate of 2.06 ± 0.13 μg kg−1 h−1. The remaining 13 fetuses were infused with heparinized saline at the same rate (controls). At 127 ± 1 dGA, 2 days from the onset of infusions, seven fetuses from each group were subjected to 1 h of acute hypoxaemia. At 129 ± 1 dGA, 2 days after the end of infusions, six fetuses from each group were subjected to 1 h of acute hypoxaemia. Similar reductions in fetal partial pressure of arterial oxygen occurred in control and dexamethasone‐treated fetuses during the acute hypoxaemia protocols. In control fetuses, acute hypoxaemia led to transient bradycardia, femoral vasoconstriction and significant increases in plasma concentrations of catecholamines, vasopressin and NPY. In fetuses subjected to acute hypoxaemia during dexamethasone treatment, the increase in plasma NPY was enhanced, the bradycardic response was prolonged, and the plasma catecholamine and vasopressin responses were diminished. In fetuses subjected to acute hypoxaemia 48 h following dexamethasone treatment, femoral vasoconstriction and plasma catecholamine and vasopressin responses were enhanced, whilst the prolonged bradycardia and augmented plasma NPY responses persisted. These data show that fetal treatment with dexamethasone modifies the pattern and magnitude of fetal cardiovascular responses to acute oxygen deprivation. Modifications to different mechanisms mediating the fetal defence responses to acute hypoxaemia that occur during dexamethasone treatment may reverse, persist or even become enhanced by 48 h following the treatment period.


A theoretical vapor pressure equation of the form logP+(3⁄2)logT=a+b⁄T for a diatomic molecule was applied to carbon monoxide in condensed phases. The two parameters in the equation determined from experimental vapor pressure data were used to obtain values of the static lattice energy E0, the zero point energy Ez, the geometric mean frequency ωg and the mean frequency of molecular rotation ωR in the respective phases by the information of lattice vibrations at low temperatures. From the mean values of molecular rotation frequencies, the hights of the potential barrier for hindered rotations were estimated to be 360, 230±10 and 110 cal/mol respectively.


The kinetics of oxidative decolorization of acid orange 10 (AO10) by chloramine-B and bromamine-B in HClO4 medium has been investigated spectrophotometrically (λmax = 475 nm) at 298 K. Kinetic runs were performed under pseudo first-order conditions of [oxidant]o >> [AO10]o. Under identical experimental conditions, reactions with both the oxidants follow identical kinetics with a first-order dependence on each [oxidant]o and [AO10] and a fractional-order dependence on [HClO4]. Stoichiometry of the reaction was found to be 1:1 and the oxidation products were identified. The reaction was studied at different temperatures and various activation parameters have been computed. Effects of p-toluenesulfonamide, halide ions, ionic strength and dielectric constant of the medium have been investigated. Reaction mixture fails to induce polymerization of acrylonitrile. The rate of oxidation of AO10 is about two-fold faster with BAB as compared to CAB. This may be attributed to the difference in electrophilicities of Cl+ and Br+ ions and also the van der Waal's radii of chlorine and bromine. Plausible mechanism and related rate law have been deliberated for the observed kinetics.


154 The Irish Diaspora transformed the Atlantic World, as migrating Irish men and women repositioned themselves in their new communities. The volume's final section examines the role of the Irish in receiving communities both within and outside of the Empire. In "The 'Quadripartite Concern' of St. Croix: An Irish Catholic Experiment in the Danish West Indies," Orla Power examines the influence of Irish Catholic planters in Montserrat who repositioned themselves in the Danish colony in St. Croix. By re-establishing themselves in St. Croix, the Irish venture took advantage of cheap lands and access to Spanish, French, and Danish markets, while retaining access to British colonies on the mainland and the West Indies. Likewise, Richard K. MacMaster's study, "From Ulster to the Carolinas: John Torrans, John Greg, John Poaug, and Bounty Emigration, 1761–1768" demonstrates the activities of a network of Northern Irish Protestant families settling in South Carolina. As MacMaster demonstrates, the alliance was active not only in the Carolinas but also in the West Indies, where they found opportunities in frontier outposts. As both Power and MacMaster show, regardless of their religious affiliation, these Irish immigrants were adroit at piecing together networks and re-establishing them in colonial outposts to great advantage. In embracing the paradigm of the Atlantic World, the volume explores both the impact that the Irish had on the Atlantic World, and the influence that the region had on Ireland itself. While the collection of essays—is might be expected—as at times unwieldy, it manages to provide the reader with a wide interdisciplinary offering of current scholarship concerned with the book's theme. By throwing off the narrow context of British subjugation of Ireland, the contributors are able to explore how other parts of the Atlantic World changed Ireland, while also demonstrating how Ireland changed not only those parts of the global region that were within the Empire, but also those on its frontier or even under the rule of foreign rule. The Irish in the Atlantic World expands both our view of Atlantic History, as well as our knowledge of Ireland itself.


The purpose of our study was to investigate the value of diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW‐MRI) to discriminate benign and malignant focal lesions of the liver using parallel imaging technique. A total of 77 patients and 65 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. DW‐MRI was performed with b‐factors of 0, 500 and 1000 s/mm2, and the apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) values of the normal liver and the lesions were calculated. The mean ADC value of the focal liver lesions were as follows: simple cysts (3.16 ± 0.18 × 10−3 mm2/s), hydatid cysts (2.58 ± 0.53 × 10−3 mm2/s), hemangiomas (1.97 ± 0.49 × 10−3 mm2/s), metastases (1.14 ± 0.41 × 10−3 mm2/s) and hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) (1.15 ± 0.36 × 10−3 mm2/s). The mean ADC values of all the disease groups were statistically significant when compared with the mean ADC value of the normal liver (1.56 ± 0.14 × 10−3 mm2/s), (P < 0.01). There were also statistically significant differences among the ADC values of hemangiomas and HCC metastases (P < 0.01), and simple and hydatid cysts (P < 0.008). However, there was no statistically significant difference between HCC and metastases. The present study showed that ADC measurement has the potential to differentiate benign and malignant focal hepatic lesions. We propose to add DW sequence in the MR protocol for the detection and quantitative discrimination of hepatic pathologies.


The effects of TiB 2 content on properties of TiB 2 /Cu composite are studied . The results indicate that the hardness and strength of TiB 2 /Cu composite is increased while the conductivity is reduced with the increase of TiB 2 content, but the strength of TiB 2 /Cu composite is decreased after TiB 2 content is 2.0%, and the softening temperature is kept at 900℃.


Background: Surgical site complications (SSCs) are an important source of morbidity after kidney transplantation. We assessed the incidence, risk factors, outcomes and economic impact of SSCs in a large, diverse population of kidney transplant recipients. Methods: We conducted a single-centre, observational cohort study of adult (age ≥ 18 yr) patients who underwent kidney transplantation between Jan. 1, 2005, and Dec. 31, 2015, with a minimum of 1 year of follow-up. Cases of SSC, including infections and wound dehiscence, were determined from patient records. Inpatient and outpatient hospital costs were determined 6 and 12 months after transplantation. We used the Kaplan–Meier product-limit method to determine the cumulative probability of SSCs and other outcomes. We evaluated risk factors and clinical outcomes using Cox proportional hazard ratios. Linear regression models were used to study the effect of SSCs on graft function. Results: The incidence rate of SSCs within 30 days after transplantation was 4.19 per 100 person-months. The cumulative probability of developing an SSC within 30 days after transplantation was 4.13% (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.23%–5.28%). Increased recipient body mass index (BMI) (hazard ratio [HR] 1.07, 95% CI 1.02–1.11), longer cold ischemic time (HR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01–1.09) and transplantation in 2010–2012 versus 2005–2009 (HR 2.20, 95% CI 1.19–4.04) were risk factors for SSC development. In multivariable stepwise Cox proportional hazard models, SSC was a significant risk factor for death-censored graft failure (HR 3.08, 95% CI 1.60–5.90) and total graft failure (HR 2.09, 95% CI 1.32–3.32). Cumulative median hospital costs were $2238.46 greater for patients with an SSC than for those without. Conclusion: Increased BMI, longer cold ischemic time and the 2010–2012 transplantation period predisposed to SSCs. The development of SSCs was associated with a higher risk of graft failure. Strategies to minimize SSCs may improve outcomes after kidney transplantation and reduce costs.


Abstract The mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (cytb), the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2) of the rRNA gene and D2-D3 expansion segments of the 28S rRNA gene were amplified, sequenced and used to characterize several populations of potato cyst nematodes, Globodera pallida and G. rostochiensis, collected from different areas in Canada. Diagnostic PCR-ITS-RFLP profiles with three restriction enzymes are provided for identification of both species. Sequences of ITS rRNA and cytb genes were compared with those in Genbank of other potato cyst nematode populations originating from Europe, South America, USA, Australia and New Zealand. The ITS rRNA sequences of Canadian G. rostochiensis were similar to those of all previously sequenced populations of this species. Sequence divergence of ITS rRNA for G. rostochiensis varied from 0 to 1.6%, whereas for G. pallida sequence divergence among populations reached 1.95%. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis of cytb and ITS rRNA genes using Bayesian inference revealed that Canadian G. pallida is almost identical to European and USA populations and formed a large clade with all these populations on the phylogenetic trees. The present molecular result with cytb confirmed the hypothesis that there are possibly several sibling species within G. pallida. Our study also supports a previously proposed hypothesis regarding introduction of G. pallida from a restricted area in Peru, firstly into Europe with subsequent spread to other continents including North America. Our sequence analysis revealed that several newly obtained sequences cannot be translated into functional cytb protein, because point indels disrupt the reading frame. Poly(T) variation in mtDNA genes in G. pallida might be explained by post-transcriptional editing mechanisms in Globodera mitochondria as well as by errors during PCR amplification of mononucleotide repeats within these genes.


This paper focuses on the effective ways to promote the joint development of equity, benefit and quality of higher education, and proposes the viewpoint that reforming the traditional way of allocation of resources has become the demand of the times. It is pointed out that the key to solve the problem lies in the single source of funds and the framework of resource allocation has not yet incorporated the development needs and purport of local, industrial, corporate and university entities.


Comparing with other countries,the developing track of lifelong education in Britain can be characterized by its legitimacy and gradulness. To explore and analyse those characteristics will strenghthen our understanding on the concept of lifelong education,meanwhile provide valuable ingredients for us to build china's lifelong education system as well as create a learning society.


To select the most suitable membrane process to treat the final effluent discharged from the S wastewater treatment facility at P Steel Works, the effluent was passed through two types of membrane (spiral wound and disc tube) in a pilot-scale study. The permeate flux and regeneration of each membrane were comparatively observed and the removal efficiency of contaminants determined. The experimental results from employing the disc tube membrane revealed that the fouling was comparably limited by operating the plant at 34 bar recovery and was highly sustained at permeate flux of 75 % which equals to 32.9l / hr·m2. In contrast, the fouling was significantly greater when applying the spiral would membrane with the recovery correspondingly diminished at 72 %. The disc-tube membrane was chosen to treat the effluent to be recycled for process water as the water quality satisfied the industry water standards.


Infrared reflectance spectra of carefully selected Mars soil analog materials have been measured under low atmospheric pressures and temperatures. Chemically altered montmorillonites containing ferrihydrite and hydrated ferric sulfate complexes are examined, as well as synthetic ferrihydrite and a palagonitic soil from Haleakala, Maui. Reflectance spectra of these analog materials exhibit subtle visible to near-infrared features, which are indicative of nanophase ferric oxides or oxyhydroxides and are similar to features observed in the spectra of the bright regions of Mars. Infrared reflectance spectra of these analogs include hydration features due to structural OH, bound H20, and adsorbed H20. The spectral character of these hydration features is highly dependent on the sample environment and on the nature of the H20/OH in the analogs. The behavior of the hydration features near 1.9 gm, 2.2 gm, 2.7 gm, 3 gm, and 6 gm are reported here in spectra measured under a Marslike atmospheric environment. In spectra of these analogs measured under dry Earth atmospheric conditions the 1.9-gm ..band depth is 8-17%; this band is much stronger under moist conditions. Under Marslike atmospheric conditions the 1.9-gm feature is broad and barely discernible (1-3 % band depth) in spectra of the ferrihydrite and palagonitic soil samples. In comparable spectra of the ferric sulfate-bearing montmorillonite the 1.9-gm feature is also broad, but stronger (6% band depth). In the low atmospheric pressure and temperature spectra of the ferrihydrite-bearing montmorillonite this feature is sharper than the other analogs and relatively stronger (6% band depth). Although the intensity of the 3-gm band is weaker in spectra of each of the analogs when measured under Marslike conditions, the 3-gm band remains a dominant feature and is especially broad in spectra of the ferrihydrite and palagonitic soil. The structural OH features observed in these materials at 2.2-2.3 gm and 2.75 gm remain largely unaffected by the environmental conditions. A shift in the Christiansen feature towards shorter wavelengths has also been observed with decreasing atmospheric pressure and temperature in the midinfrared spectra of these samples.


Once a patient receives kidney transplant, critical attention should be paid to ensure patient's hemodynamic stability, they should be monitored for any side effects of the new medications and prevent infections that may jeopardize the renal allograft and patients' general health. Medical problems such as diabetes and hypertension that may be medical complications of transplant immunosuppression need to be managed appropriately. This chapter will go over the medical management of the kidney transplant recipient.


Yangtze River Delta is the most advanced area in China, small towns distribute densely. Since reform and opening,to the outside, small towns had speeded up,rapidly.Taking Taicang County as an example,this paper analyses the dynamic mechanism of small towns in Taicang. It will be useful to small towns' development and especially in those developed areas.


Objective:To observe the therapeutic effect of self-help suspended traction therapy in treating thoracolumbar compression fracture of elderly osteoporotic patients.Method: All 80 cases with thoracolumbar compression fracture were randomly divided into the control group(n=40) and self-help suspended traction therapy group(n= 40).The clinical effect,the Cobb angle,and the VAS values were observed.Result: The total effective rate was not different between the two groups 4 weeks after treatment(P0.05).The improvement of Cobb angle in the therapy group was better than the control group(P0.05).The VAS values of the control group were higher than the self-help suspended traction therapy group at 1 and 2 week during the therapy.Conclusion:The self-help suspended traction therapy is effective for treating thoracolumbar compression fracture of elderly osteoporotic patients.


Our environment is known with competition increasing in global economic and business strategies. The clear importance of effective management of business strategy map has become absolutely necessary. Strategy mapping represents a structured and general framework for strategic goals and plays an important role in formulating business competition and organization performance formulating. It is important to rank factors influencing strategy map and prioritize the strategies based on suitable factors. In this paper, a casual model was settled for mapping of strategic plans in Balanced Scorecard (BSC). We developed the map with integration of BSC and MCDM-DEMATEL technique to rank different business strategies for organization performance formulating. The proposed map is based on experiences of experts in real business world.


Abstract Nineteen cases of nosocomial influenza occurred at a pediatric hospital during a 5-year period. Only one of the nine children with chronic health conditions had been immunized. Length of stay was prolonged for seven children, with three intensive care unit admissions. We have now implemented strategies to decrease nosocomial influenza infection. (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2002;23:627-629).


Nowadays there is still a huge interest on the statistical concept of cointegration. Many applications of cointegration tests can be found in finance literature because markets are believed to clear quickly in the absence of regulatory impediments and also because equilibrium relationships are well established and defined.
However, the existing body of empirical work has been less than completely successful at consistently finding such equilibrium relationships and there is space for some more proposals. In this context, Granger and Siklos (1997) introduced the concept of temporary cointegration (hereafter TC) where the underlying series do not need to be cointegrated at all times. Following Granger and Siklos (1997) non-cointegration may be due to the introduction, occasionally, of another I(1) common stochastic trend, for example consequently to a new policy rule. Indeed, events or important changes in some institutional features of an economy can interrupt an underlying equilibrium relationship for an extended period of time. Hence, for some applications at least, it seems more realistic to assume that some series are cointegrated only during some periods and not at others.
In the paper by Granger and Siklos (1997) the break points that divide the series in regimes are chosen ex-ante, leaving open the issue of how to select them in the realistic hypothesis they are not known.
In this paper we propose a scheme to detect TC in the hypothesis of unknown break points, based on the Engle and Granger procedure (Engle and Granger, 1987), which is enriched by a preliminary phase of break points detection using various methods existing in literature.

Engle, R.F. and Granger, C.W.J. (1987).
Co-integration and error correction: representation, estimation and testing.
Econometrica, 55, 251-276.

Escribano, A. and Granger C.W.J. (1998).
Investigating the relationship between gold and silver prices.
Journal of Forecasting, 17, 81-107.

Granger, C.W.J. and Siklos, N. (1997).
Temporary cointegration with an application to interest rate parity
Macroeconomic Dynamics, 1, 640-657.


This paper examines to which extent the school track choice in Poland between vocational and general education can be attributed to variation of personal characteristics and to which extent to variation of the local conditions. We assume that not only a family background, but also local characteristics are important determinants of school track decisions. As we make distinction between three different types of secondary schools: basic vocational, secondary vocational, and general secondary, and we want to examine the county specific characteristics we apply a multilevel method for multinomial logistics regression to address the issue. Our results indicate that both child's characteristics such as sex and school performance and characteristics of household are related to school track decisions. We also found that there is statistically significant variation in school track choice on the county level. Local unemployment rate is statistically significant determinant of school track decision and it also explains a great variation between counties. This finding is important in the light of EU regional cohesion policy aiming at diminishing regional disparities.


lhcf4 gene full length cDNA of Saccharina japonica was cloned by using RT-PCR technique with primers designed based on Laminaria saccharina lhcf4 full length cDNA sequence(accession number:AF226860).Its ORF encoded a precursor protein containing 218 amino acids with a molecular weight of 23.11 kDa and an isoelectric point of 5.36.ORFs of lhcf4 gene and its homologs were conserved,while their UTRs were diverse according to results of similarity analysis.The predicted 3D structure of LHCF4 contained 4 α-helixes in which the first and third helix were transmembrane helices,the second one was a little shorter and embedded in the thylakoid membrane,the fourth one was a short helix on the lumenal side.Chlorophyll a binding sites and amina acid residues forming salt-bridge between the first and third helix were conserved in chromophytes,green algae and higher plants.The spatial distribution of chlorophyll a in LHCF4 protein was determined by overlapping its 3D structure with X-ray diffraction structure of pea LHC-II monomer at 2.5 resolution.The Neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree constructed by MEGA4.0 revealed three significantly different lineages from lhc genes:chromophytes,green alga and prochlorococcus,which might be have the same ancestor from cyanobacteria.Otherwise,it also revealed that lhcf4 genes of S.japonica and L.saccharina,fcpb gene of Macrocystis pyrifera were orthologs while lhcf4,lhcf1 and lhcF7 genes of L.saccharina were Paralogs.Real-time PCR results confirmed that lhcf4 gene of S.japonica differentially expressed between in female and male gametophytes.


In our country are generated millions of tons of industrial wastes annually. These wastes are stored in industrial wastes deposits which occupied the large surface of soil and also affected the environmental quality, specially the quality of groundwater and surface water. The thermoelectric power plant Turceni is designed as a basic power plant of Energetic National System, with 2310 MW installed capacity. From born process of fuel in energetic boiler results ash and slag which are exhausted through hydraulic system to two deposits: one deposit of slag and ash no.1, which is used in normally function regime, situated in Ceplea Valley at 3,3 km distance from thermoelectric power plant. Another deposit is the deposit no. 2, which is used as a reserve and damage deposit. It is known, by analyses, about the presence of chemical compounds such as: SiO2; CaO; MgO; Fe2O3; Al2O3, and also of heavy metals. In this situation, the most important factors of environment are affected. These and also possible effect of them are presented as follows. Key-Words: industrial wastes, ash and slag, water and soil pollution, heavy metals, environmental risks


Based on process optimization for synthesis of dehydrogenation linalyl acetate with dehydrolinalool,the effects of reaction temperature,reaction time,composition of raw material and catalyst on reaction were investigated.The results showed that the optimized reaction parameters were as follows:molar ratio of dehydrolinalool and acetic anhydride was 1∶1.1~1∶1.2,mass ratio of catalyst and dehydrolinalool was 0.5%~0.6%,reaction temperature was 35~40 ℃,reaction time was 2 h.Under the optimized conditions,the maximum conversion of dehydrolinalool was 98%,the selectivity of dehydrolinalyl acetate exceed 98%.


It is well known that within wafer Critical Dimension (CD) uniformity is especially affected by baking temperature variation during Post Exposure Baking (PEB) process of 193nm photolithography. To develop new baking unit for better CD uniformity, it is important to understand Dynamic Temperature CD Sensitivity (DTCS) of PEB processing at each baking process step. This paper studies the DTCS in the PEB process applying unique experimental procedures. We have added an intentional temperature tilt within wafer at particular processing time during PEB, and we have estimated DTCS from CD and temperature deviation within wafer. Using those scattered data, DTCS curves during PEB process were obtained. The high values of DTCS curve appeared just before the temperature of the wafer reaching the setting temperature of the hot plate. This fact indicates that temperature variation within wafer on this particular step has a large impact on CD uniformity. Therefore, the key to secure highly accurate CD uniformity is to improve temperature controllability within wafer on this processing period in PEB process. Based on these results, we have conducted three optimizations of bake plate for the improvement of the temperature controllability within wafer. CD uniformity was also evaluated with 193nm photoresist.


Three scientists who gained the Nobel Medicine and physiology prize in 2002 were introduced,and the molecular mechanism for programmed cell death was discussed.The relationship between programmed cell death and human disease therapy were reviewed.


Whether interested in the differential impact of a particular factor in various institutional settings or in the heterogeneous effect of policy or random experiment, the empirical researcher confronts a problem if the factor of interest is correlated with an omitted variable. This paper presents the circumstances under which it is possible to arrive at a consistent estimate of the mentioned effect. We find that if the source of heterogeneity and omitted ∗ This paper has benefited from helpful comments and suggestions of Tom Coup´e, Soiliou Namoro, Jean-Francois Richard, Peter Schmidt, and Jeffrey Wooldridge. The authors acknowledge financial support from a UCSUR Steven Manners Research Development Award (University of Pittsburgh).


A series of Ca-based novel chalcopyrite compounds have been studied by means of the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave method. In this work, we have used one of the utmost precise exchange and correlation functional of Tran-Blaha modified Becke Johnson (TB-mBJ) for the investigation of electronic as well as optical properties of Ca based chalcopyrite compounds namely, CaXY2 (X = Ge, Sn; Y = N, P, As). The computed energy bands and density of states reveals the semiconducting nature of all these studied compounds. The bandgap of CaXY2 (X = Ge, Sn; Y = N, P, As) compounds are found within the energy range 1.60–3.74 eV. The frequency dependent optical properties are investigated here, to understand the probable usage of these Ca-based chalcopyrite's in optoelectronic applications. The imaginary dielectric tensors are presented and explained in terms of inter-band transitions. The integrated absorption coefficients are calculated to interpret the absorption spectra of all studied compounds.


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Common perceptions of bourbon are often oversimplified from reality.
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Bourbon distilling is affected by the cultural and physical landscapes where it is produced.
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The expansion of craft bourbon distilling can be compared to the expansion of craft beer breweries.
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A common misconception exists that because of its historical origins bourbon must be produced in Kentucky, leading to a divergence between bourbon's actual production geographies and cultural perceptions of the product. There has been little if any research on the spatial distribution and character of the bourbon industry's expansion as it relates to historical and perceived geographies of bourbon production. Using a survey of bourbon producers nationwide and GIS analysis, we explore the locational patterns of modern bourbon distillers to determine whether and how bourbon distilleries locate in settings reminiscent of the predominant bourbon-producing regions in Kentucky and/or affiliate themselves with the history and heritage of bourbon production. Our findings indicate that, rather than environmental factors, production decisions — access to raw materials, consumer preference and availability, and an inclination toward crafting a place-based product in a time of predominant neolocalism — were overwhelming drivers in location decisions.


A detailed study conducted on the alkali soils of the Amaravathy Ayavut is reported in this paper. The study lins revealed that the main factors responsible for the gouesis of theso alkali soils are the poor drainage, topographically low lying situation and the higher water table. High correlation exists between pH and exchangeable sodium percentage in these soils. Soil pH has been suggested for their diagnosis. Application of gypsum at 2 tons/sore, with green manure at 5,000 1b./acre along with a goneral improve- ment of the drainage system have been recommended for the reclamation of the soils.


Contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography enables one to visualize the vascular system of the human body. Typically, using conventional measurement techniques, one three-dimensional volume of the vascular system can be measured during the passage of the contrast agent. More recently, medical doctors desire time-information of the blood-flow, or want to scan time-dependent phenomena. To enable this, scan-time has to be shortened. 3D-TRICKS [1] enables such scan-time reduction, however at the cost of a more complex image reconstruction. Last year [2], we introduced a new image reconstruction method incorporating prior knowledge on the time-course, i.e. a gamma-variate function, of the contrast agent through the blood-vessels. This enables improved image reconstruction compared to the method described in [1]. However, this method requires that the entire 3D volume follows the same time-behaviour as the blood in the blood-vessels, or that the non-blood-vessel contribution to the signal-strength is negligible. In in-vivo measurements this assumption appeared to be invalid. In this paper we introduce an improved version of our image reconstruction algorithm. The prior-knowledge is now assumed to be only valid inside the blood-vessels. The fitting procedure described in [2], is now only applied to the blood-vessels using segmentation. In vivo results using this new reconstruction method will be presented. Keywords— Magnetic Resonance Angiography, Contrast Agent, Time-Resolved, Image Reconstruction, Scan-Time Reduction


Ad libitum 575 Adipose tissue 581-583 Adrenal steroid eortisol 582 Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) 561,562,573,590-592 Allopregnanolone 590 AUostasTs 554,581 (X-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole(AMPA) 556,563,607 Alzheimer s disease 551-553,556 Amygdala 555,561,566,567 Angiotensinogen 583 Anpjotensin-converting enzyme 583 Annedonia 567 Animal model(s) 555,564,581,590 Antalarmin 591 Antidepressants 554,555,563,564,565,590,607 Anxiety disorders 555,561,565,582,590,592 Apoptosis 574 Area under the curve (AUC) analysis 511,617 B B| adreno receptor (B | AR) 565,566 Bj adreno receptor 565,566 Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) 592 Benzodiazepine 592 Blood-brain barrier (BBB) 574,591 Body Mass Index 581,583,585,586 Bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) 551,554,573,574,576,581,586,607,608,611 Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) 556,562,563,566-568,585 Brainstem 555,561 C Calcium calmodulin kinase II (CAMKII) 565 cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) .562,563,566,568,571 Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) 552,553 Catecholamines 568,573 Central nervous system (CNS) 554,555,556,562,573,574,607 Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) 554,555,556,574,590,591,581,586 Chemical Shift Imaging 563 Chemokines 573 Choline-containing compounds (CHO) 563 Chymase 583 Cocaine 568 Corticosterone 561,562,590,592 Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF/CRH)) 551,554,555,556,561,564,566,568, 571,573,574.577,581,582,584,586,590-593 Cortisol 554,574,576,590,607-612 Creatine/phosphocreatine (CR) 563 CP-1545452 591 Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) 564,565-567 Cytokines 554,573,574,577 D Denategyrus 566 Depression 551,554,563,564,565,568,571,581,582,584, 590,592,593 Dexamethasone 561,574,590 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual ofMentalDisorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) 581 Diazepam 568,608 Dopamine 574,586 Dyads 574 Dyslipidemia 581-584


The trajectory models of spacecraft tracked by the Deep Space Network are improved by using Range measurements. A stable acoustic time of flight in low SNR is acquired by adopting a time delay estimation method of cross correlation and auto correlation. In this article the PN sequence is first introduced, and then the commonly used m- sequence and its application for time delay measurement is summarized. Linear Feedback Shift Registers are used for the implementation of PRBS signals. In this project, the entire design of the PRBS generator and correlation technique was implemented using VHDL programming language and the simulation were done and tested on the LIBERO IDE v9.0 simulator. Simulation is made by Matlab as well as VHDL and has compared the same.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy of repeated autologous serum injections in patients with chronic autoimmune urticaria. Methods Patients of chronic autoimmune urticaria were prospectively analyzed for the efficacy of eight consecutive weekly autologous serum injections with a post-intervention follow-up of 12 weeks. Total urticaria severity score (TSS) was calculated at the baseline, at the end of treatment and lastly at the end of 12 weeks of follow-up. Response to therapy was judged by the percentage reduction in baseline TSS at the end of treatment and again at the end of 12 weeks of follow-up. Results Out of the 65 patients enrolled, 4 opted out of study after one or the first few doses. Among the rest of the 61 patients, 16.4% patients showed excellent response and 55.7% showed good to fair response to autologous serum therapy. Poor response was seen in 27.9% of the study population. Among the responders, only 15.9% [out of 72] relapsed at the end of 12 weeks of follow-up and at the end of study protocol we had 60.7% of the study population who could be labeled as completely or partially remitted with the treatment regimen. Conclusion Autologous serum therapy is an effective therapy in patients with chronic autoimmune urticaria. Better response is seen in female patients with short duration of disease.


The prescription of custom shoes by a physician can facilitate the healing of foot related problems. Manufacturing custom shoe lasts is very expensive and time consuming, however. A high degree of skill is also required to make the shoe lasts. The current process is very labor intensive and slow. An automated process developed at the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (CRIM) fabricates custom shoe lasts inexpensively, accurately, and quickly. This process consists of a laser foot scanner, an integrated graphical modification system and a CNC milling machine. The reduction in fabrication time and cost allows a larger number of patients to benefit from the use of custom shoes.


Responding to the rolling Welsh landscape surrounding their pottery, James and Tilla Waters produce sensitive, softly coloured tableware, reflecting the tones and shades of hills and fields. In this six-page feature, Jo Dahn visits the couple and discovers how their work has a contemporary feel that is equally suited to the urban interior.


Pretreatment by hypothermic (25°C) cycling (PHC) of attached exponential‐phase V79 Chinese hamster cells by Method 4 (24 hr at 25°C + 1.5 hr at 37°C + 24 hr at 25°C + trypsin + 3 hr at 37°C) or by Method 3 (48 hr at 25°C + trypsin + 3 hr at 37°C) make mammalian V79 cells significantly more resistant to 43°C hyperthermia. There is no significant difference in the 43°C curves whether Method 3 or 4 is used for pre‐exposure. If pre‐exposure is at 15 or 10°C, the resistance to hyperthermia is significantly reduced. PHC by Method 4 significantly increases survival of cells exposed to 5°C and, to a lesser extent, to 10°C. The increase in hyper‐ and hypothermic survival after PHC cannot be accounted for by changes in cell cycle distribution. Heat‐shock protein synthesis is not induced by PHC; hence, protection does not result from newly synthesized proteins. When cells are made tolerant to hyperthermia by a pretreatment in 2% DMSO for 24 hr at 37°C (Method 8), the cells are not more resistant to subsequent exposures to hypothermia, either at 5 or 10°C. The results imply that there may be two mechanisms of inducing resistance to hyperthermia, only one of which also confers resistance to hypothermia. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In his critique of modern semiotics, Michael rifter seeks to achieve a new reading of poetry by explaining the nature and function of poetic language in literary texts and by relying on the linguistic ability of the readers. The allegory of "parrot and merchant" of Masnavi is a suitable context for adapting to the processes of the mentioned theory due to its special capacity and dialectical structure. The present study will explain in a descriptive-analytical way the origin of "recommending voluntary death with the help of getting rid of the pests of fame" in the mentioned allegory and how it is developed through the processes proposed by Rifater theoryBy examining these components, it is possible to understand that in the process of "accumulation", in the second chain, "death", which is the main structure of the subject, more concrete interpretations have been chosen in order to make the story more real. In "descriptive systems", the macro system "parrot" is at the top of two other micro-systems due to having more constellations, which confirms that the anecdote revolves around the soul and related issues. In the process of "expansion", due to the constant attention to typology and interest in the psychology of characters, by adding free themes and unnecessary actions, the concept of annihilation and survival has become more believable.


. Digital signatures are one of the most basic cryptographic building blocks which are utilized to provide attractive security features like authenticity, unforgeability, and undeniability. The security of existing state of the art digital signatures is based on hardness of number theoretic hardness assumptions like discrete logarithm and integer factorization. However, these hard problems are insecure and face a threat in the quantum world. In particular, quantum algorithms like Shor's algorithm can be used to solve the above mentioned hardness problem in polynomial time. As an alternative, a new direction of research called post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is supposed to provide a new generation of quantum-resistant digital signatures. Hash based signature is one such candidate to provide post-quantum secure digital signatures. Hash based signature schemes are a type of digital signature scheme that use hash functions as their central building block. They are efficient, flexible, and can be used in a variety of applications. In this document, we provide an overview of the hash based signatures. Our presentation of the topic covers a wide range of aspects that are not only comprehensible for readers without expertise in the subject matter, but also serve as a valuable resource for experts seeking reference material.


This paper studies a novel way to estimate the position of an object in an indoor environment, using the Channel State Information (CSI) that a Visible Light Communication (VLC) system collects to maintain the link-level connectivity. First, supervised learning is applied to characterize, the effect that an object in variable but known positions has on the received optical wireless signal. Second, the trained classifier is used to estimate the new unknown positions that the object may take, making use of the instantaneous CSI that is used to equalize the data-carrying signal samples in reception. The practical validation of the proposed positioning approach was done with the aid of a software-defined VLC link based on OFDM, in which a copy of the intensity modulated signal coming from a Phosphor-converted LED is captured by Photodetectors (PDs) in different room locations. Then, the CSI of the VLC receiver is used to train a Random Forest classifier, which will predict the position of the object during the assessment phase. The performance evaluation of our experimental setting shows that the proposed VLC-based positioning approach can reach a few centimeter accuracy, provided that a proper training is executed, without the necessity of deploying a large number of PDs in the room, or adding a VLC receiver on the object to be tracked.


In reflecting on what I have learned over the past 10 years of particular relevance for agricultural sustainability – and thinking about what I have learned from the literature in this decade – I think we should look beyond the agroecological experiences and studies that have been so productive and exciting during this time. These include work with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) with which I have been engaged. Although these experiences and research findings have been important in their own right, increasingly they appear to be points of departure for some more fundamental issues and opportunities in sustainable agriculture. What looms larger and larger in my view are the roles and effects of the most microscopic creatures that we know: the bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, protozoa and other organisms that collectively constitute what is referred to as the 'microbiome'. I am fairly sure that agricultural sustainability in the coming years is going to hinge on our understanding better this domain of the natural universe and on our learning to utilize its potentials. There are certainly connections between the microbiome and agroecology, so these focuses do not present an either/or choice. Taken together, both surely contribute to the International Journal of Agriculture Sustainability (IJAS) mission of promoting knowledge and practice for agricultural sustainability. For me, the road to understanding the role of the microbiome in agriculture has come through my involvement with SRI as an example of agroecological practice, and it is an appropriate path for others to come along. SRI is no longer as controversial as it was 10 years ago, although there is some lingering resistance. The IJAS published one of the first articles on this phenomenon (Uphoff 2003). Today, we have seen in almost 50 countries that making changes in the management of plants, soil, water and nutrients, all together, can lead to more productive/robust/resilient phenotypes of rice from almost any genotype. Moreover, these practices are being successfully adapted to raise the productivity of many other crops: wheat, sugarcane, finger millet, teff, red gram and mustard and even vegetables like tomatoes and eggplant (http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/OtherCrops). These spreading effects raise more interesting questions than did the original SRI results. Why should so many different crops respond positively to SRI-derived changes in management? Unfortunately, our knowledge of 'how' these remarkable improvements in crop performance are achieved has not advanced as rapidly as has the innovation itself. SRI and its derived agroecological systems have proceeded mostly as a civil society phenomenon, with farmers playing a


A floating flux-controlled memristorpont emulator circuit was proposed by using conventional active devices based on the cubic nonlinearity mathematical model, and the Volt-Ampere characteristics of the memristor was studied by using Multisim simulation software and building actual hardware circuit. Then the frequency response characteristic of the active WC high pass filter and WC low pass filter(two series circuits consisting of the memristor and a capacitor) were studied, which also compared with that of conventional passive RC high pass and low pass filter. Simulation and hardware test results show that the active WC high pass filter exhibits the similar frequency response characteristic to that of passive RC high pass filter. While the active WC low pass filter is different from the single-pole passive RC low pass filter, its amplitude and phase frequency characteristics are present multiple poles feature.


In this paper, we extend the Burghelea-Haller analytic torsion to the twisted de Rham complexes. We also compare it with the twisted refined analytic torsion defined by Huang.


About 1450 specimens of the decapod crustacean Pasiphaea multidentata were collected in deep waters of the Gulf of Maine in 1966–69, and were examined for size, sex, weight, breeding, fecundity, and feeding. The sizes and sex ratios of the catches vary with the egg-bearing seasons, suggesting that ovigerous females are susceptible to greater predation. The data do not permit estimates of growth rates or age of maturity. The ratios of carapace length to total length differ in males and females. Two egg clutches per female per year were produced, the second clutch being smaller in numbers, probably because of "reproductive fatigue" in the female. In each clutch the number of eggs produced is a linear function of carapace length. About 50% of the stomachs were empty. Eighteen per cent contained crustacean remains of which about half could be identified as remains of the copepods Metridia longa, M. lucens, and Euchaeta norvegica. Epizoic suctorians were found on a few shrimps.


The current vector control method of PM (permanent magnet) motors is examined to expand the operating limits associated with inverter capacity. This control method is optimum in the sense of deriving maximum output torque within the voltage and current constraints. The effects of motor parameters are examined by computer simulation. The operating limits are greatly expanded by controlling the d- and q-axis components of the armature current according to the rotor speed. The operating limits are examined considering the demagnetization of the permanent magnet. If the permanent magnet has a straight demagnetization curve, like a rare-earth permanent magnet, the PM motor can be safely operated until the demagnetizing coefficient becomes 1.0. If wide speed range or constant power operation is desirable, a permanent magnetic with a high coercivity and a linear demagnetization curve must be used for the PM motor. >


In this paper, by using Leggett-Williams fixed point theorem, we will study the existence of positive solutions for a class of multi-point boundary value problems of fractional differential equation on infinite interval.


In this paper, an approach for intra-pulse feature extraction of radar emitter signals is proposed based on wavelet transform. On the basis of the multi-resolution characteristics of wavelet transform, two energy entropies, as a two-dimensional feature vector to reveal the difference of radar modulation signals, are respectively extracted from approximation coefficient and multi-scale detail coefficients preserved through inter-scale correlations denoise in wavelet transform domain. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approach, computer simulations indicates that the entropy features of ten typical radar emitter signals extracted by wavelet transform have good performance of clustering and suppressing noise when SNR is 0dB. In addition, proposed approach can separate the same modulation signals with different parameters.


External respiration in men who are acclimated to high altitude conditions, and gaseous metabolism in simulated extreme levels of atmospheric rarefaction


In a new project of mobile flow-baffling device is provided to make up for the deficiency of the specialized offshore wind installation vessel.The characteristics and operation mode of the device are described.The initial stability,large angle stability and the current load under typical operating conditions are calculated.At last,the size of anchor is also determined.


Abstract Over the last decades, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period, lung ultrasound (LUS) gained interest due to multiple advantages: radiation-free, repeatable, cost-effective, portable devices with a bedside approach. These advantages can help clinicians in triage, in positive diagnostic, stratification of disease forms according to severity and prognosis, evaluation of mechanically ventilated patients from Intensive Care Units, as well as monitoring the progress of COVID-19 lesions, thus reducing the health care contamination. LUS should be performed by standard protocol examination. The characteristic lesions from COVID-19 pneumonia are the abolished lung sliding, presence of multiple and coalescent B-lines, disruption and thickening of pleural line with subpleural consolidations. LUS is a useful method for post-COVID-19 lesions evaluation, highlight the remaining fibrotic lesions in some patients with moderate or severe forms of pneumonia.


With the explosive increase of the network information,it became more and more difficult to search information. The occurrence of Web search engine overcomes this problem in some degree.The paper introduces the Chinese search engine technology.Firstly,it describes the history and the basic framework of the search engine.Secondly,explains the working theory of each part and the key technology.Finally,carries on the forecast to the Chinese search engine,sums up the main develop- mental direction of the Chinese search engine,that is the personalization search,intelligent search,multimedia search,and P2P search.


Strategy and strategic management are important components of sports brands management. However, there is less scientific research on the strategic management of sports brands. In order to explore the deep problems which exist in the process of the sports brands development, based on the theories of strategic management, brand strategy and marketing, the article unfolds a series of systematic analysis on sports brands strategic management related issues by methods which include literature data method, expert interview method, case analysis method and comparative research method. The authors start from the basic theory of sports brands, for example the connotation, characteristics and classification of sports brands, to analyze the meaning of sports brands strategy management and the present situation which current macro-environment, industry environment and sports organizations of sports brands development around the world. The article deeply discussed brand positioning strategy, brand identification strategy, brand promotion strategy, brand extension strategy, and brand innovation strategy from the view of theory and cases. Finally, the article comes to the conclusion and suggestions for strategic development of sports brands.


1990 marks the bicentenary of Hahnemann's personal proving of China and the centenary of the foundation, in 1890, of the Academia Medico Homeopatica de Barcelona by Dr Sanllehy. This was the main reason for the selection of Barcelona as the venue for the 45th Congress of the LMHI. The choice proved to be a happy one, for several reasons: one is that, in the run-up to the 1992 Olympic Games which are to be held there, there is plenty of accommodation! Also, Barcelona is one of Europe's liveliest cities, capital of the fiercely independent region of Catalonia with its rich cultural heritage. Earlier in this century, Barcelona played a key role in the abstract and surrealist movements in art: Salvador Dali was a Catalan, as was Miro, and Picasso spent much of his youth in Barcelona. But above all, the city's architecture is dominated by the work of Antonio Gaudi, whose work, although not strictly surrealist, is certainly phantasmagoric.


Reality therapy and choice theory have been applied to many counseling settings. The following work will review available literature and theory as to how choice theory is applied to marital and family systems counseling, including a review of the foundational concepts of reality therapy, characteristics of a counselor that practices reality therapy, needs profiles, needs genograms, and the reality therapy solving circle.


The flow of water in natural systems such as estuaries is a turbulent process, with Reynolds numbers greater than 105. Understanding the turbulence properties of an estuary is important for the investigation of mixing, dispersion and sediment transport within an estuary. This study investigates the turbulence properties in a typical small subtropical estuary (Eprapah Creek, Australia). Small coastal plain type estuaries constitute approximately 60 % of all estuaries in Australia, yet no thorough study of the turbulence properties of this type of estuary has been conducted. To date only a limited number of turbulence studies in estuaries have been undertaken. One reason for this was the lack of appropriate instrumentation to collect turbulent velocity measurements with fine spatial and temporal resolutions. This is especially true of turbulence studies in small estuaries, with the majority of published turbulence studies being performed in relatively large systems. Previous studies of turbulence in estuaries were mostly conducted for relatively short periods (up to 6 hours) and by collecting data over long periods in bursts of several minutes. The present study showed that acoustic Doppler velocimetry (ADV) was well suited for the measurement of turbulence properties in small estuarine systems. A unique aspect of this study was the continuous collection of turbulence data at high frequency ( scan f K 25 Hz) for relatively long periods ( study T up to 50 hours). This approach characterised the estuarine turbulence properties for up to two complete tidal cycles. The data analysis showed that continuous collection of high frequency turbulence data was essential to accurately characterise the rapid fluctuations of turbulence in an estuary. The field data showed that the turbulence flow properties were highly fluctuating in a small estuary. All turbulence properties exhibited large and rapid fluctuations over the investigation period of each field study. The variations in time scales were related to both the instantaneous local flow properties and the tidal fluctuations. Some long period oscillations observed in the water level and velocity data also had a significant impact on the turbulence properties. These long period oscillations had periods similar to resonance periods generated both internally in and externally to the creek. Many turbulence properties showed an asymmetrical response to the tidal forcing, especially under spring tidal conditions. Large turbulent velocity fluctuations were, however, observed throughout all investigation periods, including during the slack tides. Substantial fluctuations in the normal and tangential Reynolds stresses were observed in the middle and upper estuarine zones. The turbulent velocity data showed some non-Gaussian behaviour and the Reynolds stresses were non-Gaussian throughout all investigation periods. Field data collected mid estuary under spring and neap tidal conditions showed two distinctly different turbulence responses for spring and neap tides. During spring tides, the magnitudes of all turbulence properties were up to an order of magnitude larger than for neap tides. The turbulence properties showed some increased tidal asymmetries under spring tidal conditions. Further two field studies were conducted under similar neap tidal conditions in the middle and upper estuarine zones. A comparison of these two data sets showed that the turbulence properties in the middle and upper estuaries differed substantially. Mid estuary, the magnitude of the turbulence properties were up to an order of magnitude larger than those observed in the upper estuary, thereby indicating that at least three distinct sets of turbulence properties existed in this small subtropical estuary. This study included some turbulence data collected in a large tidal lake with a restricted entrance (Hamana Lake, Japan). This turbulence data was compared with the data measured in Eprapah Creek. The comparison showed similar tidal patterns in some turbulence properties were observed close to the bed despite the distinct topography and hydrodynamics of the two estuaries. Some of these patterns in turbulence properties were also observed in previous studies of turbulence in estuaries. However, the spring tide data collected in the small estuary showed an increased magnitude of turbulence and a more asymmetrical response than other estuarine turbulence studies. The ratio of local tidal amplitude and local mean depth l l a h was used to characterise the local turbulence properties for a certain tidal range. A critical value of the ratio l l a h was 0.5, corresponding to the local tidal range being equal to the local mean depth. If the tidal range was greater than the local mean depth (i.e. l l a h > 0.5), a more asymmetrical tidal response and some increased turbulence property magnitudes were observed. A comparison of the turbulence properties in two distinct tidal systems (Eprapah Creek and Hamana Lake) showed similar tidal patterns for l l a h < 0.5.


Background: Gastroesophageal reflux disease [GERD] is a common disorder with very low rates in Africa and Asia, and high rates in North America and Europe. Several studies have demonstrated a positive link between body mass index [BMI] and reflux symptoms. The aim of this study was to establish the association between BMI and GERD in black subjects. Method: Three hundred and ninety-nine (399) subjects were studied using a validated questionnaire to determine reflux symptoms, frequency and severity of symptoms, as well as presence of nocturnal symptoms. The BMI was estimated from the weight in kg divided by the square of the height in metre. Results: Out of the 399 subjects, only 112 (28.1%) had symptoms of GERD, 36(32.1%) were males, while 76(67.9%) were females. Among the symptomatic subjects, 39(35.1%) had BMI 25kg/m 2 . The mean BMI (24.4±4.9kg/m 2 ) of those with symptoms of GERD was higher than the BMI (23.6±4.9kg/m 2 ) of those without GERD. Conclusion: We found a weak association between body mass index and reflux symptoms. But, in symptomatic subjects it was observed that as the BMI increased, the severity as well as the frequency and the occurrence of nocturnal symptoms also increased.