Krypton is one of the noble gases. As such, it forms compounds only with exceptionally strong oxidizing agents. The concentration of krypton in air is 1.139 parts per million by volume. In general, its behavior is best described as that of an ideal gas. Krypton-85 is the longest lived of the common radioactive noble gases with a half life of 10.72 years. Gamma radiation at 513.990 keV has an intensity of only 0.434%. Most decay is {beta}{sup -} emission with a maximum energy of 687.0 keV and an average energy of 251.4 keV. The analytical chemistry of krypton-85 is driven by these factors. High concentrations may be gamma counted directly. Low levels are typically determined by more sensitive techniques such as liquid scintillation counting (LSC) where detection limits on the order of 1 picocurie (pCi) are routinely achieved. For a 5 standard cubic centimeter (scc) sample, this represents a concentration of 0.2 pCi/scc, well below the DOE Air Immersion Derived Concentration Guideline (G) of 3 pCi/scc. As a gas, krypton in a sealed LSC vial distributes itself between the liquid phase and the gas phase. Some past work has used gamma counting at levels many orders of magnitude greater thanmore » those now achievable by LSC to study the distribution of krypton. This effect is of interest in the analytical chemistry of krypton-85 because geometrical considerations influence how much of the material in the gas phase decays generating particles which then impact the liquid phase where they may be counted.« less


Abstract Change may be introduced into an organization a variety of ways – implementing new technology, employing new people, or in establishing new organizational structures, new policies, or new procedures. Just as change is made up of different components, it comes in varying degrees. A three-level classification of change can help IS managers gain control over the variable components and nature of change.


Spontaneous symmetry breaking constitutes a paradigmatic classification scheme of matter. However, broken symmetry also entails domain degeneracy that often impedes identification of novel low symmetry states. In quantum matter, this is additionally complicated by competing intertwined symmetry breaking orders. A prime example is that of unconventional superconductivity and density-wave orders in doped cuprates in which their respective symmetry relation remains a key question. Using uniaxial pressure as a domain-selective stimulus in combination with x-ray diffraction, we unambiguously reveal that the fundamental symmetry of the charge order in the prototypical cuprate La$_{1.88}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$ is characterized by uniaxial stripes. We further demonstrate the direct competition of this stripe order with unconventional superconductivity via magnetic field tuning. The stripy nature of the charge-density-wave state established by our study is a prerequisite for the existence of a superconducting pair-density-wave -- a theoretical proposal that clarifies the interrelation of intertwined quantum phases in unconventional superconductors -- and paves the way for its high-temperature realization.


We investigate (a) whether eliciting future price forecasts influences market outcomes, and (b) whether differences in the way subjects are incentivized to submit ''accurate'' price forecasts influence the market outcomes as well as the forecasts submitted by subjects in an experimental asset market. We consider three treatments: one without forecast elicitation (NF) and two with forecast elicitations. In one of the latter treatments, subjects are paid based on both their performance of forecasting and trading (Bonus), while in the other, they are paid based only on one of the two that is chosen randomly at the end of the experiment (Unique). While we found no statistical differences in terms of mispricing, trading volumes, and trading behavior between NF and Unique treatments, there were some statistically significant differences between NF and Bonus treatments. Thus, if the aim is to avoid influencing the behavior of subjects and the market outcomes by eliciting price forecasts compared to NF treatment, then the Unique treatment seems to be better than the Bonus treatment.


Land subdivision is an important activity in surveying engineering. Given a polygon-shaped area of land, the objective is normally to divide the land into two areas with specific requirements. Existing methods for land subdivision are applicable only when the sides of the land are all straight lines. This paper presents a unified direct method that can handle tracts of land with one or more circular sides. The ends of the partitioning line are assumed to connect straight and circular sides. Using a Cartesian coordinate system, three formulas representing the foundation of the proposed method were developed: (1) the function of the circular side; (2) the intersection between the partitioning line and the circular side; and (3) the area of the circular segment which is cut by the partitioning line. The resulting nonlinear problem was solved using the Excel-based, Premium Solver software. Any partitioning case can be handled by a simple change to the worksheet. Tracts of land with all-straight sides are spec...


Lack of deficiency of information in different particular areas like science, engineering as well as bio informatics has several problems. To overcome these issues, proposed a system and that system fusioning different kind of information inside single or individual unit for the preference or for the research of different existing areas. There is information fusioning is achieved through the matrix factorization based on heterogeneous information datasets that works together upon the proposed system. In proposed system new concept DFMF for the generation of prediction is utilized through the matrix factorization method. Similar system also accomplishes fusion as well as information prediction of the gene and pharmacologic activities.


THE adrenal gland has been suspected of involvement in allergic conditions for over 20 years. In an early paper Wyman (1929) reported that adrenalectomized rats with adrenal transplants in the abdominal muscles were as susceptible to histamine poisoning and anaphylactic shock as adrenalectomized rats without transplants, but treatment with adrenalin somewhat alleviated this susceptibility. In a later paper, however, Wyman and Turn Suden (1937) reported the lethal doses of histamine to be as follows: normal rats, 100 mg. per kg. of body weight; adrenalec-tomized rats, 10 mg. per kg.; and adrenalectomized rats with adrenal transplants, 40 mg. per kg. Ingle (1937) also showed that autoplastic cortical transplants do not completely replace the function of the excised gland in rats. Perla and Gottesman (1931) found that adrenal cortical extract decreased the susceptibility of adrenalectomized rats to histamine and suggested that this property could serve as a basis for a cortical hormone assay.


This paper investigates marketing concept application in the most profitable of tourism businesses in Albania. The total population is defined according to the profitability criteria, whereby the stratified sample of 100 tourism businesses was applied. The research is aimed at gathering primary data by the questionnaire sent via mail. The goal of each economic activity is creating value for the end users. In this context, profit is both a measure of value which the firm has created for the customer and an indicator of how well the enterprise has understood customer needs and translated the understanding into products and services that deliver superior value. From the above stated, the conclusion can be made that the most profitable tourism businesses adopt marketing concept to the largest extent.


Inelastic light scattering from a single isolated silica sphere, of diameter as small as 260nm, has been measured as a function of sphere size by micro-Brillouin spectroscopy. The feasibility of recording spectra of a sample as tiny as this, and for which only one particle is needed, further enhances the capabilities of Brillouin light scattering as a powerful investigative tool. Such measurements afford the evaluation of the elastic properties of single nanospheres and a determination of the size polydispersity of an aggregate of particles from the asymmetric broadening of its Brillouin spectrum. Unlike conventional Brillouin scattering from acoustic waves, what is observed here is the inelastic scattering from the eigenvibrations of a nanosphere.


A previous study showed that oxidation of LaNi5 could produce catalysts with a relatively high Ni dispersion. This study focuses on the effect of Ni atomic percent a upon Ni dispersion d and turnover frequency 77% using La-Ni compounds. It was found that the value of d was higher in the order of LaNi5 >La2Ni7 >LaNi3 > LaNi and that this order wasrelated to oxidation rate. Thevalue of 77%on the other hand, washigher in the reverse order, indicating that high oxidation rate causes severe defects on the surface of Ni crystallites.


Neural networks have been able to generate high-quality single-sentence speech with substantial expressiveness. However, it remains a challenge concerning paragraph-level speech synthesis due to the need for coherent acoustic features while delivering fluctuating speech styles. Meanwhile, training these models directly on over-length speech leads to a deterioration in the quality of synthesis speech. To address these problems, we propose a high-quality and expressive paragraph speech synthesis system with a multi-step variational autoencoder. Specifically, we employ multi-step latent variables to capture speech information at different grammatical levels before utilizing these features in parallel to generate speech waveform. We also propose a three-step training method to improve the decoupling ability. Our model was trained on a single-speaker French audiobook corpus released at Blizzard Challenge 2023. Experimental results underscore the significant superiority of our system over baseline models.


A ubiquitous feature of circadian clocks across life forms is its organization as a network of coupled cellular oscillators. Individual cellular oscillators of the network often exhibit a considerable degree of heterogeneity in their intrinsic periods. While the interaction of coupling and heterogeneity in circadian clock networks is hypothesized to influence clock's entrainability, our knowledge of mechanisms governing network heterogeneity remains elusive. In this study, we aimed to explore the principles that underlie inter-cellular period variation in circadian clock networks (clonal period-heterogeneity). To this end, we employed a laboratory selection approach and derived a panel of 25 clonal cell populations exhibiting circadian periods ranging from 22 h to 28 h. We report that while a single parent clone can produce progeny clones with a wide distribution of circadian periods, heterogeneity is not entirely stochastically driven but has a strong heritable component. By quantifying the expression of 20 circadian clock and clock-associated genes across our panel, we found that inheritance of different expression patterns in at least three clock genes might govern clonal period-heterogeneity in circadian clock networks. Furthermore, we provide preliminary evidence suggesting that epigenetic variation might underlie such gene expression variation.


Review(s) of: East Indies: The 200 year struggle between the Portuguese crown, the Dutch East India company and the English East India Company for supremacy in the Eastern Seas, by Ian Burnet, published by Rosenberg Publishing Pty Ltd, Sydney 2013, Hardcover, illustrations, timeline, bibliography, index, ISBN 9781921719592 RRP $39.95.


Objective
To investigate the expression of programmed death ligand 1(PD-L1) in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and its relationship with PTEN expression.

Methods
In the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, the expression of PD-L1 mRNA in the invasive breast cancer dataset was analyzed, including 115 TNBC cases and 702 non-TNBC cases. A total of 182 paraffin-embedded tissue specimens from invasive breast cancer patients admitted to the No.180 Hospital of PLA from January 2012 to December 2016 were collected and the expression of PD-L1 and PTEN was immunohistochemically detected. PD-L1 mRNA expression was compared between two groups in TCGA database using t test. χ2 test was used to compare the rates. The intensity of PD-L1 positive expression in paraffin-embedded specimens were compared between two groups using Mann-Whitney U test. χ2 test and Spearman rank test were used to analyze the correlation between PD-L1 and PTEN expression.

Results
In TCGA database, PD-L1 mRNA level was up-regulated in 3.8% (31/817) of invasive breast cancer. The up-regulation rate of PD-L1 mRNA in TNBC (8.7%, 10/115) was significantly higher than that in non-TNBC (3.0%, 21/702) (χ2=7.314, P=0.007). PD-L1 mRNA expression in TNBC was significantly higher than that in non-TNBC(8.05±0.91 vs 7.38±0.73, t=7.510, P<0.001). The immunohistological results of 182 paraffin-embedded tissue specimens showed that the positive expression rate of PD-L1 in TNBC (14.5%, 9/62) was significantly higher than that in non-TNBC(5.0%, 6/120)(χ2=4.895, P=0.027), and the expression intensity of PD-L1 in TNBC was significantly higher than that in non-TNBC(Z=-2.291, P=0.022). The PD-L1 protein expression was negatively correlated with PTEN protein expression in paraffin-embedded TNBC specimens (χ2=6.913, P=0.009, r=-0.382, P=0.002).

Conclusion
PD-L1, which shows higher expression in TNBC patients than in non-TNBC patients and a negative correlation with PTEN, may be a potential target for TNBC immunotherapy.

Key words:
Breast neoplasms; Immunohistochemistry; PTEN phosphohydrolase


Background: ARQ 531 is a novel, ATP competitive reversible inhibitor Bruton9s tyrosine kinase (BTK). BTK is a key regulator of the B cell receptor (BCR) signaling pathway that mediates signaling from the cell surface to the cytoplasm and into the nucleus. ARQ 531 is not metabolized by any of the major drug metabolizing CYP450 enzymes. Here we report pharmacokinetic profile of ARQ 531 in a phase I study evaluating safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics activity and clinical activity of ARQ 531 in selected subjects with relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancies. Preclinical studies in rats, dogs and monkeys are also described. Methods: Oral and intravenous single dose pharmacokinetic studies of ARQ 531 were conducted in rats, dogs, and monkeys to determine oral bioavailability and drug exposure. In a standard '3+39 dose-escalation study design, ARQ 531 was given orally once per day beginning at 5 mg/dose and escalating for 4 weeks [NCT03162536]. Plasma samples were collected to determine ARQ 531 concentrations and whole blood / PBMCx to quantify pBTK inhibition. Plasma samples from each species were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/ mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results: Consistent with preclinical studies, patients enrolled in the phase I study showed favorable exposures, the steady state peak to trough ratio was generally 3:1 or lower. ARQ 531 had an elimination half-life at steady state of ~24 hr and Cmax occurred 2 to 3 hours after dosing. Pharmacodynamic changes included suppression of BTK phosphorylation. No drug related AEs or DLTs have been observed thus far in the study. Conclusions: ARQ 531 demonstrates a favorable PK profile in humans supporting once daily dosing. Sufficient plasma levels are attained and high levels of pBTK inhibition in peripheral blood can be achieved following oral dosing. Additional dose and schedule evaluations continue, and updated clinical and biomarker results will be presented. Citation Format: Terence Hall, Yi Yu, Sudharshan Eathiraj, Deborah Stephens, Ian Flinn, Jennifer Woyach, Brian Schwartz, Ronald E. Savage. ARQ 531, a novel and reversible inhibitor of Bruton9s tyrosine kinase, displays favorable oral bioavailability and exposure in patients with B-cell malignancies [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-018.


During the 2002-2003 season research was carried out to validate and improve the AvoGreen® sampling methodology. Studies of the spatial distribution within blocks of leafrollers, greenhouse thrips (GHT) and six-spotted mite (6SM) were undertaken. Pest distribution within blocks was studied in the Far North, Whangarei and Bay Of Plenty regions. All the trees in a block were sampled from the ground with 10 shoots or five fruit sites/tree inspected. The results showed that leafrollers and GHT were irregularly distributed throughout the blocks, while 6SM populations were also irregular but tended to a more even distribution at higher population densities. Vertical distribution of leafroller caterpillars and GHT on host trees was investigated by sampling at three height strata for 10 trees in each block. The results indicated that the height of sampling did influence the number of thrips or caterpillars found, in contrast to the previous season. Degree-day models for predicting armoured scale and GHT infestations were evaluated. For armoured scale, the observed infestation of fruit by the second generation was in good agreement with that predicted from a phenological model based on a generation time of 1,056 degree-days. For thrips, degree-day accumulations, and therefore the timing and number of generations, varied little between regions indicating that this aspect did not account for the variation among regions in pest status of GHT. The use of pheromone traps to measure leafroller populations was investigated as an alternative to the standard technique of caterpillar monitoring. AvoGreen® monitoring data was compared to trap catches in two Bay of Plenty orchards. The number of male leafroller moths caught in pheromone traps did not reflect the number of caterpillars present in the orchard.


Title: Mechanisms of Pierce's disease transmission in grape vines: The xylem pathways and movement of Xylella fastidiosa Time period covered by the report: 7/1/02 to 6/30/08 Principal investigators and cooperators, and their affiliations: Principal Investigators: Thomas L. Rost, Section of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (firstname.lastname@example.com) Phone: 530-752-0628; FAX 530-752-5410 Mark A. Matthews, Department of Viticulture and Enology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (email@example.com) Phone: 530-574-3291; FAX 530-752-0381 Cooperators: Glenn Young, Department of Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616 (firstname.lastname@example.com) Phone: 530-754-5292; FAX 530-752-4759


The United States Air Mail Service is a branch of the Post Office Department in which certain classes of mail are transported and delivered over officially established lines under the supervision of the federal government. These routes at present extend in every direction throughout the United States and into many foreign countries. The first government record of an experiment for an established air mail route was a service from New York to Washington on May 15, 1918, which was operated for a short time. Encouraged by the success of this venture, other lines were soon in operation. So rapid was the expansion of this service that it was found advisable to transfer the trans portation of air mail to contracts with private operators un der government restrictions. This plan has been continued to the present time with the exception of a short period when, by reason of certain irregularities in management and num erous fatalities through accidents, the service was temporari ly transferred to the War Department. As this change did not prove satisfactory, the service was returned to operation by private companies. At the present time, special air mail is extensively car ried by aeroplane, which method will probably be further developed and the bulk of air mail increased in the future. While we should be proud of this wonderful accomplishment, the fact remains that the earliest experiments in aerial naviga tion were made in a free flying balloon. From this beginning, there followed a gradual evolution extending over a period of one hundred fifty years. First there was the crude paper affair of the Montgolfier Brothers in 1783, followed by the devices of Blanchard and Jeffries who drifted across the English Channel from Dover to Calais in 1785. The next important advance was made by Charles Green, an English man, who, in 1836, made an ascension at London and landed 500 miles from that city. This venture was eclipsed by Henry Gifford in 1878, using a balloon of a capacity of 450,000 cubic feet. Gifford is also said to have invented the first successful dirigible, but the credit for inventing the modern lighter-than-air dirigible must be given to Count von Zeppe lin, who, in 1910, completed his first passenger machine.


Short-strawed, upright-leaved selections of winter wheat were compared with a tall, droopy-leaved check variety in wide (22.8- and 17.8-cm) and narrow (11.4- and 8.9-cm) row spacings at three seeding rates, to determine the best row width for highest grain yields and to determine whether an entry × row-spacing interaction could be measured. All entries produced more grain from narrow than from wide rows, in both years (1964 and 1966) and at all three seeding rates. This increase averaged 12.6% in the selections and 6.9% in the check variety. Highest yields were obtained at a seeding rate of 134 kg/ha, and in all cases the check variety outyielded the selections. The test demonstrated that higher grain yields were produced by a better spatial arrangement achieved by narrow row spacings, and that yield deficiencies in upright-leaved types could not be compensated for by a heavier seeding rate. While upright-leaved selections showed a greater increase in grain produced than did the check variety, no interact...


The modern spectrum of digital technologies in various socio-economic systems exceeds all expectations of both producers and consumers of economic benefits. This encourages many researchers to search for new and more efficient ways of using digital technologies in the economy. Despite this, they don't pay enough attention in a researches to consistency and homogeneity in the pace of development, accessibility for specific consumers of primary digital technologies that contribute to the formation of the necessary infrastructure, creating conditions for improving the quality of public goods in the municipality and the region. The paper presents an attempt to formulate elements of the concept of regulating the digitalization process, taking into account the influence of stimulating and limiting factors aimed to increasing the productivity of digital technologies application in the field of housing and communal services of the local territory.


It's safe to say that UKIRT's contribution to star formation at near-infrared, mid-infrared, and even sub-millimetre wavelengths has been considerable. From the early days of single-detector photometers, through the development of 2-D arrays and complex multi-mode imager-spectrometers, to the present-day large-format imager WFCAM, UKIRT has offered the international community access to some of the world's most innovating, competitive, and versatile instrumentation possible. Suffice to say, UKIRT users have made the most of these instruments! In this article I try to give a taste of the variety of star formation research that has come to pass at UKIRT (with apologies to those whose important work I fail to mention).


Analysis of the channel distributions and effects of the frequently-used herbal medicines in the prescriptions involved in the clinical literatures about treatment of bone marrow suppression after chemotherapy published from 2001 to 2012 was made in the paper. It was found that the most frequentlyused tonic herbal medicines in treatment of bone marrow suppression after chemotherapy were qiinvigorating herbs,such as Astragalus,Glycyrrhiza,Atractylodes,Codonopsis,etc. The herbal medicines for nourishing blood such as angelica,gelatin and so on were used more frequently than the herbal medicines for activating blood circulation to remove stasis such as Caulis spatholobi and Salvia miltiorrhiza,etc. From another angle,the most frequently-used herbal medicines for bone marrow suppression after chemotherapy belong to the kidney,spleen and liver channels.


ABSmAcr. Let L be a field of characteristic p > 3. A subgroup G of the group D of all rankpe higher derivations on L is Galois if G is the group of all d in D having a given subfield in its field of constants. The field of constants of G is denoted as LG. The main result states: Let H C G be Galois subgroups of D. Then H is an invariant subgroup of G if and only if either LH = LG(LP') for some nonnegative integer r, or LH C LG(LP).


Objective To research the relationship among the blood cholinesterase mechanical ventilation time,and dosage of atropine in patients with severe organic phosphorus intoxication combined with the respiratory failure.Methods 47 patients with severe organic phosphorus intoxication combined with the respiratory failure were monitored before tracheal intubation,ceasing mechanical ventilation time,and tracheal intubation pulled out while measuring the change of ChE and PaO2,and recording the volume of atropine.Results When the respiatory failure happened,the ChE and the PaO2 were at the lowest,so it needed the mechanical ventilation and a large volume of atropine;When the ChE recovered to the 60% of the normal,partial muscle strength were recoverd,so it was good time to stop the mechanical ventilation and the atropine,compared with the time before mechanical ventilation,it had statistical significance(P0.01);The ChE and PaO2 increased significantly when the tracheal intubation were pulled out,compared with the time before mechanical ventilation,it had the statistical significance(P0.01),but had no statistical significance(P0.05),compared with the ceasing mechanical ventilation.Conclusion As for the patients with severe organic phosphorus intoxication combined with the respiratory failure,it is necessary to use the mechanical ventilation when the ChE and PaO2 were at the lowest;when the ChE had recoverd to the 60% of the normal,it was time to stop mechanical ventilation and atropine;After 24 hours monitoring,if there was no recurrent disease,the tracheal intubatton could be pulled out.


This article introduces the operation status of the gasifying device,solve the coal delivery to the carrier gas from the N2 and CO2 smooth switching syngas cooler fouling problems,the device appears to run some of the common analysis of the issues and propose solutions.


Red peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) var. Hungarian were dried at five inlet temperatures 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90C at a constant air velocity of 2.0 m/s. The equations of Newton, Henderson–Pabis, Page, Modified Page and Wang–Singh were tested for modeling drying kinetics. Besides, three newly empirical models were proposed on this study. The fit quality of the models was evaluated using linear determination coefficient, sum squared errors and chi-square statisticals. The diffusivity increased from 0.702 to 3.783 × 10−10 m2/s, showing the effect of temperature on this parameter, and with the Arrhenius-type equation, an activation energy of 40.80 kJ/mol was obtained for the temperature range studied. In comparing the experimental moisture values with those calculated, it was shown that the Wang–Singh model gave the best fit quality, concluding that this equation is optimal for simulating drying kinetics as well as estimating drying time of this product.

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS

The main utility of this study is the appliance of the empirical models using Newton, Henderson–Pabis, Page, Modified Page, Wang–Singh and diffusional equations in food dehydration, which can be considered a basis for a very accurate estimation of drying time. In this research, three newly mathematical models are proposed for the study of drying kinetics of food products, through which a good fit on the data of experimental moisture content was achieved. The study of drying kinetics of red pepper var. Hungarian engages a great technological interest, as this product is used in the development of paprika worldwide.

In addition, dried red pepper var. Hungarian and others dried pepper exports from Chile have become especially important, including raisins, prunes and apples. The major markets for these products include the USA, the European community and Japan.


ABSTRACT Due to their closed-loop structure and kinematic constraints, dynamic modelling of parallel manipulators presents an inherent complexity. In the present research, an approach to obtain the nonlinear dynamics equations of motion of a 3-RRcP spherical parallel manipulator is presented. The proposed approach is based on the principle of virtual power and the screw theory. To obtain the dynamics equations of motion, we propose an influence matrix which relates the passive joint rates to the actuated joint rates for each branch. The presented method allows a straightforward computation of torques of the actuated joints in terms of the resultant external forces and the desired trajectory. In order to represent correctness and accuracy of the obtained equations of motion, two case studies are considered that their solutions are compared by a commercial dynamics software package (CDSP).


In Guinaang Bontok, there is a phonological contrast between singletons and geminates in all consonants (/p t k ? b d g m n ŋ l s w j/) (Reid 1963, 1973; Thurgood 1997). All phonological geminates except for the oral voiced stop geminates are phonetically long consonants (Reid 1963), allowing a phonological distinction which is primarily based on phonetic duration for nasals, fricatives, liquids, glides and voiceless stops. In a cross-linguistic examination of geminates (Thurgood 1993), there were more languages listed as examples for having stop and nasal geminates than for glide geminates, and it was suggested that alveolar was the cross-linguistically preferred place of articulation for geminate consonants. In this study, it was hypothesized that the cross-linguistically less common length contrasts, such as the length contrasts in glides, were phonetically less clear than the more common ones, such as contrasts between short and long stop and nasal consonants. Similarly, it was hypothesized that contrasts in the cross-linguistically common place of articulation (i.e. alveolar) is phonetically clearer than less common contrasts (e.g. velar). In order to test these hypotheses, duration measurements were conducted on single and geminate consonants in Guinaang Bontok. The average durational contrast between short and long glides was smaller than the contrast in stop and nasal consonants. The hypothesis was therefore partially supported.


The need for a similarity measure for comparing two drawings of graphs arises in problems such as interactive graph drawing and the indexing or browsing of large sets of graphs. This paper builds on our previous work [3] by defining some additional similarity measures, refining some existing ones, and presenting the results of a user study designed to evaluate the suitability of the measures.


A dynamic website construction based on function and the development method of function assembling were proposed in this paper.An effective and simple website automatic production system was established by using J2EE technology standard,the data technology and the webservice technology.


The effects of confining pressure on mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures are important since the asphalt mixtures in pavement structure behave in a three dimensional stress state.Triaxial dynamic modulus tests were conducted at various temperatures,confining pressure levels and frequencies for a Superpave20 mixture with a modified binder and a Superpave25 mixture with a neat binder.The results were analyzed to study the effects of confining pressure on dynamic modulus at various conditions.The analysis results show that the effects of confining pressure on dynamic modulus became more evident as temperature increases and loading frequency decreases.At 55℃ the dynamic moduli obtained at a confining pressure of 250 kPa could be 4.7 and 18 times as high as the values obtained without confining pressure for Superpave 20 and Superpave 25,respectively.This study shows that it is important to take the effects of confining pressure into account in pavement structure analysis.


Here we elucidate and justify a DNA barcode approach to insect species description that can be applied to name tens of thousands of species of Ichneumonoidea and many other species-rich taxa. Each description consists of a lateral habitus image of the specimen, a COI barcode diagnosis, and the holotype specimen information required by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. We believe this approach, or a slight modification of it, will be useful for many other underdescribed hyperdiverse taxa, especially in the tropics. Due to the extreme species-richness of the Ichneumonoidea, the very low percentage of described species, and the lack of detailed biological information for most described species, the standard taxonomic approach is inefficient and overwhelmingly time consuming. A DNA barcode-based approach to initial description will provide a solid foundation of species hypotheses from which more comprehensive descriptions can be developed as other data, time, and budgets permit. Here we elucidate this view and detailed methodology that can generally be applied to species-rich underdescribed taxa. A real example is given by describing species in two genera, Hemichoma and Zelomorpha, reared from the Área de Conservación Guanacaste in northwestern Costa Rica. The generic type species Zelomorphaarizonensis is given a DNA barcode diagnosis and the following new species are described: Zelomorphaangelsolisi, Zelomorphabobandersoni, Zelomorphadanjohnsoni, Zelomorphadonwindsori, Zelomorphaeffugia, Zelomorphajohnchemsaki, Zelomorphakellyanneae, Zelomorphalarrykirkendalli, Zelomorphamariyavladmirovnae, Zelomorphamikeiviei, Zelomorphamyricagaleae, Zelomorphanoahjaneae, Zelomorphapaulgoldsteini, Zelomorphaterryerwini, Zelomorphawillsflowersi, Hemichomadonwhiteheadi, Hemichomafrankhovorei, and Hemichomajohnkingsolveri.


Please cite this paper as: Moss J, Cooper K, Khaund A, Murray L, Murray G, Wu O, Craig L, Lumsden M. Randomised comparison of uterine artery embolisation (UAE) with surgical treatment in patients with symptomatic uterine fibroids (REST trial): 5‐year results. BJOG 2011;118:936–944.


The effects of feeding on different food plants, Mikania micrantha HBK, Chromolaena odorata L., Gynura crepidioides Benth, Brassica parachinensis Bailey and Brassica chinensis L., on the survival rate and nutritional utilization of the larvae of Actinote anteas were investigated. The impact of feeding on different food plants on the activity of amylase, trehalase, sucrase and esterase in the midgut of the 4th instar larvae were assayed in vitro. The results showed that the survival rate of 4th, 5th, 6th instar larvae fed on the M. micrantha are higher than that of those fed on the other three food plants. Although the relative consumption rate of 4th instar larvae fed on M. micrantha was low, the relative growth rate and the efficiency conversion of ingested food of these larvae were markedly higher than that of those on the other three plants (P0.05). Furthermore, significant high enzyme activity of esterase was found in 4th instar larvae of A. anteas that fed on M. micrantha. The enzyme activities of amylase, sucrase and trehalase of A. anteas fed on B. chinensis were relatively low. The results indicated that the larvae of A. anteas had lower capability to utilize G. crepidioides, B. parachinensis and B. chinensis, and this suggested that these three species of plants would not become the host plants of A. anteas.


Lack of fresh water is a general concern and will increasingly become a threat to societies in the future. The water problem is particularly acute during the summer season in the Mediterranean region when the number of people staying there increases considerably. The number of tourists is expected to double by 2025. Drinking water scarcity is likely to increase because of a changing climate. This represents a massive economic, social and environmental threat to semi-arid regions such as the Mediterranean. An important technology to tackle this problem is desalination making fresh drinking water from saline seawater. Most of the current methods, however, are neither cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a technology that would fulfill both criteria.


EMT-6 cells treated for 16 h with 1-10 units/ml IFN-y showed a gradual activation ofinducible nitric oxide synthase (¡NOS) in Western and Northern blots, a simultaneous raise in NO output, and an increase in hypoxic cell radiosensitivity almost to the level of aerobic cells. Both the NO signal and radioseasitization were counteracted by the NO scavenger oxyhemoglobin, by the specific ¡NOSinhibitor aminoguanidine, and by the L-arginine analogue A^'-monomethyl-i.-arginine. Collectively, these data demonstrate that IFN-y can radiosensitize EMT-6 cells through ¡NOSinduction and that NO is the effector molecule responsible for radiosensitization. Compared with the spon taneous NO releaser


-The Gender roles suggest there is a division of labor between women and men based on the prevalence of action. This study examines gender roles in farm households in Huaulu Village, North Seram Sub District Central Maluku District. Data collected through field observation. Selected respondents were 55 households (20%) out of 273 households. The method used is descriptive, qualitative, quantitative, and phenomenological perspectives (Bogdan R and Steve J. T.1992). Data analysis using the Milis and Huberman (1992) model. The results of the study showed the role of men in productive work (50%) the role of women in reproductive work (70%), while for social work the roles of men and women were equal (40%). This means that gender roles in the household are dominated by women but they lack access rights, control, participation, and benefits. The facts show there are inequalities in gender roles as well as discrimination against women. Equality of role will have an impact on increasing production and strengthening food security. Even women should enjoy the same rights as men. Keywords--Gender role, Household


In this paper we study an evolution problem which describes the dynamic bilateral contact of viscoelastic body and foundation. The contact is modeled by a friction multivalued subdifferential boundary condition which involves the Coulomb law of friction. We prove the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions to the hyperbolic variatioal inequality by using a surjectivity result for pseudomonotone operators and a fixed point argument.


In this EAST multicenter trial, we used Trauma video review (TVR) to evaluate vascular access in hypotensive trauma patients. Time to resuscitation initiation was shorter in patients whose initial access attempt was IO access. IO had higher success rates than PIV or CVC. BACKGROUND Vascular access in hypotensive trauma patients is challenging. Little evidence exists on the time required and success rates of vascular access types. We hypothesized that intraosseous (IO) access would be faster and more successful than peripheral intravenous (PIV) and central venous catheter (CVC) access in hypotensive patients. METHODS An EAST prospective multicenter trial was performed; 19 centers provided data. Trauma video review was used to evaluate the resuscitations of hypotensive (systolic blood pressure ≤90 mm Hg) trauma patients. Highly granular data from video recordings were abstracted. Data collected included vascular access attempt type, location, success rate, and procedural time. Demographic and injury-specific variables were obtained from the medical record. Success rates, procedural durations, and time to resuscitation were compared among access strategies (IO vs. PIV vs. CVC). RESULTS There were 1,410 access attempts that occurred in 581 patients with a median age of 40 years (27–59 years) and an Injury Severity Score of 22 [10–34]. Nine hundred thirty-two PIV, 204 IO, and 249 CVC were attempted. Seventy percent of access attempts were successful but were significantly less likely to be successful in females (64% vs. 71%, p = 0.01). Median time to any access was 5.0 minutes (3.2–8.0 minutes). Intraosseous had higher success rates than PIV or CVC (93% vs. 67% vs. 59%, p < 0.001) and remained higher after subsequent failures (second attempt, 85% vs. 59% vs. 69%, p = 0.08; third attempt, 100% vs. 33% vs. 67%, p = 0.002). Duration varied by access type (IO, 36 [23–60] seconds; PIV, 44 [31–61] seconds; CVC 171 [105–298]seconds) and was significantly different between IO versus CVC (p < 0.001) and PIV versus CVC (p < 0.001) but not PIV versus IO. Time to resuscitation initiation was shorter in patients whose initial access attempt was IO, 5.8 minutes versus 6.7 minutes (p = 0.015). This was more pronounced in patients arriving to the hospital with no established access (5.7 minutes vs. 7.5 minutes, p = 0.001) CONCLUSION Intraosseous is as fast as PIV and more likely to be successful compared with other access strategies in hypotensive trauma patients. Patients whose initial access attempt was IO were resuscitated more expeditiously. Intraosseous access should be considered a first line therapy in hypotensive trauma patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Therapeutic/Care Management; Level II.


Electronic-smart meters are increasingly installed in electricity networks of many countries. In several cases, their operation in parallel with photovoltaic inverters and other power-electronic devices can result in measurement errors reaching up to 45%. In practice, this problem cannot be tackled by current standards due to the gap in standardization of electromagnetic immunity and emissions in the 2–150 kHz range. This paper provides a comprehensive review of international and national standards, guidelines, technical reports, and papers on this challenging electromagnetic-compatibility issue highlighting the gap in the 2–150 kHz range. The ongoing standardization activity to establish both emission and immunity levels and suitable testing procedures is described in detail. Laboratory setups for testing the immunity of smart meters and the emissions of grid-tie inverters are described and experimental results to validate the suitability of the proposed approaches are presented.


Periodontitis treatment using occlusive membranes presented variable efficacy due to their rapid degradation in the complex biologic environment of the damaged periodontium. The aim of this study was to prepare novel composites based on collagen, chondroitin sulfate and fibronectin, and to establish the optimal parameters for their photochemical cross-linking using riboflavin and UV exposure. The degree of cross-linking, biodegradability and density of all scaffold variants were investigated. Their cytotoxicity was evaluated in a culture of gingival fibroblasts by MTT assay and light microscopy. The results indicated that the higher the cross-linking degree, the lower was the scaffold biodegradation. Cell culture studies showed that composite scaffolds were favorable for cellular survival. In conclusion, the cross-linking method using riboflavin and UV exposure resulted in stable and biocompatible collagen-based composite scaffolds that could be used for periodontitis treatment.


Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a cancerous brain tumor with almost 100% recurrence rate even after surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Pigment epithelium‐derived factor (PEDF) has been found in areas where these tumors do not grow as aggressively. PEDF slows the growth of tumors by inhibiting angiogenesis, a physiological process involving growth of new capillaries from pre‐existing blood vessels in the body. Restricting blood flow to the tumor starves it of oxygen and nutrients. The mechanism of PEDF‐mediated inhibition of angiogenesis is unknown. Research has shown that PEDF undergoes posttranslational modifications (PTM), chemical changes to a protein after translation, such as the addition of carbohydrates (glycoslylation) or phosphate groups (phosphorylation), which may occur during various cellular events in tumors. PEDF is phosphorylated at S227, S114 and S24 and glycosylated at N285. Glycosylation may also occur on amino acids within a specific region of the protein (amino acids 371–383). The Wisconsin Virtual Learning SMART (Students Modeling A Research Topic) Team modeled PEDF using 3D printing technology. Identifying the PTMs of PEDF in GBM tumors and plasma samples may further the understanding of angiogenesis inhibition and in turn, may lead to the development of treatments for these lethal cancers. The SMART Team Program is funded by a grant from NIH‐CTSA UL1RR031973.


The radiation-induced hemorrhagic proctitis is a serious condition that can occur in any patient undergoing pelvic radiotherapy, sometimes being required hospitalization and transfusion therapy. The therapeutic approach is still very controversial. Both for the initial treatment and for refractory cases, one option is formalin application. This method is cheap, easily available, simple to perform, and effective in controlling bleeding. The authors report two cases of radiation-induced hemorrhagic proctitis treated with endoluminal instillation of formalin, and they discuss its therapeutic efficacy and complications


These Mixtec stories from Santa Maria Izcuintepec Penoles in Oaxaca are about a fight between the Rain God and the Creator God, in which the Rain God punished the Creator God's subjects with a five-year drought. Raul Alavez notes that some offerings to the Rain God are still made in the swamp areas.


Stigmatization experienced by lesbian, gay and bisexual youth (LGB) is associated with reduced psychological well-being and suggests that coping is an important mediator. The current study investigates the coping with stigma of Dutch LGB youth, and examines the social and individual mechanisms that influenced coping with stigmatization in relation to several contexts (family, school, religion, public sphere), as well as it analyses changes in LGB youths' coping over time. Qualitative interviews were held with 30 LGB youth aged 16 to 25, who had regularly encountered homophobic responses. Through comparing their self-acceptance as LGB and well-being with their emotional and behavioural responses to stigma, as well as the changes within these aspects over time, four coping with stigma patterns were identified and elaborated. Youths' coping patterns with stigma varied along the ability to critique a 'heteronormative habitus', as well as due to support through social resources and social networks. The access to such support emerged from within the interplay of family support, institutional and peer support, LGB organizations, a change in environment as well as personal strengths.


Leveraging open source VOIP for a rock-solid communications system Learn how to plan, deploy and migrate an enterprise ready communications system with sipXecsDiscover the different options for configuring phones, users and server features to get the best result for your organizationSecure and maintain your sipXecs system In Detail Open source telephony systems are making big waves in the communications industry. Moving your organization from a lab environment to production system can seem like a daunting and inherently risky proposition. Building Enterprise Ready Telephony Systems with sipXecs delivers proven techniques for deploying reliable and robust communications systems.Building Enterprise Ready Telephony Systems with sipXecs provides a guiding hand in planning, building and migrating a corporate communications system to the open source sipXecs SIP PBX platform. Following this step-by-step guide makes normally complex tasks, such as migrating your existing communication system to VOIP and deploying phones, easy. Imagine how good you'll feel when you have a complete, enterprise ready telephony system at work in your business.Planning a communications system for any size of network can seem an overwhelmingly complicated task. Deploying a robust and reliable communications system may seem even harder. This book will start by helping you understand the nuts and bolts of a Voice over IP Telephony system. The base knowledge gained is then built upon with system design and product selection. Soon you will be able to implement, utilize and maintain a communications system with sipXecs. Many screen-shots and diagrams help to illustrate and make simple what can otherwise be a complex undertaking. It's easy to build an enterprise ready telephony system when you follow this helpful, straightforward guide. What you will learn from this book? Understand the complexities of an IP Telephony and Voice over IP networkBuild a clear process for migrating existing phone systems to an IP based systemDeliver a solid foundation for any IP based phone systemQuickly and easily get a sipXecs open source PBX runningDeploy phones quickly and easily.Utilize Internet Telephony Service Providers to reduce monthly telephony billsDevelop training materials to help successfully teach your users how to use the systemLeverage sipXecs Automatic Call Distribution Queues to handle basic Call Center needsOperate and Maintain a reliable communications platform Approach This book was written to be a step by step approach to building a communications system for any organization. Care was taken to clearly illustrate with diagrams and screen shots all of the steps and concepts along the way. Who this book is written for? This book is written for network engineers who have been asked to deploy and maintain communications systems for their organizations.


INTRODUCTION: Risk factors for mortality in patients with subdural hematoma (SDH) include poor Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), pupil non-reactivity, and hemodynamic instability on presentation. Little is published regarding prognosticators of SDH in the elderly. METHODS: A prospectively collected multi-center database of 3,279 TBI admissions to 45 different U.S. trauma centers between 2017-2019 was queried to identify patients >79 years old presenting with SDH. Factors collected included baseline demographic data, past medical history, antiplatelet/anticoagulant use, and clinical presentation (GCS, pupil reactivity, injury severity scale [ISS]). Primary outcome data included hospital mortality/discharge to hospice care and withdrawal of life-sustaining measures. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify factors independently associated with primary outcome variables. RESULTS: A total of 695 patients were isolated for analysis. Of the total cohort, the rate of hospital mortality or discharge to hospice care was 22% (n = 150) and the rate of withdrawal of life-sustaining measures was 10% (n = 66). A multivariate logistic regression model identified GCS <13, pupil non-reactivity, increasing ISS, intraventricular hemorrhage, and neurosurgical intervention as factors independently associated with hospital mortality/hospice. Congestive heart failure (CHF), hypotension, GCS <13, and neurosurgical intervention were independently associated with withdrawal of life-sustaining measures. CONCLUSION: Poor GCS, pupil non-reactivity, ISS, and intraventricular hemorrhage are independently associated with hospital mortality or discharge to hospice care in patients >80 years with SDH. Pre-existing CHF may further predict withdrawal of lifesustaining measures.


The invention provides a method for accurately positioning fault points of optical cables. The method comprises the following steps: an optical time domain reflectometer is provided; the refracting index of the optical time domain reflectometer is adjusted to be in accordance with that of a tested optical fiber; the optical time domain reflectometer is utilized to accurately measure the relative distance between a fault point and an adjacent joint point, which is defined as the fiber length S1 of the optical fiber, and the surface length Lp of the optical fiber is calculated out according to the fiber length S1 of the optical fiber; and the surface length size Ly of the fault point of the optical fiber is calculated out according to the surface length Lp of the optical fiber. By adopting the method provided by the invention, test errors caused by the reasons, such as inaccurate engineering data, refractivity deviation between an instrument and the optical fiber, and the like, are reduced, long-distance check computation of the length of the optical cable is avoided, the test results are more accurate, and the method is proved to be simple and effective in practical application.


They have succeeded in finding the golden topaz and the great ruby. The two gems' mysterious powers have strengthened them and given them courage to move on in their search for the third stone. But none of them can know the horrors that await them in the forbidden City of the Rats.


Background Universal COVID-19 vaccination programs are now recommended in several countries and represent the most effective preventive measure against COVID-19. However, some reports suggest that vaccination may cause infertility or have adverse effects on pregnancy. Conflicting reports have led to vaccine hesitancy in women planning pregnancy. Purpose To determine whether vaccination against COVID-19 affects in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes, we conducted a meta-analysis. Method A systematic search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, and Web of Science databases for all published literature on COVID-19 vaccines and outcomes of IVF. International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews registration was completed on September 13, 2022 (CRD42022359771). Results We analyzed 20 studies totaling 18,877 individual cases undergoing IVF. COVID-19 vaccination had significant effect on clinical and ongoing pregnancy rate (risk ratio (RR): 0.97; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94–0.99; RR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.87–0.99). These outcomes did not differ between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals: biochemical pregnancy rate (RR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.88–1.03), implantation rate (RR: 1.02; 95%CI: 0.97–1.07; P = 0.41), the number of oocytes (mean difference (MD): 0.12; 95% CI: −0.65–0.88) and MII/mature oocytes recovered (MD: 0.27; 95% CI: −0.36–0.90), blastocysts rate (MD: 0.01; 95% CI: −0.04, 0.06), and fertilization rate (MD: 1.08; 95% CI: −0.57, 2.73). Conclusion Our findings suggest that vaccination against COVID-19 does not adversely affect the biochemical pregnancy rates; number of oocytes and MII/mature oocytes obtained; implantation, blastocysts; and fertilization rates in women undergoing IVF treatment. Subgroup analysis showed that the mRNA vaccine had no statistical significance on all indexes (clinical, biochemical, or ongoing pregnancy rates; implantation, blastocysts, or fertilization rates; and the number of oocytes and MII/mature oocytes). The findings of this meta-analysis are anticipated to increase the willingness of women planning IVF treatment to receive COVID-19 vaccination and provide evidence-based medical guidance for the development and implementation of guidelines. Systematic review registration https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier: CRD42022359771.


The State of Illinois has been conducting Condition Rating Surveys (CRS) for nearly 30 years. The results of these condition surveys have become the primary vehicle for providing the executive and legislative offices with an assessment of the condition of the state's pavement network. The CRS has also become the cornerstone of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) pavement management system. The results are used extensively at the network level to determine budget share for the pavement improvement program and at the project level to determine priorities of specific pavement improvement proposals. The CRS initially involved a panel of four to five technical persons driving over each pavement section in the network to subjectively assign a numerical value ranging from 1.0 for a pavement in failed condition to 9.0 for a pavement in excellent condition. In 1989, several concerns prompted IDOT to investigate the feasibility of automating the collection of pavement condition data. These concerns included the safety of the expert panel, the reduction in staff and hiring restrictions being placed on the agency, and the total subjectivity of the existing assessment methodology. In 1994, IDOT adopted new automated technology to conduct the surveys. At the same time, IDOT hired a consultant to develop equations that could be used with identified predominant distresses to calculate a CRS value that falls within one-half point of the rating that would have been obtained through the manual on-site surveys. This paper documents the successful adoption of new technology, development of CRS models, and integration of the CRS models into the department's program development process. The changes brought about by automating the CRS process also increased the importance of properly identifying distress types and extent for each pavement section. As a result of this change, the department identified the need for additional training that could be used to supplement the annual training class and could provide immediate support to the CRS raters as they performed the condition assessment surveys. The paper also documents the development of the CD-based interactive training program that was developed for the department. The training program features an overview of the CRS process and individual distress identification.


This study continues the modeling support of the SNL shaker table task from 2013 and includes analysis of the SNL 2014 truck test campaign. Detailed finite element models of the fuel assembly surrogate used by SNL during testing form the basis of the modeling effort. Additional analysis was performed to characterize and filter the accelerometer data collected during the SNL testing. The detailed fuel assembly finite element model was modified to improve the performance and accuracy of the original surrogate fuel assembly model in an attempt to achieve a closer agreement with the low strains measured during testing. The revised model was used to recalculate the shaker table load response from the 2013 test campaign. As it happened, the results remained comparable to the values calculated with the original fuel assembly model. From this it is concluded that the original model was suitable for the task and the improvements to the model were not able to bring the calculated strain values down to the extremely low level recorded during testing. The model needs more precision to calculate strains that are so close to zero. The truck test load case had an even lower magnitude than the shaker table case. Strainmore » gage data from the test was compared directly to locations on the model. Truck test strains were lower than the shaker table case, but the model achieved a better relative agreement of 100-200 microstrains (or 0.0001-0.0002 mm/mm). The truck test data included a number of accelerometers at various locations on the truck bed, surrogate basket, and surrogate fuel assembly. This set of accelerometers allowed an evaluation of the dynamics of the conveyance system used in testing. It was discovered that the dynamic load transference through the conveyance has a strong frequency-range dependency. This suggests that different conveyance configurations could behave differently and transmit different magnitudes of loads to the fuel even when travelling down the same road at the same speed. It is recommended that the SNL conveyance system used in testing be characterized through modal analysis and frequency response analysis to provide context and assist in the interpretation of the strain data that was collected during the truck test campaign.« less


This thesis describes the development of an independent, on-board visual servoing system which allows a computationally impoverished aerial vehicle to autonomously identify and track a dynamic surface target. Image segmentation and target tracking algorithms are developed for the specific task of monitoring whales at sea. The computer vision algorithms' estimates prove to be accurate enough for quadrotor stabilization while being computationally fast enough to be processed on-board the platform. This differs from current techniques which require off-board processing of images for vehicle localization and control. The vision algorithm is evaluated on video footage to validate its performance and robustness. The quadrotor is then modeled to motivate and guide the development of Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controllers for maneuvering the quadrotor. The controllers are tuned using a motion capture system which provides ground truth state measurements. The vision system is integrated into the control scheme to allow the quadrotor to track an iCreate. Additionally, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) fuses the vision system position estimates with attitude and acceleration measurements from an on-board Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) to allow the quadrotor to track a moving target without external localization. Thesis Supervisor: Daniela L. Rus Title: Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Mechanical Engineering Faculty Reader: John J. Leonard Title: Professor of Mechanical Engineering THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Acknowledgments This thesis would not have been possible without the support of a large group of friends, family, and colleagues. I would primarily like to thank my advisor, Daniela Rus, whose seemingly unlimited energy kept me motivated and excited throughout this research. Her wide ranging interests in all aspects of robotics allowed me unique opportunities to apply this research to a multitude of related projects. I would also like to thank my computer vision mentor, Peter Corke. Peter's wide range and experience in visual servoing helped guide key design choices in vision as well as control. I am especially grateful for the time spent at his lab at QUT in Australia. I am especially grateful to my fellow Distributed Robotics Lab colleagues who took time from their own research to take critical looks at mine. Daniel Soltero was invaluable as a second hand when running experiments. Kyle Gilpin and Marek Doniec provided very valuable hardware advice that saved countless hours of debugging. I would also like to thank Abe Bacharach of the Robust Robotics Group at MIT for access to several key software components for this research and his extensive quadrotor control knowledge. I am especially grateful to Brian Julian for his experience in dealing with the quadrotor platform as well as his large knowledge of control and estimation theory. I wish all my lab mates the most of luck in their future endeavors. Finally, this work could not be done without the support of my family. The support of my mother Julie, father Doug and sister Taylor was invaluable and I appreciate it greatly. THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK


In this paper, a bi-level programming model is proposed to describe the problem of railway pricing and speeding-up under the condition of several kinds of vehicles with elastic demands. Then a sensitivity-based algorithm is developed to solve the program and a simple numerical example is given to illustrate the applications of the model and its solution.


The aim of this study is to examine if a service that directly translates actors dialogue into different languages during a theatre performance could lead to inclusion of a broader audience. A seco ...


Assessment of risk factors Lifetime prevalence rates of eating disorders (Eating Disorders Family History Interview), mood disorders, substance use disorders, anxiety disorders (Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime Version [or the school age version for those < 18 years of age]), and selected personality disorders (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders, and the Personality Disorders Examination) were determined using face to face interviews or by telephone. Interviewers were blinded to the identity of the families.


Introduction: The Vibrant Soundbridge (VSB) is an active middle ear implant that is currently used in patients with conductive, sensorineural, and mixed hearing loss. Initially it was intended for adults with moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss with previous experience with conventional hearing aids. Since 2006, it was also used for conductive hearing loss and from 2009 onwards, the indication was extended to children. The first implantation in UK was performed in 1997 in our department.


Five cases recorded'by Arden Jones and Leo Pollak [2J showed respiratory tract infection associated with the swelling. In the above two cases, the second case had signs of bronchopneumonia but the first case had no signs of respiratory tract infection at the time of admission. The first case had 21 grams of sulphanilamide for his impetigo but it made no difference to the size of the swelling. Thanks are due to Major R V. Facey, R~A.M.C., and Major W.M. Forster, RA.M.C., . for pathological and radiological examin'ations.


Quantitative autoradiographic techniques for the measurement of local cerebral functional activity have been set up in the rat during postnatal development and applied to the measurement of local cerebral glucose and beta-hydroxybutyrate utilization as well as of local cerebral blood flow from 10 to 35 days after birth. These techniques have shown transient peaks of cerebral activity for both energy metabolism, expressed in terms of glucose plus beta-hydroxybutyrate utilization, and blood flow from 14 to 17 days of postnatal age. These methods which allow the mapping of functional activity simultaneously in all cerebral regions of conscious animals represent a tool of choice for the study of metabolism and blood flow regional changes, particularly in pathological situations.


At a state dinner to mark Ghana's independence in March, 1957, Kwame Nkrumah first invoked the dramatic device of asking the band to play Ghana's new national anthem. He then made his point, saying:


The binary addition is the basic arithmetic operation in digital circuits and it became essential in most of the digital systems including ALU, microprocessors and DSP. Adders are the basic building blocks in digital integrated circuit based designs. Ripple Carry Adder (RCA) gives the most compact design but takes longer computation time. The time critical applications use Carry Look-ahead scheme (CLA) to derive fast results but they lead to increase in area. Carry Select Adder is a compromise between RCA and CLA in term of area and delay. This paper focuses on the design analysis of carry select adder based on Multiplexer using Verilog. The delay (9.970ns) and power (34mW) is minimized. The proposed architecture of carry select adder is simulated in ModelSim6.5b and synthesized in Xilinx ISE14.7.


In this paper, numerical solutions of singularly perturbed boundary value problems are given by using variants of finite element method. Both Galerkin and subdomain Galerkin method based on quadratic B-spline functions are applied over the geometrically graded. Results of some text problems are compated with analytical solutions of the singularly perturbed problem


Ab stract: In this study, a new procedure is introduced which consists of a simple multistep process for improving the structure of mesoporous TiO2 films. The films were prepared by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) on FTO (F-SnO2 coated glass). It is shown that high quality TiO2 film can be produced by multistep EPD method. This paper investigates the effect of EPD time on the thickness and density of the films. Finally, the performance of Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) that were fabricated by improved layer are tested under AM 1.5 simulated sunlight.


The author applies a feminist analysis to animal advocacy initiatives in which gendered and racialized representations of female sexuality are paramount. Feminists have criticized animal advocates for opposing the oppression of nonhuman animals through media images that perpetuate female objectification. These critiques are considered through a close examination of two prominent campaigns by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The author argues that some representations of female sexuality may align with a posthumanist feminist ethic and need not be read as sexist. Examining PETA's famous anti-fur ads and the more recent Milk Gone Wild campaign, the author identifies where PETA's campaigns are objectionable under a feminist ethic and where they are subversive of an anthropocentric and male-dominated order alike. The article thus recuperates part of PETA's work from feminist critiques, but also reveals the constructions posthumanist advocacy should exclude to avoid elevating the status of nonhuman animals at the expense of women.


We report on the first part of a study of electron-hydrogen scattering, using a method which allows for the ab initio calculation of total and elastic cross sections at higher energies. In its general form the method uses complex 'radial' correlation functions, in a (Kohn) T-matrix formalism. The titled method, abbreviated Complex Correlation Kohn T (CCKT) method, is reviewed, in the context of electron-hydrogen scattering, including the derivation of the equation for the (complex) scattering function, and the extraction of the scattering information from the latter. The calculation reported here is restricted to S-waves in the elastic region, where the correlation functions can be taken, without loss of generality, to be real. Phase shifts are calculated using Hylleraas-type correlation functions with up to 95 terms. Results are rigorous lower bounds; they are in general agreement with those of Schwartz, but they are more accurate and outside his error bounds at a couple of energies,


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * The difficulty of calculating the return on an IT investment often has weakened the case for funding such initiatives. * Financial managers and other decision makers expect requests for IT funding to be framed in an ROI or shareholder value format so they can compare them with other investment options. * The successful measurement of IT projects involves evaluating critical resources and processes that produce desirable results and lead to overall organizational success. * It's essential to assign monetary values to nonfinancial IT results. Although some benefits of IT initiatives do not always produce short-term profits, they should reduce costs or increase revenue. * To calculate the return on an IT investment, measure its total costs, including those related to disruptions and risks, as well as its total benefits. ********** In too many organizations, decision makers overlook economic rationality in justifying information technology (IT) spending. Instead they acquire the best and most recent technologies to outpace other companies. The pressure to remain competitive is forcing many organizations to consider a more results-based approach, where the central question is: Will we see a return on investment (ROI)? Large IT, e-commerce and enterprise resource planning (ERP) system investments all face the same challenge: demonstrating their value in light of the historical difficulty of estimating the revenues they generate and their total costs. It typically fails on senior corporate and financial managers to evaluate the payoffs and recommend resource allocations, and CPAs who know how to accurately calculate the return on technology investments can guide them through this process. With CEOs and CFOs demanding accountability for the tremendous investment in IT, managers are required to calculate the ROI and make a bottom-line contribution. Few things are more convincing to top executives than measurable results. IT executives must find ways to measure and communicate the contribution of IT so that existing initiatives are managed appropriately, new projects are approved only when there is satisfactory return and marginal or ineffective projects are revised or eliminated. They need comprehensive systems to evaluate the impact of IT initiatives on financial performance. Typically, the payoffs of IT are not measured, ROI is not calculated and IT investments are not evaluated with the same rigor as other corporate investments. While senior IT managers are convinced they do create value and their initiatives would be significant profit centers if measured properly, they have difficulty proving it. Because CEOs and CFOs lack the information necessary to make well-informed decisions on the payoffs of these investments, most companies seem to focus on reducing the cost of IT rather than maximizing its potential to create value. This article describes a model that CPAs can use to evaluate IT performance and calculate the payoff. Accountants can use it to help CIOs evaluate and justify their initiatives and to assist CEOs and CFOs in making better resource-allocation decisions. THE STARTING POINT Exhibit 1 on page 71 describes the inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes of IT initiatives. An organization's IT success is dependent on inputs. These include the existing corporate strategy, structure and systems. Along with available resources and the external environment, these are critical inputs that affect IT strategies. Other factors, such as leadership, IT structure and systems or processes, also significantly affect the performance and success of IT initiatives. The inputs and processes have an impact on IT outputs, which can be classified as either internal outputs--such as improvement in productivity, time savings, quality or overall cost reduction--or external outputs, such as customer acquisition, satisfaction and loyalty If the IT strategy and implementation are successful, these outputs should result in improved overall corporate profitability--the outcome. …


Objective To investigate the related factors of an outbreak of tuberculosis in the recruits stationed in an army,and to further control the spread of tuberculosis. Methods Epidemiological investigation,chest X-ray examination and PPD test were performed in all recruits and their contacts.Sputum smear test was conducted among the soldiers with abnormal results of X-ray examination,and TB patients were confirmed by laboratory tests.The source of infection was traced. Results Thirty-four active TB cases were detected among 640 recruits during the one-year period(from February 2008 to February 2009),and the attack rate was 5.31%.TB cases peaked in March and September.Among 833 recruits and contacts, 598 were PPD positive,with TB infection rate of 71.79%.There were 48 PPD strong-positive cases,with the strong-positive rate of 5.76%.TB infection rate was statistically significant different between the army and the other control army without TB case(P0.01). Conductions Lack of timely treatment and isolation of infective TB case is the main reason of this TB breakout.It is necessary to enhance the communication among the TB control departments and adopt comprehensive measures so as to prevent and control TB aggregation epidemic.


BACKGROUND Geographic variations in case volume have important implications for trauma system configuration and have been recognized for some time. However, temporal trends in these distributions have received relatively little attention. The aim of this study was to propose a model to facilitate the spatiotemporal surveillance of injuries, using Scotland as a case study. METHODS Retrospective analysis of 5 years (2009–2013) of trauma incident location data. We analyzed the study population as a whole, as well as predefined subgroups, such as those with abnormal physiologic signs. To leverage sufficient statistical power to detect temporal trends in rare events over short time periods and small spatial units, we used a geographically weighted regression model. RESULTS There were 509,725 incidents. There were increases in case volume in Glasgow, the central southern part of the country, the northern parts of the Highlands, the Northeast, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Statistically significant changes were mostly restricted to major cities. Decreases in the number of incidents were seen in the Hebrides, Western Scotland, Fife and Lothian, and the Borders. Statistically significant changes were seen mostly in Fife and Lothian, the West, some areas of the Borders, and in the Peterhead area. Subgroup analyses showed markedly different spatiotemporal patterns. CONCLUSIONS This project has demonstrated the feasibility of population-based spatiotemporal injury surveillance. Even over a relatively short period, the geographic distribution of where injuries occur may change, and different injuries present different spatiotemporal patterns. These findings have implications for health policy and service delivery. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Epidemiologic study, level V.


In this present study, three (3) new sunshine based models were developed and evaluated using observed monthly average daily global solar radiation and sunshine hours meteorological variables spanning through thirty one years (1980-2010). The estimated global solar radiation values obtained from the empirical regression models for the developed models and nine (9) distinctive existing sunshine based models were compared through validation indicators of Mean Bias Error (MBE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Percentage Error (MPE), t – test, Nash – Sutcliffe Equation (NSE), Index of Agreement (IA) and coefficient of determination (R2) allowing the identification and recommendation of the most accurate model suitable for the estimation of global solar radiation in Kano and Ikeja located in the Sahelian and Coastal regions respectively. The results in this present study revealed that the developed exponent exponential and quadratic latitude 2 sunshine based models were found more appropriate for estimation of global solar radiation in Kano (Latitude 12.05  and Longitude 8.20 ) and Ikeja (Latitude 6.58  and Longitude 3.33 ) respectively. The evaluated existing linear (1st order) and quadratic (2nd order) sunshine based models for Kano were found more suitable for the estimation of global solar radiation as compared with those found through literature survey. The empirical regression equations and the values of the validation indicators obtained in this study for each model varies significantly in each of the regions under investigation indicating that the twelve (12) sunshine based models are site – specific. The correlation between the


ABSTRACT Focusing on the letters of the South African feminist writer and social theorist Olive Schreiner (1855–1920), this article explores Schreiner's strategic uses of letter-writing as a key tool in her work as a cultural entrepreneur in a number of different social and political contexts. In advocating a microhistory approach which recognizes that macro and micro are interconnected and should be seen as lenses of perspective rather than as separate spheres, we examine various strands of Schreiner's 'cultural project' and consider how her epistolary activities articulated and furthered this.


Abstract: The U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) mandates that recovery plans include specific criteria to determine when a species should be removed from the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. To meet this mandate, we developed a new approach to determining classification criteria for long‐lived vertebrates. The key idea is that endangerment depends on two critical aspects of a population: population size and trends in population size due to intrinsic variability in population growth rates. The way to combine these features is to identify a population size and range of population growth rates (where λ denotes the annual multiplicative rate of change of a population) above which there is a negligible probability of extinction. To do so, (1) information on the current population size and its variance is specified; (2) available information on vital rates or changes in abundance over time is used to generate a probability distribution for the population's λ; (3) the lower fifth percentile value for λ (denoted as λ(0.05)  ) is obtained from the frequency distribution of λs; and (4) if λ(0.05) is <1.0, a backwards population trajectory starting at 500 individuals for a period of 10 years is performed and the resulting population size is designated as the threshold for listing a species as endangered, or if λ(0.05) is ≥1.0, the threshold for endangerment is set at 500 animals. A similar approach can be used to determine the threshold for listing a species as threatened under the ESA. We applied this approach to North Pacific humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae) and used Monte Carlo simulations to produce a frequency distribution of λs for the whales under three different scenarios. Using λ(0.05), it was determined that the best estimates of current abundance for the central population of North Pacific humpback whales were larger than the estimated threshold for endangered status but less than the estimated threshold for threatened status. If accepted by the responsible management agency, this analysis would be consistent with a recommendation to downlist the central stock of humpback whales to a status of threatened, whereas the status of eastern and western stocks would remain endangered.


The morpho-sedimentary analysis of the beach-shoreface-inner continental shelf system in front of the National Park of the Restinga de Jurubatiba – Rio de Janeiro was undertaken in order to characterize and to identify the hydrodynamic and morpho-sedimentary processes in the related system and to make a further analysis of the application of the concept of equilibrium profile (Dean 1977). It evaluated the hypothesis that the coating on shoreface sediment doesn't control the shape of the profile of equilibrium, being the substrate of relict shoreface the dominator in such a format. An analyzis of historical and geomorphological, sedimentological and oceanographic area and field observations allowed us to evaluate the stability of the shoreline. The strong erosion observed in different segments of the beach was clearly related to variations in South, Southwest and South-Southwets wave height, orientation of the shoreline as also to sediment characteristics of the shoreface and the inner continental shelf. The occurrence of patches of very fine sand and mud in the shoreface inhibited the onshore transport of medium to coarse sands to the beach leaving to the littoral drift the main function in providing the sediments for the equilibrium of the beach. The transgressive history of the geologic-geomorphologic evolution of the area also favors the instability of this coast. The observed morphologic disequilibrium in the beach is partially compensated by the volume of mobilized sediments through the northward directed longshore transport. Therefore modifications of the resulting direction or intensity of the longshore sediment transport due to modification of the wave climate will result in increased instability of a system already under stress.


A plant regeneration method with cell suspension cultures of banana, and the effect of biobalistic on regeneration potential are described in this report. Somatic embryos of banana were obtained from indirect embryogenesis of male inflorescence of banana cultivar Maca (AAB group). Part of the calluses formed (40%) showed embryogenic characteristics (nonfriable, compact and yellow color). The cell suspension, originated from embryogenic calluses, contained clusters of small tightly packed cells with dense cytoplasms, relatively large nuclei and very dense nucleoli. After four months of culture, somatic embryos started to regenerate. The maximum number of regenerated plants was observed between 45 and 60 days after embryo formation. In the first experiment, 401 plants were regenerated from approximately 10 mL of packed cells. In the second experiment, 399 plants were regenerated from a cell suspension six months older than that of the first experiment. Cell transformation using particle bombardment with three different plasmid constructions, containing the uid-A gene, resulted in a strong GUS expression five days after bombardment; however, plant regeneration from bombarded cells was much lower than nonbombarded ones.


From the Publisher:
Whether you fly for the USAAF, RAF, or Luftwaffe, this exclusive strategy guide will help you win the war and master the most realistic, exciting Combat Flight Sim game ever. Written with the full support of CFS 3's developers, this guide details every plane's flight characteristics, shows you how to become a great combat pilot and squadron leader, and gives you the strategies and tactics you need dominate the skies over Europe.
Inside you'll find:
Single-mission walkthroughs and campaign game advice
In-depth combat tips for dogfights and surface-target attacks
Winning strategies for cooperative and competitive multiplayer games
Analysis of every flyable plane in the game
Essential tactics for creating pilots and managing prestige points

About the Author
Michael Rymaszewski is an avid computer gamer and WWII aviation buff. He has written more than dozen strategy guides, including Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2: WWII Pacific Theater Sybex Official Strategies and Secrets.


The type specimens of three names of taxa of Viola described from Mallorca (Balearic Islands) bearing the epithet barceloi have been studied. The lectotype of Viola barceloi Nyman and the holotype of V. suavis M. Bieb. var. barceloi O. Bol6s & Vigo cannot be distinguished from V. alba Besser s.l. A neotype is chosen for V. barceloi L. Chodat (- V. x balearica Rossell6 et al.), which is believed to be the natural hybrid between V. jaubertiana Mares & Vigineix and V. alba.


The basic concepts of dimensional analysis are used to make a general examination of reliability physics, mathematical models, and statistics. Beginning with reliability physics, an examination of Eyring's equation is made using Buckingham's Pi theorem. The Arrhenius equation is then seen to be an approximation to the Eyring equation. The use of dimensional analysis in constructing mathematical models based on empirical investigations is considered. The results suggest that, in every empirical study, the appropriate dimensionless variables should first be identified. These variables should then be used in experimental exploration and for subsequent mathematical modeling. The probability density functions of statistics may be associated with patterns of "noise". The exponential, Weibull, and normal distributions serve as examples. In this context, statistical methods are used for extracting signals from a pattern of noise and for judging the statistical significance of the signal-to-noise ratio. The pattern of noise is important in deriving an appropriate method of signal extraction. Examples of signal-to-noise ratios are given by the common tests of statistical significance. The u-test for the significance of the difference between an observed mean and its hypothesized value and the t-test of significance for the difference between two observed means are typical examples. The maximization of the signal-to-noise ratio can be used to obtain important classification methods. The loinear discriminant, used in some reliability screening applications, furnishes an example of such a maximization.


The s‐process nucleosynthesis resulting from the ingestion of 13C in a thermal pulse of a solar‐metallicity 2.5M⊙ star is computed with due consideration of the feedback of the s‐process energetics on the stellar model. It is shown that the pulse structure along with the s‐process predictions are dramatically affected by this feedback. The common practice of neglecting this effect may thus lead to erroneous results, and must be abandoned.


To the Editor.—
 The paper by Shea et al1 is misleading. The observed coefficients of variability of the caloric intakes of children at individual meals and snacks were much larger than the variability of the total daily intakes, 46.5 to 165.8 vs 30.3. However, the main reason for this is statistical. The variability of the sum of a total of such items is less than that of the individual items. For example, if you time your daily mile run, the variability of each day's run will be substantially less than the variability of the total weekly times.


In our previous work, 21 pairs of chemical-physical blends were demonstrated to be biphasic solvents with much better comprehensive absorption capacities than 30wt% aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions.[1] The kinetics rate of CO2 absorption is a key parameter linked to the size of the absorber and the capital expenses. However, this information for novel biphasic solvents are not available. To fill the knowledge gap, in this work, a wetted wall column was used to measure the CO2 absorption rates in the novel biphasic solvents and the comparison with 30wt% MEA solution was made. Besides, the mass transfer mechanism in the gas-liquid interface was calculated by molecular dynamics in this work.


This Hof-off-the-Press paper summarizes our recently published work, "SR-Forest: A Genetic Programming based Heterogeneous Ensemble Learning Method," published in IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation [4]. This paper presents SR-Forest, a novel genetic programming-based heterogeneous ensemble learning method, which combines the strengths of decision trees and genetic programming-based symbolic regression methods. Rather than treating genetic programming-based symbolic regression methods as competitors to random forests, we propose to enhance the performance of random forests by incorporating genetic programming as a complementary technique. We introduce a guided mutation operator, a multi-fidelity evaluation strategy, and an ensemble selection mechanism to accelerate the search process, reduce computational costs, and improve predictive performance. Experimental results on a regression benchmark with 120 datasets show that SR-Forest outperforms 25 existing symbolic regression and ensemble learning methods. Moreover, we demonstrate the effectiveness of SR-Forest on an XGBoost hyperparameter performance prediction task, which is an important application area of ensemble learning methods. Overall, SR-Forest provides a promising approach to solving regression problems and can serve as a valuable tool in real-world applications.


In the 1984 International Pearl Millet Downy Mildew Nursery (IPMDMN)45 entries were sent to cooperators for evaluation of reactions to downy mildew (DM) at nine Indian and one African location...


Subcutaneous mass was found in ICR mouse during daily health observation in the breeding colony of the National Laboratory Animal Center, Mahidol University, Thailand. The animal was subsequently culled and humanely sacrificed due to the institutional preventive medicine policy. Microbiological and histopathological studies were performed for definitive diagnosis. The results described that the case was subcutaneous abscess and chronic dermatitis in association with Staphylococcus sciuri infection without epizootic and mortality. This was determined as the first reported case in Thailand occurring in mouse. Reproductive stress and abrasion skin wound may be the predisposing factors. Although pathogenic staphylococci in laboratory animals are limited to S. aureus and S. xylosus, S. sciuri opportunistic properties, natural history, and heterogeneity should not be forgotten.


Water seepage/leakage and slope failures are the major issues in Gumti earthen dyke. The distinct seepage and slope failure zones were observed at three places (Farizpur, Kathalia and Ebdarpur) along the countryside of left dyke. Two sampling campaigns were conducted near the seepage site for collection of water samples from the river and the country side hand tubewell. Both samplings were done after recession of peak water level in the Gumti river. The chemical and stable isotope parameters support the statement that the hydraulic connection exists between the river and shallow aquifer. The high EC values of groundwater from the nearby private shallow wells clearly show that these groundwater flows were influenced by the river water during peak water level in the river Gumti. The chloride contents of both groundwater and river water are found mostly similar, indicating mixing between the two water systems. The results of stable isotopes ( 2 H and 18 O) reflect the hydraulic connectivity between the river water and groundwater through the base of dyke.


According to the relations between the Peak ground acceleration, velocity and displacement and tectonic environment shear stress field and seismic moments, the formulas for calculating earthquake moment magnitude was obtained. The feasibility of these formulas was verified with velocity recordings by Huailai small digital seismic network, acceleration recordings by Tangshan strong groUnd motion network and velocity recordings by Beijing digital seismic network. Because the moment magnitudes determined from this method are very close to those determined from normal method, these formulas are available. Therefore,the recording types for determining earthquake moment magnitude were increased, that is to say, not only displacement recordings but also velocity and acceleration recordings can all be used to determine earthquake magnitude.


The utility model relates to a twin-core twisted bipolar direct current cable. The cable comprises an outer sheath and two inner cables arranged in the outer sheath, wherein each inner cable is provided with a metallic shielding layer, an insulating semi-conductive shielding layer, an insulating layer, a conductor semi-conductive shielding layer and a conductor from outside to inside sequentially. Compared with the prior art, the twin-core twisted bipolar direct current cable can be used for furthest counteracting electromagnetic interference generated by harmonic waves, and has the advantages of lower cost, more convenience in construction and the like.


A support structure having a framework of the bed (20) having a rigid frame structure (24), the rigid structural frame for carrying a hinge (18) of the adjustable bed. Such a support structure extending substantially in a position of non-hinged structure hinged to the range, and having a cushion frame (26) with a filler. The pad is attached to block binding of a mounting support member (28) on the frame structure and a resilient foam cushion (30) received on the mounting support, a fabric cover (34) surrounding the buffer and it is fixed to the mounting support member. Such hinge structure comprises a plurality of rigid planar support member (38) having a plurality of edges (40), a resilient foam layer surrounding the fabric cover (44) having (42) is secured to the flat support. The buffer layer and the foam is resilient to deformation upon contact with a projecting into the intrusion therebetween limb. For one exemplary embodiment, one electrical socket (56) is mounted in a housing (58), which penetrates the housing of the support frame, the mounting support member and a buffer member.


One thousand fifteen healthy subjects of tribal populations, Bhil (208), Mina(205), Garasia (181), Damor (160), Gameti (146), Adivasi (115) and 828 healthy subjects from Urban populations, Voluntary blood donors (251). Medical students (370), Doctors (125) and Technical staff (82), were screened for the technique. (HbsAg) carrier rate varied from 5.9 to 10.5 percent and 1.7 to 3.5 percent among tribal and urban populations of Southern Rajasthan respectively. A statistical significant (P<0.01) higher carrier rate among tribals may be attributed to their low socio-economic status, substandard living conditions, unhygienic habits, occupational and social customs and conditions.


A classical model of the polarizability of π‐bonded molecules is developed. The model is an extension of the atom dipole model which allows charge transfer within the molecule to reproduce the effect of delocalized π electrons. The model is applied to several test systems and is found to provide better agreement with experimental polarizabilities than the atom dipole model.


The starting point of this article is a textual problem at the beginning of §7 of Agr. 2 (Cicero's first consular contio), where he claims that he will be a people's man (popularis). A close examination of the role of attraction in the sequence of tenses shows that the transmitted text is almost certainly wrong. An emendation is proposed, which also gives the sentence a rhythmical ending. An analysis of Cicero's strategy in the speech, and of the role that the sentence plays in it, suggests that such a marked clausula is appropriate and contributes, together with other formal features, to making the sentence a 'claptrap', designed to elicit approval from the contional audience.


Asia can proudly lay claim to many of the greatest civilisations in the history of man. From her soil have risen the teachers and prophets who gave the world all the major existing reli gions. The creative energies which shaped these great Asian civilisations were indigenous. But they also drew upon wisdom and knowledge from outside. High mountains, vast deserts and hazardous seas were somehow surmounted with very primitive forms of transport, because the teachers and scholars of those days willed themselves so. The full recognition of the depth and extent of these exchanges have been hampered by the lack of records, of systematic historical research, and of archaeological data. Also, much of Asian history written by Western historians tends to play down this aspect, except for precon ceived notions of the debt owed to Greco-Roman or Judeo-Christian